A NEW OR IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE AND BOILER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Kempson, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED STEAM
ENGINE AND BOILER."
Sealed the 30th October 1855, and dated the 14th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas. Kempson at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
August 1855.
I, THOMAS KEMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
STEAM ENGINE AND BOILER " to be as follows:-
In my new or improved steam engine I employ two cylinders, both being
situated horizontally, one of the said cylinders being larger than the other,
steam is admitted into the smaller cylinder during the full stroke of the piston,
and on leaving the said smaller cylinder it is allowed to enter the larger
cylinder. I employ an air pump having a solid piston and double-acting, that
is to say, it exhausts whichever way the piston moves.
My improved steam boiler is so constructed that the flame and heated air
from the furnace first pass under the bottom of the said boiler, afterwards
returning through tubes to the front of the boiler, and passing off to the flue
along the sides of the said boiler.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Kempson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE.. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
KEMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Kempson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Kempson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Kempson, ny executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
STEAM ENGINE AND BOILER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Kempson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Kempson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):
:―
My Invention consists of a new or improved steam engine and boiler,
constructed as herein-after particularly described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in plan (partly in section) my new or improved steam
engine; Figure 2 represents, in end elevation, and Figure 3, in horizontal
section, my new or improved steam boiler.
In my new or improved steam engine I employ two steam cylinders a, b; I
prefer to place the said cylinders horizontal. The axes of the said cylinders
are situated in the same line, and the cylinder b is of greater capacity than the
cylinder a, as represented. The piston rod c of the cylinder a passes through

page_text: both the top and bottom of the said cylinder a, and is keyed at d to the piston
rode of the cylinder 6; the piston rod e also passes through the top and bottom
of the cylinder b. The cylinders a, b, are provided with slide valves, marked f,f,
and g, g, respectively. The said slide valves f, f, and g, g, are worked by the
rod h, actuated by the excentric i on the main shaft k. The piston rod c trans-
mits its alternating motion through the crank rod 1 to the crank m; the said
crank m communicates a rotatory motion to the shaft k. n is the fly wheel;
and o, p, toothed wheels on the shaft k.
Steam is admitted at high pressure
into the cylinder a during the full stroke of the piston q; the said steam after
leaving the cylinder a passes along the passage r, and enters at low pressure
the cylinder b, where, by expanding, it effects the motion of the piston s. After
leaving the cylinder 6 the steam passes along the pipe t; pipes u, v, w, pro-
vided with stop-cocks communicate with a reservoir of water, and by opening
the said stop-cocks more or less jets of water of any required size may be
permitted to enter into the pipe t, and effect the condensation of the steam.
a is a double-acting pump communicating with the pipe t; the said pump is
furnished with a solid piston y, and the piston rod z of the pump is keyed, to
the piston rode of the cylinder b, as represented. The pump x is furnished
with four valves, two at top and two at bottom of its cylinder; one of each
pair of valves opens inwards, and the other of each pair opens outwards, with
respect to the cylinder, as will be understood by an inspection of the Drawing.
By the action of the pump x, the exhaustion of the pipe t is effected, and the
water which accumulates therein removed. The slide valves f.f, and g, g, aré
balanced by pistons f, f, g, g', but as the said pistons are constructed in a
manner well known and commonly practised, I do not think it necessary to
describe the same.
My improved boiler has the form which will be understood by an inspection
of Figures 2 and 3. The furnace or fire-place is situated under the concave
bottom of the boiler at 1. The fire after passing from the front to the back of
the said boiler returns through the flues 2, 3, to the front of the said boiler;
the heated air afterwards passes round the boiler by the ends and sides 4, 5,
into the flue 6. The course of the heated air will be understood by the arrows
in Figure 3. I place a double bridge in the furnace or fire-place, as indicated
in Figure 3 by dotted lines at 7 and 8, and the space between the bridges 7, 8,
is occupied by a plate perforated with small holes and opening into the ash-pit,
the said plate extending across the furnace from side to side. The air intro-
duced by the said perforated plate prevents the formation of smoke during the
combustion of the fuel in the said furnace. In setting the boiler, I support it

page_text: upon metal supports, as shown at 9, 9; Figure 2; 'I place valves at the bottom
of the boiler, as shown at 10, 10, Figure 2, for the purpose of blowing off the
sediment formed: ..
My improved boiler.is simple in construction and economical in use.; one of
my improved boilers, having a length of twenty feet and diameter of ten feet,
exposes a surface of between seven and eight.hundred superficial feet. to
the fire. -
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be: understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my. said Invention; but I claim as my Inven-
tion, the 'new or improved steam engine and boiler, constructed in the manner
herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing; that is to say,
a' direct-acting steam engine, in which one high-pressure and one low-pressure
cylinder are arranged in the same line, and having a double-acting air pump
also in the same line as the cylinders, and a steam boiler in which the fire has
the course described and represented, and set upon metal supports.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Kempson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS KEMPSON. (L.8.)