Improvements in Starting Engines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Starting Engines.
I, ANDREW BETTS BROWN, of Rosebank Iron Works, Edinburgh, in the
County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows, that is to say:-
My said invention has for its object to provide an improved construction of
starting engine for operating on the valve gear of large engines either by means
of steam or of hand gear.
My improved starting engine is arranged to act on a lever on a rocking
shaft connected to the main-engine valve-gear in any usual manner, and this
lever has jointed to its outer end a rod having formed on it a screw thread
working in an internally-screwed bush held in the outer end of a tube or
columnar frame the other end of which is jointed to a fixed bracket or base.
The internally-screwed bush has fixed to it a bevil wheel or an internally-
toothed spurwheel which is fitted to the tube or columnar frame with ball
bearings; and which is provided with spoke handles so as to be movable by
hand when desired. In gear with the bevil wheel or spurwheel there is a
pinion on a shaft which can be turned directly or through engaging gear by
a high-speed rotatory steam engine or other suitable high-speed engine. The
pinion shaft has also on it a handwheel to allow of its being turned by
hand. The engine is connected by two passages or pipes to a chest containing
a controlling valve and having connected to it steam-supply and
exhaust pipes. The controlling valve is movable by a well known arrange-
ment of floating lever one end of which is connected to a starting-and-reversing
hand lever, the other end being connected by a rod to the lever of the rocking
shaft of the main valve gear, so that the controlling valve is returned to its
neutral position on the lever becoming shifted to the required position.
Dated this Twenty-fourth day of October 1899.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.
Improvements in Starting Engines.
I, ANDREW BETTS BROWN, of Rosebank Iron Works, Edinburgh, in the
County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is
to say:
My said invention has for its object to provide an improved construction of
starting engine for operating on the valve gear of large engines either by means

page_text: of steam or of hand gear. And whereas in some of my earlier arrangements of
starting engines, the steam-actuated details constituted the substantial or main
parts, some hand gear being combined therewith for use in an emergency, in
starting engines as made with my present improvements hand gear of an
improved, and substantial character is provided in combination with compara-
tively high-speed steam-engine details.
And in order that my said invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory draw-
ings to be hereinafter referred to and representing by way of example a starting
engine as made with my present improvements.
Figures 1, and 2, of the drawings are elevations as at right angles to each
other, Figure 2, being partly in section. In these drawings the same reference
letters are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
My improved starting engine is arranged to act on a lever, A, on a rocking
shaft, connected to the main-engine valve-gear in any usual manner, and this
lever has jointed to its outer end a rod, B, having former on it a screw thread
working in an internally screwed bush, C, held in the outer end of a tube or
columnar frame, D, the other end of which is jointed to a fixed bracket or base, E.
The internally-screwed bush, C, has fixed to it an internally-toothed spur-
wheel, F, which is fitted to the tube or columnar frame, D, with ball
bearings; and in gear with the spurwheel there is a pinion, G, on a shaft, H,
which can be turned through an engaging clutch, J, by a high-speed rotatory
steam engine, K, or other suitable high-speed engine fixed to the columnar
frame, D. The pinion shaft, H, can also be turned by means of a handwheel, L,
through a clutch, M, on the handwheel shaft, and bevil wheels, N. A spur-
wheel, P, on the same shaft, gears with a pinion, Q, on a shaft, R, part of which
is screwed to work in internally screwed bosses on the ends of a bar, S, movable
in a guide on the columnar frame, D.
The engine, K, is controlled by a valve the rod, T, of which extending out
through a stuffing box is jointed to a hand lever, U, centered on the columnar
frame, D. The hand lever, U, has on its inner side a projection in a position
to be acted on by one or other of the end bosses of the bar, S: and when the lever
has been moved to either side, it moves the valve so as to set the engine turning
in one direction or the other, but the consequent motion of the gearing acting
through the screwed shaft, R, moves the bar, S, so as ultimately to move the hand
lever, U, back to its middle position thereby shutting off the steam. The gear-
ing and other parts are proportioned and arranged so that the return action
takes place when the required movement of the lever, A, has been effected.
When using the hand gear without steam the clutch J, is disengaged and
the clutch, M, is engaged, and the required movement is effected by means of the
hand wheel, L.
A bevil wheel may be substituted for the internally-toothed spurwheel, F, and
the rod, B, may have rack teeth formed on it instead of a screw thread, the
other gearing details being adapted thereto.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is―
The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the improved starting
engine substantially as herein before described, and as shown in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this Nineteenth day of July 1900
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.