IM- PROVEMENTS. IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Monroe Childs, of No. 481, New Oxford
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS. IN STEAM ENGINES." -A communication from abroad by
James Mills Ray, John Hooper Redstone, and Albert Ellis Redstone,
of Indianapolis, in the State of Indiana, one of the United States of
America.
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 29th April 1862..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Monroe Childs at
the Office, of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th April 1862.
I, DAVID MONROE CHILDS, of No. 481, New Oxford Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer; do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to the steam chest and valves. The steam passes
through a pipe and enters a steam space which surrounds the valve. The
port being in communication with a branch passage conducts the steam to
the cylinder port, and acting upon the inner head of the piston forces the same
forward, and by causing the fly wheel to revolve operates the connecting rod
which is attached to the valve lever. The exhaust escapes through the

page_text: cylinder port, the passage and escape pipe which are thus brought in connec-
tion, and the valve lever being operated by the connecting rod causes one-
fourth turn or revolution of the valve and brings the ports in connection with
the branch passage and thereby opens the exhaust, and the supply port being
in communication with the passage admits the steam through the passage and
cylinder port to the outer surface of the piston head. I use the throttle of a
double-acting engine to reverse the engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Monroe Childs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
MONROE CHILDS, of No. 481, New Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said David Monroe Childs, Her special licence that I, the said David
Monroe Childs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said David Monroe Childs, my 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad by James
Mills Ray, John Hooper Redstone, and Albert Ellis Redstone, of Indianapolis,
in the State of Indiana, one of the United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that 1, the said David Monroe Childs, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 David Monroe Childs, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My improvements relate to the steam chest and valves. The steam passes
through a pipe and enters a steam space which surrounds the valve.
The port
being in communication with a branch passage conducts the steam to the
cylinder port, and acting upon the inner head of the piston forces the same
forward, and by causing the fly wheel to revolve operates the connecting rod
which is attached to the valve lever. The exhaust escapes through the
cylinder port, the passage and escape pipe which are thus brought in connexion,
and the valve lever being operated by the connecting rod, causes one-fourth
turn or revolution of the valve, and brings the parts in connexion with the
branch passage, and thereby opens the exhaust, and the supply port being in
communication with the passage admits the steam through the passage and
cylinder port to the outer surface of the piston head. I use the throttle of a
double-acting engine to reverse the engine.
In order that my Invention be better understood, I have represented it
in the accompanying Sheet of Drawing, wherein Fig. 1, is a longitudinal
sectional elevation of a steam engine provided with my new rotating valve;
Fig. 2 a traverse section throng A, A, Fig. 1, of the said valve; and Fig. 3 a
traverse section through B, B, ditto, ditto; Fig. 4, a plan, partially in section,
of a double distribution; Fig. 5, an elevation of the same; Fig. 6, a similar
elevation with one of the organs in section; Fig. 7 a traverse section through
C, C, Fig. 4, of one of the rotating valves; Fig. 8, a second traverse section
through D, D, Fig. 4, of the said valve; Fig. 9, a transverse section through
E, E, Fig. 5, of the key valve, which commands the direction in which the
engines move; and Fig. 10, a second transverse section of the same valve.
through F, F, Fig. 5.
My system of distributing steam in a cylinder is based on the use of rotating
valves or slides, to which I impart a partially rotating and reciprocating
motion, the arrangements of parts being such that a single valve applied to
each cylinder is sufficient both for the admission of fresh steam and the
emission of the waste steam.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of a cylinder provided with my new
rotating valve. a, a, is the cylinder; b, the piston; c, c, the steam passages,
and d the valve; e, feed pipe, and x, the waste steam pipe; the steam
entering through the pipe e fills the chamber f formed by diminishing the
diameter of the valve d, and from thence flows through one or the other of the
short passage 9 & g', passing subsequently through those c, c, to either face of

page_text: the piston, the admission of steam from f to g, g', taking place through the
pockets and h¹ formed in the circumference of d (see Fig. 8). It will be
remarked that these two pockets. are placed at right angles one with the other,
so that a quarter a turn of the valve is sufficient for feeding steam on either
face of the piston, the waste steam returning through the passages c¹ & c² is
conducted alternately through the short passages i & i¹ into the openings & k¹
formed in the top of the valve (see Fig. 2), from whence it escapes into the
waste steam chamber , and from there through the pipe a, the two openings
k & being also placed at right angles with respect to one another, and in
the opposite direction to the feed pockets h and ', it follows that one quarter
of a revolution is sufficient by for the introduction and emission of steam; in
order to reverse the engine with this description of valve, it is merely neces-
sary to give half a turn to the valve, and in that position to impart to it the
working motion above stated. d is a stuffing box which serves to prevent
the escape of steam, and also to keep the valve properly in position.
I have represented by the Figs. 4 to 10 the arrangement I propose for
working the valves of coupled cylinders, and the means I have adapted for
reversing such engines by an independent valve, which I call a key valve,
and without disturbing either of the working valves. 1 represents one of these
working valves with its passages and for supplying the cylinder in the
position indicated in the Drawing; the steam entering the key n' passes
through the chamber o directly and uninterruptedly, and from thence through
the pockets and v', see Figs. 4, 5, & 10, to the passages p and p', which
supply the working valves 7 and m. It will suffice to describe the working
of to understand the action of m, which is identical to the former. From
this passage p the steam traverses the slot 7 (see Fig. 7), and frou thence
enters directly the cylinder passage, whilst in the meantime the waste
steam from the back of the piston following the passage enters the chamber
through the pockets, and from thence passing through the passage s¹ enters
the cavity s of the key n, from whence it is directed in the waste steam
chambers, escaping through the waste steam pipe s'. When the two engines
have to be reversed, this is effected simultaneously in giving a greater turn
to the key valve n. By this change of position the passages p and pl arc
made to communicate with the waste steam pipe by means of the through
passage u in the key n, whilst the passages s, and s', are brough in direct com-
munication with the steam chamber o by means of the pockets v'aud v. The
key valve n as well as the two rotating valves and m are provided with
stuffing boxes for the purposes above mentioned.
.

page_text: I do not claim any of the parts taken separately, but I claim as my Inven-
tion the combination and arrangements as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Monroe Childs, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
D. M. CHILDS. (L.S.)