IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Frederick Spencer, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in
the County of Northumberland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 4th August 1863, and dated the 13th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Frederick Spencer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th February 1863.
I, JOHN FREDERICK SPENCER, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the County of
Northumberland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows, that is to
say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in arranging and combining together
the parts of steam engines with surface condensers to suit particular require-
ments and situations.
One modification of the improved arrangements for working the air and cold
water pumps is suitable where the crank shaft is required to be near the
ground line, and where space can be afforded for a horizontal or inclined
engine or engines. In this plan a hollow piston rod is used, having jointed
inside it a short connecting rod jointed at its other end to a vertical lever or

page_text: levers working on a fulcrum some distance below the level of the cylinder o
cylinders. The main or usual connecting rod is also jointed to the vertica
lever or levers at any convenient point above, below, or in the line of the
cylinder. The air and cold water pumps or pump (a combined air and water
pump being preferred) is worked horizontally under the main steam cylinder
from the vertical lever or levers, as may also be the feed pump. With a single
horizontal or inclined engine the surface condenser is placed immediately
under and forms the support of the cylinder. It is firmly bedded on and
bolted to masonry or timber foundations, as may be required, and the air and
cold water pump or pumps are bolted to the under side of the condenser. By
this arrangement the large shell forming the surface condenser casing acts as
a bed plate for the cylinder, and both ends of the condenser are accessible for
examining the tubes or other passages forming the condensing surface. When
two cylinders are used the surface condenser is placed between them, and at
such a level that the exhaust port drains into it; in this case the condenser
shell, bedded and bolted to masonry or timber foundations, forms the support of
the cylinders inside, whilst outside they are supported by masonry or timber,
as required. If three or more cylinders are used, the same arrangement can
be extended, the number of condensers being one less than the number of
cylinders. When two or more cylinders are used, the air and cold water pump
or pumps are attached to one or both sides of the surface condenser.
Another modification of the improved arrangements is suitable where it is
required to have the crank shaft some considerable height above the ground
or floor level. In this case the condenser is placed partly or entirely under
the ground level, and is supported below on one or more hollow-chambered
legs cast on or bolted to it, the leg or legs forming the hot well and air vessel
for the cold water pump. On the top of the condenser there are placed a
vertical cylinder, and a standard or standards for carrying one of the crank shaft
bearings, to which standard may be attached the piston rod guides, the piston rod
and crank pin being connected together by the common connecting rod. The
cylinder considerably overhangs the condenser, its outer side being supported
by columns or standards resting on a sole plate below, and on this sole plate
is fixed a vertical air pump or a combined air and water pump worked directly
from the main piston by means of a rod passed through a stuffing box in the
bottom or lower cover of the cylinder. If two cylinders are used, the second
cylinder with vertical pump below it may be similarly arranged at the other
side of the condenser, and additional standards provided as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,. filed
by the said John Frederick Spencer in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FREDERICK SPENCER, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the County of Northumberland,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Frederick Spencer, Her special licence, that I, the said
John Frederick Spencer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Frederick Spencer, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Frederick Spencer, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 John Frederick Spencer, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improvements in arranging and combining
together the parts of steam engines with surface condensers to suit particular
requirements and situations.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing two modi-
fications of steam engines arranged according to my said Invention.
One modification of my improved arrangements, which have reference to the

page_text: convenient working of the air and cold water pumps, is suitable where the
crank shaft is required to be near the ground line, and where space can be
afforded for a horizontal or inclined engine or engines. This modification is
represented, so far as is necessary for convenient explanation, in Figures 1
and 2 on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, these two Figures being
vertical sections taken at right angles to each other. In this plan a hollow
piston rod or trunk A is used, having jointed inside it a short connecting
rod B jointed at its other end to a vertical lever E, working on a fulcrum C
some distance below the level of the steam cylinder D. The main or usual
connecting rod F is jointed to the vertical lever E at a point G below the
joint of the connecting rod B; it may, however, be jointed to the vertical
lever E at any convenient point above, below, or in the line of the cylinder D, the
throw of the crank H being correspondingly greater than, less than, or equal to
the stroke of the piston I. The lever E may consist of a single arm or plate,
or of two or more arms or plates having the joints between the plates.
Separate pumps for the air and for the cold water may be used, but I prefer
to employ a combined air and cold water pump J, K, as shown, when there.
is only one steam cylinder D, the pump being placed horizontally beneath the
steam cylinder D and condenser L, and being worked from the lever E by a
rod jointed inside of the hollow piston rod or trunk M of the pump piston;
the feed pump may also be disposed horizontally in any convenient position,
and be worked in a similar way from the lever E. The surface condenser L
is placed immediately under and forms the support of the cylinder D; and it
may be cast in one piece with or be united to the frame pieces N, having at
the opposite end the bearing or bearings for the crank shaft P. The con-
denser L, with the side frame pieces N, is firmly bedded on and bolted to
masonry or timber foundations, as may be required, and the air and cold water
pump J, K, is bolted to the under side of the condenser L. The condenser L
is represented as arranged internally, according to my usual system, the tubes
being placed horizontally and parallel to the axis of the steam cylinder D.
The inner end K of the pump acts on the cold water, forcing it into a lower
compartment between the inner tube plate and cover of the condenser L, from
which compartment the water passes through the lower half of the tubes to
the other end, returning again to the inner end through the upper half of the
tubes. The back or outer end J of the pump acts on the water of condensa-
tion and the air, these reaching it from the condenser L by passages, the
arrangement of which will be easily understood from the Drawings. With
these arrangements both ends of the condenser are conveniently accessible for
examining the tubes and the various passages, and other details can be got at

page_text: with facility. A surface condenser of any suitable known kind may be sub-
stituted for the one herein-before described.
When two steam cylinders are used each may be combined with a separate
surface condenser similarly to the arrangement herein-before described, or a
single surface condenser may be placed between the two cylinders, and at a
level sufficiently low for the exhaust ports to drain into it, and in this case the
condenser shell bedded on and bolted to masonry or timber foundations, forms
the support of the cylinders inside, whilst outside they are supported by
masonry or timber, as required. If three or more steam cylinders are used,
either the arrangement last herein-before described can be extended, the
number of condensers being one less than the number of steam cylinders, or each
cylinder may be provided with a separate condenser. When two or more
steam cylinders are used, the air and cold water pump or pumps may be
attached to the condenser side or sidės.
Another modification of my improved arrangements is suitable where it is
required to have the crank shaft some considerable height above the ground or
floor level, and the modification is represented as applied in the case of a
single steam cylinder in Figures 3 and 4 on Sheet 2 of the accompanying
Drawings. In this case the condenser L is placed partly or entirely under the
ground level, and is supported below on two hollow-chambered legs Q, R, cast
on or bolted to it, one leg Q forming the hot well, and the other R an air
vessel for the cold water pump. On the top of the condenser L there are
placed a vertical steam cylinder D, and an arched or two-legged standard S,
the latter carrying one of the bearings for the crank shaft P, and having
attached to it the piston rod guides T, the piston rod U, and crank pin V,
being connected together by the common connecting rod W. The steam cylinder
D considerably overhangs the condenser L, its outer side being supported by
columns or standards X resting on a sole plate Y. Below and on this sole
plate Y are fixed vertically, either separate air and cold water pumps, or, as is
preferred and shown in the Drawings, a combined air and cold water pump
J, K, which is worked directly from the main steam piston by a rod Z passed
through a stuffing box in the bottom or lower cover of the steam cylinder D.
The valve chambers and passages in connection with the pump J, K, are
arranged conveniently for access, as will be clearly understood from the
Drawings. If two steam cylinders are used, the second cylinder with vertical
punp below it may be similarly arranged at the other side of the condenser,
additional standards being provided, as required.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict

page_text: myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the arranging or combining
of the parts of steam engines with surface condensers substantially in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Frederick Spencer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN FREDERICK SPENCER. (L.s.)