IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES POR PROPELLING VESSELS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Mace, of Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, Practical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES POR PROPELLING VESSELS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 16th June 1863, and dated the 28th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Mace at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
January 1863.
I, CHARLES MACE, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Practical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES FOR PROPELLING VESSELS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to steam engines for propelling vessels and for other
purposes.
The first part of my Invention relates to a novel arrangement of the parts
of inverted cylinder, direct-acting, marine screw engines in combination with
surface condensers.
I construct direct-acting screw engines with inverted cylinders, and frame
them together, and support them in the following manner :-I introduce in
the main bed of engines a hollow box frame of a suitable form, and of sufficient
size to receive the arrangement of horizontal tubes forming a surface condenser.
In this condenser the tubes are placed horizontally, or but slightly inclined,
and are in each case disposed in a line with the keel of the ship. It is pre-

page_text: ferred that the circulation of the condensing water should be by mechanical
means, and be through the thin metal tubes of the condenser, whilst the steam
is brought in contact with the exterior surfaces of such tubes. The side or
bottom surface condenser forms the bed of the engine. The columns which
support the cylinders are placed over the condensers. The air pumps are
worked from the top of the piston rods by means of cross heads and descending
rods. The air pumps are formed in the columns that support the cylinders,
and the descending rods work through stuffing boxes at the top end of
columns.
I also, according to my Invention, employ a novel method of fastening the
tube ends by two copper or brass tube plates, drawn together by screws and
perforated to receive the tube. The holes are countersunk between the two
plates to admit india-rubber rings between the tube plates. A ring is placed
around each tube, so as to press against the tube, and make a water-tight joint
allowing the tube at the same time to expand or contract free from any strain.
I also introduce an ordinary injection pipe, which allows the engine to be
worked efficiently as an ordinary injection engine; condensers similarly con-
structed are applicable to paddle and other engines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Mace in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MACE, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Practical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, 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 Charles Mace, Her special licence, that I, the said Charles
Mace, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Mace, 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 FOR PROPELLING VESSELS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Mace, 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 Charles Mace, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
In constructing inverted cylinder steam engines suitable for driving screw
propellers and other uses according to my Invention, the main bed of the
engine is formed into a hollow box frame of a suitable form, and of sufficient
size to receive the arrangement of borizontal tubes of a surface condenser. In.
this condenser the tubes are placed horizontally but slightly inclined, and the
tubes in each are disposed in a line with the keel, and consequently with the
driving shaft of the engine. It is preferred that the circulation of the con-
densing water should be by mechanical means and through the thin metal
tubes of the condenser, whilst the steam is brought in contact with the exterior
surface of such tubes, but this action may be reversed. The condensers form
the bed of the engine, and the hollow columns which rise above and are fixed
to the condensers form the supports of the cylinders; the air pumps are formed
in the columns that support the cylinders, and are worked from cross heads
either above or below the cylinders; the pump rods work through suitable
stuffing boxes, as shewn in the Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews.a front elevation partly in section of a steam engine, with
two steam cylinders and condensers, arranged or combined according to my
Invention; Figure 2 shews a side elevation thereof partly in section; and
Figure 3 shews a plan thereof partly in section. In each of these Figures the
same letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts.
I, I, are the hollow boxes or bed plate of the engine containing the tubes,
constituting the surface condensers; the tubes in the condensers are arranged
parallel to the keel and to the main shaft of the engine; J, J, are pumps in
the columns K, and such pumps descend below the upper surfaces of the
boxes I, as shewn. The pump rods ascend through stuffing boxes, as shewn;

page_text: and such rods may be either worked by a cross head M above the cylinders, or
by continuing the lower cross head in the manner shewn by dotted lines in
Figure 1, so as to have the pump rods fixed thereto. The lower cross head
of each steam cylinder gives motion by a connecting rod to a crank of the
driving shaft of the engine. The lower cross head of each steam cylinder is
connected to two piston rods of such cylinder, and the cross head is guided at
its ends, as is shewn in the Drawings; the hollow boxes constituting the bed of
the engine are connected by cross beams which carry the driving shaft of the
engine. L, L, are the buckets of the pumps; 0, 0, are suction valves; P, P,
the delivery valves; Q, Q, are air vessels formed in the upper parts of the
columns; R, R, are exhaust passages formed in the columns leading from the
steam cylinders to the condensers; S, S, are the exhaust passages into the con-
densers; T, T, are perforated plates to diffuse the steam into the condensers;
U, U, are the steam pipes; V, V, are the foot valves of the air
W, W,
pumps;
are the passages from the vacuum spaces to the foot valves of the air pumps;
X, X, are the delivery valves to the hot well N, N; and Y, Y, are the circu-
lating water spaces of the condensers; A, A, are the delivery valve doors;
B, B, are the bucket doors; C, C, are the delivery valve doors to hot well;
and D, D, are the foot valve doors. In working the pumps the down stroke
of the buckets L draw off the water from the condensers. The up-stroke of
the buckets closes the suction valves 0, 0, and forces the water through the
delivery valves P, P, and thence into the sea when the engines are used for
propelling a ship or vessel. In order that the condensers may be used in the
event of any defect in the tubes, I introduce ordinary injection apparatus
and then use the condensers in the usual manner of ordinary injection
engines.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is the combined arrange-
ment herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Mace, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
CHARLES MACE. (L8.)