IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES be as follows:
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM LOWRIE of 9 Wilton Road, Dalston in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES to be as follows:―
"
According to this invention I construct engines to be worked with steam or
other elastic fluids under pressure with three single acting cylinders placed side by
side. The central one I make of double the area of each of the others and its
piston I make of double the weight of each of the other pistons. The piston of the
central cylinder I couple by a connecting rod to a crank which is opposite to cranks
to which the pistons of the two other cylinders are coupled and the two end cranks
I similarly make to balance the central one. The two outer connecting rods I also
similarly make to balance the central connecting rod.
In this way as the two end connecting rods have corresponding movements to
the movement of the central one the crank shaft and the parts connected with it
will not only balance one another whilst the crank is standing but also at what-
ever speed the crank shaft may be revolved. The pressures also upon the crank
shaft will also balance one another as when the central piston moves in one
direction the other pistons will be moving in the opposite direction and whether
the central piston is making its forward stroke or the two smaller pistons are
making theirs the pressures upon the crank shaft will always be equal and central
between the bearings all the strains also upon the crank shaft will be internal
within it and there will be no tendency to impart to the crank shaft a gyratory
motion and no varying strains will be transmitted from it to the bearings conse-
quently the engine will remain steady without any tendency to move its bed at
whatever speed it may be driven. It will be obvious that in place of a single
large cylinder being made to work on to the central crank two smaller cylinders
each of the same size as the two outer cylinders might be substituted for it and
these might either be placed side by side or in a line with one another, that is,
tandem fashion.
The crank shaft of the engine I make as heretofore to run in a hollow pedestal
partially filled with oil or lubricating fluid-but I divide this pedestal horizontally
into two parts in a plane passing through the centre of the crank shaft so that
when these two parts are separated the crank shaft can readily be dropped into its
bottom bearings which are carried within the lower half of the pedestal. In this

page_text: way the crank shaft can readily be put into or taken out of place. All the bearings
of the crank shaft I also place within the casing so that they may be efficiently
lubricated with the oil or lubricating fluid contained therein.
To control the admission to and escape of steam from the single acting cylinders
I provide the piston of each cylinder with a hollow cylindrical extension made to
act as a cut off slide valve and, with an inner feed slide valve working therein as
described in a Provisional Specification lodged by me No 11077 in last year, but in
place of making such inner slide valve with one cavity or recess only which is
brought at one time into position to be opposite a steam inlet port and a second
port in the hollow cylindrical extension from the piston to admit steam to the
cylinder and at another time is brought opposite this second port and an exhaust
passage formed through the piston to exhaust steam from the cylinder I make it
with two such cavities or recesses one above the other, one serving to put the
central port in communication with the steam inlet port and the other to put it
into communication with the exhaust port. In this way I am able to guard the
exhaust better from high pressure steam and sooner to effect the opening of the
central port with the exhaust and make the inner slide valve in other respects also
more perfect in its action.

page_text: 12
I, WILLIAM LOWRIE of 9 Wilton Road Dalston in the County of Middlesex
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
According to this invention I construct engines to be worked with steam or
other elastic fluids under pressure with three single acting cylinders placed side by.
side. The central one I make of double the area of each of the others and its
piston I make of double the weight of each of the other pistons. The piston of the
central cylinder I couple by a connecting rod to a crank which is opposite to cranks
to which the pistons of the two other cylinders are coupled and the two end cranks
I similarly make to balance the central one. The two outer connecting rods I also
similarly make to balance the central connecting rod.
In this way as the two end connecting rods have corresponding movements to
the movement of the central one the crank shaft and the parts connected with it
will not only balance one another whilst the crank is standing but also at what-
ever speed the crank shaft may be revolved. The pressures also upon the crank
shaft will also balance one another as when the central piston moves in one
direction the other pistons will, be moving in the opposite direction and whether
the central piston is making its forward stroke or the two smaller pistons are
making theirs the pressures upon the crank shaft will always be equal and central
between the bearings all the strains also upon the crank shaft will be internal
within it and there will be no tendency to impart to the crank shaft a gyratory
motion and no varying strains will be transmitted from it to the bearings con-
sequently the engine will remain steady without any tendency to move its bed at
whatever speed it may be driven. It will be obvious that in place of a single
large cylinder being made to work on to the central crank two smaller cylinders'
each of the same size as the two outer cylinders might be substituted for it and
these might either be placed side by side or in a line with one another, that is,
tandem fashion. The crank shaft of the engine I make as heretofore to run in a
hollow pedestal partially filled with oil or lubricating fluid, but I divide this
pedestal horizontally into two parts in a plane passing through the centre of the
crank shaft so that when these two parts are separated the crank shaft can readily
be dropped into its bottom bearings which are carried within the lower half of the
pedestal. In this way the crank shaft can readily be put into or taken out of place.
All the bearings of the crank shaft I also place within the casing so that they'
may be efficiently lubricated with the oil or lubricating fluid contained therein.
To control the admission to and escape of steam from the single acting cylinders
I provide the piston of each cylinder with a hollow cylindrical extension made to
act as a cut off slide valve and with an inner feed slide valve working therein as
described in a Provisional Specification lodged by me No 11077 in last year, but in
place of making such inner slide valve with one cavity or recess only which is
brought at one time into position to be opposite a steam inlet port and a second
port in the hollow cylindrical extension from the piston to admit steam to the
cylinder and at another time is brought opposite this second port and an exhaust
passage formed through the piston to exhaust steam from the cylinder I make it
with two such cavities or recesses one above the other, one serving to put the
central port in communication with the steam inlet port and the other to put it

page_text: into communication with the exhaust port. In this way I am able to guard the
exhaust better from high pressure steam and sooner to effect the opening of the
central port to the exhaust- and make the inner slide valve in other, respects also
more perfect in its action.
In the drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn an engine constructed of three
cylinders as above described but as before stated the central larger cylinder might
be replaced by two cylinders of the same dimensions as the two outer ones either
placed side by side or in a line with one another that is tandem fashion with one
piston rod common to both.
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the engine-Figure 2 is a vertical
transverse section through the central cylinder and Figure 3 is a similar section
through one of the outer cylinders.
22
A is the central cylinder. B. B are the two outer cylinders, A' is the piston of
the larger cylinder and B' B¹ are the pistons of the two smaller cylinders-C is the
connecting rod from the piston A¹ to a crank D' on the crank shaft D and C¹ C¹
are the connecting rods from the smaller pistons B¹ B¹ to other cranks D* D* which
are opposite crank D-X is the hollow pedestal carrying the cylinders and the
bearings for the crank shaft-As above stated it is divided in a horizontal plane
passing through the centre of the crank shaft to allow of the crank shaft being
readily put into or taken out of place--All the bearings of the crank shaft are also
as shewn formed within an oil chamber X' which forms part of the lower portion
of the hollow pedestal so that all of the bearings may be efficiently lubricated by
the lubricating liquid contained in the oil chamber. In the arrangement as shewn
in the drawings a communication X2 is formed from the bottom of the oil chamber
into a chamber X³ to which water can be supplied through an opening X* which
also serves as an overflow opening so that the oil in the chamber X' may always be
maintained at a proper level.
•
The upper part of the pedestal X has doors X³ which can be removed whenever
desired to get at the crank pin bearings and the bolts which secure the two parts
of the pedestal ✗ together so that all these parts can readily be put together or
separated as desired.
E are the hollow cylindrical extensions from the back of the pistons these pass
through the cylinder covers and into a steam chamber F which is above the
cylinders as described in the specification lodged by me with an application for a
Patent No 11077 in last year. As described in that specification the hollow
cylindrical extension E has ports E1 and E2 formed in it-E¹ are the ports which
by the movement of the pistons are alternately carried up into the steam chamber F
and withdrawn from it. E are the ports close to the pistons by which steam is
allowed to pass from the hollow cylindrical extensions E to the cylinders. E³ are
the ports or passages through the pistons which serve as exhaust ports as described
in the specification above mentioned.
G are the inner slide valves the lower ends of which are by links C* coupled to
short arms C** which stand out from the connecting rods but as described in the
above mentioned specification other means for giving motion to the inner slide
valve from the rocking motion of the connecting rod might be adopted.
G1 G2 are the two cavities which I now form in the inner slide valve. The
cavity can at one time be brought over the ports E¹, E and the cavity G³ can
at another time be brought over the ports E, E³-H are the ports through the
sides of the cylinder and I is the exhaust chamber into which they open. I is the
outlet from this exhaust chamber-The steam chamber F is supplied with steam
through openings F¹ from an annular chamber F2 which surrounds the upper part
of the central cylinder A and which is itself supplied with steam through a steam
inlet F (see figure 2).
The action of the engine is as follows:-
When the piston A¹ of the larger cylinder A is at the end of its,back stroke the

page_text: The crank shaft revolves in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2, the rocking
of the connecting rod C will therefore be causing the slide valve G to which it is
coupled to move downwards. The cavity G¹ in the valve G will therefore be
brought over the ports E' E' and steam will pass from the steam chest F into the
working end of the cylinder-When the piston has made about one third of its
forward stroke the ports E' will have been withdrawn from the steam chest and
the further supply of steam to the cylinder is thereby cut off-Just before the
piston completes its forward stroke it passes beyond the upper end of the ports H
through the sides of the cylinder and the greater part of the steam in the cylinder
will thereby be allowed to escape from it as described in the specification above
mentioned. At the extreme end of the forward stroke the inner slide valve will
be in the same position relatively to the tubular extension E that it was in at the
extreme end of the backward stroke and as is shewn in the drawing, but the inner
slide valve will now be moving upwards instead of downwards-The cavity G³ of
the slide valve G will thereby next be brought over the ports E², E³, thereby
allowing steam to escape from the working end of the cylinder through these ports
and through the exhaust ports H in the sides of the cylinder.
The admission to and escape of steam from each of the two outer smaller
cylinders is controlled in precisely the same way as with the central and larger
cylinder but as the cranks to which their pistons are coupled are opposite to the
crank to which the piston of the central and larger cylinder is coupled they are
always moving in the contrary direction to this cylinder.
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
1. In steam and other engines in which three or more single acting cylinders
ranged side by side are used, making the crank sbaft with three cranks the two
outer ones of which are opposite to the central one and in balance with it and in
addition making the area and weights of the pistons and connecting rods which
work onto the two outer cranks to be equal to the area and weights of the piston
and connecting rod or rods which work on to the central crank so that they are in
balance at whatever speed the engine may be driven.
2. In steam and other engines in which the cylinders are carried by a hollow
pedestal or chamber through which the crank shaft passes dividing the pedestal
in a plane passing through the central line of the crank shaft substantially as
described.
3. Forming all the bearings in which the crank shaft runs within the interior. of
the hollow pedestal upon which the cylinders are carried substantially as described.
4. In steam and other engines in which the piston of each cylinder is formed
with a cylindrical extension which acts as a slide valve to control the cut off of
steam from the cylinder after any desired portion of the stroke has been completed,
and in which an inner slide valve is worked to and fro in this cylindrical extension
by the angular motion of the connecting rod making the inner slide valve with two
cavities G, G, one of which G' can at one time be brought over ports E¹, E², to
admit steam to the cylinder and the other one of which G can at another time be
brought over the ports E³, E³, to allow steam to pass from the cylinder substantially
as described.