IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, PART OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
HAWTHORN and WILLIAM HAWTHORN, of the Borough and County of New-
castle-upon-Tyne, Engineers and Partners, send greeting.
years
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-fourth day of
February (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Robert Hawthorn and William Hawthorn, our exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that we, the said Robert Hawthorn and William Hawthorn, our exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Hawthorn and
William Hawthorn, our exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, PART OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER
STEAM ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we,
the said Robert Hawthorn and William Hawthorn, or one of us, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with tlie said proviso, we, the said
Robert Hawthorn and William Hawthorn, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
is particularly described and ascertained in the Drawings hereto annexed, and
by the following explanation thereof:-
First, our Invention consists in the application of double compensating
beams and springs, so arranged as to distribute more uniformly the weight
upon the wheels and axles of locomotive engines, so as to accomniodate them-
selves to any irregularities in the line of railway, and still to maintain at all
times a constant amount of adhesion.
Second, the Invention relates to relieving the pressure of steam upon the
slide valves of locomotive and other steam engines, and thereby reducing the
friction; wear and tear, strength of gearing, and the power of working the
same.
Third, to a new mode of applying what is technically termed the link
motion, for working. the slide valves of locomotive and other steam engines,
by which the motion is rendered more perfect, more durable, and less power
required to change and regulate the motion of the said valves:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Note: The Patent Improvements in the Drawings are chiefly colored:red;
to distinguish them more clearly, and the same letters refer to the same
parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a side view of a locomotive-engine, with outside framing and
outside bearings; as at present generally used on railways for passenger and
express trains, which represents our double compensating beams a, a, and
springs, b, b, as applied underneath the said outside framing.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of Figure 1 with 'the boiler removed; in which
is shewn a plan of our patent link c; and in Figure 3, a side view of the said
link as applied to one of the slide valves.
Figure 4 is a side view of a locomotive engine similar to Figure 1, repré-
senting the double compensating beams and springs as applied above. the
framing, which will admit of any variation in the diameter of the wheels:
Figure 5 is a side view of a locomotiove engine with all the six wheels
coupled, as generally used on railways for luggage and heavy mineral traffic
shewing our double compensating beams and springs, as applied above the
framing. It may be here remarked, that although Figure 1, Figures 4 and 5,

page_text: are represented with outside framing and outside bearings, the double
compensating beams and springs are equally applicable to inside framing
and inside bearings.
Figure 6 is a side view of a light description of locomotive passenger engine,
with inside framing and inside bearings, having the double compensating
beams and springs placed below the framing. The beams are each formed of
one instead of two plates, as represented in the preceding Figures, with a
different arrangement in the position and connexion of the springs.
Figure 7 is a side view of a locomotive engine, with the driving and trailing
wheels coupled, as generally used for mixed trains. The double compensating
beam and springs are applied above the framing; but it will be observed, that
the leverage of the beams is so proportioned in connexion with the springs as
to transfer all unnecessary weight from the leading wheels, and distribute it
over the coupled wheels, to give the required weight for adhesion.
Figure 8 is a sectional plan, on an enlarged scale, of our patent improved
slide valves as applied to locomotive engines, with the cylinder faces, steam
and exhaust passages; and,
Figure 9, a cross section of the same through the centre of the exhaust
passages.
Figure 10 is a vertical section of a side pipe and cylinder slide faces, repre-
senting our patent improved slide valves, one a sectional, the other a side view,
as applied to other steam engines.
DOUBLE COMPENSATING BEAMS AND SPRINGS.
a, a, in Figures 1, 4, and 5, represent the two compensating beams and
the two springs on one side of the engine. The beams are formed of two
plates each, and the springs b, b, placed between the plates. In Figure 6,
the compensating beams shown are formed of one plate each, and the springs
placed above them. In single engines, as represented in Figures 1, 4, and 6,
the springs are in the centre of the compensating beams, by which one half
the weight of the engine is put upon the driving wheels for adhesion, although
the weight upon the driving wheels may be increased or diminished by moving
the position of the springs in either direction from the centre of the beams.
Figure 5 is an engine with all the six wheels coupled. The connection of the
springs with the beams, as here shown, distributes the weight nearly equal
upon all the wheels. Figure 7: the position of the springs in this engine is
varied from the centre of the compensating beams, so as to transfer the sur-
plus weight from the leading wheels which are not coupled, and distributed it
over the four coupled wheels, where it is so essential for adhesion. The object

page_text: of our Invention, as relates to the double compensating beams and springs is,
to communicate throughout a simultaneous connection or action to all the axle
bearings, so that whatever weight is put upon the bearings and the wheels
in the construction of the engine is uniformly maintained, thereby securing a
constant weight upon the driving wheels for adhesion, and which is not
affected by any irregularities or imperfections in the line of railway. By this
arrangement of our patent compensating beams and springs, great stability and
easy motion is given to the engine, and which advantage is more particularly
felt when running at high speeds, besides being less injurious to the permanent
way than engines with the ordinary description of springs.
SLIDE VALVES.
Figures 8 and 9 represent the slide valves working on edge, and back-to-
back in one steam chest between two cylinders, as applied to locomotive
engines, or other engines having two cylinders placed adjoining each other in
a similar way, either in a horizontal, angular, or vertical position. a, a, in
both Figures represent the ordinary faces of the valves. b, plate cast upon
the back of one valve (this plate may be bolted on), sufficiently long to answer
the length and stroke of the valve, which is planed correctly parallel with the
face of the valve. c, a box cast upon the back of the other valve, into which
is fitted the piston d; the face of this piston is also planed parallel with the
face of the valve. The piston is made steam-tight in the most simple manner
by the packing e, e, which is tightened up and kept in its place by the packing
ring and bolts, as represented, affording at the same time a yielding connexion
between the valves. The elliptic springs 9, 9, in Figure 8, press in each
direction, so as to keep the valves to their faces when the steam is shut off.
The plate and piston are ground together, and made to work steam-tight
against each other. f,f, is a passage which is open at all parts of the stroke,
formed through the said plate and piston, between the exhaust ports of both
slide valves, which gives a freer discharge to the steam. The slido valves, thus
fitted and packed, are put into the steam chest as in ordinary cases; and when
the packing requires to be renewed, which will be very seldom in consequence
of the trifling motion upon it, it is only necessary to remove one of the steam-
chest bonnets, and draw out the valves in the usual way. By this arrangement
of valves they are relieved from about one half the pressure of steam; conse-
quently, the friction, the power to work them, the wear and tear of the faces
and gearing, are reduced. It may be here observed, that the area of the box
and piston of one valve, as before described, may be varied so as to regulate
the amount of pressure upon the valves, taking care to reserve a sufficient

page_text: pressure to keep the valves to their respective faces 8, s, upon the cylinders.
The steam passages h, h, h, h, and exhaust passages i, i, are, with the faces 8, 8,
similar to those of ordinary cylinders, so that the ordinary valves may be
substituted by the patent slide valves to any of the locomotive engines now at
work or being made. The slide rods j and k do not differ from those gene-
rally used, except that when the plate 6 is cast on the back of the valve, the
hoop part on the rod j must be made with a loose side to admit the valve,
after which it is secured by bolts.
The slide valves represented by Figure 10 are applicable to one cylinder
in stationary and other steam engines. One valve is shown in section, and
the other in side view, with the exhaust pipe and valve box in section. a, the
faces of the valves with the projection or piston d cast on the back, which is
fitted into the box c cast upon the face b, working steam-tight against the
exhaust side, packed and made steam-tight in a similar manner to the slide
valves already described. h, h, the passage to the top and bottom of the
cylinder. ff, the exhaust passages into the exhaust pipe i; hence the steam
is conveyed to the atmosphere or the condenser, as the case may be.
m, the
steam pipe leading from the boiler into the steam chest o. k, the rod for
connecting the two slide valves, and j, the rod by which the motion is com-
municated to the valves. It may be also here remarked, that the slide valves
can be taken out for packing or repairs, by simply removing the bonnet n.
These slide valves possess similar advantages to those already described, in
relieving the pressure of steam upon the faces, friction, &c. &c.
THE LINK MOTION, shewn in Figures 2 and 3.
The link c (termed the expansive link), instead of being connected to the
end of the eccentric rods r, r, and moved up and down with them, is directly
hinged or connected by an eye joint to the end part p of the slide rod, by
which the weight of the link is removed from the reversing gear entirely, and
thus, having a fixed centre, less power is required to reverse and regulate the
slide valves. The action of the valves is more correct, and more so when
cutting off the steam and working expansively, and the link is also rendered
more durable by its admitting of what is termed the sliding block e (to which
the eccentric rods are attached) being more than three times the length of
those in ordinary links. Another advantage is, that this link admits of the
boiler being brought down lower or nearer to the axis.
Having now fully described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be performed, we claim the double compensating beams and
springs, as applied to all tho axle bearings of six-wheeled locomotive engines,

page_text: with the axle bearings either inside or outside of the wheels, or the compen-
sating beams and springs either above or below the framing, or the one below
and the other above the framing so long as the same object is attained, as
fully described in the foregoing Specification. Although the Drawings and
description refer only to six-wheeled engines, we claim the application of
the compensating beams and springs as specified when applied to more than
two axles, whether the engine have six or more wheels.
We claim also the varying of the springs from the centre of the compen-
sating beams, by which the weight is distributed as required over the respec-
tive wheels to answer the different classes of engines. We are aware that
compensating beams with springs have been applied and used, to some extent,
to the bearings of two of the axles of the locomotive engines.
In regard to the slide valves, we claim the construction of the valves as
working in connexion with each other, back-to-back in one steam chest, either
with or without the passage formed through the plate and piston into the
exhaust ports, as herein-before fully described. We claim, in the slide valves
of stationary and marine engines, the opening through the slide valves for
the passage of the steam either into or from the cylinder, as herein-before
described.
As to the link motion, we claim the link as hinged on or connected by an
eye joint to the end or any other part of the slide rod or rods of locomotive
or other steam engines, and the connexion of the ends of the eccentric rods
with the long sliding block or blocks, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hawthorn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
MOWBRAY.
WILLIAM (L.s.) HAWTHORN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Hawthorn came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.