IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH THE VALVES OF MOTIVE POWER ENGINES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hargreaves and William Inglis, both of Bolton,
in the County of Lancaster for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
CONNECTED WITH THE VALVES OF MOTIVE POWER ENGINES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hargreaves &
William Inglis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
14th December 1882.
WILLIAM HARGREAVES, and WILLIAM INGLIS, both of Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster, "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH THE VALVES OF MOTIVE
POWER ENGINES
"
This Invention relates to engines in which the admission of steam or other
motive fluid is controlled by valves worked by liberating gear, or gear of the class
of which what is known as Corliss valve gear is an example, and its object is to
modify such valves and gear in a manner admitting of the engines being run at
higher speeds than are generally attained in practice with such valves and gear as
hitherto constructed or arranged.
The present Invention is applicable with valves of various kinds including what
are known as Corliss valves, and what are known as lift or Cornish valves. The
Invention consists, according to one modification, in providing two valves in place
of each valve hitherto used, and in causing such two valves to open separately
during alternate revolutions of the crank shaft. In this way'each valve will open
only once for every two revolutions, or in other words the frequency of action of
each valve will be only half that of ordinary single valves for a given speed of the
engine. Various existing arrangements of valve gear may be easily adapted for
working the alternate valves as required but preference is given to gearing of the
kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to the present
applicants and dated 5 July 1881 (N° 2933). In this valve gear there is a valve-
motion shaft driven through gearing from the crank shaft and for the purposes
of the present Invention this valve-motion shaft has to be geared so as to rotate
at half the speed of the crank shaft, and cams or wipers on it for moving the
[Price 6d.]
.

page_text: valves have to be placed so as to act alternately on the two valves of each pair,
the said cams or wipers being also shaped to give suitable opening movements to
the valves.
In a similar manner, in cases in which a still smaller frequency of action of
each valve is desirable, there may be substituted a set of three or more valves
arranged to operate separately and successively for each single valve as at
present used.
The exhaust valves of the engine may be operated from the same valve-motion
shaft as the admission valves, or they may be operated in any other suitable
known way. When the exhaust valves are worked from the same shaft as the
admission valves and which rotates at half the speed of the crank shaft, an
eccentric or crank or cam on the shaft is arranged to impart an oscillating motion
to a disk or pair of levers connected to the exhaust valve levers or rods in a
A
manner to give two openings to each valve for each rotation of the shaft.
similar arrangement is also applicable for working an ordinary main slide valve;
or the slide valve of the low-pressure cylinder of a compound engine the high-
pressure cylinder of which has admission valves worked as hereinbefore described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Hargreaves and William Inglis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th June 1883.
WILLIAM HARGREAVES, and WILLIAM INGLIS, both of Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster, "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH THE VALVES OF MOTIVE
POWER ENGINES
*ነ
Our said Invention relates to engines in which the admission of steam or other
motive fluid is controlled by valves worked by liberating gear, or gear of the class
of which what is known as Corliss valve gear is an example; and its object is to
modify such valves and gear in a manner admitting of the engines being run at
higher speeds than are generally attained in practice with such valves and gear as
hitherto constructed or arranged.
Our
Our present Invention is applicable with valves of various kinds including what
are known as Corliss valves, and what are known as lift or Cornish valves.
Invention consists, according to one modification in providing two valves in place
of each valve hitherto used, and to cause such two valves to open separately during
alternate revolutions of the crank shaft. In this way, each valve will open only
once for every two revolutions or in other words, the frequency of action of each
valve will be only half that of ordinary single valves for a given speed of the
engine. Various existing arrangements of valve gear may be easily adapted for
working the alternate valves as required; but we prefer to use gearing of the kind
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to us and dated 5 July
1881 (No.2933).
In a similar manner, in cases in which a still smaller frequency of action of
each valve is desirable, there may be substituted a set of three or more valves;
arranged to operate separately and successively, for each single valve as at
present used.
The exhaust valves of the engine may be operated from the same valve-motion
shaft as the admission valves, or they may be operated in any other suitable
known way. When the exhaust valves are worked from the same shaft as the
admission valves and which rotates at half the speed of the crank shaft, an
eccentric, or crank, or cam on the shaft is arranged to impart an oscillating motion
to a disc or pair of levers or rods in a manner to give two openings to each valve
for each rotation of the shaft. A similar arrangement is also applicable for
working an ordinary main slide valve; or the slide valve of the low-pressure
cylinder of a compound engine the high-pressure cylinder of which has admission
valves worked as herein before described.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood we hereunto append two sheets of explanatory.
drawings to be hereinafter referred to and representing various modifications of
our improved arrangements.
Figure, 1, on sheet 1, of the accompanying drawings is a sectional side elevation
of a steam-engine cylinder with Corliss valves, the admission valves being arranged
on the upper side of the cylinder. Figure, 2, is a side elevation of a similar
cylinder showing our improved arrangement for working the exhaust valves.;
Figure, 3, is a sectional side elevation of a steam-engine cylinder with the.
admission valves arranged at the ends. Figures, 4. and 5. on sheet, 2 are a
sectional end elevation and a sectional plan showing the adaptation of our;

page_text: previously patented gearing for working our new arrangement of valves. Figure, 6,
is a diagram showing our mode of working an ordinary slide valve or other valve
by means of a shaft rotating at half the speed of the crank shaft. In these
drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
In figure 1, one, 6, of the admission valve chests is shown in section. There are
two valves, 7, 8, of the ordinary Corliss type each consisting of a cylindrical
segment working on a cylindrical port face. There is one admission passage, 9,
into the cylinder end but this passage communicates with two ports one for each
valve, 7, 8. In figure, 2, the ends of the admission valve chests, 6, 10, are shown
with the projecting rocking spindles, 11, and the positions and movements of the
small levers on the ends of the spindles are indicated by small circles and lines
at, 12. Various arrangements of Corliss or liberating valve gear may be used for
working the valves the levers on the ends of the valve spindles being of course
placed to suit the kind of gear employed. The positions of the valve-spindle
levers indicated at 12, in figure, 1, are suitable for the kind of gear described in
our earlier Specification herein before referred to (N° 2933 of '81) and the arrange-
ment of the principal parts of such gear as adapted for working our alternating
admission valves is shown in figures, 4 and 5. In this arrangement there is a
valve-motion shaft, 13, driven through bevil gearing from the crank shaft of the
engine, and for the purposes of our present Invention this valve-motion shaft is
geared so as to rotate at half the speed of the crank. shaft, and cams or wipers, 14,
are placed on it so as to act alternately on the two valves (7, 8) of each pair, the
two cams of each pair being made diametrically opposite to each other. For each
valve spindle, 11, there is a vertical rod, 15, having at its lower end a piston
working in a dash pot cylinder, 16. A sleeve piece, 17, on each vertical rod 15, is
acted on by the cam, 14, and acts on the vertical rod through a trigger, 18, which
engages, with a block or boss, 19, fixed on the vertical rod. The adjustable
releasing mechanism and other details are the same as those shown and described
in our earlier Specification hereinbefore referred to.
For working the exhaust valves from the same valve-motion shaft, 13, which
which rotates at half the speed of the crank shaft, a short transverse shaft, 20, is
provided and is driven by bevil wheels from the shaft, 13. On this shaft, 20,
there is an eccentric, 21, which works a two armed lever which is centered on a
stud, 22, and of which the positions and movements are indicated by small circles
and lines, 23. The ends of the lever (23) is connected by links shown by lines, 24,
to short levers on the spindles, 25, of the exhaust valves. It will be seen that
with this arrangement a to-and-fro' movement corresponding in extent to the
versed sine of the arc through which the lever (23) moves is imparted to the
levers of the exhaust-valve spindle, twice for each up-and-down vibration of the
lever (23) so that for each half rotation of the valve-motion shaft, 13, or for each
complete rotation of the crank shaft each exhaust valve will be opened once, which
is what is required.
Figure, 6, is a diagram showing a similar arrangement for moving the spindle, 26,
of an ordinary slide valve. A shaft, 20, rotating at half the speed of the crank
shaft has on it an eccentric, 21, connected to a bellerank lever, 27, 23, on a stud, 22;
and one arni, 23, of the lever is connected by the link, 24, to the valve spindle, 26.
With this arrangement two to-and-fro' movements will be imparted to the valve
spindle for each rotation of the shaft, 20.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention and the manner of
performing the same we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be novel
and original and claim as the Invention secured to us by and in terms of the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The fitting of motive-power engines having liberating valve gear with two or
more admission valves in place of each single valve as ordinarily used such two or

page_text: more valves being opened separately and alternately or in rotation substantially
as and for the purposes herein before described.
2. The arrangement of mechanism for imparting two to-and-fro' movements to
a valve for each rotation of the valve shaft substantially as herein before described
with reference to figures, 2 and 6, of the accompanying drawings.
In Witness whereof I, the said William Inglis, on behalf of the said
William Hargreaves and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal this
ninth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and eighty-three.
WILLIAM INGLIS (L.S.)