IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES.
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Roberts, of Hull, in the County of York,
Smith, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES.
Sealed the 21st August 1860, and dated the 24th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Roberts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th February 1860.
I, SAMUEL ROBERTS, of Hull, in the County of York, Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct steam engines in such a manner
that they may generate their own steam, entirely dispensing with the ordinary
boilers or those at present in use, and is effected as follows:-I propose
placing on each side of the furnace a steam cylinder, or one cylinder only
may be used; above the furnace (springing from each side in an oblique
line towards the upper part) are two flat metallic steam pipes or spaces
running back to the depth of the fire-place, into which the water is passed
from the pump, and allowed to enter each space alternately by means of a
slide valve box charged with water, which is to be so regulated as to allow only

page_text: the required quantity of water to pass. This space being heated to a very
1igh temperature instantly converts the small quantity of water therein into
steam, which then passes into the cylinder on that side of the fire, when by
the time the piston has been driven back to its destination, the slide valve
::llows the water to enter the steam space on the opposite side, and so on
lternately, thus producing the desired effect. In some cases I propose
forming the furnace flue to turn up at its further end, which terminates
with a horizontal metallic flue placed within the centre of the cylinder, around
which flue works a ring piston having rods to guide it on the metallic flue,
aid rods being connected to the driving power. The other end of this flue
terminates in the up-take. On any convenient part of the cylinder is to be
laced the valve box charged with water as before mentioned, thus having
the effect of supplying the required quantity of water, allowing each cylinder
10 generate its own steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Roberts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ROBERTS, of Hull, in the County of York, Smith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign, did,
f. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel
Roberts, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Roberts, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Roberts, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
tiers, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
xpressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
Cited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
1.le of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the
cdition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Roberts, my executors or
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
lands 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

page_text: 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 Samuel Roberts, do hereby declare the
nature of said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to construct steam engines in such a manner
that they may generate their own steam, entirely dispensing with the ordinary
boilers or those at present in use.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, as follows:-
I place on each side of the furnace a steam cylinder, or one cylinder only
may be used; above the furnace (springing from each side in an oblique line
towards the upper part) are two flat metallic steam pipes or spaces running
back to the depth of the fire-place, into which the water is passed from the
pump, and allowed to enter each space alternately by means of a slide valve
box charged with water, which is to be so regulated as to allow only the
required quantity of water to pass. This space being heated to a very high
temperature instantly converts the small quantity of water therein into steam,
which then passes into the cylinder on one side of the fire, when by the time
the piston has been driven back to its destination, the slide valve allows the
water to enter the steam space on the opposite side, and so on alternately,
thus producing the desired effect. In some cases I form the furnace flue to
turn up at its farther end, which terminates with a horizontal metallic flue
placed within the centre of the cylinder, around which fluo works an annular
piston having rods to guide it on the metallic flue, said rods being connected
to the driving power; the other end of this flue terminates in the up-take.
On any convenient part of the cylinder is to be placed the valve box charged
with water as before mentioned, thus having the effect of supplying the
required quantity of water, and allowing each cylinder to generate its own
steam.
Having now described the nature and objects of my said Invention of
"Improvements in Steam Engines," and the manner in which the same is to
be performed, I would remark in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same purpose may be
effected by slightly modifying the parts, and yet strictly adhering to the
principle of my Invention; but what I claim as my Invention intended to be

page_text: secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing
of steam engines in the manner herein described for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Roberts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
SAMUEL TALBOT HASSELL,
4, Colonial Street, Hull.
SAMUEL ROBERTS. (L.S.)