IMPROVED MEANS OF OPERATING SLIDE VALVES, FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUCTION OF STEAM IN RECIPROCATING STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF OPERATING SLIDE VALVES,
FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUCTION OF STEAM IN RECIPROCATING STEAM
ENGINES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF OPERATING SLIDE
VALVES FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUCTION OF STEAM IN RECIPROCATING STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to engines for pumping, and for all other
operations in which a reciprocating rectilinear motion, and not a rotary motion,
is required.
It consists in certain novel means, by the employment of which one or
more slide valves have imparted to them in a very sudden manner, through
the direct agency of the steam in the valve chest of the engine, as the stroke
of the piston of an engine terminates in either direction, the whole or part of
the movement necessary to change the course of the steam through the
passages to drive the piston in the opposite direction.
The valve driver," which is contained in the valve chest, consists of a flat
plate considerably longer than the valve, with projecting ears in front of and
behind the valves; the space between the two ears, exceeds the length of the

page_text: valve; on this flat plate a cylinder is cast and bored truly, to receive a piston
which works steam-tight therein, and is supported on the upper end of a
rocking arm, the lower end of which rests in a cup, bearing in the bottom of
the eduction chamber of the steam cylinder. Holes are made in the flat
sliding plate or valve driver to admit steam to the under side of the piston,
and the top of the piston is at the same time exposed to the pressure of the
steam in the valve chest. The cylinder of the valve driver is encircled by a
ring, to which is attached a rod, which passes through a stuffing box at the
front end of the valve chest, and is furnished with two collars, between which
plays a tappet arm secured to the piston rod of the engine; these collars are
so set on the rod that the tappet arm will strike them' when the piston of the
steam cylinder approaches near the end of its stroke. When the piston of the
engine has arrived near enough to the end of its stroke to set the tappet arm
in action, the "valve driver" will move, but before moving the valves far
enough to close the ports, the upper end of the rocking arm, moving with the
piston of the "valve driver," passes its culminating point, and the steam, which
is always acting on the top of that piston, to force it towards the valve seat,
will cause the arm that sustains it to be thrown suddenly towards one end of
the valve chest, and thereby give the "driver" a quick movement, to produce
or complete the stroke of the valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her_Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand-eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: for "IMPROVED MEANS OF OPERATING SLIDE VALVES FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUC-
TION OF STEAM IN RECIPROCATING STEAM ENGINES," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
:―
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, is
applicable to steam engines employed for pumping, and for all other operations
in which a reciprocating rectilinear motion, and not a rotary motion, is required.
It consists in certain novel means, by the employment of which one or
more slide valves have imparted to them in a very sudden manner, through
the direct agency of the steam in the valve chest of an engine, as the stroke
of the piston of the engine terminates in either direction, the whole or part of
the movement necessary to change the course of the steam through the
passages to drive the piston in the opposite direction.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig.
1 is a longitudinal elevation (partly in section through the centre) of a pumping
engine with the Invention applied; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section in
the line x, x, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan of the interior of the valve chest,
showing one of the slide valves and the driving apparatus, but having one
valve omitted to shew the arrangement of the ports; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the valve chest in the line y, y, of Figs. 2 and 3 ; and Fig.
5 is a plan of the valve seat. Similar letters of reference indicate correspond-
ing parts in the several Figures. A is the steam cylinder; cast with a foot
a, and arranged horizontally; B is the pump cylinder, cast with a foot b, and
arranged horizontally, with its centre in line with the centre of the steam
cylinder, and connected' rigidly with the steam cylinder by three rods C, C, C.
The feet a, b, are intended to be bolted to any suitable foundation, and they
and the rods C, C, C, constitute all the framing of the engine; D is the steam
piston working in the cylinder A; and d is the piston rod connecting the
piston D with the pump piston. The interior of the pump is not represented,
as its Construction constitutes no part of this Invention. J is the valve chest,

page_text: which receives steam at the top through a pipe H, that is furnished with a
stop valve I. The valve chest contains two slide valves F, F, arranged parallel
with each other on opposite sides of a plate G, which may be termed the
"valve driver;" this valve driver slides upon the plane surface s, s, which con-
stitutes the seat of the valves F, F; each valve works over a separate series
of three ports, viz., two induction ports i, ¹, and an eduction port e, which are
arranged substantially like those commonly used in engines employing the
short slide valve. The induction ports of the two series may communicate by
separate passages with the interior of the cylinder, or the passages of the two
induction ports i, i, that are to supply steam to one end of the cylinder, may
connect before entering the cylinder, and the passages of the two ¹, ¹, may
connect in like manner. The two eduction ports e, e, communicate with an
eduction chamber E, on one side of which is the eduction pipe T; the valves
F, F, are both exactly alike, and are made with two cavities c, c, as shown in
Fig. 4, where one of the valves is shewn in longitudinal section; each cavity
c in either valve is just long enough to cover the eduction port e and one of the
induction ports i or 1, and the partition between the two cavities is just long
enough to cover the partitions between the induction and eduction ports, all of
which is illustrated in Fig. 4, where the valve is shown at one end of its stroke
in black outline and at the other end in red outline. A channel h is made in the
valve seat at each end of the steam chest, and in line with each series of
ports, to admit steam from the chest under the ends
the corner of the "valve driver" into the ports i, .
with a projection m on its back, and projections n, n',
are cast on each side of the interior of the steam chest, to serve as stops to
the said projection, and thus prevent the valves moving farther than is necessary.
The "valve driver" consists of a flat plate G, considerably longer than the
valve, with two ears 9, g', projecting on opposite sides, in front of and behind
the valves. The space between the two ears g, g', on either side of the valve,
exceeds the length of the valve. The plate G has cast with it a cylinder K,
standing up on its back, and this cylinder is bored truly, perpendicularly to the
valve face, to receive a piston L, which works steam-tight therein, and is
supported on the upper end of a rocking arm f, the lower end of which rests
in a cup bearing in the bottom of the eduction chamber E; the said arm
passing through an opening j in the centre of the bottom of the steam chest,
which opening with holes z, z, in the "valve driver," constitute a means
of communication between the eduction chamber and the portion of the
cylinder K below the piston L. The upper face of the piston is exposed to
the pressure of the steam entering the top of the cylinder K from the valve
of the valves, and under
Each valve is provided
(see Figs. 2, 3, and 4,)

page_text: chest, as although the cylinder is represented as fitted with a cover M, the
cover is provided with holes k, k, for the admission of steam, the cover being
merely intended as a guide to a short guide rod l, which is attached to the
piston. The cylinder K is encircled by a ring N, to which is attached a short
guide rod p, passing through a stuffing box in the back end of the valve chest,
and a long rod g, which passes through a stuffing box at the front end of the
valve chest. The rod q is furnished with two collars r, r, and is embraced
between the said collars by the end of a tappet arm t secured to the piston
rod d of the engine. These collars are so set on the rod q that the tappet arm
will strike them when the piston D arrives at a distance from the end of
the stroke equal to the required length of stroke of the valves, added to the
length of play allowed between the valves and the side projections g, g, and
g, g, of the "valve driver," which distance may be about twice the required
length of stroke of the valve. The rod q works through guide u secured to
the pump cylinder, the guide being so arranged between the collar r¹ and a
third collar v upon the end of the rod as to serve as a stop to the said collars,
to limit the length of motion of the "valve driver" to about twice the required
length of stroke of the valve. P is a lever working on a fixed fulcrum w;
attached to the steam cylinder A and entering a groove in the collar r, and
serving to operate the "valve driver" by hand when necessary.
a
The operation of the valves is effected in the following manner:-When the
piston D has arrived near enough to the end of its stroke for the tappet arm t
attached to the piston rod d to strike the collar r or r¹ on the rod 9 of the
"valve driver," its continued movement causes the "valve driver" to slide
some distance before moving the valves, but by the time the projections 9, 9,
or g, g, of the "valve driver" strike the valves, to commence moving them on
their seats, or before they have moved the valves far enough to close the
ports, the upper end of the rocking arm f moving with the piston L of the
"valve driver" passes its culminating point, and the steam, which is always
acting on the top of the piston L to force it towards the valve seat, will cause
the arm to be thrown suddenly towards one end of the valve chest, and
thereby give the "driver" a quick movement, to produce or complete the
stroke of the valve. This operation is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4, where the
condition represented in black outline is that when the tappet t during the
motion of the piston to the left hand has by its action on the collar r¹ of the
"valve driver" rod 9 moved the "valve driver" and its piston L so far to the
left hand as to carry the upper extremity of the arm f beyond its culminating
point, and when the valves which have not yet started are about to be moved
suddenly by the action of the "driver" produced by the pressure of the steam

page_text: above the piston L, to the position for opening the ports i to the steam, and
those to the exhaust, as shewn in red outline in Figs. 2 and 4. A similar
operation, but in the reverse direction, takes place as the piston D approaches
the opposite end of its stroke, returning the valve to the position shown in
black outline, to admit steam to the cylinder on the right-hand side of the
piston and permit it to exhaust therefrom on the left-hand side of the
piston.
Instead of using two slide valves, a single short slide valve may be used,
having the "driver" faced to fit the back of it; the "driver" in that case
being provided in lieu of the projections 9, 9', with a projection at each end
lapping over the end of the valve to drive the valve, and the valve being
provided with a suitable passage through it, to admit of communication
between the exhaust chamber E and that part of the interior of the cylinder
K below the piston L. The engine may, when thought desirable, be arranged
in a vertical position, instead of the horizontal position represented.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Means of
Operating Slide Valves for the Induction and Eduction of Steam in Recipro-
cating Steam Engines," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the
application to reciprocating steam engines for the purpose of giving to one or
more slide valves the whole or part of the necessary movement to admit and
allow the exhaust of steam to and from the cylinder, on opposite sides of the
piston alternately, of a piston fitted to work in a cylinder forming part of the
"valve driver" or device used to drive the valve or valves, and supported
against the pressure of the steam in the valve chest by a rocking arm or
its equivalent, by which it is caused to operate on the "valve driver," sub-
stantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)