IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND ENGINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND ENGINES."-A. com-
munication from abroad by William Baxter, junior, of the City of
Newark. State of New Jersey, United States of America.
ealed the 3rd November 1874, and dated the 12th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th June 1874.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND ÉNGINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining two high-pressure cylinders
with one low-pressure one, together with their pistons, piston rods, and
a single sliding cross head. The steam after it has performed its duty in
one of the smaller cylinders is exhausted into the cylinder of larger

page_text: capacity, where it continues its duty subject to expansion, and is
ultimately passed to the condenser so as to give the piston of the larger
cylinder the advantage of a vacuum. One valve is used for controlling
the pistons of the three cylinders, and a feed pump is employed in direct
connection with one of the high-pressure pistons, and an air pump for
working the condenser is in direct connection with the other high-
pressure piston. A compound engine embracing these features is at
once efficient, economical, and compact, and will be found exceedingly
advantageous in the propulsion of boats on canals,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPOUND ENGINES," being a communication to me from abroad by William
Baxter, junior, of the City of Newark, State of New Jersey, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward 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 Drawing.
hereunto annexed; and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
This Invention consists in combining two high-pressure cylinders with
one low-pressure one, together with their pistons, piston rods, and a
single sliding cross head, as will be more fully explained. The steam
after it has performed its duty in one of the smaller cylinders is exhausted
into the cylinder of larger capacity, where it continues its duty subject
to expansion, and is ultimately passed to the condenser so as to give the
One valve is
piston of the larger cylinder the advantage of a vacuum.
used for controlling the pistons of the three cylinders, and a feed pump
is employed in direct connection with one of the high-pressure pistons,
and an air pump for working the condenser is in direct connection with
the other high-pressure piston. A compound engine embracing these
features is at once efficient, economical, and compact, and will bé found
accordingly advantageous in the propulsion of boats on canals.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a vertical section
taken through the three cylinders of a compound engine constructed
according to the Invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same viewed at
right angles to the former Figure; and Fig. 3 is a plan with certain of
the cylinder ports broken away or in section.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the valve with the ports or passages it
controls detached.
In the particular application of the Invention shewn in the Drawings
the engine cylinders are represented as occupying an overhead position,
but this arrangement may be reversed; or instead of the engine being.
vertical it may occupy a horizontal or inclined position.
A, A', are the two high-pressure cylinders disposed one on either side
of the low-pressure cylinder B, all of which may be jacketed; C, C¹,

page_text: and D are the pistons of the respective cylinders. The pistons C, C¹, of
the smaller and outside or high-pressure cylinders A, A', are connected
by their rods a, a¹, with the ends of a sliding cross head E which works
up and down guides F, F, on opposite sides of the main frame. The
piston D of the intermediate and larger or low-pressure cylinder B is
connected by its rod 6 with the same cross head E at its centre. Inas-
much as the cylinders A, A³, are of the same diameter, and their pistons
are subjected to equal pressures, there is no tendency for the cross head
to tip or tilt at its ends, and it is stiffened or steadied at its centre by
the connection therewith of the rod of the intermediate or larger
piston D. This gives a very firm and effective action, and divides the
strain over the cross head. Rotary motion is communicated to the
engine shaft G from the cross head E by connecting rod H and crank
or wrist pin d. While the pistons of the three cylinders A, A, B, are
each made to communicate their respective forces to the cross head E
the power exerted by the pistons C, C³, is more directly applied (as it
were) to working the feed pump I and air pump J of the engine by the
extension of the piston rods a, a¹, below or beyond the cross head; this
forms a very compact, simple, and effective combination. K is the valve
chest, which is common to all the engine cylinders and contains a single
valve, which may either be a straight sliding one or a curvilinearly
vibrating or oscillating valve, but which in either case is similarly con-
structed as regards its passages and the ports which it controls so as to
effect, as required, the admission of steam to and its timely delivery from
all of the cylinders. Thus L is the valve which is here represented as
an oscillating or curvilinearly vibrating one. This valve is of a double
D shape, that is with one D passage outside the other, or in other words
it is formed with an inner face, passage, or cavity e and an outer
passage f, which latter also opens at its ends in or through the face of
the valve. Such valve is of sufficient area on its face to control the
following ports and passages, vizt., ports and passages g, g, leading from
the valve seat or face bearing surface to the upper ends of the cylinders
A, A¹, similar ports or passages g', ', leading to the lower ends of such
cylinders. There is also a suitable exhaust port % which is connected
with a general outlet h¹ that leads to the condenser; and ports and
passages i, ¹, connect the valve chest or valve seat with the upper and
lower ends of the low-pressure cylinder B. When the valve L is shifted
to allow steam from the valve chest K to pass either one end of the valve
and enter (by the one set of passages 9, 9, or g³, g¹,) the upper or lower

page_text: ends of the cylinders A, A³, such motion brings the outer passage fin the
valve in communication with the other set of the passages g, g, or g¹, g¹,
and passes the spent steam in the cylinders A, A', from the opposite
sides or backs of the pistons therein by one of the passages i or ¹ to the
cylinder B, while the other of the passages i or ¹ is put in communica-
tion by the cavity e and exhaust passage with the condenser (or with
the atmosphere when the engine is not a condensing one). The exhaust
steam from the cylinders A, A¹, acts simultaneously on the piston D
with the live steam from the valve chest acting on the pistons C, C¹, and
the pressure being on corresponding faces of all the pistons they
reciprocate in common. The requisite motion may be communicated
to the valve L by an excentric M on the main shaft made to rock a
shaft N through a crank ; on this rock shaft N is an arc O extending
equally on both sides of the shaft; this arc receives the lower or one
end of a connecting rod P, which as the arc O is vibrated by the action
of the excentric M rocks or gives the necessary oscillating movement to
the valve L through or by means of a crank m on the gudgeon n of the
valve. The connecting rod P is adjustable on or over the arc O to
opposite sides of the rock shaft N when it is required to reverse the
motion of the engine, or to an intermediate position on the arc directly
over the rock shaft when it is required to stop the engine; this adjust-
ment is effected by means of a hand lever Q connected with the rod P
by a link, and travelling within a slotted guide S, with which the
lever Q is made to lock by means of a catch or slide s entering one or
other of the notches u, u¹, u³, according to the direction in motion it is
required to give the engine or to stop the same.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in Compound
Engines," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim
as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,―
First. A treble cylinder compound engine having its several pistons
controlled by a single valve and organized for operation, substantially as
specified

page_text: pressure piston D with its rod b, the cross head E, and the cylinders
A, A', B, substantially as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.