Year: 1885

page_text: I, GEORGE SELLERS of Batley in the County of York, Consulting Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its objects to reduce the first cost weight and space
occupied by engines and boilers for any given power and to decrease the strains
of the higher pressures on the working parts of the engine.
According to my Invention instead of operating the crank shaft directly from
each cylinder I employ one or more cylinders the piston rod or rods of which act
upon a beam or lever connected to the piston rod or cross head of one or more of
the cylinders which act directly upon the crank shaft. I may either use with this
beam or lever a fly wheel to overcome the dead centres or instead of connecting
the beam or lever to the piston rod or crosshead I may crank or angle the lever
and connect it by a separate connecting rod to the crank operated directly in the
usual way the said angled part of the beam or lever and its connecting rod being
so situated that it is at or about the most effective portions of its stroke when the
ordinary connecting rod is at or about its positions of dead centres.
In this case an advantageous arrangement will be to arrange a high pressure
cylinder and an intermediate pressure cylinder tandem fashion to operate upon one
end of the beam or lever which is centred to a suitable fixed centre its other or
angled end being connected by a connecting rod with the same crank as that to
which the piston rod of the low pressure cylinder is connected in the ordinary way.
The pistons of the high and intermediate pressure cylinders will in this arrange-
ment travel reversely to the travel of the piston of the low pressure cylinder.
I thus obtain an engine in which the steam communications may be direct and in
which there is a continuous expansion with only one crank having no dead centres.
The beam or lever arranged to act upon the piston rod or crosshead as aforesaid
may however be applied in many different ways it being generally advantageous
to centre it as a power gaining beam or lever and the said beam or lever may be
used with or between any two or several pairs of cylinders in one engine so that
by adding the necessary cylinder or cylinders to operate the said beam or lever or
beams or levers or rearranging the existing cylinders upon the principle of my
Invention. I can for example convert an old condensing engine into a single or a
double arrangement of triple expansion engine or into a quadruple expansion engine

page_text: arranged tandem or otherwise. I do not limit myself to the use of any particular
construction of valves but I prefer to use with the cylinders of the higher pressures
when used tandem hollow piston valves formed or connected together as one
combined or compound valve continuous for both cylinders so that the steam enters
and exhausts around and through the said combined valves and much friction is
thereby avoided.
My Invention further relates to an improved automatic tripping gear for
application to expansion valves in order to expedite and facilitate the action of the
governor in varying the cut off. For this purpose I employ a lever or levers
operated from the crank shaft and acting upon a catch centered to the valve rod.
This hinged catch is acted upon by a lifting rod operated by a variable cam or
surface which is moved by the governor so that the lifting rod is caused to
disengage the aforesaid hinged catch at any point to vary the cut off.

page_text: I, GEORGE SELLERS, of Batley in the County of York, Consulting Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My Invention has for its objects to reduce the first cost weight and space occupied
by engines and boilers for any given power and to decrease the strains of the high
pressures on the working parts of the Engine.
According to my Invention instead of operating the crank shaft. directly from
each cylinder I employ one or more cylinders the piston rod or rods of which act
upon a beam or lever connected to the piston rod or crosshead of one or more of
the Cylinders which act directly upon the crank shaft. I may either use with this
beam or lever a fly wheel to overcome the dead centres or instead of connecting
the beam or lever to the piston rod or crosshead I may crank or angle the lever and
connect it by a separate connecting rod to the crank operating directly in the usual
way the said angled part of the beam or lever and its connecting rod being so
situated that it is at or about the most effective portions of its stroke when the
ordinary connecting rod is at or about its positions of dead centres-In this case
an advantageous arrangement will be to arrange a high pressure Cylinder and an
intermediate pressure Cylinder tandem fashion to operate upon one end of the beam
or lever which is centred to a suitable fixed centre, its other or angled end being
connected by a connecting rod with the same crank as that to which the piston rod
of the low.pressure Cylinder is connected in the ordinary way The pistons of the
high and intermediate pressure Cylinders will in this arrangement travel reversely
to the travel of the piston of the low pressure Cylinder-I thus obtain an Engine
in which the steam communications may be direct and in which there is a
continuous expansion with only one crank having no dead centres-The beam or
lever arranged to act upon the piston rod or cross head as aforesaid may however
be applied in many different ways as a power gaining beam or lever and the said
beam or lever may be used with or between any two or several pairs of cylinders
in one Engine by adding the necessary Cylinder or Cylinders to operate the said
beam or lever or beams or levers or rearranging the existing Cylinders upon the
principle of my Invention-I can for example convert an old condensing engine
into a single or a double arrangement of triple expansion Engine or into a
quadruple expansion Engine arranged tandem or otherwise. I do not limit myself
to the use of any particular construction of valves but I prefer to use with the
cylinders of the higher pressures when used tandem, hollow piston valves formed or
connected together as one combined or compound valve continuous for both cylinders
so that the steam enters and exhausts around and through the said combined
valves and much friction is thereby avoided.
My Invention further relates to an improved automatic tripping gear for
application to expansion valves in order to expedite and facilitate the action of
the governor in varying the cut off-For this purpose I employ a lever. or levers
operated from the crank shaft and having connected to it a frame or frames.

page_text: carrying a hinged tipping piece or hinged tipping pieces acting upon a catch or
catches centred to the valve rod or rods. The hinged catch or catches is or are
acted upon by a lifting rod or lifting rods operated by a variable cam or surface
which is moved by the governor so that the lifting rod or rods is or are caused to
disengage the hinged catch or catches at any point to vary the cut off.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawing the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figures 1 to 7 inclusive of my drawings represent various constructions and
arrangements of steam engines illustrating my Invention.
Figure 8 is a sectional view of the description of valve I prefer to employ
therewith and which may be employed with tandem engines generally.
Figure 9 is a side elevation of my improved Automatic Tripping gear for
expansion valves.
Referring to Figure 1 which represents in side elevation a triple cylinder
expansion engine constructed according to my Invention A is the high pressure
cylinder B the low pressure cylinder and C an intermediate cylinder. The
cylinders A and C are arranged tandem fashion and the pistons thereof are mounted
on one and the same piston rod D. The piston rod E of the low pressure cylinder
is connected directly by the rod F to the crank G on the crank shaft H whilst the
piston rod D of the high pressure and intermediate cylinders is indirectly connected
to the same crank by the bent power gaining beam or lever I and rod K-The
lever I is centred at L to the framing or standard M of the engine and is connected
at the end N to the piston rod D by an interposed link O so as to admit of the
lever oscillating by the rectilinear motions of the rod D the opposite or bent end P
of the lever being connected to the crank G by the rod K-The connections of the
piston rods D and E with the crank G are so arranged that when the piston of
the low pressure cylinder is least effective on the crank or when the crank is at or
about its dead centre the pistons of the high and intermediate cylinders are at or
about the position when they act most effectively on the crank (and vice versa) the
crank being thus at all times when the engine is at work under steam pressure and
consequently there are no dead centres to overcome and no fly wheel is required,
whilst the power on the crank is increased with a minimum expenditure of steam
which may be in direct communication with the cylinders in which there is a
continuous expansion Figure 2 shews a similar arrangement to Figure 1 with the
exception that the low pressure cylinder B and the intermediate cylinder C. are
arranged tandem fashion their pistons being mounted on the rod E which is
directly connected by the rod F to the crank G whilst the piston rod D of the high
pressure cylinder A is indirectly connected to the same crank by the rod K and the
power gaining beam or lever I The piston of the high pressure cylinder A is
arranged to travel in the reverse direction to that of the pistons in the cylinders B
and C with the same beneficial results as described with reference to Figure 1.
Figure 3 illustrates a method according to my invention of converting a single,
double, or triple crank tandem engine, into a triple cylinder expansion engine. This
I effect by providing an auxiliary cylinder C which may be arranged in front of the
low pressure cylinder B or at the rear thereof as shewn and I connect the piston
rod or crosshead of this additional cylinder to the piston rod of the tandem
cylinders A and B by a power gaining beam or lever I which may be the ordinary
lever employed for working the air pump but extended in length to affect the
coupling with the rod of the auxiliary piston as shewn.
In like manner ordinary condensing or compound engines may be converted into
triple expansion engines as shewn for example in Figure 4 wherein A' and B
represents respectively the ordinary high pressure and low pressure. cylinders
arranged side by side, and C an auxiliary cylinder, the piston rod of which latter is
connected to the crosshead of the cylinders A and B, as in the arrangement figure 3
by the power gaining lever L
-

page_text: Figure 5 shews a mode of constructing according to my invention a continuous
expansion, opposite traverse, superposed return connecting rod, single, double or
triple crank engine. The piston rod or rods D of the ordinary cylinders B is or are
connected to the crank or cranks G by the return connecting rod D in the usual
manner. Above the cylinders B I arrange an additional cylinder A' the piston
rod E of which I connect by the rod F to one end O of a power gaining beam or
lever I which is centred at L outside the crank shaft, and is connected at its
opposite end by the rod K to a crank on the crank shaft which may be the same
crank G to which the return rod D2 is connected. By this arrangement a continuous
expansion is obtained and the power of the piston in the additional cylinder A' is
transmitted through the lever I to the crank shaft whilst by the said piston being
arranged to work in the reverse direction to the pistons of the other cylinders B
there are no dead centres to overcome.
Figures 6 and 7 represent respectively similar. arrangements to that last
described as applied to horizontal and diagonally or angularly arranged engines
the power gaining lever I being arranged however between the cylinders and the
crank shaft H which may be provided with a fly wheel to overcome dead centres.
Any suitable description of valves may be employed with these engines but
when compound engines are arranged tandem fashion I prefer to employ with the
high pressures, compound valve constructed substantially as shewn in Figure 8 in
which figure A and B represents respectively the high pressure and low pressure
cylinders, and P the valve box. The valves QQ are in the form of hollow
pistons and may be formed in one or connected together as shewn, by the rod R as
one combined or continuous valve for both cylinders. The steam enters the steam
chest at S between the ports of the high pressure cylinder and passes thence
through one or other of its ports, as the case may be to the interior thereof and
after acting upon the piston it passes from the cylinder into the valve box P
thence around and through the hollow valve Q into the low pressure cylinder B
through one of its ports, and after acting on the low pressure piston it exhausts
through and around the valve Q and thence through the passage T which is
arranged between the ports of the said low pressure cylinder. By constructing and
arranging the valves in the manner described undue pressure on the valves is
prevented and a smoother action is obtained.
Figure 9 is a side elevation of my improved automatic tripping valve gear for
application to expansion valves for facilitating the action of the governor in
varying the cut off. It consists of a double armed lever or lovers U centred at V
and operated from the crank shaft by the excentric rod W which is connected to
the compound lever or levers U by an arm X. To each of the outer ends of the
compound lever or levers U is hinged a bar or frame Y to which is centred at a a
tipping lever Z the lower end of which lever when in its normal position engaging
a lever b fast on the valve spindle c. The tipping lever Z is maintained in its
normal position by a spring d and the lever b is maintained in contact with
lever Z by a spring or its equivalent connected at 62. The tipping levers Z are
caused to disengage the levers b, for the purpose of cutting off the steam, by a
variable cam e fitted to slide on a rotating rod or spindle e actuated by the
governor. This cam as it rotates actuates by means of the rods and levers f the
cams g causing the said rams to press against the upper ends of the tipping levers Z
and release the levers b which will then under the action of the springs connected
therewith at b³ effect the cut off at the required period. The variations of the cut
off are governed by a lever h which as the speed of the engine varies raises or
lowers the cam on the spindle e so as to bring different parts of the cam into
position to operate through the system of rods and levers f the tipping levers Z
so as to release the levers b at the requisite periods to effect the cut off.
I do not restrict myself to any particular description of valves to be employed
in combination with my improved tripping gear neither do I confine myself to
the particular arrangements of the power gaining lever herein before described and

page_text: illustrated as various other arrangements may be adopted without deviating from
the essential features of my invention but what I claim is :-
First: In compound steam or other fluid pressure engines a power gaining lever
for connecting the piston rod or rods of one or more of the cylinders to the crank
or cranks substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein before described
and illustrated by my drawings.
Second-In compound steam or other fluid pressure engines a power gaining
beam or lever connected to one or more of the piston rods or cross heads of the
cylinders and to the crank shaft, so as to cause the piston or pistons to which it is
connected to travel in the reverse direction to other pistons connected directly to
the crank shaft whereby a continuous expansion is obtained and dead centres are
prevented substantially as herein before described and illustrated by my drawings.
Third: The application and use of a power gaining beam or lever for con-
verting an ordinary steam or other fluid pressure engine into a single double triple
or quadruple expansion engine substantially as herein before described and illustrated
by my drawings.
Fourth-In expansion valve gear for compound steam or other fluid pressure
engines the combination with a variable cam or cam surface actuated by the
governor, of the tripping lever or levers Z and rams g arranged to operate substan-
tially in the manner and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by
my drawings.
Fifth-The general construction combination and arrangement of parts con-
stituting an automatic tripping gear for expansion valves of steam or other fluid
pressure engines substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to figure 9
of my drawings.
Sixth-The employment with the high pressures of compound engines when
arranged tandem fashion of hollow compound piston valves constructed and
arranged to operate substantially in the manner and for the purpose hereinbefore
described and illustrated by my drawings.