CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FAIRBAIRN, of Millwall, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-one, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Fairbairn, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said William Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the
Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM
ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said William Fairbairn, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months.
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Fairbairn, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention of improvements in the construction and arrangement of
steam engines consists in a certain novel disposition and construction of some
of the working parts of steam engines, whereby such engines may be rendered
more compact and more applicable to marine and other purposes. In the
Drawings hereunto annexed, I have shewn several views of the novel arrange-
ment of parts which I intend to employ. Fig. 1, Sheet I., represents a section
taken through the middle of a steam-boat, shewing a front elevation of a pair
of engines constructed upon my improved plan; Fig. 2 is a complete plan, or
bird's-eye view, of one engine; Fig. 3 is a side view of the same; and Fig. 4
is a partial sectional plan view of Fig. 1, shewing the pair of engines; the
section in the left-hand engine being taken above the top of the cylinder, and
in the right-hand engine through the cylinder, air pump, and condenser.
Figure 5, Sheet II., is a partial sectional view, or rather a side view, with
part of the framing removed, in order to shew the arrangement of the levers
for producing the parallel motion, as will be hereafter described. Similar
letters of reference will denote corresponding parts in all these Figures. The
steam cylinders are shewn at a, a, a, a, and the air pumps at b, b, b, b; c, c, c, c,
are the condensers; and d, d, d, d, the force pumps; e, e, is the crank shaft;
and f, f, the crank; g, g, the excentrics for working the slide valves by means
of the rods h, h. The reciprocating motion of the piston is transmitted to the
crank and crank shaft by means of the piston rod i, i, and the connecting
rod j, j. Four upright columns k, k, k, k, support the upper part of the frame-
work, and are bolted or otherwise firmly secured to the foundation plate of the
engine. The parallel motion of the piston rod is made to work the pistons of
the air pump and force pumps, and is obtained in the following manner:-
Vibrating levers n, n, are mounted at o, o, in bearings firmly fixed to the
framework of the engine. One end of these levers n, n, is connected to the

page_text: cross head p, p, which works the pistons of the air and force pumps, and
the other end is connected to about the centre, or to such point as may be
necessary to make a true parallel motion of the pair of vibrating levers q, q,
one end of which is connected to the lower end of pendant rocking levers r, r,
and the other end to the cross head s, s, by which the connecting rod j, j, is
attached to the piston rod i, i.
From the above description it will be perceived that all the necessary
motions of the different parts of the steam engine are obtained and applied
in a smaller compass than that usually required in the ordinary construction
of marine engines. The rising of the piston in the cylinder, from the
expansive force of the steam, raises the piston rod i, i, and connecting
rod j, j, thereby transmitting motion directly to the crank and crank shaft;
and as one end of the vibrating levers q, q, is connected to the cross head s, 8,
of the piston rod and connecting rod, these levers are raised, thereby raising
one end of the other pair of vibrating levers n, n, and depressing the opposite
end, and so on alternately, by which means the necessary motion for working
the air pump and force pumps is obtained. The arrangement and disposition
of the other parts of the engine, which possess no novelty of construction, will
be perfectly evident by inspecting the Drawings, and therefore need no further
description.
Having now described my Invention, I wish it to be understood, in con-
clusion, that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement of parts
herein shewn and described, as slight variations may be made to suit circum-
stances, without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent,―
First, the arrangement and disposition of the various parts of a steam engine,
or any slight variation thereof, as above shewn and described.
And, secondly, the arrangement and construction of the vibrating levers n, n,
9.7, r,r, and other parts necessary for obtaining the parallel motion, and by
which I at the same time work the air pump and force pumps, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Fairbairn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
WM (L.S.) FAIRBAIRN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighth day of March, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Fairbairn came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in that
case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Eighth day of March, in the year above written.