IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Douglas Hebson, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 22nd December 1869, and dated the 30th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Douglas Hebson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th June 1869.
I, DOUGLAS HEBSON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
5 Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows (that is to
say) :-
This Invention relates, firstly, to steam engines having surface
condensers. By means of this improvement the water formed by con-
densation is purified from grease or other solid matters before it reaches
the boilers by means of a filter or filters or other suitable appliances for
straining and clensing the same.

page_text: Secondly. To a mode of connecting the valve spindle of the low-pressure
cylinders in combined engines by means of a lever so adjusted as to give
the desired motion to the valves without the use of more than the
ordinary excentrics and reversing gear commonly applied to single
cylinders.
Thirdly. To an alteration in the construction or arrangement of the
parts of engines already constructed for low pressure only, by means of
which they can be advantageously converted into combined cylinder
engines for high and low pressure, which (say) in inverted cylinder
engines is dono by the introduction of a steam-tight division in the
valve casings when the same are not already in separate parts, and tho
addition of safety valves thereto; and by applying a high-pressure
cylinder over the top of the low-pressure cylinder, and connecting the
piston rod of same to the piston rod of the low-pressure cylinder.
One of the air pumps being converted into a circulating pump for the
surface condenser, whero this has not been previously fitted, and
a suitable alteration made in pipes and valves connected with the
same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by tho said Douglas Hobson in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 30th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DOUGLAS
HEBSON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Douglas Hcbson, Her special licence
that I, the said Douglas Hebson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Douglas Hobson, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows (that is to say):
This my said Invention relates, firstly, to steam engines having surface
condencers, and consists in purifying from grease and other impurities.
the condensed water before returning it to the boilers, which I accom-
plish by passing the products of condensation through a filter or filters,
or other suitable appliances for straining and cleansing the water on its
return passage to the boiler or boilers. Any suitable description of
strainer or filter may be used for that purpose, but I prefer to use a
filter which consists of a suitably shaped close chamber, so constructed
that one side or a portion of the side can be conveniently removed for
the insertion and withdrawal of the filtering media. This filtering
chamber I prefer to divide into compartments by transverse grated
diaphragms of wire gause, perforated plates of metal, or other suitable
strainer. The diaphragms in some cases I cover with hair cloth or
other suitable porous fabric, and fill in the space between them, or a
portion of them with animal or vegetable charcoal, hard coke, gravel, or
other suitable filtering media.
And, secondly. To a mode of connecting the valve spindles of low-
pressure cylinders with the valve spindles of the high-pressure cylinders
in combined high and low pressure engines, by means of which motion
is given to the valves of both cylinders from the same eccentric, and
the travel of the high-pressure valve can be varied as required, and
consists of a lever, one end of which vibrates on a centre or pin in a
sliding block working in guides (as will be readily seen by the
annexed Drawings, herein-after referred to). The valve spindle of the
high-pressure cylinder is connected by a link to the lever at the distanco
from the sliding fulcrum required to give the proper throw to the valve,
and the outer end of the lever is connected to a continuation of the
valve spindle of the low-pressure cylinder, by which the motion is trans-
mitted from the eccentric. In some cases instead of the sliding block
the lever may be attached to a link vibrating from a fixed centre, or
the end of the lever may be attached to a fixed centre, the opposite end
being then connected to the low-pressure valve spindle by a link to,
allow for the vibration.
And, thirdly. In an alteration in the construction or arrangement of

page_text: may be conveniently and comparitively inexpensively converted into
compound high and low pressure steam engines.
When this arrangement is applied to an inverted cylinder engine I do
it by introducing a steam-tight diaphragm or division in the valve
casings (when the same are not already in separate parts) and adding a
safety valve thereto, and applying a high-pressure cylinder on the top of
the low-pressure cylinder, and connecting the piston rod of the same to
the piston rod of the low-pressure cylinder, one of the air pumps being
converted into a circulating pump for the surface condenser (when this
has not been previously fitted) by making the requisite alteration in
the pipes and valvos connected therewith, but for this arrangement I
make no claim.
That this my said improvements may be the more readily seen and
understood I have hereunto annexed Drawings of so much of an engine
and filter as will be requisite to illustrate the practical application of my
Invention; like letters and figures being marked thereon being used to.
denote similar parts.
Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of a high-pressure cylinder
and a low-pressure cylinder, with their vales and so much of the gear
appertaining thereto as will enable those practised in the art to readily
comprehend the principles of my improvements relating thereto.
A is the high-pressure steam cylinder fitted with B a slide valvo
enclosed in C valve chest; D, piston of high-pressure cylinder; E, a
piston rod, which works through a gland on the under side of the high-
pressure cylinder and the top of the low-pressure cylinder, and is firmly
attached to F, the piston of G, the low-pressuro cylinder, which in this
modification is shown with a double piston rod; H, the slide valve of
the low-pressure cylinder working in I, the low-pressure valve case;
K, low-pressure valve spindle, which receives its motion through the
excentrics on the crank shaft; L, the continuation of the valve spindle
attached to the valve H and working through a gland on the top of the
valve chamber I, and jointed to the outer end of M a lever jointed
to Na reciprocating travelling block working within; P slide guides;
Q, connecting rod or link jointed at the lower end to the lever and at
the upper to the lower end of R the valve spindle of the high-pressure
evlinder.

page_text: By the foregoing arrangement it will be obvious to all practical
persons that the throw or amount of travel given to the high-pressure
valve can be regulated as required without affecting the motion of the
low-pressure valve, although taken from the same eccentric.
Figure 2 shows the elevation of a filter, which I think suitable for the
purposes of my Invention; Figure 3 is a vertical section of the samic,
and Figure 4 is an horizontal section (takon from a to b, Figure 3).
S, the inlet port, which is connected by a pipe to the hot well or con-
denser; T and T are the outlet ports, through which the purified water
is drawn off and returned to the boilers by the feed pumps thereof;
U, U, U, and U³, are a series of perforated or grated diaphragms,
through which the water is strained.
The strainers can be increased in number, and when not sufficient to
answer the purpose I prefer to fill the compartments formed by the
several partitions or a portion of them with coke, gravel, broken stones,
wood, charcoal, or any other suitable filtering media or combinations
thereof. When the filtering materials are such as would pass through
the holes in the diaphragm I enclose them in bags of textile fabrics or
wire gauze. One side of the filter chamber is formed with a door or
port jointed to the chest at one side, and held securely closed by
V and V binding bars, held in position by W and W' binding screws,
one end of which are jointed to the outside of the filter chamber, and
the other carries X binding nuts, which grip the jaws on the ends of
the binding bars V and V'.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my
said Invention, and the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise relative proportions or dimensions, as it will be
readily seen that the same may be considerably varied without departing
from the Invention; but what I claim is,-
Firstly. Filtering or purifying the condensed water from surface con-
densers of steam engines from grease and other solid impurities before
returning the same to the boilers, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described and set forth.
Secondly. The use of a lever for conveying the motion from the low-
pressure slide valve spindle or a continuation thereof to the high-pressure

page_text: slide valve, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein
fully described and set forth..
In witness whereof, I, the said Douglas IIebson, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my scal, this Twenty-ninth day of Decem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-ninc.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 41, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
DOUGLAS (L.S.) IIEBSON.