MENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE MECHANICAL POWER OF STEAM
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alexander Lyttle, Officer of the Secretary's
Department, General Post Office, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE MECHANICAL
POWER OF STEAM,"
Sealed the 8th December 1865, and dated the 10th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alexander
Lyttle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis
Petition, on the 10th July 1865.
I, WILLIAM ALEXANDER LYTTLE, Officer of the Secretary's Department,
General Post Office, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE
MECHANICAL POWER OF STEAM," to be as follows:-
I feed the furnace with air by means of a force pump or other convenient
apparatus for such purpose, and allow no vent for the gaseous products of com-
bustion while the engine is at work other than through the working cylinders
or parts at which the pressure of the steam is converted into motive power.
This I effect generally as follows:-I fit the fire chamber with ports or valves
at suitable parts, such as at the fire-box and smoke-box of a locomotive, which
on being closed will render the fire chamber steam-tight, but which on being
opened will admit of the free passage of air through, underneath, or round
the boiler on the present ordinary principle of heating. These ports or valves
I shall call the "furnace ports." In the case of a locomotive the waste steam
CD

page_text: pipes could, as at present, form a blast pipe in the funnel, and the smoke-box
furnace port would be placed so as to let hot air pass into the funnel when
open. In order to work the engine I close the furnace ports and open a
valve, which must communicate between the furnace and the steam cither in
the upper part of the boiler or any other part of the engine between the boiler
and pis on or other working point. The air forced into the furnace will
produce intense heat, owing to its increased density, and the heated gases will
as the steam works off blend with the steam, and impart to it their superfluous
heat. By this means the entire mechanical power of the heat from the fuel
may be obtained. If the engine is worked with coal or coke the supplies can
be added from time to time, the valve between the furnace or hot-air chamber
and the steam chamber being first closed, so as to prevent the escape of steam
from the furnace ports. Owing, however, to the fact that the combustion
will be effected under pressure, distillation would be less likely under such
circumstances to take place in petroleum or other liquid fuel, and by means
of such fuel the furnace could be supplied by injection in a manner similar
to that followed in feeding the boiler with water.
I claim in all applications of the steam engine the general principle of
causing the waste products of combustion to pass from the fire raising the
steam, or an auxiliary fire, into admixture with the steam before the latter
is applied as a working power. This can be effected generally as I have
described, and by many other plans; but I do not confine myself to any
particular mode of applying the principle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Alexander Lyttle in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALEXANDER LYTTLE, Officer of the Secretary's Department, General Post
Office, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Herreign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Alexander Lyttle, Her special licence that I, the said William
Alexander Lyttle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, orsuch others as
I,the said William AlexanderLyttle, my executors,administrators and assigns,

page_text: 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 "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE MECHANICAL
POWER OF STEAM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,the said William
Alexander Lyttle, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Alexander Lyttle, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
I feed the furnace of a steam engine boiler with air by means of a forcing
pump or other apparatus for such purpose, and allow no vent for the gaseous
products of combustion while the engine is at work other than through the
working cylinders or ports at which the pressure of the steam is converted
into motive power. This I effect generally as follows:-I fit the fire
chamber with ports or valves at suitable parts, such as at the fire-box and
smoke-box of a locomotive, which on being closed will render the fire chamber
air-tight, but which on being opened will admit of the free passage of air
through, underneath, or round the boiler on the present ordinary principle of
heating. These ports or valves I shall call the furnace ports. In the case
of a locomotive the waste steam pipes could, as at present, form a blast pipe
in the funnel, and the smoke-box furnace port would be placed so as to let
hot air pass into the funnel when open. In order to work the engine on this
plan I close the furnace ports, and a valve, which must communicate between.
the furnace and the steam either in the boiler or any other part of the engine
between the boiler and the piston or other working point, must either open
by being made solf-acting, like a clack valve, or. must be opened by the
engine man. The air forced into the furnace will produce intense heat,
owing to its increased density, and the heated gases will as the steam works
off pass through the last-named valve, and blend with the steam, imparting to
it their superfluous heat. By this means the entire mechanical power of the
heat from the fuel may be obtained. If the engino is worked with coal or
coke the supplies can be added from time to time, the valve between the.

page_text: furnace or hot air chamber and the steam chamber being first closed if not
made self-acting (so as to prevent the escape of steam), and the smoke-box
furnace port being opened.
The accompanying Diagrams will serve to shew some of the plans by
which any workman of ordinary intelligence can apply the foregoing principles
of my Invention to any kind of steam engine.
Figures 2, 4, and 6 shew an ordinary locomotive altered to my plans, and
the same letters in these Figures refer to different views of the same parts.
The present fire-door is closed with a trap or plug A, faced on the inside with
fire-clay, or in such a manner as will prevent the radiation of heat outwards
from the fire, which might otherwise warp or corrode the air-tight door,
which is added at C in the casing B, C, D, E. This door may be either a
sluice arrangement, as shewn in Fig. 2 and 6, similar to that used in the
sluice valves of gas mains, the sluice plate being moved by the projecting
pin or handle S, Fig. 6, or it may be a conical plug like A, Fig. 8, retained
by means of the latch L, R, through which a screw S presses the cone into
its bed. For the cone may be substituted a disk A, A, Fig. 9, a ring or
flange on the circumference of which rides air-tight on the outside of a
similar V-shaped projecting ring of metal B, B', which surrounds the margin
of the hole. The smoke-box X, R, Fig. 2 and 4, is closed at the upper side
with a sluice valve, cone, or disk like that used for closing the fire-door, or
else with an inside disk or cone, see W, Fig. 7. When a sluice door is used
for the sinoke-box it should consist of three plates, see Fig. 4, the upper and
lower plates being something like that the inner surface of which is shewn
in Figure 11, and the sliding or middle plate being like that represented in
Figure 12. By this means the air-tight surfaces of the sluice will never be
exposed, whether the valve is closed or open.
By the arrangement shewn in Fig. 7 the internal pressure of the gases
aids in preserving the tightness of the disk W, and in order to render it
more easy to displace the disk when required, I provide the shaft S, X, Y,
at its head X, Y, with a triangular or square neck so long as to admit of its
being slid backwards or forwards through the disk between the key X and
the conical or flat head Y. When the head Y presses against the disk no
gas can escape at that point, but when by a turn or two of the handle S
the shaft is screwed a little forward the head Y becomes unseated; then
the whole pressure escapes past the triangular neck (as in a sheaf valve).
A few more turns of the screw bring the key X against the surface of the
disk, and the latter is thus removed, and free vent is given to the gases or
smoke.

page_text: The sluice valve under the chimney can be pushed or pulled open or
shut by means of a rod acting either directly from the fire-box end, or,
as at Fig. 4, by means of a rack and pinion (or by a bell-crank) working
at right angles to the length of the boiler. The end of the smoke box
may be bolted on so as to be removable for the purpose of repairs, and,
when made flat, it should be strengthened with transverse girders, as shewn
in Fig. 2. The bottom of the fire-box should be similarly strengthened, and
should be provided with a man-hole, and it may contain a water space for
intercepting the heat radiated downwards, or it may be lined with fire-clay.
At F, Fig. 2, there is an opening to answer the double purpose of the
removal of ashes through the hole E and the admission of air to the fuel when
the fire of the engine is being lighted or is being used on the present ordinary
plan of burning with a free draught. When the sluice or other door at C is
opened free air immediately rushes down the interior of the casing B, C, D, E,
Figs. 2 and 6, and enters to the fire at the opening F; before the latter door
is opened the valve at X in the smoke-box must first be unclosed.
When the fire-box and smoke-box have been closed air tight and the engine
is at work air will be forced in by air pumps attached to the engine and
working with it, and will enter the casing B, C, D, E, at whatever point its
cooling influence may be found most desirable; this densified air passing
through the fuel by displacement instead of by blast will burn it. The waste
gases of combustion will flow along the tubes or flues of the boiler, and on
entering the smoke-box will pass by means of a suitable valve V and tube,
Fig. 2 and 4, into the boiler, where they will blend with the steam.
In order to purify these waste gases of sulphurous acid gas, I pour into
the boiler occasionally (when the engine is not at work) a pailful of milk of
lime by means of a funnel inserted into a "filling tube" of the boiler. The
valve tube V extends along the bottom of the boiler, so that the waste
gases in escaping from the tube through numerous perforations provided
in its upper side may bubble up through the lime suspended in the water,
and so become purified; the resulting sulphite of lime may be blown out
from time to time. The under side of the horizontal portion of the tube V
may be slit longitudinally inside the boiler, in order that in the event of its
perforations being obstructed it may still give vent inwards to the gases.
In order to prevent soot or dust from lodging in the mouth of the valve V
(represented as a sheaf valve), it may be desirable to provide a sliding plate
V1, V, Fig. 2, 3, and 4, which will cover or uncover its mouth; this sliding
plate is fitted to the sluice or other valve which closes the chimney, and it
slides backwards and forwards with it. One half of the sliding plate at V

page_text: will have an opening in it so as to leave the mouth of the valve V open
when the smoke valve at X is closed. When the smoke valve is open the
sliding plate V, V", will be in the position of the dotted lines, Fig. 4, so
that the valve V may be closed by the solid portion of the sliding plate at
V₁, Fig. 3, being slid across its mouth.
A suitable quantity of air should be admitted to the upper part of the fire-
box from the interior of the case B, C, D, E, Figs. 2 and 6, for the purpose
of burning the carbonic oxide produced in the burning fuel, and this air may
enter either through a perforated plate in the face of the fire-box or through
a perforated tube inserted in the fire-door plug A, and projecting inwards.
Fig. 1 is a section of a fire-box designed not only to hold a larger quantity
of fuel at one charge, but also to admit of the combustion of bituminous or
grassy fuel under the principle of this Patent. The top part of the fire-box is
pierced with a funnel studded with projecting pins, between and over which
is filled in a lining of fire-clay, and its mouth is closed with a trap or plug A
for the same purpose as was shewn in the case of Fig. 2. The fire-door C is
on the top of the boiler, and, with this exception, the description given of the
door and casing B, C, D, E, will apply precisely to Fig. 1. At F the casing
should be clayed or otherwise protected against the strong radiant heat of
the fuel; a similar protection, or better still a water space, should be pro-
vided in the bottom of the fire-box.
In Fig. 1 a vertical section is shewn of a brick or tile partition K, K',
intended to separate the fire-box into a fuel chamber and a combustion
chamber Z. This partition is shewn in plan in Fig. 5, and in elevation by
a cross section of the fire-box in Fig. 10.
A water space or water tubes will of course answer as a partition; and
I do not, in the case' of brick or tile, confine myself to the arrangement shewn
in the Figures. In these the partition represented is constructed thus:-
A bridge piece K¹ is placed on the bottom of the fire-box; upon this bridge
and across the fire-box is placed on edge a plate of metal J, which is bolted
at either side to the upright angle irons T, T, Fig. 5. On both sides of this
plate bricks or tiles are placed, and cemented if
necessary with any furnace
cement. When these bricks or tiles rise to a level with the upper edge of
the cross plate J, another similar plate is similarly placed and bolted, cross
pins or stays to brace together the bricks or tiles on both sides of the first plate
baving first been laid and covered down in cement. The construction of the
partition is thus continued. The topmost row need not, however, be provided
with bricks or tiles on the combustion chamber side. Through the lower
portion of this partition, both above and below the fire-bars, there are spaces

page_text: left between the bricks or tiles, and through the plates J, for the passage of
flame and air into the combustion chamber Z. Besides the tube to convey
the air from the air pumps, as in Fig. 2, to the inside of the casing B, C, D),
there is a branch tube E' from the pumps to admit under suitable regulation
a supply of air for burning the gases. This tube is covered with a transverse
perforated plate N, for the better diffusion of the air. In this arrangement
of fire-box the fuel will of course be burned across the bottom of the mass,
and a process of coking or gas making may at the same time be proceeding
in the superincumbent portion. If petroleum or other liquid fuel is injected
into the upper part of this fire chamber upon a mass of coke or other arrange-
ment for dispersing it over a large surface, the combustion once fully com-
menced in the lower part opposite F will give out sufficient heat to volatilize
the fluid on its passage while trickling downwards. If the pressure of the air
is suflicient, it will prevent the fluid from volatilizing at a temperature which
might not be high enough for its perfect combustion. A force pump injector,
like those used for feeding boilers with water, will answer for supplying the
fire with petroleum.
Fig. 13 shews an arrangement for burning petroleum under compression
according to my Invention. Coke or other solid fuel being lighted on the
fire-bars in the usual way, the free draught of air enters at the door C, A, and
passes down through the fuel into the ashpit, and thence through the
partition K, which is of the same construction as that shewn in Fig. ], with
this exception, that there is no passage through it above the line of the fire-
bars. The gases developed are thus forced to pass through the fire-bars into
the combustion chamber Z. The latter is divided by a horizontal partition R,
having an arch raised in it to admit the gases or flame into one arm of the
return flue or "staple tube "R, G, O. The gases escape from this flue at O,
and pass thence through the horizontal pipes of the boiler into the smoke
box. When the fire is sufficiently lighted, and the steam got up by a free
draught of air, the door at C and the chimney valve are closed, and air is
forced by the air pumps, as before described, through the pipe D and dis-
tributing plate N into the ashpit. Petroleum is injected through one of the
sides of the fire-box, so as to become scattered over the perforated plate P,
through which it trickles down on the hot fuel. The gas into which it is thus
converted in its descent ignites in the ashpit, and the " staple tube
intended to give a long run to the flame.
is
Fig. 14 shews a plan of making the air pumps, whether horizontal or in
any other position, act as the injectors of either the whole or only a part of
the petroleum supplied to the furnace. By this means the petroleum will in

page_text: its transit lubricate the air pistons and valves, and render them thoroughly
air-tight.
A, A¹, are the tubes containing the suction valves of a double-action air
pump, and they dip,unitedly or separately, into a cistern of petroleum at I
When the suction of the air pump acts, some petroleum is drawn in until the
level of that liquid in the cistern falls below the mouth of the suction tube,
and air then enters. This air and small feed of petroleum are forced by the
return stroke of the pump up the tube D. The petroleum falls into the
cistein S, and the air passes over this cistern and down the tube D¹, entering
the furnace at whatever point or points may be found most advantageous in
practice. The petroleum flows along the conduit. S¹, and enters the furnace
above the solid fuel. It is evident that the rate of flow of the petroleumn
allowed into the first cistern at L will decide easily the rate of supply to the
furnace. All the tubes should be provided with cocks for the more perfect
regulation of the supplies of air and oil.
to
In the marine engine, or even in locomotives, it may sometimes be desirable
to place the chimney immediately above the furnace end of the boiler, and this
can easily be done by a very slight modification of these plans to adapt them
any such existing arrangement of chimney, but I would prefer effecting
the object by carrying an outside or inside return flue from the place where
the chimney now stands in the Figures to the fire-box end. The valve at
Fig. 7 can of course be worked by a rod broken by the intervention of a
bell crank or any other contrivance for altering the direction to suit the
position of the chimney valve.
I do not require any alteration in the existing plans of applying the steam
as a motive power when once generated in admixture with air.
The ash-hole E in all the Figures may be closed by any of the plans
suggested for shutting the fire-door at C.
On the tube leading from the air pumps there may be a safety valve, so
regulated that when a dangerous pressure arises in the fire box, the air,
instead of being forced into the fire, is allowed by the valve to escape off into
the atmosphere.
The solid fuel in all these arrangements of fire-box should be introduced
by means of a shoot or funnel inserted at the time into the fire-door, and
passing through the hole at A.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and some of the best
means with which I am acquainted for carrying it into effect, I wish it to be
understood that I in no way limit myself to the application of my Invention
as herein-before described with reference to the accompanying Drawing, as it

page_text: is equally applicable to other steam generators, nor do I limit myself to the
precise details of the arrangements herein-before specified, as. they may
obviously be variously modified without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but what I claim is,―
First, so constructing steam generators that at one time the air can be
forced into the furnace and the products of combustion thence into the
boiler, so as to mix with and impart their heat to the steam, whilst at another
time the air can be supplied to the furnace, and the products of combustion
allowed to pass into the chimney by means of a draught produced in the
ordinary manner.
Second, I claim the various novel arrangements and details of apparatus
herein-before described when employed for the purposes of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alexander Lyttle, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, 1866.
W. A. LYTTLE. (L.S.)