IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND PARTS CON- NECTED THEREWITH, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE PROPULSION OF STREET VEHICLES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND PARTS CON-
NECTED THEREWITH, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE PROPULSION OF STREET
VEHICLES."-A communication from abroad. by William Baxter, of
Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
Sealed the 11th June 1872, and dated the 25th April 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 25th April 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
5 ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES AND PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE

page_text: PROPULSION OF STREET VEHICLES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant, unto me, executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
it has been communicated to me from abroad by William Baxter, of
Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, forming
a part of this Specification.
My Invention relates to steam engines designed to serve as railway
engines or as traction engines for street cars, or steam ploughs, and for
other like purposes. It may best be explained and understood by
describing it with special reference to its use, for the purpose of street
car propulsion, which involves most if not all of the difficulties that lie in
the way of the successful and economical employment of steam for
traction purposes. A street car when once in motion requires but little
power to propel it on a level grade; a large increase of power is needed
to put it in motion when it has once stopped, and a very great power is
required to enable it to overcome ascending grades. Among the many
plans for using steam with street cars the best heretofore devised has
been to employ an engine large enough and of sufficient power to
overcome the resistance at the moment of starting, and to cause the car
to mount such grades as were to be encountered on the road. But the
machine thus made having much more power than required for the
level grade, was necessarily large and cumbersome, its first cost was
heavy, and the daily expense of running it was such as to make it a
failure, so far as concerned propelling a street car by steam, the car
becoming nothing more nor less than a boxed up locomotive.
What is needed for a street car is a cheap engine occupying but little
room, consuming a small quantity of fuel, having a normal power,
sufficient to keep the car in motion over ordinary grades, and a reserved
power that can be called into play at any time for the purpose either of
starting the car or of driving it up heavy grades. It has been my object
to produce an engine possessing these characteristics, and my Invention
consists in the means herein-after described, by which this object has
been attained.

page_text: In carrying this Invention into practice I employ in connection with
a boiler of suitable construction, and two or more steam cylinders,
arranged in such manner that the steam from one may be exhausted into
and used expansively in the other, a steam chamber or space so connected
with the boiler and cylinders that, first, it will receive the exhaust
steam from one cylinder and transmit it to the other, where it is used
expansively; secondly, it will when the engine is at rest, accumulate
the steam generated by the boiler until the steam it contains stands at
the same pressure as that in the boiler, and will when the engine again
moves transmit this steam to the cylinder which ordinarily receives the
exhaust steam, whereby both cylinders will have the same or nearly the
same steam pressure in starting the car, thus furnishing the extra or
reserved power necessary to put the car in motion; thirdly, should a
heavy or long up grade be encountered requiring a long continued
increase of power, communication between the steam chamber and the
boiler may be opened, so as to permanently, or for as long a period as
required, increase the pressure in the exhaust cylinder to the extent
desired; fourthly, should this power be insufficient it may be still
further increased by cutting off the exhaust steam of the first cylinder
from the second, in which it is ordinarily used expansively, and opening.
communication between the steam chamber and boiler, using live steam
at full pressure in both cylinders, making both of them high pressure,
for the time being.
Thus with an engine of say four horse power nominally, the power
can be increased to twenty or twenty-four horse power, as would be the
case when both cylinders use live steam. A boiler such as ordinarily
used with an engine of the nominal power first named will be sufficient
to supply the steam needed for two cylinders when working high-
pressure steam, for the two cylinders when thus operating "would
increase the draught, causing the boiler to generate steam 'rapidly,”
while the car going up a steep grade, would run more slowly and the
engine would consequently work off a less number of cylinders full of

page_text: chamber; Figure 3 is a like section of an ordinary upright boiler,
shewing the manner in which the steam chamber may be applied to
or combined with it; Figure 4 is a top view of the said engine, and
Figure 5 is a side view of the upper part of the same.
•
The apparatus shewn in the Drawing, and which I prefer to employ
in carrying out my Invention, consists of the two cylinders A, B, tho
smaller of which receives steam direct from the boiler C, through the
pipe a, a'. The boiler is vertical and the cylinders are arranged one on
each side of it. Steam from the cylinder A is exhausted into and used
expansively in the large cylinder B, passing out through the pipe b, b',
into a steam chamber or space which I prefer to arrange around the
body of the boiler, as shewn at D in Figures 2 and 3. From the steam
chamber it passes through the pipe c to the large cylinder B, and from
this cylinder it is exhausted into the feed water apparatus in the usual
manner.
When the car to which the engine thus constructed is applied is
running at its normal rate on a level road, steam is taken from the
boiler into the small cylinder, and after having done its work there, is
exhausted into the steam chamber, and as the second or large cylinder is
supplied from this chamber the steam is thereby worked or used very
expansively and economically. There is a compensating safety valve
at E, between the steam pipe a and the small cylinder pipe a', and at
the same point there is a branch connection d, which extending between
the steam pipe a and steam chamber D puts the two in direct com-
munication when the safety valve is open. When the engine is running
at its normal rate this valve remains closed, but when the car stops for
any purpose whatever, steam generated in the boiler in excess of the
pressure allowed by the valve will raise the valve and pass over through
the pipe d into the chamber D, where it will accumulate. A safety
valve applied in the usual manner to the steam chamber will prevent
the pressure of steam in the chamber and boiler from becoming
excessive. Thus instead of blowing off the steam when the car stops
I accumulate it in the steam chamber, so that when the car starts
the large cylinder which is fed from the chamber will have higher
steam, which furnishes the extra or reserved power necessary to
start the car from a state of rest. Of course this increase of power in
the large cylinder is only for the first few strokes of the piston, serving
for the ordinary stoppages when taking in or setting down passengers.

page_text: Should it be necessary to increase the power of the engine, to over-
come a heavy or long grade for instance, I raise the safety valve E, and
throw open communication between the boiler and steam chamber, the
small cylinder still exhausting as before in the chamber, and in this
manner I increase the pressure in the large cylinder. Should the grade
however be still greater and this power be found insufficient, then a
three-way cock F between the pipes 6 and 6' is turned to cut off the
exhaust of the small or first cylinder from the pipe b, through which it
enters the steam chamber, and turn it into a pipe 63, which leads directly
to the foed, thus avoiding back pressure using live steam in cach
cylinder, and working them both under high pressure for the time being.
By the employment in this manner of a steam chamber intervening
between the two cylinders I am enabled to have the engine work under
four different conditions, to progressively increase its power in proportion
to the resistance to be overcome, and to accumulate at each stoppage
power enough to cause the second or large cylinder when the car again
starts to work at full pressure for a few strokes; the full power of the
engine being thus exerted to make the start, and being then reduced so
soon as the car is in motion to the limit required to keep the car moving
under ordinary conditions.
I have indicated the arrangement of parts I prefer to employ, but it
is obvious that the same may be greatly varied without departure from
the principle of this Invention. The steam chamber may be of any
suitable construction, and instead of surrounding the boiler like a jacket
may be placed at any suitable point within, upon, or outside of the boiler.
So a pair of cylinders on the compound plan I have described may be
placed on each side of the boiler; or I can use a pair of large cylinders
of the same size, with valves provided to cut off the steam very short, and
admit steam from the steam chamber later in the stroke, means being
> provided to so cut off the steam as to reduce the power when and to the
point desired. These are but a few of the many modifications which
may be employed without departure from the principle of the said
Invention.
I use the vertical boiler and engine for the reason that they take up
less floor space for a given amount of power than any other form of
boiler and engine. They will for instance fit snugly into a niche in the
front of the car, as seen in Figure 1, leaving only one half of the diameter
of the boiler to project out on the platform beyond the front of the car,

page_text: while the interior of the car has still the same seating capacity as if it
were adapted to be used with horses.
When the engine is fitted to the car the feed water tank is best placed
under the rear part or platform of the car, the steam exhaust pipes from
the engine leading back into this tank; and from the tank extends
another pipe which returns any remaining vapour through the smoke
pipe, by this means subduing the noise of the exhaust steam and the
puffing. Pipes lead also from the various safety valves, cylinder cocks,
and other parts, to conduct into the feed water tank any steam which
might otherwise escape into the air, the engine being thus made entirely
noiseless. The frame or part of the car holding the engines, wheels,
pedestals, and other working parts may be made separate from the body,
so that they may be of any required style.
For giving warning to vehicles and pedestrians of the approach of the
car, one or more bells may be hung on the front of the car, connected
by rods with the cranks of the engine so as to be kept constantly in
motion, as shewn in Figure 1, m representing the bells, and n the
actuating rods which are connected with the cranks of the engine.
These cranks o, which communicate motion from the engine to the
wheels of the car are right angled levers, or bell cranks, which allow
the car to have a large amount of motion on its springs without affecting
to any appreciable degree the working parts of the engine, or altering
the relation of the stroke of the piston to the length of cylinder. The
engine valves, excentrics, links, and other parts are substantially the
same as on an ordinary locomotive and need no further description.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same,
I wish it understood that I claim,—
1
First. The employment in connection with the steam cylinders
operating together as described of a steam chamber, into which the a
excess of steam generated by the boiler during the stoppage of the
engine is received, and from which when the engine is again started it
is fed to the second cylinder, or that cylinder which receives the exhaust
steam of the first cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
Second. The combination with the steam chamber, boiler, and steam
8

page_text: connecting the first cylinder and the boiler with the steam chamber,
substantially as described, whereby the steam pressure in the said
chamber is automatically increased upon the stoppage of the engine, and
after the engine has again started is reduced to its original or normal
state for the purposes set forth.
Third. The combination of the steam cylinders, steam chamber, and
boiler, with connecting and exhaust pipes and valves, substantially as
described, whereby steam from the boiler may be used in the said
cylinders under the four conditions herein specified.
Fourth. The arrangement of the steam chamber or space around the
boiler, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
CHAS. J. Gooox.
W*. ROB³. LAKE. (L.S.)