IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jackson and Richard Watkins, both of the
Canal Iron Works, Millwall, Poplar, E., Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jackson and
Richard Watkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 5th March 1863.
We, WILLIAM JACKSON and RICHARD WATKINS, both of the Canal Iron
Works, Millwall, Poplar, E., Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates chiefly to those forms of engines known as direct-
acting engines, and whether such engines be vertical, horizontal, or inclined.
Instead of employing a guide block and guides, or any of the usual methods.
of guiding and supporting the outer end of the piston rod at its junction with
the connecting rod, and instead also of working a pump by a lever or from
off the crank by an eccentric or other means of communicating motion, we
effect these two objects of guiding the piston rod and working the pump by
placing the pump barrel with its longitudinal axis in or nearly in a line with
the cylinder, and between the cylinder and the crank shaft, and we connect the
pump plunger or piston to the piston rod, and the end of the connecting rod.

page_text: of the engine by a fork end or any other suitable means; thus the pump is
worked direct, and forms also the guide for the piston rod.
In condensing engines the air pump is the pump employed. The piston or
plunger of the pump is of sufficient diameter to allow of a trunk large enough
to permit of the connecting rod vibrating therein, and where the distance
between the cylinder end and the crank shaft is limited, as is generally the case
in marine engines, we prefer to employ a single-acting and single trunk pump,
the capacity of the pump chamber or barrel being regulated by the dimensions
of the annular space, or the difference between the exterior diameter of the
trunk and the interior diameter of the pump barrel.
In inverted direct-acting screw engines the valves may be placed at the
bottom of each pump in direct communication with the condenser. In every
case the connecting rod works within the trunk of a pump placed between the
cylinder and the crank, and the cylinder of the pump and the packed end or
ends thereof, or the piston and the gland alone are the means of guiding the
piston rod and of taking the thrust due to the angular motion of the con-
necting rod. For working the back slide or cut-off slide of double slide valve
engines, we connect such slide valve to the backward eccentric or its rod
directly through a weigh shaft, or by any other of the well-known means, and
we regulate the amount of expansion by changing the positions of the slides
by means of a screwed valve rod or other suitable means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Jackson and Richard Watkins in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
JACKSON and RICHARD WATKINS, both of the Canal Iron Works, Millwall,
Poplar, E., Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said William Jackson and Richard Watkins, Her special license
that we, the said William Jackson and Richard Watkins, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Jackson
and Richard Watkins, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Jackson and Richard Watkins, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of them, 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 we, the said William Jackson and Richard Watkins,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
This Invention relates chiefly to those forms of engines known as direct-
acting engines, and whether such engines be vertical, horizontal, or inclined,
and whether employed for marine or stationary purposes.
Instead of employing a guide block and guides, or any of the usual methods
of guiding and supporting the outer end of the piston rod at its junction with
the connecting rod, and instead also of working a pump by a lever or from
off the crank by an eccentric or other means of communicating motion, we
effect these two objects of guiding the piston rod and working the pump by
placing the pump barrel with its longitudinal axis in or nearly in a line with
the cylinder, and between the cylinder and the crank shaft; and we connect
the pump plunger or piston to the piston rod, and the end of the connecting
rod of the engine by a fork end or any other suitable means; thus the pump
is worked direct, and forms also the guide for the piston rod.
In condensing engines the air pump is the pump employed in this manner.
The piston or plunger of the pump is of sufficient diameter to allow of a trunk
large enough to permit of the connecting rod vibrating therein; and where
the distance between the cylinder end and the crank shaft is limited, as is
generally the case in marine engines, we prefer to employ a single-acting and
single trunk pump, the capacity of the pump chamber or barrel being
regulated by the dimensions of the annular space, or the difference between
the exterior diameter of the trunk and the interior diameter of the pump
barrel.
In inverted direct-acting screw engines the valves may be placed at the
bottom of each pump in direct communication with the condenser. In every.

page_text: case the connecting rod works within the trunk of a pump placed between the
cylinder and the crank, and the cylinder of the pump and the packed end or
ends thereof, or the piston and the gland alone are the means of guiding the
piston rod, and of taking the thrust due to the angular motion of the con-
necting rod. For working the back slide or cut-off slide of double-slide valve
engines, we connect such slide valve to the backward excentric or its rod
directly through a weigh shaft or by any other of the well-known means, and
we regulate the amount of expansion by changing the positions of the slides by
means of a screwed valve rod or other suitable means.
In the accompanying Drawing we have shown by way of illustration a pair
of inverted cylinder direct-acting engines constructed in accordance with our
Invention, in which a single-acting trunk air pump is placed between the
cylinder and the crank of each engine, the arrangement of valves and passages
at the bottom end of each pump cylinder or barrel, and the means of giving
access thereto externally and internally, are shown in the Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Figures 4 and 5 are views of the excentric gear for working the main and
expansion slides, as herein-before described.
Figure 1 is a general elevation or side view, one half in section, of a pair of
inverted cylinder direct-acting screw engines, constructed in accordance with
our Invention; Figure 2 is a forward end elevation of Figure 1, the cover of
the slide chest being removed the better to show the slide valve and face;
Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line A, B, Figure 1.
In each of the Figures 1, 2, and 3, a is the sole plate, upon which the two
hollow legs B, B, are bolted, and C, C, the steam cylinders bolted back to
back and supported upon the hollow side frames or legs B, B, which form the
condensing chambers; D, D, the pistons; E, E, the piston rods; and F, F,
the connecting rods. The double crank shaft G is supported in the 3 bear-
ings H, H, H, of the sole plate A. Between the side frames or hollow
legs B, B, is fitted a casing I, for containing the two single trunk air pumps,
the barrels of which also act as guides. At the upper end of each air pump
trunk the fork end of the connecting rod is connected to a short cross head K,
fitted upon the piston rod end, and also secured in carriages L to the trunk
and piston of the air pump M, and so admitting of the connecting rod
vibrating within the air pump trunk.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3 the forward and backward excentrics, the link, and
the gear for reversing are of the ordinary description, and the feeding and
bilge pumps are placed horizontally at the fore end of the engine, as shown in
Figures 1 and 2, and all four pumps are connected to a slot link, and are
worked by means of a stud projecting from the face of one of the outer

page_text: eccentrics of the forward engine, or the pumps might, if preferred, be worked
by a pin fitted direct into the end of the crank shaft, or into a disc keyed to
the crank shaft outside the eccentrics.
The second part of our Invention is illustrated by the detached views,
Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of the valve face of the cylinders, the valve
chest, and the main and expansion slide valves, with their rods and means of
regulating the "cut-off" at the back of the main slide by separating or
bringing together the two expansion slides or cover plates, by which the
steam is admitted through the main slide to the steam ports. The rod of the
main slide valve and the expansion valve rod pass through a gland in the
slide chest, and are moved together by the eccentric gear, but the expansion
valve rod is not connected to the link block, but by means of a rod or bar to
a stud or pin projecting from the face of the backward eccentric strap or rod.
On the upper end of the valve chest the rod of the expansion slide passes
through a gland, and has a hand wheel or cross fitted thereon for the purpose
of turning it, and thereby changing the position of the expansion slides or
cover plates in relation to the steam passages or openings through the main
slide valve; the expansion valve rod is screwed with a right and left hand
thread, and the lower end of the rod is made to turn or swivel when it is
required that the degree of cut-off shall be changed.
The several parts of the apparatus for working the valve gear, and the
several parts consisting of the valve face, valve chest, and covers, the slide
valves and their rods, are so distinctly shown in the two Figures 4 and 5, as
to render the employment of letters of reference unnecessary.
In adapting our Invention to horizontal or other forms of direct-acting
pumping engines for raising or forcing, or raising and forcing water, we apply a
trunk pump of suitable dimensions placed between the cylinder and the crank
as herein previously described, and for this purpose we may employ a double-
acting pump with double trunk by increasing the length of the piston rod and
the connecting rod.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in Steam Engines,"
and illustrated the two parts thereof in the five Figures or views shown in the
Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, we wish it to be understood that we
5 make no claim for the general arrangement of the framing and cylinders as
shown in the accompanying Drawing, nor for the employment of jacketted or
cased cylinders, and hollow cylinder bottoms or covers, nor for the arrange-
ment of the slide valves for regulating the admission and escape of steam, as
shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, neither do we claim the placing of two covering

page_text: plates or cut-off valves upon the back of the main slide for the purpose of regu-
lating the admission of steam through the passage or opening in each of the
main slide valves, as these several arrangements and parts are known and
in use; but what we claim is,―
First, placing in the manner herein described a pump, whether single or
double acting, between the cylinder and the crank in direct-acting steam
engines, whereby the usual guide bars and guide blocks are dispensed with,
and the pump by means of its piston or bucket, and the trunk, single or
double thereof, and the barrel or chamber in which they work, guides the
piston rod and connecting rod at their junction.
Second, the use or employment of an air pump in direct-acting condensing
steam engines in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth, whether
such engines be vertical, horizontal, inclined, or inverted, or otherwise.
Third, the mode or method herein set forth of dispensing with guide bars
and guide blocks, or their equivalents, in direct-acting engines.
Fourth, the mode or method herein described of working the air pump in
direct-acting condensing engines without the employment of separate and
independent levers, beams, connecting rods, or other such apparatus for that
purpose.
Fifth, the arrangement or disposition and mode of working direct-acting
pumping engines as herein set forth.
Sixth, the mode or method herein described, and as illustrated by Figures 4
and 5 in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, of working the back slide or
cut-off slide of double slide valve engines.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Jackson and Richard 2
Watkins, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three.
Witness to both signatures,
JAMES STEVENSON,
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, W.C.
WILLIAM JACKSON. (L.S.)
RICHARD WATKINS. (L.s.)