AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE, PARTS OF THE ARRANGEMENTS OF WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO APPARATUS FOR REGULATING, MEASURING, AND REGIS- TERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS AND GASES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
GEORGE SPRAY and GEORGE NEVETT, of the Hampstead Road, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
December (One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine), in the thirteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Frederick George Spray and George Nevett, our exors,
adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that we, the said Frederick George Spray and George Nevett, our
exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick George
Spray and George Nevett, our exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
our Invention of "AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE, PARTS OF THE ARRANGEMENTS
OF WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO APPARATUS FOR REGULATING, MEASURING, AND REGIS-
TERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS AND GASES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that we, the said Frederick George Spray and George
Nevett, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to
be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: 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, we, the said
Frederick George Spray and George Nevett, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
are fully described in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Our improved steam engine is of the class called rotary. Figure 1 is a
vertical section of the principal parts of this engine. A is the cylinder, which
is securely affixed to some basement; B, the piston, which has a series of
steam-tight buckets C, C, C, similar to those of a water wheel, formed upon
it; D and E are steam passages; F, H, and K are chambers formed by the
blades or partitions f, f; and G and I are expansion passages. Supposing
the steam to enter by the passage D, it will be projected. into the chamber F.
When the partition f gets past the mouth of the expansion passage G the
steam will escape into the chamber H, and from which it will partly escape
by the second expansion passage I into a third chamber K, from which it
will enter the exhaust through the passage E and the D valve F, having been
made to act successively upon three of the blades or partitions of the piston.
The engine is reversed by turning the handle L until the D valve comes over
the passage D, which movement also adjusts the butterfly valves n, n.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the lubricator M, which
we employ in connection with the said engine. A is a cup for holding the
oil or other lubricating substance; B, a screwed stem by which it is attached
to the cylinder; C is a conical valve which is fitted into the mouth of the
cup A, and serves to prevent both the entrance of dirt and the escape of
steam; D is the spindle of the valve, which is made hollow and bored truly
inside for the reception of a tube E, which has attached to it the spindle and
handle F. The tube E is accurately fitted both into the stem B and into the
valve spindle D, and capable of being moved up and down within them. G is
a helical spring which keeps the valve C up against its seat, and H a second
belical spring which keeps the tube E pressed up within the spindle of the
valve. The lubricating material is introduced, in the first instance, into the
cup by pressing down the valve C, and when it is desired to lubricate the
piston of the engine the handle F is pressed down, which causes a sinall
hole a, formed in the side of the tube E, to come below the end of the hollow
spindle of the valve. The oil then flows through it into the interior of the
tube, and thence through the stem of the cup into the cylinder. Upon lifting

page_text: the hand the helical spring 1 causes the tube to ascend and stop the now of
the oil.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a self-acting feed apparatus. A is a pipe
fitted upon and connected to the boiler; B is a branch pipe leading from the
pump; C, another pipe or tube, which slides up and down within the pipe A,
and at bottom is attached by a cross head and two arms to a hollow metal
ring or float D. When the level of the water in the boiler gets below a
certain point the float and tube C descend, and water from the pump, flowing
through the branch pipe B, gets admission into the interior of the pipe C
through a slot E formed in the side of it near the upper end, and thence
the water flows into the boiler by the holes F, F, and the continuation of the
pipe B. As the surface of the water rises in the boiler the float D rises along
with it, and raises the tube C till the slot E gets past the mouth of the branch
pipe B, and stops any further inflow of water into the boiler. G is a pipe by
which the steam is allowed to act upon the upper end of the tube C, so as to
counterbalance the pressure upon the lower end.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of an alarum whistle to be attached to the
boiler. A is an outer case attached to the top of the boiler; B, a tube which
slides within the case A, and has two apertures C and D formed in its upper
end, the aperture C admitting steam into the passage F, and the other
aperture D into the passage G, both of which passages communicate with the
whistle H placed on the top of the case A. The tube B is connected at its
lower end to a float, which causes it to rise and fall within the case. If the
water gets too low in the boiler the aperture D will come opposite the lower
end of the passage G, and cause the whistle to sound an alarum; and, in like
manner, if too much water enters the boiler, the whistle will be sounded by the
steam escaping through the passage F. He is an auxiliary safety valve.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of a water guage and steam indicator, which
we employ in connection with the said engine, and which is also applicable to
other steam engines. A and B are two taps which communicate with the
interior of the boiler; C is a graduated glass tube; D, a small cylinder fitted
with a piston which acts against a helical spring superimposed upon the top
of the piston, and underneath the cylinder cover. The piston rod E is
graduated into degrees of pressure, and the length to which it projects beyond
the cylinder cover indicates the pressure of the steam in the boiler, while the
water level is indicated by the degree of elevation exhibited by the water in
the graduated glass tube C.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a salinometer or instrument for ascer
taining the density of the water in the boiler. A is a spherical vessel con-

page_text: nected to the boiler by the pipe and stopcock B; C is a thermometer, which
is placed in a chamber mounted on the top of the spherical vessel A. If
water be allowed to flow freely from the boiler into the vessel A, and through
the pipe D, until the whole has come to the boiling point of the water under
the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, then the temperature indicated by
the thermometer at that instant will also indicate the density or saltness of the
water in the boiler.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is, the
improved rotary engine before described, in so far as regards the peculiar con-
struction of the piston, the lubricator, the self-acting feed apparatus, the
alarum whistle, the water and steam indicator, and the salinometer, and the
application generally of the said feed apparatus, alarum whistle, and water
and steam indicator to the regulating, measuring, and registering of the flow of
liquids and gases.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick George Spray, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fift
MOWBRAY.
FREDERIC G. (L.s.) SPRAY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Frederic George Spray came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.