IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hanson, of Halifax, in the County of
York, Engineer, for the Invention of 'IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES."
66
Sealed the 22nd April 1873, and dated the 11th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hanson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th November 1872.
I, RICHARD HANSON, of Halifax, in the County of York, Engineer,
"IMPROVEMENTS
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to compound high and low
pressure steam engines, and consists in superheating the steam between
the point where it leaves the high-pressure cylinder and that at which it
enters the low-pressure cylinder, firstly, by conveying it into the chimney
flue of the boiler, there to be acted on by the waste heat from the boiler
furnaces; and secondly, by passing it through another superheater fixed

page_text: in or on the boiler itself, and so constructed that the steam within the
boiler circulating around the pipes or vessels containing the exhaust
steam from the high-pressure cylinder regulates and equalises the heat
which has been imparted thereto by the first superheater or boiler flues.
By these means I am enabled without overheating the steam to send it
into the low-pressure cylinder at a much higher pressure than by the
ordinary methods now adopted, whilst any excess of heat given to it in
the first superheater is taken up by the steam in the boiler, and any want
of heat in it as it passes from the first superheater is supplied by the
steam in the boiler.
The second part of my Invention consists in applying an automatic
regulator to control the action of the cut-off valve which works at the
back of the ordinary slide valve of an engine. Usually this is done and
made to depend on the workman turning a hand wheel connected with
the valve, and as he turns this wheel in one direction or the other so the
steam is shut off earlier or later.
According to my Invention instead of this hand wheel I use a pinion
wheel gearing into a rack on the rod of a piston working in a water
cylinder supplied with water under pressure through a plug tap so con-
structed that as this tap is turned in one or other direction by a rod
connected with the governor of the engine, as it rises or falls the pipe
communicating with one end of the water cylinder will be closed and
the other end will be opened, and in this way the piston acted on from
one side or the other will cause the rack and pinion to regulate the
action of the cut-off valve as may be required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Hanson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HANSON, of Halifax, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Richard Hanson, Her special license

page_text: that I, the said Richard Hanson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Hanson, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Hanson, 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 Richard Hanson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to compound high and low
pressure steam engines, and consists in superheating the steam between
the point where it leaves the high-pressure cylinder and that at which it
enters the low-pressure cylinder, firstly, by conveying it into the chimney
flue of the boiler, there to be acted on by the waste heat from the boiler
furnaces; and secondly, by passing it through another superheater fixed
in or on the boiler itself or in direct communication therewith, and so
constructed that the steam within the boiler circulating around or within
the pipes or vessels containing the exhaust steam from the high-pressure
cylinder regulates and equalises the heat which has been imparted thereto
by the first superheater or boiler flues. By these means I am enabled
without overheating the steam to send it into the low-pressure cylinder
at a much higher pressure than by the ordinary methods now adopted,
whilst any excess of heat given to it in the first superheater is taken up
by the steam in the boiler, and any want of heat in it as it passes from
the first superheater is supplied by the steam in the boiler.
The second part of my Invention consists in applying an automatic
regulator to control the action of the cut-off valve which works at the
back of the ordinary slide valve of an engine. Usually this is done and

page_text: made to depend on the workman turning a hand wheel connected with
the valve, and as he turns this wheel in one direction or the other so the
steam is shut off earlier or later.
According to my Invention instead of this hand wheel I use a pinion
wheel acting on the rod of the cut-off valve and gearing into a rack on
the rod of a piston working in a water cylinder supplied with water
under pressure through a plug tap so constructed that as this tap is
turned in one or other direction by a rod connected with the governor of
the engine as it rises or falls the pipe communicating with one end of
the water cylinder will be closed and the other end will be opened to the
supply, and in this way the piston acted on from one sido or the other
will cause the rack and pinion to regulate the action of the cut-off valve
as may be required.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed aided by the accompanying
Drawings more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
b
Figure 1 is an elevation of part of a compound high and low pressure
engine and of a boiler and parts connected therewith, having the first
part of my Invention applied thereto. a is a boiler, which may be of
any convenient construction; b is a high-pressure cylinder, and c is a
low-pressure cylinder. These cylinders may be placed in any suitable
position in relation to the boiler according to the peculiar construction
The steam
and arrangement of the engine of which they form part.
after having produced its effect in the high-pressure cylinder 6 passes
therefrom by a pipe d into a superheater e, which is heated by the waste
gases from the boiler or boiler flues. This superheater may be formed, as
shewn in the Drawings, of a coil of small tubing, or it may be otherwise
formed as may be found suitable for the purpose. From the super-
beater e the steam passes by the pipe f into a second superheater or
equaliser g fixed on or adjacent to the boiler and having the steam direct
from the boiler circulating therein in a coil or number of small tubes.
The superheated steam from the heater passes around the exterior of
the tubes in the superheater or equaliser 9, and thence by the tube / to
the low-pressure cylinder c. By these means I am enabled always to
secure the same heat to the steam entering the cylinder c as that of the
steam in the boiler, and I am enabled without overheating the steam to

page_text: send it into the low-pressure cylinder c at a much higher pressure than
by the ordinary methods now adopted, whilst any excess of heat given to
it in the first superheater is taken up by the steam in the boiler, and any
want of heat in it as it passes from the superheater e is supplied to it by
the steam in the boiler, thereby preventing the cylinder c being cut or
burnt with the hot steam and always securing perfectly dry steam in
such cylinder.
If desired instead of placing the superheater or equaliser g outside the
boiler it may be placed in the interior thereof.
I would here remark that I do not confine myself to the arrangement
hercin-before described so long as a second superheater or equaliser be
employed for the purpose explained.
At Figure 2 I have shown a valve box and the ports of a cylinder
having the second part of my Invention applied thereto. Figures 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, and 8 are detail views of part thereof to a larger scale, and
Figures 9 and 10 are views showing this part of my Invention slightly
modified and applied to a pair of engines. i is the ordinary slide valve
and is a cut-off valve working as usual on the back of the slide
valve i.
Instead however of regulating the action of the cut-off valve by the
workman or attendant turning a hand wheel fixed on the rod ¹ I mount
on such rod a pinion wheel je, which gears into a rack on the rod k of a
piston working in a water cylinder 1. This cylinder is supplied with
water under pressure from any suitable source through a valve or tap m
(see Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) communicating with the ends of the
cylinder by pipes n, o. The water enters such tap or valve m by a
supply pipe m³, and the waste water passes off from the cylinder
through the tap or valve m, from which it escapes by a waste pipe m².
The tap or valve m is so constructed that as the plug m* thereof is
turned in one or the other direction by a rod p connected at one end with
the governor of the engine and at the other with the lever q, the pipe
communicating with one end of the cylinder / will be closed against the
supply, and that communicating with the other end will be opened, and
in this way the piston in the cylinder will be acted on from one side or
the other by the pressure of water, which will cause the rack on the
rod k and the pinion to regulate the action of the cut-off valve as may
be required by rotating the rod j', which by means of the right and left

page_text: hand screw threads formed thereon causes the cut-off valves j to move
further from or nearer to each other, according to the direction of
rotation of the pinion j². The outer end of the piston rod k, Figure 2,
is formed to work in suitable guides to keep it in correct position, and
the rod of the cut-off valve is formed with a long key way to enable
it to work freely through the pinion and yet to receive rotary motion
therefrom.
The tap or valve m, as will be clearly seen by reference to Figures 4,
5, 6, 7, and 8, is so constructed that a very small portion of a revolution
of the plug thereof to the right or to the left will alternately place the
delivery pipes n, o, in communication with the supply pipe m¹ in such
manner that when one of them is in communication with the supply
pipe the other is cut off from it and instantaneously put in communi-
cation with the waste pipe m², but in the middle portion of the revolution
of the valve or tap plug the communication between the supply pipe m'
and the delivery pipes n, o, is cut off.
In the arrangement shown at Figures 9 and 10 instead of the rod k
having a rack formed thereon I connect each end thereof by a link ¹ to
a lever k³ having a segmental rack ³ formed thereon which gears with a
pinion on the rod j¹ of the cut-off valve.
I would here remark that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein shown and described of admitting water to and allowing
it to pass off from the cylinder 1, nor of communicating rotary motion
from the cylinder to the rod of the cut-off valve, as such may be
varied without departing from the peculiar character of this part of my
Invention, and I would further remark that with slight modifications this
part of my Invention may be applied to other descriptions of cut-off
valves, whilst although I prefer to employ water in the cylinder / it is
evident that steam or compressed air may be substituted therefor.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the modes
in which I prefer to carry the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is,-
Firstly. The employment in connection with compound high and low
pressure engines of a second superheater to act on the steam from the
high-pressure cylinder on its way from a first superheater to the low-
pressure cylinder, in manner and for the purpose substantially as hercin
shown and described.

page_text: And secondly. I claim the means substantially as herein shown and
described of automatically regulating the action of the cut-off valves
of steam engines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hanson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
RICHARD HANSON. (L.S.)