IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE BOILER AND WORKING PARTS OF STEAM FIRE ENGINES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO ENGINES FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Willcock, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE BOILER
AND WORKING PARTS OF STEAM FIRE ENGINES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE
APPLICABLE TO ENGINES FOR OTHER PURPOSES."-A communication from
abroad by Joseph G. E. Larned, of Brooklyn, State of New York,
United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Willcock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition and Declaration
on the 19th November 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENT; SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WILLCOCK, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OFT HE BOILER AND WORKING PARTS OF STEAM
FIRE ENGINES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO ENGINES FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by
Price 1

page_text: pared, of Brooklyn, State of New York, United States of
America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Willcock, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being also had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters marked thereon, and which make a part of this Specification:-
Figure 1, Plate 1, is a perspective view of the engine, &c.; Figure 2,
Plate 1, is a front end view of the same; Figure 1, Plate 2, is a side view of
the working parts; and Figure 2, Plate 2, is a plan of the same; Plates 3
and 4 contain different views of the boiler. The arrangement and con-
struction of the boiler is such, as to furnish a large extent of fire and water
surface within a comparatively small area, and also to secure a great degree
of strength with lightness of material and structure. Figure 1, Plate 3, is a
front elevation of the boiler; Figure 2 is a vertical section in the direction
of the red dotted line in Figure 3; Figure 3 is a plan of the lower tube sheet
of the steam drum at the upper red dotted line of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a
horizontal section through the middle dotted line of Figure 1; and Figure 5
is a plan of the water bottom through the lower dotten line of Figure 1;
Plate 4 is a full-sized section Drawing, shewing how the tubes are inserted
and other details of construction. Like letters refer to like parts, but the
numbers in Figures 1 and 2, designate the classes of tubes, and in the other
Figures designate the holes for inserting such tubes.
A is a steam drum, composed of a cylindrical shell, closed at the ends by au
upper and lower tube, sheet flanged, and rivited in the usual manner; B is a
water bottom, composed of the flanged ring a, Figure 5, Plate 3 and Plate 4
and the annular plate b, properly fitted to one another, and fastened by the
bolt c, the central space being filled by the grate G. The furnace or fire-box
occupying the space between the grate and the steam drum is enclosed by
means of the water tubes numb" 1 standing side by side in close contact, a d
opening into the water bottom below and steam drum above. These are
ordinary boiler tubes cut a little shorter than the intended height of the
furnace, and terminating in necks or shorter tubes d and e, Plate 4, by means
of which they are inserted, the diameter of the latter being so much less than
that of the tubes 1 as to leave a sufficient thickness of metal between the
adjacent perforations of the sheet, as seen in Figures 3 and 5; Plate 3, as
shewn in the Figures d and e, are nipples, forming screw joints in the
respective sheets, but they may be thimbles expanded into the plates in the
usual manner,
In either case the calibre of the tube is reduced to the

page_text: means.
required diameter by welding in rings at the ends, or other appropriate
The tubes over the door are received into the box D), which is in
form a segment of the water bottom of sufficient length, and composed like
that of a flanged part and a plate put together with bolts, and connected with
the water bottom by short tubes seen on each side of the doorway. A thin
casing of sheet iron, not shewn, completes the enclosure. C represents a
water chamber occupying, with the connecting tubes 2 and 3, the upper part
of the furnace, the whole constituting the annular part or main steam
generating portion of the boiler. These tubes are arranged in pairs
one within the other. The larger, marked 2, are water tubes inserted
into the lower sheet of the steam drum and the upper sheet of the water
chamber. Each of these contains or incloses one of the smaller tubes 3,
leaving, of course, only the annular space between the two, best seen in Fig. 4,
to be occupied by water, such water spaces being colored. The tubes 3 are
air tubes inserted into the lower sheets of the water chamber and the upper
sheets of the steam drum, and opening a passage from the fire-box to the
smoke top. The tubes numbered 4 are also air tubes, connecting in the
usual manner the upper and lower tube sheet of the steam drum. The total
flue area is intended to be about equally divided between the classes of tubes
numbered 3 and 4. The water chamber is perforated at suitable intervals by
the thimbles 5 connecting the opposite sheets, to admit and distribute the hot
air among the tubes 2. The circulation of water among the annular tubes is
secured by the supply tubes 6 connecting the chamber C with the water
bottom B. In the Drawings the chamber C is shewn as composed of two
sheets, with an intermediate hoop h, the edges of which are fitted in the lathe
to grooves in the sheets, put together with the bolts g, being substantially the
same method as that adopted in the water bottom already described. It
may, however, be formed in any other suitable manner.
The tubes numbered 2 and 4 are inserted in the usual way, that is, by
riveting or expanding them into the respective sheets. In the tubes num-
bered 3 I have resorted to a different method, shewn in full detail in the section
in Plate 4, inasmuch as it is important that these should admit of being taken
out and put back without injury, so as to allow of excess to the ends of tubes 2,
and for other purposes, whereas a tube inserted by the ordinary method of
expansion is necessarily destroyed in removing it. Into one of the sheets into
which the tube is to be inserted a hole is drilled and tapped large enough to pass
the larger tube 2, which hole is then bushed by the brass screw plug m, which
has a hole of the right size to permit the tube 3 to be expanded into it. The
opposite end of the tube has a collar k welded on it, which is turned down to

page_text: fit the hole, and countersink in the tube sheet, and a thread is cut on the end
to take the lock nut 7, by turning which, before the other end of the tube is
made fast, a steam joint is made between the shoulder and the countersink at
the inner or steam side of the sheet. The bush m is then driven home and
the free end of the tube after being trimmed to the right length is expanded
into and made fast to such bush. If now, the lock nut l be taken off we have
only to unscrew the bush m, and the whole tube may be withdrawn unharmed,
giving free access for the purpose of examination, repairs, &c., to the steam
drum on one side and to the interior of the chamber C on the other.
The general arrangement above described is susceptible of various
modifications, which, however, need not be particularized.
Its leading peculiarities and practical results are, the multiplying of the
heating surface relative to the amount of water to be acted upon by means of
the ansular tubes and the substitution for the ordinary boiler shell, except in
the steam drum, of the wall of tubes in close contact except near the point
of insertion to close the interior spaces. By increasing the heating surface
the evaporative power of the boiler is increased, and by limiting the quantity
of water its activity is also increased. The use of the enclosing tubes
reduces largely the part which adds most to the weight and least to the
effect, the thin metal of the tubes but little exceeding the sixteenth of an
inch in thickness, taking the place of boiler plate never less and often much
more than a quarter of an inch thick, to say nothing of the laps, rivets, and
stay bolts, the fire surface at the same time being increased in the proportion
of the semicircumference of the tubes to their diameter. The weight of a
boiler constructed on this principle need not exceed six pounds per foot of
fire surface so that within given limits of size and weight much greater
evaporative power can be obtained and more quickly brought into action
than in any form of boiler in common use known to me.
I am aware that a furnace has been constructed of rows of tubes set side by
side, but not in close contact, the tube insertions being of the full size of the
tube, so that spaces were left between adjacent tubes to be filled up by some
appropriate means, but the forming of a fire-box by means of a a continuous row
of tubes set side by side in close contact except near the point of insertion, or
as nearly close as the small inequalities in the diameters of tubes will admit, is
believed to be entirely novel and is claimed as my Invention. The method of
insertion by the smaller tubes or necks which is described would in most
situacions be the best, but they may also be inserted in perforations of the full
size of the tube, as, for instance, by giving to each alternate tube a short bend
near the end, so that the perforations to receive them may be on a larger or

page_text: smaller circle than those of the remaining tubes, and a sufficient thickness of
metal thereby left between adjacent perforations. But I claim the use of
tubes to form the fire-box set side by side in close contact except near the
points of insertion, by whatever particular method of insertion that purpose is
accomplished. The annular arrangement taken by itself, that is, the use of
tubes arranged in pairs one within the other is not claimed as new, as it has
been previously used for other purposes than steam boilers, and also for steam
boilers in a different arrangement aud combination. Such arrangement is
therefore claimed only in the combination in which it is here presented
substantially as described, that is, in combination with enclosing tubes to form
the fire-box, and for the purpose of such claim it is regarded as immaterial
whether the enclosing tubes are inserted by necks and set absolutely close
together or stand so far apart as to give a sufficient thickness of metal between
the adjacent perforations when the latter are made the full size of the tube,
believing that the combination of enclosing tubes inserted in the latter method
with tubes annularly arranged is new and original.
The improvement as to the working parts of the engine has reference to
the method of applying the power of the steam so as not only to operate a
powerful pump but also to propel the engine itself along the streets, and this
by an arrangement such that the self-propelling part may be promptly thrown
out of play and the power left to act upon the pump alone, and includes also
thearrangement of steering the engine and carriage and method of suspension
My Invention for such purpose consists essentially in a modification of the
ordinary locomotive engine with outside cylinders and connections by making
the connecting rods from the crossheads take hold of cranks, placed not as in
the ordinary locomotive upon the shaft or axle of the driving wheels, but upon
an intermediate shaft, which shaft is employed for the double purpose of
securing a perfect self-propelling arrangement on the principles presently to be
explained, and of driving a rotary or other suitable pump, the power being
transmitted thence to cranks on the driving wheels by parallel rods like those
which couple the successive pairs of locomotive drivers, so arranged, however,
that they can be readily and quickly uncoupled, and the power left to act
solely upon the pump. By this arrangement, when the driving wheels are
connected by the parallel rods to the intermediate shaft, the engine, acting as a
street locomotive, can propel itself to the vicinity of the fire, and place itselt
in the proper position for service, and then by simply uncoupling it is instantly
converted into a fire engine of unprecedented power.
In the accompanying views on Plates 1 and 2, A is the frame; B is the
boiler; C, the cylinders; D, the crossheads; E, the connecting rods, taking

page_text: hold of counterbalanced cranks on the intermediate shaft F, on which is seen
the rotary pump P; G is a reaction rod or bar, reaching from the steam
cylinders to the journal bearings of F, to take the thrust of the engine; Hare
eccentric rods acting on the valve rod through a stationary link operated by
the reversing lever and shaft L; M are the parallel rods, connecting the
cranks on the intermediate shaft with those on the driving axle N, the con-
nection with the latter being by means of a strap, gib, and key of the usual
form, while the opposite end of the rod is so formed that when the key K is
drawn the upper part of the friction box, in which the crank pin turns, may be
taken off, when the forward end drops down and leaves the intermediate shaft
free to revolve independently of the driving axle. The two strong arms O
taking hold of each shaft near its ends, keep the driving axle at an uniform
distance from the intermediate shaft. The boxes in the ends of these arms
form with the shafts by means of interposed sleeves ball and socket joints, as
do also those on the ends of the parallel rods with the crank pins turning in
them. The boxes at the forward ends of O are solid rings placed within the
forked ends of the reaction rods G, on which these arms are swivelled by
means of the trunnions t, forming thus with the shaft a universal joint. It
will be seen, therefore, that the radius arms O have at once a vertical move-
ment about the centre of the intermediate shaft, a horizontal motion about the
centre of the trunnions t, and by means of the ball joints a rolling motion
about their own axes, so that the driving axle and wheels can take any position
whatever within the range of the seperate motions specified. P is the pump;
Q, a water chamber, with hydrant and suction attachments connected with the
receiving chamber of the pump by a piper, R being the discharge pipe; Sare
the main carrying springs, and s the forward springs; the former take hold
of the frame forward at a, and recieve the weight near the middle of their
length, the free or back end taking hold of links which drop from the boxes b
on the main driving axle near the hubs. The attachment of the front springs
is similar, that is, by the middle & by their inner ends. These springs are of
uniform thickness, but taper in width from the point where they receive the
weight to near the ends, and may be made so sensitive as to protect perfectly
the frame and the machinery attached to it against any concussion to which it
may be exposed. There are also transverse springs, not shewn in the Figures,
to take the shock of any sideways movements of the frame, and also a stiff
spring lying horizontally along one side of the frame back of the hinder axle
to take one end of the transverse radius arm h, which taking hold at the other
end of a pin or stud on the box 6 upon the axle, at once limits the range of
lateral movement of the wheels, and permits either one of them to rise or fall

page_text: as the inequalities of the road surface may require without a corresponding
change of level in the frame.
The forward springs s projecting from the centre of the frame at its front
end are two or more in number, placed one above the other, and serve also
the purpose of a reach, taking hold by means of the boxes c upon the upright
steering spindle T. Between the boxes c the steering spindle opens into an
elliptical enlargement spanned by the horizontal pin d. U is the front axle
turning freely in the sleeves fat the ends of the balanced bar V, by means of
which it is connected with the steering spindle, both the axle and the sleeve
bar passing through the opening already mentioned, and the sleeve bar being
centered upon the pin d; thus a universal joint is formed, one axis of motion
being the centre line of the axle, and the other that of the pin d, and the
steering spindle is therefore at liberty to rock either backwards or forwards in
obedience to the action of the springs, or from side to side, yielding to the
motion of the wheels in rising and falling. One of the front wheels is made
fast upon its axle U, while the other is left free to prevent slip in turning.
When this is not considered essential, both wheels may be set free and the
sleeve bar V be dispensed with, the pin d passing in that case directly through
an enlargement in the axle. X is a horizontal crank on the top of the steering
spindle, operated by means of the winch W (acting through the screw
sleeve Y and the connecting rod Z), by turning which the upright shaft is
rotated, the direction of the forward axle controlled, and the carriage steered
with great facility & precision. In these connections, as on those with the
hinder axle, ball joints are provided to secure flexibility.
It will be seen that the driving shaft and wheels, whatever vertical play they
may have, must necessarily move in a circle, of which the intermediate shaft
is the centre, and as the carriage frame and its fixed attachments including the
intermediate shaft, are hung on springs as already described, of any required
degree of sensitiveness, the working parts of the engine are wholly undisturbed
by the motion of the wheels, however rough the road may be, the power being
accurately transmitted to them whatever position they may assume above or
below the centre line of the cylinders, while the ball and socket and the
universal joint by which the connections are made, provide effectually against
any degree of side movement, twist or flexure. By the use, therefore, of the
intermediate shaft and the radius arms in connection with the manner of
suspension and steering which I have described, I secure every essential con-
dition of a street locomotive capable of propelling itself over any ordinary road
or street, and by using the same intermediate shaft to drive the rotary pump

page_text: with the means described of instantaneous disconnection, I am enabled to
transform this street locomotive at once into a steam fire engine applying
the whole power of the engine at pleasure, either to its locomotive or its
hydraulic functions. The arrangement would also be substantially the
same, if instead of a rotary there were used one or more receprocating
pumps, provided they were operated by the intermediate shaft, as for
instance, by making it a cranked axle, or by other suitable means.
To recapitulate what is claimed as new, and what I desire to have
protected by Letters Patent, and which I claim both separately and in
combination is in reference to the working parts of the engine.
First, the combination of the intermediate shaft with the radius arms &
parallel rods and the use thereof as a means of transmitting the power of the
engines accurately to the driving wheels, whatever position they may take above
or below the centre line of the cylinders, or to one or the other side thereof.
Second, the method of suspension, and the method of steering, separately and
in their combination, as described; to wit, the method of suspending the frame
or bed with the machinery attached thereto, upon projecting springs consisting
of two main carrying springs, or sets of such springs so arranged as to give two
points of bearing upon the driving axle, and two or more forward springs so
arranged as to give a single point of bearing upon the forward axle, and so as
to serve at the same time the purpose of a reach, and the method of steering
by causing the forward springs to take hold by means of suitable boxes of an
upright steering shaft or spindle so connected with the front axle as to have
two axes of motion at right angles to one another, substantially as described,
allowing the spindle to rock either backwards or forwards, in obediance to the
action of the springs, or to one or the other side in yielding to the rising or
falling motion of one or the other wheel, neither one of such motions affecting
in any manner the line of direction of the carriage, while by rotating such
upright shaft on its own axis by means of the screw sleeve and connecting
rods and winch, substantially as set forth, the direction of the front axle may
be controlled, and the carriage steered with great facility and precision.
Third, the combination of the intermediate shaft with a rotary or other
suitable pump for the purpose of a self-propelling steam fire engine, as a
means of applying the power of the engine at pleasure for self-propulsion
or for operating the pump.
And I also claim in respect to the boiler herein described,―
First, the substitution for the parallel or concentric sheets of boiler plate
ordinarily used to form the fire box of steam boilers of a continuous row or

page_text: rows of upright water tubes, side by side in close contact, except near the points
of insertion, to connect the steam drum or water space above the fire with a
water bottom below it, in such way as to form by themselves a water jacket.
Second, the combination of a row or rows of water tubes set side by side
to enclose the furnace with tubes annularly arranged to give increased
surface without reference to the particular method of inserting the
enclosing or arranging the annular tubes.
Third, the method of inserting the tubes, substantially as described, so
that they may be taken out and replaced at pleasure and without injury, by
means of a lock, nut, or screw joint, at one end, and a combined screw and
expansion joint at the other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Willcock have heretofore set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of November, A.D. 1859.
(L.S.) JOSEPH WILLCOCK.