CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIP
TAYLOR, of the City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Third day of July, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Philip Taylor, His
, especial licence, that I, the said Philip Taylor, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Philip Taylor, my exors, adiñiors, and 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, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON STEAM
ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Philip Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
,be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
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, I, the said
Philip Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in so constructing steam engines, with cylinders
placed either horizontally or an inclined position, that the unequal friction and
wear of the pistons employed in such cylinders is avoided and prevented; and
also in so arranging and constructing such steam engines, placed in a horizontal
or in an inclined position, that several cylinders or engines may be made to act
simultaneously and uniformly, by which means the united power of such
several cylinders or engines may be directed to and exerted upon such work as
requires considerable power, and for which such engines are applicable. The
new and peculiar mode of construction by which the above-mentioned effects
are produced are applicable to steam engines, whether they are worked by the
expansive force of the steam only or by a vacuum produced by the condensation
of steam, or by the expansive force of steam and by a vacuum jointly. The
Drawings, Fig. 1 and 2, represent two combined engines placed in a hori-
zontal position, and worked by the expansive force of steam, and these
Drawings also represent and explain the mode in which the power produced by
two or more such engines may be concentrated or united for the purpose of
pumping water by either one or more pumps. The same letters or characters
denote the same parts respectively in the side view or elevation, Fig. 1, and in
the bird's-eye view or ground plan, Fig. 2. A is a foundation of stone, brick,
timber, metal, or any other suitable material; B, B, are two cylinders placed
horizontally, and exactly parallel with each other; C, C, C, C, are the saddles
or yokes which fasten the two cylinders together, and by which they are fixed or
bolted to the foundation. These may either be cast upon the cylinders them-
selves or be in separate pieces, D, D, D, D, are four similar cylinder covers or
lids, with steam-tight collars or stuffing boxes, one of which covers or lids is
fixed on each end of the two cylinders, so that the piston rods will work or
move through the opposite ends of each cylinder. E, E, E, E, are the two
piston rods which move or work through the steam-tight collars or stuffing
boxes at the opposite ends of each cylinder. These pistons rods may each of
them be made either of one continuous piece of metal, or each of them may
be made in two equal lengths, united by screws, wedges, or keys to the piston,
which, in either case, must be fixed at an equal distance from the extremities
of the piston rod to which it is connected. F, F, are two cross heads, to which
the four ends of the piston rods are firmly fastened, by means of screws, wedges,
or keys. These cross heads must be of sufficient strength to bear the com-
bined force of both engines, and if more than two cylinders are combined, their

page_text: strength must be increased in proportion. G, G, G, G, are four guide wheels
or friction wheels, which are fitted upon the cross heads so as to move freely.
H, H, H, H, are the guide rods or streight edges on which the wheels
G, G, G, G, move. These must be placed exactly paralleled to the cylinders, and
at such distances from each other that the two piston rods may have a perfectly
parallel motion. I, I, are the connecting rods, which convey the motion and
power of the combined engines to pumps or other machinery.
These rods may
be extended to a considerable length if required, by supporting them on friction
rollers, or in any other convenient manner, and the reciprocating motion given
to these connecting rods by the engines may be converted into a rotary motion
by means of a crank or cranks. K, K, are the bell-crank beams or balance
beams, which are united to the connecting rods I, I, and which give motion
to pump rods or other machinery attached to them. The bell crank or
balance beams K, K, must have such a quantity of weight or load constantly
acting upon each of them as will produce a sufficient degree of tension in
the piston rods to prevent the weight of the piston from occasioning an
unequal friction in the cylinders in which they work. In large pumping
engines, such as are employed for mines, the weight of the pump rods
alone will be sufficient to produce the degree of tension required if each
bell-crank beam is connected to a distinct pump rod, as shewn in the
Drawing, Fig. 1, in which case the power of the combined engine will be
divided between the two sets of pumps; but if it is required to concentrate the
whole power of such a combined engine on one set of pumps placed at one end
of the engine, then it will be necessary to attach a weight to one of the bell-
crank beams, as shewn in red ink at Q, Fig. 1, which weight must be equal to
half the power of the engine and the weight of the pump rod R. This weight
will be raised by half the power of the engine in one direction, and its gravi-
tation added to the power of the engine in the other direction, will concentrate
the total power on the rod R. L, L, L, L, are the nozzles or openings
through which the steam enters into and escapes from the cylinders. M, M,
are the steam pipes or passages which connect the two nozzles or openings at
each end of the cylinders together, and which serve to distribute the steam
equally to each of the cylinders; in these steam pipes or passages the valves
are placed which regulate the alternate admission and escape of the steam to
or from the cylinders. O, O, are the pipes which convey the steam from the
steam boiler or boilers to the cylinders. P, P, are the pipes through which
the steam escapes from the cylinders after it has given motion to the pistons.
Various kinds of cocks, valves, or slides may be employed for engines on the
construction above described, and various modes of opening and shutting them

page_text: may also be employed (as is the case with all other steam engines), but the
description above given, and the Drawings annexed, so clearly point out tho
nature of my plan that any person accustomed to the construction of steam
engines cannot fail to understand it, will be enabled to adapt and vary the
several parts according to the size of the engines and the nature of the work
to which they are to be applied. Should it be required to place a combined
engine or engines in an inclined position, then the guide rods or straight
edges H, H, must have the same inclination as that given to the cylinders of
such engines. In the annexed Drawings an example is given of two hori-
zontal cylinders so combined as to work simultaneously, but it is sufficiently
obvious that a greater number may be combined on the same principle, and that
they may be either combined by placing the cylinders parallel to each other,
or by placing them longitudinally, or one before the other, in which case tho
two piston rods must be united together so as to form one streight line instead
of two parallel lines, as shewn in Figuro 1 and 2. Such combined engines are
more particularly applicable to reciprocating motions, such as pumping, but
rotary movements may easily be derived from them by attaching the connect-
ing rods I, I, to cranks, in which case the tension of the piston rods may bo
produced by balance beams as above described. I do not claim as my Inven-
tion the use of horizontal or inclined cylinders unless they are employed for
combined engines as above described; nor do I claim any particular mode of
admitting or emitting the steam by means of cocks, valves, or slides; nor do I
claim any particular mode of opening, shutting, or working such cocks, valves, or
slides; nor do I claim any particular kind of piston or piston rod; nor do I
claim any particular mode of producing the parallel motion of the piston rods;
but I claim as my Invention the modo above described of preventing the un-
equal friction of pistons working in cylinders placed either in a horizontal or
or in an inclined position by passing the piston rods through both ends of such
cylinders, and by keeping such piston rods in a state of tension by means of
a weight or load acting on each end of such piston rods; and I claim as my
Invention the mode above described, of combining engines with cylinders
placed in a horizontal or inclined position, so that they will work simulta-
neously, by which means the power of several such engines may be concentrated
upon one point.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
PHILIP (L.S.) TAYLOR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid Philip Taylor came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And
5 also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.