IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Christian Löbnitz, of the Firm of Hender-
son, Coulborn, & Company, Engincers and Ship Builders, of the
Town and County of Renfrew, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES."
Sealed the 17th May 1870, and dated the 23rd November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Christian Löbnitz
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd November 1869.
I, HENRY CHRISTIAN LÖBNITZ, of the Firm of Henderson, Coulborn, &
Company, Engineers and Ship Builders, of the Town and County of
Renfrew, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," to be as follows,
that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an improved arrangement of combined
engines, that is to say, engines wherein high and low pressure steam are
employed, and the object of the arrangements is to ensure the dead points
of the crank being overcome, and at the same time to utilize the full
force of the expanded steam in the low-pressure cylinder at the beginning
and throughout the stroke. In engines with fixed cylinders this object

page_text: is effected by placing the high-pressure cylinder at an angle to the low-
pressure cylinder and connecting them to one crank or to a pair of cranks
at the same angle. And in engines wherein the cylinders oscillate the
high and low pressure cylinders are separate and placed also at an angle
to each other in place of being united and parallel as hitherto, but con-
nected to one crank or a pair of cranks at the same angle. By means of
the arrangements herein-before set forth the dead points of the crank
are as effectually overcome as in combined engines hitherto made with
four cylinders, that is to say, with two high-pressure cylinders and two
low-pressure cylinders. The exhaust or eduction passage between the
cylinders is made as short and of as small capacity as is compatible for
educing the steam from the high-pressure cylinder, and the use of a
steam jacket chamber or reservoir for the steam escaping from the
high-pressure cylinder is avoided so that by this arrangement the steam
acts in the low-pressure cylinder as rapidly as possible as it exhausts
from the high-pressure cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Christian Löbnitz in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CHRISTAIN LOBNITZ, of the Firm of Henderson, Coulborn, & Company,
Engineers and Ship Builders, of the Town and County of Renfrew, North
Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Christian Löbnitz, Her special
license that I, the said Henry Christian Löbnitz, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Christian
Löbnitz, my executors, administrators, or 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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Christian Löbnitz, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
samo 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 Henry Christian Löbnitz, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
My said Invention relates to an improved arrangement of combined
engines, that is to say, engines wherein high and low pressure steam is
employed, and the object of the arrangements is to ensure the dead points
of the crank being overcome and at the same time to utilize the full
force of the expanded steam in the low-pressure cylinder at the beginning
and throughout the stroke. In engines with two fixed cylinders this
object is effected by placing the high-pressure cylinder at an angle to
the low-pressuro cylinder and connecting their pistons to one crank pin.
And in engines where the cylinders oscillate the high and low pressure
cylinders are separate and placed also at an angle to each other (in
place of being united and parallel as hitherto), but the pistons of which
are connected to one crank pin. By means of the arrangements
herein-before set forth, the dead points of the crank are as effectually
overcome as in combined engines hitherto made with four cylinders, that
is to say, with two high-pressure cylinders and two low-pressure
cylinders. The exhaust or eduction passage between the cylinders is
made as short and of as small capacity as is compatible for educing the
steam from the high-pressure cylinder, and the use of a steam jacket
chamber or reservoir for the steam escaping from the high-pressure
cylinder is avoided, so that by this arrangement the steam acts in the
low-pressure cylinder as rapidly as possible as it exhausts from the high-
pressure cylinder.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I

page_text: in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
On Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto appended Figure 1 is an end
elevation, and Figure 2 a plan, partly in horizontal section, of a combined
or high and low pressure engine having two cylinders which are fixed
or stationary, and in these Drawings the improvements which constitute
this Invention are shown applied. Various parts or details of the
mechanism of the engines shown on both Sheets 1 and 2 of the Drawings
being of ordinary construction, excepting in so far as regards the im-
provements above referred to, need not be herein specified. In the
example shown at Sheet 1 of the Drawings, the Invention is carried into
effect by placing the high-pressure cylinder A at an angle relatively with
the low-pressure cylinder B as shown, and in connecting the high and
low pressure cylinders A and B together by means of an eduction pipe
or passage C, which pipe or passage is made short and of as small
capacity as is compatible with the efficient eduction of the steam from the
high-pressure cylinder A into the low-pressure cylinder B. By this
arrangement the employment of a steam jacket chamber or reservoir into
which the steam may escape from the high-pressure cylinder A is dis-
pensed with, and the steam as it is educed from the high-pressure
cylinder A is caused to pass into and act in the low-pressure cylinder B
in as short a space of time as practicable, at the same time the full force
of the expanded steam in the low-pressure cylinder B is utilized at the
beginning and throughout the stroke of the piston in that cylinder. The
rods of the pistons in the high and low pressure cylinders A and B re-
spectively are attached by means of the connecting rods D and E to one
crank and crank pin F, as shown at Figure 1, which crank is fixed on to
and actuates the main shaft G of the engine. By the arrangement of the
cylinders at an angle as shown the dead points of the crank are overcome
as effectually as in combined engines in which four cylinders in pairs
(the cylinders being parallel to each other, that is two high-pressure and
two low-pressure cylinders, the pistons of cach pair of high and low
pressure cylinders being connected to cranks at an angle to each other,)
are employed.
On Sheet 2 of the annexed Drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section,
and Figure 2 a plan of a combined or high and low pressure engine
having four oscillating cylinders, and showing the improvements which

page_text: .
constitute this Invention applied thereto. In combined.' oscillating
engines as hitherto constructed, the high and low pressure cylinders are
united and placed parallel to each other. In the example shown on the.
accompanying Drawings one high-pressure cylinder A. is placed at an
angle relatively with the opposite low-pressure cylinder B, the pistons, of
each opposite high and low pressure cylinder A and B being connected.
to one crank pin G. In the example shown in the Drawings now referred
to the eduction passages H-connect the high and low pressure cylinders
which are on one and the same side of the crank shaft.. The piston rod C
of the high-pressure cylinder on one side of the crank shaft and the piston
rods D of the low-pressure cylinder on the opposite side of the crank
shaft are connected to one crank pin G in the crank E, on the main
shaft F of the engine, as shown particularly at Figure 1.
In cases where the engines comprise but two oscillating cylinders the
arrangement of the said cylinders is similar to that shown at the lower
part of Figure 1, Sheet 2 of the Drawings, and in which case they are
connected together by an eduction passage K, as shown in dotted lines at
Figures 1 and 2.
It is to be understood that the arrangements of the high and low
pressure cylinders herein-before set forth may be applied to engines
having one or any other number of pairs of cylinders. In cases where
it may be necessary with oscillating engines, having but one pair of
cylinders to place them at too small. or too great an angle for the
effective working of the engine each piston rod may be connected to a
crank pin at an angle to the crank pin to which the other piston rod is
connected, the two pins being connected by a link or coupling L as shown
in detail at Figure 3, Sheet 2.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the system,
mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be used or
practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is;-
First. The placing of the high and low pressure cylinders of combined
engines (for either paddle or screw steam ships) having stationary
cylinders at an angle to each other and having their pistons connected to
one crank pin, as herein-before described and shown on Sheet 1 of the
annended Drawings.

page_text: Second. The placing of the high and low pressure cylinders of combined
engines (for either paddle or screw steam ships) having oscillating
cylinders at opposite sides of the crank, or at a varying angle to each other,
and connected to one crank pin or to a pair of crank pins connected by a
link, as herein-before described and shown on Sheet 2 of the appended
Drawings.
Second. The placing of the high and low pressure cylinders of combined
engines (for either paddle or screw steam ships) having oscillating
cylinders at opposite sides of the crank, or at a varying angle to each other,
and connected to one crank pin or to a pair of crank pins connected by a
link, as herein-before described and shown on Sheet 2 of the appended
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Christain Löbnitz, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
link, as herein-before described and shown on Sheet 2 of the appended
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Christain Löbnitz, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
HENRY CHRISTIAN LÖBNITZ. (L.S.)