Improvements in Engine Starting Gear.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 9th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Engine Starting Gear.
WILLIAM GROVES BUCK, 16 Mount Pleasant Bentley Road Doncaster Yorks.,
Engine Fitter, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of a metal casing containing two piston valves A and B
attached to a beam C and equilibrium valve D, working in connection therewith.
On the engine stop valve or regulator being opened the steam will lift the piston
valve A and open the valve D. When the pressure in the low pressure steam
chest shall have reached the pressure it should have in proportion, to the pressure
on the high pressure steam chest, the piston valve B will rise and close valve D
bringing piston valve A down on seat and so reduce area on base of A that when
the engines are running under high rates of expansion, the reduced proportion of
pressure on the low pressure side shall not disturb the gear. The gear to be in
connection with the two steam chests on which it is to act, and to be applicable to
all cylinders of all compound steam engines and being proportioned to suit the
engines on which it is fixed shall distribute the steam over the several steam chests
to which it is fixed, at the proper relative pressures.
Dated this Fifteenth day of September 1892.
WILLIAM GROVES BUCK.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Engine Starting Gear.
I, WILLIAM GROVES BUCK, of 16 Mount Pleasant, Bentley Road, Doncaster,
in the County of Yorkshire, Engine Fitter, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention has for its object, the construction of an apparatus so designed
and arranged in connection with engines of the compound expansion type, that it
will greatly facilitate the starting of such engines by the automatic distribution of
high pressure steam to both the high and low pressure cylinders, to act upon the
pistons, thereof until the inertia of the engine is sufficiently overcome, when the
high pressure steam is automatically cut off from the low pressure cylinder,
the piston of which is thereafter operated in the usual way by the expansion of
steam from the high pressure cylinder, thus making the engine to which my inven-
tion is applied a properly and perfectly balanced high pressure engine at starting,
and compound when running.
In order that my invention may be fully and clearly understood, I have appended
hereunto a sheet of drawings, in which,
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus constructed according to my
invention, with the several parts thereof in their normal position.
Fig. 2 is a plan view taken at the junction A B of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a bottom plan taken at the junction C D, by which the bends are
removed to more clearly show the pistons and steam passages hereinafter
described.
The apparatus constituting my invention, consists of a metal casing, which for
convenience I prefer to construct in three sections or parts, a, b and c, the former
surmounted by a cover d, each section being bolted to its neighbour, and the
cover to the upper section u, by the means of suitable bolts and nuts engaging
with holes e provided in the flanges of each, the bottom section of which, c, is

page_text: arranged to form two pipes or tubes which may be connected to other pipes or
tubes as hereinafter explained, and within this casing I arrange two piston valves,
or pistons of differential areas, attached to an oscillating beam, and an equilibrium
valve operating in connection therewith.
To carry my invention into effect I connect the pipes A and B in any suitable
manner to the high and low pressure steam chests respectively, communication
being established between A and B, by the passages CC, equilibrium valve D,
and the passages E. E, as shewn by the arrows in Fig. 1.
The equilibrium valve D is raised and lowered from or upon its seating D" by
the movement of the pistons F and G, which are attached to opposite ends of an
oscillatory beam H, in any suitable manner, said beam being pivotted at H' to a
lug or lugs I in a chamber I', that is open to the atmosphere by a hole J, passing
through the thick web K indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, or in any other
convenient position.
The spindle D' of the equilibrium valve D, connects the said valve with the
piston F, and is prolonged at its top end to pass through a steam tight gland L,
serving as a guide to maintain the vertical position of same. The cap M also
serves as a guide for the top end of the piston rod G', and prevents the escape of
steam from the steam passages into the chamber I', as also does the stuffing box
and gland N.
The piston F when in its normal position as shewn, rests upon a seating P, for
the purpose of reducing the effective area of said piston as hereinafter fully
explained.
Should any steam find its way past the pistons F or G, it can escape by the
hole or holes Q, and thus prevent the stoppage of the action of the apparatus, and
this or these may also serve for the introduction of any lubricant that may be
required.
Now supposing that the engine to which my said apparatus is attached is in a
state of rest, and it is desired to start the same, the action would be as follows.
The stop valve or regulator of the engine being opened, steam would be admitted
to the high pressure steam chest, thence through the pipe or compartment A,
where it would exert its pressure to raise the piston F from its seat, and with it the
equilibrium valve D, and this by the action of the beam H would depress the
piston G in opposition to whatever pressure may exist in the low pressure steam
chest or compartment B, which at starting, would of course be very little or nil.
The high pressure steam therefore would pass in the direction indicated by the
arrows, up the passages C C, through the equilibrium valve D, down the
passages EE, to the pipe or compartment B, thence to the low pressure steam
chest to act upon the piston in the low pressure cylinder, approximately in the
same manner as in the high pressure cylinder, thereby giving the engine its initial
impulse by the advantages accruing from utilising the combined areas of the two
pistons.
When the pressure in the low pressure steam chest shall have reached the
pressure it should have in proportion to the pressure on the high pressure side,
the valve G will rise, and by the agency of the beam H will close the valve D,
thereby bringing the valve F down upon its seat P, and so reduce the area on the
base of F, that when the engines are running under high rates of expansion,
the reduced proportion of pressure on low pressure side shall not disturb the
efficiency of the apparatus.
.
From the foregoing it will be understood that the pistons F and G (difference of
area notwithstanding) are operated to open the valve D, by means of the relative
difference of pressure in the two compartments A and B at the time when steam is
turned on, and the pistons F and G are also operated to close the valve D, by the
relative difference of area, the larger overcoming the smaller. Therefore, when
the piston F, and the valve D are brought down upon their respective seats after
the engine is started, steam is thereby cut off from the low pressure steam chest,
which is then worked expansively in the usual way.

page_text: The above described apparatus is applicable to all compound steam engines, and
can be so proportioned as to distribute the steam to the several steam chests at
various relative pressures.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1st. In an improved starting apparatus for compound steam engines, the con-
struction and arrangement of parts for automatically reducing and distributing
high pressure steam to the low pressure piston, to utilize the larger area of same
in overcoming the inertia of the moving parts of the engine to which the said
apparatus applied substantially as described and shewn.
2nd. The combination of two differential pistons F and G, with equilibrium
valve D, and oscillatory beam H, pivotted at H' to a lug or lugs 1, within a
chamber I open to the atmosphere at J, the whole connected and operating within
a metal case and cover a b c d, as and for the purposes herein described and shewn
by the accompanying drawings.
3rd. In combination with any size or type of compound steam engine, the
employment of the apparatus herein described, and set forth in the preceding claim,
for automatically dividing the initial steam pressure between the high and low
pressure cylinders, substantially as and for the purposes stated.
4th. In combination, the application of the improved starting apparatus as set
forth in the preceding claims, having differential pistons which may be varied to
suit particular requirements, to the high and low pressure steam chests of compound
engines, substantially as herein described and shewn.
Dated this 9th day of February 1893.
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
4, Moorfields, Fore Street, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.