IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander William Williamson, of University College,
in the County of Middlesex, and Loftus Perkins, of Francis Street, Gray's
Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 27th March 1861, and dated the 3rd October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander William Wil-
liamson and Loftus Perkins at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd October 1860.
We, ALEXANDER WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, in the County
of Middlesex, and LOFTCS PERKINS, of Francis Street, Gray's Inn Road, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our chief object is to employ steam of very high pressure, as for example,
of 500 lb. per square inch, or more or less, and to expand this steam several
times, and then condense it so as to obtain a great amount of power from
a small quantity of steam. As steam in expanding loses temperature or
sensible heat, we cause it to expand in three or more cylinders in succession,
in order to diminish the amount of the variation of temperature in each
cylinder, and thus to avoid, as much as possible, the condensation of any
portion of the steam in entering the cylinder.

page_text: We also apply a smoke box round all three or more cylinders, to keep them
warm by means of the products of combustion from the fire; or, we construct
a steam jacket round the second and following cylinders, and supply it with
steam from the first cylinder or cylinders, or otherwise. The temperature of
the steam which we employ is so high that it is apt to injure and rapidly
destroy the packing of a stuffing box, and we therefore adopt the following
arrangement of engine:-We employ two small single-acting cylinders, by
preference inverted, into which the high-pressure steam is admitted at the end
opposite to the stuffing box. The pistons of these two cylinders are connected to
opposite cranks, or so as to be always in opposite strokes. When the piston of
one of these cylinders has made a portion, say one-fourth of its stroke, the
steam is shut off, and the steam in the cylinder is allowed to expand and com-
plete the stroke. Its pressure is thus reduced in a certain proportion to its
expansion, and at the same time its temperature is considerably reduced. The
steam passes from the first small cylinder to one end of another cylinderoflarger
capacityand double acting. The steam thus expands until it fills this cylinder.
The same effect takes place at each revolution or double stroke, and thus one
end of the double-acting cylinder is supplied from the first small cylinder. The
other single-acting small cylinder acts in the same manner to supply the other
end of the double-acting cylinder. The steam from the two ends of the
double-acting cylinder is conducted to the two ends of another double-acting
cylinder of still larger capacity, so as to expand the steam still more, and in
some cases a fourth cylinder of still greater capacitymay be employed to expand
the steam still farther; we place the stuffing boxes, particularly those of the
hottest cylinders at the end of long necks or pipes, so as to remove them from
the full heat of the steam. We sometimes conduct the steam from both the
aforesaid small cylinders into a chamber or the aforesaid steam jacket, and
admit it from the jacket or chambert the second or double-acting cylinder by
a valve or valves, and thence conduct it through the following cylinder or
cylinders,as herein-before described. We prefer to place the cylinders so that
they may act on opposite cranks, but at such angles as may enable them to
turn the centres with facility. We prefer to use conical valves for the high
pressures, and to work them by means of revolving or oscillating spindles
passing through stuffing boxes at the end of long necks or pipes, or fitted with
conical or steam-tight bearings. For the lower pressures of the expanded
steam, slide valves or other valves may be employed. The conical valves may
be plain, or equilibrium or balanced valves, or simple valves, with a small valve
for letting the steam under them. For the piston packing, especially for the
first high-pressure cylinders, we prefer to employ two cast iron or metallic

page_text: rings placed one inside the other, both being cut and sprung inwards, and
the outer one provided with a tongue. The joints of the cylinder covers
require to be very well made to enable them to resist the great pressure; for
this purpose we prepare one of the bearing surfaces with a narrow ring or
edge, which is forced by bolts and nuts or otherwise into the other surface
either alone or with the intervention of a ring of copper or other suitable
metal. In order to economize the fuel as much as possible, as well as the
steam, we cause the flue from the boiler to descend, or first to ascend and
then to descend before passing to the escape pipe or chimney. In this
descending flue, we place a coil of pipes, through which is passed the supply
of water for feeding the boiler in an ascending direction, or the reverse
direction to the products of combustion. In this way the heat is very com-
pletely taken up, so much so, that we sometimes find it desirable to employ
a fan or other means of causing artificial draught to the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, in the County of Middlesex,
and LOFTUS PERKINS, of Francis Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, Her special licence
that we, the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our
executors, administrators,and assigns, or such others as we, the said Alexander
William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our 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
we, the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our ex-
ecutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their

page_text: handsand seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or them, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Alexander William Williamson and
Loftus Perkins, 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:-
Our chief object is to employ steam of very high pressure, as, for example,
of 500 lbs. per square inch, or more or less, and to expand this steam several
times, and then condense it, so as to obtain a great amount of
power from a
small quantity of steam. As steam in expanding loses temperature or sensible
heat, we cause it to expand in three or more cylinders in succession, in order
to diminish the amount of the variation of temperature in each cylinder,
and thus to avoid as much as possible the condensation of any portion of the
steam in entering the cylinder.
We also apply a smoke box round all three or more cylinders to keep them
warm by means of the products of combustion from the fire; or we construct
a steam jacket round the second and following cylinders, and supply it with
steam from the first cylinder or cylinders, or otherwise. The temperature of
the steam which we employ is so high that it is apt to injure and rapidly
destroy the packing of a stuffing-box, and we therefore adopt the following
arrangement of engine. We employ two small single-acting cylinders, by
preference inverted, into which the high-pressure steam is admitted at the end
opposite to the stuffing box. The pistons of these two cylinders are connected
to opposite cranks, so as to be always in opposite strokes. When the piston
of one of these cylinders has made a portion, say, one-fourth of its stroke, the
steam is shut off, and the steam in the cylinder is allowed to expand, and
complete the stroke. Its pressure is thus reduced in a certain proportion to
its expansion, and at the same time its temperature is considerably reduced.
The steam passes from the first small cylinder to one end of another cylinder
of larger capacity and double-acting. The steam thus expands until it fills
this cylinder. The same effect takes place at each revolution or double stroke,
and thus one end of the double-acting cylinder is supplied from the first small
cylinder. The other single-acting small cylinder acts in the same manner to
supply the other end of the double-acting cylinder. The steam from the two
ends of the double-acting cylinder is conducted to the two ends of another
double-acting cylinder of still larger capacity, so as to expand the steam stil

page_text: more; and in some cases a fourth cylinder, of a still greater capacity, may be
employed to expand the steam still further. We place the stuffing boxes,
particularly those of the hottest cylinders, at the end of long necks or pipes,
so as to remove them from the full heat of the steam. We sometimes
conduct the steam from both the aforesaid small cylinders into a chamber or
the aforesaid steam jacket, and admit it from the jacket or chamber to the
second or double-acting cylinder by a valve or valves, and thence conduct it
through the following cylinder or cylinders, as herein-before described. We
prefer to place the cylinders so that they may act ou opposite cranks, but at
such angles as may enable them to turn the centres with facility. We prefer
to use conical valves for the high pressures, and to work them by means of
revolving or oscillating spindles passing through stuffing boxes at the ends of
long necks or pipes, or fitted with conical or steam-tight bearings. For the
lower pressures of the expanded steam, slide valves or other valves may be
employed. The conical valves may be plain, or equilibrium or balanced
valves, or simple valves with a small valve for letting the steam underneath
them. For the piston packing, especially for the first high-pressure cylinders,
we prefer to employ two cast iron or metallic rings placed one inside the other,
both being cut and sprung inwards, and the outer one provided with a tongue.
The joints of the cylinder covers require to be very well made, to enable them
to resist the great pressure. For this purpose we prepare one of the bearing
surfaces with a narrow ring or edge, which is forced by bolts and nuts, or
otherwise, into the other surface, either alone or with the intervention of a
ring of copper or other suitable metal. In order to economize the fuel as
much as possible, as well as the steam, we cause the flue from the boiler to
descend, or first to ascend and then to descend before passing to the escape
pipe or chimney. In this descending flue we place a coil of pipes, through
which is passed the supply of water for feeding the boiler in an ascending
direction, or the reverse direction to the products of combustion. In this
way the heat is very completely taken up, so much so that we sometimes
find it desirable to employ a fan or other means of causing artificial draught
to the fire.
But in order that our Invention may be more easily understood, and
readily carried into effect, we will now give a more accurate description of
one arrangement of our improved steam engine, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents a transverse section, and Figure 2 represents a
longitudinal section through the engine; the same letters indicate the
same parts in both the Figures.

page_text: To the strong base plate or framing X are fixed the upright frames Y¹, Y,
Y3, Y4, upon the top of which are fixed the four cylinders A1, A2, A3, A4,
while a fifth cylinder A connected rigidly with the cylinder A¹, either by being
cast in one piece with the same, or otherwise, is also connected with the
framing X by means of the column Y. All five cylinders are placed in an
inverted position, and A2, A3, A4, are provided with steam jackets,and in some
cases we also provide jackets for the two small cylinders A, A¹, in which steam
or hot water is made to circulate. The two cylinders A, A¹, are single-acting,
while A2, A3, and A4 are double-acting; and the five cylinders are proportioned
to one another as regards their capacity in the following manner:―The
cylinders A and A¹ are of nearly equal capacity; A2 has about twice the
capacity of either A or A¹; A³ has about twice the capacity of A2; and A' has
about twice the capacity of A³. These cylinders are furnished with pistons
B, B¹, B², B³, B³, having metallic packing and piston rods C, C¹, C2, C3, C4,
passing through stuffing-boxes attached to the ends of the long necks Z, Z',
Z2, Z3, Z4, of the cylinder covers, of which piston rods C¹, C2, C3, C4, are con-
nected to the four cranks d¹, d², d³, d4, on the crank shaft D, by means of
the connecting rods E¹, E2, E³, E4, while the piston rod C is linked to the
piston rod C by means of the rocking levers F, F, in such a manner that
when the piston B₁ has arrived at the end of its effective or down stroke, and
has caused the crank d¹ to move through one-half of its revolution, the
piston B commences its effective or down stroke, and causes the crank d¹ to
move through the other half of its revolution, the combined action of these
two cylinders,having thus the same effect as that of one double-acting cylinder.
The four cranks d, d², d³, d', are of equal radii, and are so constructed that
d and d² are 180 degrees apart or opposite each other, while d³ and a are
opposite each other in a
plane placed at right angles to the plane of the
cranks and d².
By this arrangement the piston B is, for instance, at the end of down stroke,
and B at the end of up stroke at the same time that B2 is at the end of down
stroke, and while B³ is at half down stroke, and B4 at half up stroke. The
two single acting cylinders A, A¹³, are each provided at the top with a valve
chamber G, G¹, having openings a, a, by which these chambers communicate
with the cylinders, which openings are provided with conical valves b, b¹,
worked by means of tappets c, c', attached to rocking shafts e, e¹, passing out
of the valve chambers G, G¹, through stuffing boxes attached to the end of
long necks ff, and receiving their rocking motion by means of levers
attached to them, and excentrics attached to the crank shaft D, but which
are not shewn on the Drawing. The valve chambers G, G¹, are furthermore
"

page_text: provided with openings g, 9', to which are attached the branches of the steam
pipe H, through which the high-pressure steam is admitted from the boiler to
the cylinders A,A'. These cylinders are further provided with side chambers,
shewn in dotted lines in Figure 1,having conical exhaust valves worked from
the crank shaft, and by which communications are formed between the top and
bottom of the cylinders; and also with the exhaust pipe I, through which the
steam, after having done duty in these cylinders, is conducted to a chamber
where it is superheated, but which chamber is not shewn on the Drawing.
From this superheater the steam is then conducted through the pipe J to the
slide valve box h of the double-acting cylinder A2, from which it is admitted
into the cylinder by means of the slide valve i actuated by an excentricon the
crank shaft D, but which is not shewn on the Drawing. From this cylinder
the steam after expanding is led through the exhaust pipe K to a second
superheating chamber, not shewn on the Drawing, whence, after being again
superheated it is conducted through the pipe L to the slide valve boxj of the
cylinder A³, whence it is admitted into the cylinder by means of the slide
valve k. From the cylinder A³ the exhaust steam is conducted through the
pipe M to a third superheating chamber, whence it is conducted through the
pipe N to the slide valve box / of the cylinder A4, and is then admitted into this
cylinder by the slide valve m. From this cylinder the exhaust steam is con-
ducted through the pipe O to the surface condenser P, the construction of
which is more particularly described in the Specification to Letters Patent
granted to us, bearing date the 21st September 1860, No. 2285, and wherein
the steam becomes condensed, the water resulting therefrom being drawn out
of the condenser by means of the air pump Q actuated by the piston rod C of
the cylinder A. R is another pump actuated by the lever F, which serves to
circulate the cold water in the pipes of the condenser P.
From this arrangement of the engine it will be seen that its action will
take place as follows:-Steam at a high pressure is generated in a boiler,
which we prefer to be of the construction for which we have already obtained
Letters Patent, dated 29th September 1859, No. 2208, and passes through
the pipe H to the valve chambers G, G₁, of the single acting cylinders A, A¹.
If the engine is in the position,as shewn on the Drawing, the steam will enter
at the top of the piston B¹ and cause it to commence its down stroke. When
it has passed through one-fourth of its stroke the valve 6¹ is closed, and the
steam is shut off. The steam in the cylinder now begins to expand, and causes
the piston to travel through the remaining three-fourths of its stroke, the
steam thus expanding altogether to four times its original volume. At the
end of the stroke the exhaust valve in the side chamber is opened, and the

page_text: expanded steam is enabled to pass to the under side of the piston and through
the pipe I to the first superheater. After being superheated to a certain
degree the steam passes back through the pipe J to the top of the double-
acting cylinder A2,causing the piston B2 to commence its downstroke. When
the piston B2 has arrived at about half stroke the supply of steam is cut off by
the slide valve i, and the stroke is completed by the expansion of the steam in
the cylinder. While this is taking place steam has been admitted to the top
of cylinder A, has been cut off at quarter stroke, and expanded during the
remainder of the stroke, at the end of which the exhaust valve in the side
chamber is opened and the steam passes through the pipe I to the first super-
heating chamber, becomes superheated to a certain degree and then passes
through the pipe J to the bottom of the cylinder A2, causing the piston B² to
commence the up stroke. When it has arrived at about half up stroke the
supply of steam is cut off, and the steam in the cylinder expands through the
remainder of the stroke of the piston. The steam does not pass directly from
the single-acting cylinders into the double-acting one, but passes first into a
superheating chamber, forming a sufficiently large reservoir for the pressure
of the steam in the same not to fluctuate inconveniently at each stroke. It
will be further seen, that the high-pressure steam being expanded four times
in the single-acting cylinders A, A', and then twice again in the cylinder A,
will have been expanded altogether to eight times its original bulk, and there-
fore the pressure will at the end of the stroke of the piston B have been
reduced to about one-eighth the original pressure. The steam after expanding
in the cylinder A² is again superheated in the second superheater, the capacity
of which must not be less than three times that of A2, and passes thence into
the cylinder A³; there it is again cut off at about half stroke and expanded
during the remainder of the stroke, after which it is again superheated in a
third superheater, having a capacity at least equal to that of cylinder A3, and
is conducted to the cylinder A4, where it is likewise cut off at about half
stroke and again expanded during the remainder of the stroke; the steam
being thus expanded altogether to about thirty-two times its original bulk at
the end of the stroke of piston B4, and reduced consequently to about one
thirty-second of its original pressure, in which state it passes into the con-
denser, as already described. The three superheaters serve to superheat the
the steam between the cylinders A¹ and A2, and between A2 and A³, and
between A3 and A4 after expanding. They may be heated by direct applica-
tion of fire, or by placing them in the flues leading from the boiler to the
chimney; the superheaters for the higher pressures being placed by preference
in the hottest part of the flue, and their capacity should not be less than half

page_text: that of the cylinder into which the steam passes from them when the cylinders
are attached to opposite cranks; and not less than one and a half times the
capacity of the cylinder into which the steam passes when the two cylinders
which the superheater connects act upon cranks at 90 degrees like A² and
A3. We prefer to make the superheaters of wrought-iron tubes, connected
somewhat in the manner as shewn in the Drawings attached to the Specifi-
cation for our Patent for steam boilers herein-before mentioned. We prefer
to have steam at about 250 lbs. pressure on the square inch above the
atmosphere, and to expand it about thirty-two times.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details, as shown on the accompanying Drawing, nor
do we limit ourselves to the use of five cylinders, as in some cases the steam may
be still further expanded in additional cylinders, whose capacities mayincrease
in the same ratio as the others; nor do we claim generally the use of super-
heating chambers for superheating the'steam on its passage from one cylinder
to another; but what we claim is, the so arranging two single-acting cylinders,
connected so as to act as one double-acting cylinder, and allowing the steam
to pass from them into a superheater and thence into a double-acting cylinder
of larger size, then to pass out into another superheater, and thence into a
third double-acting cylinder of still larger size; and this arrangement is
repeated with another or several more cylinders whose respective capacities
are increased in corresponding proportions, so that the steam may be expanded
to any desirable. extent, it being superheated between every two cylinders.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alexander William Williamson and
Loftus Perkins, have hereunto set our hand and seal, this Second day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
ALEX. W. WILLIAMSON. (L.S.)
LOFTUS PERKINS.
(L.S.)