Improvements in "Coupled " Beain-engines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 7th June, 1892-Accepted, 16th July, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in "Coupled " Beain-engines.
We GEORGE PETRIE of Phoenix Foundry Rochdale in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer and GEORGE DOWELL of the same place Engineer do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to "coupled" beam-engines, or beam-engines of which two
are arranged to work together and " "drive one crank-shaft, and consists in methods
of constructing coupled beam-engines as or enabling existing beam-engines to be
"converted" into or adapted to work as "triple expansion engines" in which the
steam while actuating the engines is caused to expand through three stages, or
"quadruple expansion engines" in which the steam while actuating the engines is
caused to expand through four stages.
Hitherto in "converting" coupled beam-engines into or adapting them to work
as triple expansion engines it has been customary to employ three cylinders in con-
junction with each beam, or in other words, six cylinders in cach pair of engines,
and consequently access to many of the parts of such engines has been attained
with difficulty.
The object of our invention is to construct coupled beam-engines as or to enable
existing coupled beam-engines to be "converted into or adapted to work as triple
expansion engines or quadruple expansion engines without employing more than
four cylinders and without causing any of the parts of such engines to be difficult
of access.
The first arrangement of our invention is particularly applicable in applying the
principle of "triple expansion to pairs of existing beam engines in which one
cylinder is employed in conjunction with each beam, or to pairs of "McNaughted
compound beam-engines, in which a high-pressure cylinder and a low-pressure
cylinder are employed in conjunction with each beam.
According to this arrangement of our invention, we place the first or high-
pressure cylinder under the beam of one engine and between the beam-centre and
the crank, and place the intermediate or second stage cylinder in a corresponding
position under the other beam. For the low pressure or third stage of the
expansion of the steam, we employ two cylinders which may be of equal capacity.
each of which is placed under the beam of one of the engines in the position usually
occupied by the cylinder of a beam-engine in which only one cylinder is employed.
The exhaust steam from the first or high-pressure cylinder is conducted to and forms
the steam supply for the second or intermediate cylinder, the exhaust steam from
which is conducted to the low-pressure cylinders each of which is connected to the
exhaust pipe, passage or opening of the second or intermediate cylinder in such
manner that each of such low pressure cylinders may receive a portion of the steam
issuing from the second or intermediate cylinder.
In the application of this arrangement of our invention to the conversion of
pairs of single-cylinder low-pressure beam-engines into triple expansion engines to
be supplied with steam at a pressure of from about one hundred and fifty to one
hundred and sixty pounds to the square inch, the cylinders previously in use in each
pair of engines would in most cases be of suitable capacity to serve as the two low-
pressure cylinders employed in this arrangement of our invention, and thus it is
only necessary to add to the engines the first or high-pressure cylinder, and the
second or intermediate cylinder, and the necessary working parts and the necessary
onnections between the cylinders. The conversion of the engines into triple
expansion engines may thus be effected at considerably less cost and with greater
ease of access to the air-pumps and other parts of the engines than if three cylinders
were employed in conjunction with each beam.

page_text: "
In the conversion of a pair of " McNaughted' or ordinary compound beam-
engines into triple expansion engines all that is necessary is the substitution of one
first or high-pressure cylinder and one second or intermediate cylinder for the two
original high-pressure cylinders and the necessary alterations in the connections
between the cylinders and the provision of the other working parts required.
According to a second arrangement of our invention we employ in each pair of
coupled beam-engines two high-pressure cylinders, which may be of equal capacity,
and place one of such cylinders under each beam between the centre of such beam
and the crank to which it is connected. The second stage or intermediate cylinder
we place at the other end of one of the beams above mentioned, and the third
stage or low-pressure cylinder we place in a corresponding position under the other
beam. In this arrangement steam is led into each of the two high-pressure
cylinders from the boiler, and the exhaust steam from both of such high-pressure
cylinders is conducted to and forms the steam supply for the intermediate cylinder,
the exhaust steam from which is conducted to and forms the steam supply for the
low-pressure cylinder. This arrangement of our invention is very suitable for
adoption in cases in which the stroke of the crank is shorter than the stroke of the
piston in the low-pressure cylinder, and the arm of the beam which is connected to
the crank is shorter than the other arm of such beam, as the two high-pressure
cylinders being each of a smaller diameter than a single high pressure cylinder would
need to be if such were employed, can be more readily arranged in the space
available. This arrangement of our invention is also equally applicable to engines
in which the two arms of each beam are of equal length.
According to the third arrangement of our invention we divide the expansion of
the steam into four stages or employ quadruple expansion.
According to this arrangement of our invention the first high-pressure cylinder
in each pair of coupled beam-engines is placed between the centre of one beam and
the crank to which such beam is connected, the second cylinder is placed in a corre-
sponding position under the other beam, and the third cylinder and the fourth or
low pressure cylinder are each placed under one of the said beams and under
that arm thereof which is more remote from the crank-shaft.
The steam from
the boiler is led into the high-pressure cylinder, and the exhaust steam from the
high-pressure cylinder is conducted to and forms the steam supply of the second
cylinder, the exhaust steam from which is conducted to and forms the steam
supply of the third cylinder the exhaust steam from which is conducted to and
forms the steam supply of the fourth or low-pressure cylinder.
In all the arrangements of our invention the arrangements of the valves and
various parts and mechanism necessary to be employed in conjunction with the
cylinders and beams may be whatever may be suitable and may be varied in
accordance with the various circumstances in which the engines to which our
invention is applied are to be employed, and our invention is equally applicable
to engines actuated by steam, gas, compressed air or any other fluid.
Dated this Third day of September 1891.
HOWARD
CHEETHAM,
Manchester, Agent to the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in "Coupled" Beam-engines.
We GEORGE PETRIE of Phoenix Foundry Rochdale in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer and GEORGE DOWELL of the same place, Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be 5
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:—
Our invention relates to "coupled " beam-engines or beam-engines of which two..

page_text: are arranged to work together and "drive" one crank-shaft and consists in methods
of constructing "coupled" beam-engines as or enabling existing beam-engines to
be "converted into or adapted to work as "triple expansion engines" in which
the steam while actuating the engines is caused to expand through three stages, or
quadruple expansion engines" in which the steam while actuating the engines is
caused to expand through four stages.
66
Hitherto in "converting ""coupled" beam-engines into or adapting them to
work as triple expansion engines is has been customary to employ three cylinders
in conjunction with each beam or in other words, six cylinders in each pair of
engines, and consequently access to many of the parts of such engines has been
attained with difficulty.
The object of our invention is to construct coupled beam-engines as or to enable
existing coupled beam-engines to be "converted into or adapted to work as triple
expansion engines or quadruple expansion engines, without employing more than
four cylinders, and without causing any of the parts of such engines to be difficult
of access.
"
The first arrangement of our invention is particularly applicable in applying the
principle of "triple expansion to pairs of existing beam-engines in which one
cylinder is employed in conjunction with each beam, or to pairs of "McNaughted
compound beam-engines, in which a high-pressure cylinder and a low-pressure
cylinder are employed in conjunction with each beam.
According to this arrangement of our invention, we place the first or high-
pressure cylinder under the beam of one engine and between the beam-centre and
the crank, and place the intermediate or second stage cylinder in a corresponding
position under the other beam. For the low-pressure or third stage of the
expansion of the steam, we employ two cylinders which may be of equal capacity,
each of which is placed under the beam of one of the engines in the position
usually occupied by the cylinder of a beam-engine in which only one cylinder is
employed. The exhaust steam from the first or high-pressure cylinder is conducted
to and forms the steam-supply for the second or intermediate cylinder, the exhaust
steam from which is conducted to the low-pressure cylinders each of which is con-
nected to the exhaust pipe, passage or opening of the second or intermediate
cylinder in such manner that each of such low-pressure cylinders may receive a
portion of the steam issuing from the second or intermediate cylinder.
In the application of this arrangement of our invention to the conversion of pairs
of single-cylinder low-pressure beam-engines into triple expansion engines to be
supplied with steam at a pressure of from about one hundred and fifty to one
hundred and sixty pounds to the square inch the cylinders previously in use in each
pair of engines would in most cases be of suitable capacity to serve as the two low-
pressure cylinders employed in this arrangement of our invention, and thus it is
only necessary to add to the engines the first or high-pressure cylinder, and the
second or intermediate cylinder, and the necessary working parts and the necessary
connections between the cylinders. The conversion of the engines into triple
expansion engines may thus be effected at considerably less cost and with greater
ease of access to the air-pumps and other parts of the engines than if three
cylinders were employed in conjunction with each beam.
"
In the conversion of a pair of "McNaughted or ordinary compound beam-
engines into "triple expansion engines," all that is necessary is the substitution of
one first or high-pressure cylinder and one second or intermediate cylinder for the
two original high-pressure cylinders and the necessary alterations in the connections
between the cylinders and the provision of the other working parts required.
According to a second arrangement of our invention we employ in each pair of
coupled beam-engines two high-pressure cylinders, which may be of equal capacity,
and place one of such cylinders under each beam between the centre of such beam
and the crank to which it is connected. The second stage or intermediate cylinder
we place at the other end of the beams above mentioned, and the third stage or
low-pressure cylinder we place in a corresponding position under the other beam. In

page_text: this arrangement steam is led into each of the two high-pressure cylinders from the
boiler, and the exhaust steam from both of such high-pressure cylinders is con-
ducted to and forms the steam-supply for the intermediate cylinder, the exhaust
steam from which is conducted to and forms the steam-supply for the low-pressure
cylinder. This arrangement of our invention is very suitable for adoption in cases
in which the stroke of the crank is shorter than the stroke of the piston in the
low-pressure cylinder, and the arm of the beam which is connected to the crank is
shorter than the other arm of such beam as the two high-pressure cylinders being
each of a smaller diameter than a single high-pressure cylinder would need to be
if such were employed, can be more readily arranged in the space available. This
arrangement of our invention is equally applicable to engines in which the two
arms of each beam are of equal length.
According to the third arrangement of our invention we divide the expansion
of the steam into four stages or employ a quadruple expansion.
According to this arrangement of our invention the first high-pressure cylinder
in each pair of coupled beam-engines is placed between the centre of one heam
and the crank to which such beam is connected, the second cylinder is placed in a
corresponding position under the other beam, and the third cylinder and the fourth
or low-pressure cylinder are each placed under one of the said beams and under
that arm thereof which is more remote from the crank-shaft. The steam from the
boiler is led into the high-pressure cylinder, and the exhaust steam from the high-
pressure cylinder is conducted to and forms the steam-supply of the second
cylinder the exhaust steam from which is conducted to and forms the steam-
supply of the third cylinder, the exhaust steam from which is conducted to and
forms the steam supply of the fourth or low pressure cylinder.
In all the arrangements of our invention the arrangements of the valves and various
parts and mechanism necessary to be employed in conjunction with the cylinders and
beams may be whatever may be suitable and may be varied in accordance with the
various circumstances in which the engines to which our invention is applied are to
be employed, and our invention is equally applicable to engines actuated by steam,
compressed air or any other fluid.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a plan of a coupled beam-engine illustrating the arrangement of the
cylinders in the first of the above described arrangements of our invention,
Fig. 2 is a plan of a coupled beam-engine illustrating the arrangement of the
cylinders in the second of the above described arrangements of our invention and
Fig. 3 is a plan of a coupled beam-engine illustrating the arrangement of the
cylinders in the third of the above described arrangements of our invention.
The same letters of reference are applied to corresponding parts in all the figures
in which they are used, and only those parts are shown which are requisite for the
illustration of our invention.
In Fig. 1, A, is the first or high-pressure cylinder placed midway between the
beam-centre and the end of the crank-shaft C under one beam; B, is the second
or intermediate cylinder placed midway between the beam-centre and the end of
the crank-shaft C under the other beam, and D, D, are two low-pressure cylinders.
E, is the pipe provided with a stop valve e by which steam is led from the boiler
or boilers to the first or high-pressure cylinder A. F, is the exhaust pipe which
receives the steam issuing from the first or high-pressure cylinder, which steam is
led to and forms the steam-supply for the second or intermediate cylinder B. G, is
the exhaust-pipe which leads the steam from the second cylinder and divides into
two branches which lead the steam to the two low-pressure cylinders, D, D. The
exhaust-pipes from the low-pressure cylinders D, lead to the condenser in any
suitable manner but the condenser is not shown in Fig. 1. The arrangement
illustrated in Fig. 1 is particularly suitable for use in cases in which the two arms
of each beam are of equal length as is usually the case, and this arrangement is
very suitable for use in applying "triple expansion" to pairs of existing single-
cylinder or ordinary "McNaughted" compound coupled beam-engines. In the

page_text: ""
application of the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1, to the "conversion" of a pair
of single cylinder low-pressure beam-engines into " triple expansion engines,
to be worked with steam at a pressure of from one hundred and fifty to one
hundred and sixty pounds to the square inch, the old cylinders would in most cases
be of suitable capacity to serve for the two low-pressure cylinders employed in the
arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1 so that it would only be necessary to add one
first or high-pressure cylinder under the arm of one beam which is nearest to the
crank-shaft and one second or intermediate cylinder in a corresponding position
under the other beam and the necessary connections between the various cylinders
and the working parts necessary to be employed therewith and thus the conversion
of the engines would be effected at considerably less cost than if three cylinders
were used with each beam.
In Fig. 2, A, A, are the two first or high-pressure cylinders, one of which is
placed under each beam midway between the beam-centre and the end of the
crank-shaft C, B is the second or intermediate cylinder placed under one of the
beams at the end opposite to that at which the high-pressure cylinders are placed
and D is the third or low-pressure cylinder placed under the other beam, at the
end opposite to that at which the first or high-pressure cylinders are placed. E is
the steam-pipe provided with a stop valve e, which dividing into two branches
conducts the steam from the boiler or boilers to the two first or high-pressure
cylinders A. A. F, is the exhaust-pipe the two branches of which receive the
exhaust steam which issues from the two first or high-pressure cylinders, A, A, and
serves as the steam-supply for the second or intermediate cylinder, B. G, is the
exhaust pipe which receives the exhaust steam which issues from the second or
intermediate cylinder B, and serves as the steam supply for the third or low-
pressure cylinder D from which third or low-pressure cylinder D, the exhaust
steam is led in any suitable manner to a condenser which is not shown in Fig. 2.
In Fig. 3, A, is the first or high-pressure cylinder placed midway between the
beam-centre and the end of the crank-shaft C, under one beam. B, is the second
cylinder placed under the other beam midway between the beam-centre and the
end of the crank-shaft C. H, is the third cylinder placed under the same beam as
the second cylinder, B, but at the end of such beam which is more remote from
the crank-shaft, C. D, is the fourth or low-pressure cylinder which is placed
under the same beam as the first cylinder A, but at the end of such beam which
is furthest away from the crank-shaft C. E, is the pipe provided with a stop-
valve e, by which steam is led from the boiler or boilers to the first or high-
pressure cylinder, A. F, is the exhaust-pipe which receives the exhaust steam
from the first or high-pressure cylinder A, and serves as the steam-supply for the
second cylinder B. G, is the exhaust pipe which receives the exhaust steam
issuing from the second cylinder B, and serving as the steam-supply for the
third cylinder H. J, is the exhaust-pipe which receives the steam issuing from
the third cylinder H, and serving as the steam-supply for the fourth or low-
pressure cylinder D, from which the steam is conducted in any suitable manner to
a condenser which is not shown in Fig. 3. The arrangement illustrated in Fig. 3
is particularly adapted for use in cases in which the pressure of the steam to be
supplied to the engines arranged in accordance with our invention exceeds one
hundred and eighty pounds to the square inch.
"
In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the cylinders employed are all shown as fitted with piston-
valves but our invention is equally applicable to cylinders fitted with "Corliss
valves, piston-valves, ordinary slide-valves, double-beat "drop" valves, or any other
kind of valves. We do not contine ourselves to the particular arrangements of
pipes shown between the cylinders in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying
drawings as such pipes are shown merely to indicate clearly the direction in
which the steam must pass in engines arranged according to our invention. Our
invention is also equally applicable to engines worked by steam compressed air, or
any other fluid. The application of our invention to " coupled "beam-engines

page_text: results in a great saving of fuel in the working of the engines, the economy being
obtained at a very moderate cost.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that
what we claim is :-
"
1. The hereinbefore described method of applying "triple expansion or
expansion of steam or other motive fluid through three stages in a pair of
coupled beam-engines by means of four cylinders, viz. one first or high-pressure
cylinder, one second or intermediate cylinder and two third or low-pressure
cylinders substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by Fig. 1 of the
accompanying drawings.
"
2. The hereinbefore described method of applying "triple expansion or
expansion of steam or other motive fluid through three stages in a pair of
"coupled" beam-engines by means of four cylinders viz. two first or high-pressure
cylinders, one second or intermediate cylinder and one third or low-pressure
cylinder substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by Fig. 2 of the
accompanying drawings.
65
3. The hereinbefore described method of applying "quadruple expansion" or
expansion of the steam or other motive fluid through four stages in a pair of
"coupled" beam-engines by means of four cylinders viz. one first or high-pressure
cylinder, one second cylinder, one third cylinder and one fourth or low-pressure
cylinder substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated by Fig. 3 of the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this Fourth day of June 1802.
HOWARD CHEETHAM,
Manchester, Agent to the Applicants.