CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alexander Rippingille, of Prestolee, Farn-
worth, near the City of Manchester, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 4th February 1862, and dated the 14th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alexander
Rippingille at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th August 1861.
I, EDWARD ALEXANDER RIPPINGILLE, of Prestolee, Farnworth, near the
City of Manchester, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to obtain additional or increased motive
power in condensing engines, these improvements being more especially
adapted to marine engines.
In performing my Invention I employ an additional cylinder, piston, and
valve apparatus, through which the injection water passes previous to its
entering the condenser. The piston rod of the additional cylinder is connected
to the beam or crank of the steam engine, or otherwise adapted to render the
power available. The additional or increased motive power is obtained by the
atmospheric pressure of the injection water in its passage to the condenser,
acting upon the piston of the additional cylinder.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Alexander Rippingille in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALEXANDER RIPPINGILLE, of Prestolee, Farnworth, near the City of Man-
chester, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
the said Edward
said Edward Alexander Rippingille, Her special licence that
Alexander Rippingille, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edward Alexander Rippingille, my 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Alexander Rippingille, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Alexander Rippingille, 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 :-
This engine is for the purpose of utilizing the power of the injection water
as it is forced by the atmospheric pressure into the condenser, and is applicable
to all jet-condensing engines.
In constructing this engine I employ a cylinder closed at both ends, with
piston working in the same, having its piston rod coupled to work simul
taneously with the air-pump piston; passages communicating from the valve
chest admit the injection water to one or both ends of the cylinder, and from
the cylinder through the eduction port into the condenser communicating
with valve chest in the supply pipe for the injection water, which must be o

page_text: equal area to the area of ports of the engine; the valve or valves is or are
worked by an eccentric, for which purpose I employ the loose eccentric, which
would require no supervision in reversing the engine. The size of the injection
engine is regulated by the size of the air pump; in single-acting engines the
diameter of the injecting engine should not be more than half the area of the
air pump; in double-acting engines, one-fourth the area. The valve ports
and eduction passages must be in size in proportion to the speed of the engine,
from one-fourth to one-tenth the area of the injection cylinder. It is desirable
in arranging and connecting this engine to place the injection cylinder as
near the condenser as practicable, and elevated above it, that the water from
injection cylinder may have no obstruction in its passage to the condenser.
The injection engine must act simultaneously and identically with the piston
of the air pump, and for this purpose I connect the piston rod of the injection
engine to corresponding moving parts of the air pump, and where practicable
in marine engines the injection engine may be situated over or in a line with
the air pump, with the piston rod coupled to the air pump rod, having
sufficient room between to admit crosshead coupled to the end of single lever,
with connecting rod from the lever working on to the crank on the main shaft,
where convenient, a connecting rod carried from crosshead direct to the crank
or other moving parts of the engine.
In stationary beam engines the piston rod of the injection engine may be
coupled to a connecting rod working o to the main beam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alexander Rippingille, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
EDW. ALEX". RIPPINGILLE. (L.S.)