IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS. PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO FURNACER
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Willian Clare, of Surrey Square, in the County
of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES AND BOILERS. PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO
FURNACER"
Sealed the 25th June 1858, and dated the 1st January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Clare at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st January 1858.
I, JOHN WILLIAM CLARE, of Surrey Square, in the County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE
TO FURNACES," to be as follows:-
Two or more cylinders without ends or covers, that is to say, open to the
atmosphere at both ends, are placed side by side or parallel, and each of such
cylinders is fitted with two pistons connected to cranks at equal anglesat each
to
end; steam is blown alternately into each cylinder between its pistons, so as
force them apart, the action of the pistons separating in one cylinder tending
to close those in the other. To admit and exhaust the steam two blocks may
be employed, one of which is fixed and contains passages from the cylinder,
the steam pipe, and the exhaust pipe, while the other (which is moveable)
contains a curved passage or bent pipe, which, as the block is shifted to and
fro, is brought alternately over the communications to the steam pipe and

page_text: cylinder, and the cylinder and exhaust, by having communications with two
instead of one one pair of blocks, may supply and exhaust two cylinders, or
this may be effected by a block with oblique orifices sliding to and fro between
two blocks containing communications with the supply, the exhaust, and the
cylinders, or (for three or more cylinders) by bringing the supply pipe into a
fixed block, so as to lead into a passage in a revolving block, which is brought
alternately, as the block revolves, into and out of communication with pipes
from the cylinders, so as to open and shut off steam to and from each in turn,
and a similar arrangement may be adopted for exhausting the steam and
carrying off the waters of condensation. The moveable blocks are kept
to their work by outside springs or otherwise. For stationary engines, or
where only one driving shaft is required, equal pressure from each crank shaft
may be obtained by an extra shaft, carrying fly wheel and riggers, and
connected by links or otherwise to the crank shaft, whence it transmits motion
to the machinery, &c., to be driven. I prefer in certain cases to form my
cylinders by rolling smelted iron round a mandril or core to the required
dimensions. In my improved boiler the fire or furnace flue (preferably of a
pear-shaped form or transverse section) extends nearly from end to end of
the boiler, and communicates with a flue (for the products of combustion or
gases for heating the water) which runs along the boiler from end to end and
back again as many times as convénient, and then runs across at the end of
the fireway to the other side, and in like manner from end to end and back
again as often as desirable, finally passing out and communicating with
my exhausting apparatus, and (if desired) with my condenser, both referred
to in my Patent of 21st November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
The flues may be readily cleaned through apertures at each side of the fire
flue. The fireway and flue are thus immersed in the water of the boiler. In
the fireway I place one or more partitions, filling up the passage in its
transverse section (that is to say, extending right across and from bottom to top),
and being formed with perforations at or about the centre, through which the
products of combustion are drawn by my exhauster, becoming quite hot near
the centre, though not so hot near the edges; the denser products are
consumed while the hot gases pass into the flue and further heat the water;
this plan of consuming the products by fitting in the fire or smoke way
partitions with perforations about the centre, filling up the passage, may be
applied in combination with my exhausting apparatus to furnaces generally.
For stationary boilers the fire-place may be at top, aud the flues carried
through the water under it into an exhauster at top. Where an exhauster is
not adopted the flues should only be brought from end to end and back again,

page_text: once on either side. I propose, when convenient, to form the boiler shell
of a single plate of wrought iron turned into a cylindrical or other suitable
form, and so that the grain may run circumferentially all round the shell,
and weld or bolt the edges together to form a seam. For caps or ends I
attach a single plate-formed with a flange, fitting within or around the end
etges of the shell, and bolt them on; or I form the shell with flanges
(before bending it) to receive the ends.
To prevent the pressure within the boiler exceeding the proper maximum,
a cap or dome is attached to the upper part of the boiler, within which is a
weight suitably held and guided, resting on and covering the mouth of a
short pipe.or orifice opening from the boiler under the cap; the weight is
regulated according to the maximum pressure, and when the steam exceeds
it will be lifted and the steam blown away through orifices in
the cap
causing an alarm; a spring holding down a cap may be substituted for the
weight. . result of the employment of my improved engine and boiler in
a locomotive is that they may be both placed under the axletree of the
driving wheels, so as to throw the weight below the axle, and permit
wheels being used of greater diameter than ordinary.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John William Clare in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
WILLIAM CLARE, of Surrey Square, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John William Clare, Her special licence that I, the said John William
Clare, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John William Clare, 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, aud vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, aud Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO

page_text: FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John William
Clare, 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 John William Clare, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The objects of this Invention are principally the construction of an
engine by which more work will be performed or higher speed obtained
with steady action and of a boiler in which cost of construction and fuel
are reduced, and more complete combustion is effected.
This engine and boiler are especially, though not solely, adapted for
being employed in combination for locomotives. The accompanying
Drawings explain my Invention as applied to a railway locomotive.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive constructed according to my
improvements; Figure 2, end view, Figure 3, transverse section, and Figure 4
horizontal section, of the boiler, and Figure 5, longitudinal view, with a
portion of the shell and of some of the flues removed; Figure 6, horizontal
view of the engine with the cylinders in section. A, A1, A2, (Figure 6), are
three steam cylinders placed side by side without ends or cylinder covers, each
fitted with two pistons, B, B, C, C, D, D, having piston rods b, b, c, c, d, d
connected by rods e, e, to cranks E, E, at equal angles on shafts F, F, one
at each end of the cylinders, such shafts being connected to each other by ties
or rods G, G, whereby the pistons on both sides are in connexion and their
action rendered mutually dependent, and equal and uniform motion is secured
The cylinders being open at both ends no stuffing boxes are required, but the
piston rods travel in mortice blocks f,f. H, H, H, H, are the drviing wheels
placed for a locomotive; one at each end of each of the shafts F, so that there
would be four such wheels. Steam is blown alternately into each cylinder
between its pistons to drive them apart, the pistons receding in one cylinder
tending to cause those in another to approach. The action of the steam is
thus balanced and exerted equally on the four driving wheels, which having
their shafts tied by the rods G (outside the wheels), all work in unison. I
prefer in certain cases to use cylinders of smelted metal rolled round a man-

page_text: dril or core to the desired dimensions. Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of
the arrangement I prefer fo: admitting and exhausting steam into and out of
a cylinder. I is a fixed block containing three passages i¹, 2, 3, of which i¹
communicates with a cylinder, with the steam pipe,and 3 with the exhaust;
Jis a block caused to slide to and fro on the surface of I by excentrics, and
containing a curved passage j, the ends of which, as the block is shifted, are
brought alternately over the mouths of the passages i¹ and 13, and of i¹ and 13.
and thus open and close communications with the steam pipe and cylinder
and the cylinder and exhaust alternately. By forming communications in I
with two cylinders instead of one, one pair of blocks I, J, would supply and
exhaust a pair of cylinders, or this arrangement may be adopted for the
exhaust with a common slide valve to admit steam.
Again, these objects may be effected by a block with oblique orifices sliding
to and fro between two blocks containing cominunications with the supply,
the exhaust, and the cylinders, or by bringing the supply pipe (or the exhaust)
into a fixed block, so as to lead into a passage in a revolving block brought.
alternately into and out of communication with a passage from the cylin-
der, a like arrangement may be adopted for carrying off the waters of
condensation; 2, Figure 7, is a spring for keeping the block to its work.
K is the furnace flue of the boiler, pear-shaped in transverse section, as
shewn in Figure 3, and extending nearly from end to end of the boiler; L, L,
are flues for the hot gases for heating the water. These flues proceed from
the further or chimney end of the furnace flue, pass along the boiler to the
fire-box end, parallel with and on each side of the furnace flue, and return
the whole length before proceeding into the chimney. When the exhauster
and condenser referred to in my Patent of 21st November 1856 are used, these
flues may pass up and down the boiler on one side as many times as desired,
cross at the end of K, and continue up and down on the other side as often as
required; but when my exhauster is not used, the flues should communicate
with the chimney, being arranged as shewn, that is to say, a number of flues
proceeding from the end of the furnace flue (one below the other), and on
each side thereof, pass along the boiler to the other end, and return on the
outer side into a chamber 7, whereof there is one on each side of the boiler
(common to all the flues L on that side), communicating.through the boiler
end with a V branch pipe 12, leading it into the uptake Z, containing the blast
pipe. The flues L are shewn as ten in number, but there may be more or
less, as desired.
At the furnace end the outer and inner portions of each flue
are united, preferably by a U connecting pipe 13, having a neck + fitting
through the boiler end, and closed by a cap, which may be unfixed to intro-

page_text: duce an instrument for cleaning out both parts of the flue; 16 are doors for
cleaning the chambers ; ', furnace door; 2, doors for cleaning out ash-pit
or bottom part of flue K; k³, k³, are tubes for supplying the furnace with air;
other passages with regulators may be formed through various parts for this
purpose; X is the boiler shell, for which I prefer to use a single wrought-iron
plate turned into a cylindrical form, or nearly so, with the grain running
circumferentially or round the shell, and the edges welded or bolted to form
the seam, each end may consist of a plate, having a flange fitting in and
bolted to the end edges of the shell, or the shell may have flanges to receive
the ends. In my boiler the furnace flue and other flues are all immersed in
water.. Where my exhauster is used or a good blast obtained, the draft may be
admitted from above the fire,and drawn down through it and out at the lower
part at back. M, M, are partitions, formed by preference of fire-brick (one is
shown detached at Figure 8), one or more of these partitions is or are fitted in
the furnace flue K in such manner as to extend right across it and from bottom
to top, dividing it transversely; m, m, are perforations or openings formed
through the partitions at and about the centre, through which the products of
combustion are drawn, so that the partitions become quite hot near the centre,
though not so heated at the edges, and the denser products are thus consumed
while the gases pass into the flues and heat the water. The same result may
be obtained by placing in the furnace flue lumps of fire-brick or other
incombustible material piled to the top and across between the sides. When
more than one partition is employed, the front ones are cut away at n, to pass
a tool for raking out the flues.
my
I propose to apply to furnaces generally, in combination with aforesaid
exhausting apparatus, this mode of consuming products of combustion, by
fitting in the fireway or smokeway similar partitions extending right across
the passage so as completely to divide it transversely, and having perforations
or channels m about the centre, as described. N is a water tank, through
which,in engines affording sufficient blast, the connections leading from tol
are carried; but when my condenser is used, I prefer that the chimney should
spring from about the centre of the tank. The tank N and coke box O are
mounted on the san.e frame with the engine and boiler, so that a tender may
be dispensed with. P is a safety apparatus, employed in addition to the
ordinary safety valve, and consisting of a chamber or dome p fixed to the top
of the boiler, having within it a weight held in a guide frame or a cap q, kept
down by a spring 7, and resting on and covering the mouth of a pipe or orifice
8, opening from the boiler under the dome p; this cap should be adjusted
according to the maximum pressure desired, so that if it be exceeded, the cap

page_text: will be lifted and the steam blow awaythrough orifices t,t, thereby preventing
the pressure within the boiler from exceeding the proper maximum; the
steam blown off sounding alarm whistles at both orifices of different pitch to
call the driver's attention.
Although I have shewn and described the engine, (Figure 6,) as adapted for
a locomotive, it may be applied as a stationary or marine engine, or for
purposes where only one driving shaft is required, by connecting the ends of
the shafts F by links or other gear or appliances to another or extra shaft,
which drives the screw or paddles, or transmits motion to other apparatus, as
the case may be; thus the links G may be in two pieces, attached at their
junction to such shaft by a crank; of course, there would be no driving wheels
H in these cases. I have shewn the cylinders A, A1, A2, as three in number,
but there may be two, four, or more such cylinders, and I do not restrict
myself to the combined employment of my engine and boiler, as each maybe
used separately.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and inwhat manner
the same may best be performed, I declare that I lay no claim to the exclu-
sive use of open-ended cylinders, or of two pistons in one cylinder, or of
perforated partitions in boiler flues, being aware that such arrangements are
already known.; but that I claim,―
First, the arrangements for causing pistons, fitted in pairs in open-ended
cylinders, to work with equal pressure, and transmit concerted, steady, and
uniform motion by connecting them to cranks at equal angles on shafts at
each end of the cylinders, tied by outside rods or links, and carrying driving
wheels in the case of locomotives or tied by links or other appliances to and
driving a shaft for transmitting motion in cases where only one driving shaft
is required, all as herein-before described.
Second, the arrangement and combination of parts represented in and
described in reference to Figure 7, for admitting steam and exhausting, con-
sisting of a block, with curved passage, opening and closing communications
(from steam pipe exhaust, and one or a pair of cylinders) in a fixed block, on
the surface of which it slides, as herein-before explained.
Third, the general internal arrangement of boilers herein-before described,
that is to say, the combination of a furnace flue, pear-shaped in transverse
section, extending nearly from end to end of the boiler, and divided trans-
versely by one or more partitions, perforated about the centre with flues for
the hot gases, carried from the end of the furnace flue on each side thereof to
the fire-box end of the boiler and back to the chimney end, all as herein-before
described in reference to the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: And, fourth, the adaptation to furnaces, in combination with my aforesaid
exhauster, of partitions dividing the smokeway or fireway transversely, and
having perforations about the centre, in manner and for the purposes herein-
before specified.
In witness whereof, J, the said John William Clare, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM CLARE. (L.S.)
CHAS. H. LANGMEAD,
84, Fleet Street.