Improvements in or relating to Steam Engines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct.,
1899
Complete Specification Left, 29th Nov, 1899-4ccepted, 30th Dec., 1899
Improvements in or relating to Steam Engines.
We, SIMPSON, STRICKLAND & COMPANY, LIMITED, of Dartmouth, South Devon.
Engineers and Yacht Builders, and WILLIAM Cross, MICE, of Daitmouth,
South Devon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
-
This invention relates to steam engines in which two or more cylinders are
employed and has for its object to provide a compact and readily accessible atange-
ment of valves and means for operating same from the valve gear
According to this invention which we will describe in reference to a quadruple
expansion engine we provide the cylinders with valves, one to each cylinder.
said valves are or may be of the piston type and are arranged in pans disposed
in a line transverse to the engine shaft and alongside and intermediate between
the high pressure and intermediate cylinder and in a similar manner between
the low pressure and second intermediate cylinder Each pair of valves so dis-
posed is connected to and driven from the top or by means of a cross bar or yoke
uniting the upper end of the valve spindles inside the valve chest, said bar o
yoke being operated by a vertical spindle passing down through a suitable
bearing disposed centially between and formed in the valve casings
This operat-
ing spindle 18 connected to a link gear of the usual form
The upper and lower ends of the valve casings will open into suitable steam
directing chambers or passages and the high pressure valve will take steam
centially of its length and exhaust over the two ends, the said steam then passing
to the first intermediate pressure valve which will take the steam in over the two
ends and exhaust through the centre to the second intermediate and low pressure
valves operating in a similar manner to those described.
In such a quadruple expansion engine, each pair of cranks is disposed opposite
to one another but the after pair are at ught angles to the forward pair.
From the above it will be seen that only two sets of link gear are required, each
set driving two piston valves, whilst the latter are very easily got at from the
top side, also a long bearing is provided for the central spindle operating the
cross bar or yoke so that cross strains are reduced to a minimum with the conse-
quent reduction and wear and tear of the piston valves.
mi
1000

page_text: South Devon, 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..
This invention relates to multiple expansion steam engines in which two or
more cylinders are employed, and consists in a compact and readily accessible
allangement of steam distributing valves controlling the cylinders and in a
novel method and means for diving such steam valves in paus through a cross
bai or yoke connecting their spindles at the upper ends within the valve casings,
fiom one set of link gear.
We will descube one aangement of our invention in reference to the accom-
panying drawings which illustiate its adaptation to a quadruple expansion engine
Fig is a vertical section partly in elevation through the vlinders, valve
chests and valves thereof. Fig 2 18 a sectional plan of Fig 1 showing cross
hars in position, and Fig 3 is a section on line 1-2 of Fig 2
[*
The four cylinders CC CC are provided with four steam valves V1
respectively said valves are shown as being of the piston type (which is pre-
feried) but they may in some cases be of the ordinary slide-valve type Tho
valves are arranged in pans V1 V2 and V3 V+, and each such pan is disposed in
a line at 1ight angles to the main crank shaft, and alongside of and intermediate
between the high pressure cylinder C¹ and the first intermediate cylinder C³,
and in a similar manner, between the second intermediate cylinder C³ and the
low pressure cylinder C+ The steam valves are adapted to reciprocate in casings
and their steam admission and exhaust ports are arranged to distibute the
steam as hereinafter described The means we employ for driving each pair of
valves so disposed consists of a cross bar or yoke such as Y uniting the pairs
of valve-spindles S1 S and S S respectively at then upper ends and inside the
valve chests A A which are in communication through the passage P; each
such bar or joke is operated by a vertical spindle y passing through a long
bearing such as B disposed between and formed in the valve casings. Each
spindle is connected to and operated through the link gear of the usual or
any suitable kind by the eccentrics In quadruple expansion engines such as
referred to, each pan of cranks is disposed opposite to one another but the after
pan are at right angles to the forward pair
We will describe the operation of our improved aangement of valves and
parts and since the operation is the same in regard to both pairs we will particu-
lause the action of the second intermediate and low pressure valves and gear
well shown in Fig 3 The steam exhausted from the first intermediate cylinder (2
by its valve Va will pass from the central port of the latter through passage P and
enter the middle port 1 of the second inteimediate valve V, thence it is admitted
over the inside edges ee of the valve V alternately to each end of the cylinder C'
through the steam ports c' e': the exhaust will pass over the two extremities el el
of the valve into the low pressure steam chest A3 which is common to the two
valves and V The steam then enters the low pressure valve V over its two
extremities ee and flows by the ports into the low pressure cylinder C+;
the exhaust therefrom escapes over the inner edges e 3 of the valve V and passes
out by the rential port 13 and passage P¹ to the condenser
From the above description it will be seen that only two sets of link gear /
are required for four cylinders, each set diving one pair of steam valves, also
the latter are very readily accessible from the top side by simply removing the
covers A3 A of the steam chambers A' o1 A2, also by reason of the long bearing B
for the cential spindle y operating the cross bar or voke Y cross strains are
minimised and consequently great reduction in wear and tear of the valves
and parts is effected.
Though we have particularly described our invention as applied to a four
cylinder quadruple expansion engine it will be obvious that it can with suitable

page_text: modification and arrangement be adapted to four cylinder triple expansion and
other designs of engines
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 18-
1 In steam engines such as above referred to arranging the steam distributing
valves in paus and working each pair by means of a cross bar or yoke connecting
the valve spindles inside the valve casings, said cross-bars each being reciprocated
by one spindle operated by the link gear, substantially as described
2 The arrangement within covered casings of steam distributing valves dis-
posed in pans at 1ight angles to the crank shaft in combination with gear for
working same from one set of link gear, substantially as described
3 the improved arrangement of gear herein before descubed and illustrated
by the diawings