IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Hirst, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES."
Sealed the 12th February 1861, and dated the 28th August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Hirst at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
August 1860.
I, BENJAMIN HIRST, of Leeds, in the County of York, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of steam
and other engines. For these purposes several oscillating cylinders are
mounted equidistant from each other in a suitable fixed framing, and the
cylinders are also equidistant from a common centre. It is preferred to
employ six cylinders, but a less or greater number of cylinders may be
similarly combined. The main or driving shaft (to which the power obtained
in all the cylinders is communicated) turns in suitable bearings carried by the
framing in such manner that the centre of the main or driving shaft coincides
with the centre from which the several cylinders are equidistant. The main

page_text: or driving shaft has a crank formed or fixed thereon, and on the crank pin of
such crank there is a collar which turns freely thereon. To this collar the end
of each of the piston rods is attached by a pin joint equidistant from each
other. By these means the power obtained in each of the cylinders is com-
municated to the main or driving shaft.
SPECIFICATION-in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Hirst in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
HIRST, of Leeds, in the County of York, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, 'Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Hirst; Her-special licence that I, the said-Benjamin Hirst, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others.as I, the sail Benjamin
Hirst, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Benjamin Hirst, 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 Benjamin Hirst, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention' has for its object improvements in the construction' of steam
and other engines. For these purposes several oscillating cylinders are
mounted equidistant from each other in a suitable fixed framing, and the
cylinders are also equidistant from a common centre. It is preferred to

page_text: a greater or less number of cylinders may be combined together in a similar
manner to that above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Hirst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February; in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred 'and 'sixty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
Benjamin Hirst, in the presence of
EDWIN EDDISON, Solicitor,"
Leeds.
BENJ. HIRST. (L.B.)