IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Reid, of the Firm of Neilson and
Company, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 20th December 1870, and dated the 22nd June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Reid at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1870.
I, JAMES REID, of the Firm of Neilson and Company, of Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object by an improved construction or
combination to secure the various advantages of what is known as the
Fairlic system of constructing locomotive steam engines with greater
convenience and efficiency, and with fewer disadvantages than engines of
that class as hitherto made or proposed to be made. Engines of the

page_text: kind referred to are described in the Specification of certain Letters
Patent granted to Robert Francis Fairlic, and dated the 12th May 1864
(No. 1210), and the present Invention consists in mounting two boilers
of ordinary length instead of one large boiler on the single long frame
carried on the two bogies, both or only one of such bogies having steam
cylinders attached with their usual connections. The said boilers may
be of any convenient form in use in ordinary locomotive steam engines,
but reversed as regards each other on the frame, the fire-boxes being
towards the middle, and having between them a space completely across.
This allows of more convenient access to the fire-boxes and across from
one side of the frame to the other than when the boiler is in a continuous
form from end to end of the frame. The two boilers being also inde-
pendent of each other can be made to work with full efficiency, whereas
in the continuous boiler with middle fire-box the action in the part
towards one end generally interferes with that in the part towards the
other end. The fire-boxes of the two boilers may be made of any form
which will economise the space between the boilers without rendering it
inconveniently limited. In the event of anything going wrong in either
boiler the other one will be available for running the engine and train
into a siding or out of danger from following trains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Reid in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
REID, of the Firm of Neilson and Company, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Reid, Her special licence
that I, the said James Reid, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Reid, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein a

page_text: 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 LOCOMOTIVE
STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Reid, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Reid, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :—
My said Invention has for its object by an improved construction or
combination to secure the various advantages of what is known as the
Fairlie system of constructing locomotive steam engines with greater
convenience and efficiency, and with fewer disadvantages than engines
of that class as hitherto made or proposed to be made. Engines of the
kind referred to are described in the Specification of certain Letters
Patent granted to Robert Francis Fairlic, and dated the 12th May 1864
(No. 1210), and my present Invention consists in mounting two separate
boilers of ordinary length instead of one long boiler on the single long
frame carried on the two bogies, such bogies being generally each fitted
with steam cylinders and their usual connections.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
two arrangements embodying my improvements.
In these Drawings
the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repcated.
Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings are a side elevation and a
partially sectioned plan of one arrangement or modification, and Figures
3 and 4 on Sheet 2 are similar views of the other. The Drawings
exhibit the main features of the engines, but a number of minor details
are not shown, and these are to be understood as being substantially the
same as suitable corresponding parts in any existing engines. In each

page_text: arrangement there is a main long horizontal frame 1, 2, partly indicated
by dotted lines in Figures 2 and 4, and which is supported on two
bogies 3, 4. Each bogie 3, 4, runs on four, or it might be more wheels,
and is fitted with steam cylinders 5, 6, and the usual driving connections.
Each bogie 3, 4, may be connected to the main frame 1, 2, in the same
manner as in other engines constructed on the Fairlie system, or in any
other suitable way, and this observation also applies to the pipe con-
nections by which the steam is led to and from the cylinders. Two
separate boilers 7, 8, are fixed upon the main frame 1, 2, which boilers
whilst they may be of any convenient form in use in ordinary locomotive
steam engines, are reversed as regards each other, their fire-boxes 9, 10,
being towards the middle, and having between them a space 11 com-
pletely across. This arrangement allows of convenient access to the
fire-boxes, and of passing across from one side of the frame to the other,
which are unattainable when the boiler is in a continuous form from
end to end of the frame. The two separate boilers 7, 8, being also
independent of each other can be made to work with full efficiency,
whereas in a continuous boiler with a fire-box in the middle the action
in the part towards one end generally interferes with that in the part
towards the other end. The fire-boxes 9, 10, of the two boilers may be
made of any form which will economise the middle space 11 between
the boilers without rendering it inconveniently limited. In the arrange-
ment shown upon Sheet 1 of the Drawings the fire-boxes 9, 10, are of a
square form in plan, whilst in that shown on Sheet 2 they are of a
rounded form, the firing doors in the latter arrangement being towards
the sides, which admits of the boilers 7, 8, being brought a little closer
together, and of the length of the main frame 1, 2, being slightly
reduced. Saddle-shaped water tanks 12 are mounted upon the barrels of
the boilers 7, 8, and boxes 13 for coke or other fuel are constructed at
the four corners of the combined foot plate or driver's platform; the
tanks or fuel boxes may, however, be otherwise arranged if preferred.
This platform may of course be either with or without a
"cab" or
cover 14, and the arrangement of this and other parts may be varied, as
indicated by the differences shown in the two delineated examples.
An important advantage of my improved arrangements consists in the
fact that in the event of anything going wrong with either boiler the
other one will be available for running the engine and train into a
siding, or otherwise out of danger from following trains. Each boiler,

page_text: 7 or 8, has in connection with it and with the bogie 3 or 4 under it,
complete gearing for acting on the valves in connection therewith,
and whilst the two sets of such gearing for the opposite ends of the
locomotive are ordinarily connected together, so that they may be
actuated simultaneously, they can be disconnected when it is required
to work the cylinders at only one end.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
constructing of a locomotive steam engine with two separate boilers
combined on one long frame which is carried on two bogies, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Reid, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.