IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henderson, of 7, Mincing Lane, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."-A
communication from abroad by Hugh M'Lardy, of Howrah, in the Zillah
of Hooghly, in the Province of Bengal, in the East Indies.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henderson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1862.
I, GEORGE HENDERSON, of 7, Mincing Lane, in the City of London, .do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
4 The Invention consists of an application by which a portion of the steam
generated can be used in two or more cylinders alternately without leaving a
back pressure on any of the pistons, but instead of which a communication
can be maintained at suitable times with a condenser, by which both or all of
the pistons will be subject to the action of a vacuum formed through con-
densation and the air-pump. The arrangement consists of an accumulator or
receiver placed suitably so as to be surrounded with a jacket filled with steam,
or it may be placed in the chimney so as to be surrounded with fire to prevent
condensation, with a set of openings or passages, valves or cocks, worked by
tappets, excentrics, cranks, wheels, or levers, arranged in such manner as will
allow a communication to be opened between the first or high-pressure
cylinder, as it may be termed, and the accumulátor or receiver; the size of
the accumulator or receiver can be regulated according to pleasure. For
illustration, suppose the accumulator to be double the capacity of the first or
high-pressure cylinder, the steam when admitted into it from the cylinder will!

page_text: increase to three times its original bulk, and consequently the pressure
becomes reduced; the valves or cocks are so arranged that on the piston
approaching the end of the cylinder they will open to the receiver, the
exhaust valve of the cylinder then being open will allow the steam to rush
into the receiver or accumulator, and so soon as the pressure becomes
equalized in the accumulator and cylinder, the valve or cock will close, when
a corresponding valve or cock will open in the communicating or exhaust
passage to the condenser, thereby allowing the steam left in the cylinder to
rush into the condenser, and the vacuum acting on the piston with the
pressure of steam on the opposite side will impel the piston to the opposite
end of the cylinder, whether up or down, when the same operation will be
repeated. The steam that has been retained in the accumulator or receiver
can be used to work a second piston; and if required another receiver and set
of valves can be added to the second cylinder, so as to operate on a third,
and so on, until the steam passing into the last receiver' or accumulator be
reduced to, say, one or one and a half pound pressure. All the cylinders will
communicate with the condenser, by which the benefit of a vacuum on all the
pistons will be obtained. The advantage of this Invention is such that with
steam at a moderately high pressure a series of vacuums, so to speak, can be
obtained in such a way as will add greatly to the power and economy of the
steam engine as now in use. The arrangement can be applied to any double
or single cylinder engine now in use without material alterations to the
working portions of the machinery now in use being required.
The saving in fuel will be in proportion to the pressure of steam used, and
only half the usual quantity of injection water will be required. One air-pump
and one condenser where two has been in use. The efficiency of the vacuum
in the first cylinder is improved through the steam being reduced in pressure,
and the steam retained in the receivers will be a new source of power gained
without any back pressure or counteracting influence. The accumulator or
receiver can also be applied to non-condensing engines with proportionate

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Henderson, Her special licence that I, the said George
Henderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the.
said George Henderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all time
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 STEAM ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad by.
the Inventor Hugh McLardy, of Howrah, in the Zillah of Hooghly, in the
Province of Bengal, in the East Indies, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Henderson, 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 George Henderson, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in a peculiar combination of parts by which some
of the steam generated may be used in two or more cylinders in succession
without that back pressure on the piston in the first cylinder which has
heretofore resulted when using steam expansively in two or more steam.
cylinders. The combination is such that each of the steam cylinders is capable
of being put in communication with a condenser or with the outer atmosphere
on one side of the piston when steam is being admitted into the cylinder on
the other side of the piston. To accomplish this. the steam is expanded from..
the first steam cylinder into a vessel (which I call an accumulator), from
which the steam is supplied to another steam cylinder, the communication -
between the first steam cylinder and the accumulator being closed by a
suitable valve when steam from the accumulator is being supplied to another
steam cylinder. The working of the machinery is such that on opening the
exhaust from the first steam cylinder, the steam expands into the accumulator
of an additional steam cylinder and then to the condenser, if only one

page_text: additional cylinder be employed, but if more than one additional steam
cylinder be used then the exhaust having been opened to the first accumu-
lator it is cut off therefrom, and the exhaust steam is then allowed to expand
into the accumulator of a second additional steam cylinder before the exhaust
of the first cylinder is allowed to pass to the condenser. It is preferred to
employ two accumulators and two additional steam cylinders.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of a combination or arrangement of machinery according to
the Invention, wherein two accumulators and two additional steam cylinders are
employed with the steam cylinder, which receives its supply of steam direct
from the steam boiler; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section thereof taken
through the line A, B, in Figure 1; the section Figure 3 is taken through
the line C, D, in Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a transverse section taken through
the line E, F, in Figure 1.
In the arrangement or combination shewn by the Drawings the three
piston rods by suitable connecting rods give motion to a crank shaft, but it
will be evident to an engineer that the mode of transmitting the power of
engines when combined according to this Invention may be greatly. varied.
It should be stated that the construction of the valves employed may also be
varied. The Drawings shew the form and arrangement of valves which are
preferred. Figures 5 shew one of the valves and grating RV 1 and RV 2;
Figure 6 shew one of the cams for working the valves EV 1 and E V2; and
Figures 7 shew the cam for working the valve EV 3. These Figures are on
a larger scale than the previous Figures. C1, C2, C3, are three steam
cylinder; A 1, A 2, are accumulators; WV 1, WV 2, WV 3, are the working
valves of steam cylinders; EV 1, EV 2, are the steam equalizing valves;
EV 3, exhaust valve to condenser.; RV 1, RV 2, are self-acting or keep
valves on the receiver passage; SV 1, SV 2, are stop valves on condenser
and air-pump passages; SV 3, SV 4, are steam stop valves to cylinders;
L1, L2, are cams for working the steam equalizing valves; L 3 is a cam for
working the exhaust valve to condenser; M', M2, M³, are condensers. The
steam enters cylinder C 1 from the steam boiler through, the valve W V 1,
and having moved the piston at the highest pressure required in the ordinary.
manner of steam engines, it is then allowed to leave the cylinder by the
exhaust port common to all high-pressure engines, just before the piston.
reaches the dead point, and is exhausted into the belt of the cylinder, the
valve E-V-1 being in close connection at that moment is opened by the cam
L1, so as to allow the steam to pass through valve. R V 1 into the accumu-

page_text: lator A 1, which it is preferred should be equal in size to the steam cylinder,
but this is not essential. The steam in the accumulator A 1 becomes equal in
pressure with that in the cylinder C 1, the valve EV 1 is then closed, and the
valve EV 2 on the other side of the cylinder C 1 is opened by the cam L 2,
which allows the steam to pass through the valve RV 2 into the accumulator
A 2; the steam in cylinder C 1 and in the accumulator A 2 becomes equal in
pressure. Thus having allowed the steam that was in cylinder C 1 to expand to
three times its original volume, the valve EV 2 closes, and the valve EV 3 is
opened by the cam L 3, which allows the steam in cylinder C 1 to enter the
condenser M 1; the action then is the same as in an ordinary condensing engine,
thus terminating one half stroke of the main steam cylinder. In the case of
non-condensing steam engines the valve E V 3 can be opened to the atmosphere.
The action of accumulator A 1 and cylinder C 2 are as follows: The
accumulator A 1 having received its charge as above mentioned, the valve SV 3
being open when the engine is at work, the steam passes from the accumu-
lator A1 through the valve W V 2 into the cylinder C 2, and after impelling
the piston to the end of that cylinder is exhausted into the condenser M 2 in
the ordinary manner of condensing engines, or may be exhausted into the
atmosphere. The action of accumulator A 2 and cylinder C3 are the same as
in A1 and C 2.
It has not been thought necessary to shew any clothing to the cylinders or
accumulators nor any other means of preventing radiation of heat therefrom,
but it will be evident to engineers that the steam cylinders and the accumu-
lators may have steam jackets or other provision made, as is well understood
for maintaining heat in the interior of those vessels.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any of
the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is the mode herein described
of combining such parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henderson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
GEO. HENDERSON. (L.S.)