IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO CENTRIFUGAL AND PREMATH ADDADARNG THE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Brotherhood, of No. 15, Elgin Road,
Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
** IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO CENTRIFUGAL AND
PREMATH
ADDADARNG THE WPOR
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Brotherhood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 1873.
I, PETER BROTHERHOOD, of No. 15, Elgin Road, Notting Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO CENTRIFUGAL
AND OTHER RAPIDLY REVOLVING MACHINES, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to means whereby steam power can be directly
applied to the working of rapidly revolving machines, such as centrifugal
machines, fans, circular saws, threshing machines, rotary pumps, and

page_text: propellers, or the like, without the intervention of bands, gearing, or
other connections for increasing speed of rotation. For this purpose I
place three cylinders having each the one end closed, and the other open
with their axes intersecting at angles of 120° or thereabouts, so that
their open ends all communicate with one central cavity which is sup-
plied with steam. Within this cavity there is a crank on a shaft which
projects through the side of the cavity, and each cylinder is fitted with
a piston connected by a connecting rod to the one crank. On the shaft
is fixed a disc in which are openings and passages for steam, and this
disc bears against the side of the cavity in which are formed ports for
the passage of steam to the outer ends of the three cylinders, and also
to an outer cavity, from which an exhaust pipe conveys the waste
steam.
The position of the openings and passages in the disc is so related to
that of the steam ports that each of the three cylinders is successively
supplied with steam, or is made to communicate with the exhaust
cavity as the crank and disc revolve, and thus, by the unbalanced
pressure acting successively on the several pistons, they are caused to
reciprocate in turn and to impart rotary motion to the crank shaft. As
the side of each piston presented towards the central cavity is always
subjected to the pressure of the steam in the cavity, it acts for moving
the crank only in its outward stroke, the inward stroke being performed
while there is pressure on both sides of the piston. The strain on each
connecting rod is thus always in the direction of tension, and its joints
may therefore be loosened by wear or otherwise without causing blows
or noise in the working of the apparatus.
Instead of fixing the disc which acts as a rotating slide on the crank
shaft, it may be fitted at either side of the central cavity, and driven
by the crank pin entering a hole in it. The pressure in the central
cavity causes the disc to bear against the side of the cavity and thus
to make it fit thereon without allowing leakage of steam past it. By
this arrangement a very rapid rotary motion can be imparted to the
crank shaft which can therefore be directly connected to the sliaft of a
rapidly rotating machine, without any multiplying gearing or other con-
nections. In driving centrifugal machines in this manuar, their shafts
being usually vertical, I place the apparatus above described in a hori-
zontal position under or above the centrifugal machine, with its shaft
extending upwards or downwards, as the case may be, and either forming

page_text: by its extension the shaft of the centrifugal machine or being coupled
thereto.
When the driving apparatus is placed under the centrifugal machine
I prefer to couple it thereto in the following manner:-I make the
revolving basket of the centrifugal machine with a conical boss, which
is fitted in a conical bearing lined with strips of lignum vitæ. Through
this boss I pass without fitting the shaft of the driving apparatus, on the
upper end of which shaft I fix a disc having two holes, into which pins
fixed on the boss of the revolving basket enter freely, whereby the latter
is driven by the rotation of the former, and allowance is given for shake
or eccentricity. In the upper part of the hole in the boss through
which the driving shaft passes I place a caoutchouc ring embracing the
shaft and acting as an annular cushion. In the lower part of the bearing
in which the conical boss of the basket revolves I provide a stuffing box
through which the driving shaft passes, and I lead a pipe from the
conical bearing to a water cistern at such a level that the whole height
of the conical bearing is kept supplied with water, leakage of which is
prevented by the aforesaid stuffing box.
When the driving apparatus is mounted above the centrifugal machine
I prefer to lay it on a caoutchouc cushion, and to prevent it from rc-
volving by steady pins entering freely holes in the framing which
supports it. From the apparatus I carry down a tube within which the
driving shaft can revolve, being generally free from the tube except for
a portion of its length at top and bottom, where it is made to fit the
tube so as to be steadied by it. At the lower of these bearings I prefer
to fix on the shaft a steel ring or collar under which I place several
loose metal rings to take the weight of the shaft as it revolves. The
shaft is carried down and attached to the basket of the centrifugal
machine, which, being thus suspended by it revolves freely without any
bearing beneath it.
For driving rapidly rotating machines having their shafts horizontal I
mount the driving apparatus on a framing so as to bring its shaft in the
axial line of the shaft to be driven by it, and I either extend the
driving shaft so as to constitute by its extension the shaft of the
machine to be driven, or I connect the one shaft to the other by any
known coupling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Brotherhood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
BROTHERHOOD, of No. 15, Elgin (Road, Notting Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Hor most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Brotherhood, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Brotherhood, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Brotherhood, 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 APPLY-
ING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO CENTRIFUGAL AND OTHER RAPIDLY REVOLVING
MACHINES, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Peter Brotherhood, my exccutors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or ono
of their hands and scals, 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 dato
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Brotherhood, 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 following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompany-
ing Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and lotters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
This Invention relates to means whereby steam power can be directly
applied to the working of rapidly revolving machines, such as centrifugal
machines, fans, circular saws, threshing machines, rotary pumps, and
propellers, or the like without the intervention of bands, gearing, or other

page_text: connections for increasing speed of rotation. For this purpose I place
three cylinders, having each the one end closed and the other open, with
their axes intersecting at angles of 120° or thereabouts so that their open
ends all communicate with one central cavity which is supplied with
steam. Within this cavity there is a crank on a shaft which projects
through the side of the cavity, and cach cylinder is fitted with a piston
connected by a connecting rod to the one crank. On the shaft is fixed
a disc in which are openings and passages for steam, and this disc bears
against the side of the cavity in which are formed ports for the passage
of steam to the outer ends of the three cylinders, and also to an outer
cavity from which an exhaust pipe conveys the waste steam.
The position of the openings and passages in thc disc is so related to
that of the steam ports that cach of the three cylinders is successively
supplied with steam, or is made to communicate with the exhaust cavity
as the crank and disc revolve, and thus by the unbalanced pressure
acting successively on the several pistons they are caused to reciprocate
in turn, and to impart rotary motion to the crank shaft. As the side of
each piston presented towards the central cavity is always subjected to
the pressure of the steam in the cavity, it acts for moving the crank
only in its outward stroke, the inward stroke being performed while
there is pressure on both sides of the piston. The strain on cach con-
necting rod is thus always in the direction of tension, and its joints may
therefore be loosened by wear or otherwise without causing blows or
noise in the working of the apparatus.
Instead of fixing the disc which acts as a rotating slide on the crank
shaft it may be fitted at either side of the central cavity, and driven by
the crank pin entering a hole in it. The pressure in the central cavity
causes the disc to bear against the side of the cavity, and thus makes it
fit thercon without allowing leakage of steam past it. By this arrange-
ment a very rapid rotary motion can be imparted to the crank shaft,
which can therefore bo directly connected to the shaft of a rapidly
rotating machine without any multiplying gearing, or other connections.
In driving centrifugal machines in this manner, their shafts being
usually vertical, I place the apparatus above described in a horizontal
position under or above the centrifugal machine with its shaft extending
upwards or downwards, as the case may be, and either forming by its
extension the shaft of the centrifugal machine or being coupled thereto.
When the driving apparatus is placed under the centrifugal machine I

page_text: prefer to couple it thereto in the following manner:-I make the
revolving basket of the centrifugal machine with a conical boss which is
fitted in a conical bearing lined with strips of lignum vitæ. Through
this boss I pass without fitting the shaft of the driving apparatus, on the
upper end of which shaft I fix a disc having two holes into which pins
fixed on the boss of the revolving basket enter freely, whereby the latter
is driven by the rotation of the former, and allowance is given for shake
or eccentricity. In the upper part of the hole in the boss through
which tho driving shaft passes I place a caoutchouc ring, embracing the
shaft, and acting as an annular cushion. In the lower part of the
bearing in which tho conical boss of the basket revolves I provide a
stuffing box through which the driving shaft passes, and I lead a pipe
from the conical bearing to a water cistern at such a level that the
whole height of the conical bearing is kept supplied with water, leakage
of which is prevented by the aforesaid stuffing box.
When the driving apparatus is mounted above the centrifugal machine
I prefer to lay it on a caoutchouc cushion, and to prevent it from
revolving by steady pins entering freely holes in the framing which
supports it. From the apparatus I carry down a tube, within which the
driving shaft can revolve, being generally freo from the tube except for a 2
portion of its length at top and bottom, where it is made to fit the
tube so as to be steadied by it. At the lower of these bearings I prefer
to fix on the shaft a steel ring or collar under which I place several
loose metal rings to take the weight of the shaft as it revolves. This
shaft is carried down and attached to the basket of the centrifugal 2
machine, which being thus suspended by it revolves freely without any
bearing beneath it.
For driving rapidly rotating machines having their shafts horizontal I
mount the driving apparatus on a framing so as to bring its shaft in tho
axial line of the shaft to be driven by it, and I either extend the driving
shaft so as to constitute by its extension the shaft of the machine to bo
driven, or I connect the one shaft to the other by any known coupling.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of a centrifugal machine driven
directly in the manner above described by the steam apparatus placed 3
below the revolving basket, and Fig. 2 represents a sectional plan of tho
steam apparatus; Fig. 3 representing to an enlarged scalo a plan of the

page_text: rotating slide thereof. A¹, A³, A³, are the three cylinders arranged
round a central cavity B, the axis of the cylinders being spaced equally
round at angles of 120° with one another or thereabouts. Each cylinder
is fitted with a piston C, C³, C³, which may be packed with elastic rings
or otherwise. These pistons are all connected by rods D', D³, D³, to one
crank E, one of the rods D' being jointed to the middle of the crank pin,
and the other rods D³ and D³ being forked so as each to take the crank
pin on either side of its middle. The crank shaft F passes through the
side of the cavity B, and has a collar bearing against the inner face,
which owing to the pressure within the cavity renders the joint tight.
A stuffing box may however be provided for that purpose as shewn in
Fig. 1. The crank pin has a prolonged part e entering a hole in the
circular plate or disc G which forms a rotating slide provided with a
passage through it, and a cavity in it successively covering and
uncovering as it revolves with the crank the three ports a¹, a², a³, loading
respectively to the outer ends of the three cylinders, and opening com-
munication from them alternately to the cavity B, and to an exhaust
passage H. The cavity. B being supplied with steam by the pipo K, and
the exhaust passage having a discharge pipe L, and the rotating slide G
being properly set with respect to the crank E, the three pistons which
are always on their inner side subjected to the pressure in B are alternately
and successively subjected to and relieved from pressure on their outer
sides, and thus are made to drive the crank E continuously. As by this
arrangement the rods connecting the pistons to the crank are always
under tensile strain, a great velocity of rotation may be obtained without
shock, even although the jointing of the connecting rods to the crank,
and to the pistons may have become loose by wear. M is the revolving
basket of the centrifugal machine of which the boss m revolves in a
bearing N which may be lined with lignum vitæ. The shaft F of the
engine passes up through the boss m without fitting it, and has fastened
on its upper end a disc f, having holes into which enter steady pins pro-
jecting from the boss m. The basket is thus driven by the shaft F, and
allowance made for eccentricity, and a ring of caoutchouc placed in the
upper part of the holo in the boss m serves as an annular cushion to
provent shocks. f' is a stuffing box through which the shaft F passes;
O is a water cistern communicating by a pipe o, and passage with the
bearing surfaces in such manner that the cistern O being supplied with
water to or above the level of those surfaces, they are kept lubricated,
and leakage of the lubricating fluid is prevented by the stuffing box f',

page_text: Fig. 4 represents a vertical section of a centrifugal apparatus arranged
below the three-cylinder engine of like construction to that already
described. In this case the engine rests on a top framing P supported
on girders, columns, or on other solid flooring, and in order to provide
against shake I prefer to let each of the three cylinders repose on a
caoutchouc buffer, one of which is shewn at p, Fig. 4. From the under
cover of the engine a tube Q projects downwards, within which the shaft
F of the engine revolves freely, fitting only at the upper and lower parts
of the tube, which in those places may be lined with suitable bearing
metal as shown at q, q, so that the shaft is thus steadied within the
tube. The weight of the shaft and of the revolving basket M attached
thereto is taken by a steel collar on the shaft borno on steel
washers, or other loose metal rings which are supported by a
glands secured to the tube Q.
Although the apparatus has been described above as arranged with its
shaft vertical for the purpose of driving centrifugal machines, it might
be placed with its shaft horizontal or inclined for the purpose of driving
directly rapidly rotating machines of other kinds, as may be readily
understood.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what :
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not claim generally the arrangement of three steam cylinders round a
shaft with their several pistons acting directly on a single crank on that
shaft, but I claim,-
First. Tho combination in an engine for driving directly, rapidly
rotating machines of three cylinders, having pistons acting on a single
crank with a central steam cavity round which the cylinders aro
arranged, and with a circular slide caused to rotate by the crank over
suitable ports so as to govern the alternate admission of steam to and
emission of steam from the outer ends of the three cylinders in a
succession, as herein set forth.
Second. In an engine such as is referred to above the arrangement of
the rotating slido and ports in connection with a central cavity charged
with the supply steam so that the connecting rods are always subjected
to tensile strain, substantially as herein described.
Third. The method of mounting and driving directly from an engine

page_text: such as is referred to above, a centrifugal machine placed above the
engine, substantially as herein described in reference to Fig. 1.
Fourth. The method of suspending and driving directly from an
engine such as is referred to above, a centrifugal machine arranged
below the engine, substantially as herein described in reference to
Tie 3
In witness whercof, I, the said Peter Brotherhood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.