IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, No. 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of June, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," being a commu-
nication from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is, to pack the junctions of the steam wheel
and heads of the steam cylinder of rotary steam engines, in such way that
the packing shall be at all times under the control of the engineer, so that he
may have it in his power to tighten or loosen it at his discretion, to suit
circumstances, whether the engine be at rest or in action. The Invention
consists in packing the ends of the steam wheel and cylinder heads of rotary
steam engines by means of a metal ring at each end fitted to the face of the
steam wheel, and adapted to slide in an annular groove in the cylinder head or
or end of the casing which encases the steam wheel, when the said packing
ring is combined with a series of segmental wedges enterposed between the
said packing ring and cylinder head, and adapted to slide radially, and each
coupled with a screw shaft or spindle, which is free to slide endwise in
a pinion, the series of pinions being so arranged as to be simultaneously
.turned in either direction by a cog wheel on the main shaft of the engine,
which wheel can be caused to turn in either direction by means of a worm
or thread (or the mechanical equivalent thereof) on the shaft of a hand wheel,
so that by turning the said hand wheel, the series of segmental wedges will
.be simultaneously drawn in towards or forced out from the centre, and by
their wedge form will press the packing ring towards the face of the steam
wheel or release it from such pressure, and thus adapt the packing to the
condition of the engine.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken in a plane
parallel with the shaft of the steam wheel, and Fig. 2 is another section taken
at the line A, a, of Fig. 1. The same letters indicate like parts in both
Figures.
In the accompanying Drawings a represents one head of the cylinder b,
within which is fitted the steam wheel c, mounted on the main shaft d, which
passes through the centre of the head. Only a small portion of the cylinder
and steam wheel is shewn, as these forin no part of the Invention, and may
be made on any plan. The inside of the head is formed with an annular
groove e, to which is fitted a packing ring f. This ring must be accurately
fitted to slide in the groove. The outer periphery should be packed as at g,
in the usual manner of packing steam joints, to prevent the passage of steam;

page_text: and its inner face should be fitted by a ground joint to the face or end of the
steam wheel, so that when these two surfaces are in actual contact they shall
form a steam-tight joint. The other face of this said packing ring is in the
form of the frustrum of a flat cone, and to this face are fitted a series of seg-
mental wedges h, which slide radially between the conical face of the ring
and the bottom of the groove e, and between guide pieces i, i, that project
from the bottom of the groove. To reduce the weight of the segmental wedges,
they are formed with open spaces in the body thereof. To each of the seg-
mental wedges is coupled one end of a spindle k, which passes to the outside
of the cylinder head, and is adapted to turn and slide in a stuffing box 1, but
this stuffing box may be dispensed with. The inner end of the said spindle
turns and slides in suitable boxes in two bracket pieces m, m, on the cylinder
head, between which a bevel pinion n is mounted on the spindle, the spindle
being grooved at o to receive a feather in the bore of the pinion, so that the
spindle may be free to slide in the pinion whilst it is turned by it. A screw
thread is formed upon the spindle at k, and passes through a nutq attached
to the cylinder head, so that when the pinion is turned to the right or to the
left the spindle will be caused to slide radially towards or from the centre of
the main shaft, together with the segmental wedge which is coupled to it.
The segmental wedges are arranged at equal distances around the circle, and
each one is coupled to a screw shaft or spindle provided with a pinion, such
as above described. The pinions n all gear into the teeth of a bevil wheel r,
that turns between collars on the main shaft. The periphery of the said
wheel is formed with teeth s, similar to those of an ordinary worm wheel,
which teeth work between the threads of a worm or screw t on a shaft u,
that has its bearings in bracket pieces v, v, the outer end of the said shaft
being extended out beyond the periphery of the cylinder, and there provided
with a hand wheel w, or with a winch. From the above description it will
be evident, that by turning the hand wheel in one or the other direction, the
series of segmental wedges will be moved in or out, and thus either free the
packing ring, or force it up against the face of the steam wheel; and that by
reason of the multiplication of leverage, the engineer will be able to exert a
very great force on the packing ring, and be enabled at all times to adapt the
packing to the condition of the engine, whether at rest or in motion. It will
be seen, that this mode of adjusting the packing can be applied to any rotary
engine which requires packing to be interposed between the steam or piston
wheel and cylinder or casing. One of the great and leading advantages of
the Invention is, that the packing is entirely under the control of the engineer
during the working of the engine or before starting, so that should there be

page_text: any inequality in the expansion of the parts of the engine, the packing can
be readily adjusted, and thus avoid either too great binding or too great leak-
ing. As both ends of the engine are to be packed in the same manner, only
one end has been described and represented.
Having thus fully explained the principle of the Invention communicated to
me, and the mode of constructing and using the same, I wish it to be clearly
understood, that I do not limit myself to the precise construction of the various
parts, and the arrangement of them as above specified, as these may be varied
without departing from the principle of the Invention.
What I claim as the Invention communicated to me is, the method, sub-
stantially as above described, of regulating the packing ring interposed between
the steam wheel and head of the cylinder or outer casing of rotary steam
engines, by combining with the said packing ring a series of segmental wedges
operated simultaneously in manner substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.