CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ellis Rowland, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 5th February 1858, and dated the 6th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ellis Rowland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
August 1857.
I, ELLIS ROWLAND, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to the novel formation or arrangement of
the steam engine, whereby I am enabled to dispense with the piston rod and
its necessary stuffing box, together with the "parallel motion" commonly
employed, and by such peculiar construction and formation of the engine
considerable compactness may be obtained.
The improvement consists in substituting, in lieu of the ordinary circular
steam "cylinder" a chest, box, or chamber, formed either square, oblong, or
other shape, having rectangular sides and ends, in which works a piston also
having rectangular sides, and of a longer or more continued form than
usual, so as act or slide parallel within the steam chamber; the piston is

page_text: connected at or near the centre (between the top and bottom or its two extre-
mities) to the crank by means of a connecting rod; a portion of the side of the
steam chamber or cylinder being left open for this purpose, and a metallic
packing (with suitable "stop pieces" at the angles or corners), is employed
to retain the piston "steam tight," the steam "slide valves," for supplying the
steam chest or chamber are also formed with rectangular sides, and a metallic
packing is likewise employed for the slide valves.
The improvement in the construction and arrangement of the engine is
equally applicable to those with ordinary circular cylinders, and is also equally
applicable to stationary, locomotive, and particularly to marine steam engines,
as in narrow vessels the square or oblong cylinders may be arranged so as to
occupy very little space; which arrangements will be more fully illustrated in
detail in my Complete Specification, to be hereafter filed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ellis Rowland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELLIS
ROWLAND, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Ellis Rowland, Her special license that I, the said Ellis Rowland, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ellis
Rowland, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Ellis
Rowland, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ellis Rowland, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
My Invention relates principally to the novel formation or arrangement of
the steam engine, whereby I am enabled to dispense with the ordinary piston
rod and its necessary stuffing box, together with the "parallel motion"
commonly employed, and by such peculiar construction and formation of
engine considerable compactness may be obtained.
The improvement consists in substituting, in lieu of the ordinary circular
steam" "cylinder" a chest, box, or chamber, formed either square, oblong, or
other shape, having rectangular sides and ends, on which works a piston also
having rectangular sides and of a longer or more continued form than usual,
so as to act or slide parallel within the steam chamber; the piston is con-
nected at or near the centre (between the top and bottom or its two extremities)
to the cranks by means of a connecting rod; a portion of the sides of the
cylinder being left open for this purpose, and a metallic packing (with suitable
"stop pieces" at the angles or corners) is employed to retain the piston
steam tight; the steam "slide valves" for supplying the steam chest or
chamber are also formed with rectangular sides, and a metallic packing is
likewise employed for the slide valves.
The improvement in the construction and arrangement of the engine is
equally applicable to those with ordinary circular cylinders, and is also appli-
cable to stationary, locomotive, and particularly to marine steam engines, as in
narrow vessels the square or oblong cylinders may be arranged so as to occupy.
very little space.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood and explained
in detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawing, made upon a scale
of about one inch and a half to a foot, having similar letters of referenco
marked upon corresponding parts of the apparatus in all the Figures shewn.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a horziontal condensing engine, shewing the for-
mation of the lengthened or continuous cylinder with a slot in the centre of
its length through which the connecting rod pin passes to the piston; Fig. 2
is a plan view of the same shewn in section, illustrating the novel position of
the "pumps" at each end of the cylinder and their connection with the
condensor, also the valves for admitting steam from the steam chest to the
cylinder; Fig. 3 is a plan view of a modification of the said engine, in which
two distinct cylinders and pistons are employed and shewn, the pistons being:

page_text: In
connected by one intermediate piston rod, which is connected to the connecting
rod in the centre (in a similar manner to that as described in Fig. 1), such
arrangement being employed for locomotive and other "double action" engines;
Fig. 4 is an elevation and plan view of an improved form of valve to be
employed in combination with these engines; and Fig. 5 is a detached view of
the piston, improved by the insertion of a ring of wood in the ordinary metallic
packing. In Fig. 1, 2, and 3, a, a, is the cylinder, and 6 the piston, which
may either be formed in one piece from end to end, or of a less diameter in
the centre, as shewn in Fig. 2, each end or top and bottom being made steam
tight by means of the combined wood and metallic packing. c is the pin by
which the connecting rod is secured to the piston at each end of the cylinder;
a, a, is a second or continued cylinder d, d, within which the pistons e, e,
work, such-being-continuations-at-each-end of-the-piston-6,-which-pistons-and
cylinders act as "pumps," to supply the condensors g with cold water, these
pistons also being similarly packed; the engine acts in the same manner
as an ordinary engine, steam being admitted through valves from the steam
chest, to act upon the top and bottom of the piston alternately at each end
and passes out through the discharge "ports" into the condensor.
locomotive engines I employ a double combination of the two connected
pistons and cylinders, as shewn in Fig. 3, that is four cylinders, which occupy
about the same amount of space as two of the ordinary construction, one pair
being placed on each side of the engine. By this arrangement I am enabled
to apply the pressure of steam upon all the surfaces of the four pistons, when
all the available power is required, such as in ascending inclines (or in
stationary engines, when more machinery, &c. has to be driven,) or to
gradually decrease the amount of surface to be acted upon, by cutting off the
supply of steam from either top or bottom surface of any of the pistons, and
thus either gradually or suddenly at will, increase or diminish the power of
the engine, to effect which object I employ the improved valve, as shewn in
Fig. 4, in which h is the spindle in the centre of the hollow conical "plug"
or cup; and k is the exterior casing secured between the sides of two
cylinders placed side by side, each pair of cylinders placed end to end
requiring a separate or second valve, the steam being admitted on the internal
surface or on the cup of the valve; this form of valve is supplied with three or
more apertures one of which alone is required when the least power is to be
obtained, only two of the four surfaces then being acted upon, when two
apertures are opened the steam is admitted to three of the surfaces, and when
all three are opened both sides of each piston receives the pressure of steam,

page_text: the engine being then at its highest nominal power. It will further be evident
that to multiply power any combination, arrangement, or coupling of these
engines may be employed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with
the method for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I claim the novel construction and arrangement of
engines as described, constituting the Invention for "Certain Improvements
in Steam Engines," particularly the admission of the steam at will to either
end of the piston as required, together with the improved form of valve from
which the steam is emitted from the centre, whether used in connection with
this present arrangement or any other form of engine, and also the com-
bination of the ring of wood inserted and employed in the metallic packing
of pistons as shewn, all of which improvements have been herein-before
described and fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ellis Rowland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
ELLIS ROWLAND. (L.S.)