CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
TAYLOR BEALE, of Church Lane, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the second year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joshua Taylor Beale, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, my exors; adñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, my exors, admors,
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 expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Joshua
Taylor Beale, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, às
in and by the same, reference being thereunto hád, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joshua Taylor Beale, do hereby declare the nature of iny said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed; are fully described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):—-
My Invention consists of a peculiar combination or arrangement of certain
parts of a steam engine, whereby the steam cylinder is caused to be actuated
on a fixed hollow piston rod, the hollow piston rod serving as an induction as
well as an eduction way for the steam, as will be fully described hereafter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an engine constructed according to my Inven-
tion; Fig. 2 a side elevation thereof; and Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 1;
and Figs. 4, 5, and 6, show some of the parts separately, whereby their
construction may be more readily understood. In each of these Figures the
same letters of reference are used to indicate similar parts wherever they
occur. A, A, are four pillars screwed to the four corners of two rectangular
framings B and C, and thus is formed the framing on which the engine is
mounted; D is the steam cylinder, the covers E, E, having stuffing boxes
through which the piston rod F passes; this piston rod is hollow, as will be
seen in the section; Fig. 3, and it will also be clearly seen that this piston
rod F is fixed at top and bottom in the framings B and C, as is shewn in the
Drawing (most clearly in Fig. 8). This hollow piston rod serves as an
induction and also as an eduction pipe for the steam to pass to and from the
steam cylinder D. To the piston rod F is affixed the piston G (Fig. 8).
This piston is similarly constructed to those in general use, except that there
are valves H and I formed therein, which admit of the steam flowing to and
from the steam cylinder, as will be fully described hereafter. J is the steam
pipe from the boiler and connected to the hollow piston rod F, as shewn in
the Drawing at K. At the top of the piston rod there is a stuffing box
formed through which passes the rod L, which rod L is affixed to the valve M;
and by this rod the valve may be raised from its seat either by the lever N or
the lever O, the lever N having its fulcrum at N, and the lever O is a bent
lever having one end turned at right angles which is affixed under the lever N
at P, and thus causes the valve M to rest on its seat when not acted on by the
wipers c and d affixed on the main shaft R, or by depressing the lever N by
hand. The main shaft R turns in four bearings S and has two cranks T
which are actuated by the connecting rods U, which are connected to the
framing on which the steam cylinder D is affixed. This framing I call a
cradle, and it consists of a strong square frame V and X, the steam cylinder
being affixed to the framing V, V, by axes or pivots W one on each side of

page_text: the cylinder, by which a slight motion may be obtained without derangement
to the cylinder D, and thus the cylinder will be free to move perpendicularly on
the piston rod, even though any of the parts may be slightly inaccurate, which
would not be the case were this framing not capable of allowing this slight
motion. On to the side frames X, X, of the framing or cradle V, V, and
X, X, are formed axes or pivots Y, Y, to which are affixed the connecting
rods U and also the friction wheels Z, Z; these pivots or axes Y, Y, also
allow of a slight motion, without derangement of the steam cylinder, in the
opposite direction to that already described, and is intended for the same.
purpose. At the front and back of the steam cylinder D there are placed.
two perpendicular guides a, a, between which the wheels Z, Z, work, as will
be readily understood by examining the Drawing, Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4
shows a separate view of the piston G, and Fig. 5 a metal ring which is to be
screwed down within or without the nuts of the piston to keep them from
coming off. Fig. 6 shews the separate parts of the piston rod in section, and
the manner in which the piston is connected thereto; by this figure it will be
seen that the piston rod is formed of two pipes or tubes, having each a flange
by which the same is affixed to the piston by screws.
It will be desirable
here to observe, that in an engine having but one cylinder it will be necessary
to weight the fly wheel, in order to balance the steam cylinder D, but where
two cylinders are used it will be evident that the same may be so applied.
to the main shaft, as that each cylinder shall act as a partial counterbalance
to the other, whether the same be for high or low pressure engines.
Having now described the manner of combining the various parts of a
steam engine according to my Invention, I will describe the manner of
its action, in doing which I will suppose the steam to be coming from
a steam boiler by the steam pipe J, and that the wiper c on the main
shaft R is acting on the lever O, and thus by the rod L causing the
valve M to be lifted off its seat, by which means the steam will pass into
the hollow piston rod, and thence into the steam cylinder between the upper
cover of the steam cylinder and the fixed piston, through the valve H, this
valve consisting of two ground plates affixed on the same spindle, which
spindle acts through guide holes formed in bridges across the openings in the
piston G, as seen in Fig. 4; thus, the upper cover of the steam cylinder having
pressed down the valve on to its lower seat, which is also ground, the upper
part of the valve is left open for the passage of the steam from the piston rod
into the upper part of the cylinder, and thus cause the same to recede from
the fixed piston until the lower cover of the steam cylinder comes in contact.
with the spindle of the valve H, and forces the upper part to be closed and

page_text: the lower valve to be opened to admit the steam to flow to the under side of
the piston, to cause it to press the steam-cylinder from the fixed piston on that
side at the same time that the valve His closed to the upper part of the
steam cylinder (and opened to the lower part thereof. The valve I comes
in contact with the lower cover of the steam cylinder and opens the upper
part of that valve in such manner that the steam, which has already caused
the upper part of the cylinder to recede from the piston to pass into the lower
part of the hollow piston rod, to pass off either to a condenser or to the open
air, according to the nature of the engine'; and when the upper cover of the
steam cylinder again comes in contact with the valves Hand I, the steam will
again flow into, the upper part of the cylinder; and the eduction way will be
opened for the steam to pass from the under side of the piston, which is the
position shewn by the Drawing, Fig. 3. It is desirable that the spindles of the
valves H and I should have springs, or otherwise sufficient friction to prevent
their closing when they have been forced into their proper positions, by the
covers of the cylinders coming in contact with them. It has been already
described that the steam is admitted by the valve M to the hollow piston rod,
and the quantity of steam for each side of the piston is admitted by the
wipers c and d coming in contact with the lever O, which is always kept
pressed down by the spring e, and the quantity of steam admitted to each
stroke will depend on the time. the valve M is kept open, and therefore the
length of the wipers c and d will determine the quantity of steam admitted,
and thus may be regulated, in case the steam: be used expansively, the extent
of the stroke, during which the steam is admitted and then shut off, that the
remainder of the stroke may be completed by the expansion of the steam.
In starting the engine the lever N is to be depressed by hand, which
will open the valve M and admit the steam to the steam cylinder.
will be seen in Fig. 3 that there is a division or partition
rod which divides the same into two parts, the upper one acting as the induc-
tion pipe for the steam to the cylinder, and the other or lower part acting as
an eduction. pipe for the steam from the cylinder. And in case this engine is
intended, for a low pressure. engine, there is to be a pipe leading to the
condenser affixed to the lower part of the piston rod; or, when the engine is
intended for a high pressure engine, there is to be a pipe affixed leading to
the chimney of the furnace or to the open air. In starting the engine I cause
the bottom cover of the steam cylinder to act against the valves H and I,
which I effect by turning the fly wheel till I bring the crank nearly to the
dead point; these valves are thus opened in such a manner that the steam
will blow through on both sides of the piston; and thus heat the steam, cylinder;
It
in the piston

page_text: and when it is a small engine, I turn, by means of the fly wheel, the crank
over the dead point in the direction the shaft is to be driven; this will put:
the valves into their proper position.. But in large engines, or where two.
cylinders are used (more particularly in marine engines); it will be necessary.
to be able to change the position of the valves H, I, at any period of the
stroke, for the purpose of changing the direction of the cranks of the main
shafts for the purpose of backing the engines. In this case I attach rods,
such as are shewn in the Drawing (by dotted lines in Fig. 3), to the spindle
of the valves H, I, which pass through stuffing boxes formed on the top cover
of the steam cylinders; these rods are connected at the top by a. forked lever,
see Fig. 7, by which means they are moved together when it is desirable
to change the position of the valves. To alter the direction of the cranks, the.
throttle valve: or cock on the steam pipe from the boiler. must be closed.
in order to stop the passage of the steam, which will thus stop the engine;;
the rods connected to the valves H, I, must then be raised or lowered by the
lever 60, as the case may be, which will raise or lower those valves and cause
them to change the direction of the action of the steam, and consequently the
cranks (taking care not to stop the engine on the dead points, as relates to a
large single engine). And in order readily to remove the wipers from under
the lever at any time when the engine is required to be backed, the
wipers c and d are formed on a tube which slides on the main shaft R, there
being two pairs of wipers formed thereon, so that when one pair is slided
away the other pair will be so placed as to come into action as required, as is
shewn by the dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 shows the means of
moving the wipers. On the tube is formed a clutch, into which enters one
end of the lever B, and it will be seen that if the lever B be turned on its
axis it will force the tube which carries the wipers along the main shaft, and
the tube is prevented from turning by means of a feather, which is well
understood.
Having described the manner of combining the various parts according to
my Invention, and also the manner of their action, it will be evident that
although I have described and shewn the piston rod as being fixed vertically,
the same may in some instances be used horizontally or in a diagonal direction;
and I would have it understood that I lay no claim to the various parts
separately of which the engine is composed, they being well known and in use;
neither do I confine myself to the precise construction of the various parts, as
described or shown in the Drawing, as the same may be in some degree
varied; what are shown and described I have found to answer, and conceive
to be the best arrangement. But what I claim as my Invention is, the

page_text: peculiar arrangement or combination of the various parts of a steam engine,.
whereby the steam cylinder is caused to be actuated on a fixed hollow piston
rod, such hollow piston rod serving as an induction as well as an eduction way
for the steam to and from the steam.cylinder, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two