A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND ALSO IN THE MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH THE ELACTIC FORCE OP STEAM IS MADE TO GIVE IMPULSE TO AND TO REGULATE THE SPEED OF LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ROBERTS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, did
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster,the Thirteenth day of April,
in the second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Richard
Roberts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence and
authority that I, the said Richard Roberts, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of fourteen years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick upon Tweed,a certain Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT
OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND ALSO IN THE MECHANISM
THROUGH WHICH THE ELACTIC FORCE OP STEAM IS MADE TO GIVE IMPULSE TO AND TO
REGULATE THE SPEED OF LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Richard Roberts, should not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months then next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages thereby granted,should utterly cease,determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I hereby
declare that my Invention of a certain improvement or certain improvements
in steam engines, and also in the mechanism through which the elastic force
of steam in made to give impulse to and to regulate the speed of locomotive
carriages, is fully described and set forth in the manner following, and is
further illustrated and exemplified by the accompanying Drawings.
The scales of the several parts are marked upon the Sheet. Machines of
the kind to which my present improvements apply, being of very different.
magnitudes, the several parts which I describe may be required to deviate con-
siderably from the sizes indicated by the scales which I have used. The parts
which I now describe as applicable to steam engines, I consider to be of
appropriate dimensions for a cylinder of twelve inches diameter, and ofsixteen
inches stroke. In the Drawings the same parts are indicated by the same
letters.
My improvement or improvements in steam engines consists or consist of a
new form and arrangement of the working valves, which allow of the entrance
and escape of the steam to and from the working cylinder. The construction
and mode of action and application of my improved valves are ascertained and
shewn by the following description, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings in illustration of the same. Instead of the sliding flat valves or D
valves which have been in common use in steam engines, the valves which I have
invented,and am about to describe, are hollow metallic cylinders fittingsteam-
tight into accurately bored cylindrical cavities, within which they can be made
to move longitudinally in the direction of their axes by means of valve rods
attached to them, which pass through stuffing boxes in the lids of the con-
taining cylinders. I describe my improved valves and their containing cases
as cylindrical in form, because it is more casy in practice to make them
with the requisite accuracy of that form than of a prismatic shape, yet if it
were thought desirable, a prism might be adapted as the form to begiven to
these valves. In the apparatus about to be described, I call the inner hollow
cylinder or prism the valve; the outer case in which it moves I call the valve
cylinder or valve case. One of the improvements contemplated in the Inven-
tion for which the present Patent has been obtained is a more easy and certain
mode than has heretofore been used of cutting off the supply of steam from the
working cylinder at any assignable and changeable point in the stroke of the
engine. To effect this object I employ a series of two valves, somewhat
differentlymodified, through which the steam passes consecutively. Underthis
arrangement, Icall the valve nearest in course to the boiler, the induction valve;
the other, which is nearest to the working cylinder, I name the work valve.

page_text: Where it is not designed to vary the time of cutting off the steam during the
working of the engine, one of these valves, as is the case with other forms of
valves, will suffice; this will be the one which I call the work valve. The forms,
application, and mode ofaction of the valve and their adjuncts will be understood
by reference to Figures 1 and 2 in the Sheet of Drawings,aided by the descrip-
tion which follows:-Fig. 1, A shews the working cylinder of a steam engine,
of which B is the piston; C, C, are the steam ways into the cylinder; D is the
work valve cylinder, either cast in one piece with the working cylinder or attached
to it by bolts or other fastenings. One end of this cylindrical cavity is closed by
a solid cap; the other by a lid or gland, having a stuffing box through which the
valve rod works steam-tight. By the steam ways C, C, the cavities of the
working cylinder and of the work valve cylinder communicate. In the situations
of the steam ways C, C, annular chambers are cast or cut in the internal surface
of the valve cylinder corresponding with the dimensions of the steam ways in
their longitudinal admeasurement,and being in depth from a quarter to halfan
inch. Sections of these chambers are seen at a, a, a, a, Fig. 2. Another annular
chamber 6, 1, Fig. 2, similar to the above, is made at the middle of the length
of the cylinder, from which passes another steam way H,into the induction valve
cylinder. Fig.2,c,c,are two other steam ways,and their annular chambers near
to the ends of the cylinder for the eduction of the spent steam. E,Fig.1 and 2,
is the work valve, a hollow cylinder, which I prefer to be of wrought iron,
closed at both ends, to one of which is fixed the valve rod, by which it can be
moved in the direction of the axis of the cylinder. The valve must be so much
shorter than the inner length of the valve cylinder as will allow of its due
action to close and open alternately the working cylinder steam ways corre-
sponding in situation with the annular chamber b, b, when the valve is at half
stroke, that is, midway in the cylinder; the valve is pierced with a number of
longitudinal slits d, d, or otherwise perforated, so as to admit the passage of
steam. The apertures d, d, in the valve corresponding with the chamber b, b,
must be so far elongated in the direction of the axis of the cylinder as at all
times of the stroke to be quite open through the chamber b, to the induction
valve steam way. The valve is similarly perforated in two other places, so
that when it is at half stroke these apertures e, e, e, e, fall a little within the
situations of the two annular chambers a, a, a, a, being then covered by the
touching surface of the valve cylinder, as seen in Fig. 1. When the valve is
in the position of half stroke the unperforated portions of it towards the ends
beyond the apertures e, e, e, e, should overlap the annular chambers a, a, a, a,
on each side from one eighth to one fourth of an inch. In this position of the
valve both steam ways into the working cylinder are closed, but the steam
..

page_text: ways into the eduction pipe, then and in all other moments of action, remain
unobstructed by the position of the work valve. The valve and its case must
be so fitted to each other as to allow the valve to move steam-tight for some
distance on each side of the annular chambers a and b. F is the induction
valve cylinder or case closely contiguous to the work valve cylinder, either cast
in the same piece or fastened to it. This cylinder has a steam way G, for the
introduction of steam from the boiler and the steam way H,which connects its
cavity with that of the work valve cylinder. Corresponding with the steam way
H, the cylinder has an annular chamber f, f, such as have been described in
the other valve cylinder I; the induction valve is also a hollow metallic cylinder
or prism, moveable steam-tight in its case by means of a valve rod passing
through a stuffing box at one end of the cylinder or case, the other end of
which has a close cap. The induction valve is open at both ends, the valve rod
being attached to it either by a perforated cap or by cross arms, which will
allow the free passage of steam. The induction valve is perforated about its
middle, as is the work valve, the openings corresponding in extent with the
breadth of the annular chamber f, f. The work valve being designed to
govern the admission and escape of steam alternately through the steam ways
of the working cylinder has its movements governed through its valve rod in
the same way as the work valves of other forms which are intended to admit
steam to the cylinder during the whole of each stroke. The motion may be
taken, as is usual, from an eccentric on the fly wheel or other shaft, and
communicated through levers and connecting rods or links, as is shewn by the
lines in Fig. 1. The induction valve is that which I employ to regulate the
duration of the supply of steam from the boiler during each stroke of the
engine. The induction valve is worked by a system of levers and rods
analogous to that in common use for the working of valves, as is shewn in
Fig. 1, but my present Invention, as relates to the working of the valve,
consists in having devised ready means for changing at any moment of the
action or rest of the engine the relative lengths of the intervening lever arms,
so as to change correspondently the times of the ultimate action. The
particular arrangement of these working parts may vary with the form,
situation, and other variable circumstances of steam engines. The means by
which I find it convenient to accomplish this alteration of lengths are as
follows: From the same eccentric which works the levers and rods of the
work valve, or from another on the same or another shaft, as may be most
convenient, a rod J passes to a bent lever as at K, which is moveable on
the fixed centre L. M, another rod, connects the opposite arm of the bent
lever K,with N, another bent lever, the opposite arm of which is connected by

page_text: the intervention of O, a link, with the induction valve rod. In this system of
levers, the length of one arm of the bent lever K is made variable at pleasure,
or according to the changeable velocity of the engine. The arm of the
bent lever K, with which the rod M is in connection, is curved into a
segment of a circle described with the radius M, from its opposite extremity as
a centre when the valve is at half stroke. On the curved arm of the bent
lever K is a sliding socket Q, with which the end of the rod M is jointed.
The slider Q is also connected, by means of an adjustable rod R, with the
governor of the engine S; with a given density of steam, and an uniform
resistance, the speed of an engine will be governed by the time during
which the steam is allowed to flow through the induction pipe in the period of
each stroke. The longer the time during these periods that the steam acts
with its full pressure on the piston, the more accelerated will be the speed of
the engine up to the rate at which it can be driven by the steam acting with
its full force for the whole duration of every stroke. But it is commonly
advantageous that a steam engine should not be constantly wrought to the
fullest capability of its power. It is highly important that the same engine
should be adaptable by easy means to the performance of very different
quantities of work. The most obvious means of effecting this adjustment of
power to the variable calls for its employment is by meting out the quantity of
motive force delivered to the engine from the boiler. Supposing the steam
to continue to be generated of nearly uniform density, the quantity of imparted
force will be measured by the length of the intervals of time during which the
steams flows uninterruptedly from the boiler into the working cylinder. For
the perfect regulation of these intervals of steam supply, it is necessary to
possess the power of cutting off the steam at any momentof the stroke, leaving
the subsequent action to the expansive force of the portion of steam already
admitted. My present Invention gives the power of adjusting at will, or
according to variable circumstances, the moment of cutting off the supply of
steam from the boiler, by making one arm of an intervening lever in the
working gear
of the induction valve changeable at any moment. ThesliderQ
which by its situation on the curved arin of the bent lever K, determines the
effective length of that arm, can be shifted at any moment, either by hand or by
the action of the governor. In this way the governor regulates the speed of
the engine by varying the moment of cutting offinstead of adjusting the supply
of steam by a throttle valve. The mode by which the slider Q is moved by
the governor will be seen by reference to Fig. 1. In engines not having a
governor, as those used for locomotion, the slider Q can be shifted at pleasure
by the engineer during the action of the engine by means of a projecting handle

page_text: or rod, as shewn at T; the slider being held in its assigned place by a rack and
spring, as seen at U,.or by any other suitable means. The induction valve
makes a single stroke by a half revolution of the eccentric which works it ;
consequently, whether those strokes be long or short they are each performed
in an equal interval of the engines general action. According then to the
length of range of stroke of the induction valve, the steam way into the work
valve cylinder is kept open a longer or shorter portion of the whole duration
of each stroke. Now, the extent of range of the induction valve is governed
under the arrangement now described by the variable length of the curved
arm of the bent lever K, the range of the valve being extended as that arm
is lengthened. The proportion then betwixt the axual extension of the steam
passages and the longitudinal range of the valve determines the relative times
of free and closed passage for the steam.
If the valve move through some-
what less than twice the axual extension of the steam way, the passage for the
flow of steam will never be cut off; if a longer stroke be made by the valve it
will close the steam way during the latter portion of the stroke of the piston,
and if the range be further increased, the steam way will be closed during a
proportionately longer portion of the stroke. It is desirable to make the
adjustment such, that the valve will cut off at one 4th or 4th of the stroke by
its longest action, and keep the steam way constantly open by its shortest.
I find that if the shortest action of the valve be made about one and a
half times the axual length of the steam way, and the longest about
five times, the variability is sufficiently great. In the common working
valve the action of the eccentric is about one fourth later in time than
the engine crank; in my present arrangement the eccentric for the induction
valve is about one third later than the crank. The induction valve must be
so adjusted as to be just commencing to open the steam way H as the piston
is finishing its stroke.
Another part of my present Invention of improvements in steam engines
is a self-acting regulator for maintaining in the boiler the proper quantity
of water by stopping the supply from the force pump whenever the water
reaches a certain level. My contrivance for this purpose is represented at
Fig. 7. 1 is a steam-tight vessel, which by a pipe from the aperture 2,
communicates freely with the upper part of the boiler, and by another
pipe from the opening 3, communicates with the lower part of the boiler.
The syphon passage through the piece of metal at the bottom of the vessel, in
the course of which is a stop cock 5, serves for a passage of communication
betwixt the external air and the cavity of the force pump below the plunger or
bucket. The lever 6 of the stop cock is connected with the stem of a hollow

page_text: metallic float marked 7. The regulating apparatus should be so placed in
reference to the water line in the boiler as that the float may open the passage
of the stop cock 5 when the water has acquired the proper level, and close it
again by falling as the water in the boiler becomes exhausted by evaporation.
One object of my present improvements in the mechanism through which the
clastic force of steam is made to give impulse to, and to regulate the speed
of locomotive carriages, is to allow a difference of rotatory velocity in the
bearing wheels of a locomotive carriage, whilst both such wheels are being
driven by a motive power common to them both. The mode or modes
by which I accomplish this object will be understood by reference to the
Figures, and by the following description:-A and B, Fig. 3, show the
driving wheels of a locomotive carriage, which are staked on the ends
of C, D, the axle, which consists of two distinct parts, one of which, C,
is hollow to a certain distance from its inner extremity, that is, the end
betwixt the wheels, in order that it may receive as in a socket the reduced
inner extremity of the other part of the axle D, and allow it to turn therein.
A neck is turned down near the outer extremity of each portion of the axle to
be received in metal bearings connected with the framework of the carriage.
On the separate parts of the axle within the bearing wheels, two chain wheels
E, E, (or they may be pullies) are keyed in order to connect the axle by
endless chains (or straps) with two similar chain wheels G, G, (or pullies) on
a driving shaft I, which is either cranked at both ends or has keyed thereon
discs with crank pins, which are set at right angles to one another. The chain
wheels G, G, (or pullies, if such he used,) are firmly connected with two bevil
wheels J, J, which along with the chain wheels can turn freely on the crank
shaft I. The bevil wheels J, J, are retained in their proper places on the shaft
by keys and washers. From the middle of the crankshaft a fixed arm Lprojects
at right angles, and on a turned bearing at its end carries another bevil wheel
M loose thereon, and geering into the two bevil wheels J, J. The wheel M
is secured in its place by a key and washer and shoulder. When the crank
shaft is driven by the moving power, the wheel M on the projecting arm L
becomes a carrier to both the wheels J, J, and causes them along with the
attached chain wheels to revolve simultaneously and in the same direction
with the crank shaft, and so long as the track of the carriage is in a right line,
they all move with the same angular velocity. But when the carriage moves
in a curve line, the outer carriage wheel requiring more motion than the
inner one, the bevil wheel M, by the difference of resistance on its two sides,
turns a little on its bearing, and in consequence allows a proportionately
greater quantity of motion to the outer than to the inner bevil wheel, causing

page_text: the one to turn a little forward, the other in the same degree backward on
their respective bearings on the crank shaft.
Another modification of mechanism for effecting the accomodation of the
bearing wheels to a curvilinear path of the carriage is shewn at Fig. 4. I is
the crank shaft, having at its ends the engine cranks set at right angles to each
other, as in the case before described; O, O, are two spur wheels, firmly cou-
nected with two chair wheels (or pullies) G,G, and turning loose on the crank
shaft I. Upon the crank shaft I, within the wheels O, O, are keyed two flat
pieces of metal or framing plates N, N, projecting at right angles from the
shaft, and having bearings near their outer margins to carry two short shafts
Q, Q, on which are keyed, betwixt the plates, two pinions R, R, which gear
with one another, and on an end of each shaft, projecting on opposite sides
beyond the plates, two other pinions S, S, which gear respectively into the two
spur wheels O, O. The crank shaft I, being driven by the engines, carries
round with it the framing plates N, N, and consequently the shafts Q, Q, and
pinions R, R. Under these circumstances the pinions S, S, carry round the
spur wheels O, O, at the same rate that the crank shaft revolves, whilst
the carriage progresses in a right line. When the carriage makes a turn,
and thereby calls for a difference of rotatory velocity in the bearing wheels
A, A, a corresponding difference of motion is effected in the wheels
O, O, the one being made to advance a little on the rotatory movement of
the crank shaft, the other to retard in an unequal degree by the turning
a little of the two pinions S, S, on their centres in opposite directions. For
controlling more effectually the motions of the carriage, it is expedient, in
place of one or both cranks at the ends of the crank-shaft which is imme-
diately driven by the engines, to key on a friction disc or discs, carrying
crank pins on the face or faces. I prefer to employ two discs instead of
cranks, as is shewn in Fig. 4, P, P. To the peripheries of these discs, brakes
are adapted to produce friction when necessary. The long arm of one
of these brakes I leave to be acted on in the ordinary way by the power of
the engineer or of the conductor. The extremity of the lever of the other
brake I connect with the piston of a steam cylinder, in such way that on the
admission of steam into the cylinder, the rising of the piston shall cause tlic
brake to act upon the friction disc. P, Fig. 5, is one of the friction discs or
pullies on the crank shaft; U is the brake; V, the brake lever, the longer arm
of which is connected with the piston W of the steam cylinder X, which is open
at top. The steam cock Y must be placed under the control of the conductor,
and is to be so constructed as when the steam is turned off a passage is opened
betwixt the cavity of the cylinder beneath the piston and the external air for

page_text: the escape of the steam. The friction thus produced by the action of the
piston on the brake lever may be graduated by regulating the quantity of steam
admitted into the cylinder, and by these means retardation may be adjusted to
the variable necessity of circumstances.
Another of my present improvements in the mechanism through which the
elastic force of steam is made to give impulse to locomotive carriages, con-
sists in a new mode of constructing the bearing wheels of such carriages,
so that they may have sufficient strength and solidity to support efficiently
the load and strains to which wheels of carriages impelled by the clastic
force of steam or by any other adequate portable power are of necessity
subjected. My wheels for these purposes are constructed in the following
manner Fig. 6 shews the boss or nave of cast iron, whereof a shews a
side view; b, a section; e, the central hole for the axle. The body of the
nave is cylindrical, having a rabbet at each end, .,,, to receive hoops; the
rabbets are a little taper towards the middle of the nave to hold the hoops in
their places. In the direction of the axis of the nave there are grooves for the
reception ofthe inner ends of the spokes, going to some depth below the nearly
cylindrical surfaces of the rabbets, sec c, c, c. The spokes I make of wrought
iron, of the form seen in Fig. 3, and m. The inner ends of the spokes are
fitted accurately to the grooves of the nave; the shouldered portions of them
filling those parts of the grooves which are within the cylindrical surfaces of
the rabbets, for the purpose of holding firmly the spokes in their sockets in the
nave. A wrought iron or other metal hoop, (in section at h, k, h, k,) a cenrately
turned, is let on the rabbet at each end of the nave over the projecting
shoulders of the spokes. The inner surfaces of the hoops are conical, a little
contracting on the inner sides corresponding with the taper of the rabbets,
so that when let on hot they pass over the larger diameter of the rabbet,
and when contracted by cooling they are retained securely in their places.
The outer ends of the spokes are spread out in both directions as at h, h
the extreme surface of these plate heads, in the direction of the plane of the
wheel, being a curve correspondent with the circle thereof. The rim of the
wheel is formed of two rings of wrought angle iron, as seen in section at
i, i, i, i, which are rivetted to the plate heads of the spokes, as shewn in Fig. 3.
The tire is a hoop of wrought iron, put on hot, and rivetted to cach of the
augle iron rings at proper distances between the spokes.
I claim the rights and privileges conferred on me by the present Letters
Patent, for the construction, use, application, and sale, by myself or by others
taking legal right from or under me for the same, (as being of my Invention),
First, of the valves of steam engines working in cases as herein-before

page_text: described by me, and referred to in the Drawings which form part of this
Specification, in Fig. 1 and 2, whether such valves and their cases be of a
cylindrical or prismatic form, and whether they be designed to be used singly,
as the working valves of steam engines now commonly are, or in combination
of two, as I have now described as proper for accomplishing the stoppage
of the supply of steam to the cylinder at any assignable period of the engine
stroke.
Secondly, of the mechanism or combination of mechanical movements, by
which the action of the induction steam valve is made variable at any time,
whether such mechanism be arranged as I have herein-before described it, as
calculated to produce the effect, or in any other way which shall embrace the
same principle of altering, whilst the engine is at work, the times of action of
the steam by an alteration at any moment of the effective leverage of any of
the oscillating lever arms betwixt the valves and their first mover.
The
parts concerned in the changeable action of the valves as now described are
shewn in the Drawings at Fig. 1.
Thirdly, of an apparatus to be appended to the boilers of steam engines for
regulating the injection of water into the boiler, by disabling the force pumps
from drawing water whenever the surface ofthe water within the boiler attains
a certain elevation. This part of my Invention is shewn in the Drawings at
Fig. 7.
Fourthly, of the mechanism or combination of mechanical movements
herein before described, which allows the driving bearing wheels of locomotive
carriages propelled by steam power to accomodate their relative velocities to
the exigencies of the case whenever the path of the carriage is not right lined.
The principle of my contrivance is the driving of two bearing wheels indepen
dent of each other's action on one axle, by a carrier common to both, which
cau accomodate its action on the two wheels to any difference of rotatory
velocity which they may be required occasionally to perform. Two mechanical
modes of applying this principle are shewn and described in this Specifi-
cation; they are shewn in the Drawings by Fig. 3 and 4. Other modes of
applying the principle may readily be devised; and I claim all such modifi-
cations as are evidently based on the same principle of action.
Fifthly, of the bearing wheels through which the elastic force of steam is
made to propel locomotive carriages, constructed with such peculiarities as I
have herein described, namely, the connection of the spokes with the naves
in the manner shewn in this Specification, and the formation of the rim of the
wheel by two rings of wrought angle iron, as herein described. The parts her c
referred to are shewn in the Drawings at Fig. 3 and 6.

page_text: Sixthly, of astcameylinder and piston as applied to produce pressure on the
lever of a brake used to retard motion in locomotive carriages propelled by
steam, shewn in the Drawings at Fig. 5. To the parts mentioned in this
Specification as in connection with my present improvements belonging to
steam engines, or to the mechanism instrumental in the propulsion of steam
driven carriages which are already known and in common use, I do not claim
any exclusive right.