IMPROVE- MENTS IM STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE PASSAGES AND VALVES FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUCTION AND WORKING OF FLUIDS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
SLATE, of Woodside Iron Works, near Dudley, in the County of Worcester,
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 Twenty-seventh day of May, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, and in the year One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Archibald
Slate, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, tho
said Archibald Slate, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Archibald Slate, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IM STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE PASSAGES AND VALVES
FOR THE INDUCTION AND EDUCTION AND WORKING OF FLUIDS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Archibald Slate, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Archibald Slate, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements in steam engines, and in the passages and
valves for the induction and eduction and working of fluids, consists in the first
place of a certain arrangement, of cylinders, valves, and valve passages, by
which the steam cylinder is kept at an equal temperature by being enveloped
by steam in its passage to the valves or ports, and by which the valve passages
can be made equal in area to the whole area of the working piston.
The method by which this arrangement of the cylinders, valves, and valve
passages or ports can be carried into effect is shewn in the Drawings, Figures
1 and 2. Figure 1 shews a vertical section of the relative arrangement of the
cylinders, valves, and valve passages, which may be said to consist of three
cylinders, one within the other-the first the working cylinder, the second the
slide valve, and the third the outside casing, in which are the induction and
eduction pipes, which three cylinders have covers at each end connecting them
altogether, through which are stuffing boxes for the piston and valve rods; the
first cylinder is a plain cylinder, bored inside and turned outside, with ports cut
through its circumference above and below the range of the stroke of the
piston, as shewn in Drawings Figures 1 and 2. The valve and valve passages
completely surround this cylinder. The valve is composed of two rings or
packed surfaces working outside the inner cylinder, and may be described as a
concentric piston valve, and its action the same as an ordinary slide valve, the
lap and lead and detail of which may be arranged according to the judgment
of the engineer. The third cylinder or outside casing is bored to fit the outside
of the valve, and the space between this outside cylinder or case and the work-
ing cylinder contains the valve and steam chamber enveloping the working
cylinder before described; this casing or outer cylinder contains the induction
and eduction passage. The Drawing, Figure 2, shews a horizontal section
through the red lines A, A, in Figure 1.
By this arrangement of cylinders, valves, and valve passages, the working
cylinder is always enveloped in hot steam in its passage to action. The valve
moves in equilibrio, so that the increase of steam pressure does not increase
the friction; the great size of the ports, and their arrangement so as to admit
the entrance and exit of the steam at all points in the circumference of the
working cylinder enables the full effect to be derived from the steam at how-
ever great a velocity it may be advisable to drive the piston.

page_text: My Invention of improvements in the passages and valves for the induction
and eduction and working of fluids consists in the application of the same
arrangement of cylinders, valves, and valve passages to the pumping or using
of water and other liquids, air, gas, and other gaseous fluids; in its application
to water the slide valve has no lap, but in its application to pumping or using
air, gas, or other clastic fluids, the lap of the valve will be regulated according
to the circumstances of the working, as is well understood by engineers. In
the application of my Invention to this latter purpose the valve may be divided
into two parts, as shewn in Drawings, Figures 3 and 4, which parts may be
worked by separate eccentrics, so that the relative times of the closing or
opening of the induction and eduction ports may be regulated with reference
to the pressure under which air, gas, or other gaseous fluids are worked.
My Invention of improvements in steam boilers consists, in the first place,
in an arrangement of tubes to encrease boiler surface and generative power of
steam, and in the application of these tubes as stays in strengthening the
boiler. A form of boiler and method of fixing the tubes, by which these
results may be obtained, is shewn in section in the Drawings annexed, Figures
5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Having constructed a fire-box of double plate, with three or four inch water
space between, I proceed to bore holes through both plates of the fire-box, in
which are to be inserted the tubes or stays; the short tubes so used at the top
and sides act as stays in the upper part of the fire box; the outer ends of those
at the top being stopped with plugs, their internal area is exposed to the heated
air, thus encreasing the generative surface of that part of the boiler; those at the
angles being opened through or closed as occasion may require, the other tubes
not only act as stays in the sides of the fire-box, but pass at a slight inclination
from one side to the other of the fire-box through the heated air or flame,
exposing their external surfaces to its action. The water in the sides of the
fire-box is allowed to enter and circulate through these tubes by means of two
oblong spaces or openings cut in the ends of each tube as they pass through
the water spaces in the sides of the fire-box; the water is prevented from
escaping at the ends of these tubes by plugs screwed in, and these plugs can
be removed so that every tube may be examined and cleaned at pleasure, with-
out interfering with the construction of the boiler.
Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, of the Drawings annexed shew in section the tubes,
the oblong openings, the water space in the fire-box sides, the position of the
ends of the tubes in the sides of the fire-box, and the plugs in the ends of the tubes.
A boiler of this construction may be used either with or without a steam
chamber as circumstances may require.

page_text: And I hereby declare that I claim as my Invention in improvements in
steam engines, and in the passages and valves for the induction and eduction
and working of fluids,-
First, the combining three cylinders constructed and arranged as above.
described, whereby the working cylinder is kept hot by the steam in its passage
to action, and the valves or ports are nearly equal in arca to the whole area of
the working piston, and so arranged as to admit of the entrance and exit of the
steam simultaneously at all points in the circumference of the cylinder.
Secondly, I claim as of my Invention the construction of apparatus as above
described for the working of fluids, whereby the passages and valves for the
induction and eduction of the fluids may be equal, or nearly equal, in area to
the area of the piston.
And I hereby declare that I claim as of my Invention the construction of
steam boilers of double plates, intersected and strengthened by tubular stays as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Slate, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Archibald Slate in
ARCHIBALD (L.S.) SLATE.