Improvements in the Method of and Means for Furnishing Support for Piston Rods.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 9th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 15th July, 1893
. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Means for Furnishing Support
for Piston Rods.
I NORMAN MACBETH of The Victoria Foundry, Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
My invention relates principally to horizontal steam engines and more particularly
to engines of the larger classes. In such engines the pistons tend by reason of
their great weight to bear heavily upon the lower parts of the interiors of the
cylinders and the piston rods for the same reason wear the glands and packings or
the cylinder unequally and excessively. This is especially the case in compound
engines having cylinders mounted in line with a piston rod passing from one cylinder
to and through another cylinder. To lessen the defect attempts have been made to
partly sustain the parts by giving a rolling support to the piston rod outside the
cylinder or between two cylinders.
In my invention the part of the piston rod which is available to be supported
slides upon a suitably curved or shaped bed made of brass, gun metal or other
suitable metal or alloy. This bed is not too rigid to prevent it from accommodating
itself to slight deviations from a perfectly straight or horizontal line on the part of
the piston rod and to enable the bed to act as an efficient support throughout its
length I sustain the bed upon a series of supporting points each of which bears
upward against the said bed with a yielding pressure means being adopted to divide
the total pressure equally amongst the supporting points.
In a combination which I have adopted for the purpose a carriage or beam is
mounted to rock upon a fulcrum which can be adjusted by means of a screw or by
suitable means toward and from the piston rod. This carriage is provided with
two fulcra upon which are mounted two carriages and upon each of these may be
mounted two smaller carriages and so on as far as may be considered desirable. In
the actual combination the upper series of carriages contains eight each of which
can rock upon a fulcrum and has two points or projections the said bed thus resting
upon sixteen points.
The fulcra consist of metal cylinders. For convenience of construction I form
all the carriages in one piece and separate them after drilling holes to suit the
fulcra.
In place of cylinders vee edges or rounded ribs or projections may be used or the
fulcra might consist of curved or suitably shaped springs or of spiral springs
the projecting parts or springs being either upon the upper or under parts of the
carriages or upon both or the carriages might be hinged together as considered to
be advisable. Means are adopted to prevent end wise movement of the said bed.
The combination may be partly enclosed in a trough-like casing which acts as an
oil catcher.
Dated this 14th day of September 1892
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Means for Furnishing Support
for Piston Rods.
I NORMAN MACBETH of The Victoria Foundry, Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this 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
:-
My invention relates principally to horizontal steam engines and more par-
ticularly to engines of the larger classes. In such engines the pistons tend by
reason of their great weight to bear heavily upon the lower parts of the interiors
of the cylinders and the piston rods for the same reason wear the glands and
packings or the cylinders unequally and excessively. This is especially the case
in compound engines having cylinders mounted in line with a piston rod passing
from one cylinder to and through another cylinder. To lessen the defect attempts
have been made to partly sustain the parts by giving a rolling support to the
piston rod outside the cylinder or between two cylinders.
In my invention the part of the piston rod which is available to be supported
slides upon a suitably curved or shaped bed made of brass, gun metal or other
suitable metal or alloy. This bed is not too rigid to prevent it from accom-
modating itself to slight deviations from a perfectly straight or horizontal line
on the part of the piston rod and to enable the bed to act as an efficient support
throughout its length I sustain the bed upon a series of supporting points each
of which bears upward against the said bed with a yielding pressure means
being adopted to divide the total pressure equally amongst the supporting points.
In order that the nature of my invention may be clearly understood I will
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Of these drawings Fig. 1 represents a vertical sectional side elevation of an
apparatus which I have constructed for the purposes of my invention, Fig. 2
being a vertical cross section of the same. The remaining figs. illustrate modifica-
tions in the method of carrying my invention into effect.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents a part of the piston rod of a horizontal compound
steam engine, representing the glands and stuffing boxes of two cylinders which
would be mounted in line as is well understood. Below the piston rod I apply a
bearing c which is in the form of a long bed having a concave channel to fit against
the piston rod. As hereinbefore mentioned this bearing is not quite rigid and to
enable it to accommodate itself more freely to the slight irregularities of the piston
rod I have made the bearing in two parts cc' the part c being of gun metal and the
part of steel but the bearing may be made in one piece or consist of more than
two layers and may be made of any suitable metal or metals or alloy. The bearing
rests upon four carriages or blocks dddd each carriage being formed with two
projecting ribs so that the bearing rests upon eight separated supporting ribs or
projections.
Two of the four carriages are sustained by a larger carriage e and the other two
by a corresponding carriage e' and these two larger carriages are sustained by a
bottom carriage f. The connections between the upper and lower carriages are
such as that any upper carriage is free to rock or vibrate upon its supporting
fulcrum on the lower carriage. In the example I have employed metal
cylinders gh to act as fulcra for the carriages a and e, and a similar cylinder i to
act as a fulcrum for the bottom carriage fso that each carriage is free to rock
within limits upon its fulcrum. The bottom fulcrum i is mounted upon a block j
which is fitted to slide vertically in a trued recess formed in the part which in the
example is a trough-shaped casting which is bolted to the top of a standard /
which is securely ixed upon and sustained by the engine bed or its foundation.
The block is sustained by a strong but preferably fine threaded screw m

page_text: whereby the combination of carriages and bearing can be adjusted vertically.
Parts of the sides of the casting & extend upward and are formed with planed
vertical faces at k² and the bed cc¹ fits easily between these faces so that sideways
movement of the bed is prevented. End wise movement is prevented by providing
the bed with two side studs or projections to enter slots or recesses in the faces k³ ;
by providing fixed studs or pins to enter holes in the bed or by other suitable
means. The bed c is sustained at eight separate points and each one of these
points is capable of independent vertical motion owing to the carriages being
mounted upon fulcra so that one part of the bed may slightly fall and another
part may slightly rise-or otherwise stated-the bed may have the slight indulatory
movement which may be rendered necessary to keep the bed in contact with the
piston rod as much as possible throughout the length of the bed.
For convenience of construction I form all the carriages in one piece and
separate them after drilling holes to suit the fulcra. The combination may be
varied by decreasing or increasing the number of the carriages and fulcra in
series so that the bed c would be supported at less or more than eight points as for
example if the carriages d were dispensed with the bed would be supported upon
four projections formed on the carriages e or if a higher set of carriages were
mounted on the carriages d the bed would be supported upon sixteen points. If
preferred the bed c might be in two or more lengths so long as each length would
be supported at two or more points. The casting kk acts as a trough to catch oil
and dripping water which can be run off when desirable through the tap n. A
lubricator is provided at o. In place of cylinders vee edges or rounded ribs or
projections may be used or the fulcra might consist of curved or suitably shaped
springs or of spiral springs the projecting parts or springs being either upon the
upper or under parts of the carriages or upon both, or the carriages might be
hinged together as considered to be advisable.
In the modification illustrated by Fig. 3 the metal cylinders which act as fulcra
in Figs. 1 and 2 are dispensed with and the carriages are formed with projections
and grooves the projection upon one carriage taking its bearing in the groove
of the supporting carriage below as clearly indicated in the drawing. The
effect is the same as in the example already fully described.
The example illustrated by Fig. 4 differs from Fig. 3 principally in that one
carriage d' takes the place of the four carriages in the upper series and one carriage e²
takes the place of the two in the second series. These carriages d' and e' are not
intended to be rigid but would purposely be made thin or comparatively weak so
that they would be capable of bending slightly between the fulcra or supporting
points. This bending would enable the carriages to furnish the yielding support
to the bed c so that the effect would be substantially the same as in the case of
the example first described. In Fig. 5 springs pp constitute the fulcra which
support the carriages which may be adapted to yield by bending as in the case of.
Fig. 4 or may have independent action as in the case of Figs. 1 and 2.
In Fig. 6
the bed c is carried by a series of springs alternating with plates ss' the
former being corrugated or bent so as to furnish fulcra or supporting points to the
plates. It will be seen that the upper spring provides eight points of support
for the bed c the spring four points of support for the plates and the spring 2
two points for the plate s'. It is intended that the plates shall be capable of
bending slightly so that the bed c may have the yielding support which it is the
object of my invention to furnish. I have furnished these illustrations of
suggested modifications in order to show how the object of my invention may be
attained by means slightly differing from those I at present employ, but at present
I prefer the arrangement first herein described.
с
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination of parts formed arranged and adapted to act substantially

page_text: as and for the purpose set forth with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the accom-
panying drawings.
2. A support for a piston rod consisting of a bearing in one or more lengths
supported at a number of points divided into pairs, each pair being upon a carriage
mounted to rock upon a fulcrum and two such fulcra being upon a lower carriage
which is itself mounted upon a fulcrum the multiplication of carriages being
carried as far as would be considered to be desirable, the bottom carriage resting
upon a vertically adjustable fulcrum substantially as set forth
3. A support for a piston rod consisting of a non-rigid concave bearing piece
sustained by a series of supporting carriages or plates having points of contact
with one another and with the said bearing piece such points of contact acting as
fulcra and decreasing in number from the highest to the lowest in the series
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
Dated this 8th day of February 1893
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.