IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Gedge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
June 1864. A communication from abroad by Arthur de Montméja,
of 39, Faubourg Saint Martin, Paris, France.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of
No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES," (a communication to me from abroad by Arthur de Mont-
méja, of 39, Faubourg Saint Martin, Paris, France,) to be as follows:-
The engine is composed of an oscillating cylinder, in which moves a piston
which acts directly on the horizontal shaft; this latter carries but one eccen-
tric for the feed pump, and one grooved pulley to receive the belt of the
regulator. The feed pump may also be worked by one of the pivots or
trunions of the cylinder by means of a small lever arm perpendicular to
the trunion, and which joins on to the end of the piston rod of the
pump. The entire modification bears on the distribution of the steam and
the reversing action.
Firstly, as to the distribution of the steam.-The oscillating cylinder is
supported by two pivots or trunions which are received by bearings in
the framing, precisely as in ordinary engines, excepting that they pass a
little way beyond these bearings, and, further, one of them more bulky than
the other is hollowed, following its axis by a conical cavity, which may be

page_text: compared to the seat of a stop-cock. In this conical cavity, the base of
which should be rather large compared with its height, is received a key in
form of a truncated cone. The key and its seat are ground to fit exactly the
one on the other. This latter, which is nothing but the pivot of the cylinder,
is pierced with two orifices diametrically opposed to each other, and in which
fit the tubes that are to conduct the steam over or under the piston, supposing
the machine to be vertical; they give exit to the steam which has acted on
this same piston.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing forming part of this Provisional
Specification, Figure 1 represents a section of this part; the key, as shewn,
Fig. 2, is constructed like that of an ordinary cock in the middle, of which two
cuts or slots have been made separated by a full part, the length and the breadth
of which are exactly the same as that of the orifices of the seat. It will be
at once understood that the key being placed in the seat may take suc-
cessively the several positions shewn, Figures 3, 4, and 5, in relation to the
orifices with which the seat is pierced. These Figures represent transverse
sections, and consequently the key is only represented by the full or solid
part separating the two cuts or slots before mentioned.
This full space
I term the diaphragm. Suppose the pipes A communicating with the
upper part of the cylinder, and those B with its lower part, suppose,
on the other hand, that all the points a are in communication with
the boiler, and the points -6 with the atmosphere, what would be the conse-
quence? At Fig. 3 the machine would be at dead point, at Fig. 4 the steam
would act on the upper face of the piston, and that which was beneath the
piston would escape at 6 into the air at Fig. 5, the steam would act on the
lower face of the piston, and that which had previously acted on its upper
face will be put in communication with the waste steam pipe. If the steam
arrived by 6 to escape afterwards at a, the machine would move in an opposite
direction to the first motion, which is termed reversing action.
b
I will now explain how it is that the steam may enter alternately by a or s
by b.
In Fig. 6, a and b indicate the notches or chambers of the key; A, C, and
D are pipes, which each open in one of the chambers a and b; one of these
pipes will serve for the introduction of the steam, whereas the other is in-
tended for its escape. The key remaining fixed, the distribution of the steam s
will take place by the oscillation of the cylinder; one of the orifices of dis-
tribution communicating, for example, with the chamber, a, will receive the
steam from the boiler, whereas the other will communicate with the chamber 6
and the pipe D, which is for the moment a waste steam pipe.

page_text: Secondly, reversing action.—The Figure 6 represents not only the method of
distribution, but also the manner in which the pipes C and D may be put in
communication the one with the atmosphere, the other with the boiler, and how
this arrangement may be overturned at will by making D communicate with the
atmosphere, and C with the boiler. At B is a cock with four openings, in which
are adjusted the pipes C, D, E, V. The cock is represented so as to shew section
of the seat and of the key, which is constructed like that which enters the
pivot or trunion of the cylinder. The pipe V communicates with the boiler,
and it is in this conduit that is placed an obturator governed by the centri-
fugal force regulator. The pipe E serves for the waste, and the pipes C and
E go to the distributing apparatus. In this Figure the steam arriving by V
goes into the chamber 6', follows the pipe D, and gains the chamber b, from
whence it is alternately distributed on each of the faces of the cylinder. The
exit of the steam therefore takes place first by the chamber a, then by the
pipe C, the chamber a¹, and the pipe E. If now the key of the cock B be
turned in a contrary direction, as at Fig. 7, the steam will go from V into a¹, the
pipe C, and the chamber a to be distributed in the cylinder, and the exit will
take place by b, D, b', and finally by E. For a machine without reversing
action, one of the pipes C or D would be fixed to the boiler, and the other
would go to the atmosphere or into the condenser.
As to the method of fixing the key in the trunion of the cylinder.-A
channel is made through the key in the direction of its length, which channel
will contain a jointed rod which will be fixed by one part to the bottom and
centre of the seat, and the other part of which will extend outside the key
and terminate in form of screw, carrying a bolt to tighten the key in the seat.
This key may enter and come out to a certain extent, but should not turn
on itself, and for this purpose it will be held by two small ears placed
on one side and the other of the truncated cone, and guided by iron rods
which pass through them, and will be fixed to the frame of the machine (see
Fig. 8.)
Double cylinder engine.-The cylinders may occupy various positions as
regards each other, but in all cases each machine will be constructed after
the manner above described; there will however be a steam cock common to
both, in which the pipes C and D will branch at C¹ and D¹, Fig. 9.
It is proposed to adapt to machines constructed according to this Invention
a feed pump, the barrel terminating in a cock, the extremity of the handle of
the key of which is jointed at right angles to the rod of a float contained in
the boiler and placed at such a level that when the water rises too high the
float is lifted and its rod transmits the motion to the key of the cock, which

page_text: by means of a pipe brings back to the feeding tank the excess of water fur-
nished by the pump; if on the contrary, the water level lowers in the boiler,
the float descends, the overflow cock closes, and the feeding is resumed. A
conical valve might be substituted in lieu of the cock.