IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND MARINE ENGINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Woodlands Makinson, of No. 22,
Abingdon Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer. for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND MARINE ENGINES."
Sealed the 21st June 1867, and dated the 28th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Woodlands
Makinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th December 1866.
I, ALEXANDER WOODLANDS MAKINSON, of No. 22, Abingdon Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND MARINE ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to reduce the amount of slip of the
driving wheels of locomotive engine or of the paddle wheels of marine engines,
so giving greater quickness in starting, and the power of ascending steeper
inclines in the case of locomotive engines, and avoiding the waste of power
incidental to slipping in the case of either locomotive or marine engines.
I fix on any convenient part of the engine a shaft carrying a pinion, which is
driven by contact with the driving wheel of the locomotive or the paddle
wheel of the marine engine; on this shaft I fix a wheel of suitable size and
weight having a greater angular velocity than the driving wheel of the
locomotive or the paddle wheel of the marine engine, which reduces the
amount of slip which can take place in any given time. If desirable I apply
ID 71

page_text: a second shaft having a pinion driven by the wheel of the first shaft and
carrying also a second wheel of suitable dimensions having an angular velocity
still greater than that of the first wheel, and so further reducing the amount
of slip which can take place in any given time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WOODLANDS MAKINSON, of No. 22, Abingdon Street, Westminster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eight day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, Her- special licence that I, the said
Alexander Woodlands Makinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND MARINE ENGINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Woodlands
Makinson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to
say):-

page_text: The object of my Invention is to reduce the amount of slip which takes
place under certain circumstances in the wheels of a locomotive engine by
which slipping on the rails steam is expended without producing any useful
work, and the starting of the engine from a state of rest is rendered difficult,
uncertain, and at times impossible.
In order that my Invention may be properly understood, and readily carried
into effect, I will describe the same with the aid of the accompanying Drawings,
in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of so much of the engine as is necessary
to explain my Invention, Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 a cross section of same.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corresponding
parts. Firmly keyed on to the driving shaft of the engine, and by the side of
each driving wheel, is a wheel W grooved on its cylindrical surface, and a
little less in diameter than the said driving wheel, so that there may be no
possibility of its grooved surface touching the rails; this said grooved wheel w
may be looked on as part of the driving wheel, only that it forms no part of.
the tread of the said driving wheel. On each side of the engine, gearing
with the grooved wheel W, is a grooved pinion P keyed on to a shaft D which
is supported in any convenient manner. On the Drawings annexed it is
shewn supported at one end in bearings bolted to the barrel of the boiler, and
at the other end in bearings fixed in a sliding block, sliding in a standard S
bolted to the longitudinal frame of the engine. Fig. 1 A shews this standard S
in elevation. On to the said shaft D which carries the pinion P is keyed
a grooved wheel W¹; gearing with the wheel W, on each side of the engine is a
pinion P, keyed on to the shaft F which is supported in bearings in sliding
blocks sliding in the said standard S. On the said shaft F at any convenient
part is keyed a disc K to which are fixed pipes L radiating from an annular
chamber M around the shaft; steam entering this chamber by means of a steam
pipe N led from the most convenient part of the boiler escapes through the
pipes L and forms a revolving steam jet. A jacket J is placed around the steam
jets from which the discharged steam is condensed into the tender through a
pipe conveniently placed. In the case of an engine intended for low speeds,
I make the said shaft F with a crank arm, and apply to it directly the piston
of a small cylinder attached to any convenient part of the boiler or engine.
To start an engine with the least amount of slip it is desirable to exert
a tractive force considerably in excess of the resistances. In an engine
intended for high speeds such excess of tractive force at starting always exists,
but in engines whose maximum velocity is small the maximum resistance,
or nearly so, will have to be oncountered from the moment of starting,
•

page_text: It is part of my Invention to afford auxiliary tractive effort at starting in
excess of the traction required in continued working.
An ordinary hand wheel on the shaft F affords a ready mode of starting
the engine by manual power. The revolving disc and jets besides affording
the means of starting or assisting to start the engine by steam affords like
the grooved wheels W, a controlling power to reduce the velocity and therefore
the amount of slip. Between the said sliding blocks, in which are fixed
the bearings of the shafts D and F, and the side of the chamber in which
they slide there are ordinary spiral springs which always tend to throw the
wheels and pinions out of gear. To throw the two pinions P, on the shaft F
into gear with the two wheels W, respectively, and also to supply the requisite
working pressure, I apply to a collar on the middle of the shaft F a screw R
working in a socket tapped to receive it fixed to the boiler, which screw
is worked by means of the hand wheel H placed within reach of the driver.
This hand wheel on the Drawings is shewn as gearing with a grooved pinion
on the screw R. Similarly to throw the two pinions P iuto gear respectively
with the two wheels W, I apply to each a screw having at one end a hand
wheel H, within reach of the driver, working in a socket tapped to receive
it in the standard S, and at its other end bearing against and regulating the
position of the sliding blocks, which carry the ends of the two shafts D and F.
Although I have only shewn my Invention as applied to locomotive engines,
yet it will be readily perceived that it is equally applicable to marine engines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June,
1867.
ALEX. W. MAKINSON. (L.s.)