IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Leedham Fuller, of 13, St. Mary's
Road, Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Searled the 20th October 1853, and dated the 17th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION" left by the said George Leedham
Fuller at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th August 1853.
I, GEORGE LEEDHAM FULLER, of 13, St. Mary's Road, Peckham, in
the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of S
the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES"
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements on those descriptions
of steam engines where the steam having worked in one cylinder passes
into and acts expansively on the piston of another cylinder. Heretofore
in constructing such description of engines it has been usual to combine
two cylinders of different diameters, steam being admitted from the boiler
into the cylinder of the smaller diameter, and having acted on the
piston therein the steam has been allowed to pass and to expand into

page_text: the cylinder of larger diameter. Now the object of my Invention is
to use or combine three or more cylinders, and to cause the steam to
enter from the boiler to act on the piston or pistons in one or more of
the cylinders, and then to pass and expand into the other cylinders, by
which the action of expansive engines may be rendered more uniform
round the shaft, and when engines are vibratory the ports are made in
an enlargement of the gudgeons inside fixed steam chests, in order to
get lead and expansion moveable valves working against the ports are
annlied
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Leedham Fuller in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE LEEDHAM FULLER, of 13, Saint Mary's Road, Peckham, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Leedham Fuller,
Her special licence that I, the said George Leedham Fuller, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Leedham Fuller, 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 STEAM ENGINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said George Leedham Fuller,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Leedham Fuller, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
In the ordinary form of compound engines commonly known as
double cylinder condensing engines the steam is allowed to expand
from the first supply cylinder into one or more working conjointly
with it, as regards the times or periods of stroke (as in Woolf's,
Mac Naught's, or Miller's Patents), thus forming only in effect
a single engine, with but small advantages over the plan of expansion
in a single cylinder, and being considerably more costly in construction.
What is claimed as novel in the present arrangement is the
expanding into and supplying two or more cylinders connected with
a condenser and air pump, or condensers and air pumps, in the usual
ways, from one or more cylinders supplied direct from the boiler, such
supply and exhaust cylinders respectively, not, as heretofore, having
their pistons arriving at the top and bottom of their strokes conjunc-
tively, but being so arranged as regards their times and periods of
action as to form together a complete rotary power.
The principle of the said Invention will be apparent on reference to
the diagrams, Drawing No. 1, sec description, in which the relative
position of the piston of three cylinders, one supply, and two exhaust,
during the passing of one of the dead points of each, is shewn; and
although the principle of the said Invention is equally applicable to any
number of cylinders, and consequently I do not confine myself to the
use of such three cylinders, I consider that for all practical purposes
three cylinders will be found most economical, both as regards first cost
and working, and for facility of arrangement.
For marine purposes also such engines afford peculiar advantages
for provision in case of accidents to either of the cylinders or their
respective parts, since a simple provision for cutting off the connection
between the cylinders, and of connecting instead the exhaust passages
and the ports of the supply cylinder, and the steam passages and the
orts of the exhaust cylinders respectively, at once renders each
ylinder an independent engine, as regards its working, to which also

page_text: might be added, if required, the provision of a second key way to the
cranks, so as to give the power of placing the cranks of either two
-cylinders at any time at the usual working angle as regards each other,
should the remaining cylinder become disabled.
The diagrams herein referred to shew the cylinder arranged in a line
with each other, but it is evident that such arrangement is not
essential, being only used for facility of explanation, and such com-
pound engines as herein described may have the cylinders placed at
any convenient angle with a plumb line, or with each other, and two
or more may, by being put at the proper angles for that purpose, be
worked on the same crank, or, if required, the air pump or pumps
might be worked from the same crank as one or more of them. I do
not therefore specify or confine myself to any particular arrangement
of engine, whether direct action, side lever, beam, vibrating, or any
other known form or arrangement; neither do I confine myself to
placing the cranks of such cylinders at any particular angle as regards
each other, or to working such cylinders immediately on to the same
shaft; these points may possibly require in some cases to be varied, to
adapt such compound engines to any particular duty, though it is
expected that, for the most part, whatever number of cylinders may
be used to form such complete compound engine, placing the cranks
at equal angles with each other, and on to the same crank shaft, will
be found the best arrangement. As regards, also, the respective areas
and length of stroke of the supply and exhaust cylinders, I do not
confine myself to any particular proportion of one area to the other, or of
one length of stroke to the other; these, both or either, may or may not
be alike, and will be found to be chiefly governed by the primary pressure
of steam at which it is intended to supply such compound engines, and
the number of the supply and exhaust cylinders respectively; so likewise
the time in each up or down stroke of cutting off the supply of steam
to the supply cylinders, and the connection between the supply and
exhaust cylinders respectively, may be varied, like the supply of steam
in ordinary engines, according to the duty required; I do not, there-
fore, fix any particular times of the respective strokes for such cutting
off, which may or may not be made different for each cylinder; and

page_text: such supply may or may not be continued to the end of the stroke, or
may be made variable by means of an expansion valve, in the ordinary
way, at pleasure; neither do I confine myself to any particular form of
valve for such engine, or to the entrance and exit ports of the cylinders
being the same or separate; these or any other details may be of any
form preferred. What I do claim as new, and coming under the prin-
ciple of this Invention, being all and every arrangement and form of
steam engine wherein steam, being supplied to one or more cylinders,
passes from it or them into two or more other cylinders, discharging
into a condenser in the usual or any other manner, and so arranged in
connection with the said supply cylinder or cylinders as regards their
times of action that the whole cause a continuous rotary motion to a
common driving shaft, instead of having only, as in the present arrange-
ment of such compound engines, the effect of a single engine; thus
combining all the economical advantages of an unlimited power of
expansion with the effect obtained by two or more separate engines.
The second part of this Invention relating to the valves of vibrating
engines is as follows:-
I propose to continue the steam ways through one of the trunnions,
which I should form with a division in it to separate the top and bottoni
steam way respectively; and then on an enlargement of the trunnion I
form valve faces and ports, on which a segmental slide valve can be
worked for the purposes of lead and expansion, as in ordinary engines,
thus substituting for the present method of having a steam chest fixed
on to and moving with the vibrating cylinder, and supplied and dis-
charged through the two trunnions respectively, both of which require
consequently to be furnished with stuffing glands at their junctions,
with steam and exit pipes respectively, and so add greatly to the friction,
a fixed steam chest with passages through only one trunnion, and no
absolute necessity, except sufficient to provide for any chance leakage
of the valves, for any stuffing glands at all; while at the same time the
valve gearing, instead of being, as at present in such engines, compara-
tively complicated and expensive, is rendered as simple as that for
ordinary fixed cylinder engines; and, moreover, by the motion of the
cylinder being rendered available, the entrance and exit of the steam

page_text: through the ports is quickened considerably, while the required motion
or throw of the valve need only be sufficient for the purposes of expan-
sion and lead. This arrangement will be more apparent on reference
to Drawing No. 2. Figures 1, to 4, shew an arrangement when the
trunnion is enlarged for the purpose of forming the ports and faces
outside the bearing journal, the same arrangement being obviously
equally applicable to forming the said enlargement, &c. inside the
bearing journal, the only difference being that the trunnion must then
pass through two sides of the steam chest instead of one. Figures
5, to 8, shew an arrangement in which the sides of the trunnion journal
itself form the port faces, which in this case are separate, one on
either side of the centre; and the steam chests or valve boxes also
form the journal, plummer block, or bearing. The side or sides of
the steam chest through which the trunnion passes can be formed as
stuffing boxes, if required; but it is considered that if the valve and
valve faces, back and front, are properly fitted this will hardly be
necessary, since, as will be apparent on examining the sketches, only
steam arising from leakage can come in contact with the outside of the
trunnion, the entrance and exit portions of the steam chest being
above or behind the valves.
I do not confine myself to any particular method of packing the
sides and backs of the valve packing blocks; any of the known methods
of packing such surfaces are applicable to the purpose. Neither do I
confine myself to any particular method of moving the segmental slide
valve herein described, nor to always moving the same at right angles
to the trunnion, though I consider doing so the best method, since it is
evident that by arranging the ports accordingly, and lengthening the
steam chest to enable such motion to be obtained, it might also be
moved longitudinal with the said trunnion; and also it is evident
that without interfering with the principle of the said Invention the
said valve might, if no lead or expansion are required to be given,
be made a fixture or in one piece with the packing block, or only used
for the purposes of reversing the engine (when it might, like an ordinary
slide valve, be moved by hand), leaving the engine to work itself by its
vibration, as in the case when an ordinary fourway cock is used.

page_text: What I claim as new, therefore. and coming under the terms of this
Invention. is, any arrangement whereby. by means of ports and faces
formed on an enlargement of the trunnions of vibrating engines
(whether such engines be condensing, non-condensing, or compound,
as herein-before described), and working within or against a properly
formed seat, steam is obtained from fixed steam pipes through
a fixed steam chest or valve box, and let out in a similar manner.
And to which faces and seats also segmental slide valves, formed
as herein described, can be applied and moved for the purposes of
giving lead or cutting off steam, reversing, &c., in the same man-
ner and with the same facility as the slide valves of ordinary fixed
cylinders.
Description of the Drawings, in which similar letters of reference
apply to the same parts in each Figure of the Drawings respectively.
Drawing No. 1, Figures 1, and 2, shew the piston of the supply cylin-
der at its bottom centre, the steam from the top having full vent into
the right-hand cylinder top, the piston of which is on its descent, while
the communication from the bottom with the bottom of the left-hand
cylinder is just shut off' simultaneously with admitting fresh steam for
the up stroke; see Figure 2.
Figures 3, and 4, shew the left-hand cylinder with its piston at the
top centre, and the communication between its top and the top of the
still ascending piston of the supply cylinder just opening, while that
between this latter and the top of the descending piston of the right-
hand cylinder is just closing, though this may or may not be the case.
according to the degree of expansion it is required to give the steam.
and is regulated by the lap of the valve between the two.
Figures 5, and 6. shew the piston of the right-hand cylinder arrived
at the bottom centre, and the communication between it and the bottom
of the still ascending piston of the supply cylinder just opening; while
the supply of steam to the latter is just closed.-see Figure 6.-leaving
it to expand, during the small portion of the remainder of the stroke,
both in itself and into the right-hand cylinder, though this also may be
varied, if wished, by continuing the supply a little after the commence-
ment of the return stroke of the right-hand cylinder, since in either

page_text: case it is evident that on the arrival of the piston of the supply cylin-
der at the top centre the communications respectively of the bottoms
of the cylinders will be similar to that shewn as regards the tops in
Figures 1, and 2,
It is evident that, although so shewn in these diagrams as better for
the
purposes of explanation, it is not necessary that the cylinders should
be in such close juxta-position with each other and with distinct ports
in the supply cylinder for each exhaust cylinder, since putting the pas-
sages marked S, S, in Figures 1, 3, and 5, in connection with the
exhaust side of the valves of the supply cylinder marked E, E, in
Figures 2, 4, and 6, the said valves being then formed of the usual
width only so as to allow of the exhaust side being open instead of
kept shut, as shewn, will work equally well, also by having a stop
valve in such connection, and two others, one in a connection between
the parts corresponding to those marked E, E, and the condenser, and
another between those marked S, S, in Figures 1, 3, and 5, and the
steam pipe, these two last being opened, and that between the cylin
ders shut, would at any time render the cylinders separate and distinct
engines, as mentioned in the Specification.
It is obvious also that more than two exhaust cylinders could be
worked through one supply in the same manner as herein described
for two.
The exhaust or condensing sides of the exhaust cylinders
marked C, C, and the steam side of the supply cylinder marked S, S,
Figures 2, 4, 6, need no description, they following the rules of ordi-
nary engines.
When the engine is reversed it is evident that the respective posi-
tions of the right and left hand cylinders would be simply reversed.
Drawing No. 2, Figures 1, to 4, are arrangements of trunnion and
valve for vibrating engines, having valve over trunnion, and applicable
to either between the cylinder and the trummion bearing (in which
case the trunnion would pass through both sides of valve casings), or
outside the trunnion, as shewn.
Figures 5, to 8, an arrangement of trunnion valve, in which it is
applied immediately on to the sides of the bearing, the valve casing
and steam chest also forming the plummer block.

page_text: Figures 1, and 5, front elevations of the respective valve casings and
steam chests.
Figures 2, and 6, sections through C, D, of Figures 4, and 8,
respectively.
Figures 3, and 7, sections through E, F, of Figures 2, and 6,
respectively.
Figures 4, and 8, plans and sections of steam chests through A, and
B, of Figures 1, and 5, respectively.
S, steam passages. E, exit ditto (either to condenser or air).
P, ports or passages to cylinder. V, valve working partially round
trunnion. B, valve block keeping it up to its seat, and forming con-
nection between it and steam and exit passages. L, levers and weigh
bar for moving valve, whether by hand for reversing, or by excentric
or any other means for working. C, C, in Figures 5, to 8, only
carrying and holding down brasses for trunnion.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Leedham Fuller, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
0
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
GEO. L. FULLER. (L.S.)