IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND PUMPS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Carey, of No. 5, Radcliffe Villas,
Shakespere Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND PUMPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Carey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1873.
I, ROBERT CAREY, of No. 5, Radcliffe Villas, Shakespere Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND PUMPS," to be as
follows:-
---
My Invention relates chiefly to direct-acting steam pumps where the
piston or plunger of the pump is in a line with the piston rod of the
steam engine.
In the simplest form of my pump there are two cylinders, both in
one linė, and perfectly true with each other, divided in the centre by à
casting in which the galve works. The steam is taken on one side,

page_text: into a passage in the centre between the top and bottom of the casting
surrounding the valve. The exhaust is from the opposite side, and
divides into two similar passages or grooves, one above and one below
the steam passage. The piston rod passes through the centre of the
valve and connects the piston or plunger in the upper cylinder to the t
piston in the lower cylinder. The valve is so constructed as to fit round
the piston rod steam-tight for some distance in the centre, and then
leaving on both sides an annular passage; there are ports or holes
through the shell of the valve corresponding with the grooves in the
central casting.
There is a passage making a connection from the bottom of the
upper cylinder to the bottom of the lower cylinder, so that when the
steam is admitted under the upper piston or plunger it also passes
under the lower piston, at the same time giving two areas for the
up stroke when the pump is forcing, but the steam only acts on the
top of the lower piston for the down stroke when the pump has only
the suction.
The central valve is moved to and fro by the pistons of the two
cylinders coming alternately against it. On the downward stroke the
piston of the upper cylinder comes against the valve and shifts it,
whilst in the completion of the upward stroke it is moved by the piston
of the lower cylinder. The valve is partially moved by the pistons
in one or other direction, and the pressure of the steam causes it to
complete its stroke, and then retains the valve in its altered position.
To prevent any disagreeable noise the valve might make by nocking
against the piston I either put a spiral spring round the piston rod,
or make a recess in the piston almost fitting the head of the valve steam
tight, in this way forming a cushion of steam for the valve to strike
against, and if it is found necessary the same arrangement of recess
may be made on the centre casting also.
The arrangement above described is for a single pump
for a boiler feeder.
intended chiefly
For working a double-acting pump, rock drill, or other machine
requiring a reciprocating motion, and where the power is to be the
samo throughout the entire stroke, I construct the engine of two
cylinders, and a central casting dividing them, as before; but in this
I propose
that there shall be two valves on opposite sides of the
case

page_text: piston rod, that is, one for the steam and one for the exhaust, the two
valves in this case are both of the same form. The steam is taken into
a groove or passage around the valve, but in the centre between the top
and bottom of the casting.
The exhaust is split and taken into two grooves near the top and
bottom of the casting.
The valves are in the shape of a tube with a diaphragm division in
the centre; there are holes or ports through the shell of the valve
above and below the diaphragm division, that over the grooves when
the valve is moved either one way or the other, thus admitting the
steam either above or below the central casting, and the other valve
(the exhaust valve) moving at the same time makes the exhaust.
The piston rod connecting the two pistons works through a hole
(fitting steam-tight to the rod) through the centre of the casting.
There are two passages, one from the top of the central casting
leading to the bottom of the under cylinder, the other from the bottom
of the central casting to the top of the upper cylinder; thus, the
bottoms of both cylinders are connected, as are also the tops in the
same way. This arrangement may be used at a lower pressure as a
condensing engine, the exhaust steam being taken into a condenser,
rod in
pump
and the air pump worked off the
convenient
any
certain amount of expansion may be given by making the valve for the
steam longer, and therefore travel farther before opening the steam to
the reverse side after shutting the steam off.
way.
A
I also in all cases propose to put what I term a starting cook, that is,
a cook that shall be able to turn the steam either above or below the
central casting, and at the same time allow steam or water to escape
from the opposite side; thus the steam may be quickly turned on one or
other side of the pistons.
The
For a high-pressure expansion condensing engine there are two cylin-
ders, as before, divided by the central diaphragm casting, through which
the connecting piston rod and valves pass, as in the last case.
steam is admitted by one of the valves under the piston on the upper
cylinder forcing the piston up. When the bottom piston moves the
valve it shuts the steam off altogether, and opens a connection through
the other valve into the top of the bottom cylinder, and from there

page_text: through a passage to the top of the upper cylinder bringing the piston
in the upper cylinder to a state of equilibrium.
The bottom part of the lower cylinder forms the air pump; round this
is the condenser, and a passage down the side of the cylinder into it for
the exhaust. Now the upper piston being in equilibrium the lower one
has the pressure of steam on it diminished by the expansion into the tops
of the two cylinders and the passage connecting them. It is evident
that by this means it would not be advisable to use steam but at very
low pressures, nothing above 30 lbs. per square inch, unless a valve is
provided to exhaust down to the pressure of the atmosphere, but this
may casily be done, the valve being placed on the side of the lower
cylinder at such a distance down as to be opened when the piston is just
at the bottom of its stroke.
When the upstroke requires much more power than the downstroke,
as in the case of lift pumps, or when the pump is double acting, but
with a great weight of rods to lift, the steam may be used at much
higher pressure, and the valve that admits the steam may be made to
cut off the steam at any part of the stroke, thus expanding the steam a
great deal more; but in most cases I prefer to modify the arrangement
by making the upper cylinder much smaller than the lower, so that a
very high pressure may be used to commence with, and cut off at any .
part of the stroke, expanding two or three times, according to the size of
the lower cylinder and the power required for the down stroke.
.
As the power would be very much more at the commencement of both
the upstroke and the down, it would be requisite to put a fly wheel in some
cases. Another form is for a single cylinder. The valves to be the same..
as in the first or second form described, that is, there may be only one
valve, but in this case it would not be in the centre round the piston
rod, but on one side of it, or there may be two valves, one for the steam
and one for the exhaust. The piston rod is a tube divided down the
centre by a partition, one side to be for the steam, and the other side for
the exhaust. This hollow piston rod enters a stuffing box at a distance
from the stuffing box on the cylinder, sufficient to allow for the cross
head to be fixed and worked between. One side or division of the piston
rod is open at the end, but the other side has an opening into it at some
distance from the end, so that a division or stuffing box in the centre of
the length of tube in which the piston rod tube works divides the

page_text: exhaust from the steam, so that at any part of the stroke the end that is
open is free to the exhaust, or the hole in the side of the tube for the steam
is always open to the steam. If thought better there may be a separate
piston rod on the opposite side of piston passing through a stuffing box
on the other end of the cylinder. In that case the two stuffing boxes
for the hollow piston rod may be brought nearly close together, only
leaving room to slip the glands back for repacking. Or both piston rods
may be tubes, one for the steam, the other for the exhaust, both entering
through stuffing boxes into tubes in the manner of a telescope; perhaps
this is the most simple form for the single cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Carey in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
CAREY, of No. 5, Radcliffe Villas, Shakespere Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Carey, Her special
license that I, the said Robert Oarey, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Carey, 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 AND PUMPs," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Carey, 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

page_text: W
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Fatentom
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Carey, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
My Invention relates chiefly to direct acting steam pumps, where the
piston or plunger of the pump is in a line with the piston rod of the
steam engine.
The simplest form of my pump is shewn on Sheet 1 of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figures 1 and 2 on this Sheet of Drawings represent two longitudinal
sections of the steam pump; it is composed of two cylinders a, b, both
in one line and perfectly true with each other, and divided in the centre
by a casting c, in which the valve d works. The steam is taken on one
side into a passage e in the centre between the top and bottom of the
casting and surrounding the valve. The exhaust is from the opposite
side, and divides into two similar passages or grooves f,f, one above
and one below the steam passage. The piston rod 9 passes through the
centre of the valve, and connects the piston or plunger in the upper
cylinder a to the piston in the lower cylinder b. The valve is so con-
structed as to fit round the piston rod steam-tight for some distance in
the centre, and then leaving on both sides an annular passage; there
are ports or holes through the shell of the valve corresponding with the
grooves in the central casting.
There is a passage h making a connection from the bottom of the
upper cylinder to the bottom of the lower cylinder, so that when the
steam is admitted under the upper piston or plunger it also passes under
the lower piston, at the same time giving two areas for the up stroke
when the pump is forcing, but the steam only acts on the top of the
lower piston for the down stroke when the pump has only the suction.
The central valve is moved to and fro by the piston of the two
cylinders coming alternately against it. On the downward stroke the
piston of the upper cylinder comes against the valve and shifts it, whilst
in the completion of the upward stroke it is moved by the piston of the

page_text: The steam valve is in the shape of a tube with a diaphragm division
in the centre; there are holes or ports through the shell of the valve
above and below the diaphragm division that come opposite the groove e
when the valve is moved either one way or the other, and there are
passages from the two ends of the valve, as in the valve shewn on
Sheet I., through which the steam passes to the cylinders either above
or below the central casting.
The exhaust valveƒ may be of a similar construction to the steam
valve, but I prefer to form it, as shewn at Figure 4, of a tube closed at
both ends, and with two sets of openings into it, which as the valve is
moved either one way or the other come alternately opposite the exhaust
passage 9 and open into one or other of the cylinders. This valve is
moved to and fro at the same time as the steam valve.
The piston rod. connecting the two pistons works through a hole
(fitting steam-tight to the rod) through the centre of the casting c.
There are two passages one marked / from the top of the casting o
leading to the bottom of the under cylinder, the other marked / from
the bottom of the casting to the top of the upper cylinder, thus the
bottoms of both cylinders are connected, as are also the tops in the
same way. This arrangement may be used at a low pressure as a 2
condensing engine, the exhaust steam being taken into a condenser, and
the air pump worked off the pump rod in any convenient
certain amount of expansion may be given by making the valve for the
steam longer and therefore travel further before opening tho steam to
the reverse side after shutting the steam off as hereafter described and 2
shown at Figure 9.
way. A
In this engine also a starting cock is used as in the pump shewn on
Sheet 1.
For a high-pressure expansion condensing engine modified forms of
the engine may be used, as illustrated on Sheet 3; Figures 6 and 7 shew 8
longitudinal sections of one modification of the engine, and Figures 8
and 9 show other modifications. In each there are two cylinders a, b,
as before divided by the central casting or diaphragm c through which
the connecting piston rod and valves pass. The steam is admitted as in
the engine last described by one of the valves under the piston of the 3
upper cylinder forcing the piston up; when the bottom piston moves the

page_text: valve it shuts the steam off altogether and opens a connection through
the other valve into the top of the bottom cylinder and from there
through a passage m to the top of the upper cylinder, bringing the
piston in the upper cylinder to a state of equilibrium.
The bottom part of the lower cylinder forms the air pump; round this
is the condenser n, and there is also a passage down the side of this
cylinder into the condenser for the exhaust from the lower part of the
upper cylinder; o, o, are the inlet and outlet valves of the air pump. Now
when the upper piston is in equilibrium as above stated the lower one
) has the pressure of steam on it diminished by the expansion into the
tops of the two cylinders and the passage connecting them. It is
evident that by this means it would not be advisable to use steam but at
very low pressure, nothing above 80 lbs. per square inch, unless a valve
is provided to exhaust down to the pressure of the atmosphere, but this
may easily be done, the valve being placed on the side of the lower
cylinder at such a distance down as to be opened when the piston is just
at the bottom of its stroke.
When the upstroke requires much more power than the downstroke,
as in the case of lift pumps or when the pump is double acting but with
a great weight of rods to lift, the steam may be used at much higher
pressure and the valve that admits the steam may be made to cut off the
steam at any part of the stroke, but in most cases I prefer to modify the
arrangement in the manner shewn at Figure 8 by making the upper
cylinder much smaller than the lower, so that a very high pressure may
be used to commence with and cut off at any part of the stroke by
making the steam valve longer than the exhaust valve, as shewn at
Figure 9, expanding two or three times according to the size of the
lower cylinder and the power required for the down stroke.
"
As the power would be very much more at the commencement of
both the up stroke and the down it would in some cases be requisite to
put a fly wheel.
Another modification of the engine is shewn at Figures 10, 11,
and 12. In this modification in place of the high-pressure cylinder
being above or below the low-pressure cylinder it is contained within it
and forms its piston whilst the piston of the high-pressure cylinder is
held stationary. In this arrangement steam is admitted to either and of
the high-pressure cylinder a through the hollow fixed piston rod 6 which

page_text: conveys it to a steam chamber c within the piston and from this
chamber it is conducted either to one end or other of the cylinder by the
valve d. The cylinder a forms the piston of the expansion cylinder e;
the piston rod to which it is connected, and in the arrangement shewn
in the Drawing this rod is employed to give a to-and-fro motion to the 5
piston of a double-acting pump, but it might be employed for giving
motion to a rock drill or for other uses. The steam after being used in
the high-pressure cylinder is admitted by the valve finto either one or
other end of the low-pressure cylinder e to be expanded therein whilst
the opposite end is by the same valve simultaneously put into com- ]
munication with the exhaust, and in order that the passage to the
exhaust may always be open throughout the entire stroke a groove his
formed around the exterior of the central portion of the high-pressure
cylinder of such a width that a part of it shall always be opposite the
end of the exhaust passage g.
.:
The construction of the valves & and ƒ, and also the manner in which
they are moved to-and-fro at the ends of the stroke is similar to that
herein-before described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
1. The combined arrangement of double cylinder engine substantially
as herein described, with a diaphragm or partition between them,
through which passes a tubular slide valve or valves for admitting
steam to and carrying it off from the cylinders, such valves being moved
to and fro by the pistons.
2. The combined arrangement of pump, substantially as herein
described and shewn on Sheet 1.
3. The combined arrangement of engine, substantially as herein
described and shewn on Sheet 2.
4. The combined arrangement of engine, substantially as herein
' described and shewn on Sheet 3.
5. The combined arrangement of engine, substantially as herein
described and shewn on Sheet 4.
6. I also claim the employment of a starting cock as herein described
to admit steam to either cylinder and open the other to the exhaust.

page_text: 7. The employment of tubular slide valves for admitting steam to and
carrying it off from the cylinders of steam engines, substantially in the
manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Carey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.