IMPROVEMENTS. IN SLIDE VALVES SUITABLE FOR STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, of
Lincoln, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN SLIDE VALVES SUITABLE FOR STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 7th January 1868, and dated the 8th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Clayton and
Joseph Shuttleworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th July 1867.
We, NATHANIEL CLAYTON and JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH, of Lincoln, in the
County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SLIDE VALVES SUITABLE FOR STEAM ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in slide valves suitable for
steam engines. In order to enable the steam to be more conveniently worked
expansively by a valve governed by a single eccentric the parts are formed
and arranged in the following manner :-The valve face has in it five ports or
openings, the central one is in communication with the outlet passage by
which the steam passes to the chimney or condenser, as the case may be.

page_text: The two ports which are one on
are in connection with passages
and over these three ports a
either side of the central port or opening
leading to the ends of the steam cylinder,
valve works, but in such manner as never
to uncover either of the ports to the steam. The two remaining ports or
openings in the valve face are also in connection with the passages leading
to the ends of the steam cylinder. These ports serve only for the admission
of the steam to the cylinder; over them a flat valve works which receives
its motion directly from the eccentric in such manner as to uncover one or
other of the steam ports as the valve makes the last part of its movement
in either direction. In the middle of the flat valve is an opening into which
the valve already mentioned is received. The valve receives its
motion from the outer or flat valve, but this is able to slide for a distance
independently of it, so that the valve only receives motion as the outer
or flat valve approaches the ends of its course.
From this arrangement it results that the first action of the compound
valve as it commences its movement in either direction is to cut off the steam
from entering the cylinder, whilst the exhaust steam from the other end is
free to escape, the valve remaining stationary until the outer or flat
valve pushes it over so as to reverse its position and then the flat valve admits
steam on the other side of the piston.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, NATHANIEL
CLAYTON and JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH, of Lincoln, in the County of Lincoln,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, Her special licence that we,
the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Nathaniel Clayton
and Joseph Shuttleworth, our 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SLIDE VALVES SUITABLE FOR STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttle-
worth, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Joseph Shuttleworth, on behalf of
myself and the said Nathaniel Clayton, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in slide valves suitable for
steam engines. In order to enable the steam to be more conveniently
worked expansively by a valve governed by a single eccentric the parts are
formed and arranged in the following manner :-The valve face has in it
five ports or openings, the central one is in communication with the outlet
passage by which the steam passes to the chimney or condenser, as the case
may be. The two ports, which are one on either side of the central port or
opening, are in connection with passages leading to the ends of the steam
cylinder, and over these three ports a valve works, but in such
manner as never to uncover either of the ports to the steam.
The two
remaining ports or openings in the valve face are also in connection with
the passages leading to the ends of the steam cylinder. These ports serve
only for the admission of the steam to the cylinder; over them a flat valve
works which receives its motion directly from the eccentric in such manner
as to uncover one or other of the steam ports as the valve makes the
last part of its movement in either direction. In the middle of the flat
valve is an opening into which the valve already mentioned is received.
The
valve receives its motion from the outer or flat valve, but this is
valve only
able to slide for a distance independently of it, so that the
receives motion as the outer or flat valve approaches the ends of its course.
From this arrangement it results that the first action of the compound
valve as it commences its movement in either direction is to cut off the
steam from entering the cylinder, whilst the exhaust steam from the other
end is free to escape, the valve remaining stationary until the outer or

page_text: admits steam on the other side of the piston.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a steam engine cylinder
with the steam and exhaust passages, the slides, and part of the slide box;
Figure 2 is a plan of the two slides; Figure 3 is an end elevation of the
slide; and Figure 4 is an end elevation of the other or flat slide.
The valve rod is received into the
a, a, are passages communicating with the two ends of the cylinder at a¹, a¹;
a', a³, are the steam ports on these passages; and a, a, are the exhaust
ports thereon, b, b, is the flat slide, it has an opening in the centre, and it
regulates the admission and the cut off of the steam; this slide is con-
nected with the valve rod so as to move to and fro with it as the rod in its
turn receives motion from the eccentric.
sockets 6, 6, on the back of the slide b, and also it passes through the
socket c¹ on the back of the
slide c; this latter slide however is able to
traverse along the valve rod as far as the opening in the slide b admits.
The Drawings represent both the slides in a central position, but this is done
only for convenience of illustration, as when at work the slides are never
simultaneously in a central position. The action is as follows:-We will
suppose the slide 6 to be moving towards the right hand in consequence of
the action of the eccentric upon it; after travelling for a time it comes against
the slide c, and shifts it so as to open the right-hand port a³ to the exhaust
passage d, whilst also it opens the left-hand steam port a; steam then enters
the left-hand end of the cylinder, and is exhausted or allowed to escape from
the right-hand end. When the admission of steam has been continued for
so much of the stroke as is considered desirable (a quantity which may be
varied by suitably adjusting the eccentric, as is well understood) the return of
the slide 6 cuts off the steam, leaving the exhaust fully open until towards
the end of the stroke of the slide 6 it comes against the slide c and pushes it
over so as to close the, exhaust passage to the right-hand end of the cylinder
and open it to the left-hand end, and while the left-hand end of the cylinder
is being put in communication with the exhaust passage the right-hand steam
port a is being uncovered by the slide b, and steam then passes to the right-
hand end of the cylinder and escapes from the left-hand end until the next
motion of the slide 6 cuts off the steam and so the work goes on. By

page_text: arranging the valves in this manner although only a single eccentric is used
and the mechanism is in other respects without complication, the steam may
effectively be cut off earlier in the stroke than is advantageous when the
ordinary single slide arrangement is employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Shuttleworth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH. (L.S.)