IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND HIGH-PRESSURE AND CONDENSING OR NON-CONDENSING ENGINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Clarkson Kay, of the Phoenix Foundry,
Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and William Hartley,
of the same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPOUND HIGH-PRESSURE AND CONDENSING OR NON-CONDENSING
ENGINES."
STEAM
Sealed the 31st December 1872, and dated the 11th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Clarkson Kay
and William Hartley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 11th October 1872.
We, JAMES CLARKSON KAY, of the Phoenix Foundry, Bury, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, and WILLIAM HARTLEY, of the same
Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND HIGH-PRESSURE AND CONDENSING OR NON-CONDENSING
STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of these improvements is to obviate the great loss of steam
pressure which occurs in working compound cylinder engines in passing

page_text: the steam from the high-pressure cylinder to the low pressure or con-
donsing cylinder, and which arises partly or generally from passing
steam from one end of the high pressure cylinder to the opposite end. of
the low pressure or condensing cylinder, by the intervention of side pipes
or valve casing, or by the cylinders being placed comparatively far apart,
requiring a greater or less length of steam pipes between the cylinders,
or by the use of cisterns or steam receivers between the cylinders, by
which means the effective pressure of the steam is greatly reduced in
passing from cylinder to cylinder.
The method by which these improvements are effected consists in
placing the high-pressure cylinder in close approximation to the low-
pressure or condensing cylinder. The high-pressure cylinder, in the caso
of horizontal engines, having short branches at each end, and on each
side of the cylinder, the steam side of the high-pressure cylinder is fitted
up with side pipes with plate valves, forming the valves for admitting
steam to the cylinder, and the steam cut-off or expansion valves, with
eccentric rods, vibrating or expansion lever and eccentric, each set of
valves working by separate eccentrics independently of one another (the
cut-off valves can be regulated by the governor), by which means the
steam can be cut off at any portion of the stroke. On the opposite side
of the high-pressure cylinder (or at right angles, if so required) the other
short branches of the high-pressure cylinder are united to the short
branches on the low-pressure or condensing cylinder by a thin block
placed between the branches of the cylinders at each end forming the
facings for the plate exhaust valves for steam on its way to the con-
densing cylinder. The same block forms a recess for the passage of
steam from the low-pressure or condensing cylinder to the condenser or
into the atmosphere, and also a recess for the plate valves to shut off the
communication between the low-pressure or condensing cylinder and the
condenser or atmosphere. The plate valves are so arranged as to work
with very little steam pressure or friction. Each set of valves is con-
nected and worked by separate and independent eccentrics and rods.
The exhaust pipe from the low-pressure or condensing cylinder is cast
on the side of the cylinder, and connected with each end of the low-
pressure or condensing cylinder, discharging the steam into the condenser
from the centre at the bottom of the pipe or passage, or, if worked as a
high-pressure cylinder, discharging steam into the atmosphere either at
.bottom or top of the exhaust pipo or passage. The steam passages from

page_text: the high-pressure cylinder to the low-pressure or condensing cylinder are
as short as possible, and direct, being in a straight line, and sufficiently
large and ample in the valves and passages for the quick passage of the
steam.
By the arrangement described it will be seen that each set of plate
valves works independently of each other, can be easily set and adjusted
to the necessities of the case, are very simple in their action, work with
very little friction, occupy very little space in thickness, and enable the
cylinders to be brought into close approximation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Clarkson Kay and William Hartley in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CLARKSON KAY, of the Phoenix Foundry, Bury, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineer, and WILLIAM HARTLEY, of the same Place, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said James Clarkson Kay and William Hartley, Her
special licence that we, the said James Clarkson Kay and William Hartley,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Clarkson Kay and William Hartley, 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 make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND HIGH-PRESSURE AND
CONDENSING OR NON-CONDENSING STEAM ENGINES,' upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said James Clarkson Kay and William
Hartley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
"

page_text: 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 we, the said James Clarkson Kay and William
Hartley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The nature of our Invention consists in placing the high-pressure
cylinder in close proximity to the low-pressure or condensing cylinder,
and in connecting the two cylinders by short branches, between which is
a thin block or plate forming the facings for the valves, also in certain
improved arrangements of the valves for admitting and exhausting the
steam.
By means of these improvements we avoid or reduce the loss of steam
which in compound steam engines of the ordinary construction is very
considerable.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying two
Sheets of Drawings, in which we have shewn how our improvements are
applied to a compound horizontal steam engine.
On Sheet 1 Fig. 1 is an elevation of the low-pressure or condensing
cylinder; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the high-pressure cylinder; Fig. 3 is
a plan of the compound engine; and Fig. 4, an end elevation of the
same.
On Sheet 2 Fig. 5 is a transverse section; Fig. 6, a side elevation;
and Fig. 7, a plan of parts of the compound engine shown in Sheet 1;
and Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11 are detached views of one of the blocks fitting
between the branches of the high and low-pressure cylinders.
Similar letters of reference are marked upon the corresponding parts
in all the views.
a is the high-pressure cylinder, and b, the low-pressure or condensing
cylinder. a¹ and are the pistons, and a³, b², the piston rods of the
said cylinders. The piston rod a² is connected in the usual manner to
the crank shaft c, and the piston rod 6 is connected to the crank c¹
keyed to one end of the crank shaft.

page_text: The condenser, air pump, and hot well are constructed in the manner
described in the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to
us on the Fourth day of April One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two, Number 952, or if worked as a high-pressure cylinder,
discharging steam into the atmosphere either at the bottom or top of the
exhaust pipe or passage. The steam passages from the high-pressure
cylinder to the low-pressure or condensing cylinder arc as short as
possible, and direct, being in a straight line, and there is sufficient space
in the valves and passages for the steam to pass instantaneously from
onc cylinder to the other.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the Drawing, Fig. 3, represents
the pistons and valves in the positions they occupy when the steam is
expanding in the high-pressure cylinder a, and the piston a' is near the
front end of its stroke, the piston &' being at the back end of its stroke.
The back high-pressure cylinder exhaust valve is now beginning to
open, and acts as the admission valve to the low-pressure cylinder. The
exhaust valve i at the back end is closed while the steam is expanding in
the cylinders, and the front exhaust valve i is partly open, to allow the
exhaust steam to pass off to the condenser or to the atmosphere. As
soon as the piston a' has got to the front end of the cylinder, the front
steam admission valve e begins to admit steam upon the piston a' for the
return stroke, consequently the two pistons are moved in opposite
directions. The cut-off valves, being regulated by a variable expansion
motion, the steam can be cut off from the cylinder a at any portion of
the stroke of the piston.
In vertical engines the short branches a³ may be placed at right angles
to each other, and the parts would require to be otherwise modified to
meet the altered position of the cylinders.
From the foregoing description and Drawings it will be seen that cach
set of plate valves works, and can be adjusted independently of the
others. The valves also occupy very little space in thickness, and allow
the cylinders to be brought into close proximity. The steam passes
direct from the front or back end of the high-pressure cylinder to
the front or back end of the low-pressure or condensing cylinder,
by which arrangement we avoid the loss of steam pressure which
occurs in working compound cylinder engines of the ordinary con-1
struction, the said loss arising generally from passing the steam from
one end of the high-pressure cylinder to opposite end of the low-

page_text: pressure or condensing cylinder, also from the intervention of side pipes
and valve casings, or by the cylinders being placed comparatively far
apart, or by the use of intermediate cisterns or steam receivers.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described a con-
venient manner of carrying the same into operation, we wish it to be
understood that we do not intend to limit ourselves to the details given,
as the same must be varied to suit the peculiar construction of engine to
which our improvements are applied, and we claim the improved mode
of connecting the high-pressure and low-pressure or condensing cylinders
of compound steam engines, as shewn and described, and particularly
the intervening thin block or plate g.
We also claim the improved arrangements of the valves for admitting
and exhausting the steam, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Clarkson Kay and
William Hartley, have hereto set their hands and seals, this
Eighth day of April One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
three.
JAMES CLARKSON KAY. (L.S.)
WILLIAM HARTLEY.
(L.S.)
JAMES CLARKSON KAY. (L.S.)
WILLIAM HARTLEY.
(L.S.)