IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CARRIAGES TO TRAVEL ON COMMON ROADS, AND ALSO. IN PORTABLE STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, and Thomas Webb, of Smallwood Manor, Uttoxeter, in the
County of Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
CARRIAGES TO TRAVEL ON COMMON ROADS, AND ALSO. IN PORTABLE STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 23rd August 1864, and dated the 31st May 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler and Thomas
Webb at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 31st May 1864.
We, JOHN FOWLER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and
THOMAS WEBB, of Smallwood Manor, Uttoxeter, in the County of Stafford,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
CARRIAGES TO TRAVEL ON COMMON ROADS, AND ALSO IN PORTABLE STEAM ENGINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam carriages to travel
on common roads, and also in portable steam engines.
In constructing steam carriages according to our Invention we form the
same with a gas-tight reservoir to hold coal or other gas which we employ as
a fuel in place of coal or coke. This reservoir is furnished with an inlet pipe
or passage with a union or junction, so that the reservoir may readily be
filled with gas from a gas main. There is also another pipe or passage which
conducts the gas from the reservoir to the furnace, to be burnt, or in place o

page_text: this arrangement, the steam carriage may be made with a tank for containing
petroleum, or it may be other oil, and this, by means of a pump or otherwise,
is caused to pass through a heated pipe or apparatus, and is so converted
into gas or vapour, which is admitted to the fire-box and at once burnt as
fuel; or the petroleum or oil may be thrown in a very fine shower into the
fire-box, and so burnt.
In order, in steam carriages, as much as possible to economise water and so
to lessen the weight the carriage has to carry, we condense the exhaust steam
to a greater or less extent by means of the water from the tank, and to keep
this water sufficiently cool, we cause the air to feed the fire to pass through
tubes or passages which are surrounded by the water in the tank. It is
convenient to lead the exhaust steam to the upper part of the tank, and there
to bring it in contact with a jet of water thrown up by a pump. When it
is desired to condense all or nearly all the exhaust steam and to use no
portion of it as a blast to maintain the draft, then we substitute for the steam
blast an air blast obtained from a fan driven by the engine. This fan is
made to draw the air for the blast through some of the tubes in the tank,
whilst other of the tubes in the tank serve for the passage of the air to the
fire. The fan may in many cases conveniently be mounted on the crank shaft
of the engine in place of the fly-wheel.
Similar arrangements for condensing the exhaust steam may advantageously
be applied to nortable steam engines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler and Thomas Webb in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN,
FOWLER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and THOMAS WEBB,
of Smallwood Manor, Uttoxeter, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Fowler and Thomas Webb, Her special licence that we, the
said John Fowler and Thomas Webb, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Fowler and Thomas Webb, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and

page_text: 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 CARRIAGES
TO TRAVEL ON COMMON ROADS, AND ALSO IN PORTABLE STEAM ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Fowler and Thomas
Webb, 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
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 Thomas Webb, on behalf of myself
and the said John Fowler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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:
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam carriages to travel
on common roads, and also in portable steam engines.
In construction steam carriages according to our Invention, we form the
same with a gas-tight reservoir to hold coal or other gas which we employ as
a fuel in place of coal or coke. This reservoir is furnished with an inlet pipe
or passage with a union or junction, so that the reservoir may readily be filled
with gas from a gas main. There is also another pipe or passage which
conducts the gas from the reservoir to the furnace to be burnt.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2, a plan of so much of an ordinary
traction and agricultural engine as is necessary for the clear explanation of
this part of our Invention, and to this our improvements are shewn applied.
a, a, is a gas reservoir or tank, which in the Drawing is shewn mounted on
a separate pair of wheels, and coupled with the other part of the engine by a
coupling at b. The reservoir or tank may, however, be on the same frame
with the working parts of the engine. The reservoir or tank is by preference
constructed in the following manner:-It contains a light piston fitting it
loosely, and this piston is furnished with guides, which cause it to rise and fall
truly and horizontally. To the edges of the piston a leather or other flexible
cylinder or bag is attached, and this also at its lower end is fixed to the
bottom of the reservoir or tank a. To fill the reservoir or tank with gas the
junction c is coupled with a gas main, and the cock in it opened; then the gas
by its pressure raises the light piston until it arrives at the top of the reservoir

page_text: or tank, the junction cock is then closed, and the connection with the main
broken. The gas is supplied from the reservoir a to the boiler by the flexible
pipe d, in which is a regulating stop-cock d', and when this cock is opened the
weight of the piston causes the gas to pass. The boiler is by preference
tubular, with, say, inch and a half or two-inch tubes, and through each tube is
passed a gas-pipe perforated from end to end with fine holes at short distances
apart, so that the tube may serve as a burner. The length of burner tube
provided should be sufficient to burn easily and economically. thirty-five cubic
feet of gas in the hour for each horse-power of the engine. When this
method of burning the gas is adopted, the boiler need not be furnished with a
fire-box, and a short chimney will suffice to obtain sufficient draught through
the tubes. Or the gas may be burnt in a fire-box such as the Drawing shows,
the ash-pit being closed, with the exception of an opening, which is fitted
with a regulator, by which sufficient air is admitted to burn the gas, which is
led into the ash-pit by the pipe d from the gas reservoir or tank. The fire-
bars or grids of the furnace have laid on them a thick layer of burnt brick or
other similar material broken small, but not so small as to prevent the free
passage of the gas and air through it; the gaseous mixture is burnt at the
surface of the layer. Or in place of employing a gas reservoir or tank a, the
steam carriage may be made with a tank for containing petroleum, or it may
be other oil, and this by means of a pump or otherwise is caused to pass
through a heated pipe or apparatus, and is so converted into gas or vapour,
which is admitted to the fire-box and at once burnt as fuel. The tank shewn
at e in the Drawing, which when gas fuel is used is employed to contain the
feed water, may conveniently be used to contain the store of oil, the feed
water being then stored in a tank under the boiler. As when gas is used the
tubes of the boiler have burner pipes passing through them, and these burner
pipes also pass through the fire-box of the engine, but in this part they are
not perforated, and may conveniently be made larger in diameter, say, one
inch or thereabouts; they are heated by a small coke or coal fire kept in the
fire-box for the purpose.
A force pump draws the oil from the reservoir and
throws a jet of it into the heated end of each of the burner pipes, where it is
instantly converted into gas or vapour.and passes on, and is consumed in the
same way as when coal gas is employed. The ends of the burner pipes at
the fire-box end may be left open, so that air may be drawn into them by the
draught, as the gas or vapour burns better when diluted to some extent with air.
At starting the fire, until a good draught is obtained, the open ends of the burner
tubes should be closed to prevent the passage back of the gas or vapour.. Or
in place of this arrangement the petroleum or oil may be thrown in a very

page_text: fine shower into the fire-box and so burnt. In this case the force pump is
caused to throw the oil into the fire-box in fine streams through a rose placed
at the front thereof, and air is admitted in regulated quantity to obtain com-
plete combustion. The oil which it is preferred to employ is the crude
petroleum oil as it is imported into this country, except that it should be
rendered clear and fine when necessary.
In order, in steam carriages, as much as possible to economize water and so
to lessen the weight the carriage has to carry, we condense the exhaust steam
to a greater or less extent by means of the water from the tank, and to keep
this water sufficiently cool we cause the air to feed the fire to pass through
tubes or passages which are surrounded by the water in the tank. When it
is desired to condense all or nearly all the exhaust steam, and to use no
portion of it as a blast to maintain the draft, then we substitute for the steam
blast an air blast obtained froin a fan driven by the engine. This fan is made
to draw the air for the blast through some of the tubes in the tank, whilst
other of the tubes in the tank serve for the passage of the air to the fire.
Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4 a plan of so much of an ordinary
traction and agricultural engine as is necessary for the clear explanation of
this part of our Invention, and to this our improvements are shewn applied.
a is the feed-water tank of the engine, a transverse section of it is shewn at
Figure 5; it contains two sets of tubes b and c, each enclosed in a water-tight
tube case.
The exhaust steam is admitted into the tube case which sur-
rounds the tubes b, and it is condensed on the tubes; a current of air being
maintained through them. The condensation is assisted by fine jets of water,
which are thrown on to the tubes, so as, as far as possible, to flow over every
part of them. The water is drawn by a force pump or otherwise from the upper
part a' of the tank. The water condensed in the case b, with the injection
water, flows down into the case, which is in this manner kept full of hot water.
The set of tubes c convey air to the fire-box of the engine, and all the air
required for the combustion of the fuel is caused to pass through these tubes.
The air becomes heated in this manner, whilst the water which surrounds the
tubes c is cooled thereby. The flow of air through the pipes 6 is maintained
by the fan d driven by the engine, as is shewn; and the air after absorbing
more or less of the heat of the exhaust steam, is thrown into the chimney as
a blast, as is shewn, and serves to draw the requisite quantity of air through
the tubes c and through the fire. The feed for the boiler is taken from the
casing of the tubes c, and by a pump or other means water is returned con-
stantly to the part a' of the tank, so as to keep the casing of the tubes 6 at
all times free from water or nearly so; and this casing is furnished with a

page_text: gauge glass, so that the water level may be at all times known. There is a
passage from the casing of the tubes 6 into the air for the escape of any steam
which may from time to time escape condensation. It is not essential that,
all the exhaust, steam should be condensed, a portion of it may, if preferred
bé employed as a blast to do the work of the fan d, which is then dispensed
with or reduced in size. The fan d. may in many cases conveniently be
mounted on the crank shaft of the engine in place of the fly. wheel. Similar
arrangements for condensing the exhaust steam may advantageously. be
applied to portable steam engines. The improvements above described are
particularly applicable to light steam carriages suitable for carrying passengers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
THOS. WEBB. (L.S.)