IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM FIRE ENGINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and
Company, Patent Agency, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empiro
of Germany, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM FIRE
ENGINES "A communication from William Knaust, Manufacturer,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1875.
-
I, FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Agency, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM FIRE ENGINES," a communication, to be as follows.
1
My steam fire engine consists of a boiler, two steam cylinders, and the
piston rods, conveying motion and force to the vertical crank shaft by
means of slotted cross heads. Each piston rod corresponds to a piston
-

page_text: rod of a double-acting pump; counter cranks act as eccentrics working
the slide connecting rods. The feed pump plunger has a cross head
worked by the crank shaft by means of a cross head block. A
horizontal fly wheel is fixed on the vertical crank shaft, and there is an
air vessel and the suction pipe. The whole engine rests on a strong
frame.
rod of a double-acting pump; counter cranks act as eccentrics working
the slide connecting rods. The feed pump plunger has a cross head
worked by the crank shaft by means of a cross head block. A
horizontal fly wheel is fixed on the vertical crank shaft, and there is an
air vessel and the suction pipe. The whole engine rests on a strong
frame.
The steam enters the cylinders by passing the pipe provided with a
whistle and stop valve. The feeding is effected through the pipe and
valve box.
This new steam engine is distinguished from all those hitherto
constructed by the peculiar arrangement of the crank shaft and of the
fly wheel, the axis of the crank shaft being vertical and the fly wheel
rotating in a horizontal plane. This arrangement offers the following
advantages:-
First. The fly wheel being situated inside the frame cannot do damage
or obstruct in any way. If the crank shaft is in a horizontal position,
the fly wheel rotating in a vertical plane, the man having the engine
under his care has to run from one side to the other if lubricating is
wanted, and if he will protect himself from being hurt by the fly wheel
on the slotted cross heads.
Second. The slotted cross heads with the piston and piston rods can
conveniently be guided, consequently no pressure is exerted on the
stuffing boxes by the weight of these parts, and by the components
of the forces acting in these parts, as is the case with similar con-
structions.
Third. The excentrics which absorb so much work by friction are
entirely dispensed with.
Fourth. The arrangement of the feed pump above described permits a
perfect compensation of the forces produced by the oscillations of the
masses, and thus no vibrations can occur. In addition to that the crank
shaft is in equilibrium with all rotating parts, and its axis is made to a
"free axis."
Fifth. The engine retains all advantages of the engines the stroke of

page_text: Thero is very small clearance (the whole minimum space between the
piston and the valves), and therefor saving of steam which allows the use
of a smaller boiler, consequently a greater ease of management is
obtained There is reliability in the working and simplicity of the
construction; it can be managed by any person who has a very slight
knowledge of mechanics and the steam engine, and it takes not more than
some minutes examination to understand it. It is possible to move the
piston by hand, if this should be of use for some reasons, and I avoid
the prejudices which are generally brought forward against steam fire
engines with rotating motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Wirth in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency, of Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frank Wirth, Her special
licence, that I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank Wirth, 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 FIRE ENGINES," a communication from William Knaust, Manu-
facturer, a person resident at Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frank Wirth, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Frank Wirth, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing
forming a part of this Specification. Similar letters of reference indicato
corresponding parts on the Drawing.
The principal object of this Invention is to so apply the operating
shaft of a steam fire engine that it may be conveniently lubricated from
one side of the engine.
The Invention has reference to that class of fire engines which have
ſly wheels on their crank shafts.
As heretofore arranged the vertical fly wheel on the horizontal crank
shaft constitutes a barrier between the opposite sides of the engine, and
the engineer was obliged to run from one side to the other whenever he
wanted to lubricate said crank shaft.
My Invention consists in the combination of a vertical crank shaft
carrying a horizontal fly wheel with the piston rods of the steam pump
cylinder as herein-after more fully described.
The letter A represents the frame of my improved steam fire engine.
The same is mounted on wheels as shown; B is the boiler supported on
one end of the frame A, and provided with a feed pipe a, and with the
stcam pipe a¹ leading to the steam cylinders C, C'. These horizontal
cylinders are arranged vertically one above the other. and ₁ are
the steam chests for the cylinders C and C³ respectively, the chest b
being situated on the top of cylinder C, and chest b¹ below cylinder C³,
D and D¹ are the horizontal piston rods of the cylinders C and C³,
respectively; E is the feed pump placed preferably between the cylinder
C and C¹ to feed water through the pipe a into the boiler B. The piston
rods D and D' are respectively connected to an upper and lower slotted
cross head which run on parallel guides fixed respectively with one end
to the pump frame and the other to the steam cylinders, G and G¹ are

page_text: the two pump cylinders which are arranged in line with the steam
cylinders C and C³, so that the pump piston rods coming out of and e¹
are connected with the opposite sides of the cross heads to which the
steam piston rods are fixed. His the air chamber, I the water supply
pipe, and J the water discharge of the pump mechanism, L is the crank
shaft carrying the fly wheel M arranged with its cranks f and f¹ in the
slots of the cross heads for equalizing the motions of the pistons
overcoming the dead centres, and imparting motion to the valvo
mechanism and to the feed pump. This crank shaft, which has been
heretofore horizontally arranged between cylinders that are on the same
horizontal plane is by me placed vertically as clearly shown in the
Drawing, thereby rendering the fly wheel M horizontal.
The shaft L is supported in a suitable part of the frame A, its cranks
ff, enter the slots of the upper and lower cross heads respectively, its
terminal cranks 9 and g¹ servo respectively to move the side valves of the
steam chests 6 and 6', and its crank h imparts motion to the plunger of
the feed pump E.
As already stated the main advantage of having a vertical crank shaft
and a horizontal fly wheel in engines of this class is that all the bearings
and parts of the said shaft to be lubricated can be reached from one side
of the engine, thus saving to the engineer the labour of running from
one side to the other, a matter of great inconvenience, especially under
the excitement of a conflagration
Another advantage of my arrangement is that the cross heads through
which the cranks f and f' pass can be placed horizontally and well
balanced, thus relieving the stuffing boxes of the strain usually exerted
by vertical cross heads.
By arranging the feed pump E between the cylinders C and C', I
equalize as nearly as possible the strain and labor at opposite ends of the
0 engine, as otherwise the strain is greater on the side of the pump
cylinders G and G₁, I also avoid the consequent oscillations.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim, in combination with the steam cylinders C and C', and
5 with the pump cylinders G and G which are placed in a vertical plane,

page_text: and with the feed pump placed between the steam cylinders, the vertical
crank shaft L carrying the horizontal fly wheel M, substantially as
herein shewn and described and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.