CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Keld Whytehead, Consulting
Engineer, of 69, Cornhill, London, Middlesex, for the In-
vention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM
BOILERS."
Sealed the 2nd June 1853, and dated the 2nd December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Keld
Whytehead at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 2nd December 1852.
I, WILLIAM KELD WHYTЕпEAD, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
AND STEAM BOILERS" to be as follows:-
First, I claim, constructing vertical engines in such a manner that
the cylinder is sunk into the sole plate, and the slide valve placed
on the outside.
Second, I claim, in horizontal condensing single cylinder engines,
placing the condenser and pumps under the sole plate, and working
them by a return crank.

page_text: Third, I claim, in horizontal condensing double cylinder engines,
placing the crank shaft at the back of the two cylinders with the
connecting rod vibrating between them, the necessary pumps being
worked off the piston rods of the two cylinders.
Fourth, I claim combining three direct-acting engines together,
in such a manner that greater regularity of motion is obtained;
that is to say, by placing the cranks of the said engines at an angle
of about 120° with each other, the necessary pumps being worked
by one of the engines.
Fifth, I claim fixing within the flues of double flued boilers
cylindrical generators filled with small tubes, through which the
heat passes, the said generators being connected at top and bottom
with the flues in which they are situated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Keld Whytehead in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM KELD WHYTEHEAD, Consulting Engineer, of 69, Cornhill,
London, Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the
year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Keld Whytehead, Her
special licence that I, the said William Keld Whytehead, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Keld Whytehead, my executors, administrators, and as-
signs, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the terin therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Keld Whytehead, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Keld Whytehead, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:
My improvement in steam engines is in that description of steam
engine employed to drive the screw propeller by direct action,
without the intervention of toothed wheels, and consists in applying
three cylinders, pistons, and connecting rods, in such a manner
that the motion is rendered more regular than can be obtained by
the use of two cylinders, pistons, and connecting rods; whilst the
form of the engines admits of their being placed in the after part of
the ship, and of the propeller shaft being placed low down in the
ship.
Figure 1, is a transverse section through the engine room of a
steam vessel to which such engines are applied; and Figure 2, is a
longitudinal section, also showing the engines, one cylinder and air
pump being removed, and the framing represented partly in section.
Only such details are shown as are necessary for the clear under-
standing of my Invention. a, b, and c, Figures 1, and 2, are the
three cylinders which are bolted to the two cast iron frames d, d.
These frames are bolted to the wrought iron framing of the ship
e, e, e, which is carried completely round the ship, so as to render
it sufficiently strong at that part to support the weight and strain
of the machinery. The centre lines of these cylinders are placed at
an angle of about 60° with each other, so that when the piston of
one cylinder is at the end of its stroke, the pistons of the other two.
cylinders will have made one third and two thirds of their strokes

page_text: respectively, whereby a greater regularity in the motion of the
engine is obtained than when two cylinders and pistons only are.
employed. Each piston is provided with two piston rods, to dis-
tribute the strain on the piston, each pair of piston rods having a
cross head and suitable guides. The force of the steam is transmitted
from the cross heads by the connecting rods g, h, and i, to a single
crank pin m, and the cranks n, and o, and the shaft of the propeller
p. r,, r, are the slide valves worked in the ordinary inanner by
an eccentric q. From the relative positions of the three cylinders
and slide valves, one eccentric serves to work the three valves. s,
is the exhaust pipe of the cylinder a; t, is the exhaust pipe of the
cylinder c; and u, w, are the exhaust pipes of the cylinder b. x, x,
are the condensers which contain the air pumps, which are worked
by connecting rods attached to the crank y. z, z, are the pipes
which serve to convey the water delivered by the air pumps into
the sea.
My improvement in boilers consists in constructing
double-flued boilers, with generators in the flues, to give ad-
ditional heating surface, such generators being capable of being
unfixed, for the purpose of being cleaned or repaired, and of
being replaced with facility. Figure 3, is a transverse section, and
Figure 4, a longitudinal section, of a boiler constructed on this system.
a, a, is the shell of the boiler containing two flues b, and c, ex-
tending the whole length of the boiler; f, and g, are the furnaces;
d, and e, are the generators, which are smaller in diameter than the
flues, so as to leave an annular space between them for the passage
of the flame. The generator e, is connected to the flue b, by the
three necks h, i, o, the one at the bottom h, serving to admit the
water into the generator, and the two at the top i, and o, serving to
allow the steam formed in the generator to escape. The generators
contain a suitable number of tubes n, n, through which a portion of
the flame passes on its way through the flues.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I claim, first,
the use of three cylinders applied directly to drive the screw
propeller without the intervention of toothed wheels, and I do not

page_text: confine myself to any precise angle or position of the cylinders;
secondly, the boiler as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Keld Whytehead, have
hereunto set my hand and seal this Second day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1853.
Witness,
MATTHEW SOUL.
W. K. WHYTEHEAD. (L.S.)