A NEW OR IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hopkins, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hopkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
October 1859.
I, WILLIAM HOPKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
STEAM ENGINE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a steam engine in which the cylinder instead of
being fixed is moveable in the line of the piston rod. In constructing my
new or improved engine I mount the cylinder on a slide, either horizontal or
vertical. The piston rod is connected with a crank in the ordinary manner,
and the bottom of the cylinder is connected with another crank. When
steam is admitted into the cylinder the piston rod and cylinder move in
opposite directions, that is, when the piston is advancing out of the cylinder,
the said cylinder is sliding in the opposite direction. When the piston is
retiring into the cylinder the cylinder is advancing to meet the piston. The
two cranks actuated by the piston and cylinder are connected together by a
connecting rod.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hopkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOPKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Hopkins, Her special licence that I, the said William Hopkins,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Hopkins, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED STEAM
ENGINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Hopkins, ny executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Hopkins, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a 'steam engine in which the cylinder instead of
being fixed is moveable in the line of the piston rod, the bottom of the said
moveable cylinder being connected through a crank rod and crank to a main
'shaft in addition to the main shaft, crank, and crank rod, with which the piston
rod is connected, as herein-after particularly described and illustrated in the
'accompanying Drawing.
My said new or improved steam engine is represented in plan in Figure 1
of the Drawing, and side elevation in Figure 2. The same letters are
employed to indicate the same parts in both Figures.
.
In constructing my new or improved steam engine I mount the cylinder a
upon a plate b, the said plate working in V-shaped grooves in the slide c, c, on
the framing d of the engine. The piston rod e works in the cylinder a in the
ordinary manner, the said piston rod being connected through the crank rod f
to the crank g² of the shaft g. The bottom of the cylinder a is connected
through the rod h and crank rod i to the crank k² of the shaft k, the said shaft
being situated at the opposite end of the engine to that of the shaft g.
The said shafts g and k are connected together by the connecting rod 1.

page_text: The said shafts g and k are provided with fly wheels, marked respectively g³
and k³.
g
The action of the engine is as follows:-Steam being admitted into the
cylinder a in the manner herein-after described, the piston rod e and the
cylinder a move in opposite directions, and communicate through the crank
rods f and i and cranks g² and k², rotatory motions to the shafts g and ; that is
to say, when the piston rod e is advancing out of the cylinder a, the said
cylinder is sliding in the opposite direction. When the piston rod is retiring
into the cylinder the cylinder is advancing to meet the piston rod, the said
motions of the piston rod and cylinder. being repeated at each rotation of the
shafts 9 and k. The steam is admitted into and cut off from the cylinder a by
the following arrangement:-m is the steam box situated on the cylinder a,
the steam being conveyed thereto through the horizontal pipen and the nearly
vertical pipe o; p is a rod connected to the slide valve in the box n through the
link and lever r. When the piston rod e and cylinder a are in the positions
represented in the Drawing, and are about to make their return motions, the
said rod p bears against a fixed stops on the framing.d, and the steam port
hole connected with the top of the cylinder is opened, and that connected with
the bottom of the cylinder is closed; the port hole communicating with the
bottom of the cylinder is at the same time opened into the waste or exhaust steam
pipe t. Steam is admitted on the top of the piston, and the said piston forced
into the cylinder. By the advancing motion of the cylinder a the rod p strikes
against the fixed stop u, and cuts off the steam from the top of the cylinder,
and at the same time opens the steam port hole connected with the bottom of
the cylinder, and also opens the port hole connected with the top of the
cylinder into the waste steam pipe t. The steam is thus admitted into and
cut off from the cylinder a at the required times. The steam pipe o and waste
steam pipe t turn upon joints at their upper and lower ends (those of the steam
pipe o being marked vand in Figure 2) for the purpose of permitting of
the sliding of the cylinder a. The lengthening and shortening of the pipes o
and t is provided for by the upper ends of the said pipes sliding in stuffing
boxes, one of which is represented at v² in Figure 2. The waste steam pipe t
communicates with the horizontal pipe w. The stuffing box at v² (and the
corresponding one on the opposite side of the engine) is thus constructed:
about the middle of the stuffing box is a shoulder or flange shewn in dotted
lines through the hole, in the middle of which the vertical end of the pipe v
passes, the space between the said pipe and the stuffing box being filled with
packing, the said packing being supported by the flange. The horizontal
steam and waste pipes which enter the stuffing boxes on the steam box m

page_text: have each a flange on its end, as indicated in dotted lines. The packing is
pressed against the flange by the gland, and the end of the pipe is thereby
prevented from being forced out of the stuffing box. I prefer to coat the
ends of the steam and waste pipes which enter the stuffing box in the steam
box m with brass. A throttle valve is jointed to: the steam pipe at the back
of the joint v.. The rotatory motion of the shafts g and k is transmitted from
the shaft.k by the toothed wheels x and y, the said wheel a being. situated on
the said shaft k, and gearing into the wheel y, as represented in the Drawing.
The motion of the wheel y may be transmitted to the machine to be actuated
by any suitable gearing. Instead of the wheels x and y, a band passing over
a pulley on the shaft k may be employed for transınitting the motion of the
.said shaft k.
Although I prefer to mount the cylinder a on a horizontal slide, as herein-
before described and represented in the Drawing, yet the said cylinder may, be
mounted on a vertical or inclined one, and the piston rod and other parts work
in a vertical or inclined plane instead of.a horizontal plane.
Having now, described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as
my Invention the new or improved steam engine, herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a steam engine in
which the cylinder is capable of a sliding motion in the line of the piston rod,
and has in addition to the crank rod, crank and shaft, actuated by the piston
rod, a crank rod, connected to its bottom, which, said crank rod actuates a
second main shaft.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hopkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM HOPKINS. (L.S.)