CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HARVEY, junior, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex, Goldsmith,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Eleventh day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Harvey,
junior, my exors, adñors, and assign, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Harvey, junior, my exors,
admors and assigns, and such others as I the said James Harvey, junior, my
exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, an
Invention communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that I, the said James Harvey, junior, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Harvey, junior, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following Specification thereof,
reference being had to the Sheets of Drawings marked A and B hereunto
annexed (that is to say):-
The Drawings on Sheet A represent certain improvements which are
applicable to steam engines with stationary cylinders, and have for their
object the more direct transmission of the power from the cylinders to the
main shaft. Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 an end elevation, and
Figure 3 a ground plan of a pair of cylinders acting in conjunction and
embodying the said improvements. A is a rod, which serves at once the
purpose of the ordinary piston and connecting rods, being attached at the
lower end to the piston B and at the upper to the crank pin C; D is a recess
in the piston B for the reception of the lower end of the rod A; E a cross
pin passed through the body of the piston B, and an eye hole F, in the lower
end of the rod A, whereby the rod and piston are connected together,
which pin is made a little less than the eye hole F, in order that the rod A may
turn freely thereon. The motion of the piston and connecting rod A being angular
and variable, while the piston B moves uniformly in one vertical plane, in order to
bring the two inotions into harmony with one another the following arrange-
ment is adopted-In the centre of the cylinder cover G, and in a line parallel
with the crank, there is an elongated slit H, and immediately over this there
is a supplementary steam-tight cover I, which moves backwards and forwards
at right angles to the main shaft in conformity with the varying motion of the
piston and connecting rod A, much in the same way as in a lathe the tool
carriage of a slide rest moves on its bed. The under portion of the stuffing
box has two journals K, which rest in suitable bearings in the upper or
supplementary cover I, whereby the stuffing box is enabled to adapt itself to
the line of the piston and connecting rod throughout the entire revolution
of the crank.
The Drawings in Sheet B represent an improved arrangement of the parts
of a double cylinder steam engine. Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2
an end elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of an engine thus arranged. A¹, A³,
are the two steam cylinders, and B the air pump placed between them in the
same plane; C', C2, are the two steam cylinder piston rods, which are linked
to the ends of the cross head D; E, E, E, E, are four rods, by which the
piston of the air pump B is linked with the same cross head D; F is a
common connecting rod, which is attached at the lower end to the piston of

page_text: the air pump B in the same way as the rod A and piston B are connected in
the engine represented in the Drawings, Sheet A, and first before described,
and after passing through a cleft G in the centre of the cross head D is
attached at top to the crank pin I of the main shaft.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as being
communicated to me as aforesaid is,―
First, the method herein-before described of transmitting the power from
stationary cylinders directly to the main shaft, namely, by making one rod serve
the purpose both of the ordinary piston and connecting rods, and using a slide
in the top of the cylinder cover with a revolving stuffing box.
And, second, the improved arrangement before described of the parts of a
double cylinder engine, whereby the air pump is placed between and in the same
plane with the steam cylinders, and the pistons of the steam cylinders and air
pump are connected by one common connecting rod with the main shaft.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh
doy of Tule One thousand sight hundred and font three
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid James Harvey, junior, came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-throo