IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES.
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène Cuvelier, of Arras, in the Empire of France,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES.".
Sealed the 9th August 1858, and dated the 18th February 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène Cuvelier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1858.
I, EUGÈNE CUVELIER, of Arras, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be
as follows:-
The slide usually used in the steam engine has hitherto been (as it were)
confined in the steam box, preventing the engineer from examining its parts
without taking the whole of the apparatus to. pieces, the ordinary slide being
also exposed to the full force of the steam, causing an early deterioration of
the friction plate and other parts thereof. I differ in my arrangements from.
this by making the slide carry with it its steam box, the lower end of which is
extended so as to be of equal length to the run of the slide; the slide left to
itself would start from the friction plate were it not fixed thereto, which
I effect by a plate secured by four bolts attached to or in the sides of the
friction plate, two rollers of tempered steel being placed between the plate first.
mentioned and the slide, which is also furnished with a steel plate. The use
of the screws is to close down the first-mentioned plate till the steam can no

page_text: longer raise the slide. By these modifications or improvements I derive the
advantages,
First, of avoiding the pressure of the steam on the slide, and of economizing
power now wasted.
Second, that of having the apparatus always in sight, and the power of
lubricating the friction plate at pleasure.
Third, saving of stuffing boxes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugène Cuvelier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
CUVELIER, of Arras, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Eugène Cuvelier, Her special licence that I, the said Eugène
Cuvelier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Eugène Cuvelier, 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 ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Eugène Cuvelier, my 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 Eugène Cuvelier, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-

page_text: This extremely simple slide valve is only the old fashioned slide valve having
its steam box S, Fig. 1, fixed at the lower part, of the same length as the
course of the slide valve, in such a manner that the part F¹ is continually in
communication with the mouth of 'the boiler F, arranged in the thickness of
the friction plate. (Fig. 1) shows the principal parts of the machinery, viz.,
C, the orifice by which the steam enters, going out at the opening D; this
admission of steam takes place at the orifice F, whence it spreads itself into
the receptacle S formed by the case P joining itself always in the lengthened
part F by the movement of the slide valve communicated to it by the rod M
moving between the bands R (Fig. 3), receiving the bolts U. The slide
valve thus abandoned would find itself naturally pushed from the friction plate
if it was not held there by the plate T, which is held itself by the four bolts U
fixed on the sides of the friction plate. Two rollers of tempered steel are
placed between the plate T and the slide valve, each furnished with a steel
plate; these rollers are guided the framework 0, which prevents them
from escaping. The nuts of the four bolts U serve to fasten the plate-T so
that the steam does not raise the slide valve. The slide valve thus held in
equilibrium presents the following advantages:-
1st. The pressure exercised on it by the steam is' prevented, and the pressure
otherwise wasted is saved.
2nd. The friction plate is always exposed to view, and can be greased in order
to render the friction 'less, and thus preserve the surfaces in a perfect state of
preservation.
3rd. No stuffing boxes are required.
4th. The little wear of the friction plate of the slide valve of the eccentrics
and the joints of transmission of movement...
5th. From the above advantages there results another of a much greater
importance than would be supposed, that is to say, a perfect and contrived
regularity, the consequence of which are easiness in the movement, pre-
servation of the machine, and economy of firing, the consumption of which is
invariable.
In the disposition of the slide valve, as mentioned above, the steam enters
at F (Fig. 1) and spreads itself in rather a large place S, where it causes a
certain pressure, which supports the plate T; this force exercises itself on the
rollers L. With very little expense the following advantageous arrangement
can be made, that is to say, to admit the steam by a pipe D; it then spreads
itself in the space D', and the escape takes place by the box S and the
hole F.
The above is a description of the most simple slido value with

page_text: gear, but the same principal can be applied to all systems, either of variable or
fixed expansion gear. The Fig. 7 gives the disposition of a variable expansion
gear established on the same principle, independent of the distributing slide
valve, and moved by an eccentric cam. In this Figure, the same letters refer
to the same parts as in Fig. 1.. The Fig.. is a longitudinal section, and.
Fig. 10 a horizontal. section with Bourdon's expansion gear applied to the.
slide valve.
This system can be adopted also by machines having two slide valves at the
extremity of the cylinder; it is only necessary to communicate to each the.
mouth of the boiler on the two steam boxes:
Fig. 1, longitudinal section of the slide valve; Fig. 2, friction plate, seen
from the front; Fig. 3, transverse section, according to the line A, B, Fig. 2;
Fig. 4, slide valve, seen from the friction side; Fig. 5, transverse section,
according to the line C, D, Fig. 4; Fig. 6, the rollers; Fig. 7, section of the
slide valve, with variable expansion. gear; Fig. 8, friction plate; Fig. 9, slide
valve, with variable expansion gear by the regulator; Fig. 10, section.
according to the line E, F, Fig. 9. C, feeding pipe; D, escape pipe; F,
inlets for the steam; S, steam box; F¹, part of the steam box always in com-
munication. with the mouth of the boiler F; P, case of the steam box; M, rod
of the slide valve; O, iron framework for guiding the rollers L; L, steel.
rollers moving between the slide valve and the springs T; T, steel plates
forming a spring, and serving to hold the slide valve in equilibrium; U, bolts.
for drawing the springs nearer; R, iron bands guiding the slide valve, and to.
which are attached the bolts U.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugène Cuvelier, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
EUGÈNE CUVELIER. (L.S.)