IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry James, of Old Kent Road, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 12th May 1863, and dated the 15th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry James
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th November 1862.
I, WILLIAM HENRY JAMES, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist, firstly, in the means of generating steam for
the working of steam engines generally, more especially of very high-pressure
steam for actuating engines in manner hereafter described. I effect the
generation of steam by the injection of water, either in the state of finely
divided spray or otherwise, into circular, square, or other shaped interstitial,
vesicular, or cellular slabs or plates of metal, which I prefer to be composed
of the best wrought iron; the internal cavities in these plates are united
together by tubes or suitable projections thereon, which may be used also for
regulating their distances apart from each other when placed over a fire in a
suitable furnace. The hollow slabs or plates of metal have series of aper-
tures or tubular openings, through them in the direction of their thicknesses, to

page_text: allow the smoke and other heated products of combustion arising from the
fire, after having impinged against their surfaces. to pass through them into a
chimney.
Secondly, in an improved method or means of applying very high pressure
steam through the medium of water to the working of engines, which improved
method constitutes a material modification of a portion of another patented
Invention of mine entitled "Improvements in Steam Engines," bearing date
the 4th September 1855, No. 1998. In the Specification of this Patent I
have described a mode of working engines by water subjected to the pressure
of highly elastic steam; the water so acted upon serving as a non-conducting
medium for preventing the high temperature of the steam from injuring the
packing and other parts of steam engines.
My improved method or means of applying very high-pressure steam to the
working of a single cylinder engine, for example, is as follows:-I have two
upright tubular or other formed vessels of great strength fixed upon a plat-
form, and partially filled with water (say) to the extent of about two-thirds of
their entire capacity, and with pipes leading from the lower portions thereof
for conveying a portion of such water to and from an engine fixed upon the
same platform, which, for the sake of simplicity, I prefer to be constructed on
the single stroke principle, with a plunger, piston, and stuffing box on the top
of the cylinder similar to a common force pump; these pipes have proper slide
valves connected with them for letting on and off the water at every revo-
lution of the engine, as required in the working thereof, and also other pipes
leading from the upper portion of such water vessels to the main steam pipe
of the steam generating apparatus of the engine have proper slide valves con-
nected with them for letting on and shutting off the steam. Upon the main
shaft of the engine I have a pinion or screw working into the teeth of a wheel
for communicating a slower motion to a second shaft working in journals fixed
on the framework of the engine, upon which shaft suitable cams or tappets
are fixed for actuating the slide valves connected with the steam pipes when
used for shutting off the steam from one water vessel and letting it into the
other, but only after a certain number of revolutions of the engine, as pre-
*viously determined upon, and regulated by the proportional sizes of the wheel
and pinion or screw employed. I have also other pipes leading from the
upper portions of the water vessels to the steam generator, with lift valves
fixed therein to allow of any surplus water being driven back through them
into the steam generator, either by the piston of the engine itself, or by a
suitable force pump connected therewith. Now supposing that the air occu-
pying the spaces above the water in the water vessels is expelled, and very
Q

page_text: high-pressure steam from the steam generator introduced in its stead, it is
obvious that no particular effect would be produced upon the engine, the
pressure being equal upon each column of water; but upon the steam being
shut off from the one, and allowed to remain in full force upon the other, while
the steam so shut off and isolated is undergoing the process of partial or
complete condensation by the simple exposure of the vessel containing it to
the atmosphere or to currents of cold air, or by the injection therein of
cold water. It must be equally obvious that the water so forced, or a portion
thereof, would be driven through the engine while so passing from vessel to
vessel, thereby producing a certain number of revolutions thereof, and an
equal number while being driven back again in a similar manner and under
similar circumstances; any surplus water accumulating in these vessels by the
condensation of the steam being driven back through other pipes and valves
into the steam generator, by the reaction of the piston of the engine thereon,
or by a suitable force pump, as preferred.
Having now explained my improved method or means of applying very
high-pressure steam to the working engines by the forcing of water thereby to
and fro through them, I will merely add, in conclusion, that I sometimes
employ only one water vessel to each engine cylinder, a portion only of such
water being forced by steam through the engine into an open vessel, when,
upon such steam being partially or completely condensed by any of the means
before described, the water so expelled would then pass back again through
the engine to fill up the void, but only with the pressure of the atmosphere
upon it; which arrangement would necessitate the employment of more than
one cylinder to each engine to equalize the motion, unless assisted by a very
powerful fly wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry James in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY JAMES, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Henry James, Her special licence, that I, the said

page_text: William Henry James, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Henry James, 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 William Henry James, 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 William Henry James, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements in steam engines consist, firstly, in the means of gene-
rating steam for the working of steam engines generally, more especially of
very high-pressure steam for actuating engines hereafter described. I effect
the generation of steam by the injection of water, either in the state of finely
divided spray or otherwise, into circular, square, or other shaped interstitial,
vesicular, or other cellular slabs or plates of metal, which I prefer to be com-
posed of the best wrought iron; the internal cavities in these plates are united
together by tubes or suitable projections thereon, which may be used also for
regulating their distances apart from each other when placed over a fire in a
suitable furnace. These hollow slabs or plates of metal have series of apertures
or tubular openings through them in the direction of their thicknesses, to allow
the smoke or other heated products of combustion arising from the fire, after
having impinged against their surfaces, to pass through them into a chimney.
These interstitial slabs or hollow plates may be formed of thin metallic plates
united together by series of very short tubes passing through. them in the
direction of their thicknesses, forming so many openings for the passage of
smoke through them, and rivetted or welded thereto and to suitable pieces of
metal. placed between and around their outer edges, as shewn, after being so
formed, at Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 of. the annexed Drawings, or may be pro-
perly moulded and formed in cast iron or other more suitable metal or

page_text: compound of metals. Or they may be otherwise formed by the drilling of holes
through solid metallic slabs or plates in a parallel direction to their horizontal
surfaces, and made to cross each other so as to unite the several cellular
passages so formed together, leaving at the same time sufficient spaces between
their numerous intersections to admit of apertures being made through such
slabs in the direction of their thicknesses for the passage of smoke; the end
openings of the perforations around the edges left by the drilling being
plugged and welded, or otherwise closed perfectly steam and water tight, as
shown at Figures 10 and 12. Or such interstitial or cellular slabs of metal
may be manufactured in halves, with proper cavities therein to correspond with
each other respectively, by means of compressing, rolling, or stamping
machinery, and then united by welding or otherwise, suitable apertures being
formed through them in the direction of their thicknesses for the passage of
smoke, as shewn at Figures 10 and 11.
My Invention consists, secondly, in an improved method or means of
applying very high-pressure steam through the medium of water to the
working of engines, which improved method constitutes a material modification
of a portion of a former Invention of mine for "Improvements in Steam
Engines," for which I obtained Letters Patent, bearing date the 4th of
September 1855, in the Specification of which I have described a mode of
working engines by water subjected to the pressure of highly elastic steam,
the water so acted upon serving as a non-conducting medium for preventing
the high temperature of the steam from injuring the packing and other parts
of steam engines.
7
My present improved method or means of applying very high-pressure steam
to the working of a single-cylinder engine (for example) is as follows:
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings represents a sectional elevation of an
engine of this kind; Figure 2 is a plan of a portion thereof; and Figure 3
a transverse section thereof. The same letters of reference apply to the same
parts in each of these 'Figures.
a, Figure 1, represents in section the steam generator composed of three
interstitial slabs or plates of metal, as before described, placed above each
other in a case b, their internal cavities are united by the small tubes c, c, c, c ; ·
d represents the main steam pipe leading from the steam generator into the
branch pipes e, f, which convey the steam into the upper portion of two
upright tubular vessels of great strength, which may be fixed upon the same
platform as the boiler and engine, such, for instance, as are shewn at g, h, in
transverse section, at Figure 3; these vessels are partially filled with water,
say, for example, to the extent of about two-thirds of their entire capacity,
°

page_text: having pipes i, j, with lift valves k, l, fixed within them, leading from the lower
portions thereof respectively to the main feed pipe m of the engine cylinder n,
from which cylinder there is a main exit pipe o branching off into two other
pipes p, q, with lift valves r and a, g, fixed within them for conveying a portion
of the water contained in one tubular vessel to the other, and vice versâ ; this
water in its passage to and fro gives motion to an engine, which I prefer, as
before stated, for the sake of simplicity, to be constructed on the single-stroke
principle, with a plunger, piston, and stuffing box on the top of the cylinder n,
similar to a common force pump; the main feed and exit pipes connected
therewith having proper slide valves r and a; g, as shewn at Figures 1 and 2,
connected with cam wheels t, u, for working them, fixed on the main shaft v
of the engine; these slide valves are intended for letting on and off the water
as it proceeds from the tubular vessels g, h, at every revolution of such shaft.
Other slide valves w, x, are fixed in the branch pipes e, f, which convey the
steam from the main steam pipe d, leading from the steam generator into the
upper portions of the tubular vessels g, h, for letting on and shutting off
the steam as required. Upon the main shaft v of the engine I have a screw
working into the teeth of a wheel y, for communicating a slower motion to a
second shaft z, on which such wheel is fixed, working in journals fixed upon
the framework of the engine, upon which second shaft cams are fixed for
actuating the slide valves w, x, in the branch steam pipes e, f, when used for
shutting off the steam from one tubular vessel and letting it into the other,
but only after and when a certain number of revolutions of the engine shall
have taken place, as previously determined upon, and regulated by the propor-
tional sizes of the wheel and screw employed. I have also other pipes a, a,
and a, b, leading from these tubular vessels g, h, to the steam generator a, with
lift valves a, c, a, d, fixed within them, to allow of any surplus water arising
from the condensation of the steam, or otherwise being forced back through
them into the steam generator, either by the plunger piston of the engine
itself, or, if preferred, by a suitable force pump in connection therewith. I
have also another pipe a, e, containing a lift valve a,f, connected with the main
feed pipe of the engine cylinder n, situated beyond the first slide valve r, to
prevent any serious check to the motion of the engine from the practical incom-
pressibility of the water, by allowing a minute portion thereof to be driven into
the steam generator during the brief intervals of time that elapse during the
opening and closing of the feed and exit passages by the lap of the slide valves
when no water is passing, while the piston of the engine is itself in motion,
either forcing the water through the junctures of the pipes, or stopping the
engine altogether, unless an exit of some kind is provided for the water during

page_text: such intervals; or the same object might be effected without the necessity of
driving any portion of the water in the steam generator, as just described, and
if preferred, by causing it during such intervals to raise a small plunger piston
loaded to something more than the pressure in the steam generator, which
would force it back again in the cylinder of the engine immediately the
obstruction had ceased.
Now supposing that the air occupying the spaces above the water when at
a level in the tubular vessels g, h, is expelled, and high-pressure steam
admitted in its stead, it must be obvious that no particular effect would be
produced upon the engine, the pressure being equal upon each column of
water, but upon the steam being shut off, say, from the tubular vessel 9, and
allowed to remain in full force upon the water in the vessel h, while the steam
so shut off and isolated from the steam generator is undergoing the process of
partial or complete condensation by the injection of cold water or otherwise,
as hereafter explained, it must be equally obvious that a portion of the water
so acted upon by the steam would immediately find its way through the lift
valve r and pipe i and main feed pipe m to the engine, causing, when once in
motion, several revolutions thereof during its passage through the same and
exit pipes q and lift valve a, g, into the other tubular vessel h, in which con-
densation of the steam is being effected, as before explained, and consequently
the pressure therein greatly reduced; at the same time that the lift valves r
and a, g, in the other feed and exit pipes m, o, p, are shut and kept in that
state by the continued pressure of water upon them; a similar effect would
also be produced upon the engine, but a reversed effect upon the lift valves,
by the water being. forced back again from the vessel h into the vessel g by
the steam being shut off and condensed in the one while admitted into the
other, and so on alternately for any length of time. To make up any defi-
ciency of water arising from leakage, or which may be accidently driven
through the safety valve of the engine, I have a tubular reservoir a, i, inclosed
in a double case filled with non-heat-conducting materials for containing any
given quantity of water for that purpose, from the lower part of which reservoir
there is a pipe a,j, leading to a small force pump, worked by the engine, for
withdrawing the requisite quantity and forcing it through the pipe a, k, into
the steam generator, which quantity so forced can be regulated with the
greatest accuracy by means of the stop-cock fixed in the suction pipe of the
pump. To diminish in a very great degree the power required for working this
pump, I allow steam from the steam generator to press upon the surface of
the water in the reservoir through the medium of the pipe a, l, leading from
one to the other, in which there is also a stop-cock. For supplying this

page_text: tubular réservoir with water there is a pipe a, m, leading into an open vessel
of water a, n, in which pipe there is likewise a stop-cock. Now upon the
tubular reservoir becoming exhausted of water and filled with steam, the stop-
cocks in the suction and feed pipe are closed, and the stop-cock in the pipe a, m,
opened, thereby allowing the principal portion of the steam to escape through
the water; the remainder then becoming condensed, the water will be driven
rapidly therein by the pressure of the external atmosphere, when the latter
stop-cock may be closed and the others opened as before. A safety valve is
fixed upon the main steam pipe d'of the engine, and a slide valve a, h, for
starting the engine, the rod of which passes through a stuffing box at the
bottom of a tube containing water, which I employ to prevent injury to the
packing in such stuffing box by the great heat of high-pressure steam; similar
tubes of water are placed and fitted underneath the steam slide valves worked
by the engine with a similar intention. A lever a, o, for compressing the
spiral spring a, p; used for supporting the furnace or fire box of the steam
generator, to afford the means. of lowering it at pleasure, and so preventing its
being injured by the fire when the engine is not at work.
I will now explain, as before stated, the several modes of condensing the
steam which are applicable to engines upon this principle. In Figures'l
and 3 a refrigerator a, q, is.represented, consisting of a vessel of cold water
which is kept in a state of constant refrigeration by a current of air passing
through a series of small tubes a, r, running through the same, such current
being produced by an exhaust pump a, s, actuated by the engine, as shewn at
Figure 1, and made to pass afterwards under the ash grate of the furnace of
the steam generator a. Through the pipe a, t, a small tube a, u, is made to
encompass these air tubes in any desired number of convolutions, and com-
pletely immersed in the water so refrigerated, the two ends thereof being
turned upwards and made to pass into the upper portions respectively of the
two tubular vessels g, h, where they are made to terminate in small coils for
the purpose of obtaining a large cooling surface, as well as affording the means
for the injection of cold water for the rapid condensation of the steam alter-
nately, as required, in such tubular vessels, which injection of cold water is
effected by the pressure of the steam itself in one tubular vessel driving it
through the refrigerator into the other tubular vessel, and vice versâ, the
quantity so passing being regulated to the greatest nicety by the greater or :
lesser opening of the stop-cock a, v, which equally answers the purpose of such
regulation whether the pressure of steam is acting upon the water in the one
vessel or the other, as the pressure is sure to be greater in the vessel open to
steam generator than in the other vessel where it is shut off and isolated.

page_text: At Figure 4 I have shewn another mode of condensation by the simple
exposure of two large coils of pipe g, h, to the action of the atmosphere in its
ordinary state, which coils are partially filled with water, and a portion thereof
driven to and fro through the engine and the requisite pipes and lift valves in
manner before described for causing its motion to be continued in the same
direction. In this arrangement I use the steam at a very high pressure, and
work it expansively to any desired extent by regulating accordingly the action
of the cams or tappets upon the spring cocks or slide valves, as shewn in the
Drawing, so as to cause the terminal pressure of the steam in one tubular
vessel to be far less than its initial force in the other, which pressure in the
former is still further reduced as the condensation proceeds. I generally
prefer, however, when this mode of condensation is employed, to use two or
more engine cylinders for equalizing the action of the steam and water
upon the main shaft more completely than when one cylinder only is made
use of.
Figure 5 exhibits upon rather an enlarged scale another mode of condensing
the steam alternately in two tubular vessels g, h, for the working of these
engines, which is effected by the complete isolation of a portion of it by stop-
cocks, as shown in the Drawings, after a corresponding portion of water has
been driven through the engine in manner before described, at the same time
that the steam is admitted and made to act with full force upon the remainder
of the water intended to be so expelled, and while passing through the engine
from one tubular vessel to the other. This remainder or second supply of
steam being allowed to pass into the vessel so isolated, and wherein the steam
is so condensed, for reducing the pressure and to facilitate its own condensation,
while a fresh supply of steam from the generator is being admitted into the
other tubular vessel for driving the water back again through the engine pipes
and lift valves in manner before described, so as to keep the same in constant
operation in the same direction, which condensation of steam is much assisted
according to this arrangement by such tubular coils or vessels g, h, being
enclosed in casings and a current of cold air being made to impinge thereon
alternately by means of regulating valves, the opening and closing of which
may be effected by connection with the cam motion which actuates the steam
and water cocks, and by the exhausting fan, as shewn in the Drawing.
And having now explained my improved method or means of applying very
high-pressure steam to the working of engines by the forcing of water thereby
to and fro through them, I will merely add, in conclusion, that I sometimes
only employ one water vessel to each cylinder, a portion only of such water
being forced by steam through the engine into an open vessel, when, upon

page_text: such steam being condensed by any of the means before described, the water
so expelled would then pass back again through the engine pipes and lift
valves in manner before explained to fill up the void, but only with the pressure
of the atmosphere upon it, which arrangement would necessitate the employ
ment of more than one cylinder to each engine to equalize the motion unless
assisted by a very powerful fly wheel.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry James, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
W. H. JAMES. (L.S.)