IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OILING OR LUBRICATING THE PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Fielding the younger, of Green, in the Town-
ship of Weierdle and Wardle, in the Parish of Rochdale, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
OILING OR LUBRICATING THE PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fielding at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
April 1855.
I, SAMUEL FIELDING the younger, of Green, in the Township of Weierdle
and Wardle, in the Parish of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR OILING OR LUBRICATING THE PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES" to be as follows:-
Upon the air pump rod is fixed a tappet, which (at each stroke of the
engine) comes into contact with a lever, having at the other end thereof a
catch, which acts upon a ratchet wheel at one end of a small shaft. Upon this
shaft is a worm actuating a worm wheel, attached to or upon the face of which
is keyed a snail, which acts upon the piston of the oiling machine. The piston
draws the oil from a cup and forces it into a small reservoir, from whence it
flows along a tube passing through the cylinder cover. This tube is provided

page_text: with a small upright air valve, and a stop-cock for shutting off the supply of oil
when the engine is not working, and also for régulating the quantity supplied.
The said pipe communicates with another tube, which is attached to the piston,
and communicates with the interior of the rings or packing thereof. This last-
named tube moves up and down with the piston, and slides in a tubular case
attached to the cylinder cover, so that at each downward stroke of the piston
the oil is admitted to the interior of the packing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Fielding in the. Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FIELDING, junior, of Green, in the Township of Weirdle and Wardle, in the
Parish of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Fielding, jun', Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Fielding, jun, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Samuel Fielding, jun', 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OILING OR LUBRICATING THE PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Fielding, jun', 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Fielding, jun', 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):

page_text: My Invention consists in certain novel and improved means of oiling or
lubricating the pistons of steam engines by the use of mechanism or apparatus
of the following construction, that is to say:-Upon the air pump rod of a
steam engine is fixed a tappet (which. at cach stroke of the engine) comes
into contact with a lever, having at the other end thereof a catch.which acts.
upon a ratchet wheel at one end of a small shaft. Upon this shaft is a worm
actuating a worm wheel, attached to or upon the face of which is keyed a snail,
which acts.upon the piston of the oiling machine. The piston draws the oil
from a cup and forces it into a small reservoir, from whence it flows along a
tube passing through the cylinder cover. This tube is provided with a small
upright air valve, and a stop-cock for shutting off the supply of oil when the
engine is not working, and also for regulating the quantity supplied. The said
pipe communicates with another tube, which is attached to the piston, and com-
municates with the interior of the rings or packing thereof. This last-named
tube moves up and down with the piston, and slides in a tubular case attached
to the cylinder cover, so that at each downward stroke of the piston the oil is
admitted to the interior of the packing.
But in order to explain my said: Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon

page_text: which is a plunger a, operated upon at stated intervals of time by certain
mechanism, hereafter fully described; F is a reservoir (shewn detached at
Figure 6) containing oil, connected to the lower part of the pump barrel; and
G is a pipe leading from the upper part of such said barrel to the cylinder lid
of the engine and the slide valve, said pipe G being provided with a cock, as at
Figure 1, for regulating the quantity of oil injected; H is an upright, securely
fixed to the casting E by its lower end, and supporting by its upper end a small
shaft h, fixed thereto, and carrying a collar, upon which is formed a notched
wheel I and worm wheel K; L is a worm, fixed to or formed upon a small
shaft 1, disposed at right angles or nearly so to the shaft h, and supported at or
near its ends by standards M, the lower ends whereof are securely fixed to
the casting E, as at Figure 4, and the upper ends of said standards support
another small shaft N, upon which are fixed the following parts:-First, a
lever O, to which the upper part of the plunger a is connected, and to the
outer end of said lever a weight P, sufficiently heavy to cause the plunger a to
force the oil up the pipe G. Q is a short arm or crank, through which passes
a screw q, which projects sufficiently far from the side of said crank to come
into contact with the under side of the lever O for raising it, as hereafter
described; R is a bell-crank lever, (shewn at Figure 2,) one end of which is
elongated, for the purpose of being operated upon by a cam or tappet S, fixed
on the main driving shaft S', and to the other end of such said lever a weight T
is affixed, to ensure the descent of this end of the lever and of the lifting links
U, said links being connected by their upper ends to the lever R, their lower
ends being connected together by a pin ", (shewn at Figures 2 and 4,) which
said pin takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel L' fixed upon the shaft h.
V is a curved spring catch, the lower end of which is securely fixed to the
piece E (as at Figure 2). The upper end of this spring catch is formed
forked, and takes into a groove formed in the boss of the crank Q, for the
purpose of moving said crank upon the shaft, said shaft, as also the hole in the
crank, being formed square for that purpose. There is a projecting piece W
(shewn at Figure 5) securely fixed to the spring catch V, the pressure of which
keeps the point of the piece W in close contact with the periphery of the notched
wheel I, which operates thereon, as hereafter described. At Figures 1 and 7,
X is a pipe, the lower end of which is screwed into the cylinder lid, and to the
upper end of the pipe X the pipe G is connected. In order to prevent the oil
as it enters the cylinder from being blown out by the steam, I conduct the
oil to the piston by means of a pipe a, the lower end whereof is screwed into one
or other of the segments of the piston (if a metallic packing is employed) as at
Figure 8. The pipe a slides steam-tight in the pipe X, and the oil thus passes

page_text: direct from the reservoir to the packing of the piston. If a hempen packing is
employed, I then employ a perforated hollow ring Y, shewn at Figure 7, into
which the pipe is screwed, said perforated pipe being fixed to the upper side
of the piston, so as to move therewith. In order to keep the packing moist
while the engine is at rest, I employ the arrangement exhibited at Figure 7,
where y is a perforated hollow ring of metal fixed inside the cylinder near the
top thereof, a hole being formed in the cylinder for the introduction of a pipe
, which screws into the aforesaid ring y; the lower end of the pipe z is con-
nected to the steam boiler, and is provided with a cock ', either for establish-
ing or cutting off the communication with said boiler. s is a branch pipe, one
end of which is connected to the pipe z, and the other end has a funnel t
affixed thereto for containing oil, which is allowed to flow into the pipe by
the cock z². It will appear evident that the oiling or lubricating of the
slide D slide may be effected by carrying a branch pipe from the pipe X, and
attaching to such said branch a perforated curved pipe; or there may be two of
such said pipes, one at the top and the other near the bottom of the D slide,
both connected together by a vertical pipe.
The mode of operating with an apparatus of the above construction is as
follows:-Suppose the reservoir F to be charged with oil and the steam
engine to be set in motion, the rotation of the cam or tappet S will depress the
long end of the lever R, and thus raise the opposite end of such said lever and
links U attached thereto, and by these means advance the ratchet wheel L'
one tooth, the weight T depressing this end of the lever so as to place the links
U and pin r in a position to again advance the ratchet wheel L' another tooth
by the rotation of the cam or tappet S, as before stated. The effect of thus
advancing the ratchet wheel is to impart rotary motion to the wheel I through
the agency of the worm L and worm wheel K, and thus to bring the notch 1
in the wheel I opposite to the projection W on the spring catch V, when the
pressure thereof will force the aforesaid projecting piece W into the notch 1
in the wheel I, and thus allow the crank Q to be pushed forward by the elastic
force of the spring catch, and place the point of the screw 9 underneath the
lever O, so that the next rotation of the cam acting upon the lever R will
bring the point of the screw q into contact with lever O, and thereby raise
this lever, and the plunger a attached thereto, and as the cam or tappet S
recedes, the weight T will depress the plunger, and thus force the oil from the
reservoir by the pipe X into the pipe a, and thus supply oil to the piston and
slide of the engine. When it is required to supply oil to the packing of the
piston when the engine is at rest, the same may be effected by first opening
the cock, by which the oil will pass from the funnel into the pipe z; the cock

page_text: 22 must then be closed and the cock z' opened, when the pressure of the steam
from the boiler will force the oil up the pipe into the ring y, and out of the
'perforations therein; the oil-trickling down the cylinder until it comes to the
packing of the piston.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of "Im-
provements in Apparatus for Oiling or Lubricating the Pistons of Steam
Engines," together with the best nieans I am acquainted with for carrying the
sanie into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my
Invention, the use and employment of mechanism or apparatus of the con-
struction above particularly described, and represented by the Drawings here-
unto annexed, for the purpose of oiling or lubricating the pistons of steam
engines, substantially as set forth in this my Specification of the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fielding, jun', have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
RICHARD CLEGG,
Baillie Street, Rochdale.
HENRY DEAN BUTTERWORTH,
Hamer Bottoms, n' Rochdale.
SAML FIELDING, JUN*. (L.S.)