AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
MICHEL CRAMER, of Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanic,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of November, in the fifth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jean Michel Cramer, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Jean Michel Cramer, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Jean Michel Cramer, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Jean Michel
Cramer, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jean Michel Cramer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to

page_text: consist in a steam engine of three cylinders, caused to turn on an axis by the
action of the pistons, which are connected by connecting rods with an
excentric, and which engine is fed by means of a supply water pump worked
by an excentric, adjustable in a new manner. And in further compliance with
the said proviso, I, the said Jean Michel Cramer, do hereby describe the
manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the following state-
ment thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the principal parts of my said engine.
A', A2, A, are three working cylinders. B is a fixed disc or plate containing
an induction and eduction hole for each cylinder, the former communicating
directly with the bottom of its cylinder, and the latter with a side pipe which
leads to the top of its cylinder. This plate revolves with the cylinders.
C', C, and C are the side pipes; D1, D2, and D³, their corresponding educ-
tion holes; and E, E, and E³, the induction holes. F¹, F, and F3 are the
ends of the piston heads, which work in the guides or uprights marked G, and
which are connected with an excentric in manner shewn by the next Figure,
the connecting rods and excentric being omitted in this Figure at the side
nearest the observer to prevent confusion, though the former are shewn at the
opposite side by dotted lines in the different positions they would assume when
the engine is in the position here shewn, H being the excentric. Figure 2 is
a front view of the engine; and similar letters being used to denote similar
parts in all the Figures, much repetition may be avoided. H, I, and J, J,
are two fixed or stationary excentric boses, one at each side of the engine,
round which the rings marked K', K, and K³ work. These rings are con-
nected by means of rods to the pistons head of their corresponding cylinder;
thus the rings K', K', are connected by the rods L', L', to the cross head
M, M', on the piston of the cylinder A'; each ring on the excentric, being
similarly connected with a corresponding piston, causes the cylinders to rotate
on their common axis, when the steam is let'on and their axis becomes in fact
the main working shaft. N is the steam channel plate or disc, fitting over
the eduction and induction holes, shown in Figure 2, and corresponding
in such manner as to effect the necessary introduction and emission of steam.
This channel plate is fixed. Figures 3, 4, and 5 are separate views of this
channel plate or disc. Figure 3 is a plan of the face which fits on to the
disc B, Figure 1, having the necessary steam channels cut in it. Figure 4 is
a section of the same, and Figure 5 is a side view of the piece N.

page_text: Having now described the triple cylinder, and mode of causing the common
axis to revolve by means of excentrics, I will proceed to describe my improved
mode of working the supply pump, by means of an adjustable excentric con-
trived so as to regulate the length of stroke of the pump rod at pleasure by
means of a lever. Figure 6 is a section of my said adjustable excentric.
O may be the main axle or working shaft of my said engine, on which is fitted
the ring P, the axle being cut into the form of a tennant at that part, and
passing through a mortice or slot cut in the ring for the purpose, as shown
separately at Figure 7. Qis a sliding and forked tube, with two wedged-shaped
pieces R, S, attached to it, as shewn separately at Figure 8. This tube slides
freely on the axis or main shaft, the ends of the wedges entering into the
mortice in the ring P; and when in the position here shewn, these wedges
keep the shaft O in the centre of the ring P, and it is obvious, therefore, that
in this position it is concentric. Now it is proposed to work the supply pump
of the engine by this ring in manner following:-The pump rod has a metal
band or ring passing round the ring P, as shewn in section at r, and when the
wedges are in the position here shewn, the ring or circular boss P will
of course turn round without moving the pump rod; but if the tube Q with
its wedges be pushed along by means of the handle lever T till the wedges
enter further into the boss P, the boss will no longer be on the centre of the
axis or shaft, but to one side, as shewn by the dotted lines, and having thus
been made an excentric, will of course, as the shaft O turns, cause the pump
rod to work up and down; and it is evident that this up and down action will
be more or less according as the tube and its wedges are pushed more or less
into the boss P. Figure 9 is an end view of the boss P, and the shaft in the
mortice. The lever handle, it will be seen, is fixed to a swivel ring at
its centre, and to a fixed point at V; and the scale W, which is also fixed and
graduated, enables the engineer to regulate the supply from the pump at
pleasure by means of the lever handle.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention the triple cylindered engine herein-
before described, with the piece containing the induction and eduction steam
channels stationary, while the plate or disc B revolves with the cylinders, and
also the sliding tube and wedges for regulating, by means of a lever handle, the
supply of water from the engine feed pump. And such my Invention being to
the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within
that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I
do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully

page_text: and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to main-
tain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Michel Cramer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.