IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Orr, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 24th July 1866, and dated the 29th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Orr at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
January 1866.
I, JOHN ORB, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the arrangement and mode of working the-
air pumps to horizontal or nearly horizontal steam engines.
In the arrangements heretofore employed such air pumps have either been<
placed in a vertical position, in which case it is difficult to obtain a good
mechanical mode of working them, or they have been placed in a horizontal.
position, in which case the advantage of the direct mode of working is coun-1
teracted by the fact that the vacuum is not so perfect as when they are
placed vertically.
Now my Invention has for its object to combine the advantages of the good
vacuum in the vertical arrangement with the direct mode of working in the
horizontal arrangement, and consists in placing the air pump in an inclined
position and working the same directly from either end of the piston rod of
the steam cylinder by means of a connecting rod attached at one end to the

page_text: bucket, piston, or piston rod of the air pump, and at the other end either to
the cross head of the steam engine or to the end of the piston rod projecting
through the back end of the steam cylinder. The air pump is for this purpose,
by preference, placed in such a position, and the connecting rod made of such
a length that the latter shall at either end stroke of the engine form but a
small angle with the centre line of the air pump on each side of the same.
If the air pump is provided with a plunger piston the connecting rod is con-
nected directly to the bottom of the latter, while if the air pump is provided
with an ordinary piston and piston rod the connecting rod is hinged to the
end of the latter, which is provided with a cross head working in inclined
guides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Orr in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ORR, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of, Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Orr, Her special licence that I, the said John Orr, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Orr, 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 John Orr, 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 John Orr, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the arrangement and mode of working the
air pumps to horizontal or nearly horizontal steam engines.
In the arrangements heretofore employed such air pumps have either been
placed in a vertical position, in which case it is difficult to obtain a good
mechanical mode of working them, or they have been placed in a horizontal
position, in which case the advantage of the direct mode of working is coun-
teracted by the fact that the vacuum is not so perfect as when they are
placed vertically.
Now my Invention has for its object to combine the advantages of the good
vacuum in the vertical arrangement with the direct mode of working in the
horizontal arrangement, and consists in placing the air pump in an inclined
position and working the same directly from cither end of the piston rod of
the steam cylinder by means of a connecting rod attached at one end to the
bucket, piston, or piston rod of the air pump, and at the other end either to
the cross head of the steam engine or to the end of the piston rod, projecting:
through the back end of the steam cylinder. The air pump is, by preference,
placed in such a position and the connecting rod made of such a length that
the latter shall, at either end stroke of the engine, form but a small angle
with the centre line of the air pump on each side of the same. If the air
pump is provided with a plunger piston the connecting rod is connected
directly to the bottom of the latter, while if the air pump is provided with
an ordinary piston and piston rod the connecting rod is hinged to the latter;
which is provided with a cross head working in inclined guides.
Figures 1 to 3 on the accompanying Drawing show one arrangement for
carrying my Invention into practice.
Figure 1 shows a side clevation of a horizontal steam cylinder A with its
crank B at end forward stroke; Figure 2 shows the same at half stroke; and
Figure 3 shows the same at end back stroke. To a pin on the cross head C is
connected the one end of a connecting rod D, the lower end of which is attached
to the bottom of the plunger E of the air pump F to the steam engine, this is
fixed at such an angle to the centre line of the steam cylinder that the con-
necting rod D is in the centre line of the pump when the cross head C is at
or near half stroke, as shewn at Figure 2, so that when the pump is at end
up or down stroke the connecting rod forms a small angle on each side of
such centre line, as shewn at Figures 1 and 3; G is the discharge valve, and
H is the foot valve of the pump; K is the condenser.
Figure 4 shows the Invention applied to an arrangement in which the

page_text: plunger E of the air pump is provided with a packing ring instead of the
packing round the top of the air pump cylinder in the first arrangement; and
Figure 5 shows the Invention applied to an arrangement in which the air
pump
F is provided with a bucket piston E in place of a plunger, in which
case guides I, I, are fixed to the top of the pump in which the cross head J
of the piston rod L works; the connecting rod D is attached to the cross
head, as shewn.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the best means
I am acquainted with of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the precise arrangements for carrying my Invention
into effect as herein-before described with reference to the accompanying
Drawing, as these may be variously modified without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but what I claim under the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, arranging the air pumps to horizontal or nearly
horizontal steam engines in an inclined position, and working them directly
from the piston rod or cross head of the engine by means of a connecting rod,
substantially as herein-before described with reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Orr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 23rd day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.