IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR DOUBLE-CYLINDER STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Inchley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th October
1863.
I, JOSEPH INCHLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR DOUBLE-CYLINDER STEAM ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to double-cylinder steam engines, or steam engines in
which the steam after having expanded in one cylinder is admitted into another
larger cylinder for the purpose of expanding further, and giving out a further
amount of motive power, and consists of the arrangement of valves herein-after
described, whereby the steam is directed from the steam chest to the small
cylinder, from thence to the large cylinder, and finally to the condenser or
waste pipe.
I construct the said valves according to my Invention as follows:-The
base of the valve consists of a thick circular disk, having a series of radial
openings communicating respectively with the upper and lower ends of both
cylinders and with the condenser or waste pipe. Upon this disk another disk
fits, which last-named disk is capable of a motion of partial rotation upon the

page_text: first-named fixed disk. A cap covering the moveable disk and secured to the
flange of the fixed disk makes with the fixed disk the steam chest, into which
steam from the boiler passes, and within which the moveable disk works. All
the openings in the disks are radial, and are thus arranged. In the fixed disk
two radial openings are made on one side, the said two openings being situated
within an angle of about ninety degrees. The one is above and the other
below a horizontal line drawn through the centre of the disk. The upper
opening communicates with the upper part of the small cylinder, and the
lower opening with the lower part of the small cylinder. The openings in
the fixed disk do not pass through the disk, but communicate with openings
in the edge of the disk. On either side of the two openings described are
two other larger radial openings. These are situated the one over the other,
and communicate respectively with the upper and lower parts of the larger
cylinder. Between the last two named openings is another opening, which
communicates with the condenser or waste pipe. The moveable disk has one
radial opening corresponding in size with one of the smallest of the openings
in the fixed disk, and the motion of the moveable disk is so limited that the
said opening can only pass from over one to over the other of the two small
openings in the fixed disk, and the steam which passes from the steam chest
through the opening in the moveable disk can only pass to the upper or lower
part of the small cylinder. On the under side of the moveable disk are two
radial depressions passing nearly but not quite through the disk; these depres-
sions are situated on either side the opening. These depressions constitute
channels, by which, according to the position of the disk, the steam may be
conducted in the required direction from the steam chest to the small cylinder,
and from the small cylinder to the large cylinder, and from the large cylinder
to the condenser or waste pipe. When the moveable disk is one position
the opening in it lets steam into the upper part of the small cylinder, at the
same time one of the channels provides a communication between the lower
part of the small cylinder and the lower part of the large cylinder. The other
channel makes communication between the upper part of the large cylinder
and the condenser or waste pipe. When the moveable disk is in its other
position its opening lets steam into the lower part of the small cylinder while
one of its channels makes communication between the upper part of the small
cylinder and the upper part of the large cylinder. The other channel makes
communication between the lower part of the large cylinder and the condenser
or waste pipe. Motion may be given to the moveable part of the valve by
an excentric on the engine shaft, or in any other convenient manner.
In

page_text: applying valves made according to my Invention to oscillating engines the
motion of the parts of the valve is effected by the two cylinders. The
openings and channels require in this case to be slightly modified, but they are
essentially the same as those already described.