IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
GEORGE PINCHBECK, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by petition, humbly represent unto Her present most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, that I had invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CERTAIN PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES," and Her said Majesty, being willing to give
encouragement to all Arts and Inventions that may be for the public good,
was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
nine, in the twelfth year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
to give and grant unto me, the said Edmund George Pinchbeck, my exors,
admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputies,
servants, or agents, or such others as I or they should agree with (and no others),
during the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention
within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions called England, Her Domi-
nion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me,
my exors, admors, and assigns, shall seem meet, and that I or they shall enjoy
the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the said Invention during
the said term of fourteen years. And whereas the said Letters Patent contain
a proviso, obliging me, the said Edmund George Pinchbeck, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed; by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said 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
Edmund George Pinchbeck, do hereby declare that my said Invention is
described and ascertained in manner following, and by aid of the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, with the writing thereon, that is to say:-
The particular parts of steam engines to which my said improvements relate
are certain parts by which the requisite reciprocating motion of the air pump
rod and bucket is derived from a revolving crank, which in the case of a pair of
connected marine engines, has commonly been a short crank (or crank of short
radius), formed in a bended or cranked axis, connecting between one of the
engines and the other engine of such a pair of connected engines, such crank
giving the requisite motion or motions (with or without the intervention of a
lever, or of levers and other accessory parts) to the rod and bucket of one
air pump, or to the rods and buckets of the two air pumps, according as the
pair of connected engines may have only one air pump or may have two air
pumps. And my said improvements consist in forming a suitable crank or
cranks of short radius for actuating the air pump or pumps, as aforesaid,
in or upon one or more of the main cranks of longer and ordinary radius,
which is or are turned round by the reciprocating action or actions derived
from the piston rod or rods of the engine or engines, the said main cranks
heing all upon one line of horizontal main axis or axes, which is thereby
caused to revolve with continuous rotatory motion. And, by way of an
example of the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, I
have, in the Sheet of Drawing hereunto annexed, represented a case of
direct-acting marine steam engines of the class or kind called vibrating
or oscillating engines, because the steam cylinder is suspended upon hollow
trunnions in order to allow that cylinder to vibrate or oscillate so much as
may be requisite for permitting the motion of the crank pin joint, at the
upper end of the piston rod, to be performed in the circular orbit wherein
the crank pin of the main crank or cranks revolves during the aforesaid
rotatory motion of the said main crank or cranks, and of the aforesaid line of
horizontal main axis or axes whereon such crank or cranks is or are fastened
and applied.
Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of a steam vessel, with an elevation
of part of a pair of connected vibrating engines therein; Figure 2, a lateral
elevation; and Figure 3, a horizontal plan of one of those engines. In all the

page_text: figures the same letters of the alphabet, or the same numeral characters, are
used for reference to the same parts. A, A, are the sides, and B, B, the floor
or bottom part of the vessel; D, D, the deck; E, E, Figure 2, are strong
cross beams fastened athwart the vessel, and including between them the iron
entablature framing F; F, for sustaining the several bearings a, a, a, a, for the
horizontal main axis or axes G, H, with the main cranks fastened thereon.
I, I, are upright pillars erected upon the foundation framing K, K, for sup-
porting the entablature framing F, F, the said foundation framing being
supported by and fastened down upon suitable wooden sleepers L, L, L, L,
at the bottom or floor B, B, of the vessel. M is one of the vibrating cylinders.
(only one being shewn in Figure 1) suspended on its hollow trunnions m, m,
which are mounted in bearings b, b, formed in the foundation framing K.
d is the piston rod, having at the upper end of it the crank pin joint e, which
is jointed upon the usual horizontal crank pin of the crank N, on one end of
the connecting axis G, on the other end whereof is another like crank O,
the said two cranks N and O being fastened on the said axis G at right
angles, one crank N in respect to the other crank O, as is usual in a pair of
connected marine engines. But the main crank 1, 2, 3, 4, which is fastened
on one end of the main axis H, is formed according to part of my improve-
ments, in the manner of a sort of double crank, as is also shewn in Figure 5,
and separately in Figures 6 and 7, with a crank of short radius for working
the air pump crank rod f, g, of the bucket rod h of the air pump by a direct
action, the joint f at the upper end of the rod f, g, being jointed upon
the short radius crank pin (or air pump crank pin) 2, 3, of the said main
crank 1, 2, 3, 4, the air pump P, with its bucket rod h, being in such case
(of direct action) disposed in an inclining direction, as shewn in Figure 2, as
well as the guiding grooves q, q, for the ends of the joint pin r, by which the
lower end g of the air pump crank rod f, g, is jointed to the air pump bucket
rod h. The lower end of the inclining air pump P is inserted into a suitably
formed part of the condenser Q, R., which, together with the other part R
thereof, is formed in part of the foundation framing K, K, which extends
beneath the two bearings b, b, for the adjacent eduction trunnions m, m. The
delivery branch S, of the air pump P, is joined to the hot well T, Figures 2
and 3, which is surmounted by the stand pipe V, from which the overflow pipe W.
for hot water, proceeds through the side A of the vessel. As the main axes
and cranks revolve with their continual rotatory motion aforesaid, a recipro-
cating motion is given to the air pump crank rod f, g, and air pump bucket
rod h, from the short radius or air pump crank pin 2, 8, of the aforesaid
double main crank 1, 2, 3, 4, which is formed according to part of my

page_text: 'improvements. The length of stroke of such reciprocating motion so given
to the air pump bucket rod h, being half (or about half) as long as the stroke
of the piston rod d, which is connected by its crank pin joint è with the main
'crank pin, which projects out horizontally in the usual manner from the
'main crank N or O, and the end of that said crank pin enters, as usual, into
a suitable hole in the end 4 of the double main crank 1, 2, 3, 4, and thereby
that crank and its axis H is carried round along with the crank N or O; and
the short radius or air pump crank pin 2, 3, being formed in the same piece
with the crank 1, 2, 3, 4, must of course go round at the same time, and
therefore gives the requisite reciprocating motion to the air pump crank
rod f, g, and air puinp rod h, as already mentioned. In Figure 5 (which is a
horizontal plan) the ordinary main crank N and the double main crank 1, 2, 3, 4,
are very plainly seen at the lower part of that Figure 5 (and agáin at the left-
hand side of Figure 1) in their relative positions which these two cranks will
occupy when they are both horizontal; and therefore when the piston is near
the midway of its course, but at the upper part of the same Figure 5 (and
again at the right-hand side of Figure 1), the corresponding two cranks
belonging to the other engine are seen in their relative positions which they
will occupy when they are both vertical, and, therefore, when the piston of
that other engine is at its highest position. And note, respecting: the afore-
said case of the air pump crank rod f, g, and air pump rod h, being worked by
a direct action from the short radius crank pin 2, 3 (with the air pump
inclined as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 8), it is obvious that the recipro-
cating motion of the air pump bucket will be performed nearly simultaneously
and in the same direction as the reciprocating motion of the piston, as well
when that is an ascending as when it is a descending motion, except that,
owing to the inclining position of the air pump, its bucket will attain its
bighest (or its lowest) position a little earlier (or, according to the direction
of the rotatory motion, a little later) than the piston will attain it's own
highest (or its own lowest) position.
Figure 4 is another lateral elevation, and Figure 5 a corresponding plan,
for showing how the air punip bucket rod h may be worked from the short
radius or air pump crank pin 2, 3, and its air pump crank rod f, g, by inter-
vention of a lever x, y, which is poised on a short axis z for its fulcrum, the
pivots of the two ends of that axis being sustained in suitable bearings at
the lower part of framing w, which may be firmly fixed to the" entablature
framing F, F, and descending therefrom, or may be fixed in any other firm
manner. The air pump P is fixed vertically, and the upper end of the air
pump bucket rod h, being guided by fixed vertical grooves q, q, is suspended

page_text: by slings v from the end y of the said lever x, y, and the lower end g.of the
air pump crank rod f, g, is jointed to the end X. of the said lever. Under
such circumstances the reciprocating motion given to the air pump bucket
will be exactly simultaneous with the reciprocating motion of the piston, but
always in a contrary direction, as well when that motion is an ascending
as well as when it is a descending motion. The said reciprocating motion
of the air pump bucket, in respect to the reciprocating motion of the piston,
being always in a contrary direction (one descending whilst the other is
ascending, and vice versa), the weight of the air pump bucket, and the
force for drawing it up in the pump, tends to balance part of the weight
of the piston. The form of the aforesaid double main crank (which is
according to part of my improvements.) is so 'clearly shewn in the separate
views, Figures 6 and 7, as to require no further explanation. The air
pump crank pin 2, 3, must be of large-diameter so as to give full as much or
more strength to the large crank 1, 4, as the strength of the other ordinary
crank N or O, along with which the double main crank is to be worked.
The whole of the double main crank, represented by Figure 6 or by Figure 7,
is to be formed in one solid piece of metal. And note, although I have
herein-before always mentioned the air pump bucket rod h as being worked
with a short reciprocating motion from the crank pin 2, 3, of short radius in
a double main crank, and I have also called the same the air pump crank
pin 2, 3, nevertheless I do not limit myself merely to the air. pump bucket
rod, as the pump or other rod that is to be worked in that manner, for instead
of (or in addition to) the air pump rod, as aforesaid, it may be the rod of any
other kind of pump, or cylinder and piston, or other piece of machinery that
may be required to be worked with a reciprocating motion of shorter stroke
than the stroke of the piston of the steam engine, whether hot water pump,
bilge pump, brine pump, or cold water pump, or blowing cylinder, or bellows,
or small high-pressure steam cylinder, or reciprocating saw, or saw frame for
sawing wood or stone or ice, or reciprocating motion for working a ship's
capstan or windlass instead of by manual labour. And as well as one double
main crank 1, 2, 3, 4, for each engine, for the purpose of working the air pump
as aforesaid, other similar double main cranks may be substituted for the
ordinary main cranks, such as N and O, and the reciprocating motion derived
from the crank pins of short radius in such additional double main cranks as
are so substituted, may be transmitted therefrom by suitable crank rods (with
or without intervention of any suitable levers or elbow levers) to the rod of
the pump or cylinder and piston, or, other piece of reciprocating machinery,
as aforesaid, that is required to be worked with reciprocating motion. And

page_text: 'note, although I have described and represented a pair of vibrating or oscil-
lating marine engines, that is only by way of example of the mode of applying
my improvements; for it may be one engine instead of a pair, and one or a pair
of any other kind of direct acting steam engine, or other steam engine operating
by means of a revolving crank, or of revolving cranks, to exert a continuous
rotatory motion, and from which engine or engines it may be required to
obtain a reciprocating motion or motions of shorter stroke than the stroke of
the piston or pistons, as aforesaid. And steam engines or pairs of such which
do not require any air pump or pumps may nevertheless have (in place of the
ordinary main crank or cranks) a double main crank or double main cranks,
applied according to my improvements for working the rods of other pumps,
or cylinders and pistons, or other pieces of machinery operating with recipro-
cating motion or motions, as aforesaid.
Having now described my said improvements in certain parts of steam
engines, I, the said Edmund George Pinchbeck, do hereby declare that
the new Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted to me by the
Letters Patent herein-before recited, consists in the following improvements,
namely,―
Firstly, in the double main crank, herein-before described and represented
in Figures 6 and 7, having a crank pin 2, 3, of short radius (formed in the
same solid piece of metal with the rest of the said double main crank), for
working the rod of the air pump either by a direct action, as herein-before
described (by way of example), in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3, or else by
intervention of a lever, as herein-before described (by way of example), in
reference to Figures 4 and 5.
Secondly, in the application, hercin-before described, of such a double main
crank or of such double main cranks for the purpose of working the rod or
rods of any other kind of pump, or cylinder and piston, or other piece of
machinery operating with reciprocating motion, or motions of less length
of stroke than the stroke of the piston of the steam engine to which such
double main crank or cranks is applied for such purpose as aforesaid, and
which last-mentioned double main crank or cranks may be in place of, or in
addition to, the similar double main crank or cranks for working the air pump
or pumps according to the first part of my improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund George Pinchbeck, have here-
.unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.
EDMUND GEORGE (L.s.) PINCHBECK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Edmund George Pinchbeck came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.