CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OPLOCOMOTIVE STEAM ENGINES, AND IN WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAIL AND OTHER WAYS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES GENERALLY
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DIRCKS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
forty, in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Dircks, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Dircks, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Henry Dircks,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no other, 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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OPLOCOMOTIVE STEAM ENGINES, AND
IN WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAIL AND OTHER WAYS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
ARE APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES GENERALLY;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Dircks, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: 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
Henry Dircks, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say);-
The first part of my Invention, namely, improvements in the construction
of locomotive steam engines, consists in a novel arrangement and construction
of exhaust or exit pipe, by which the exit steam from the cylinders is conducted
into the chimney and at the same time is caused to act upon the gas, smoke,
or heated air at the back end of the tubes in the boiler in very small jets, and
thus prevent or consume the smoke from the furnace in those engines where
coal is used and the boiler is of the tubular construction. The principal
feature of this improvement consists in forming the exhaust or exit pipe, which
is placed in the smoke box of the engine as usual, into a series of small
branches or tubes, and so arranging or spreading these tubes that they may be
opposed to most of the ends of the boiler tubes in the smoke box; and as the
exhaust branches or tubes are perforated with small holes on that side of the
pipes opposed to the tube ends, the steam will blow out upon the orifices at the
ends of the boiler tubes in very fine jets, and this prevent the emission of smoke,
this part of my improvements being applicable to steam engines generally.
Secondly, my improvements in the construction of wheels to be used upon
rails or other roads or ways, consist in forming the tyre of the wheel of cast
or wrought iron, having a channel or groove formed in it to be filled with
blocks of wood, having the grain of the wood placed vertically or endways all
round in segments, which are afterwards bolted, or riveted, or otherwise fastened
in the channel of the tyre, and present a wooden-faced rim or running surface
to the road or way. The wood I prefer to be used for this purpose is African
oak, British oak, beech, or other hard wood, previously soaked or saturated
with coal gas tar, and impregnated therewith by means of hydraulic or other
pressure, in order to fill up its pores, and thus prevent the admission of
moisture. Instead of the use of hard woods, softer timber, such as larch, &c.,
may be employed, and previously squeezed or pressed into more perfect
solidity. And I would remark also, that the wood may be otherwise chemi-
cally prepared, in order to prevent the admission of moisture, or the pores
may be filled by any oiley substances being either pressed into the pores of
the timber or introduced by vacuum or other means. In order that these
improvements may be perfectly understood, I have attached to these Presents

page_text: two Sheets of Drawings, and have marked the same with figures and letters
of reference corresponding with the following description thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 represents a transverse section taken vertically through
the smoke box of a locomotive engine boiler; and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section
of the same, exposing the ends of the boiler tubes, the cylinders, and the exit
or exhaust pipes. The smoke box is represented at a, a, a, a, attached as usual
to the end of the boiler b, b, b. The boiler tubes are shewn at c, c, c, c, open
as usual into the smoke box, the steam cylinders d, d, communicating as in
common with the lower end of the exhaust or exit pipe e, e. This pipe instead
of now being carried upwards directly into the chimney f, as usual, is branched
or spread into several small pipes or tubes 9, 9, 9, 9, perforated with small
holes on the sides opposed to the tubes c, c, c, c, and are then again con-
nected at their upper ends to the exhaust or exit pipe h leading to the chim-
ney f. There is also an auxiliary pipe i, i, the cock of which is to be opened
by the engine-man to supply steam from the boiler to the branch pipes g, 9, 9, 9,
when the engine is stationary and the supply cut off from the cylinders. The
steam thus blowing out of the perforated exhaust pipes 9, 9, opposite the
back end of the boiler tubes, will thus prevent the passage of smoke to the
flue or chimney.
In Sheet 2, Fig. 1 represents a front view of my improved wheel; Fig. 2 a
side or edge view of the same; and Fig. 3 a section taken vertically through
the middle of the wheel. a, a, a, a, represents the ordinary parts of a cast or
wrought metal wheel, having the rim or tyre formed as a channel or groove,
in which are placed the several segments of wood b, b, b, b, leaving the grain
placed vertically and extending around the tyre in order to form the running or
outer periphery. These segments of wood may be fastened into the metallic
channel by various means by bolts or rivets, as shewn at c, c, c, c, or by turning
a groove half in the metal and half in the wood, and running metal therein, as
shewn at d, d.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent detached segments, and shew either mode of
fastening them to the metallic body of the wheel.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the improved construction and arrangement of the exhaust or
exit pipe used in combination with tubular boilers, in the manner and for the
purposes herein set forth.