IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Humphrys, of Deptford, in the County
of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 19th September 1861, and dated the 22nd March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Humphrys at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1861.
I, EDWARD HUMPHRYS, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in that class of engines
known as Woolf's system, and consists of the following combination of parts
to render this class of engine suitable for driving screw propellers. I place the
large cylinder on one side the screw shaft, and between this large cylinder and
the ship's side I place the small or high-pressure cylinder, the axis of both
these cylinders being in a horizontal line. I connect the pistons of these two
cylinders together by one central rod; the motion of these two pistons is con-
veyed to the crank shaft by rods eccentric to the cylinder connected to the
large piston at one end, and to a cross bar at the other, from which cross bar a
connecting rod transmits the motion to the crank pin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Humphrys in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HUMPHRYS, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Humphrys, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Humphrys, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edward Humphrys, 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Humphrys, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Humphrys, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
This Invention has for its object improvements in that class of engines
known as Woolf's system, and consists of the following combination of parts
to render this class of engine suitable for driving screw propellers. I place the
large cylinder on one side the screw shaft, and between this large cylinder and
the ship's side I place the small or high-pressure cylinder, the axis of both
these cylinders being in a horizontal line. I connect the pistons of these two
cylinders together by one central rod; the motion of these two pistons is con-
veved to the crank shaft by rods eccentric to the cylinder, connected to the
large piston at one end, and to a cross bar at the other, from which cross
bar a connecting rod transmits the motion to the crank pin.

page_text: The accompanying sectional Drawing shows the combination just described.
A is the large cylinder; B is the small or high-pressure cylinder; C is the
piston of the large cylinder; D is the small cylinder piston; E is a rod, con-
necting these two pistons; F, F, are piston rods, connected at one end to the
piston C, and at the other to a cross bar G; H is the connecting rod for
transmitting the motion of the pistons to the crank pin.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the arrangement
and combination of parts of steam engines of the "Woolf" class, in order to
adapt them to driving screw propellers, as herein-before described and repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Humphrys, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
EDW. HUMPHRYS. (L.s.)