IMPROVMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin, of No. 4,
Prince's Square, Bayswater, for the Invention of "IMPROVMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 22nd November 1867, and dated the 26th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Caesar
Frederick Franklin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with bis Petition, on the 26th June 1867.
I, ALEXANDER CAESAR FREDERICK FRANKLIN, of No. 4, Princes Square,
Bayswater, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam engines, and is
applicable where two or more cylinders are employed, the pistons of which are
by their rods connected to one crank shaft. The Invention consists in so
arranging the engine that the steam only acts on each piston to move it in one.
direction, so that if two cylinders be employed the pressure of the steam will.
be acting on the piston of one cylinder and thus turning the crank shaft,
whilst the piston of the other cylinder is being moved back without being acted
on by the pressure of the steam upon it; the up stroke of the crank or cranks

page_text: is thus produced by the piston of one cylinder, whilst the down stroke is
produced by the piston of the other cylinder; one end of each cylinder may
by this arrangement be left open. By this means a saving of one-half of the
fuel ordinarily employed will be effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CAESAR FREDERICK FRANKLIN, of. No. 4, Princes Square, Bayswater, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin, Her special licence that I, the
said Alexander Caesar. Frederick Franklin, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin,
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 condi-
tion (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should, particularly, describe and ascer-
tain 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 Alexander, Caesar Frederick Franklin,
do hereby declare, the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam engines, and is
applicable where two cylinders are employed, the pistons of which are con-

page_text: nected to one crank shaft, the number of the cylinders may however be more.
than two or less than two. The Invention consists in so arranging the engine
that the steam only acts on each piston to move it in one direction, so that
if two cylinders be employed the pressure of the steam will be acting on the
piston of one cylinder, and thus turning the crank shaft, whilst the piston of
the other cylinder is being moved back without being acted on by the pressure
of the steam. By this means a saving of about half of the fuel ordinarily
employed will be effected..
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of a steam engine arranged according to my Invention,
and having two stationary steam cylinders. a, a, is a base plate, on which are
bolted the two steam cylinders 6, 6, each of which is open at one end to the
air. One of the cylinders is open in front, the stuffing box for the piston rod
being carried by means of a bar passing from side to side of a ring cover, such
as is shown in plan in Figure 2; the other steam cylinder, which is open a
the back, may be fitted with a ring cover, such as is shown at Figure 3. The
steam passages are arranged in the usual way, except that the passage leading
to the open end of each cylinder is stopped up or dispensed with. 6, 6, are
valve boxes on the sides of the cylinders; they may contain slide valves of
ordinary construction, and they are supplied with steam in the usual way. The
piston rods c, c, are jointed at their outer ends to the connecting rods d, d,
which at their other extremities are coupled with cranks e¹, e¹, on the driving
shaft e, as is shown; f, f, are eccentrics on the shaft e for giving motion to
the valves in the usual way; g is a fly wheel, and h a belt pulley to receive
an endless strap for driving machinery, both of them are fixed upon the
driving shaft e. It is preferred so to arrange the valves of the engine that
the steam shall be exhausted from the cylinders at about half stroke, and I
sometimes place valves in the exhaust passages, they are arranged so that
when the pressure in the cylinder falls to the atmospheric pressure the valve
in the exhaust passage closes, and from the continued motion of the piston a
partial vacuum results which is utilized in the return stroke.
I would remark that the form of the engines may be varied, thus the
pistons may have trunks upon them to admit of the connecting rods being
coupled at once with the piston, or the cylinders may be arranged to oscillate
on trunnions, as is well understood, and other similar variations may be made;

page_text: but what I claim is, the use in non-condensing steam engines of cylinders open
at one end and working with a piston and crank, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Caesar Frederick Franklin,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
A. C. F. FRANKLIN. (L.S.)