IMPROVEMENTS IN EQUILIBRIUM SLIDE VALVES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Edlyn Outridge, of 24, Hearn Street,
Newport, Isle of Wight, in the County of Southampton, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN EQUILIBRIUM SLIDE VALVES."
Sealed the 15th January 1869, and dated the 1st August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st August 1868.
I, JOSEPH EDLYN OUTRIDGE, of 24, Hearn Street, Newport, Isle of
Wight, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EQUILIBRIUM SLIDE VALVES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
mechanism whereby the pressure occasioned by steam and vacuum is
removed from the faces of slide valves, and the free working of the slide
valves is secured. I accomplish this by attaching to the ordinary valve
box of a steam engine, or to any steam chest or casing, an apparatus.
consisting of two castings, containing ports or passages for the inlet and
outlet of steam, the faces of which are parallel with each other, and
between which faces a slide or slides works or work, which conducts or

page_text: conduct the steam into the cylinder. The slide rod is so arranged that
pressure can be given if required by means of a small lever on the
slide rod outside the stuffing box. It can be applied to every kind of
engine where slide valves are necessary or ordinarily used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
EDLYN OUTRIDGE, of 24, Hearn Street, Newport, Isle of Wight, in the
*County of Southampton, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge, Her
special licence that I, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge, my executors;
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Edlyn Outridge, 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 EQUILIBRIUM SLIDE VALVES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say: -

page_text: My Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
mechanism whereby the pressure of steam and vacuum is removed from
slide valves, and their free working obtained without friction upon their
faces. I accomplish this by attaching to the ordinary valve box of a
steam engine an apparatus consisting of one, two, or more castings, each
casting containing ports or passages for the inlet and outlet of the steam.
The faces of the castings which contain the ports or passages are
opposite to each other, and may be fixed parallel to each other or
otherwise. Between these faces I place a single or double slide, each of
which has an aperture in it whereby the communication from passage
to passage is perfectly free. When I employ a double slide I place
blades of brass or other metal upon the part or parts of the slide exposed
to the steam to prevent a passage between the two slides or parts. I
provide for any necessary pressure upon the valve by means of a lever
affixed to the slide rod; that part of the rod which holds the valve being
flat will keep the valve or valves to their faces. In some cases I employ
two or more valves composed of castings and slides constructed upon the
same principle, the number of the valves being regulated by the size of
the steam chest or valve box, and being fitted as above explained.
My Invention can be applied to any kind of engine where slide valves
are necessary or expedient.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a top view of a valve.
constructed according to my Invention, the top cover of the valve box
being removed. Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 a
transverse section of the valve applied to an ordinary steam cylinder.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the casting constructed as herein-before
described.
a is the cylinder; b, the valve box; c, the casting; and d, the slide,
which is single; e, f, are the two ports communicating between the valve
box and the front and back of the cylinder respectively. The casting c
has two opposite faces, as shown, and is provided with a port or passage g
in each face to communicate with the port e, and a port or passage h in
each face to communicate with the port f. The casting is also formed
with a central exhaust opening or port i corresponding with a similar
opening k in the slide d; is the steam supply pipe, and m the exhaust.
In the forward movement of the valve the slide d passes the ports h in
the casting, thereby allowing the steam to pass from the valve box
through these ports / to the port f, and thence to the back end of

page_text: the cylinder; the opening % of the slide also in the forward movement
uncovers the ports g in the casting, allowing the steam in front of the
cylinder to exhaust through the port e, ports g, openings and i, and
passage m. The bottom face of the slide d is by preference kept a little
above the bottom of the casting c, as seen in the Figures, to allow the
steam to flow between them. x is a lever on the slide rod; when
pressure is put upon this lever by a spring, weight, or otherwise, the
flat part of the slide rod keeps the slides to their faces.
Figure 5 is a perspective view, and Figure 6 a transverse section,
showing a slide made double or in two parts, as herein-before referred to,
blades n of brass or other metal being placed around the slide to prevent
steam passing between the two parts.
Figures 7 and 8 show one of my castings made with wedge-shaped
faces or faces inclined to one another to receive a wedge-shaped valye
and valves.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down, but
what I claim as my improvements in equilibrium slide valves is, con-
structing such valves with a slide working between two opposite
corresponding faces, all being arranged and acting substantially as
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOSEPH EDLYN OUTRIDGE. (L.S.)