IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES. APPLICABLE TO PLOUGHING AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Howard, of Bedford, in the County of
Bedford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES.
APPLICABLE TO PLOUGHING AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 18th July 1865, and dated the 24th February 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Howard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
February 1865.
I, JAMES HOWARD, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES APPLICABLE TO PLOUGHING AND OTHER. AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to increase the efficiency of engines to be
employed in steam ploughing and other agricultural uses. In this novel
arrangement of engine I set the fire-box midway of the length of the boiler,
and have a smoke box or flue at either end of the boiler. These smoke boxes
I connect with the fire-box by a system of tubular flues running longitudinally
of the boiler, which flues I make by preference of a taper form, the sectional
area gradually diminishing from the fire-box to the smoke box, and the barrel
of the boiler I also propose to taper from the fire-box to its extremities. The
heated gases lead off from the smoke boxes to a central chimney, within
which the steam done is situate immediately above the fire-box. From the

page_text: top of this dome the steam is taken and conducted by a pipe or pipes through
a heated flue to the cylinder or cylinders of the engine situate on the top of
the boiler. By this arrangement not only is a rapid generation of steam
effected, but a supply of dry steam to the cylinders is ensured, as the radiation
of heat, and consequent condensation of steam in the dome are prevented, and
the steam is moreover superheated on its passage to the cylinders. The
barrels or winding drums I set at the opposite ends of the boiler, mounting
them upon a longitudinal shaft, which is carried in bearings supported by the
shell of the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HOWARD, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Howard, Her special licence that I, the said James
Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES APPLICABLE TO PLOUGHING AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Howard, 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 James Howard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The object of this Invention is to increase the efficiency of engines to be
employed in steam ploughing and other agricultural uses without increasing
the cost of manufacture. To this end I adopt a transverse fire-box, which in
this instance is situate midway of the length of the boiler, and I construct a
smoke box or flue at each end of the boiler, which smoke boxes I connect
with the fire-box by tubular flues running longitudinally of the boiler. The
heated gases lead off from the smoke boxes to a central chimney within which.
the steam dome is situate immediately above the fire-box. From the upper
part of this dome the steam is taken and conducted by a pipe or pipes through
a heated flue to the cylinder or cylinders of the engine.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn my improved engine in side
elevation at Fig. 1, and in longitudinal section at Fig. 2.
A is the inner shell of the boiler, and B the outer shell set excentrically
thereto, in order to form a return flue for the gases of combustion to the
central chimney C. The transverse fire-box is shewn at D, from either side
of which the gases of combustion pass off through tubes E leading to the
smoke boxes F at opposite ends of the boiler. These tubular flues E are
secured in the ordinary or any approved way to the walls D¹ of the fire-place
and the tube plates A'. Immediately above the fire-box the steam dome G is
set on the top of the boiler. This steam dome being situate within the
chimney C is heated by the gases of combustion as they pass from the smoke
boxes Fover the shell A of the boiler to the central chimney. A steam
pipe H, which is fitted with a slide valve I, leads from near the top of the
steam dome through the flue formed by the boiler shells A and B to the steam
cylinders K, which are mounted on one end of the boiler. By this arrange-
ment not only is a rapid generation of steam effected, but a supply of dry
steam to the cylinders is ensured as the radiation of heat, and consequent
condensation of steam in the dome are prevented, and the steam is moreover
superheated on its passage to the cylinders.
The Invention also relates to a novel arrangement of the barrels or winding
drums of ploughing engines, and consists in setting them at the opposite ends
of the boiler. Fig. 3 shews the engine thus fitted in side elevation, and Fig. 4
is a plan view of the same. L, L', are the winding drums mounted upon a
longitudinal shaft M, which is carried by bearings attached to the shell of the
boiler. These barrels or drums I mount as heretofore upon excentrics, so
that by turning the shaft M they may be raised into or dropped out of
The drums are each provided with a ring of internal teeth, into which gear
gear.

page_text: gear
0
spur pinions on a horizontal shaft N that receives motion through bevil
from the crank shaft P. The pitch lines of the gearing for giving motion to
the travelling wheels are shown in red at Fig. 3. In order to counteract the
drag of the rope of the drum L' on the engine, I form the periphery of the
steering wheel Q with segment blades, which by taking into the ground will
give the engine a sufficient hold to prevent its lateral displacement while the
traction rope is in action, and if found desirable the hinder wheels may be
similarly provided.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Steam Engines applicable to Ploughing and other Agricultural Purposes,"
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to bo
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First, the arrangement of agricultural engine as described with reference to
Figs. 1 and 2 of the Drawings.
Second, mounting the barrels or winding drums at the opposite ends of the
boiler, as described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Howard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JAMES HOWARD. (L.S.)