IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES IN CONNEXION WITH MACHINERY OR. APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING OR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Austin at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd June
1860.
I, JAMES AUSTIN, of Mill Isle Mills, Donaghadee, in the County of Down,.
Ireland, Book-keeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACTION ENGINES IN CONNEXION WITH MACHINERY OR.
APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING OR CULTIVATING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of a convenient
and compact traction engine, which is specially adapted for propelling plough-
ing machinery and other generally similar purposes. Under one modification
the improved traction engine is constructed with an upright cylindrical boiler,.
which is by preference composed of steel plates or what is known as the
patent homogeneous metal boiler plates, so as to combine lightness with.
strength. The interior of the boiler is strengthened by means of vertical
stays arranged three or four inches apart and connecting the crown of the
boiler with the upper part of the furnace. The diameter of the furnace-is
somewhat less than the boiler, so that it is completely surrounded with water,
with the exception of a circular aperture which is made in the boiler shell
and the furnace casing. This opening serves for the admission of the fuel,
and also as an exit for the smoke and products of combustion which pass off

page_text: into a circular flue formed outside the boiler; on each side of the opening to
the furnace is arranged a vertical tube, which is bolted to the boiler shell and
communicates with its interior. Another and similar vertical tube is fitted
to the shell of the boiler at a point diametrical to the two just referred to.
These tubes are made with branch tubes, which extend out from the vertical
tubes and return again thereto, the branches thus forming three sides of a
rectangular figure. These vertical main tubes are connected to each other
by a series of horizontal heating tubes of small diameter, those branching
from the vertical tubes next the boiler shell being arranged in a waved,
curve, or zig-zag figure around the shell, whilst those tubes which extend
from the horizontal and vertical portions of the rectangular branches are
simply curved round the boiler shell, parallel thereto. The flue is formed
by enclosing this arrangement of heating tubes with an external sheet
of copper, which is soldered to the projecting parts of the waved tubes.
This circular flue is enclosed at the lower part by moveable plates to admit
of the flue being cleansed when required. The products of combustion pass
from the tubulated fluc into a spiral flue, which is carried twice round the
boiler and from thence into a chimney fitted over the flue at one side of
the furnace door. In this way a very large amount of heating surface is
obtained and which is comprised in a small cubical space; about half-way
up the exterior of the boiler is bolted a ring of angle iron which has
eight radial arms supporting a ring of larger diameter. This outer ring
has two plates riveted to it and arranged parallel to each other; from
the centre of these plates are hung two guides between which the pedestal
bearings of the main axle slide, a helical spring being placed above each
bearing. On the extremities of the main axle are fitted the bearing wheels,
which run loosely on the axle, and the parts connected with these wheels are
so arranged within a second horizontal ring as to admit of their acting as
steering as well as bearing wheels. The engine for imparting the propelling
power is fitted on the upper part of the boiler, the cylinder being arranged
horizontally. The rectangular frame on which the engine is fitted has a
vertical stud in it which carries the horizontal fly wheel; a pin is screwed
into the nave of this wheel which forms the crank and to which the connecting
rod is attached. The crank pin is made duplex, that is to say, it is bent
at the part above the connecting rod in a horizontal direction, and again
vertically, to which part the spindle of the slide valve motion is attached.
The rim of the fly wheel is all on the lower side of. the wheel, and it gives
motion by frictional contact to a pinion on the upper end of a vertical shaft,

page_text: the bearings of the shaft being adjustable so that the pinion may be regulated
as regards its pressure on the rim of the fly wheel. A worm on the lower
part of the vertical shaft gives motion to a worm wheel on the main axle,
and this motion is communicated by means of arms which are keyed thereto
to pins in the naves of the wheels. The peripheries of the driving wheels
are fitted with curved springs or prongs, which enter the ground as the
machine is propelled along, and so give it an increased hold on the ground.