CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND IN BOILERS, IN PUMPS, IN SAFETY VALVES AND IN WHEELS AND AXLES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANDREWS, of George Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanic,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Andrews, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Andrews, my
exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Andrews,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES, AND IN BOILERS, IN PUMPS, IN SAFETY VALVES, AND IN WHEELS AND
AXLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said

page_text: William Andrews, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Andrews, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained, in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in rotatory steam engines;
secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in steam boilers; thirdly, my
Invention consists of improvements in pumps; fourthly, my Invention consists
of improvements in safety valves; fifthly, my Invention consists of improve-
ments in railway wheels; and sixthly, my Invention consists of improvements
in railway axles. And in order that my Invention may be most fully under-
stood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means

page_text: back through the side passages &, &, and thence into the atmosphere, by
which rotatory motion will be communicated to the outer wheel or part of the
engine. And in order to transmit motion from the two parts of the engine
above described to a common axis, I employ the following apparatus:-
Figure 5 shows a front view in section; Figure 6, a plan in section; and
Figure 7, a plan of this apparatus. a, a, is what I call an internal expanding
drum; it revolves on its own axis, and its perephery acts upon the surfaces of
the rollers b, b, and turns them round with what I call the live curb c, c. The
external drum d acts on the rollers b, b, and couses them to be turned round
in the same direction, which resolves the two motions of the two parts of the
engine into one direct uniform continuous circular motion.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which relates to steam
boilers. Figure 8 shows a longitudinal section; Figure 9, a transverse sec-
tion; and Figure 10, a plan in section of a steam boiler, constructed according
to part of my improvements; and these improvements consist of causing the
boiler to be so constructed that the heat and flame rising from the fire shall
pass up through a series of tubes a, a, rising from the fire box or furnace, and
thence into what I have called a flue; and then by a series of horizontal tubes
to pass from the flue to the chimney, thus offering not only an extensive
heating surface to the surrounding water, but at the same time the heat from
the fire will be more advantageously applied. Figure 10 shows a longitudinal
section; Figure 12, a transverse section; and Figure 13, a plan in section of
another arrangement of boiler constructed according to my Invention, very
similar to the arrangement shown by the previous Figures, but differing in the
shapes of some of the parts, acting, however, on like principles, for the heat
and flame from the fire rise up through vertical tubes, pass into a flue, or
what I have called a generator, and thence through numerous horizontal
tubes, as shown. Figure 14 shows a longitudinal section of another boiler;
Figures 15 and 16 show two transverse sections thereof; Figure 17, an external
view; Figure 18, a horizontal section; and Figure 19, a horizontal section of
the tubes above the fire. In this arrangement, as in the previous ones, the
heat and flanie pass up through tubes above the fire into a chamber, or what I
have called a generator; thence through a series of tubes inclining upwards;
but in place of passing thence to the chimney, as in the previous boilers above
described, the heat and products from the fire pass back from a chamber
through other tubes inclining upwards into the flue or passage at the front end
of the chimney, and thence to the chimney.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which relates to

page_text: mprovements in pumps, and consists of employing two buckets and dispensing
with the foot valve and the delivering valve. Figure 20 shows a section of a
pump constructed according to this part of my Invention.
a, b, are two
buckets, the piston rod of one passing through the hollow piston rod of the
other bucket, and there is no foot or delivering valve employed.
I will now describe the fourth part of my Invention, which relates to safety
valves. Figure 21 shows a side view of a safety valve, partly in section, and
constructed according to this part of my Invention. Figure 22 shows a plan,
the lever being removed. The valve a consists of a ring fitting an annular
opening b, the inner portion of the seat c being connected with the outer
portion of the seat by bridges or connections d, d. The valve has a spindle c,
and the same is pressed on by a lever f, as shewn.
I will now describe the fifth part of my Invention, which relates to the con-
struction of railway wheels, and consists of welding on a surface of iron on to
the outer circumference of the wheel, the grain of which iron shall run in a
direction so as to cross the rails on which it is moving in a transverse direction,
and thus to obtain a better holding or friction than when the grain of the iron
of the perephery of the wheel is in a direction around the perephery, and in a
line with the rails on which it runs. Figure 23 shows a section of a railway
wheel tire; on the surface a is welded iron, the grain of which runs across the
face of the wheel, and not around it.
I will now describe the sixth part of my Invention, which relates to railway
axles. Figures 24 and 25 show parts of two railway axles, one end of each
being in the finished state, the other in an incomplete state; and these im-
provements consist of welding on the ends of the axletrees a coating of iron,
the grain of which runs rounds around the axle, by which they will be less liable
to heat than when the grain of the iron runs in a direction lengthwise of the
axletrees. For this purpose I bend a plate of iron into the form shown at a, a,
and then weld the same on to the ends of the axles, so that the grain of the
iron runs around the axles.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details as herein given, provided the peculiar character of my Invention
be retained. But what I claim is,--
First, the improved construction of rotatory steam engines, herein described.
Secondly, I claim the improvements in the construction of steam engines,
above described.
Thirdly, I claim the improvements in pumps, above described.
5

page_text: Fourthly, I claim the construction of safety valve, above described.
Fifthly, I claim the improvement in railway wheels, above described. And
Sixthly, I claim the improvement in railway axles, above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Andrews, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Andrews came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.