IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY STEAM, AIR, OR ANY OTHER VAPOUR
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Whittaker, of Moon's Mill, within Walton-
le-dale, in the County of Lancaster, Millwright, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY STEAM, AIR,
OR ANY OTHER VAPOUR."
Sealed the 22nd January 1864, and dated the 27th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Whittaker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1863.
I, JAMES WHITTAKER, of Moon's Mill, within Walton-le-Dale, in the
County of Lancaster, Millwright, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY
STEAM, AIR, OR ANY OTHER VAPOUR," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in employing two piston rods, one at each end of
the cylinder, as well as four pistons (A, B, C, and D), in a cylinder having
five port holes for the admission of the steam or other motive power, such
port holes being so arranged as to suit the kind of valves used to admit the
steam or other motive power. The pistons are coupled to the piston rods and
to one another in the following manner :-To the rod working through one
cylinder cover is coupled piston A, which is coupled by means of two or more
rods with piston C, such rods passing through stuffing boxes in the inter-
mediate piston B, which latter is coupled to the end of the opposite piston
rol; and to the same rod, which passes through a stuffing box in piston C, is

page_text: coupled piston D. The pistons A and C will thus movo together, and similarly
the pistons B and D. The pistons are so arranged with reference to each
other and to the port holes that the steam or other motive power is admitted
between pistons A and B, between ¡istons B and C, and between pistons C
and D, as well as at each end of the cylinder. By this arrangement a double
amount of force is obtained from the same steam or other motive power
employed. The cylinder may be cast in one or two parts, according to the
length of stroke of the engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Whittaker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WHITTAKER, of Moon's Mill, within Walton-le-Dale, in the County of Lan-
caster, Millwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Whittaker, Her special license that I, the said James
Whittaker, my executors, administrators, and, assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Whittaker, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY STEAM, AIR, OR ANY
OTHER VAPOUR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Whittaker, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should parti-
cularly 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 Whittaker, 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 accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the cylinders of steam and other motive-power
engines wherein reciprocating pistons are used, and to the arrangement and
mode of working such pistons and their rods, and consists in employing
two piston rods, one at each end of the cylinder, as well as four pistons (A, B,
C, and D,) in a cylinder having five port holes for the admission of the steam
or other motive power, such port holes being so arranged as to suit the kind
of valves used to admit the steam or other motive power. The pistons aro
coupled to the piston rods and to one another in the following manner :—
To the rod working through one cylinder is coupled piston A, which is
coupled by means of two or more rods with piston C, such rods passing
through stuffing boxes in the intermediate piston B, which latter is coupled to
the end of the opposite piston rod, and to same rod, which passes through
a stuffing box in piston C, is coupled piston D. The pistons A and C will thus
move together, and similarly the pistons B and D. The pistons are so
arranged with reference to each other and to the port holes that the steam or
other motive power is admitted between pistons A and B, between pistons B
and C, and between pistons C and D, as well as at each end of the cylinder.
By this arrangement a double amount of force is obtained from the same steam
or other motive power employed on its first admission between the pistons, and
afterwards according to the expansion of the same. The cylinder may be cast
in one or two parts, according to the length of stroke of the engine.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose [
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a vertical section of a
motive-power engine cylinder constructed and arranged according to one
modification of my Invention, and having four pistons working therein in the
manner herein-before referred to; Figure 2 is a modified arrangement of the
and Figure 3 represents two views of the arrangement of the cranks
which I prefer to employ in connection with the piston rods of the four
pistons. The arrangement shown at Figure 1 is intended for a compound
engine, the high-pressure exhaust steam being re-worked and finally passe.l
into the condenser.
same;
A is the steam cylinder, provided with top and bottom covers B, B, in each
of which is formed a stuffing box C, C. The cylinder is provided with fivo

page_text: steam ports, numbered respectively on the Drawing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and with two
separate sets of slide valves worked by their respective valve rods or spindles
D, D¹. In place of being cast in one entire piece the cylinder is composed of
three sections or lengths bolted together, as shown at a, a, in Figure 1.
E, F, G, H, are four pistons working inside the cylinder; the piston E is
connected in the usual manner with the piston rod I, which works through
the stuffing box C in the cylinder cover. This piston E is coupled by means
of the subordinate piston rods K, K, with the piston F, the rods K, K, working
through stuffing boxes b, b, in the middle section or length of the cylinder.
Gis a smaller piston working in a contracted part of the cylinder, and coupled
by means of the intermediate piston rod L with the piston H, a stuffing box c
being formed in the centre of the piston F for the rod L to work through.
Al is the main piston rod of the piston H, of which rod the piston rod L
forms a prolongation or continuation. The rod M works, in the usual
manner, through a stuffing box C in the bottom eylinder cover, as shown.
A double crank is employed for receiving the motion of the several pistons,
the piston rod I being connected to one crank and the piston rod M
to the other crank; and when the pistons are in the positions shewn in
Figure 1 the two cranks are supposed to be both on the dead centre on
diametrically opposite sides of the shaft. But in place of arranging the two
cranks so that they both come on the dead centre simultaneously, I prefer to
place one crank at a slight angle to the other, as shown in the enlarged detail
views at Figure 3, by which arrangement one crank will always be assisted by
the other when passing the dead centres. N is the crank which is intended
to be connected with the piston rod I, whilst the crank O, which has a shorter
throw than the crank N, is connected with the piston rod M, suitable cross
heads and side rods being employed in making these connections, which being
well understood by engineers, and forming no part of my Invention, I have
not considered it requisite to illustrate in my Drawings. In Figure 1 steam
is being admitted from the high-pressure valve box P through the port 1
between the pistons E and G whilst it is exhausting from between the pistons
G and F through the port 2 into the pipes Q leading to the low-pressure valve
boxes R, R. From these valve boxes the exhaust high-pressure steam re-
enters the cylinder through the port 4, and operates between the pistons F
and II, whilst at the same time steam is exhausting from behind the pistons
E and II, at the opposite ends of the cylinder, into the condenser along the
pipe S, as shewn by the several arrows, those colored blue indicating high-
pressure steam, whilst those colored red show the low-pressure steam. At the
next stroke high-pressure steam enters the port 2 between the pistons G and F,

page_text: and exhausts through the port 1 from between the pistons E and G, entering
the low-pressure valve boxes by the pipes Q, as before, to re-enter the cylinder
through the ports 3 and 5 at the same time that the exhaust is taking place
through the port 4 into the condenser.
The arrangement illustrated at Figure 2 represents a simple condensing
engine. The cylinder A is cast in one piece, and the piston rods K, K, in
place of working through stuffing boxes fitted into a portion of the cylinder
itself, work through stuffing boxes b, b, formed in the piston G. This piston,
moreover, is of the same area as the rest, as it is subjected to the same pressure
of steam, whereas in the previously described arrangement it is of considerably
smaller area, as it is always acted upon by high-pressure steam. The valvo
boxes R, R, R, in Figure 2 are all in direct communication, through suitable
branch steam pipes (not shown in my Drawings), with the boiler, and the
exhaust into the condenser takes place through the pipes Q and S.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
berein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of motive-power engines,
as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar combination of pistons of motive-power engines, and
the mode of working the same, as herein-before described.
Third, the peculiar means of obtaining the same expansion of steam or
other elastic vapour with half the length of stroke and in half the time required
heretofore, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Whittaker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES WHITTAKER. (L.S.)
JAMES WHITTAKER. (L.S.)