IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOTIVE- POWER ENGINES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOTIVE-
POWER ENGINES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
Sealed the 30th May 1854, and dated the 6th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
January 1854.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES,
PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PACKING OF PISTONS
GENERALLY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a novel mode of arranging and constructing
the parts for supplying steam or other motive-power agents to the working
cylinder of engines, the object being to ensure an equable pressure upon all
portions of the valve. This desideratum is effected by an arrangement of
annular steam ports or passages which conduct the steam in a circular direction
around the periphery and also to both ends of a circular piston valve, both
while receiving and exhausting the steam.
In many engines also, and especially in locomotives where the piston has a
quick traversing motion, it is very desirable to have a large quantity of steam

page_text: admitted into the cylinder at the first movement or opening of the valve, and
an equal rapidity in exhausting the steam from the same, which result is
obtained by and forms one of the principal advantages of the present improve-
ments, as by the shortest movement of the valve a very large area of is
port
opened for the passage of the steam. In this arrangement, two steam chests,
which communicate with each other, are employed for conducting the steam to
the working cylinder. These chests are made cylindrical to receive a recipro-
cating piston valve. The chest which first receives the steam is provided with
three annular steam ports or ways equidistant from each other, and connected
together by a lateral passage. The middle steam port is for conducting steam
into the second steam chest, and the side ports are for admitting steam to both
sides of the piston valve, so as to equalize the pressure thereon. When the
piston valve covers the middle port, the steam passes into a passage in the
second chest, which passage communicates with two ports for admitting steam
to opposite ends of the piston valve in the second steam chest, and equalizing
the pressure thereon. The steam then passes to one or other of two adjoining
annular ports, and thence through the ordinary steam way to one end of the
piston of the working cylinder. At the same time the exhaust steam escapes
through the corresponding passage (which opens into the opposite end of the
cylinder), and returning to the steam chest makes its escape therefrom through
an annular steam port, situate midway between the ports which supply steam
to the cylinder.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a mode of packing the piston valves and
also the piston of the steam cylinder, and consists in applying behind the packing
rings one continuous bent spring with set screws for setting out the packing
rings, so as to form an adjustable and equable pressure on the expanding rings.
This arrangement is applicable also to the packing of pistons generally.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES,
PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PACKING OF PISTONS
GENERALLY," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates, firstly, to a novel mode of arranging and constructing the parts for
supplying steam or other motive-power agents to the working cylinder of
engines, the object being to ensure an equable pressure upon all portions of
the valve.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a mode of packing the piston valves, and
also the piston of the steam cylinder.
+
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal vertical
section of an engine cylinder, with the improved arrangement of valves, &c.
attached. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same, taken in the
plane of the line A, B, Figures 1 and 3. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the
steam chest and cut-off valve chest, taken in the plane of the line C, D, Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a plan or top view of the interior of the cut-off valve or piston on an
enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a central tranverse vertical section of the main valve
or piston, also enlarged.
The disadvantages attending the use of the valves ordinarily employed in
steam engines are well known, and arise principally from the unequal pressure

page_text: of the steam upon different portions of the valve, thereby causing considerable
friction and wear between the valve and its seat, with the consequent and pro-
portional expenditure of power to work the same, and the necessity of frequent
repairs.
The present improvements are designed to obviate these objections, by so
arranging and constructing the valves and their seats or steam chests as to
ensure an equal pressure upon all portions of the valve; this desideratum
being effected by a peculiar form and arrangement of steam ports or passages
which conduct the steam in a circular direction around the periphery, and also
to both ends of a circular piston valve, both while receiving and exhausting
the steam.
In many engines, and especially in locomotives, where the piston has a quick
traversing motion, it is very desirable to have a large quantity of steam
admitted into the cylinder at the first movement or opening of the valve, and
an equal rapidity in exhausting the steam from the same, which result is
obtained by and forms one of the principal advantages of the improvements, as
by the shortest movement of the valve a very large area of port is opened for
the passage of the steam.
a, a, is the cylinder of a steam engine, and b, the piston; c, c, d, d, are two
cylindrical steam chests communicating with each other, and having circular
ports or passages, the arrangement of which will be herein-after explained. In
each of these steam chests is placed a piston valve of peculiar construction,
actuated in the usual manner by excentrics. In the steam chest d, d, e, e, is
the inducting passage through which steam is admitted from the boilers into a
horizontal chamber f, which communicates at both its ends with two circular
passages g,g, g,g, formed in and extending wholly around the interior of the
steam chest d, d, at each end of the same. The remaining central passage h, h,
of this steam chest d, d, is also circular, and communicates directly with the
The chamber i, i, opens
long passage or chamber i, i, of the steam chest c, c.
at both ends into the circular ports k, k, k, k, at each end of the steam chest c, c,
which has in all five circular ports or passages extending completely around
the interior of the cylinder.
The two circular ports 1, 1, 1, 1, communicate with the chambers m, m, which
lead respectively to each end of the cylinder a, a. The central port n, n, in
the steam chest c, c, extends, like all the others, completely around the interior
of the same, and is the one through which the exhaust steam from the cylinder
passes and escapes through the aperture o, Fig. 2.
When steam is first admitted from the boiler into the chamber f, it passes
from the same simultaneously into both the inducting circular ports g, g, I, I,

page_text: at the ends of the steam chest, causing an equal pressure upon both ends of the
cylindrical piston valve or cut off o', shewn in elevation by red lines in Fig. 2.
The movement of the valve o' then begins to open the centre port h, h, into
which the steam enters, and passes to the chamber i, i, of the steam chest c, c.
After the port h, h, has been entirely opened to admit sufficient steam, the
valve o¹ begins to return, and closes the ports h, h, so as to prevent any more
steam from entering the steam chest c, c, (and consequently to the cylinder a, a,)
and permitting the steam already received to act expansively.
It will readily be seen that when the steam enters the centre port h, h, that
it passes entirely around the periphery of the valve, thereby ensuring (as the
steam at the same time presses upon both ends of the valve) an equal pressure
upon all parts of the same, and keeping it in equilibrium so that it can be
moved easily and with very little friction in either direction.
The piston valve of the steam chest c, c, or main valve, is composed of two
heads p, p, fitting closely in the steam chest, and united by a cylindrical
portion q, of less diameter, as shewn in elevation by red lines in Figures 1
and 2, and in section in Fig. 5. When the steam enters into the chamber i, i,
of the steam chest c, c, it passes at the same instant to both ends of the
valve p, p, q, and fills the space between the heads of the valve and the end of
the steam chest.
When by the traverse of the valve one of its heads has passed either of the
cylinder ports 7, 1, so as to open the saime, the steam following the valve enters this
port, passes through one of the chambers m, m, of the cylinder a, a, and forces
up the piston b, b, of the same. As soon as the piston 6 has been forced up, the
opposite cylinder port 1,, begins to open by the return of the valve p, q, so as
to admit steam into the other end of the cylinder a, a, and thus force the
piston 6 back, and expel from the cylinder the steam first admitted. At this
time the cylinder port I, I, through which steam first passed to the cylinder,
has been closed, so as to prevent any more steam from entering the same by
the return of the valve p, q, the head of which passes beyond the port 1, 1,
towards the end of the steam chest, thereby, as the valve is formed of less
diameter at g between the heads, opening a free communication between the
cylinder ports 1, 1, and the exhaust port n, n. Thus on the return of the
piston b, the steam will escape through the port 1, 1, into the circular exhaust
port or passage n, n, as shewn by the arrows in Figures 1 and 2. This
operation of receiving, cutting off, and exhausting the steam is repeated in the
usual manner of working steam expansively.
From the above description it will be seen that the piston valves o' and p, q,
are at all times subject to an equal pressure of steam in every direction, both

page_text: in their ends and around their surface, and that by the peculiar formation of
the main valve p, q, this equality of pressure is also kept up during the time
the steam is being exhausted from the cylinder a, a, as the portion of the
valve q, between its heads p, p, is completely surrounded by the exhaust steam.
The advantages of this equilibrium of pressure upon the valves are manifest,
rendering their play easy, and requiring but little expenditure of power to work
them.
It will also be obvious, that by the circular form of all the steam ports a
large area of port is opened by the shortest traverse of the valves, admitting
and expelling quickly a large quantity of steam, the advantage of which, in the
operation of engines, and especially of locomotives, where great speed is
required, will readily be understood by engineers.
The improvement in the piston valves and piston of the steam cylinder,
which forms the second head of the Invention, consists in an arrangement by
which the metallic packing rings of the same are made more flexible and
elastic than those heretofore used, whereby they will more readily adapt them-
selves to any inequalities in the bore of the steam chest or cylinder, and travel
more smoothly in the same, and ensure a closer and more perfect fit.
This improvement is represented in Figures 4 and 5, and consists in using,
to press against and set out the expansion rings s, s, usually employed for the
metallic packing rings of pistons, one continuous bent spring u, u, with set
screws v, v, v, for adjusting the same. Each of these screws bears at one end
against a washer w, which presses upon the packing rings s, s, and has a square
head, by which the spring u, u, can be forced towards or away from the
rings s, s, at pleasure. The rings s, s, are surrounded by two expansion
rings t, t, in the usual manner. The spring u, u, passes around the triangular
core block of the piston, and where the set screws pass through it is bent in
towards the centre of the piston. By this arrangement any pressure upon
one portion of the piston head is immediately diffused by the spring to all parts
of the packing rings, thus forming a piston head which is extremely flexible
and yielding, and which will adapt itself closely to the steam chest or cylinder
in which it is moving, so as to ensure a perfect fit.
In constructing a piston head in the usual manner, with short separate
springs, adjusted by set screws, it will be seen that the packing rings can only
yield or be adjusted at the parts in contact with the said springs; whereas by
this improvement the spring u, u, bears at all times equally upon all parts of
the rings; and when the bent portion of the spring between the bearing points
of the core block is pressed in by the rings s, s, this pressure is diffused
throughout the whole spring, so as to throw out the rings s. s, and cause the

page_text: outer expansion rings t, t, to fit tightly against the inner surface of the steam
chests and cylinder.
In order that the main valve p, q, and cut-off' o¹, may not abut against the
edges of the steam ports in their travel forward and back, four narrow guides
or bearings y, y, &c. are formed in the steam chests, level and forming one
surface with the partitions between the ports.
In the foregoing description the improvements are represented as applied to
steam engines, but it will be evident that they are also equally applicable to
air and gas engines, &c.
A modification of the improvements is represented in Figures 6 and 7 of the
accompanying Drawing; Fig. 6 being a central longitudinal vertical section of
a steam cylinder with the improvements applied thereto, and Fig. 7, a central
transverse vertical section of the same. In this arrangement the steam
chest d, d, is placed directly over the steam chest c, c, and communicates with
the latter by the curved port A, and long ports B, B, leading to each end of
the same. The steam chest c, c, instead of having five circular ports, as in the
first described arrangement, has but four, C, C, D, D, two at each end; the
ports C, C, receiving steam from the long ports B, B, of the steam chest d, d,
and the ports D, D, being the eduction and induction ports of the cylinder.
The steam chest c, c, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 6, has the space
between the ports D, D, occupied by a chamber E, E, extending nearly
the whole length of the cylinder, and of large capacity. The exhaust port is
shewn at F. The piston valves p, p, in the steam chest c, c, are connected by
the valve rod G, G. In this manner the exhaust steam, instead of being driven
by the return of the cylinder through a circuitous passage, and out of a small
exhaust pipe, as in the usual method of exhausting steam, passes through the
eduction port D, which has been opened by the passage, of the valve p, and
enters freely into the large chamber E, E, whence it passes out through the
exhaust pipe F. By thus exhausting the steam into a large space, the back
pressure upon the cylinder piston is removed, and a large portion of its work
done away with. In the ordinary manner of exhausting, the small and cir-
cuitous passage provided for the exit of the steam prevents its rapid delivery
or passage out, so that it has to be forced out by the return of the piston, in
intermittent blasts, through the smoke pipe or delivering flue. By the present
improvement ample space is provided to receive the exhaust steam before its
final passage out, whereby the back pressure upon the piston is removed, and
a continuous blast produced through the smoke pipe, and consequently upon
the fire.
Having now described the Invention of improvements in the construction of

page_text: motive-power engines, part of which improvements is also applicable to the
packing of pistons generally, I wish it to be understood that under the above
recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First, constructing a steam chest, with continuous circular ports or passages,
both for the induction and exhaust steam, arranged as herein above described,
so as to keep a constant and equal pressure of steam upon both ends, and the
periphery or outer surface of a cylindrical piston valve which travels in the
bore of the same, and by which also is secured a large area of port by a very
small movement of the valve; and this I claim, whether the said valve be used
as a main valve, cut-off, or throttle valve.
Second, I claim the combination of a piston valve composed of two heads
which fit closely in the bore of the circular steam chest, and are united by a
cylindrical portion of less diameter than the said heads with a steam chest
constructed with circular ports or passages, as specified in the foregoing claim,
by which a large exhaust space is secured, without increasing the size of the
said steam chest or making it very large, and by which means alone provision
is made for the escape of the exhaust steam into the chamber n, n.
I claim, in a steam chest constructed with circular ports, and in which these
ports are opened and closed by a double-headed valve, as above described,
forming a large space or chamber communicating with the cylinder to receive
the exhaust steam prior to its passage out through the exhaust pipe, for the
purposes herein specified.
Lastly, I claim the improvement in the piston used for the valves in the
steam chests, and also in the piston of the steam cylinder, the same consisting
in employing one continuous bent spring u, u, with set screws for setting out
the packing rings, so as to form an adjustable and equable pressure on the
expansion rings s, s, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)