IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM AND SIMILAR POWER ENGINES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PUMPS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Edlyn Outridge, of Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM AND SIMILAR POWER ENGINES,
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PUMPS."
Sealed the 29th December 1876, and dated the 1st July 1876..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st July 1876.
JOSEPH EDLYN OUTRIDGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM AND SIMILAR
POWER ENGINES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PUMPS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and arrangement of
steam and similar power engines, applicable also for pumps; and consists in fitting
within a casing a correspondingly shaped piston, this having between its two
working faces a space provided with recesses on two of its sides into which teeth
on the outer ends of two quadrant-shaped bars gear. The quadrant-shaped bars
are attached to a crank which is pushed round by the action or travel of the piston
to and fro for the rotation of the crank shaft which passes through the walls of the
piston and through the casing to actuate machinery or mechanism at the outside.
The casing is a fixture, and is provided at each end with inlet and exhaust ports
for the steam, the valves of which ports are controlled in any convenient manner
from the crank shaft.
My quadrant-shaped bars are enclosed in the piston and serve as pushers at each
alternate stroke of the piston, the thrust throughout the whole of the stroke being
in a straight line and direct upon the crank pin by reason of the arc of the circle
of each quadrant changing its point of pressure as the piston is moving.
To adapt my Invention for pumping purposes I drive the crank shaft from the
outside, the piston then acts for lifting and forcing.

page_text: '
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1876.
JOSEPH EDLYN OUTRIDGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM AND SIMILAR
POWER ENGINES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PUMPS."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and arrangement of
steam and similar power engines, applicable also for pumps; and consists in fitting
within a rectangular (preferably) or like shaped casing a correspondingly shaped
piston, this having between its two working faces a space provided with recesses
on two of its sides, into which teeth on the outer ends of two quadrant or sector
shaped bars gear, or the teeth may be upon the piston faces and the recesses in the
quadrants. The quadrant-shaped bars are attached to a crank, which is pushed
round by the action or travel of the piston to and fro for the rotation of the crank
shaft which passes through the walls of the piston and through the casing to actuate
machinery or mechanism at the outside.
The casing is a fixture and is provided at each end with inlet and exhaust ports
for the steam, the valves of which ports are controlled in any convenient manner
from the crank shaft.
My quadrant-shaped bars are enclosed in the piston and serve as pushers at cach
alternate stroke of the piston, the thrust throughout the whole of the stroke being
in a straight line and direct upon the crank pin by reason of the arc of the circle of
each quadrant changing its point of pressure as the piston is moving.
To adapt my Invention for pumping purposes I drive the crank shaft from the
outside, the piston then acts for lifting and forcing.
The engine or pump as I purpose constructing it is represented in the annexed
'Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation, Figure 2
a transverse sectional elevation, and Figure 3 a plan, partly in section, of one
Farrangement.
A is the casing, preferably of rectangular shape, in cross section with inlet ports
B, B, one at each end, and leading to or from one main steam pipe C, as shown;
reach of the ports is fitted with a valve D, and both of these are connected one with
the other by rods E, E, to an excentric F, or it may be by tappets on the shaft G,
from which the movement of mechanism can be effected; H is the piston, corre-
sponding in shape to the casing, and is moved to and fro under the alternate
pressure of steam supplied by the ports B, B, as with ordinary steam engines; J
is a crank keyed upon the shaft G; this crank has keyed to it at a, a, the inner
ends of quadrant or sector bars K, K, whose outer ends forming two segments of a
circle have recesses b, b, in them, into which teeth c, c, on the inner walls of the
. hollow piston take, and upon which the outer or segmental ends of the
quadrants are supported, and upon which they rock as the crank J pursues its
rotatory motion within the hollows of the piston in which it and also the quadrants
.work.
The thrust of the piston due to the action of the steam or other agency of power
is given direct to the quadrants, and thence direct to the crank at every part of the
stroke of the piston by reason of the crank moving round and the touch of the
quadrants changing itself as the piston travels, as will be understood by referring
to the Drawing, Figure 1.
The valves D, D, are plug valves, each rotating in a box M, M, and they are so
shaped that when turned by the rods into one position they serve as induction
valves, in another position as shut-off valves, and in another position as exhaust
valves for emptying the casing of the used steam.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of an engine or pump in which the
teeth and recesses are dispensed with, the outer ends of the quadrants or sectors
being borne between shoulders d, d, formed in the inner part of the piston at each

page_text: end, as shown. The main shaft in this Figure has a spur wheel N upon it (or it
may have a drum driven by a strap), by which the pump is driven.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3 I have shown a fly wheel P, but any outside mechanism
can be affixed, according to the purpose or object desired.
The engine or pump shown in Figure 4 has double valves D, D, at each end, each
side of the casing being supplied alternately with water through one valve and
delivered by the other valve into an ordinary delivery pipe Q if the apparatus be
used as a pump.
The piston and quadrants within the casing are driven from the outside, the
piston forming the plunger or bucket, and the casing the pump barrel, as will be
understood by any practical engineer, the valves being fitted to suit for the inflow
and the expulsion of the water or other liquid.
The rectangular frame with the quadrants can be attached to the piston rod of
an ordinary steam engine to rotate the crank shaft in lieu of the ordinary con-
necting rod.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
Firstly. The construction and arrangement of the engine shown in Figures 1, 2,
and 3 of the annexed Drawings, and its employment for the purposes described.
Secondly. I claim the construction and arrangement of the engine or pump
shown in Figure 4 of the annexed Drawings, for the purpose described.
Thirdly, I claim fitting quadrant or sector bars within a piston from which a
crank or its equivalent can be acted upon within or between the two faces or ends
of a piston, as described and substantially as shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Edlyn Outridge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.