IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM GAS OR OTHER FLUID PRESSURE"
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM Ross of Wellington Cottage Croxted Road West Dulwich in the
County of Surrey Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM GAS OR OTHER FLUID PRESSURE"
to be as follows:-
"
The compounding of high pressure fluids the reduction of condensation from
tortuous rough passages and other causes and a continuous motion (or rotary
motion) obtained by reciprocal motion, namely, piston or pistons in a cylinder
attached to cranks at different angles on any shafting.
I first provide a cylinder of proper diameter and length for the required power
of engine and called the high pressure cylinder having an ordinary piston rod &c
and being capped in the usual manner and turned smoothly on its outer surface.
Its capped ends being formed into a piston or pistons. I then provide an outer
cylinder called the low pressure cylinder of proper size for the compounding of the
Steam or other fluid as it passes out of the high pressure cylinder and having
inside two annular rings through which the ports pass to feed the high pressure
cylinder these ports having elongated passages to enable the steam or other fluid
to enter the high pressure cylinder to any proportion of its stroke and being
connected with any slide valve suitable for feeding these ports. I then in the caps
or ends of the high pressure cylinder or in the most suitable place provide and fix
one or more valves or other suitable appliance so arranged as when the high
pressure cylinder has travelled to the end of its stroke this or these valves or other
appliances open and admit the steam to the low pressure chambers provided for it.
This causes the high pressure cylinder to take the backward stroke when the same
thing occurs to the other end and the exhaust steam from this end is allowed to
escape by means of a slide valve provided for that purpose and on the return
passing from the other end I sometimes find it advisable to cover the outer surface
on a level with the flanges of the low pressure cylinder with another cylinder of
wrought or other iron or metal and exhaust all the steam through this chamber
before reaching the atmosphere thus keeping up the heat of the low pressure
cylinder and preventing condensation of the steam when in work.

page_text: In connecting these pistons or cylinder and the ordinary piston of the high
pressure cylinder with the crank shaft I have from the high pressure piston the
usual piston rod guide and connecting rod to the crank shaft. In the case of fixed
and other engines where the power is to be concentrated on one shaft I provide
from the bigh pressure cylinder or low pressure pistons (which are the same thing)
a tube connected with the end of the high pressure cylinder and passing through
a stuffing box in the end of the low pressure cylinder to a guide and connecting
rod and then to the crank shaft this crank being fixed on the shaft at any
suitable angle to the other crank before named so as to obtain a continuous
rotating motion from the shaft with the appliances before named. Through this
tube passes the piston rod from the high pressure piston and being also connected
with a guide and having connecting rod as before described, also a stuffing box in
the end tube where the tube is connected with the end of high pressure cylinder
and arranged so that it can be turned round and compress the packing making a
tight joint in case of leakage, any leak being instantly seen at the front end of
tube and can be immediately remedied and just sufficiently to make a tight joint
and prevent undue friction or pressure on the rod-In the case of railway
locomotives and other engines where practicable I have two pairs of driving wheels
connected with each other I then throw one piston rod and connecting rod to the
crank on the shaft of one pair of driving wheels and the other piston rod &c to the
other pair of driving wheels these pairs of driving wheels being coupled so that
the cranks shall have the required angle and being placed at such a distance apart
as to enable the cylinder to be placed midway between the two shafts.

page_text: Fluid Pressure.
I, WILLIAM ROSs, of Wellington Cottage, Croxted Road, West Dulwich, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, GAS, OR OTHER FLUID PRESSURE,"
and in what manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to an improved system of constructing that type of
compound engines or prime movers in which the motive power is supplied by
steain, gas, or other high pressure fluids capable of being used expansively.
It is characterised by a minimum loss of pressure in the ports as compared with
the ordinary systems of compounding heretofore in use, in which there has always
been a considerable loss of effective pressure, in consequence of the length, roughness
and number of angles of said ports; and also by the high pressure cylinder being
made capable of a reciprocating linear motion which is converted into one of
revolution by means of connecting rods, cranks and a fly wheel or wheels.
According to my invention, the two cylinders which I prefer to call by the
ordinary and well known names, high and low pressure respectively-are arranged
concentrically one outside the other, the high pressure cylinder being inside the low
pressure one.
The piston and connecting rod of the high-pressure cylinder are of any ordinary
and well known construction, the latter passing through the caps of both cylinders
in either or both directions.
•
The connecting rod, or rods, of the low-pressure cylinder, are preferably con-
centric with the high pressure connecting rod, or rods; and are continued to the
crank, or cranks, in any convenient way.
The relative diameters of the two cylinders are adjusted in the ordinary way.
The flanges and caps of the high pressure cylinder are expanded to produce the
piston of the low-pressure cylinder. The outside of the high-pressure cylinder is
turned up quite true and smooth.
The steam chest, common to both cylinders, is placed conveniently on the side
of the low pressure cylinder, the portion into which the live steam is admitted
being, by preference, centrally situated The slide admission valve is actuated,
and set with respect to lap and lead, according to the ordinary and well-known
methods.
The annular space between the two cylinders and the flanges of the high-pressure
cylinder, is divided midway by a ring. A pair of webs extending the full length
and width of this annular space, and consequently bisecting the ring, produco the
admission ports to the high pressure cylinder.
The valves, which control the passage of the steam from the high-pressure into
the low-pressure cylinder, are, preferably, of the shutter, or hit-and-miss, type, and
have their seats upon the respective inner faces of the high pressure cylinder caps,
through which the (now) low-pressure steam exhausts at the end of the high-
pressure stroke into one end chamber of the low-pressure cylinder.
Each valve of the high-pressure cylinder is actuated as follows:
A pin, projecting from the valve through the adjoining high-pressure cylinder-
cover, is received in the slot of a transverse link, single or compound, pivotted

page_text: upon the said cover, i.e., upon an outer face of the low pressure piston. The ends
of this link slide in a pair of grooves, formed in the inner face of each half,
respectively, of the low-pressure cylinder.
These grooves are shaped, so that as the high pressure cylinder makes its to and
fro stroke, the links are thrown first up and then down, consequently working the
valves.
Two ports in the sides of the low-pressure cylinder extend from the chambers to
past the annular ring already described, opening into the annular spaces between
the ring and the flanges of the high pressure cylinder, so that the low-pressure
steam acts upon the face of its piston (i.e. the face of one cap of the high pressure
cylinder,) and, at the same time, upon the inner face of the opposite Bange of the
same cylinder.
The low-pressure steam exhausts from the respective ends of the steam chest,
alternately, through ports extending from the low pressure chambers and controlled
by valves actuated from the crank in any convenient way.
In order that my invention and the means by which the same can be carried
into practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the
same in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures, which are to be
taken as part of this specification, and read therewith, and in which the same
parts are marked, throughout the figures in which they occur with the same
reference letter.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation illustrating my invention embodied in a compound
horizontal engine.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a method of operating the valves of my high pressure
cylinder, the former figure being an elevation partly in section, and the latter a
sectional side elevation taken on the line y- on Fig. 3.
A and B are the high and low pressure cylinders respectively; the latter
stationary, and the former capable of making an alternating linear stroke within
the latter.
B1, B2, are the respective covers of the low-pressure cylinder.
The flanges, C, C, of the high-pressure cylinder with its covers D, D', constitute
the low pressure piston.
E is a ring, dividing the low pressure cylinder into two chambers which are
subdivided by the low-pressure piston, producing four chambers F, F', Fª, F³.
A duct, f, is formed in the side of the cylinder B, opening up a communication
between the chambers, F, and F. A corresponding duct communicates from the
chamber F3 to the chamber Fl.
G is the high-pressure piston; its rod, G¹, passing through a stuffing box, G³, in
the cylinder cover to its crosshead, G³, sliding in a suitable guide H, where it
connects by means of the connecting rod, G4, with its throw, G.
His the low-pressure piston rod, and when single, as drawn, is necessarily
tubular and embracing the high-pressure piston rod, G. H² is a crosshead, working
in the guide H. A suitable stuffing box, H³, is provided where the rod H¹ passes
through the cylinder cover D¹, by means of which and the pair of rods, H', the
piston rod, H¹, is connected with the pair of throws H³. It is clear that the pair
of connecting rods, H, and throws, H³, are, virtually, but one rod and one throw.
The high-pressure throw is preferably 90° in advance, or in rear, of the low-
pressure throw.
I, I, are the valves controlling the passage of the steam from the high-pressure.
cylinder into the low pressure cylinder. J, J', are their respective seats; ;, the
ports in the valves; and j', those in their seats.
Each of these valves is actuated in the following way
K is a pin projecting from the valve, through a slot, q, in the cover and embraced
by the adjacent ends of each half K, K2, of a compound link, each half being
pivotted, as at k¹, on the cover of the high-pressure cylinder, D or D¹ as the case
may be.

page_text: Two subsidiary links, k, k³, are actuated by the respective half-links K¹, K², and
are capable of entering grooves 1, 13, formed in the cylinder, B. Each groove is of
the same length as the stroke of tho engine, and one end of each groove gradually,
decreases in depth until it is merged in the surface of the cylinder while the other
end is rectangular, but each decreasing end is opposite a rectangular one, and
vice versa.
The operation of the link device described above is as follows. The links, ³,
have been forced towards the axis of the cylinder, and the links ³, from the axis
of the cylinder into their grooves, 1, by the ends of the links k³, having been
brought into contact with the slopes m³, of the grooves, 12, during the previous
travel of the low pressure piston. The links, k, have thrown the links K', to
which they are respectively connected, over; causing the pins K, to move their
respective valves and to push the links K², outwards.
The return stroke will reverse these motions, the slopes m³, discharging the
functions, described with reference to m².
I do not confine myself to the exact arrangement of links described and
illustrated, inasmuch as it is clear that other arrangements might be adopted while
still actuating the valves from grooves in the low pressure cylinder.
For instance, I may use a straight link pivotted around the axis of a face of the
low pressure piston, and receiving the valve pin; the necessary degree of circular
travel being imparted to the link by one, or a pair of pitched or spiral grooves into
which the end or ends of the link enter, the amount of pitch containing as many
degrees as the travel of the valve.
N is the main valve or steam chest, to which the steam is fed in any convenient
way. It is divided into three compartments, n, n' being appropriated to the
exhaust valves o, o¹, respectively, and n², to the slide valve o controlling the main
steam supply. All these three valves are actuated from one eccentric on the crank
shaft by ineans of suitable valve rods. The supply ports to the high pressure
cylinder are p, p, and are carried through the chambers F1, F2, by two webs p³,
extending the full length and width of the annular space between the flanges B³, B'.
In the foregoing figures, an engine, constructed according to my invention, is
represented with the supply valve moving to the right, and therefore on the point
of admitting steam to the left hand of the high pressure piston, G. while the low
pressure steam is exhausting from the left end of the cylinder A, through the
valve I, into the chamber, F, and exhausted steam is passing away through
the exhaust port, n³.
These two bodies of steam, the former high, and the latter, low pressure,
respectively, drive the piston G to the right, and the low pressure piston to
the left.
During this travel, the port, p, has been opened and closed, and the exhaust, n,
opened; and, at its end, the port, p¹, is on the point of opening, while the valve, 11
has been closed, and I opened.
That which was low pressure steam at the commencement of the travel has
exhausted through the valve, I', into the chambers F³ and F', and thence through
the exhaust port, nt.
The steam on the left of the piston G, now become low-pressure steam, exhausts
into the chambers F and F, driving the low-pressure piston to the right, while
high-pressure steam entering the cylinder, A, by the port, p¹, drives the piston G to
the left, thus completing one stroke, and returning the parts to the position shown
in the figures.
I would have it distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the exact
arrangement of piston- and connecting-rods illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, as it is
evident this may be varied according to the special requirements of any particular
case without departing from the essential features of my invention.
For instance, in building a locomotive engine according to my invention, I prefer
to make use of two pairs of coupled driving wheels, the high-pressure piston being
connected to the crank-shaft of one pair, and the low-pressure piston to the crank-

page_text: shaft of the other pair; one crank being set at the proper angle for securing the
best effect. According to this construction, the position of the cylinders will always
be central and about midway between the two crank-shafts.
A similar arrangement of piston rods and cranks may be adopted in stationary
and other engines built according to my invention.
Instead of allowing the steam to exhaust from the low-pressure cylinder into the
atmosphere direct, I sometimes find it advisable to jacket the low-pressure cylinder,
through which jacket the said steam would have to pass, and tend to prevent the
condensation of working steam.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In fluid-pressure compound engines, constructing the high-pressure cylinders
to work with an alternating linear motion inside the low-pressure cylinders, the
pistons of the latter being furnished by the covers, or by the covers and flanges, of
the high-pressure cylinders, substantially as described with reference to the
accompanying figures.
2. In fluid-pressure compound engines of the construction defined in the first
claim, exhausting the fluid from the high-pressure cylinders through the covers of
the said cylinders, immediately into the low-pressure cylinders, instead of along
intermediate ports; substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
figures 1 and 2.
3. In fluid-pressure compound engines of the construction defined in the first
claim, actuating the valves controlling the exhaust from the high-pressure cylinders
through its covers into the low-pressure cylinders, by means of single- or compound-
link devices, the outer ends of which are received in straight or spiral grooves
formed in the inner face of the low-pressure cylinders, the necessary reciprocating
motions being imparted to said devices by its ends being forced against the bottoms
or against the sides of such straight or spiral grooves respectively, during the stroke
of the engines, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
figures 3 and 4.
4. In fluid-pressure compound engines, the port or ports, f, in combination with
the arcas of the covers and of the flanges of the high-pressure cylinders, such four
faces acting as the two faces of a piston; substantially as described with reference
to figure 2.
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