Improvements in Starting Gears for Compound Locomotives.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 6th Dec., 1890-Accepted 6th Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Starting Gears for Compound Locomotives.
I, ROBERT LINDNER, of 58, äussere Dresdener Strasse, of Chemnitz, in the
Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to starting gears for compound locomotives and is intended
to form a supplement to the device for starting compound engines at any position
of the high pressure piston described in the Specification to my Letters Patent
No. 921, of Jan. 18th 1889. This supplement consists of two improvements, one
relating to locomotives with small, and the other to such with great starting power.
In order to make my invention more clear, I refer to the accompanying
drawings, in which similar letters denote similar parts throughout the different
figures.
Fig. 1 shows a side view of the improvement.
Fig. 2 shows an upper view of the same, both cylinders are shown in cross
section.
Figs. 3 & 4 show the starting mechanism and two cross sections.
Figs. 5 & 6 show the arrangement of the slide of the cylinder.
Figs. 7 & 8 show the arrangement of the regulator and steam distributer.
Figs. 9 & 10, 11 & 12 show two modified arrangements of the starting
mechanism.
1. Improvement in starting gear for locomotives with small starting power:
The discharge of the fresh steam to be supplied to the connecting pipe C-which
conducts the waste steam of the high pressure cylinder to the low pressure cylinder
for fresh action-from the steam pipe e (designated with a in Specification to
Patent No. 921/1889) through a pipe f is sufficient for all locomotives having high
starting power, especially for goods train engines, which have to run only loosely
coupled trains. For fast train or ordinary passenger train locomotives with inferior
starting power, which moreover have to start rigidly coupled trains, the fresh steam
to be supplied, when starting, to the connecting pipe cc (designated with bb in
Specification to Patent No. 921/1889) is preferably discharged from a steam inlet
regulator e through a pipe f¹.
The construction of the steam inlet regulator for these locomotives is illustrated
by Figs. 1, 7 & 8, Sheet I.
The standard lever passes through the following positions from its inoperative
position, position I, to the complete disclosing of the inlet aperture to the main
steam pipe, position V. Fig. 8.
Position II: Incipient opening of the inlet port to the main steam pipe.
Position III Incipient disclosing of the inlet to the connecting pipe c mentioned
above.
Position IV Complete opening of the inlet to the connecting pipe.
Between positions IV & V the steam inlet to the connecting pipe is completely
opened.
If, in addition to the distributing slide valve, a small balanced slide valve is
applied to the steam admission regulator, the inlet to the main steam pipe is
opened through the balanced slide valve between positions I & II.
In starting a locomotive of this construction, the steam inlet regulator, after
the reversing lever is thrown full over, must be slowly and completely opened in
the usual manner while the coid lavar directly after being thrown over is slightly

page_text: When the high pressure piston has to start the engine, this takes place with the
full boiler pressure, without any counter pressure on the piston, already during
the middle portion of the movement of the steam inlet regulator slide, whereas
when the starting is to be effected by the low pressure piston, the motion com-
mences only after the main inlet regulator has been completely opened, as then the
connecting pipe must first be filled with steam of a pressure sufficient for starting.
Simultaneously with the filling of the connecting pipe equalization of steam
pressure takes place on both sides of the high pressure piston through the ports p
and in the high pressure slide, which are described in Specification to Patent
No. 921/1889.
To attain the most favourable utilisation of the steam during the running of the
engine, the steam inlet regulator is to be left completely open, while the speed is
regulated by displacing the links.
When the engine is required to run at full-steam, which however occurs very
rarely, the steam inlet regulator, provided there is sufficient adhesion for producing
the highest effect, may remain completely open in position V, thereby some fresh
steam being admitted into the low pressure cylinder, or the steam inlet regulator
being placed in a position of mean opening-between position 2 and 3-—the engine
may be run without admission of live steam to the connecting pipe, as is particularly
desirable when shunting.
To locomotives with more than two cylinders the starting device can be applied
in an equally simple manner as to two-cylinder engines.
2. Improvement in the starting gear for locomotives with high starting power:
This improvement intended for locomotives with relatively large cylinders and
small driving wheels, has for its purpose to allow, when starting, the supply of live
steam to the connecting pipe to be so regulated according to the consumption of
steam by the low-pressure piston, as to take place in a plentiful or moderate
manner according as the low pressure piston passes through the middle or end of
its stroke.
To accomplish the said purpose the starting valve pipe f branching off the
steam inlet pipe e (Sheet I) is placed in communication, not with the connecting
pipe cc, but with the high pressure cylinder A in such a manner, that the
terminations of pipe fare under the influence of the high pressure piston.
In the schematic figures Sheets III & IV, A denotes the high pressure cylinder,
B the low pressure cylinder, e the steam inlet pipe, c c the connecting pipe and
w the exhaust port.
The steam supply pipe branches off from the steam inlet pipe e and is con-
verted through valve V, Sheet II, operated from the link motion, into a double
conduit 23, which terminates at x and y in the high pressure cylinder A.
The pipe of the double conduit has half the cross section of passage of the
pipe of the single conduit.
The outlets x and y of the two pipes are determined by those two positions 1
and
of the high pressure crank, in which, when the reversing lever is thrown full
over, the high pressure slide D has effected on the one hand the closing of the inlet
port on the return stroke of the piston and on the other hand the closing of the
inlet ports on the forward stroke of the piston, so that the high pressure piston
has opened in the former case the orifice & in position 1, and in the latter case the
orifice y in position 2.
When at the commencement of starting the high pressure piston occupies one of
the two positions indicated in Sheet 2, for instance position 1, the high pressure
slide D has closed the inlet port r, and consequently steam passes through the two
starting valve pipe orifices x and y into the high pressure cylinder and hence
simultaneously also through one of the relief ports p and q, described in Specifi-
cation to Patent No. 921 1889-in the present case through port p-into the
connecting pipe for actuating the low pressure piston.
These ports having only the inner cross section of one of the two pipe orifices
and y, the steam pressure in the high pressure cylinder will exceed that in the

page_text: connecting pipe and low pressure cylinder. Thereby the high pressure piston is
likewise driven forward until the high pressure slide valve opens the port r thus
enabling the pressure in the connecting pipe to increase more rapidly for driving
the low pressure piston.
Sheet IV shows the action of the live steam, when starting, through the
pipes and f³, with regard to the crank circles.
The connecting pipe is fed on the high pressure crank circle and on the low
pressure crank circle at:
a¹¹ and a² ² respectively A' B' and A² B²
through both orifices a and
b¹¹ and b² ² respectively B₁ C¹ and B² C²
through one orifice & or y,
c¹² d¹ and c² d² respectively C¹ D¹ and C² D'
through none of the two orifices,
d¹ a² and d² a¹ respectively D' A² and D² A'
through the slide port p or 9 respectively.
At the beginning of and during the starting therefore both orifices x and y feed
simultaneously the connecting pipe cc, when the low pressure crank passes through
those of its positions, which are most effective for the progress of the locomotive
and the low pressure piston has attained the higher speeds within its stroke; the
connecting pipe
however fed from one or from none of the pipes of the starting
valve, when the low pressure crank runs through its less operative positions and the
low pressure piston requires smaller supply of steam.
After starting, the pipes 2 and 3 become inoperative by the closing of the
starting cock V which takes place on the drawing back of the reversing rod.
In lieu of the two-fold pipe conduit between the starting valve and high-pressure
cylinder A, Sheet IV, also a single pipe f*, Sheet III, may be employed, which
terminates in or about the middle of the high-pressure cylinder A.
In that case the following pressures are produced on the high pressure crank
circle and low pressure crank circle:
.
On a¹¹ and a² b²
A¹ B' and A2 B2
61 and 62 2
B' C and B2 C³ j
connecting pipe pressure through orifice x¹,
no connecting pipe-pressure,
ca² and c² a connecting pipe pressure through the slide port p or 7
CA² and C2 A') respectively.
Consequently the connecting pipe, during starting, receives fresh steam through
the starting valve piece f only when the low pressure piston is not in the range
of its dead points.
Dated this 3rd day of March 1900
of March 18
ROBERT LINDNER.
ROBERT LINDNER.
By Huelser & Co.,
142, Fleet Street, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Starting Gears for Compound Locomotives.
I, ROBERT LINDNER, of 58, äussere Dresdener Strasse, Chemnitz, in the
Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is an improved starting gear for compound locomotives,
which is destined to form a supplement to the device for starting compound engines
at any position of the high pressure piston-described in the Specification to my
Letters Patent No. 921 of Jan. 18th 1889. This supplement consists of two

page_text: higher starting power.
Reference being had to the drawings Sheets I to IV filed with my Application
for Provisional Protection and Sheets V and VI filed with this Specification in
which like letters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the different
figures,
Fig. 1 is a side view of the improvement,
Fig. 2 a top view of the same, both cylinders being shown in cross section.
Figs. 3 & 4 illustrate the starting mechanism in two cross sections.
Figs. 5 & 6 show the arrangement of the slide of the cylinder.
Figs. 7 & 8 show the arrangement of the regulator and steam distributor.
Figs. 9 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 & 16 show four modified arrangements of the
starting mechanism.
1.) IMPROVEMENT IN STARTING GEAR FOR LOCOMOTIVES WITH SMALL
STARTING POWER:
The admission of fresh steam to the pipe c from steam pipe e designated with a
in Specification to Patent No. 921/1889, through a pipe is sufficient for all loco-
motives having high starting power, especially for goods train engines, which have
to run only loosely coupled trains. Said pipe c, which I term connecting pipe in
this Specification, serves for exhausting the steam from the high pressure cylinder
for fresh action into the low pressure cylinder. For fast trains or ordinary
passenger train locomotives with inferior starting power, which moreover have to
start rigidly coupled trains, the fresh steam to be supplied, when starting, to the
connecting pipe c c,-designated with 66 in Specification to Patent No. 921/1889
and serving at the same time as receiver is preferably admitted from a steam inlet
regulator e through a pipe f¹.
The construction of the steam inlet regulator for these locomotives may be seen
from Figs. 1, 7 & 8.
The standard lever, in passing from its inoperative position I Fig. 8 to position V;
when the inlet aperture to the main steam pipe is completely opened, runs through
the following positions.
:
Position II Incipient opening of the inlet port to the main steam pipe.
Position III: Incipient opening of the inlet to the connecting pipe c.
Position IV Complete opening of the inlet to the connecting pipe.
:
Between positions IV & V the steam inlet to the connecting pipe is completely
opened.
If in addition to the distributing slide valve, a small balanced slide valve is
applied to the steam admission regulator, the inlet to the main steam pipe is opened
through the balanced slide valve between positions I & III.
In starting a locomotive of this construction, the steam inlet regulator, after the
reversing lever is thrown full over, must be slowly and completely opened in the
usual manner while as soon as the engine has been started, the links are notched
up, i.e. the reversing lever moved slightly backwards thereby automatically cutting
off the supply of fresh steam to the connecting pipe by means of valve V.
The high pressure piston starts the engine with full boiler pressure, without any
counter pressure on the piston, and this takes place already during the middle
portion of the movement of the steam-inlet-regulator-slide, whereas when the engine
is started by the low pressure piston, the motion of the piston does not commence
till the inlet to the main steam pipe has been completely opened, as in such case
the connecting pipe must first be filled with steam of so high a pressure as to be
sufficient for starting the engine. Simultaneously with the filling of the connecting
pipe, distribution of pressure takes place on both sides of the high pressure piston
through the ports p and q in the high pressure slide, which are described in
Specification to Patent No. 921/1889.
To attain the most favourable utilisation of the steam during the running of the

page_text: engine, the steam inlet regulator is to be left completely open, while the speed is
regulated by displacing the links.
When the engine is required to run at full steam, which however occurs very
rarely, the steam inlet regulator, provided there is sufficient adhesion for producing
the highest effect, may remain completely open in position V, some fresh steam
being thereby passed into the low pressure cylinder, or the steam inlet regulator
being placed in a position of mean opening,-between positions II and III,-the
engine may be run without admission of live steam to the connecting pine, as is
particularly desirable when shunting.
To locomotives with more than two cylinders, the starting device can be applied
in an equally simple manner as to two-cylinder engines
2.) IMPROVEMENT IN THE STARting gear for LOCOMOTIVES WITH HIGH
STARTING POWER:
This improvement intended for locomotives with relatively large cylinders and
small driving wheels, has for its purpose to allow, when starting, the supply of live
steam to the connecting pipe to be so regulated according to the consumption of
steam by the low-pressure piston, as to take place in a plentiful or moderate manner
according as the low pressure piston passes through the middle or end of its
stroke.
To accomplish the said purpose, the starting valve pipe f branching off the steam
inlet pipe e, Sheet I, is placed in communication, not with the connecting pipe cc,
but with the high pressure cylinder A in such a manner, that the terminations of
pipe fare under the influence of the high pressure piston.
In the schematic figures Sheets 3 & 4, A denotes the high pressure cylinder,
B the low pressure cylinder, e the steam inlet pipe, cc the connecting pipe and w the
exhaust port.
The live steam pipe branches off the steam inlet pipe e and is converted through
valve V, Sheet IV, operated from the link motion, into a double conduit f2f³, which
terminates at x and y in the high pressure cylinder.
The pipe of the double conduit has half the cross section of passage of the pipe f
of the single conduit.
The outlets x and y of the two pipes are determined by those two positions I and II
of the high pressure crank, in which, when the reversing lever is thrown full over,
the high pressure slide D has effected on the one hand the closing of the inlet port r
on the return stroke of the piston, and on the other hand the closing of the inlet
ports on the forward stroke of the piston, so that the high pressure piston has
opened in the former case the orifice, æ in position I, and in the latter case the
orifice y in position II.
When, at the commencement of starting, the high pressure piston occupies one of
the two positions indicated in Sheet 2, for instance position I, the high pressure
slide D has closed the inlet port 7, and consequently steam passes through the two
starting valve pipe orifices x and y into the high pressure cylinder and hence
simultaneously also through one of the relief ports p
and described in Specification
to Patent No. 921/1889-
-in the present case through port p-into the connecting pipe
for actuating the low pressure piston.
These ports having only the inner cross section of one of the two pipe
orifices and y, the steam pressure in the high pressure cylinder will exceed that in,
the connecting pipe and low pressure cylinder. Thereby the high pressure piston
is likewise driven forward until the high pressure slide valve opens the port r, thus
enabling the pressure in the connecting pipe to increase more rapidly for driving
the low pressure piston.
Sheet IV shows the action of the live steam, when starting, through the pipes ƒ³
and f³, with regard to the various positions of the cranks.
Steam is admitted to the connecting pipe at the following positions of the high

page_text: cranks shewn in Figs. 11 and 12.
1) At positions a¹ 6¹ and a¹¹ 6", respectively A¹ B and A" B": through bot
orifices and y;
2) At positions 61 c¹ and 6" c", respectively B₁ C₁ and B₁ C", through on
orifice or y;
3) At positions c¹ d¹ and c¹ d¹¹, respectively C¹ D¹ and C" D": through non
of the two orifices;
4) At positions d¹ a¹¹ and d¹ a², respectively D¹ A" and D" A': through th
slide port por q respectively.
At the beginning of, and during, the starting therefore both orifices x and
supply simultaneously steam to the connecting pipe cc, when the low pressure cran
passes through those of its positions, which are most effective for the progress of th
focomotive and the low pressure piston has attained the higher speeds within it
stroke; the connecting pipe is however supplied with steam from one or from non
of the pipes of the starting valve, when the low pressure crank runs through its les
operative positions and requires smaller supply of steam.
After starting, the pipes 2 and 3 become inoperative by the closing of the starting
valve V, which takes place on the drawing-back of the reversing rod.
In lieu of the two-fold pipe conduit between the starting valve and and high-pressur
cylinder A, Sheet IV also a single pipe f* Sheet III, may be employed, which
terminates in or about the middle of the high-pressure cylinder.
In that case the following pressures are produced on the high pressure and lov
pressure piston at the hereafter indicated positions of their cranks :
At positions a¹ b' and a¹¹ 11
"
"
A' Band A¹¹ B¹¹
At positions ¹¹ and bel
"
"
B C and B Cu
At positions c¹ a" and c" al
وو
وو
CA and C A¹ J
connecting pipe pressure through orifice ³
and port s.
no connecting pipe pressure, orifice a¹ being
closed.
connecting pipe pressure through slide
port p or q respectively.
Consequently the connecting pipe, during starting, receives fresh steam through
the starting valve pipe f* only when the low pressure piston is not in the range o
its dead points.
The same effect as described may be attained by leading the fresh steam no
direct into the pipe which passes the exhaust-steam from the high pressure cylinder
but by conducting it to an additional slide valve connected with the main slide
valve N Sheet V and constructed as follows:
A tubular casing ' closed at one end is secured with its open end to the valve
chest and has two ports a y₁ communicating by a tube in which terminates
pipe supplying fresh steam from the starting valve. A hollow slide H is sc
movable to-and-fro in said casing by means of main slide valve N, with which it is
connected either direct or by a rod, that one of the ports ¹ y is alternately opened
and closed so as to allow the fresh steam to enter alternately through one or the
other port. The positions of the main slide-valve N and of the auxiliary valve H
with regard to each other are so determined that both ports x¹ y¹ are closed Fig. 13
when the steam inlet passages R' S' to low-pressure cylinder B are closed and that
one or the other of said ports is opened and discharges steam Fig. 14, when one or
the other part of the main-steam passages is opened to admit steam.
Thus no pressure counteracting the starting of the high pressure piston in
cylinder A can arise within the connecting-pipe as long as the low pressure slide
valve N covers both steam-inlet-ports R' and 'S' to the low-pressure-cylinder, as
fresh steam can enter the latter only when one of its inlet ports is opened.
This arrangement may be so modified that pipe f** supplying fresh steam from
starting-valve V to low pressure cylinder B terminates direct into a side of the

page_text: respective valve-chest by means of a port and a channel H Figs. 15 and 16, so
as to be alternately closed by the slide-valve itself and discharge no steam, or
opened and discharge steam subject to the same conditions as described above.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
In the improved starting gear for locomotives forming the subject of my Patent
No. 921/1889:
1.) The combination of the steam-inlet regulator slide or valve S adapted to
regulate the steam-inlet fl with the starting-valve or slide V (Sheet I) actuated by
starting lever g substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2.) The combination of the starting-valve-pipe with the high-pressure cylinder A
in such a manner as to cause each orifice, xy, Sheet IV or orifice & Sheet III of
said pipe to be influenced by the high-pressure piston, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
3.) The combination of the starting-valve-pipe f with the low-pressure cylinder
in such a manner as to cause each orifice of said pipe to be influenced by the low-
pressure slide-valve, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
London, the 4th day of 1
ROBERT LINDNER.
By Huelser & Co.,
Temple Chambers, London, his Agents.