IMPROVE- MENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hamilton, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, and Thomas Silver, of Philadelphia, in the
United States of America, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 15th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hamilton and Thomas
Silver at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition
on the 15th February 1860.
We, JOHN HAMILTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, and THOMAS SILVER, of Philadelphia, in the United States of
America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows, that is to
say:
This Invention has principally for object the rendering of marine steam
engines inore perfectly under control than hitherto, and is more particularly
applicable to engines for driving screw or other stern propellers, but may also
be adopted in those for driving paddle wheel or other side propellers.
The Invention consists principally in causing a temporary "back pressure"
in the cylinder, so as to retard the motion of the piston when there is a tendency
to "race." This back pressure is obtained according to one plan by means of
a throttle valve introduced between the cylinder and the condenser, and
actuated or adjusted by hand, or placed in connection with a governor arranged

page_text: to close it on the proper speed being exceeded. In connection with this
arrangement the condenser injection cock may be placed in connection with a
governor to regulate the supply of injection water to the requirement of the
condenser, and one or both of these arrangements may be used in concert with,
or independently of, the ordinary steam pipe throttle valve. In constructing
either the steam pipe throttle valve, or that for the exhaust, it is preferred to
give a bulged or expanded form to the passage on each side of the valve in
order that a very small turn of the valve from a transverse position may give a
full passage to the steam. It is also preferred to make the injection valve of
the balanced class, and with the last-mentioned improvement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hamilton and Thomas Silver in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HAMILTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
and THOMAS SILVER, of Philadelphia, in the United States of America, Gentle
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand' eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Hamilton and Thomas Silver, Her special licence that we, the said John
Hamilton and Thomas Silver, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Hamilton and Thomas Silver, our 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Hamilton and Thomas
Silver, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Hamilton' and Thomas Silver, do
hereby declare the nature of our said. Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :--
Our said Invention has principally for object the rendering of marine steam
engines more perfectly under control than hitherto, and is more particularly
applicable to engines for driving screw or other stern propellers, but may also
be adopted in those for driving paddle wheel or other side propellers.
The Invention consists principally in causing a temporary "back pressure
in the cylinder, so as to retard the motion of the piston when there is a tendency
to "race." This back pressure is obtained according to one plan by means of
a throttle valve introduced. between the cylinder and the condenser, and.
actuated or adjusted by hand, or placed in connection with a governor arranged
to close it on the proper speed, being exceeded. In connection with this the,
condenser injection cock may be placed in connection with a governor to
regulate the supply of injection water to the requirement of the condenser,!
and one or both of these arrangements may be. used in concert with, or
independently of, the ordinary steam pipe throttle valve. In constructing
either the steam pipe throttle valve or that for the exhaust, it is preferred to
give a bulged or expanded form to the passage on each side of the valve, in
order that a very small turn of the valve from a transverse position may give
a full passage to the steam. It is also preferred to make, the injection of the
balanced class, and with the last-mentioned improvement.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly. understood and
carried into effect, we have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
representing an example of the application of our improvements..
:
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings, is an elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan,
partly in section, showing the regulating apparatus and as much of the engines
to which it is applied as is necessary for explanation. The same reference
letters mark the same parts in both Figures.
¡ .
In this case the engines are supposed to consist of inverted cylinders A,
driving the screw propeller shaft B, as is usual with this class of engine' the
valve casing C, is situated between the two cylinders A, and has communicating
with it the steam pipe D, and the two branches of the exhaust pipe E, the
latter leading to the condenser F. The steam pipe D, is fitted with a throttle
valve-d, and a throttle valve e, is also fitted to the exhaust pipe E. The
levers by which the throttle valves d, e, are adjusted, are connected by links
g, h, to levers G, H, on a shaft I, which, by means of another lever i, is

page_text: actuated by the moveable sleeve J: of a governor. The governor represented
in the present example is of the kind known as "Silvers' momentum governor,"
but it will be obvious that other arrangements of. governor may be.. used in.
carrying out our present Invention. We prefer to adjust the parts acting
upon the steam and exhaust throttle valves d, e, so that when the, governor
tends to close them, the latter valve e, will close sooner or to a comparatively
greater extent than the former. In some cases even we propose to make the
governor act only on the exhaust valve e, the intention being to retard the
engine by back pressure rather than by diminishing the supply of steam. The
apparatus will generally come into action when the propeller is lifted out of
the water by the pitching of the vessel, and tends to "run away." This
increase in speed will be prevented by the back pressure induced, by the closing
of the throttle valve e, whilst the full steam pressure will be retained upon the
piston ready to act the moment the propeller redescends into the water and
the governor reopens the throttle valve in consequence of the retarded motion:
In this way less time will be lost in regaining the proper speed than when
the steam throttle valve d only is acted upon by the governor.
The accompanying Drawings also show the application of a throttle valve k
to the pipe K, by which the injection water enters the condenser F; this
valve k, being also connected by a link to a lever L on the shaft I, so as to
be acted upon by the governor for the purpose of modifying the supply of
This
injection water simultaneously with the supply (or exhaust) of steam.
arrangement prevent there being an extra quantity of water to remove.
from the condenser at times when it is desirable that the engine should give
out its best effect.
will
The improvement in constructing the part of the passage or the short pipe
casting in which the throttle valve is inserted, in the various cases herein-
before detailed, is shown in section in Figure 2. The casting is of the general
bore of the pipes or passages at the flanges, and at the middle part which the
valve fits and fills when closed, but the portions of the casting between such
middle part, and the flanges on each side are bulged or widened out, so as to
give a free passage to the steam or water with a comparatively small move-
ment of the valve.
Having thus particularly describéd our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, we have to state
that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or
delineated, but that what we claim as the Invention secured to us by the.
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the using or applying of a throttle valve actuated by a governor in

page_text: the exhaust passages of marine engines, either alone or in combination with a
throttle valve in the steam passages, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the applying in marine engines of a valve actuated by a governor,
to the injection pipe, in combination with an exhaust throttle valve, or in
combination with exhaust and steam throttle valves, substantially as herein-
before described.
Third, the constructing or shaping of the parts immediately adjacent to the
throttle valve, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof I, the said John Hamilton, on behalf of myself
and of the said Thomas Silver, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
JOHN HAMILTON. (L.S.)