IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Septimus Stephen Williamson, of Saundersfoot,
in the County of Pembroke, Gentleman, and David Parsell, of the
same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 22nd July 1878, and dated the 3rd May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Septimus Stephen
Williamson and David Parsell at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd May 1878.
We, SEPTIMUS STEPHEN WILLIAMSON, of Saundersfoot, in the County
of Pembroke, Gentleman, and DAVID PARSELL, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “In-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The main object of our Invention is to utilize steam in steam engines,
or obtain a great amount of work from steam. For this purpose we
combine a number of cylinders together, so that the steam may pass
from one cylinder to another and work the piston of each; the steam

page_text: furnished with valves. The exhaust of the cylinder passes into another
cylinder which may be an annular cylinder, in which a piston has a to-
and-fro or reciprocating action. The slide valves are connected by
jointed rods or levers, so that they work in proper concert, and hence the
complication of a series of excentrics is avoided.
Also sometimes the piston rods are connected by gear, that is to say,
by rack and pinion or other similar contrivance.
Steam may be brought back from the annular or last named cylinder
into the injector of one of the before described series by a suitable com-
munication, the valve being lifted as the steam at a higher pressure
strikes against the steam at a lower pressure, so that the steam enters
and thus exerts a controlling and controllable action on the entry and
pressure of steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Septimus Stephen Williamson and David Parsell
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SEPTIMUS
STEPHEN WILLIAMSON, of Saundersfoot, in the County of Pembroke,.
Gentleman, and DAVID PARSELL, of the same Place, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Septimus Stephen Williamson and David
Parsell, Her special license that we, the said Septimus Stephen
Williamson and David Parsell, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Septimus Stephen Williamson
and David Parsell, 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 STRAM ENGINES," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that we, the said Septimus Stephen Williamson and
David Parsell, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Septimus Stephen Williamson
and David Parsell, 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 thereof,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
The main object of our Invention is to utilize steam in steam engines 1
or obtain a great amount of work from steam. For this purpose we
combine a number of cylinders together so that the steam may pass
from one cylinder to another and work the piston of each, the steam in
most cases passing through a steam chest from each cylinder before
entering the next cylinder. Each steam chest is furnished with valves. 2
The piston and valve rods of the cylinders may be connected so as to
work in required concert.
We employ an improved annular cylinder engine with reciprocating
piston, that is to say, a piston having rotary or circular reciprocating
motion in an annular steam passage, in which it moves in each direction 2
alternately to a certain point.
We sometimes use this improved annular engine alone, and sometimes
in combination with an ordinary steam engine.
We also use a pair of valves mounted on one shaft, stock, stem, or
valve rod, which is actuated by a slide valve or D valve, which in its 30
travel abuts against and moves the said valve rod. When this arrange-
ment is used in a steam chest the steam may be caused to work
expansively.
We employ an arrangement of equilibrium or balance valves in steam
chests or steam pipes, two valves. being mounted on an adjustable spring 35
or weighted lever or bar centred or -jointed at the proper fulcrum, so

page_text: DIENCE THE CAR PARTS Depressed
the other valve opens.
determined pressure.
Thus the steam is kept at a controllable or
We sometimes inject the exhaust or waste steam from the engine
back to the steam chest or to the boiler by suitable pipes or connec
tions.
The engine cylinder may be constructed of steel or wrought iron so
as to be strong and light. It may be fitted with covers, and the steam
chest may be cast on and the steam passages cast in the covers.
A Giffard's injector or other injector is used in some cases for injecting
steam, and by these means steam may be passed from a high-pressure
boiler into a low-pressure boiler, or chest or receiver (and sometimes
steam may be injected back to the same boiler), and by means of the
above-named equilibrium or balance valves steam at high pressure may
be blown into a lower pressure boiler or receiver.
In one arrangement the steam passes from an ordinary cylinder into
a steam chest and thence into a cylinder, whence the steam is forced
into another chest or receiver. This cylinder piston may work a fan or
blower, or it may be connected with the engine crank or shaft or other
appliance. Thence the steam passes into a double or twin steam chest,
that is to say, two steam boxes, one at each end of the cylinder, and
each furnished with valves. The exhaust of the cylinder passes into
another cylinder, which may be an annular cylinder, in which a piston
has a to-and-fro or reciprocating action. The slide valves are connected
by jointed rods or levers so that they work in proper concert, and hence
the complication of a series of eccentrics is avoided.
Also sometimes the piston rods are connected by gear, that is to say,
by rack and pinion or other similar contrivance.
Steam may be brought back from the annular or last-named cylinder
into the injector of one of the before-described series by a suitable com-.
munication, the valve being lifted as the steam at a higher pressure
strikes against the steam at a lower pressure, so that the steam enters
and thus exerts a controlling and controllable action on the entry and
pressure of the steam.

page_text: The accompanying Drawings exemplify the mode of carrying out the
Invention:-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of our improved steam engine, and
Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on the line A, B, of Figure 1. The
same letters have reference to the samo parts in both Figures. C is an
ordinary steam cylinder with the piston D, having the usual rectilinear
reciprocating travel. E is a steam cylinder in which the piston F also
reciprocates, but in a circular direction. The cylinder E is formed with
an annular peripheral or circumferential steam way or casing E²,
which the piston F travels from one side of the stop or abutment Fª 1
round the steam way or casing E to the other side of the stop or abut-
ment F, and then returns in the reverse direction, and so on, and thus
this piston may be said to have combined rotary reciprocating motion.
in
The piston D of the cylinder O is connected through its rod G with a
rack H, causing the rack H to reciprocate with it, and the piston F of
the cylinder E is connected with the shaft or trunnions I (seen more
clearly in Figure 2) working in bearings J supported on projections K
on the cylinder casing. This shaft I carries at one end a pinion L which
consequently partakes of a similar circular reciprocating motion to the
piston F. This pinion is further aided in its motion through being in 2
gear at one side with a rack Ḥ which reciprocates with the piston D, as
before explained, while the piston is at its opposite side in gear with
another rack M which is thus caused to reciprocate in a similar manner
to the rack H. These racks are steadied in their to-and-fro motion by
the male guides r, r, and female guides 8, 8, Figure 2. The rack M has 2
a lug or projection N, upon which one end of a connecting rod O is
attached while the opposite end of this rod is jointed to a crank P on a
shaft Q, the to-and-fro motion of the rack M causing the shaft Q to
revolve by means of the connecting rod O and crank P in the usual
manner. The shaft may be fitted with a fly wheel to overcome the 3
dead points, but this would not be necessary when two engines and two
cranks are fitted to drive the same shaft as the cranks would be placed
at an angle to each other. The cylinder C is fitted with two valve
.chests R, R, one at each end, which valve chests each contain an
equilibrium double beat cut-off valve S, and a slide valve T working 3
over the cylinder ports of the cylinder C. The slide valves T, T, work
in unison, being connected together by the rod U which also extends
through the ends of the valve chests R, R, and receives its to-and-fro
-

page_text: motion at one end from the eccentrics V, V, on the shaft Q by means of
the lever W, slot link X, and eccentric rods Y, Y, which are all connected
together in the usual manner, while the opposite end of the rod U is
connected by means of the links Z, Z, and lever a to the valve rod b
and valve c of the cylinder E, so that the eccentrics V, V, actuate the
slide valves of both the steam cylinders.
The cut-off valves S, S, are fitted on a sleeve d which is carried on a
rode, and the rod and sleeve are carried at one end by the gland f,
and at the other by the inner valve seating g. The valves S, S, are
returned to their seatings after being opened by the action of the
springs h, h. The valves are actuated as follows:-When the slide
valves T, T, in their to-and-fro motion travel towards the cut-off valve,
a projection on the slide valves T, T, comes in contact with the rod e,
forcing the cut-off valves off their seatings and so admitting the steam
which flows through the pipet and valve seatings g, g, into one of the
valve chests R, to be admitted to the cylinder O at the proper moment
by one of the slide valves T when it uncovers the steam port j.
The valves S, S, are caused to open more or less by regulating the
moment when the projection of the slide valve shall come in contact
with the rod e, or with tappets or the like on the rod, which is done by
turning the hand wheel j¹ on the end of the rod of the cut-off valves, the
connection between the rod and the sleeves being by a male and female
screw; for that purpose this power of regulating the moment at and
the amount of which the cut-off valves shall open enables the engine to
work at any degree of expansion required, the cut-off valves being
retained on the rod e at any position to which they may be set by means
of a lock nut k. Hence the duty which the cut-off valves S, S, perform
is that of measuring the required quantity of steam into the valve
chest R while the slide valve T admits this steam at the right moment
to the cylinder O and acts on its piston D, and also allows it to escape
by means of the port and pipe m to the valve chest of the cylinder E,
from thence to be admitted by the slide valve c through one of the
ports so as to act upon the piston F, and afterwards be allowed to
escape through the port p and exhaust pipe q to a condenser, or into the
open air, as the case may be. It will thus be seen that these engines
are well adapted to the use of steam at very high pressures, it being
partly expanded down in the cylinder O, and the remainder of its useful
pressure being extracted in the cylinder E by still further expansion

page_text: previous to its escaping to a condenser or elsewhere. The steam pipe
conveying the steam from the boiler to the valve chests of the engine is
shewn at t; it is fitted with a stop-cock u to entirely shut off the steam
when required.
When the valve rod extends beyond the valve chest we usually
employ cams or tappets as shewn, one on the valve rod, the other on
the screw rod.
We do not in all cases convey the steam from the boiler direct to the
valve chest R, R, as we sometimes pass it on its way from the boiler to
the engine through an apparatus shewn in longitudinal section at
Figure 3, which reduces it to the required pressure. This apparatus,
which may be attached to or form part of the boiler, consists of a box or
vessel divided into two compartments w and x by the division piece y.
The compartment w is fitted with a piston valve z free to rise and fall in
a short cylinder a¹, and the compartment x is fitted with an equilibrium
piston valve 6', also free to rise and fall in the cylinder c¹, these two
valves being connected by their rods to a rocking lever or beam ď¹
which is supported on the outside of the vessel on the standard e¹, the
beam & being fitted with an adjustable spring f¹, as shewn, (or a weight)
at one end.
%
The mode of action of this apparatus is as follows:-Steam is admitted
from the boiler to the compartment through the branch pipe g², say,
for example, at 500 lbs. pressure, and it is desired that it shall issue
from the compartment wo through the branch pipe ¹ on its way to the
engine at, say, 50 lbs. pressure, the valves & and b, and their rocking lever
d' and spring f, being adjusted for that pressure, the steam flowing from
the compartment w to the engine reduces the pressure within the com-
partment, and consequently the pressure on the valve z. This reduction
of pressure allows the spring f¹ to depress the end of the rocking lever d¹
at which it is fitted, and raises the opposite end of the lever and with it
the equilibrium valve 6¹. At the same time it causes the valve b¹ to
partly uncover the opening leading to the passage which forms a
communication between the two compartments w and x, and allows the
steam to flow into the compartment w from the compartment & until
the required pressure is attained, which pressure then acting on the
valve raises the end of the lever d³, and compresses the end of the
lever to which the equilibrium valve b' is connected, and causes the
8

page_text: Fifth. The mode of and arrangements for conveying steam from the
boilers into the engines at a reduced and controllable pressure, sub-
stantially as described.
20
method of connecting the pistons by pinion and rack, sub-
boilers into the engines at a reduced and controllable pressure, sub-
stantially as described.
Sixth. The method of connecting the pistons by pinion and rack, sub-
stantially as described.
Seventh. The combination of cylinder covers with the steam passage
and steam chest therein with cylinders made of steel or of wrought
iron.
Eighth. The mode of, and arrangement, and combination of parts for
injecting the exhaust or waste steam into steam boilers, steam chests, 1
steam boxes, or steam receivers, as described.
Ninth. The improved steam engine herein-before described in so far
as regards the general arrangement and combination of parts thereof.
Tenth. The mode of, and construction, and arrangement of apparatus
for injecting or returning the exhaust steam or waste steam back into 1
the steam boiler, or generator, or steam chest, steam box, or steam
receiver, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Septimus Stephen Williamson and
David Parsell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness to both signatures,-
E. DE PASS,
Patent Office,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
S. S. WILLIAMSON. (L.S.)
D. PARSELL.
(L.S.)