IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
EDWARDS, of the Islington Foundry, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Third day of November, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Edwards, my exors, admňors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Edwards, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Edwards,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Thomas Edwards, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Edwards, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: of Figure 5, adapted to one discharge pipe only.
THE IMPROVED DIRECT ACTION.
Figure 1, Sheet II., is a side elevation of a single direct acting engine,
constructed according to this branch of my Invention; and Figure 2, a front
elevation of the same. A is a fly wheel, which is connected with the crank B
by the connecting rod C; D, one of two side rods connected with the piston
rod E (see Figure 2); F is the steam cylinder; G, slide valve casing; H, an
excentric rod for working the valve spindle I, and J the starting handle; K is
the framing; L, the foundation bed; M is a bow shaft, shewn separately at
Figure 8, which connects the piston side rods D and the crank connecting rod
together, and so communicates the power of the piston to the crank; N, N,
are the slides fixed on the extreme ends of the bow shaft M, and O governor
which takes its motion through the medium of the bevil wheels P and Q from
the axis of the fly wheel. The introduction of the bow shaft M is the peculiar
feature of this arrangement, which distinguishes it from all other arrangements
of direct action engines previously in use.
THE DIRECT ACTION ENGINE AND RIGHT ANGLE BEAM ENGINE COMBINED.
The Figures on Sheet III. and Sheet IV. exhibit this arrangement. The
former is a side clevation, and the latter a front elevation of the principal parts
of the combined engines. A is the main shaft, and B crank; C is the con-
necting rod of the direct acting engine, and M that of the right angle engine;
D, D, are the side rods, connected with the piston rod E of the one engine and
K, K, the side rods of the other; F, F, are the columns for supporting
the cast iron framing G, which carries the shaft and pedestals; H is the slide
valve of the direct acting, and O the slide valve of the right angle engine;
I, I, are the respective cylinders; L, L, are the right angle beams; N is the
framework of the right angle beam engine; P, P, are the bow shafts for
connecting the piston side rods and the crank connecting rod together, and also
for connecting the piston side rods to the right angle beams, and so communi-
cating the alternating movements of the two pistons to the crank; Q, Q, Q, Q,
are the slides. The application in these Figures of the bow shaft to the right
angle engine exemplifies how it may be applied to other engines as well as to
direct action engines.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed or carried into effect, I declare that

page_text: what I claim as the "Improvements in Steam Engines," comprehended in the
said Invention, are,―
First, the method or methods of condensation or condensing apparatus of the
different varieties before described, whereby the ordinary air pump is dispensed
with.
Second, the method of connecting the piston. side rods and crank connecting
rods in direct action engines before described, and the application of the bow
shaft (M and P) to other engines; and,
Third, the combination in one double engine of a direct action engine,
constructed according to the second head of this Specification, with the common
right angle beam engine, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Edwards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-six.
THOMAS (L.s.) EDWARDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Thomas Edwards, came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery,. and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
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