AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES."-
A communication from abroad by Henry Waterman, of the City of
New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 23rd October 1863, and dated the 9th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th September 1863.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain means for increasing the effect of the
elastic pressure of the steam supplied to steam engines. To this end the
inner surfaces of the cylinder, with which the impelling steam admitted to the
cylinder for working the engine comes into contact, are formed of thin
metal, the opposite surfaces of such thin metal being kept heated by steam of
a higher temperature than the steam used for working the engine. By this
means owing to the thinness of the metal and the high temperature of the

page_text: steam in contact with the outer surface thereof condensation is mostly
prevented, and such watery particles as may accumulate in the cylinder will
be re-evaporated as soon as brought within the influence of the surfaces by heat
supplied by steam other than that used for working the engine. At each
end of the interior portion of the cylinder of the steam engine (resting against
its heads) are heaters whose sides are made of thin steel plate. Between
these plates is interposed a ring of soft iron of equal external diameter with
the bore of the cylinder, and of say two and a half inches less internal diameter.
The steel plates are rivetted to the ring, and the edges of the plates are
caulked, thus making a steam-tight hollow disc of the same diameter as the
bore of the cylinder. For increasing its strength screw braces are inserted
extending from one plate to the other, and their ends are rivetted in the same
manner as steam boiler screw braces. Similar internal heaters are applied to the
opposite ends of the cylinder, one being so modified as to allow of the piston
rod passing through it. The cylinder heads are fitted with pipes which
communicate with the heaters and serve to connect them with a small
auxiliary boiler made sufficiently strong to sustain a pressure equal to 100°
Fal above the steam entering the cylinder at the commencement of the stroke.
The pipes are used to communicate with the water in the lower part of the
auxiliary boiler. Inside of the cylinder is placed a heater composed of two
cylinders of steel plates secured to a frame consisting of four longitudinal bars
and transverse ribs. Through this cylindrical heater the steam ports are
formed and pipes are connected therewith leading to the boiler before
mentioned as in the case of the head heaters. Screw braces are inserted through
from one plate to the other and screwed in with red lead, paint, and their
ends dressed off even with the curved surfaces. If now steam is admitted to
the heaters to beat the thin metal of the heaters to a temperature greater
than the temperature of the steam entering the cylinder, any watery particles
that
may be present will receive heat of greater temperature than that due to
the pressure of the steam in the cylinder, and will be evaporated with a
rapidity due to the surface and difference of temperature between the heaters
and entering steam, and the heat required for the evaporation will be supplied
by the heaters. Instead of employing steam to supply heat to the heaters it
may be supplied by currents of heated air or heated gases passing through
them, but steam is preferred for the purpose.
---

page_text: . SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES," being a
communication to him from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Inventor of the present improvements having at considerable cost of
time, labor, and money, constructed a purely experimental condensing steam
engine with boiler and appendages attached and carried out therewith, long
and careful experiments has been led to the discovery,―
First, that in all condensing steam engines, according to size, there is
obtained only from one-half to one-quarter the dynamic effect due to the
water, which disappears from the boiler in the form of steam, and that this
loss is principally due to condensation by external radiation in the first

page_text: instance even with cylinders and steam pipes well protected by non-conducting
substances.
Second, in consequence of the abstraction of heat from the metal composing
the cylinder and its parts, a portion of the steam.entering it is condensed to
supply the deficiency, and as soon as the pressure in it is from any cause, such
as expansion, reduced, this condensed steam begins to re-evaporate thus causing
a further loss by supplying the latent heat for it.
Third, that with cylinders steam-jacketted a great loss takes place when the
whole cylinder with all its connected parts is surrounded with steam of the
same temperature as that used in the cylinder, and when so surrounded only
one-sixth part of the value due to the expansion can be made available in
consequence of the heat lost from the cylinder by the re-evaporation. of water
'adhering to its interior surfaces, and by the vapor of the condensed steam
being in contact with such surfaces. For as the interior portion of the
cylinder is during half the time exposed to the vapor of the condenser, which
is of low temperature and pressure, it follows the heat will be absorbed from
the hotter metal by the cooler vapor, and tharwater he present the evapora-
tion thereby produced will be rapid in accordance with such reduced pressure
and will absorb a large quantity of heat from the metal of which the cylinder
is compose. In addition to the waste of heat thus occasioned there is also
another loss caused by the back pressure, which the vapour so generated exerts
against the piston.
Fourth, that superheated steam does not contain heat in sufficient quantity
to supply that lost by the condensation and re-evaporation when used at
a temperature sufficiently low not to produce abrasion of the metal composing
the cylinder, piston, and valves.
.
In order to give practical and nearly the full effect of the elastic pressure
of the steam, the. Invention consists in having the inner surfaces of the
cylinder, with which the impelling steam admitted to the cylinder for working
the engine comes into contact of thin metal when the opposite surfaces
of such thin metal are kept heated by steam of a higher temperature then
the steam used for working the engine. By this means owing to the thinness
of the metal, and the high temperature of the steam in contact with the outer
surface thereof, condensation is mostly prevented, and such watery particles
as may accumulate in the cylinder will be re-evaporated as soon as brought
within the influence of the surfaces by heat supplied by steam other than that
used for working the engine.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1, is a longitudinal section of a
steam engine cylinder with the Invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, is a

page_text: longitudinal section of the heater that lines the cylinder with its internal
plates removed; Fig. 3 is a plan of the heater lining the cylinder; Fig. 4 is
a cross section, and Fig. 5 an end view of Fig. 3; Fig 6 is a plan shewing
at the left hand one half of the heater at the front head of the cylinder with
one of the plates removed, and at the right hand a plan of the heater at
the back head of the cylinder with a plate removed; Fig. 7 is a cross
section of the cylinder through the exhaust nozzle; Figures 8 and 9 are
sections of the longitudinal bars and ribs forming the frame of the heater
that lines the cylinder. The same letters indicate like parts in all the Figures.
A, Figures 1 and 7, represents the cylinder of a steam engine of any suitable
construction, and B the side pipes and steam chests containing valves of
any suitable construction, wbieh it will be unnecessary to describe. All the
outer surfaces of these parts it is preferred to have steam jacketted by steam
from the boiler, which supplies steam to the engine, or by other suitable
means. And it is also preferred to separate the condensed steam formed
in the steam pipe together with any priming water that may pass over
with the steam from the boiler in a chamber in the pipe before it enters the
valve chest, to be there drawn off and pumped back into the boiler. At each
end of the interior portion of the cylinder (resting against its heads) are
heaters c, whose sides are made of steel plate one-tenth of an inch thick.
Between these plates is interposed a ring of soft iron b, one inch and a quarter
thick, of equal external diameter with the bore of the cylinder, and of, say,
two and a half inches less internal di:meter. The steel plates are secured to the
ring by rivets (d, Figure 6), which are three-eighths of an inch in diameter;
placed one and a quarter inches apart. The edges of the plates are then
caulked in the same manner as are the edges of boiler plate in steam boilers,
thus making a steam-tight hollow disc of the same diameter as the bore of the
cylinder. For the purpose of increasing its strength screw braces e, three-
eighths of an inch in diameter, are inserted through from one plate to the
other; they are placed one and a quarter inches apart over the plane surfaces
as represented in Figure 6, and their ends are rivetted in the same manner as.
steam boiler screw braces. This hollow disc which is used as an internal
heater is placed on the lower or back head of the cylinder, and a similar one
with a small concentric ring interposed between the two plates around the
centre to make an opening p for the piston rod w to pass through is placed on
the upper or front head of the cylinder. Before the rings are rivetted to the
plates two holes g (see Fig. 1), are drilled into them from the inner edge to
within three-eighths of an inch of the outer edge, each one half an inch in
diameter, and pipes h and h¹ passing through the cylinder heads are screwed in

page_text: through the outer plate into the side of the ring to the drilled holes, thus
making communication to the internal part of the heaters. The pipes h, h¹,
are intended to communicate with the steam chamber of a small auxiliary
boiler made sufficiently strong to sustain a pressure équal to one hundred
degrees Fahrenheit's scale above the steam entering the cylinder at the com-
mencement of the stroke, and the pipes h, h', are used to communicate with the
water in the lower part of the auxiliary boiler, provided the surface of the
water in that boiler is lower than the pipes at h¹. If the auxiliary.boiler
cannot be placed sufficiently below the pipes h¹ then they will be connected
to a closed vessel having a force pump attached to it, and the condensed steam
flowing into it from the heaters by these pipes will be pumped into the said
boiler. Inside of the cylinder is placed a heater a composed of two cylinders
of steel of the same thickness as the plates of the end heaters, and these two
cylinders may be made of plates secured to a frame consisting of four longi-
tudinal bars z, and three ribs y, Fig. 2. The frame is conveniently formed
thus: The longitudinal bars are two and three quarters inches wide and one
and a quarter inches thick, with a feather in the centre of the two widest sides
projecting three-sixteenths of an inch above their faces, (the use of these
feathers will appear hereafter). From the ends and from the middle of the
bars and from the two opposite edges project arms m; Fig. 9, of one and a
quarter inches square, and of sufficient length to form, when curved, one
quarter of a circle. These arms form the interposing ribs y, and they, together
with the bars when all united, form a frame to which the plates constituting
the two cylinders are secured by rivetting the plates to the bars and ribs, the
joints being made steam-tight. As it would be difficult to caulk the longi-
tudinal seams of the plates composing the internal surface of this cylindrical
heater in the ordinary way and have a surface on the internal side, feathers c³,
as before stated, are formed on the bars to overcome this difficulty. They are
not needed for this purpose on the external side, but being a convenient and
effectual method of caulking, are used on both sides.. These feathers pro-
jecting from the surfaces of the bars, are placed true and parallel in the faces
to which the plates are, to be rivetted, the faces, and ribs being curved to
the circle required for any sized cylinder. The plates of the entire length of
the cylinder properly plauished and curved to form segments of a cylinder of
the intended diameter are planed along their longitudinal edges to an angle of
about seventy degrees, as seen at c', Fig. 4, and after the plates are rivetted to
the ribs and bars the feathers are upset over the bevilled edges, thereby
forming perfect caulked seams. The feathers are then dressed down to the
curves, forming true and smooth surfaces. The end ribs have offsets in them

page_text: which form three sides of the steam ports ; through the heater. The dotted
lines in Figures 1 and 3 represent the offsets covered by the plate steel. The
head beaters c form the fourth side of the ports. The plates are countersunk
for all the rivetts and the rivet heads are all dressed off smoooth with the
curved surfaces on both sides. The middle rib and longitudinal bars have
communicating holes drilled through and into them at 1, shown by dotted lines
in Figures 2 and 4, to receive steam and condensed steam pipes h² and h³, and
to connect all the compartments and pipes h² and h³ leading to the boiler and
closed vessel before described, as in the case of the head heaters. Screw
braces e¹ three-eighths of an inch in diameter are inserted through from one
plate to the other, and are placed one and a quarter inches apart between the
rivets. They are screwed on with red lead paint and their ends dressed off
even with the curved surfaces. The joints are to be made tight in the
usual way, that part of them on one side of the ports at u will be made
tight by two followers k curved to the bore of the cylinder, the inner ends of
the followers k being bevilled as represented to act against pieces of corre-
sponding bevil. Set bolts are used to force the pieces k against the pieces v,
which are forced towards the periphery of the heater by the wedge-like action
of the bevilled faces, thus making this part of the joint. The joints around
the ports between the cylinder and the cylindrical heater are made by driving
in hemp saturated with paint.
From the foregoing it will be seen that as the steam from the pipes h heat
the thin metal of the heaters to a temperature greater than the temperature of
the steam entering the cylinder, any watery particles that may be present will
receive heat of greater temperature than that due to the pressure of the steam
in the cylinder, and will be evaporated with rapidity due to the surface and
difference of temperature between the heaters and entering steam, and the heat
required for the evaporation will be supplied by the heaters.
Instead of employing steam to supply heat to the heaters it may be supplied
by currents of heated air or heated. gases passing through them, but steam is
preferred for the purpose. "Instead of having the entire inner-surface of the
cylinder and the heads thereof formed of thin metal to be heated as herein
described, less than the whole of such surfaces may be so made and heated,
but if less than the whole the effect will be proportionately reduced.
Although in the above description a specific mode of construction with
dimensions is given, that is only done to enable a skilful engineer to apply the
Invention in the form deemed best, but it should be distinctly understood that
I do not limit myself to such mode of construction nor to such proportions.
I am aware that steam engines have been steam jacketted cylinders, heads,

page_text: side pipes, and valve chests, to prevent radiation and consequent condensation,
but heaters have not been applied to the internal surfaces of the cylinder
and steam jacketting will not answer the purpose contemplated by my
correspondent.
I am likewise aware that attempts have been made, but never with success
to prevent condensation in the cylinder by superheated steam, I therefore
disclaim such modes, they are inefficient, and will not supply heat with
sufficient rapidity nor in sufficient quantity to re-evaporate the condensed
steam at the proper time.
One merit of this Invention is, that it obtains the maximum efficiency here-
tofore aimed at, but not realized by such superheating contrivances. Another
merit of the Invention is, that it reduces the pressure on the back of the
piston to its normal quantity or only slightly more than is due to the tempe-
rature of the condenser.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
Steam Engines," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim wholly or partially lining the cylinders of steam engines with
thin metal substantially as described, and heating such lining to a higher
temperature than the temperature of the steam to be used within such
cylinders for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lanc.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.s.)