AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES."
A communication.
Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 15th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th January 1857.
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 improved means of adjusting the wearing
surfaces of the working joint between the cylinder of oscillating and rotary
engines, and the stationary valve which communicates with the steam and
exhaust pipes, the object being to render the joint at all times steam-tight.
In applying the improvement to an oscillating cylinder engine, an annular

page_text: stationary valve is used, which surrounds one of the two trunnions that carry
the cylinder. Behind this valve set screws, or their equivalent, are applied, so
as to act directly opposite the steam and exhaust ports in the working surface
of the valve, and prevent the yielding of the valve to the steam pressure. The
sustaining of the cylinder against the lateral pressure of the steam entering it
from the stationary valve is effected by applying a set screw to the end of the
other trunnion, or by furnishing the trunnion with collars to work in a grooved
bearing.
When applying the Invention to rotary engines, sét screws are in like
manner made to bear against the back of the stationary valve, and a trunnion
with collars working in a grooved bearing is used for resisting the lateral
pressure of the cylinder.
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 15th July 1857.
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 Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant 'unto 'ine,
the said 'Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said "Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, ör such'others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINES," being a communication 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

page_text: 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 Drawing hereunto, annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to certain improved means of adjusting the wearing surfaces of the
working joint between the cylinder of oscillating and rotary engines, and
the stationary induction and eduction passages which communicate with the
steam pipe and exhaust pipe, whereby the said joint can be at all times made
and kept steam-tight.
To explain this Invention I will first describe its application to an
oscillating cylinder engine.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing is a side elevation of an oscillating.
cylinder engine with the Invention applied; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the
same; Fig. 3 is a view of the face of the hollow stationary valve, to which
are connected the steam and exhaust pipes; Fig. 4 is a vertical section, taken
through the centre of the trunnion bearings and stationary valve, also showing
the cylinder entire; Fig. 5. is a horizontal section in the line 1, 2, 3, 4, of
Fig. 2. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts wherever
they occur in these Figures.
A is the foundation plate; B, B', are two standards erected upon the
foundation plate, and united by collar bolts D, D; and C, is a third standard
erected on the said plate, and united with the standard B by collar
bolts E, E; F is the cylinder, provided with solid trunnions m, n, which rest
in bearings on the standards B' and C; G is the piston rod; H, the crank; I,
the shaft; and K the fly wheel; L is the stationary valve for the induction
and eduction of the steam, the said valve being of circular form, surrounding
the trunnion n, and containing two semicircular passages *, *, each
extending half way round it; the former of which passages is to have the
steam pipe connected with it at a, and the latter is to have the exhaust pipe
connected with it at b. c and d are the working faces of the valve L, one
of which contains two ports h, i, and the other two ports h¹, the ports
h, h, communicating through the passage h with the steam pipe, and the
ports i,, communicating through the passage * with the exhaust pipe.
e and fare surfaces on one side of the cylinder, near each end faced to fit and

page_text: work in contact with the faces c and d; and provided with ports g, one in each,
through which the steam passes to and from the cylinder. By the oscillating
movement of the cylinder the ports 9 will be brought into alternate com-
munication with the induction ports h, 'h', and exhaust ports i, 2, of the
stationary valve L. M, M, M, M; are four adjusting screws, fitted to the
standard C, directly or nearly opposite the induction and eduction ports of
the stationary valve L. These screws work in female screws in the said
standard, and have their ends sunk into suitable recesses provided to receive
them in the back or outer side of the valve L, which is thereby kept stationary
while the cylinder oscillates. N is a counter set screw, acting against the end
of the trunnion m of the cylinder, in which a steel plug m is tightly fitted,
the said plug and screw being both hardened to prevent wear; O is the
nut of the screw N, secured firmly to the standard B; and P is a jam nut to
secure the screw N.
The four set screws M, M, M, M, and the counter screw N constitute the
improved means of regulating the contact of the wearing surfaces of the
cylinder and stationary valve L. By means of the set screws M, M, M, M,
the joints between the wearing surfaces c, d, and those e, f, can be kept
perfectly steam-tight. The position of the set screws being opposite the
ports h, h¹, i and ; the force of the pressure of the steam acting against
the valve L and striving to open the joints is counteracted by them, and if
leakage should occur on any side of one of the surfaces it can be easily
remedied by tightening the corresponding set screw M. The force of the
steam acting through the ports h, h', i,, against the faces e, f, of the cylinder
is counteracted by the set screw N, by which at the same time the vertical
position of the cylinder under the crank can be regulated. By the position
of the set screws M, M, opposite the ports the springing of the valve is
rendered impossible, and the tendency of the steam to open the working joint
on one side and produce excessive friction on the opposite side of the wearing
surfaces, which is commonly exerted on working joints of the same character
in other oscillating engines, in which a single regulating screw is employed
opposite the centre of the trunnion, or in which more than one screw is
employed arranged otherwise than opposite the ports, is prevented.
Instead of employing a screw N to counteract the pressure of the steam on
the cylinder, one or more collars p, p, may be provided on the trunnion m to
work in grooves in the bearing in the standard B', as shewn in Fig. 6, which
exhibits a vertical section of part of the standard B' and the bearing 7 of the
trunnion, and shows the trunnion m partly in section. In using this method

page_text: of counteracting the pressure of the cylinder, it will be better generally to
cast the bearing 9 of some suitable metal in a cavity provided to receive it
in the standard B', such casting being made around the trunnion while the
latter is in its place. The bearing 9, shown in Fig. 6, is supposed to be cast
in this way.
The application of the Invention to the oscillating cylinder engine having
been fully illustrated and described, its application to a revolving cylinder
engine will be readily understood by a brief explanation of the Diagram,
Fig. 7, which is a front view of the cylinder, crank, and part of the crank
shaft of such an engine, showing also sections of the trunnion bearings and
stationary valve. In this kind of engine (which is assumed to be well known)
the cylinder S revolves on a single trunnion s, the axis of which is placed in
the same plane with the axis of the crank shaft T, and parallel therewith,
but the two axes are arranged at a distance apart equal to the length of the
crank of an oscillating or direct-action engine, vizt, half the length of the
stroke of the piston, and the crank U is very long, generally equal to twice
the length of stroke of the piston. The adjusting screws M, M, on the
revolving cylinder engine are arranged opposite the ports in the stationary
valve F, which only differs from the valve of the oscillating engine just
described in having longer ports in substantially the same manner as the
adjusting screws M, M, of the oscillating engine. In the revolving cylinder
engine it will be far more convenient to provide the trunnion with a collar or
collars p, p, and grooved bearing q, like those represented in Fig. 6, than to
use a screw to resist the pressure of the steam against the cylinder. More
than four screws M may be used with advantage in the revolving cylinder
engine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
Steam Engines," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the
adjustment of the hollow stationary valve L, or its equivalent, of an oscillating
or revolving cylinder engine by means of set screws M, M, M, M, or other
contrivances, acting directly opposite the surfaces on which the pressure of
the steam acts to force open the working joint, between the said valve, or its
equivalent, and the cylinder, viz', opposite the steam and exhaust ports in the
working surface of the said valve, or equivalent, the cylinder being sustained
against the lateral pressure of the steam which enters it from the stationary
valve by a set screw N, or by furnishing the trunnion with collars p, p, to

page_text: work in a grooved bearing, the said screws or screws, and collared, trunnion
operating substantially, as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day, of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)