IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.".
communication from abroad by Ernest Georges Xavier Boileau,of Paris,
in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 29th September 1859; and 'dated the 9th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th April 1859.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the construction of steam engines and
boilers may be divided into four principal parts or heads, which relate,-
1st, to a novel mode of communicating the motion of the piston or pistons
of the engine to the crank shaft.
2nd, to the condensation of the steam after it has acted on the piston or
pistons.
3rd, to the mode of supplying or distributing the steam to or in the

page_text: 4th, to the production or generation of steam in boilers with a moveable
furnace or fire-place of an annular form.
The object of the first improvement is to arrange the working parts of the
engine in such a manner that the connecting rods may bo dispensed with, and
the other parts of the engine much simplified, taking care however that the
piston or pistons shall always be made to act in a right line. To this end tho
Inventor proposes to avail himself of the well-known property in geometry,
that when a point situated upon the circumference of a circle moves with the
latter in the interior of another circle of double its diameter, the epicycloid
which it describes is a right line or a diameter of the greater circle.
In carrying out this idea the Inventor connects the pistoas of two cylinders
to a double crank, the piston of one cylinder being made to act at right angles
to the other, and the ends or pins of the double crank being made to work in
bearings or brasses at the ends of crank arms on the main shaft which it is
intended to actuate. The heads of the piston rods are made to work in right
lines in guides which are fixed at right angles to each other. The condensing
apparatus consists of two chambers which are partly filled with water, and
communicate with one another at the lower part by means of a tube of large
capacity. These chambers are also provided with a number of tubes filled
with cold water so as to constitute a large and extensive refrigerating surface.
At the upper part of each of these chambers there are exit and entranco
valves, the latter communicating with the steam cylinders, and the former
with a reservoir or chamber that communicates with the boiler. Upon steam
being admitted into one of the chambers of the condenser it will press on the
water and force it into the other chamber, until by contact with the refrige-
rating surfaces of the cold water tubes the steam becomes condensed, when
the water will flow back to its former level; steam is then admitted into the
other chamber, and the water expelled therefrom into the first chamber, the
air that was above the water together with some of the water being forced
out of the exit valve into the reservoir which communicates the boiler, and
so on, the water being driven back and forth from one chamber to the
other. The water from the condensed steam being from time to time forced
or pumped from the condensing chambers into the boiler in a hot state will
economize the heat.
In order to supply the steam to the cylinders it is admitted into distributing
boxes or chambers in which there are sliding plates that act as valves; these
are enveloped or enclosed within a short elliptic tube; terminated by a cylinder
which is made to slide in a stuffing box. A spring is made to press the
sliding plate against the moving valves, which act as cut-off and distributing

page_text: valves and keep them steam-tight. The steam passes through the cut-off
and distributing valves into the cylinder, the action of these valves being
regulated by any of the ordinary contrivances. The steam on issuing from
the cylinder is admitted into a box or chamber, from whence it passes into
a case where it deposits any grease or condensed steam that may be mixed
with it, and from this case the steam passes at proper intervals into the
condeuser.
The arrangement of parts which the Inventor proposes for carrying out the
last part of the Invention consists of a vertical cylindrical boiler surrounded
by an annular grate or furnace, to which a slow rotary motion is communi-
cated by menus of rackwork or otherwise. The fuel is supplied to the fire
at a certain point from a hopper, and the flame and gases from the burning
fuel are carried down vertical tubes which pass through the boiler. The
smoke is conducted away along a lateral channel, and through a syphon
tube into the chimney. The grate bars are arranged in sets, which may be
lowered in divisions at will for the purpose of cleaning.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand, eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward 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 inake, 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 STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS," being a commu-
nication from abroad by Ernest Georges Xavier Boileau, of Paris, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William' Edward Newton, by au

page_text: 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
Baid Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward 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):-
This Invention of "Improvements in the Construction of Steam Engines
and Boilers" may be divided into four principal parts or heads, which
relate,-
First, to a novel mode of communicating the motion of the piston or
pistons of the engine to the crank shaft.
Second, to the condensation of the steam after it has acted on the piston
or pistons.
Third, to the mode of supplying or-distributing the steam to or in the
cylinders, and of conducting it therefrom to the condenser.
Fourth, to the production or generation of steam in boilers with a moveable
furnace or fire-place of an annular form.
In Sheet II. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 10 is a Diagram repre-
senting the manner in which motion is transmitted from the pistons to the
crank shaft. When a circle x rolls in a circle y of double its diameter, each
point of the circumference of the circle describes a diameter of the circle y;
teeth are adapted to the interior of the circle y, which is a fixed crown wheel;
the circle a is a pinion which takes into the toothed crown y, which revolves
round the end of a crank,the centre of which corresponds with the centre of
the crown y, and the pinion carries a stud or pin which serves to guide a
rod in a right line.
This system, which is generally described as White's epicycloid, has been
applied to the purpose of working pumps and other apparatus; it is very
little used because it is less firm and simple than an ordinary crank; the
rod not acting truly with the pinion tends to throw it out of its place, tho
gearing is therefore an inconvenience. Instead of taking the fulcrum or
point of support on the crown y, an attentive examination will shew that
it is possible to have this point of support upon two diameters which cross
each other at-right angles; and it is this alteration, with the results thereof,
that I am now about to describe.

page_text: Suppose m, n, to be two cranks adapted to two shafts, to which motion is
required to be communicated; 1, a double elbow piece, which I shall call a
rolling crank rod; at the point 1 of the rolling crank rod let the rod of the
piston 11 be attached, and at the point 2 the rod of the piston 23 placed at
right angles to the piston 1'; the pistons 1' and 23 are maintained in a right
line by guides. On motion being communicated to them by the action of
the steam, the points 1 and 2 of the rolling crank rod will move in a right
line, and the points m, n, will describe the circumference of a circle, the
centre of which will be at the point c by virtue of the theorem. All the points
of the circumference of a circle a which rolls in a circle y of double the
diameter will describe diameters of the circle y. The parallelogram of the
forces constructed at ench position of the pistons 1 and 2 shews that in
consequence of their intimate connection, their compression upon the guides
being exercised in an inverse direction will be in a great measure neutralized
by each other. When the piston 1' is at the end of its stroke, the piston 2'
is at the middle of its stroke, and exerts at 1 a pressure equal to that which
it transmits at 2; but it must be observed that at this instant the speed at the
point 1 is null, and that as soon as the piston l' is put in motion its counter-
pressure balances that of 2, (see the Diagram, Fig. 10, Sheet II.) The
length of the crank in an ordinary crank engine is equal to half the stroke of
the piston ;
in the rolling crank ongine it is onlya quarter the stroke of the
piston. Although the middle lever arm be the same in both cases, in a rolling
crank engine a stroke of piston will be given proportionately greater than in
an ordinary crank ongine, although making the same number of revolutions.
This is not an inconvenience, as less account must be taken of the speed of
the piston than the number of backward and forward motions. For the same
number of revolutions, the same consumption of steam, and the same power,
the body of the piston will be diminished in-proportion as its speed is aug.
mented; and the same exit orifices will always furnish in the same time a
cubic yard of steam, whether the steam expands in length or in width. The
engine being suitably put in equilibrium by a counterweight, will, without
shock or inconvenience, attain a speed greater than that of ordinary crank
engines which require a heavier counterweight.
The rolling connecting-rod systein possesses the advantages of occupying
very little space, of being simple aud solid, and of working the crank in the
same manner as would be effected by a connecting rod of infinite length,
and with a smoothness and regularity of motion which will never be attained
by ordinary engines under the same conditions.

page_text: FIGURES 1 AND 2, SHEET I.
Fig. 1 shews in front view, partly in section, the application of the trans-
mission of motion and condensation to a marine engine; Fig. 2 is a side view
shewing the valves for effecting the condensation.
The inconveniences of incrustation and deposit of salts in marine boilers,
and the abstraction and loss of caloric resulting therefrom, have caused efforts
to be made to condense the steam by the contact of cold surfaces, instead of
effecting it by means of an injection of cold water. It is acknowledged that
this is an improvement, and that an effectual means of carrying it into effect,
by facilitating the employment of high pressure, would be an important im-
provement in the steam engine. In the system of condensation by contact
two square yards of cooling surface are employed to condense 50 lbs. of
steam per hour, these 50 lbs. representing the power of one horse. For a
large engine the quantity of refrigerating tubes is so considerable that the
complication and accidents of all kinds occasioned thereby have prevented the
employment of this mode of condensation; and the condensation by injection
is preferred, by reason of the certainty of its action and its simplicity.
The large refrigerating surface required appears to arise from two causes;
first, from the condenser not being completely freed from air at each emission
of steam, and it is known that the presence of air greatly retards the con-
densation of steam. The second cause is, that in condensation by the
contact of cooled surfaces it has been desired to condense at as low a
temperature as in condensation by injection, and that the complication
resulting therefrom is too great for the result obtained.
It is a fact long experimented upon in refineries, and completely carried
into practice, that a square yard of plane surface will condense per hour 6 lbs.
of steam for a difference of a degree, or 360 lbs. of steam per hour and per
square yard for a difference of 60 degrees, the water being at 10 degrees, and
the steam at 100 degrees. A coil of pipe will condense three times as much
steam, by reason of the movement of the steam and the complete expulsion of
the air. Thus, it is proved in practice, that by suitable arrangements
360 lbs. of steam may be condensed for every square yard of cooling surface,
instead of 25 lbs. for every square yard condensed by the ordinary mode.
Suppose A to be a metallic chamber, through which pass tubes B constantly
cooled by means of water supplied by a pump, or in certain cases for stationary
engines by air supplied by a blower; A' is a second chamber similar to the
first; C, a channel of large diameter, bringing into constant communication

page_text: This air and the
the two chambers A and A'. The boxes or condensers A, A', have each an
induction valve D, and an eduction valve E, which open in different directions,
in the same manner as the lift and force valves of an ordinary pump. Tho
condensers A and A'. which are united by the channel C, are half filled with
distilled water. The steam escaping from the cylinder a raises tho induction
valve D of the condenser A, presses upon the water, and forces it to tho
upper part of A', driving before it the air contained in A.
excess of water escape through the eduction valve E of the condenser A.
The steam at a, by reason of its expansion and its contact with the re-
frigerating tubes, will be rapidly condensed. The steam escaping from the
cylinder will then raise the induction valve of the condenser A', force forward
the water and steam contained in A, compress and condenso and cause to
pass through the exit valve of A the excess of water condensed and the steam.
compressed. The movement will then recommence as above. Thus the
water contained in the condensers A and A' acquires an oscillating motion,
which will allow of its completely purging at each oscillation the condenser in
which it rises of the air and steam which it contains, and of passing this air
and steam more or less condensed into a reservoir in communication with the
boiler, either directly or by the agency of a feed pump. The movement of the
water in the condenser may be as rapid as that of the water in the air pumps
of engines now in use. It will be understood, moreover, that it is easy to
regulate it to any degree required, by receiving before its entrance into the
condenser and in a receptacle of suitable proportion, the expanded steam
escaping from the cylinders after having exerted its clastic force. The number
of oscillations will depend upon the proportion of the condensing surfaces,and
the relation of the pressure of the steam at its entrance into the condenser to
its pressure on making its escape from the condenser, and which may be
modified at pleasure. The tubes in the condenser are arranged in such
a manner as to facilitate internal repairs and cleaning (deposits of sulphate of
lime may be removed by means of a sponge steeped in acid); the backward
and forward motion of the water produced by the condensed steam and its
temperature will prevent the fouling of the outside of the tubes. The boiler
will thus be fed with boiling distilled water, and the maximum pressure in the
condenser will not exceed one atmosphere. The pressure may be rendered as
low as in ordinary condensers by increasing the refrigerating surface. The
steam engine will work expansively at 3 or 4 atmospheres. It would be
sufficient to give ten square inches of cooling surface for fifty pounds of steam,
say, seven hundred and fifty feet for one thousand horses power, in order so to
simplify the tubular condenser that it would come into general use.

page_text: Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section of the cylinder a; Fig. 4 is a
transverse horizontal section, taken in the line 1, 2 of Fig. 3; e is the valvo
for admitting steam into the steam chests; fis the plate for admitting the
steam into the slide valves. The oponing in this plate is surrounded by a
short pipe, capable of working in a stuffing box. The plate is held against
the slide valves by means of springs r, for the purpose of keeping them
perfectly steam-tight; 7 is the expansion or cut-off valve, and the dis-
tributing or supply valve. The steam is introduced through the interior of
the slide valves. The steam on escaping enters the box i, and escapes
through the openings J, J', in the steam chest K (see Fig. 1, Sheet I.),
where it deposits the grease from the cylinders and the condensed water
from the box K; the steam enters the condenser A at intervals, regulated
by the oscillations of the water contained therein.
Figures 5 and 6 shew in front view the mechanism for changing the
direction of motion of the engine; this change is effected in a manner
analogous to that employed in marine engines now in use, by varying the
position of the excentrics by means of a wheel K carrying a pinion ŕ mounted
on the main shaft. A lever S keyed upon the shaft carries two pinions s, s,
opposite to each other, which gear on one side with the pinion of the hand
wheel R, and on the other with a toothed crown T, united to the excentrics
U, U, by a plate. The lever guides the excentrics by bearing upon one of
the projections of the plate, or upon that projection corresponding to tho
direction of motion of the engine. When working without expansion, the
distributing and cut-off valves have the same movement, and work as a single
valve. To change the cut-off, the position of the cut-off excentric upon the
main shaft must be changed; for this purpose the crown or ring of the plate
of the cut-off excentric is toothed at the side. Tappets acted upon by springs
are fixed upon the wheel R, and raised by an auxiliary wheel furnished with
cams, which allow of their being brought at pleasure into or out of gear with
the teeth of the crown wheel. In order to change the cut-off, the tappets aro
to be raised by acting upon the cam wheel, and by means of the hand wheel
the cut-off excentrics are brought into the required position; the tappets are
then brought into gear by bringing the cam wheel back into its first position.
In order to remedy the defects of too short an excentric rod, the excentric
rods of the right and left engines are united by a traverse V, which works a
crank having a throw equal to half the course of the excentrics. This crank
guides the excentric rods in such manner that they will work parallel to one

page_text: another, and will work the valve rod in the same manner as this would be
effected by a connecting rod of an indefinite length.
Fig. 7 is a transverse section of a boiler of sixty horse-power, having an
annular fire-place; Fig. 8 is a plan or bird's-eye view of the same, one half of
it being shewn in section in the line 3, 4 of Fig. 7.
Itis only necessary to witness the unpleasant labor of stokers to foresee that
furnaces fed by mechanical means will finally be adopted everywhere where
there is great consumption of fuel, especially as the continuous feeding of the
furnaces will allow of the burning of a great portion of the smoke. The
arrangemont proposed for this purpose by the Inventor consists of a cylindrical
vertical boiler K, surrounded by annular fire-bars L, having a slow rotary
motion communicated to them (ono revolution per hour with three feeders).
The fuel is fed in at several points to the fire-bars by means of hoppers t,
furnished with a grooved feed cylinder T. The flame turns back on leaving
the fire-box, and descends along vertical tubes k in the boiler full of water.
The sinoke escapes through a lateral channel in a flue M placed in a vertical
cylinder N, which serves as a reservoir for steam, and, if required, as a distilling
apparatus, the products of which might be readily extracted. The movement
of the annular fire-grate is effected by means of the shaft o, driven by any
suitable motive power, and which carries a pinion p gearing into the circular
rack p¹.
Having now described this Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I desire it to be understood that what I desire to claim
as the Invention secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
Firstly, transmitting rotary motion to driving shafts by means of a rolling
crank rod, the two extremities of which are attached to two pistons, having a
rectilinear alternating movement at right angles to each other, whilst the
central point of the crank rod describes the circumference of a circle.
Secondly, the means of obtaining rapid condensation of steam by its contact
with cooled surfaces, the waste steam escaping from the cylinders being made
use of to communicate to the water of the condensed steain regular oscillations
or pulsations, which multiply the points of contact, and at each stroke purge
the condensers of the steam mixed with air which they contain, which
arrangement materially augments the useful effect of the refrigerating
surfaces.
Thirdly, the arrangement of supply and cut-off valves, having for their
object to cause those parts to work easily and in proper proportion to the
great speed of rolling crank rod engines.

page_text: Fourthly, the arrangement of moveable annular fire-grate, fed by mechanical
means, and surrounding a boiler with vertical tubes, so as to combine an
extended surface of fire-bars, having a large heating surface within a limited
space, with great solidity and facility for working repairs, and the utilization
of fuel.
It will be understood that all these arrangements may be employed either
together or separately, being modified according to the requirements of con-
struction, and without being confined to the dimensions given as examples
in the Drawings, which represent (drawn to a scale of roth the real size)
an engine of one hundred horse-power applied to a screw making ninety
revolutions per minute, and working expansively at a pressure of between
three and four atmospheres.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Titness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.s.)