CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES, WHICH Iм- PROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HUMPHRYS, of York Road, in the Borough, of Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the fifth year of His reign,
(One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five,) did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Humphrys, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Francis
Humphreys, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Francis Humphreys, my exors, adññors, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE STEAM ENGINES, WHICH Iм-
PROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES FOR OTHER PURPOSES; " in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Francis
Humphreys, 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
His 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Humphrys, do hereby declare that the nature of my said invented
improvements consists in a method of communicating or transmitting the action
of the pistons of marine steam engines to the cranks, without the intervention
of the beams, crossheads, and other auxiliary appendages in common use, by
which diminution in the number of moving parts of the engines, and conse-
quent simplification of their action, they will be greatly reduced in size and
weight, and will work with less wear and tear, and less liability to accident and
derangement than heretofore, which invented improvements, though more parti-
cularly applicable to steam engines employed in the propulsion of ships, may
be also applied with advantage in all cases where it is desired to resolve the
reciprocating motion of the pistons of steam engines into a rotary motion. And
in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Francis Humphreys, do
hereby declare that the nature of the method by which the said improvements
are effected, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
shewn in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the following
description thereof, that is to say:―
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the engine, provided with my improved
means of communicating or transmitting the action of the piston to the crank;
Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1 through the line O, O; Figure 3 is an external
elevation of the engine; and Figure 4, a plan of the top thereof; the same
letters of reference being employed to denote the same parts in each of these
four Figures.
A, A, is the cylinder; B, B, the working piston; C, the crank; D, D, a
steam-tight casing or trunk, of a rectangular form, rounded at each end, which
is permanently attached to the piston in such a manner that the axis of the one
shall correspond exactly with the axis of the other, and which casing works up
and down with the piston; E, E, is a lid or cover of the cylinder A, A; G, G,
the stuffing box, which is made to fit the outside of the casing or trunk D, D,
instead of as usual fitting the piston rod; H is a rod, firmly secured to a cross
pin or axis I, working in metallic bearings, one end of which rod is attached
to the bottom or lower end of the piston, and the other passes up through an
aperture in the piston into the casing or trunk D, D, and is ultimately con-
nected with the cranks C; K, K, is a box or cover, which incloses the cross
pin or axis I with its bearings, and is jointed steam-tight to the piston; L, L,
is a hollow space cast in the cylinder bottom or bed plate, for the reception of
the box K, K, when the piston is at the bottom of the cylinder. On the
engine being set to work, the motion of the piston is, by means of the rod H,
directly communicated to the crank C, and causes it to revolve. The casing

page_text: or trunk D, D, must be planed true, and made perfectly smooth by grinding
and polishing, and it must be of such dimensions as to allow the rod H to move
freely within it, according as it is acted on by the piston. The lid or cover
E, E, must in like manner be turned to fit the cylinder very exactly, and the
top flanch faced truly square with the inside bore. The under side of the lid
or cover E, E, must also be turned fair and square with the sides of the
stuffing box G, G. A transverse section of the stuffing box G, G, on an
enlarged scale is given in Figure 5, for the purpose of shewing more clearly
certain peculiarities in the mode of its construction. It may be provided
with metallic packing fitted to the casing or trunk D, D, in a manner
similar to the metallic packing frequently used for pistons, but I prefer using
hemp, flax, cotton, or some other vegetable substance, plaited or wove into
gaskets, so as to fit well the space or spaces allotted to them. The stuffing
box I make somewhat deeper than those ordinarily used, and of three distinct
compartments or divisions. The first or lower division M is carefully packed
with gaskets. The second or middle division N, which I call a dividing frame,
consists of two brass plates, each about one inch in thickness, kept separate by
small studs about an inch long, projecting from the bottom of the upper of these
two plates, the said brass frame occupying altogether a space of about three
inches in depth. The third or uppermost division of the stuffing box is care-
fully packed with gaskets, in the same way as the lower division M. Above all
three is a gland or packing flanch a, a, which is screwed down in the usual way,
and presses the two layers of packing and dividing frame closely together. To
prevent the admission of air into the cylinder, in the event of the lower portion
of packing becoming defective at a time when it would be inconvenient to
stop the engine to renew or repair the same, the space between the two plates
of the dividing frame is filled with steam by means of a pipe b, which is con-
nected with the steam induction pipe, and although a small portion of the
steam so admitted may find its way through the parts of the packing defective,
as aforesaid, into the cylinder, yet it will have no appreciable effect on the per-
formance of the engine, while the admission of the least quantity of air into
the cylinder would materially impair the vacuum and consequent power of the
engine. This stuffing box is also provided with a funnel cock f, for the purpose
of occasionally introducing melted tallow into the space between the plates of
the dividing frame, the packing being more effectually lubricated this way
than by applying the tallow on the top of the packing, as is usually done in
stuffing boxes of the common construction. With the further view of shewing
more clearly how the connecting rod H is to be attached to its cross pin or
axis I, and that again to the piston, there is given in Figures 6 and 7 separate

page_text: representations of these parts of the engine., P, P, are the metallic bearings in
which the cross pins I works. R, R, square-headed screws, which are inserted
in the piston, and by pressing on the top of the utmost of the metallic bearings
P, P, serve to tighten the same; S; S, are two plugs, fitted into apertures, one
on each side of the stuffing box, with hollow spaces therein, to receive, the
heads of the screws R, R, when the piston is at the top stroke or upper part
of the cylinder. By withdrawing the plugs S, S, access can be had to turn the
screws R, R, (with a box spanner or other suitable instrument), as often as
may be required. The screws R, R, are carefully fitted with chased threads
into blocks or nuts of considerable depth, made either of malleable iron or
brass, which nuts are secured in mortices or recesses made for the purpose in
the piston, and the upper parts of the screws are turned and ground into brass
bushes, so as to be perfectly steam-tight.
And having now particularly described the nature of my said invented
improvements, and the manner in which the same are performed, I declare
that I do not claim any of the parts of the engine herein-before described
which are old and known otherwise than in so far as the same are newly con-
nected and combined with the parts that are new and invented by me; and I
declare that though the mode herein-before described of constructing the
stuffing box g, g, is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new, yet that I do
not claim the same as new, or as an indispensible part of my said invented
improvements; and I declare that what I claim as my Invention is, the
addition to the pistons of steam engines of a steam-tight casing or trunk, per-
manently affixed thereto, and working up and down therewith, and the
employment of a connecting rod passing from the working piston to the crank
through such steam-tight casing or trunk, both in the manner herein-before
specified, by means of which contrivance the reciprocating motion of the
pistons is resolved into a rotary motion, without the intervention of the beains,
crossheads, and other auxiliary appendages in common use; and, though I do
not consider any such combination of means as that known by the name of the
parallel motion, nor guide rods of any kind, to be ordinarily requisite to pre-
serve the parallelism of the piston and casing, and have not therefore intro-
duced any such contrivances into the engine, berein-before described, I
declare that my said invented improvements admit readily of the addition of a
parallel motion or guide rods whenever it may be found expedient to make
use of the same. And I further declare that though I prefer that the casing
or trunk D and connecting rod H should be of the respective forms and
dimensions represented in the plan, Figure 2, yet that I reserve to myself full
power and liberty to make the same of any other forms and dimensions by.

page_text: which the like effects will be produced. And finally, I declare that though I
consider that my said invented improvements may be most advantageously
applied to marine engines, in consequence of the great reduction which they
will occasion in the weight of such engines, and of the space occupied by them,
as also of the greater steadiness which the diminution of the number of the
working parts will impart to the action of the engines, especially when they
have to contend with a boisterous sea, and of the greater safety and durability
consequent thereon; and though I also consider that the said improvements
will be found most effectual when applied to steam engines with fixed vertical
cylinders, yet that my aforesaid improvements are applicable to all kinds of
steam engines in present use in which fixed cylinders are employed, with
pistons therein, to give a rotary motion to cranks, whether the cylinders and
pistons are worked vertically, horizontally, or at any angle whatever with the
horizon; and such my Invention and improvements, as above particularly
described, being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never
before used within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the
same, and that I do verily believe that this my said Specification doth comply
in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in
the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained, wherefore I do
hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Humphrys, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1835, the aforesaid Francis Humphrys came before our
said Lord the King in His 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.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.