IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR AIR AND WATER COMBINED
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 9th November 1853, and dated the 31st May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Goodlet at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st May 1853.
I, GEORGE GOODLET, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, Scotland,
5 Postmaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR AIR AND
WATER COMBINED," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers more particularly to direct action engines, and
consists in arranging the parts of the engine so as to produce a short
o stroke and a rapidity of motion of the piston, with a quick succession
of impulses of the motive agent thereupon, whether such agent be

page_text: steam, air, or air and water combined. The steam or other fluid is
admitted to the cylinder through a slide valve, with an unusual freedom
of ingress, owing to the valve being constructed without a cover, and
its further supply is at once cut off by means of another valve. The
slide valve also admits of a similar freedom of egress for the fluid after
its momentary impulse upon the piston. The piston rod is continued
through both ends of the cylinder, passing through two stuffing boxes,
and the levers for working the slide valves are connected with it. The
crank employed in this engine is made as short as convenient, so as to
work with the greatest possible speed. In the case of an engine
worked by steam, the steam is admitted to the cylinder from an
ordinary steain boiler in the usual manner.
In the case of an engine worked by air or air and water combined,
the air or air and water are forced into a vessel similar to an ordinary
steam boiler, with an air vessel in the upper part of it, and from the
larger vessel the air or air and water are forced into the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Goodlet in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 9th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE GOODLET, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, Scotland,
Postmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Goodlet, Her special licence that I,
the said George Goodlet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Goodlet, 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,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Chan-
nel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR AIR AND WATER COMBINED,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Goodlet,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 George Goodlet, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say):
My Invention of "Improvements in Engines to be Worked by
Steam, Air, or Air and Water Combined," refers more particularly to
direct action engines, and is intended to increase the efficiency of such
engines in proportion to the quantity of fuel used, or the amount of
external power applied to them, by removing some of the existing im-
pediments to the passage of the steam or other motive agent from the
boiler or supply vessel to the working piston of the engine, so that the
effective pressure of the impelling vapor or fluid may be communicated
to the surface of the piston in that part of the stroke which produces
the most effect.
The principal part of the effect upon the piston is produced by the
pressure of the steam at the beginning of its course; and under my
Invention it is intended that this effective action should be repeated at
the shortest intervals, and the parts of the engine so arranged as to
admit of their being successively transmitted without loss of time to the
crank shaft of the engine.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood I will
proceed to describe its general features more particularly, without
referring, however, to one particular form of engine, as my Invention
is applicable to various forms thereof.
When steam is employed as the motive agent may be supplied to
the engine from any ordinary boiler (but I prefer its being taken from

page_text: the under part thereof) by means of a steam pipe in the usual manner
but in passing to the cylinder, instead of its being admitted through a
slide valve of the ordinary construction, it may be made to pass through
a valve in which the ends of the slide are cut so as to admit of a more
constant entrance and exit of the steam without the usual intervals
occasioned by the ordinary construction of the slide, by which it is
made to cover over the passages until it has been moved through a
considerable space. The cylinder also may be altered so as to admit of
the piston rod extending through both ends of it, and working through
stuffing boxes therein. The slide valve may be worked by a lever with
a forked end, extending over a part of the piston rod, on which are two
projecting studs, which take into the fork of the lever. This lever may
have its fulcrum at the end of a rod or support fixed to the cylinder,
and act in a slot formed in the slide valve rod, which is enlarged in one
portion of it in order to have the slot formed in it. This rod is worked
through guides, to preserve its parallel action. On the piston rod at
the reverse end of the cylinder is connected the lever for acting upon a
valve in the feed pipe of the engine, by means of which the further
supply of vapour or fluid is cut off, or partially cut off, immediately after
the impulse upon the piston has taken place.
And I also substitute for the ordinary governor a throttle valve
adapted and applied to the eduction pipe from the cylinder, with suit-
able rods and levers or mechanism to render it self-acting, so as to
regulate the speed of the engine by means of a counter pressure on the
piston when required, or the said throttle valve may be placed under
the control of the engine man. In the case of locomotives, this throttle
might be brought into effective action by the engine driver by means
of levers and a handle, so as to stop the engine by thus balancing the
forces on each side of the piston, either gradually or more suddenly, as
the circumstances of the case may require.
The cylinder is supplied with an atmospheric vacuum valve at each
end, opening inwards, by which the atmospheric air is brought to
act upon the piston in conjunction with the impelling fluid at each
stroke.
3
The piston rod is connected to the crank in the usual way, but the S

page_text: 5
latter may be made as short as convenient, so as to correspond with
the shortness of stroke of the piston. The fly wheel in stationary
engines will, of course, be adapted to the size and power of the
engine. oder geb
volgeb das edt Jese line busd you to
When the engine is to be worked by air, or air and water combined,
the supply vessel has air pumped into it, in order to produce the
required pressure to be exerted on the piston. When water is used
the air is pumped into the upper part of the vessel, so as to press upon
the water, and produce the combined pressure of the two fluids upon the
piston.
In this case the construction and arrangement of the slide
valve and other parts of the engine may be the same as those just de-
scribed, but the water (as also in the case of hot water taken from the
bottom of a steam boiler) on leaving the cylinder is made to pass into
a vessel, whence it is forced back into the original supply vessel
by means of a force pump worked by the piston rod at the reverse end
of the cylinder from that at which the said piston rod is connected to
the crank.
In case it should be found desirable, the boiler might be extended
by means of a pipe leading to a smaller vessel, open to the atmosphere,
and placed at a considerable height, or a pipe only might be extended
from the upper part of the boiler, so as in either case to produce the
pressure of a fall of water combined with the natural pressure of the
atmosphere.
I would here remark, that my Invention, as above described, in its
general features may be modified so as to be adapted to existing
engines, although the effect produced therein will be proportionably
smaller.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not mean or intend to confine myself to the precise arrangements
described, except so far as they are necessary to the accomplishment of
the end to be attained by my Invention. But what I claim as of my
Invention is, the general combination and arrangement of the parts
referred to, whereby they are capable of producing the effect of repeat-

page_text: ing the impulses of the motive agent upon the surface of the piston at
short intervals, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Goodlet, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
B. NANCARROW.
GEORGE GOODLET. (L.S.)