IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Francis Fairlie, of Victoria Street, in the
City of Westminster, Engineer, and Loftus. Perkins, of Seaford
Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for
the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES."
2
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Francis Fairlie
and Loftus Perkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd September 1872.
We, ROBERT FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer, and LOFTUS PERKINS, of Seaford Street, Gray's
Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improvements in locomotive engines has particular
reference to the Fairlie system of locomotive engine and the Perkins
system of engine and boiler (described in the Specifications of Robert
Francis Fairlie and of Loftus Perkins herein-after mentioned respec-
tively) with the object of combining the advantages of these two systems.
The leading features of the Fairlie system, (which will be fully under-
stood on reference to the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to

page_text: Robert Francis Fairlie, dated respectively the 12th May, 1864, No. 1210,
the 9th Dec., 1865, No. 3185, the 14th November, 1867, No. 3221,
and the 17th Aug., 1869, No. 2457,) are the application of steam to
bogie frames or swivelling trucks, the construction of double boilers with
a central or common fire-box, and the employment of a long rigid frame, 5
termed the carrier frame, on which the boiler rests, and which is placed
above the bogie frames, and carries at or near each end a pin or head on
which the said bogie frames swivel.
The leading features of the Perkins system are a special construction
of boiler composed entirely of tubes, and capable of sustaining extremely
high pressure, and a special construction of compound steam engine
adapted to work with steam of extremely high pressure. All the joints
are metallic with small areas of contact. The high-pressure cylinder or
cylinders are single acting, so that the packings of the piston rods are
not exposed to the heat of the high-pressure steam.
1
In locomotives constructed according to our present Invention we
combine with the bogie frames compound engines, having high and low
pressure cylinders, which receive their steam from a boiler mounted on a
carrier frame resting upon the bogie frames.
We employ two swivelling trucks or bogie frames, each of which
carries and is actuated by a compound or high and low pressure engine
such as is described in the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to
Loftus Perkins, and dated the 12th July, 1871, No. 1822, the 21st
October, 1871, No. 2818, and the 21st October, 1871, No. 2819,
respectively. Upon the bogie frames is placed a carrier frame, such as
is described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to Robert
Francis Fairlie, and dated the 14th November, 1867, No. 3221, which
rests at or near its ends upon the said bogie frames, and is provided with
pins or heads to take into recesses or sockets in the bogie frames to form
their swivelling centres. In the centre of the carrier frame and between
the bogie frames is placed a double or single boiler, the construction of
which is similar to that described in the Specification of the said Letters
Patent of 12th July, 1871. The portions of the carrier frame above the
bogie frames support the fuel bunkers and condensers, which latter are
also similar to the condensers described in the Specification just men-
tioned. The steam is conducted from the boiler to the respective high-
pressure cylinders through elastic, or movable, or pendulous connections
which are capable of adapting themselves to the swivelling movements

page_text: of the bogie frames, and after having done its duty first in the high
prèssure and then in the low pressure cylinders the steam exhausts into
the condensers! We use by preference a combination of two singlè
acting high-pressure pistons with the steam acting on one side only of
each of them, and one double acting low-pressure piston exposed to the
pressure of the steam on each side alternately. The water resulting from
the condensation is collected in hot wells, from which it is pumped
into the boiler.
The exhaust pipes leading to the condensers have
branches provided with valves by means of which any portion of the
exhaust steam may when desired be allowed to escape into the chimney
or chimneys to increase the draught in the furnace,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said Robert Francis Fairlie and Loftus Perkins in the
.Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd March 1873.
•
-"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME we,
ROBERT
FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, and LOFTUS PERKINS, of Seaford Street, Gray's Inn Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Robert Francis Fairlie and Loftus Perkins;
Her special licence that we, the said Robert Francis Fairlie and Loftus
Perkins, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Robert Francis Fairlie. and Loftus Perkins, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we;
the said Robert Francis Fairlie and Loftus Perkins, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describo

page_text: 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 imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Francis Fairlie and 5
Loftus Perkins, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheets of Drawings forming
a part of this Specification:-
Our Invention of improvements in locomotive engines has particular
reference to the Fairlie system of locomotive engine, and the Perkins
system of engine and boiler, with the object of combining the advantages
of these two systems.
1
. Leading features of the. Fairlie system are the application of steam to 1
bogie frames or swivelling trucks, and the employment of a long rigid
frame, termed. the carrier frame, on which the boiler rests, and which is
placed above the bogie frames, and carries at or near each end a pin or
head on which the said bogie frames swivel.
Leading features of the Perkins system are a special construction of 2
boiler composed entirely of tubes, and capable or sustaining extremely
high pressure, and a special construction of compound steam engine
adapted to work with steam of extremely high pressure. All the joints
are metallic, with small areas of contact. The high-pressure cylinder or
cylinders are single acting, so that the packings of the piston rods are not 2
exposed to the heat of the high-pressure steam.
In locomotives constructed according to our present Invention, we
combine with the bogie frames compound engines having high and low
pressure cylinders, which receive their steam from a boiler mounted on
3
a carrier frame resting upon the bogie frames.
We employ two swivelling trucks or bogie frames, each of which
carries and is actuated by a compound or high and low pressure engine,
such as is described in the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to
Loftus Perkins, and dated the 12th July, 1871, No. 1822, the 21st
October, 1871, No. 2818, and the 21st October, 1871, No. 2819, 3
respectively. Upon the bogie frames is placed a carrier frame (such as

page_text: .
is described in the Specification of Letters Patent, granted, to Robert
Francis Fairlie, and dated the 14th November, 1867, No. 43221), which
rests at or near. its ends upon the said bogie frames, and is provided-with
pins or heads to take into recesses or sockets in the bogie frames to form
their swivelling centres. In the centre of the carrier frame and between
the bogie frames is placed a boiler, the construction of which is similar
to that described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent granted
to. Loftus Perkins, dated the 12th July, 1871: The: portions of the
carrier frame above the bogie frames support the fuel bunkers and
condensers, which latter are also similar to the condensers described-in
the Specification just mentioned. The steam is conducted from the
boiler to the respective high-pressure cylinders through elastic,.or
movable, or pendulous connections, which are capable of adapting them..
selves to the swivelling movements of the bogie frames; and after
having done its duty first in the high pressure and then in the low
pressure cylinders the steam exhausts into the condensers. The water
resulting from the condensation is collected in hot wells, from. which it
is pumped back into the boiler.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed we have represented a locomotive
engine constructed according to the manner in which we prefer to carry
our Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of one half of the engine, and
Figure 2 a plan view of the same; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section,
and Figure 4 a plan view, partly in section of the other half; Figure,.5
is a transverse section taken partly through the boiler and partly through
the cylinders.
A, A, are two swivelling trucks or bogie frames, each of which is
provided with three pairs of wheels, as shewn; B, B, are compound or
high and low pressure engines carried by the bogie frames A, A, and by
which the said bogie frames are driven. The construction of these
engines is herein-after described. C, C, is a carrier frame which rests
upon the bogie frames, and is provided with heads or pins D to take.ínto
sockets E on the bogie frames to form their swivelling centres. In the
centre of the carrier frame C, C, and between the bogie frames A, A, is
a boiler F, the construction of which is herein-after described. The
portions of the carrier frame above the bogie frames support. fuel
bunkers G, G, condensers H, H, and tanks I. The carrier frame is
here shewn as composed of two main parts, each of which terminates. at

page_text: while the said two parts are further con
and bridges cut in some cases
we
Andris bolted to the boiler F
nected together by tisses
make the carrier frame pass round the sides of the boilers which would
then be received in a rectangular opening in the said frame, and in this
case the carrier frame would be one rigid frame from end to end of the 5
locomotive. .
b
997176",
17:
..
The boiler F, the construction of which I will now proceed to describe,
consists of layers of wrought-iron tubes a, a, each tube having solid ends
welded in b, b, are short pipes, which connect each layer of tubes a: to
the layer next above and below. These pipes b, b, are threaded at each
end, one end with a right hand and the other with a left hand. thread, so
that they may be screwed simultaneously into two layers of the tubes a, a.
After the pipes b, b, have been screwed in as tightly as possible they are
secured. by caulking. The fire-box is made as shewn of wrought-iron
tubes bent into the desired form to make the sides of the box, and
connected to each other by short vertical pipes. It will be seen that
the tubes which form the fire-box are with the exception of two of themi
bent so as to pass entirely around the fire, their welded ends being
brought together; the welded ends of the other two are not brought up
close to one another, sufficient space being left between them, as shewn
at x, to allow of the fire-box being supplied with fuel. Instead of connect-
ing the topmost tube of the fire-box to the bottom layer of horizontal
tubes by means of short vertical pipes b, such as herein-before explained,
we screw or weld on to the said topmost tube and to the said bottom
layer nipples c, c, the protruding ends of which have threads of different
pitch cut upon them. These nipples are secured in their places by caulk-
ing; the connection between them is made by a socket, one end having a
fine and the other a coarse thread corresponding with the threads on the
nipples. The socket is first screwed on the nipple with the fine
thread as far as it will go, then a double cone distance piece or a copper
washer with flat ends is put in, this double cone or washer being of such
a length, that it does not quite reach to the surface of the socket. The
socket is then screwed off the fine on to the coarse thread until the
nipples are drawn tightly together, the cone distance piece cutting into
the flat ends of the nipples or the copper washer flattening and so
making a joint. We adopt the same mode of making joints in the
tubular connections between the top row of horizontal tubes a and the
steam pipe eff, are the fire-bars; g, g, is a double case or jacket

page_text: surrounding the boiler for the purpose of containing non-conducting
material.
The steam generated in the boiler F is conveyed from the steam pipe e
by pipes / to the engines B, B, on the two bogie frames, the construction
of which engines we now proceed to explain. In each of these engines
a high pressure single acting cylinder i and a low pressure single acting
cylinder & are employed; they are both jacketted with steam drawn from
the boiler; is the piston of the high pressure, and the piston of the
low pressure cylinder, these two pistons being made in one piece. The
high-pressure steam conveyed by the pipe h enters the box of the piston
valve m, it then passes through the port n and chamber o to the port-p,
and then by the port or passage q to the high-pressure cylinder i. The
steam after having been used in the high-pressure cylinder returns by
the port 9 to the chamber o, the piston valve o' of which and the piston
valve m are now in the position shewn in the Drawings; from the
chamber o the steam passes by the port or passage to the low-pressure
cylinder k, and after having been utilized therein it exhausts back into
the chamber o and. thence into the exhaust chambers, the piston valves
having meanwhile been returned to the opposite ends of their respective
cylinders. Instead of the arrangement of piston valves described, any
other suitable valve arrangement may be employed, and we prefer to
work the valves in the manner shewn in the Drawings. In the arrange-
ment of cylinders just described, the high-pressure steam never comes in
contact with the packing in the stuffing boxes of the piston rods.
The exhaust steam is conveyed from the chambers s by pipes t to the
condensers H, H. These condensers consist of a number of small tubes
arranged in rows, and exposed externally to the atmosphere. At their
lower end the tubes pass through a plate u into a shallow chamber v, and
are made steam-tight. The upper ends of the tubes may be closed or
may communicate with a corresponding shallow chamber, or they may
be open to the atmosphere. The steam conveyed by each exhaust pipe t
enters the corresponding chamber and passes up the tubes; the water
formed by condensation within the tubes flows out at the bottom into
he chamber v, and then passes by a pipe or pipes w to the tank or hot
vell I, from which it is pumped into the lowest tube of the boiler.
t
We have not thought it necessary to shew the condenser tubes in all
he Figures, but their position is in each Figure indicated by the
tter H.
.

page_text: •
In order that the exhaust pipes t may accommodate themselves to the
movements of the bogies, they are provided with ball-and-socket
joints y, y, and are also free to move vertically therein. For the same
purpose the steam pipes are made sufficiently elastic."
:
The portions of the carrier frame C which are not occupied by the 5
condensers, bunkers, or tanks, are covered with foot plates, as shewn at
K, K.
R
"
In some,
cases we, fit branches provided with valves to the exhaust
pipes, by means of which a portion of the exhaust steam may when
desired be allowed to escape into the chimney to increase the draught 1
in the furnace.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim aș our
"Improvements in Locomotive Engines,”--
First. The construction of Fairlie bogie locomotives, with Perkins' 1
high pressure compound engines and boiler-combined, 'substantially as
herein-before described.
Second. The combination with bogie frames or swivelling trucks of.
compound engines having high.and low pressure cylinders, which receive
their steam from a boiler mounted on a carrier frame resting upon the 2
said bogie frames, substantially as herein-before described.
Third: The construction of locomotive engines, as herein-before de-
scribed and represented in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I the said Robert Francis Fairlie, for myself,
and on behalf of the said Loftus Perkins, have hereunto set my 2
hand and seal, this First day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.