IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING THE VALVES OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Taylor, House Decorator, and John Dow,
Engineer, both of Stratford, in the County of Essex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING THE VALVES OF STEAM AND
OTHER ENGINES."
Sealed the 13th December 1864, and dated the 15th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Taylor and John
Dow at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 15th June 1864.
We, CHARLES TAYLOB, House Decorator, and JOHN Dow, Engineer, both
of Stratford, in the County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WORKING THE VALVES OF
STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in apparatus for working the valves of engines consist
in an arrangement of parts whereby we are enabled to work the valves of
locomotive, marine, and other engines with one eccentric for each valve, at
same time retaining all the advantages of the two fixed eccentrics with the
link motion, and even attaining some additional advantage in working the
steam more or less expansively and otherwise.
The eccentric according to our Invention is mounted on a block or centre
piece keyed on the engine shaft, or it may be on an additional eccentric shaft,
the eccentric being so fitted thereto as to be rigidly carried round with the
block, but so that it may be slid in the direction of the diameter, or nearly
so, it being supported on either side by cheek plates from the block. From
the eccentric strap a connecting rod leads direct to the valve rod as in an

page_text: ordinary fixed eccentric. At a little distance from the eccentric block is placed
a piece somewhat resembling the sliding plate of a shaft clutch, like it sliding
on the shaft, but carried round by a feather, and having a groove round it, in
which the ends of a forked arm take for the purpose of sliding it towards or
from the eccentric; on the side next the eccentric this sliding piece has a
central boss or projection, which is embraced by the forked end of a link jointed
thereto; the other end of this link is extended towards the periphery of the
eccentric, near which it is attached by a joint pin and suitable projecting
knuckles. When the sliding piece is at its farthest distance from the eccentric
the connecting forked link assumes a position at about an angle of 45 degrees
to the axis of shaft, but when moved closer to the eccentric it approaches
towards a right angle; the traverse of the sliding piece on the shaft pro-
duces this effect, and at the same time causes the eccentric to traverse
somewhat in the direction of its diameter, and so transfer the point of greatest
eccentricity from one part of its circumference to another, thus producing a
corresponding change in the position of the valve, with which it is in con-
nection. Instead of moving in a direct line the eccentric may move in a
curved course on its supporting block, which may be desirable to give the
requisite lead to the steam when the engine is moving in one direction or
the other.
To actuate the sliding or fork block before mentioned, we mount a shaft
parallel to the eccentric shaft with a right and left hand screw upon it, and
on each screw we mount the forked arm before mentioned (one for each
eccentric); by rotating the screw shaft the forked arms traverse thereon, and
cause the sliding blocks to move farther from or nearer to the eccentrics, and
so produce the changes desired and before described. We communicate
motion to the screw shaft (in locomotives) by a bevil wheel placed on the end
gearing with another bevil wheel on the end of a shaft, whose opposite end
carries a hand wheel in position over the foot plate to be conveniently
accessible to the engine driver. Other means may of course be provided for
actuating the forks operating the sliding blocks.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Charles Taylor and John Dow, Her special licence that we, the
said Charles Taylor and John Dow, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Taylor and John Dow,
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 APPARATUŠ
FOR WORKING THE VALVES OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Charles Taylor and John Dow, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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.
13
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Charles Taylor and John Dow, do
hereby declare the nature of our 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 Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Our improvements in apparatus for working the valves of engines consist
in an arrangement of parts whereby we are enabled to work the valves of
locomotives, marine, and other engines with one eccentric for each valve, at
same retaining all the advantages of the two fixed eccentrics with the link
motion, and even attaining some additional advantage in working the steam
more or less expansively and otherwise.
The eccentric according to our Invention is mounted on a block or centre
piece keyed on the crank shaft, or it may be on an additional eccentric shaft,
the eccentric being so fitted thereto as to be rigidly carried round with the
block, but so that it may be slid in the direction of its diameter, or nearly so;
it is supported on either side by cheek plates from the block. From the
eccentric strap a connecting rod leads direct to the valve rod as in an ordinary
fixed eccentric. At a little distance from the eccentric block is placed a piece
somewhat resembling the sliding part of a shaft clutch, like it sliding on the

page_text: shaft, but carried round by a feather, and having a groove around it, in which
the ends of a forked arm take for the purpose of sliding it towards or from the
eccentric; on the side next the eccentric the sliding piece has a central boss or
projection, which is embraced by the forked end of a link jointed thereto; the
other end of this link is extended towards the periphery of the eccentric, near
which it is attached by a joint pin to suitable knuckles projecting on the side
of the eccentric. When the sliding piece is at its farthest distance from the
eccentric the connecting forked link assumes a position at about an angle of
forty-five degrees to the axis of shaft, but when moved closer to the eccentric
it approaches towards a right angle thereto; the traverse of the sliding piece
on the shaft produces this effect, and at the same time causes the eccentric to
traverse somewhat in the direction of its diameter, and to transfer the point of
greatest eccentricity from one part of its circumference to another, and so
produce a corresponding change in the position of the valve with which it is
in connection. Instead of moving in a direct line the eccentric may move in
a curved course on its supporting block, which may be desirable to give the
requisite lead (at all points of the traverse) to the steam when the engine is
moving in one direction or the other, and to give the desired lap to the valve
to work somewhat expansively.
To actuate the sliding or fork block before mentioned, we mount a shaft
parallel with the eccentric shaft with a right and left hand screw upon it, and
on each screw we mount the forked arm before mentioned (one for each
eccentric); by rotating the screw shaft the forked arms traverse thereon, and
cause the sliding blocks to move farther from or nearer to the eccentrics, and
so produce the changes desired. We communicate motion to the screw shaft
(in locomotives) by a bevil wheel placed on the end gearing with another
bevil wheel on the end of a shaft, whose opposite end carries a hand wheel in
position over the foot plate to be conveniently accessible to the engine driver.
Other means may of course be provided for actuating the forks operating the
sliding blocks.
locomotive engine having the eccentrics constructed, fitted, and arranged
according to our Invention, while Fig. 2 represents a plan of the same. In
this arrangement the eccentrics are represented as mounted on an extra shaft
and not on the crank axle, as usual, but we prefer that the eccentrics should be
mounted on the main shaft, as in ordinary, and in the other and enlarged
Figures illustrating this Invention we have supposed such to be the case.

page_text: Fig. 3 represents a side view of the eccentrics and cross section of the shaft A
in its bearings with the eccentric rods B connecting them to the valve rods,
as usual; Fig. 4 is a plan, Fig. 5 a transverse view, and Fig. 6 a vertical
longitudinal section, while Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 represent some of the
parts detached. The the whole of the parts are in duplicate for two eccentrics,
but we confine the subjoined description principally to one set of parts, the
other set of parts being represented by the same letters with indices, and will
be readily understood. C, C¹, are the eccentrics (separately represented at
Figs. 7 & 8), which instead of being fixed on the shaft A or fitted to perform
a partial rotation thereon, as usual, are fitted on blocks D, D¹, fixed on the
shaft A, on which blocks the eccentrics are free to slide somewhat in the
direction of their diameter, by which they are carried round; these blocks
are separately represented at Fig. 9 in side and edge view. The eccentric has
an opening E (see Fig. 8) formed to receive the block D, which in its breadth
fits accurately, but is considerably shorter than the opening in the eccentric,
the difference in the length of the block D and that of the opening E being
such that when traversed from one end to the other the traverse motion is
sufficient to transfer the greatest amount of eccentricity (which is necessary to
actuate the valve) from one point of the circumference or radius to a point
nearly opposite. The effect of traversing the eccentric C on the block D in
such manner is to alter the relative position of the eccentric with the valve,
and to reverse its action as regards the induction and eduction of steam, and
so reverse the engine, as will be readily understood. As before mentioned,
the block D is keyed on the engine shaft A; the eccentric is then placed upon
it; two plates F, F, (one at each side,) are applied to support the eccentric;
these plates which are seen separately in Figs. 12 and 13, one of them having
a notch t to receive the knuckle joint e, f, on the eccentric are bored to fit
the shaft accurately, and may or may not be keyed thereto; they are secured
to the block D by bolts d, d, passing through the two plates and through the
block, so that the three parts F, F, and D are firmly fixed together, and at
same time solidly fixed to the shaft A, the plates F, F, thus support the sides
of the eccentric, and keep it in position, but do not pinch or bind it so as to
interfere with its freedom of traverse on the block D. The eccentrics are
furnished with straps G, G', and communicate with the valves by rods B, B',
as usual, which require no description. On the side of the eccentric is a pro-
jecting knuckle e, which is connected by a joint pin f to a link I, seen
separately in edge and side view at Fig. 10; this link is connected at the
opposite and forked end to a block K, fitted to slide longitudinally on shaft A,

page_text: and either carried round by a feather thereon or by its connection with the
eccentric. The link I, being jointed by pins g to the block, is free to move on
such joint as also on its joint pin f at the opposite end. The eccentric being
fixed in its position sideways, if the block K be forcibly moved from the
position seen in Fig. 4 along the shaft A towards the eccentric, the link I will
leave its position of an angle of forty-five degrees to the shaft and gradually
approach a position at right angles thereto, as shown in dotted lines, the
eccentric at same time will be traversed in a line parallel to its diameter, and
at right angles to the radius of the crank, the point of greatest eccentricity
being transferred from a point on one side of the shaft to a point nearly on the
opposite side of the shaft (see Fig. 8), as before mentioned, thus reversing its
action on the slide valve of the engine. In the block K a groove is turned for
the reception of a ring L, or rather two half rings, furnished with trunnions or
pins i, which are received in bosses h, h, of a lever M, shown separately at
Fig. 11; this lever is mounted on a fixed fulcrum at N, and carries at its
opposite end a swing nut 1; this nut is fitted on one part of a screw shaft P,
having a right and left hand threaded screw cut thereon. The screw shaft is
fitted in fixed bearings; by communicating motion to this screw shaft P in one
direction or the other, so will the nuts 1, l', of levers M and M' be caused to
approach or recede from each other, this approach or receding having the
effect of moving the blocks K, K', towards or from the eccentrics C. C¹,
simultaneously, and so altering the position of the points of greatest eccen-
tricity on the shaft A, as before mentioned. The screw shaft is connected by
bevil gear with a shaft, on which is a hand wheel under the control of the
engine driver, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, who can vary the position of
the eccentrics as described in order to give them, and consequently the slide
valves, more or less throw, as may be desired, or to reverse the action of the
engine at pleasure.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the eccentrics C, C¹, the eccentric blocks D, D', links I, I,
and blocks K, K³, are arranged and act as before described, but in this case
the levers M, M³, are dispensed with, and the blocks K, K', moved by means
of forked arms R, R', placed directly on the screw shaft P, the forked ends of
arms R, R¹, furnished with friction pulleys being received and acting in the
grooves round blocks K, K¹, in lieu of the rings L, L', before mentioned. By
rotating the screw shaft P in one direction or the other, the arms R, R', will
be caused to approach or recede from each other, and will transmit a like
motion to the blocks K, K', thereby producing the effects before described on
the eccentrics. S is the bevil gear; T, the hand-wheel shaft; and U, the hand

page_text: wheel, by which the driver operates on the screw shaft P to produce the effects
desired. The additional eccentric shaft in these Figures is actuated by
cranks x, x, operated by the connecting rods of the engine.
This arrangement of apparatus, although described only as applied to a
locomotive engine, is also applicable to marine and stationary engines.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, we declare that what we claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the arrange-
ment and combination of parts herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings applied as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Taylor, for myself and on behalf
of the said John Dow, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Four-
teenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
W. CLARK,
Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
CHARLES TAYLOR. (L.S.)