IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE VALVES AND PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Clegg, of Keighley, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE VALVES
AND PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 22nd February 1859, and dated the 17th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Clegg at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1858.
I, JAMES Clegg, of Keighley, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE
VALVES AND PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lubricating the valves and
pistons of steam engines, and consists in applying a self-acting apparatus to the
steam pipe, consisting of a supply vessel having two taps or valves interposed
between the supply valve and the steam pipe, so that upon opening the lower
tap or valve, the oil or lubricating fluid descends into the steam pipe, and is
carried, by the action of the steam, through the valves into the cylinder, and
lubricates the valves and the piston. The quantity of oil required for lubri-
cating is regulated by the lower tap letting out the oil from the space between
it and the higher tap or valve, which, when closed, prevents the steam or oil

page_text: from being forced out upwards through the vessel, by means of which Invention
the use of a piston, syphon, or any other force or mechanism for applying the
oil to the valves and pistons of steam engines is not required. The upper and
lower valves or taps are arranged in such manner as to be alternately opened
and closed, so that the one is closed at all times when the other is open.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Clegg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CLEGG, of Keighley, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Clegg, Her special licence that I, the said James
Clegg, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Clegg, 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
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 LUBRICATING THE VALVES AND PISTONS OF STEAM ENGINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Clegg, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Clegg, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The Drawing annexed shews a vertical section of the steam supply pipe of
a steam engine having apparatus applied thereto and combined therewith, in

page_text: order to supply lubricating fluid as near as may be to the cylinder of the steam
engine.
The lubricating apparatus is so formed that the oil, tallow, or other
lubricating matter is placed in a cup or vessel fixed above the steam pipe
leading from the steam boiler to the cylinder of the engine. Below the cup
or vessel into which the lubricating matter is placed there is a cock, when the
plug of which is turned the fluid lubricating matter will pass downwards
towards a suitable vessel of a spherical or other form, at the upper part of
which spherical vessel a valve is applied, which closes the passage into the
spherical vessel when pressed upwards by steam in the spherical vessel; at
the lower part of the spherical vessel a valve is applied which opens upwards
when pressed on by the steam below. The spherical or other formed vessel is
connected to the steam pipe by means of a tube, on which there is a cock, so
that when the plug thereof is turned the oil or other lubricating fluid will flow
out of the spherical vessel into the steam pipe, and be carried onward by the
steam to the valve or valves of the engine, and to the piston working in the
is introduced,
the form shewn in the Drawing, or other suitable shape; bis the cock inter-
posed between the vessel a and the spherical or other formed vessel c into
which the lubricating fluid passes, when the valve d is allowed to descend; but
it will not descend if the lower cock be left open; e is a valve at the lower
part of the vessel c, which opens when pressed up by the steam pressing on
the under side; f is the lower cock which is interposed between the vessel c
and the steam pipe g. The apparatus for supplying lubricating fluid is applied
to the steam pipe g, as near to the steam. cylinder of the engine as may be
convenient.
In using this combined apparatus, supposing the cocks to be shut, and the
lubricating matter in the cup or vessel a, the cock b is to be opened, and the
fluid will descend into the vessel c; the cock b is then to be closed, and the
cock f is to be opened, when the pressure of steam acting on the valve e will
open it, and the lubricating fluid will flow down into the steam pipe 9 and be
carried to the valves, and thence into the cylinder of the engine, by which
means the valves and the piston of the engine will be lubricated in place of
using oiling or lubricating apparatus on the cover of the steam cylinder, as
heretofore.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim any of the
parts separately; but what I claim is, the combination of the parts a, b, c, d,
e, f, and g, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I the said James Clegg, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES CLEGG. (L.S.)