CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
JELOWICKI, of No. 8, Seymour Place, Bryanstone Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of March, in the sixth year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six,
did give and grant unto me, the said Edward Jelowicki, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Edward Jelowicki,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
Edward Jelowicki, my executors, administrators, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick
o' Tweed, an Invention communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing
abroad, of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Edward Jelowicki, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Jelowicki, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of Certain Improvements in Steam Engines apply to that
kind or description of engine in which the cylinder is movable, or made to
slide up and down a hollow piston rod, such rod serving for the induction and
eduction passages for the steam, and consists,―
First, in a novel construction of such kind of steam engine in which the
cylinder reciprocates upon a movable or oscillating hollow piston rod, whereby
the expansive force of the steam is transmitted direct from the engine to the
crank or driving shaft, without the interposition of ordinary jointed connecting
rods, cross heads, or other parts.
And second, in another improved construction of the same kind of engine,
with the cylinder working upon two oscillating hollow piston rods.
And third, in an improved construction of engine of the same description,
the cylinder reciprocating upon two fixed hollow piston rods.
And I would here remark, that I am aware engines of the above kind or
description have been heretofore made, but they have been constructed with
the cylinder reciprocating upon a fixed hollow piston rod passing through both
its ends, and the power of the engine transmitted to the crank shaft by jointed
connecting rods, cross heads, and other parts, which are dispensed with in my
improved construction of steam engines, excepting when a rotary motion is
required to be obtained from my third improved construction, then a jointed
connecting rod is necessary to transmit the power from the engine to the
crank or driving shaft; but when it is used for pumping liquid, sawing stone
or wood, it is not required. And further, in my improved construction of
engines, the hollow piston rods do not pass through both ends of the cylinder.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the first of my improved construction of engines,
one of the side frames being removed the better to shew the parts.
Fig. 2 is an end elevation and Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same.
a, a, is the framework or standards upon which the driving or crank shaft b,
with its fly-wheel, is mounted in proper bearings. c is the cylinder of the
engine connected to the crank d by the rod e, which is firmly secured at one of
its ends to the cap or cover f of the cylinder, and at its other end is attached in
the usual manner of forming such connections to the crank. g is the hollow
piston rod properly mounted at one end in the bearings or stuffing boxes h, h,
and at the other is firmly secured to the piston i, by the conical end of the
rod fitting into a conical recess in the piston, and fastened by a screw and nut,
or in any other convenient manner.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a section of the piston and its hollow rod detached, and drawn on
an enlarged scale, the better to shew the construction.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same. The hollow piston rod is divided longi-
tudinally into two ways or channels, one for the induction passage of the steam
to the cylinder, and the other for the eduction or escape of the steam, after exert-
ing its force in the engine, to the atmosphere or to the condenser, as the engine
is worked cither with high-pressure steam or as a condensing engine. The
induction and eduction valves are contained in the piston itself, and are shewn
detached in section at A, B, Fig. 4; the one, A, is the induction for the admis-
sion of the steam into the cylinder on either side of the piston, and consists
of a hollow tube open at both ends, but divided by a partition k in the middle,
and has two openings l, m, formed in its sides, one above and the other below
the partition, as will be seen by the Drawing. These openings and m, are
placed alternately opposite the induction passage n of the piston, as the steam
is entering the cylinder above or below it. The eduction valves B are solid
plugs, o and p, connected together by a rod q, and are made to fit properly
into the ends of the exit passages r, r, of the piston. The end of the hollow
piston rod at h, h, is T-shaped, the arms being connected by proper stulting
boxes or steam-tight joints in the bearings h, h, one to the steam pipes,
leading from the boiler, and the other to the exit pipe t, leading to the con-
denser or atmosphere. The action of the engine is as follows:-Steam being
admitted from the boiler by the pipes into the hollow piston rod, and passing
along the channel or way u (as shewn by the arrows), enters the cylinder by
the openings n and m (the parts being situated as shewn in the Drawing), and,
exerting its expansive force between the upper side of the piston and the
cover f of the cylinder, is made to move along the piston rod, and transmits the
force of the steam through the rode to the crank d, and consequently turns the
driving shaft round the T-shaped ends of the piston rod, turning a small distance
in the bearings or stuffing boxes h, and allowing the piston rod and cylinder
to oscillate, and keep at all times in a direct line with the pin or centre of the
crank. When the cylinder has moved near to the end of its stroke, the valves
A, B, will come into contact with the inside of the end or cover of the cylinder,
whereby they will be changed simultaneously, the induction passage m of the
valve A being passed away from opposite the opening n of the piston, while the
other induction opening of the valve will be brought opposite to the opening n,
and the steam admitted into the cylinder upon the reverse side of the piston, at
the same time the eduction valve o will be closed, and the other, p, opened,
which allow the steam contained in the cylinder between the piston and the
cover f to escape. After this change of the valves, the cylinder begins imme
diately to move the reverse way, and on the valves meeting with the cap or

page_text: cover they are again changed, and so on, the fly wheel carrying the crank
over the dead points or centres, and thereby keeping up a continuous rotatory
motion, as in reciprocating engines of the common construction.
Having now described the simple construction of a single engine, I shall
briefly refer to Figures 6 and 7, which are elevation and plan representations
of a double engine, in which the two cylinders act upon the crank, and pro-
duce a continuous rotatory motion without the aid of a fly wheel, the cylinders
assisting each other over the dead points of the crank, as is well understood
by all engineers. The same letters being marked upon corresponding parts no
further description will be necessary.
Fig. 8 is a representation of an engine of my second improved construction,
with two oscillating or movable hollow piston rods, instead of the one divided
into two compartments, as first described. These rods are simple tubes, one
serving for the induction of the steam to the engine, and the other as the
eduction therefrom.
Fig. 9 is an enlarged section and Fig. 10 a plan of the piston and its rods
detached. The other parts and action of the engine being the same as before
described, and the same letters of reference being marked upon corresponding
parts, it will not be necessary for me further to describe it, but shall proceed
to Figures 11, which is a representation of the third improved construction
of engine (viz), with two fixed hollow piston rods.
Fig. 11 is an end clevation of an engine constructed after this third
arrangement. In this instance the piston rods are not allowed to oscillate or
move out of their proper direction, and the cylinder is retained in its proper
motion by ears on its sides carrying anti-friction rollers w, moving in slots or
a parallel motion, and the rod e becomes a connecting or ordinary crank rod,
being jointed to the end or cap f of the cylinder, instead of being fixed thereto.
I would here remark, that I have shown the driving shaft and fly wheel as
situated above the engine, because in this position a greater area of the piston
is given to raise or lift the weight of the cylinder, the space occupied by the
piston rod on the other side decreasing its area, which has the weight of the
cylinder in its favour in descending; but the position of the engine may be
reversed, as, for instance, when applied to the pumping of liquids, without the
application of a crank or fly wheel, as above noticed; and, further, that the
admission of steam may be cut off at any part of the stroke of the engine
required, so as to work the steam expansively, by making the valve A longer
or shorter, so as to come in contact with the ends of the cylinder sooner or
later, as the case may be. Further I would remark, that instead of con-
structing the hellow piston rods of two tubes placed side by side, as above
described, they may be placed one within the other, as shown in the detached

page_text: section Fig. 12, the interior one for the induction or steamway, and the
outer for the exit or waste steam, or vice versa. And further, that the
induction and eduction valves may, if thought desirable, be placed in con-
nection with the steam and eduction pipes near the bearings or stuffing
boxes h, h, instead of in the piston, and be worked in any convenient manner
from the engine; but I prefer the method above described.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood, that I do not mean
or intend to confine myself to any particular dimensions or forms of the parts
of the engine shewn in the Drawings; neither do I claim as new any of the
parts separately, or the construction of steam engines with the cylinder reci-
procating upon a fixed hollow piston rod; but I claim as this Invention the
construction of steam engines as first above described (that is to say), with
the cylinder sliding or reciprocating upon a moveable or oscillating hollow
piston rod; also the improved construction of steam engines second above
described, that is, with the cylinder reciprocating upon two hollow moveable or
oscillating piston rods; and, further, the improved construction of steam engines
last above described, with the cylinder reciprocating upon two fixed hollow
piston rods passing through only one end of the cylinder, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Jelowickes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the seventh year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord William the Fourth, by the Grace
of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight