IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Joy, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 12th June 1857, and dated the 3rd April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, left by the said David Joy at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
April 1857.
the 3rd
I, DAVID JOY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be
as follows:-
The first and second parts of my Invention relate specially to engines of
that class commonly known as "Woolf's plan," in which two cylinders are
employed, one worked by high-pressure steam, and the other by the exhaust
steam of the former, as low-pressure or condensing.
The other parts of my Invention relate or are applicable to engines of
ordinary or general construction, and my improvements consist, firstly, in so
arranging the two cylinders in juxtaposition, and with them cranks at such
angles respectively that I am enabled to make the piston of the first or high-
pressure cylinder serve and become the valve to the second or low-pressure
cylinder, the exhaust ports of the former being the steam or inlet ports to the

page_text: latter. The piston rods of each are connected to cranks on the same shaft,
which require to be at or about right angles, the high-pressure being the
leading crank, thus constituting a double engine. And I do not confine myself
to two cylinders, but propose to use two or more pistons of preceding cylinders
always acting as valves to the succeeding cylinders.
Secondly, I employ a small steam cylinder with piston and valve to work the
exhaust valve of the low-pressure cylinder, so arranged as to move the said
valve quickly just at the end of the stroke and when there is the least pressure
upon it; or this small cylinder may be without valve or valve motion, and
may receive its steam from the high-pressure cylinder, the high-pressure piston
serving as a valve to it, the same as it does to the low-pressure cylinder; or,
instead of this small cylinder and exhaust valve, the exhaust valve may be
placed between the two cylinders, and so arranged that the steam in passing
from one cylinder to the other gives to it its motion. This second improve-
ment in its first form may be applied to ordinary engines by having a steam
valve worked by an eccentric motion as usual, and the exhaust valve worked
as above described.
Thirdly, my improvements consist in the use or employment of a small
cylinder worked by steam or water from the boiler, to actuate the reversing
motion or reverse the engine, the valve of which I work by a hand lever, by
which means one person can easily reverse the largest engine.
Fourthly, I make the crust of steam cylinders cellular, which cells I charge
with high-pressure steam to prevent condensation in the cylinders, thus forming
a cellular steam jacketting.
T
Fifthly, employ a surface condenser, composed of a series of concentric
cylinders or shells, either plain or corrugated, onc within another, leaving
a space betwixt each. so arranged that cold water is passed between each
alternate space, and the exhaust steam between the other alternate spaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent. filed
by the said David Joy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
Joy, of Leeds, in the County of York. Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Joy, Her special license that I, the said David Joy, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Joy, 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 STEAM ENGINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Joy, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly 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 David Joy, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The first and second parts of my Invention relate to engines of that class
commonly known as "Woolf's plan," in which two cylinders are employed,
one worked by high-pressure steam, and the other by the exhaust steam of the
former at low-pressure and condensing. The other parts of my Invention
relate or are applicable to engines of ordinary or general construction.
The first part of my said improvements consists in so arranging the cylinders
of a steam engine working with two or more cylinders, and the parts con-
nected with such cylinders, and placing the cranks at such angles respectively
that I am enabled to make the piston of the first or high-pressure cylinder
serve and act as the steam valve to the second or low-pressure cylinder, the
exhaust ports of the former being the steain or inlet ports to the latter. The
piston rods of each cylinder are connected to cranks on the same shaft, which
should be at or about right angles with each other; but the angle increases
with the increase of the lap of the piston valve or piston in the first cylinder
so far as it acts as a valve; the crank worked by the high-pressure cylinder is
the leading crank of the engine. This part of the Invention may be applied to
an engine working with three cylinders; the exhaust steam of the second
cylinder instead of being condensed passing to a third cylinder, and the piston
of the second cylinder and its exhaust ports being constructed so that the
piston of that cylinder shall act as a steam valve for regulating the escape of the

page_text: steam from the second to the third cylinder. in iike manner as the piston and
exhaust ports of the first cylinder regulate the escape of the steam to the
second cylinder, the steam which passes out of the last of the series of
cylinders being condensed in the usual way.
The second part of my Invention consists in a mode of applying a small
steam cylinder with piston and valve to work the exhaust valve of the low-
pressure cylinder, so arranged as to move the said valve quickly just at the end
of each stroke of the piston, and when there is the least pressure upon the
valve this small cylinder may be without valve or valve motion, and it may
receive its steam from the high-pressure cylinder, the high-pressure piston
serving as a valve to it, the same as it does to the low-pressure cylinder; or,
instead of this small cylinder and exhaust valve, the exhaust valve may be
placed between the two cylinders, and so arranged that the steam in passing
from one cylinder to the other gives to it its motion. This second improve-
ment in its first form may be applied to ordinary engines by having a steam
valve worked by an excentric motion as usual, and the exhaust valve worked
as above described.
In the accompanying Drawings have shewn parts of an engine working
with two cylinders, according to the first and second parts of my Invention.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 1. are views of a pair of marine engines on
my principle. The high-pressure cylinder a receives its steam from the boiler
through a blank valve b having no exhaust; this valve is worked by an ordinary
link motion. The piston a' of the cylinder a having made half its stroke, or about,
opens the port e and allows the steam to pass also into the second cylinder d
by its expansion, it here gives motion to the second piston d¹, and is then
allowed to pass to the condenser by the valve e. In the same manner the
stroke from the other end of the cylinder is performed. The valve e is held to
its place by the pressure of steam in the cylinder, and is moved by its attach-
ment to the piston of a small cylinder f, supplied with steam from the boiler.
The valve of this cylinder is worked by an ordinary link motion; its lap is
such, that after the exhaust has been opened to either end of the cylinder it is
again closed before steam is admitted to the opposite end, thus retaining a
small portion of steam in the cylinder as a cushion. In the middle of this
cylinder there is a port connecting it with the chest of the valve e, that the
steam after having completed the stroke of the piston of the cylinder
admitted into the cylinder d. Or this small cylinder may be without valve
or valve motion, and it may receive its steam from the cylinder a, the piston a¹
serving as a valve to it, as it does to the cylinder d. In order to reverse this
engine, a valve g is introduced between the cylinders a and d; this valve is
is

page_text: reversed at the same time as the reversing motions of the other two valves,
and thus connects the opposite ends of the two cylinders. In this engine the
piston a¹ serves as a balanced valve without lap to the cylinder d, and therefore
requires to be set at or about right angles to the crank of that cylinder. This
valve or piston a' may be made with considerable lap, as shewn in Figures 4,
5, 6, and 7, Sheet. 2, in which the same letters refer to the principal parts. In
this engine the crank of the cylinder a will require to be at about the same
angle in advance of the crank of the cylinder d as the excentric for working
a common valve of similar lap for giving steam to the cylinder d. The valve g
for reversing may here be dispensed with by admitting steam direct from the
boiler into the chest of the valve e and placing the cylinder d in the position
of a common engine; the cylinder a will then merely exhaust through the
cylinder d when running backwards. This will be effected by reversing the
regulator h (at the same time that the ordinary reversing motion is altered), by
which a portion of high-pressure steam will be admitted to the cylinder d
through a small port hand pipe h", the cylinder a receiving its steam as
usual. The port is made of such size as not to allow the high-pressure
steam to pass sufficiently quick to accumulate at a pressure in the cylinder d.
The valve e is shewn as moved by an ordinary link motion.
In both these engines the valve e will open the communication between the
condenser and the cylinder d before the descent of the piston a' has closed the
connection between the cylinders a and d, hence the vacuum will extend
equally to both cylinders, and compression will be prevented in the cylinder a
when the piston has passed the port c in completing its return stroke.
The third part of my said Invention consists in a mode of arranging a small
cylinder worked by steam or water from the boiler, and the valves and other
parts connected with such cylinders, for the purpose of actuating the reversing
motion, or in other words, for reversing the motion of the engine. A valve of
this small cylinder is made capable of being worked by a hand lever for the
purpose of reversing the engine.
I have in Figure 8 of the said Drawings shewn how such a cylinder and
the valves and other parts connected with it may be constructed. In that
Figure, s is a small cylinder, similar to a steam engine cylinder, the piston rod
of which is attached to a levert on the reversing shaft u of the engine. On
the valve face of this cylinder is a false face or valve v. with ports corres-
ponding to those of the cylinder; this valve is attached by a rod to the lever t
on the reversing shaft; on this false face is a small common valve w, attached
to a hand lever z; water at the boiler pressure is admitted into the valve
chest by the pipe y, and the exhaust water is conducted away by the pipe =.

page_text: It will now be seen, that on moving the hand lever up or down, the valve
16 will permit water to rush in and move the piston in a corresponding direction,
but that motion will again be checked by the false face c, which moves with
the piston. These valves and their motions are so proportioned that the
motion of the piston and lever shall exactly correspond with that of the hand
lever z. A slight pressure may be put on the escape water at the pipe z to
insure the rigid position of the motion when set.
The fourth part of my said Invention consists of a mode of constructing the
crust or substance of steam cylinders for the purpose of preventing the con-
densation of the steam within such cylinders. For this purpose I make the
crust of a cylinder cellular, and with the cells communicating with each other,
so that a stream of steam may pass from one to another, and so through the
whole of them, thus forming a cellular steam jacketing.
Figures 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of the said Drawings shew cylinders in which the
crust, where not interfered with by the ports, is traversed by cells i, i. cored out
of its substance, the openings to which are closed by the cylinder lids; these
cells are made to communicate with the boiler and with each other, so as to
receive steam through a pipe, and the supply of steam may be regulated by a
cock, or in any other convenient manner. The cells may be cast of any other
form which may be convenient.
Having now particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which it is to be performed. I declare that I do not claim any of
the mechanical parts herein-before described or shewn in the said Drawings of
which any of the four parts of my Invention is composed as being separately
or a part of from the combination thereof, in manner and for the purposes
herein mentioned, any part of my said Invention; but that I do claim as of my
said Invention,
First, the so arranging the cylinders of steam engines working with two or
more cylinders, and the paris connected with such cylinders, that the piston of
the first cylinder may act as the steam valve to the second cylinder, and the
piston of the second cylinder may act as the steam valve to the third cylinder,
and so on (where more than two cylinders are used), so that such engines may
be worked in manner herein-before described.
Secondly, the mode of working or giving movement to the slide valves of
steam engines by separate steam cylinders, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the mode of reversing the motion of a steam engine by means of a
cylinder worked by steam or water, and other parts connected therewith, as
herein-before described.
Fourthly, the mode of constructing the crust or substance of steam cylinders

page_text: with cells and causing currents of steam to pass through such cells, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Joy, have hereunto set my hand
and seal. this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named David Joy, in the presence of
ROB
S. SPENCE,
Clerk to Mess" Bloome & Dawson,
Solicitors Leeds
DAVID JOY. (L.S.)