Im- PROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND STATIONARY ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Woodlands Makinson, of Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND STATIONARY ENGINES."
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 6th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Woodlands
Makinson, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th March 1868.
I, ALEXANDER WOODLANDS MAKINSON, of Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND STATIONARY ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention is an improvement on a Patent granted to me dated the 17th
June 1862, No. 1789, in which I describe the end of the connecting rod as
describing an ellipse round the driving axle instead of a circle by being
attached to a pin working in a slot in the crank arm, which pin has its motion
in the slot regulated or constrained by guides. I now find that by lengthening
the connecting rod so as to extend beyond the driving wheel and attaching it
to a disc wheel or crank arm revolving round a stud, fixed in any convenient

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WOODLANDS MAKINSON, of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Woodlands Makinson, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Woodlands Makinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, 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 LOCOMOTIVE AND STATIONARY ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer
tain 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 Alexander Woodlands Makinson, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention is an improvement on a Patent granted to me, dated the
17th of June 1862, No. 1789, in which I described the end of the connecting
rod as describing an ellipse round the driving axle instead of a circle by being
attached to a pin working in a slot in the crank arm, which pin had its motion

page_text: in the slot regulated or constrained by guides. I now find that by lengthening
the connecting rod so as to extend beyond the driving wheel and attaching it
to a disc or crank arm revolving on a stud, or in bearings fixed in any con-
venient part of the frame, I can secure the motion of the crank pin of the
driving axle in an ellipse in a more simple and efficient manner than by the
use of guides.
The manner in which this Invention is to be performed will be clearly
understood by referring to the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal view, partly in elevation and
partly in section, of the main parts of a double cylinder locomotive with two
driving axles and two pairs of driving wheels coupled together, one pair of
wheels and axle being worked according to my present improvements, and the
other pair of wheels and axle worked as described in the Specification of my
former Patent. Fig. 2 is a transverse view of the same, partly in elevation
and partly in section ; and Fig. 3 a plan of one of the sides, with some of the
parts in section.
The connecting rod E is continued as shewn at E' beyond the driving
axle A, and jointed to a stud or pin in the crank arm B, the axle of which
revolves in bearings attached to the frame of the engine. As the end of the
crank arm B revolves in a circle the driving crank pin D which works in the
slot C in the driving wheel will describe an ellipse, and thus dispense with the
elliptical guides described in my former Patent. The connecting rod E and its
continuation E' have such proportionate lengths to each other as the deter-
mined lengths of the axes or elliptical form of the ellipse requires. The crank
pin D' of the hind wheels works in the slot C', and is connected by the con-
necting rod J to the crank pin D. The crank pin D¹ works in the elliptical
groove H formed in the guide piece G attached to the bar F, so that as the
crank arm C¹ revolves, the crank pin D¹ travels in the groove H, and thereby
describes an ellipse, which arrangement is similar to that described in my
Patent of June 1862.
Although I have only shown the application of my present Invention to a
locomotive engine, it is evident that it can be applied with equal facility to
stationary engines.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim in locomotive and stationary engines the improved arrangement
of continuing the connecting rod beyond the driving axle, and jointing the end
to a pin on a crank arm or disc, for the purpose of causing the crank pin of

page_text: the driving axle to describe an ellipse, as herein described and illustrated in
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings..
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
E. T. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
London.
ALEX. W. MAKINSON. (L.B.)