CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Charles Dickinson, of Blackburn, in the County
of Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 21st March 1862, and dated the 3rd October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Charles Dickinson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd October 1861.
I, JOHN CHARLES DICKINSON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable to compound steam engines and it consists in an
improved arrangement of the various parts of the engine. The high-pressure
and lower-pressure cylinders are placed near to each other and by preference
they are cast together, the piston rods of both cylinders are connected to a
beam to which are also connected the plungers of the air pump and force
pump, the connecting rod by which motion is communicated to the crank shaft
is also connected to the beam. The piston rod of one of the steam cylinders
is connected to the beam at the point of its parallelism obtained by the radius
rods arranged in the manner know as the grasshopper motion, but the other
piston rod must be connected to the piston as in ordinary trunk engines to
compensate for the deviation from the parallel line which the piston rod at
this point of the beam describes in working.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Charles Dickinson, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHARLES DICKINSON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Charles Dickinson, Her special license that I, the said John
Charles Dickinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Charles Dickinson, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Charles Dickinson, my executors 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 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 John Charles Dickinson, 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) :-
_:
My Invention is applicable to compound steam-engines, and it consists in an
improved arrangement of the various parts thereof. The high-pressure
and low-pressure cylinders are placed near to each other, and by preference
they are cast together, the piston rods of both cylinders are connected to a
beam to which are also connected the plungers of the air pump and force
pump, the connecting rod by which motion is communicated to the crank shaft
is also connected to the beam.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation I will proceed to describe the two accompanying Sheets of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.

page_text: On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is an elevation, in section, of a vertical compound
steam engine, constructed and arranged according to my improvements; Figure
2 is a plan of the same; a is the high-pressure cylinder, and b the low-pressure
cylinder, these cylinders are placed near to each other and by preference they
are cast together; the pistons a' and ' are connected to the beam c, by the
piston rods a and 6. To the beam c is also connected the piston rodd, of
the air-pump bucket d', working in the air pump d; the plunger of the force
pump may also be connected to the beam c in any convenient position, but
it is not shewn in the Drawing, the beam c is double as shewn in the plan
view, and its fulcrum c¹ fits in sliding blocks c³ which are supported by the
bracket c' or other convenient fixture, the beam is furnished with the radius
rods e, the fulcrum of which is at e', the extremities of these rods are connected
to the cross bar of the air pump piston rod 2, this combination of the beam
and radius rods is known as the "grasshopper motion." The lower end of
the connecting rod f, by which the motion of the beam c is communicated
to the crank shaft g is jointed to a cross bar placed between the points
of connection of the piston rods a3 and 2 and the upper end is jointed
to the crank pin g' in the crank g³. I wish however to remark that
the point of attachment of the connecting rod f to the beam c is not
material or may be varied. When the engine is double acting, as shewn in
the plan, the cranks g2 are placed at right angles to each other as usual. The
dotted diagonal lines cand in Figure 1 indicate the centres of the beam c
when the pistons are at the top and bottom of the cylinders, it will be seen
that the piston rod is connected to the beam c at its point of parallelism,
but the piston rod as is connected to the beam c by a ball-and-socket joint
or as in ordinary trunk engines to compensate for the deviation from the
parallel line which the beam describes at this point. The steam is admitted
to the high-pressure cylinder a, through the pipe h, see Figure 2, and from the
high-pressure cylinder it is conveyed by suitable passages to the low-pressure
cylinder b. These passages are clearly shewn in the Drawings, and as they
are well understood and form no part of my present Invention it will not be
necessary to describe them in detail.
On Sheet 2, Figure 3 is an elevation in section of a horizontal compound
steam engine constructed and arranged according to my improvements, and
Figure 4 is a plan also in section of part of the same. As most of the parts
in this Sheet are similar to those above-described in reference to Sheet 1 they
are marked with corresponding letters and figures. When the cylinders
are placed horizontally, as shewn in Figure 3, the piston rod 2 of the low-
pressure cylinder b, is connected as before to the beam cat its point of

page_text: parallelism, and the piston rod a² of the high-pressure cylinder a is connected
to the beam c by a short connecting link a', the cross bar being guided in the
slide bars a, as shewn best in Figure 4. The beam c is supported by the
fulcrum cformed at the end of the weighted lever by which the beam is
C, the
to a great extent counterbalanced. The air pump d, the radius rods
connecting rod f and crank shaft g, are similar to those shewn in Figure 1.
I wish to observe that the engine may be constructed with three cylinders,
that is to say, a third cylinder may be attached under the cylinder a or bin
the vertical or behind the same in the horizontal engine. The piston rod
would in this case be attached to the pistons of a2 or 3 according to
preference.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and shewn two modes of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
any of the parts when taken separately, but that what I do claim is, the
improved combinations and arrangements of parts of compound steam engines
as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Charles Dickinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN CHARLES DICKINSON. (L.S.)
JOHN CHARLES DICKINSON. (L.S.)