IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE ENGINES:
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Seaward; of the Canal Iron Works;
Poplar, in the County of Middlesex; Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE ENGINES:"
Sealed the 9th April 1853, and dated the 9th February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Seaward at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition,
on the 9th February 1853.
I, JOHN SEAWARD, of the Canal Iron Works, Poplar, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE ENGINES". to be as follows:-
Whereas in marine. engines hitherto constructed, the air
pump and condenser have always been placed together or in close
proximity; now my Invention consists in placing the condenser in

page_text: close proximity with the cylinder, and in providing a pipe to com-
municate with the foot valve of the air pump, which latter may be
placed in any desired position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Seaward in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN SEAWARD, of the Canal Iron Works, Poplar, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Seaward, Her
special licence that I, the said John Seaward, my executors, ad-
Ininistrators, and assigns, or such others as I,, the said John
Seaward, 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 MARINE ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Seaward, 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 John Seaward, 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

page_text: in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings annexed, that is to say:
It has been heretofore the invariable practice in marine steam
engines to place the air pump and condenser together in close con-
junction; and as it is frequently the case that the air pump is required
to be situated at some distance from the cylinders, the consequence
is, that the condenser being placed close to the air pump, the spent
steam has to be conveyed from the cylinders to the condenser by
means of à passage pipe of considerable length and diameter; a dis:
position of parts which in general is not only highly inconvenient;
but also prejudicial to the rapid condensation of the spent steam:
Now, my Invention has for its object to remove these inconveniences;
which I effect by disconnecting or separating the condenser entirely
from the air pump, which latter I place in any convenient situation
where a ready connection with some moving part of the engine can
be obtained to work the bucket, while I locate the condenser in
close contiguity to the cylinders, so that the spent steam may have
the shortest possible distance to travel to be acted upon by the
injection water within the condenser; and I employ a pipe of con-
venient size to convey from the bottom of the condenser to the
foot valve of the air pump the water arising from the condensation
of the steam, together with the injection water, and the uncon
densible air and gases, which will be drawn up by the bucket, and
discharged through the hot well in the usual way. And although
my Invention is more particularly adapted for steam engines em:
ployed in driving screw and such like propellers, and the Drawings
hereunto annexed represent a pair of such engines with my Inven
tion applied thereto, it is also applicable to other descriptions of
marine engines. Figure 1, of the said Drawings is a cross section
of a pair of engines, such as are frequently employed in screw pro
pelling, taken on the line A, B, of Figure IV. Figure II: is a longi-
tudinal section at the centre line between the two cylinders C, to D.
Figure III. is an end view of the engine framing, shewing the main
crank shaft with a section of the air pump, &c.; and Figure IV. is a

page_text: plan view. In each of these Figures the same letters denote the
same parts, and only so much of: the detail of the engines is intro-
duced as is necessary to explain my Invention. G¹; G, are the two
steam cylinders placed side by side in a horizontal position; H, is
the condenser, which, it will be observed, is placed partly between
and partly upon the two cylinders, and has two inlet passages at
I', and I, to admit the spent steam from the slide chests K, K, of
the steam cylinders; J', J¹, are the slide valves; and L, L, the
two steam pipes; M, is the air pump, with its bucket m, which is
worked by a short crank placed on the end of the main shaft; N,
is the foot valve; n, the head valve in the hot well; O, and P, the
overflow or discharge pipe; R, is the pipe from the bottom of the
condenser to the foot valve N, of the air pump. The water from
the condenser will be drawn up by the bucket m, and discharged
through the hot well O, in the usual way. The air pump M, is one
of the ordinary form employed with screw propeller engines; but
my Invention may be used with any other suitable form of air pump.
Figure V. is a longitudinal section, and Figure VI. a plan of a
horizontal double acting air pump, which may be employed with
advantage; S, is the working barrel of the pump with its bucket
T; V, V, are the two foot valves; and W¹, W, the two head
or delivery valves which discharge into the hot well X; Y, is the
overflow pipe of the hot well; and Z, the pipe which conveys the
water and uncondensed gases from the bottom of the condensers
to the foot valves V₁, and V", of the air pump. The condenser H,
may be of any convenient form, and placed in any suitable position;
but should always be in as close proximity to the cylinders as
possible.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim
as my "Improvements in Marine Engines," the separation or discon
nection, of the air pump from the condenser, and the placing of
the latter in close contiguity to the cylinder or cylinders, while the
former is situated in any convenient position for working the bucket

page_text: by a suitable motion from the engines, and connected with the con-
denser by an intermediate or connecting pipe in manner and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Seaward, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN SEAWARD. (L.S.)