IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND MARINE ENGINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Sells, of 110, Westminster Bridge Road,
Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND MARINE ENGINES."
Sealed the 10th March 1876, and dated the 8th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Sells at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th December 1875.
I, CHARLES SELLS, of 110, Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, in
the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUND MARINE ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to compound marine engines made with two or
four cylinders, and consists in arranging in connection with the said
cylinders valves by means of which the passage between the eduction of
the high-pressure cylinder and the low-pressure slide jacket can be
closed, and a communication can be opened between the low-pressure

page_text: slide jacket and the main steam pipe, so that when it is desired to work
with a considerably reduced pressure of steam in the boilers both the
high and low pressure cylinders are supplied with steam at the same
pressure, and the eduction from both is led into the condenser, the
engines being thus worked as ordinary coupled engines, and the com-
bined areas of all the cylinders being thus utilized.
In order that the working of the engine or engines may be readily
changed from that of a compound engine, or pair of compound engines,
to that of a single double cylinder engine or pair of double cylinder
engines, and conversely, I provide duplicate passages and pipes from the
eduction of each high-pressure cylinder, the one of these passages
leading to the valve chest of the low-pressure cylinder, and the other
leading to the condenser. I also provide duplicate passages to the
supply of each of the low-pressure cylinders, the one of these passages
leading from the eduction of the high-pressure cylinder, and the other
from the steam pipe. Each of these passages is provided with a shut-off
valve, or each pair may be provided with a duplex valve, whereby when
the one of the pair is opened the other is closed.
When the engine is to be worked as a compound engine the valves are
set so that the steam discharged from the high-pressure cylinder passes
to the low-pressure cylinder, whence after having done its work it is con-
veyed to the condenser; but when the engine is to be worked as a simple
double cylinder engine I alter the valves above mentioned, so that the
steam discharged from the high-pressure cylinder passes directly to the
condenser, and the low-pressure cylinder receives its steam directly from
the steam pipe, discharging as before into the condenser.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Sells in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES 3
SELLS, of 110, Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Sells, Her special license
that I, the said Charles Sells, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Sells, 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 COMPOUND MARINE ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Sells, 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 Charles Sells, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to compound marine engines made with two or
four cylinders, and consists in arranging in connection with the said
cylinders valves, by means of which the passage between the eduction
of the high-pressure cylinder and the low-pressure slide jacket can be
closed, and a communication can be opened between the low-pressure
slide jacket and the main steam pipe, so that when it is desired to work
with a considerably reduced pressure of steam in the boilers both the
high and low pressure cylinders are supplied with steam at the same
pressure, and the eduction from both is led into the condenser, the
engines being thus worked as ordinary coupled engines, and the com-
bined areas of all the cylinders being thus utilized.
In order that the working of the engine or engines may be readily
changed from that of a compound engine, or a pair of compound engines,

page_text: to that of a simple double cylinder engine or pair of double cylinder
engines, and conversely, I provide duplicate passages and pipes from the
eduction of each high-pressure cylinder, the one of these passages
leading to the valve chest of the low-pressure cylinder, and the other
leading to the condenser. I also provide duplicate passages to the
supply of each of the low-pressure cylinders, the one of these passages
leading from the eduction of the high-pressure cylinder, and the other
from the steam pipe. Each of these passages is provided with a shut-off
valve, or each pair may be provided with a duplex valve, whereby when
the one of the pair is opened the other is closed.
When the engine is to be worked as a compound engine the valves are
set so that the steam discharged from the high-pressure cylinder passes
to the low-pressure cylinder, whence after having done its work it is con-
veyed to the condenser; but when the engine is to be worked as a simple
double cylinder engine I alter the valves above mentioned, so that the steam
discharged from the high-pressure cylinder passes directly to the con
denser, and the low-pressure cylinder receives its steam directly from the
steam pipe, discharging as before into the condenser.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a section through the low-pressure valve chest of a
compound engine (in which the high and low pressure cylinders are on
the same axis) shewing an arrangement of steam and exhaust valves for
operating according to my Invention.
A is the high-pressure cylinder, and B the low-pressure cylinder
having the slide facing C; D is the exhaust pipe from the high-pressure,
and E the exhaust pipe from the low-pressure cylinder; F is a branch
from the main steam pipe; G is a duplex valve which can seat either, as
shewn in Fig. 1, in which case the exhaust from the high-pressure
cylinder flows into the valve chest of the low-pressure cylinder, or which
can be seated on the seating 9, in which case the exhaust from the high-
pressure cylinder flows by the pipe E to the condenser; H is a shut-off
valve, which when seated, as shewn in Fig. 1, prevents supply of steam
from the main steam pipe to the low-pressure cylinder, but which can
be opened so as to supply steam thereto when the valve G is seated
on g.

page_text: operating such engines according to my Invention; O is the low-pressure
slide jacket; D is the discharge from the high-pressure; E is the exhaust
pipe leading to the condenser, and F is the steam pipe from the boiler;
G is a duplex valve whereby the exhaust from the high-pressure cylinder
can be permitted to flow into the reservoir suppling the low-pressure
cylinder, or can be made to pass to the condenser when the valve G is
seated on g; H is a shut-off valve, which either cuts off or admits steam
from the steam pipe to the low-pressure reservoir.
It is obvious that the valves for effecting the working of compound
engines in the manner which I have described may be modified in form
and position to suit the particular construction and arrangement of the
engines to which they may be applied.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim, in compound marine
engines, having two or four cylinders, the use of a set of valves so
arranged that the high and low pressure cylinders can either be worked
in the usual expansive way or that both can at will be directly supplied
with steam from the boiler, and directly discharge their exhaust into the
condenser, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Sells, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.