IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Anderson and Joseph Harrison, of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers and
fam the Tuvenation of is THDRAWING SA EXTING "
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 22nd November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Anderson
and Joseph Harrison at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 22nd November 1873.
We, BENJAMIN ANDERSON and JOSEPH HARRISON, of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers and Machinists, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows: -
This Invention relates to stationary, locomotive, and marine steam
engines, and consists in improved arrangements of mechanism or appa-
ratus for working the steam valves instead of working them by the
ordinary large eccentrics, with their straps, links, and levers in connection
with them, and thereby effect economy in the manufacture and lessen
the power required for working..

page_text: In our improvements the valves work at right angles with the motion
of the piston, and in one arrangement for working them we fix to the
crank shaft of the engine a toothed wheel gearing into another toothed
wheel on a shaft extending through the steam chest and kept steam
tight by glands and packing, there being projections on the wheel and
stops on the shaft for enabling the engine to work in reverse directions
after the slide has been moved to an opposite position by a hand wheel
and gearing. To this shaft are fixed small eccentrics or cams in contact
with surfaces or ledges on the valve, so that when the crank shaft, the
gearing, and the eccentrics or cams revolve to-and-fro motion will be
given to the valve to open the supply and close the eduction passages.
In another arrangement the eccentrics or cams for working the valve
are placed outside the steam chest and act upon the valve by a rod or
rods passing through one or more stuffing boxes, and in all cases the
throttle or regulating supply valve is acted upon by the eccentrics or
cams, or by a separate external or internal tappet acting in connection
with adjustable screws, levers, or other regulators for enabling the
steam to be cut off at any desired part of the stroke.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Anderson and Joseph Harrison in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BENJAMIN
ANDERSON and JOSEPH HARRISON, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineers and Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three,
in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Benjamin Anderson and
Joseph Harrison, Her special licence that we, the said Benjamin
Anderson and Joseph Harrison, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Benjamin Anderson and Joseph
Harrison, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: 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 we, the said Benjamin Anderson and Joseph
Harrison, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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 we, the said Benjamin Anderson and Joseph.
Harrison, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 relates to stationary, locomotive, and marine engines,
and consists in improved arrangements of mechanism or apparatus for
working the valves instead of working them by the ordinary large
eccentrics, with their straps, links, and levers in connection with them,
and thereby effect economy in the manufacture and lessen the power
required for working, and in all cases the slide valves work at right
angles with the motion of the piston.
The manner in which this Invention is to be performed will be clearly
understood by the following particular description thereof, referenco
being had to the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, with part in
section, and Figs. 3 and 4 detached views representing the application
of our improvements to a horizontal engine, which improvements can
also be equally applied to a vertical or diagonal engine worked by steam,
compressed air, gas, or other motive power.
In Figs. 1 and 2 a represents the bed or foundation plate; b, the
cylinder; c, the piston rod; d, the cross head; e, the connecting rod;
f, the crank; g, the crank shaft; h, the fly wheel; i, the steam chest or
valve box; and k, the slide valve.
In the arrangement shewn in the Drawings we fix to the crank shaft g
a bevil wheel, gearing into the bevil wheel m, fixed to the shaft
extending through the steam chest i, and kept tight by glands and
0,

page_text: worked at its ordinary speed the steam is shut off from the steam box q¹
and put on to the steam box h¹.
When desired we connect the handle r², Fig. 4, by suitable rods and
levers with an ordinary governor or regulator, so that more or less steam
can be given to enable the engine to work at a uniform speed with
different loads; or the cut-off valve, Fig. 3, may be disconnected from
the eccentric w, and worked by the governor.
In another arrangement the cams or eccentrics for working the slide
valve are placed outside the steam chest, and act upon the valve by a
rod or rods passing through one or two stuffing boxes, and in all cases
the arrangements are modified as required to suit the different forms of
steam engines, and it will be easily seen that these improved arrangements
can be applied to engines worked by compressed air, gas, or other
motive power.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed, we
desire it to be understood that we claim the improvements in steam
engines as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheets
of Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Benjamin Anderson and Joseph
Harrison, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
first day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named Benjamin
Anderson and Joseph Harrison,
in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
BENJAMIN ANDERSON. (L.S.)
JOSEPH HARRISON.
(L.S.)