IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING AND DIRECTING THE STEAM ESCAPING FROM THE CYLINDERS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Victor Renault, of Bordeaux, in the Empire of
France, Practical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REGULATING AND DIRECTING THE STEAM ESCAPING FROM THE CYLINDERS OF
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES."
Sealed the 31st March 1857, and dated the 2nd October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Victor Renault at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1856.
I, VICTOR RENAULT, of Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, Practical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REGULATING AND DIRECTING THE STEAM ESCAPING FROM THE CYLINDERS
OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to afford the driver of a locomotive engine
a means of controlling the escape of steam from the cylinders, and of direct-
ing at pleasure the whole or part of this waste steam inside or outside of the
chimney, so as to lessen the draught and save fuel. For this purpose forked
escape pipes are fixed in the cylinders in the same place that single pipes are
now used; one of the apertures of the forked pipes conveys the steam to the
chimney as now, whilst the other conveys it outside. A valve is placed to
form a partition between them, which, hinging at the forking point, can be

page_text: actuated from the outside by a rod near the hand of the driver, who can at
pleasure direct and regulate the escape of steam either of one or both cylinders
by closing partly or entirely any of the apertures of the said cylinders.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Victor Renault in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, VICTOR
RENAULT, of Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, Practical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Victor
Renault, Her special licence that I, the said Victor Renault, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Victor Renault, 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, sliould 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 REGULATING AND DIRECTING THE
STEAM ESCAPING FROM THE CYLINDERS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES," upon the con
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Victor Renault, 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 Victor Renault, 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 state-
ment:
In nearly all locomotive engines of modern construction, the steam, after
actuating the pistons, escapes from the cylinders into the chimney or funnel,
where it serves to produce an artificial draught, the power or force of which is
regulated by the aperture of the escape pipe, which is made wider or narrower

page_text: at its top part by means of a contrivance at the command of the engine driver,
and known as the variable steam-escape. Now, I have been led to believe
that the velocity with which the steam escapes, and the quickness with which
the strokes succeed each other, produce an affect rather prejudicial to the fire'
than beneficial, and I have remarked that steam is not generated in propor-
tion with the quicker rate of the escape into the chimney; and as the present
construction of locomotive engine does not allow of any means of diminishing
the number of strokes, or, in other words, the quantum of steam escaping, the
result is, that more fuel is consumed than is needful, or is in proportion with
the steam raised. Attempts have been made to lessen the burning of fuel by
modifying in various ways the arrangement of the variable steam-escape, but
trifling results, if any, have been effected in this way; and, in fact, to modify
the power of the escape strokes without reducing their number could not
produce any real improvement; but the number of the escape strokes pro-
ducing the draught must be lessened, in order that there may be time between'
the said strokes for the combustion of the gases in the fire-place. The object of
my Invention is to give to the engine driver the means of directing at pleasure
out of the chimney pipe the steam escaping from one or both cylinders, thus
reducing, when required, the number of escape strokes or puffs which produce
the artificial draught. This system is one more contrivance placed at the
command of the engine driver for regulating the consumption of fuel.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings shews one of the arrangements that may
be used for directing the escape of steam. On the cylinder A of the engine
at B, when the present common escape pipe is attached, I fix a forked pipe C,
one of the apertures D of which conveys the steam within the chimney
pipe E, whilst the other aperture F conveys it through the pipe G. A spring
valve placed at the forked point of this pipe hinges at I, allowing the
directing of the escape of steam issuing from the cylinder in either direction
by means of any suitable contrivance at the command of the driver, who can
thus convey the steam either inside or outside of the chimney.
The arrangement shown by Fig. 2 is intended to convey the escaped steam
in a third direction T, if required, by means of a second forked pipe J, and a
second valve K. The escaping steam can thus be conveyed through the third
aperture T at pleasure, either into the tender to heat its feed water, or under
the fire grate to blow the fire, &c., and without preventing the use of the other
contrivances for directing the escaped steam inside or outside of the chimney
pipe.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and how the same
is to be performed. I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself

page_text: to the precise arrangement shewn by the Drawings and described herein, as
other mechanical contrivances may be used as equivalent therefor, such as
dampers; slides, or stop-cocks, and that I do not claim the parts taken sepa-
rately or for any other purpose; but claim as my Invention a mode of directing
either to the inside or to the outside of the chimney pipe, or to the tender, or
to the fire grate the escaped steam or vapour issuing from locomotive engines,
in the manner herein before described and shown..
In witness whereof, I, the said Victor Renault, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
EUGÈNE RYSE.
V. RENAULT. (L.S.)