IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Weallens, of No. 12, Elswick Villas, and
George Arthur Crow, of Forth Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Mechanical
of Tann TH SA Traume"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Weallens and
George Arthur Crow at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th July 1855.
We, WILLIAM WEALLENS, of No. 12, Elswick Villas, and GEORGE ARTHUR
CROW, of Forth Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Mechanical Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar arrangement and mode of working the
air pump or pumps and the bilge and feed pumps of marine engines, whereby
greater compactness is obtained with an increased length of connecting rod.
The improvements consist in working the air pump or pumps and the bilge
and feed pumps direct from the piston rods of the steam cylinder or cylinders,
such piston rods passing direct through the air pump or pumps and bilge and
feed
pumps. These
pumps are all placed on the same plane with the centre
lines of the cylinders, the working power or force of the engines being brought
back to the cranks from cross heads on the extreme ends of the piston rods,

page_text: behind the air pumps and bilge and feed pumps, by any of the ordinary and
well-known mechanical arrangements. The bilge & feed pumps of each
engine are arranged to be worked from one barrel or main pump, into which
they open at each extremity of the barrel, through the centre of which barrel
one of the piston rods passes.
Each portion of the steam cylinders has two or more piston rods attached
thereto for the facility of thus working the pumps. By this means the bilge
and feed pumps are worked alternately at each single stroke of the engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Weallens and George Arthur Crow in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
WEALLENS, of 12, Elswick Villas, and GEORGE ARTHUR CROW, of Forth Street,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Mechanical Engineers, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Weallens and George Arthur Crow, Her special license that we, the
said William Wealleus and George Arthur Crow, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Weallens and George
Arthur Crow, our executors, administrators, or 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
STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Weallens and George Arthur Crow, by an instrument in writing under our
hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 William Weallens and George Arthur
Crow, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-

page_text: tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say-
Our said Invention relates to a peculiar arrangement of certain parts of
steam engines and mode of working the pumps connected therewith, whereby
greater compactness and solidity are obtained with an increased length of
connecting rod. The improvements consist in first taking the whole force
or any part of the force of the piston through one or any number of the
pumps which necessarily form part of every steam engine, and then bringing
this force back to the cranks and main shaft, which are situated between the
cylinder and such pump or pumps, by any of the well-known mechanical
arrangements.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a side elevation, Figure 2 a corre-
sponding end elevation, and Figure 3 a plan, of a steam engine constructed
according to our Invention; and in order more fully and clearly to describe
the same, we make use of the same letters of reference to indicate corre-
sponding parts in all the Figures. A is the cylinder; and B, B, B, B, is a
casting, containing the condenser, hot well, and such other chambers or
divisions, together with such pump or pumps, as the peculiar service of each
engine may require. The main shaft and cranks C, C, are placed between
the cylinder A and the aforesaid casting B, B, B, B.
It will be seen that the engine represented on the Drawing has two piston
rods, which take the whole force of the piston, through the two air pumps D, D,
to the cross head D', and upon these piston rods the pistons or plungers of the
air pumps are fixed. From the cross head D₁ the connecting rod E trans-
mits the force to the crank and main shaft C, C. F, F, are guides for this
cross head, which, with the other parts of the Drawing, need not be further
described, since they form no part of our present Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that we do not confine or restrict
ourselves to the precise details or arrangements which we have had occasion
to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of our said Invention; but what
we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
taking of the whole or any part of the force of the piston or pistons
through one or any number of the pumps which necessarily form part of
every steam engine, and then bringing this force back to the cranks and

page_text: main shaft, which are placed between the cylinder or cylinders and such pump
or pumps.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Weallens and George Arthur
Crow, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-first day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
W. H. BRIDDEN.
WILLIAM WEALLENS.
(L.S.)
GEORGE ARTHUR CROW. (L.S.)