IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE THE VALVES OF ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR OTHER FLUID
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Grafton Joues, of Blaina Iron Works, near
Newport, Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE THE VALVES OF ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR
OTHER FLUID."
Sealed the 6th July 1865, and dated the 6th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Grafton Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th April 1865.
I, JAMES GRAFTON JONES, of Blaina Iron Works, near Newport, Mon-
mouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE THE VALVES OF ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM,
AIR, OR OTHER FLUID," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed to
actuate the valves of engines worked by steam, air, or other fluid; and the
improvements are applicable to engines employed for giving motion to picks
or cutting tools, or instruments such as are used in getting coal and other
minerals, and for performing other work where the length of each succeeding
stroke of the engine may vary by reason of interfering causes. The form and
arrangement of the apparatus employed to actuate or change the valves of

page_text: engines may be varied, depending more or less on the form and character of
the engine, and the purpose to which the engine is to be applied, and the class
of work it is intended to perform, but in all cases the instrument which acts to
change the position of a slide or other proper valve is free to move on the
rod or instrument on which it is mounted after such rod or instrument has
been stopped, so that the tappet or instrument which acts on the valve may
by its momentum continue to move till it arrives to the dead stop or adjusted
distance of its motion so as to then act on the valve.
The arrangement of apparatus preferred by me for carrying out my
Invention is applicable when working with an engine having a horizontal
cylinder. The piston rod is hollow, and has within it a rod which at its outer
end is connected to one end of a lever which at its other end is connected to
a slide valve. The rod which is received into the hollow piston rod has fixed.
on it at one end a disc or piston which fits but slides very freely in the hollow
piston rod.
Tho other end of the rod which slides within the piston rod
passes through a stuffing box in the cover at one end of the cylinder of the
engine, and such sliding rod has a collar on it where it comes against the
piston, so that when the piston of the engine is moving back after it has per-
formed a stroke it forces, the sliding rod back, and consequently reverses the
valve, but when the piston is making the next stroke, should the piston be
prevented making a complete stroke from end to end of the cylinder, then the
tappet or instrument (which I prefer to be a cylinder of lead lined or bushed
with brass) will by its momentum continue its motion, and will slide along the
rod within the hollow piston rod and will strike against the disc and cause it
and the rod to which it is fixed, to slide within the piston rod, and thus move
or reverse the valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance, of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James, Grafton. Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th October 1865.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GRAFTON JONES, of Blaina Iron Works, near Newport, Monmouth, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her. Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said James Grafton Jones, Her special licence that I, the said James
Grafton Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Grafton Jones, 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 APPARATUS EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE THE VALVES
OF ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, OR OTHER FLUID," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Grafton Jones, 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 James Grafton Jones, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed to
actuate the valves of engines worked by steam, air, or other fluid; and the im-
provements are applicable to engines employed for giving motion to picks or
cutting tools or instruments such as are used in getting coal and other minerals,
and for performing other work where the length of each succeeding stroke of the
engine may vary by reason of interfering causes.
The form and arrangement
of the apparatus employed to actuate or change the valves of engines may be
varied, depending more or less on the form and character of the engine, and
the purpose to which the engine is to be applied, and the class of work it is
intended to perform, but in all cases the instrument which acts to change the
position of a slide or other proper valve is free to move on the rod or instru-
ment on which it is mounted after such rod or instrument has been stopped,
so that the tappet or instrument which acts on the valve may by its momentum
continue to move till it arrives to the dead stop or adjusted distance of its
motion so as to then act on the valve.
The arrangement of apparatus preferred by me for carrying out my
Invention is applicable when working with an engine having a horizontal
cylinder. The piston rod is hollow, and has within it a rod which at its outer
end is connected to one end of a lever, which at its other end is connected

page_text: to a slide valve.
fixed on it at one
The rod which is received into the hollow piston rod has.
end a disc or piston which fits but slides very freely in the
hollow piston rod.
The other end of the rod which slides within the piston:
rod passes through a stuffing box in the cover at one end of the cylinder of
the engine; and such sliding rod has a collar on it where it comes against
the piston, so that when the piston of the engine is moving back after it has.
performed a stroke it forces the sliding rod back, and consequently reverses
the valve, but when the piston is making the next stroke, should the piston
be prevented making a complete stroke from end to
the tappet or instrument (which I prefer to be a
bushed with brass) will by its momentum continue its motion, and it will slide
along the rod within the hollow piston rod, and will strike against the disc
and cause it and the rod to which it is fixed to slide within the piston rod, and
thus move or reverse the valve.
end of the cylinder, then
cylinder of lead lined or
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Which shows a longitudinal section of an engine (such as is now used when
getting coal, stone, or other mineral) having within it a piston and a hollow
piston rod, within which a rod a works having a disc b thereon which supports
the rod a centrally within the hollow piston rod. On the rod a, and within
the hollow piston rod, is a sliding tappet or instrument A, which slides freely
on the rod a. The outer end of the rod a is connected with a lever c, which
at its other end is connected with the spindle of the slide valve d. On the
lever c is a handle c by which the valve d may be moved when desired.
Supposing the piston should be started from the position shown in the
Drawing and not arrive at the end of the stroke, the tappet or sliding instru-
ment A would continue its motion and would reverse the position of the
slide valve d. If desired, the moving tappet or instrument A and its rod a,
which is in connection with the valve spindle, may be wholly external of the
engine and away from its piston rod, but suitably in connection or com-
munication therewith, so that it may have a capability of movement, and
continuing its action on the valve after the piston has ceased to act. But it
is not essential that the tappet or instrument acting on the valve of the engine
should slide on a bar; on the contrary, a tappet or instrument on an axis put
in motion by the piston of an engine, and acting on the valve of the engine,
may be used, such tappet or instrument being arranged to continue its
rotation by momentum after the piston has stopped.
:

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,
the application of a tappet or instrument A in combination with the piston
and the slide or other valve of an engine, substantially in the manner
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Grafton Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. GRAFTON JONES. (L.B.)