IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLE AND SINGLE ACTION STEAM HAMMERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Morrison, of the Town and County of
the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLE AND SINGLE ACTION STEAM HAMMERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Morrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
December 1859.
I, ROBERT MORRISON, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLE AND SINGLE ACTION STEAM HAMMERS," to be as
follows:-
According to this Invention it is proposed to use in lieu of the present
complicated gearing for working double-acting steam hammers, a spanner or
slot link so arranged that the valve or valves do not travel the full stroke
unless the hammer is working the extreme distance both up and down, whilst
any partial movement of the hammer produces a proportional partial move-
ment of the valve. The respective laps of the top and bottom inlet edges of
the valve or valves is so altered that whilst in some cases the whole stroke of
the valve will not be sufficient to admit steam either above or below the
hammer piston, yet at others the smallest portion of any part of the stroke,
whether high or low, will admit steam both above and below the hammer

page_text: piston; and this consitutes the characteristic feature of this Invention, that
by an easy and continuous sliding action the valve is constantly following the
motion of the hammer, whilst the regulation of the lap of the valve or valves
admits the steam early or late, or during a longer or shorter period of the
stroke, as may be found desirable.
I will be seen that by respectively modifying the laps of the top and bottom
edges, and altering the relative strokes of the hammer and valves, the steam
may be admitted at any desired portion of the stroke, both above and below
the hammer piston, and all the combinations of long and short strokes,
heavy or light blows may be made at will without any part of the valve appa-
ratus being subjected to blows or jerks. The requisite motion of the lap up
or down, as the case may be, is obtained by either using two ordinary valves
and shifting them up and down upon their respective spindles by screws cut on
the spindles working in nuts fixed to the valves, or by using two cylindrical
valves shifted in the same way, or by fixing two cylindrical or other valves on
the same spindle, but jointed in the middle, so that the screw on the top may
be turned irrespective of that on the bottom, or by any combination of such
slide or valve, or slides or valves with their spindle or spindles whereby the
motion before described may be effected.
It is also proposed to use cylindrical valves, with the edges for the admission
and egress of the steam disposed as a screw on the surface of the ports in the
cylindrical case, being likewise so spirally disposed with a corresponding pitch,
so that the moving of the valve round in its cylindrical case will cause the
edges for the inlet and egress of the steam to advance or recede respectively
with those ports on the valve case, and produce the same result as though they
were actually lifted and depressed without turning.
In cases where cylindrical valves may not be used, I adopt valves with
bevilled edges, the ports having a corresponding bevil; by moving the valve in
this case sideways the same effect is obtained as by the rotatory motion with
the cylindrical screw-edged valve.
It will be seen that in all the cases described the same effects can be
obtained by moving the slide faces, the slides and spindles remaining fixed.
By the substitution of a lever for the spanner before described, any or all of
the above arrangements of valve or valves may be worked by hand.
It is likewise purposed to admit. steam by hand to the under side of the
piston of steam hammers, and exhaust the same, leaving a free communication
between the top of the piston and the atmosphere, and by simply increasing
the length of stroke of the hand lever, letting the steam both above and below
E

page_text: the piston. This is accomplished by having two ports communicating with
each side of the piston, the two nearest for the purpose of admitting steam,
and the two outside ones for its egress, or vice versa. The equilibrium piston or
other valves covering these ports are so arranged that by a short stroke the steam
below the piston may be admitted or exhausted without opening the top steam
port or shutting the top exhaust, but by lengthening the stroke by an increased
motion of handle the whole of both top and bottom ports will be alternately
opened and shut as may be required, and this can be done at pleasure for a
single or any number of blows or strokes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Morrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MORRISON, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Morrison, Her special license that I, the said Robert Morrison, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Morrison, my 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 DOUBLE AND
SINGLE ACTION STEAM HAMMERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Morrison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Robert Morrison, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in the substitution for the present complicated
gearing for working double-acting steam hammers of a spanner or slot link so
arranged that the valve or valves do not travel the full stroke unless the
hammer is working the extreme distance both up and down, whilst any partial
movement of the hammer produces a proportional partial movement of the
valve. The respective laps of the top and bottom inlet edges of the valve or
valves is so altered or regulated, that whilst in some cases the whole stroke
of the valve will not be sufficient to admit steam either above or below the
hammer piston, yet at others the smallest portion of any part of the stroke,
whether high or low, will admit steam both above and below the hammer
piston; and this constitutes the characteristic feature of my Invention, that
by an easy and continuous sliding action the valve is constantly following the
motion of the hammer whilst the regulation of the lap of the valve or valves
admits the steam early or late, or during a longer or shorter period of the
stroke as may be found desirable. It will be seen that by respectively modi-
fying the laps of the top and bottom edges, and altering the relative strokes of
the hammer and valves, the steam may be admitted at any desired portion of
the stroke both above and below the hammer piston, and all the combinations
of long and short strokes, heavy or light blows, may be made at will without
any part of the valve apparatus being subject to blows or jerks. The requisite
adjustment of the lap, up or down, as the case may be, is obtained by either
using two ordinary valves, and shifting them up and down upon their respec-
tive spindles by screws cut on the spindles working in nuts fixed to the valves,
or by using two cylindrical valves shifted in the same way, or by fixing two
cylindrical or other valves on the same spindle, but jointed in the middle so
that the screw on the top may be turned irrespective of that on the bottom
or by any combination of such slide or valve, or slides or valves, with their
spindle or spindles, whereby the motion or adjustment before described may be
effected. I also propose to use cylindrical valves with the edges for the
admission and egress of the steam disposed in the form of a spiral or screw on
the surface. The ports in the cylindrical case being likewise so spirally dis-
posed with a corresponding pitch, that the moving of the valve round in its
cylindrical case will cause the edges for the inlet and egress of the steam to
advance or recede respectively with those ports on the valve case, and produce
the same result as though they were actually lifted and depressed without
turning.

page_text: In cases where cylindrical valves may not be used I adopt valves with
bevilled edges, the ports having a corresponding bevel; by moving the
valve in this case sideways the same effect is obtained as by the rotatory motion
with the cylindrical screw-edged valve. It will be seen that in all the cases
described, the same effects can be obtained by moving the slide faces, the
slides and spindles remaining fixed. By the substitution of a lever for the
spanner or slot link before described, any or all of the above arrangements
of valves may be worked by hand. I likewise purpose to admit steam by
hand to the under side of the piston of steam hammers, and exhaust the same,
leaving a free communication between the top of the piston and the atmo-
sphere, and by simply increasing the length of stroke of the hand lever, letting
the steam both above and below the piston. This is accomplished by having
two ports communicating with each side of the piston, the two nearest for the
purpose of admitting steam, and the two outside ones for its egress, or vice-
versa. The equilibrium piston or other valves covering these ports are
so arranged that by a short stroke the steam below the piston may be admitted
or exhausted without opening the top steam port or shutting the top exhaust,
but by lengthening the stroke by an increased motion of the handle, the whole
of both the top and bottom ports will be alternately opened and shut as may
be required, and this can be done at pleasure for a single or any number of
blows or strokes.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of my Drawings, represents a side elevation of a steam
hammer with my present improvements fitted thereto; Figure 2 is a cor-
responding back view of the same; and Figure 3 is a plan of the hammer.
A is the spanner or slot link, and B is a roller fixed on to the top of the
hammer bar, and working in the slot of the link. This slot link and roller
are so arranged that the lever attached to the slide or slides is up when
the hammer is down although for certain combinations of ports and slides.
it may be necessary to reverse this. It will be seen that the curve of the-
slot link may be made, so that for every inch of motion of the hammer bar
any corresponding amount of motion may be given to the valve that may be-
required, and the motion may be either regular and uniform, or varied, that is.
to say, it may either be uniformly the same during all parts of the stroke of

page_text: the hammer bar, or it may be made to give a more or less amount of motion
at different portions of the stroke of the hammer bar, if found desirable; D
and E are handles for altering the slides for admitting steam above and below
the piston.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 2 of my Drawings, represent two views of
the valves used in the hammer illustrated on Sheet 1. The crosshead A
is worked by the slot link herein-before referred to, and moves with it the
two slide spindles B and C, which are so fixed that they may freely turn
on their own axes. Two slides E and F are attached respectively to these
spindles by means of screws so arranged that by moving the spindles round
during the whole or any portion of a revolution, the slides may be raised or
depressed at will; E is the valve for admitting steam above, and F the valve
for admitting steam below the piston, and it will be seen that the higher the
valve F is screwed the sooner the steam will pass below the piston, and it
may even be screwed so far up that the hammer bar at the very top of its
stroke will not have given the valve a sufficient downward motion to shut it
off, and will consequently remain suspended, and the same may be said of the
valve E; it may be so screwed down as either not to open at all, or to open
at any part of the stroke of the hammer bar. The slide spindles have keys
let in them, so that the handles G and H may give them the requisite rotatory
motion on their axes. Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, show details of an arrangement
whereby the motion of the hammer bar is regulated by one cylindrical valve,
in this case the steam is always admitted alternately above and below the
piston, and the part of the stroke where this change is made depends on the
relative height of the covering part of the valve compared with the ports. The
passages and valve are both portions of screws of equal pitches, and it will
be seen that by making the covering part of the valve wider than the
openings, and turning the valve on its axis, these parts will rise and fall
relative to the ports. A is the slide rod fixed to turn in the crosshead
herein-before referred to; B is the valve shewn detached at Figure 4, with
its spiral edges C, C; D (Figure 5) is the cylindrical case for the slide with
the ports likewise spirally disposed, and of corresponding pitch to the valve;
E is the socket working round the spindle A, the top part F of this socket being
part of a screw, as shewn at Figure 6, to fit another part of a screw in the
valve, so that by turning this socket the valve can either be jammed fast
against the collar D¹, or allowed to be loose on the spindle. This allows the
valve to remain stationary during a portion of the stroke of the hammer bar,
thereby increasing its stroke by allowing the steam to be acting both above

page_text: and below during a longer portion of its travel; G is the handle for turning
the socket, and regulating the amount of slack or play of the valve; and
H is the handle for turning round the valve and spindle.
Figures 7 and 8 shew details of a mode of working with one valve, and
regulating its height by means of a screw A in the crosshead, whilst the
socket for giving play to the valve is regulated by a hand wheel B; C is the
handle for raising or lowering the valve. Figures 9 and 10 shew a mode of
effecting the change of the relative positions of the ports and valves by moving
the ports or slide face by means of a rod and lever, the amount of play in the
valve being regulated by turning the rod round in the nut D. It will be
noticed that here the slack or play of the valve is given on the top side of
the valve, and in the previous Figures on the bottom side. The valve in going
down lets the steam on to the top, and in going up on to the bottom side of
the piston, consequently when the nut or socket is on the top side of the valve
and play is given, the hammer bar will have to travel so much higher before
it is checked by the steam, and when on the bottom side of the slide the bar
will have to descend so much further. The same results as above described
may obviously be obtained by a variety of other combinations of which these
are merely examples.
Figure 11 represents a cylindrical piston equilibrium valve principally
adapted for working the hammer by hand. A is the steam pipe, the steam
passing through the valves into the space E; B is the exhaust pipe; C is the
passage or port leading to the top of the hammer cylinder; and D that
leading to the bottom of the cylinder. When the valve ascends, steam is
admitted through 4 underneath the piston, and the exhaust 3 is closed, while 2
is exhausting from the top; on bringing the valve down to the position shewn
in the Drawing, the steam is exhausted from the bottom through 3, and the
valve falls without any steam being admitted above the piston, a very small
additional amount of downward motion however will admit the steam above
the piston when required.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 3 of my Drawings, represent respectively a side
and front elevation of a hammer with the gear complete, shewn already in
detail in Figures 9 and 10, Sheet 2. A is the slot link; B, the spindle
attached to the slide face or ports; D is the spindle allowed to turn in
the crosshead X for the purpose of giving the valve play on the spindle;
O, O, are wheels to enable the attendant to turn the spindle from the ground;
C is the handle for shifting the slide face or ports; F is the throttle valve ;
G, the steam pipe; and H, the eduction or exhaust pipe.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 4, represent two elevations of a steam hammer
arranged for puddling or other purposes, with the gear shewn in detail at
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 (Sheet 2). A is the slot; A', the spindle attached to
the cylindrical valve with the spiral edge; H, the handle for turning it, and
regulating the relative positions of the face and valve; G is the handle for
turning the socket with its spiral edge, for giving play to the valve on the
spindle; G, the steam pipe; and H, the eduction pipe. The gearing is placed
at the side of the hammer so as to be quite clear of the cranes for carrying
the blooms and forgings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general constructions and arrangements of steam hammers, as
herein-before described.
Second, the application and use to and in the working of the valves of steam
hammers of a slot, link, or its equivalent, as herein-before described.
Third, the peculiar arrangement of duplex valves for steam hammers as
herein-before described, and illustrated by Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 2 of my
Drawings.
Fourth, the application and use to and in the working of steam hammers
of cylindrical valves formed with spiral edges, in combination with spiral formed
ports, as herein-before described.
Fifth, the peculiar construction and arrangements of single valve for steam 2
hammers, as herein-before described, and illustrated at Figures 7 and 8 on
Sheet 2 of my Drawings.
Sixth, the application and use in steam hammers of moveable or adjustable
ports or slide faces, as herein-before described, and illustrated by Figures 9 and
10 on Sheet 2 of my Drawings.
3
Seventh, the system or mode of allowing the steam to remain a longer or
shorter time on the hammer piston, by making the valve or valves loose on
their respective spindles, and regulating the amount of their play by any suit-
able mechanical contrivance, or by making the junction holes in the connecting
links oval or elongated where a permanent amount of steam may be required 3
as herein-before described.
Eighth, the system or mode of transmitting the motion of the hammer bar
to the valve or valves-by the aid of a slot, link, or spanner, and regulating the

page_text: admission and exit of the steam to and from the cylinder by raising or depress-
ing the valve or valves relatively to the ports, whether such adjustment be
effected by lifting or depressing the valves or ports, or by a simple rotative
motion of the valve on its axis, as herein-before described.
Ninth, the system or mode of arranging the valve in hammers wherein
the valve gear is worked by hand, so that steam is admitted under the
hammer piston only, by giving a certain length of stroke to the valve, and
above as well as below the hammer piston on increasing the stroke of the
valve, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Morrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 13th day of June One thousand eight hundred and
sixty.
ROBERT MORRISON. (L.s.)