AND, OTHER. STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1859

page_text: AND, OTHER. STEAM ENGINES:'
! I
Sealed! the 17th February 1860, and dated the 22nd August 1859.
'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by the said John Gregory at the
"Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with this. Petition, on the
22nd August, 1859.
:
I, JOHN GREGORY, of Barreiro, in the Kingdom,of, Portugal, Engineer,.do
hereby declare, the nature of, the said : Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM ENGINES,"to be as follows:-
This Invention relates more particularly;but not exclusively, to locomotive
engines, and the (construction or, arrangement and disposition of the various
parts of such like machines.
The first part of my said Invention consists in constructing locomotive
engines with four steam-cylinders and eight wheels,mounted upon four axles,
placed paralell with each other, and I connect the two additional cylinders with
the coupled.driving. wheels by means of.connectingrods,which maybedetached
or disconnected for permitting two cylinders:only being used; and I place such
two additional steam (cylinders at the opposite end of the engine (framing to
that at which the cylinders are ordinarily placed. By increasing the length
D

page_text: of the framing of ordinary six-wheel engines, having four wheels coupled, and
adding an additional pair of wheels as trailing wheels, I am enabled to increase
the capacity of the boiler and steam-generating surfaces, and by disposingthe
additional pair of steam cylinders behind the trailing wheels, relatively in the
same position as that in which the cylinders are ordinarily placed at the
smoke-box end, I am enabled to connect the piston rod ends or cross heads by
means of connecting rods with the outside cranks or pins of the drivingwheels.
I remove the tyres from the four driving wheels, or construct them without
tyres, and by increasing the length of the engine base by the addition of the
four pair of wheels, I am enabled to obtain a much steadier, safer, and more
powerful engine, as the additional power of the extra pair of cylinders can be
transmitted through the four coupled driving wheels, whilst the removal of
the tyres enables curves of shorter radius to be travelled.
The second part of my Invention relates to the axles boxes of locomotive
engines and carriages, and consists in a novel contrivance for permitting the
assumption of radial positions by the axles in traversing sharp curves without
undue straining of the frame or the horn plates, or injury to the axle bearings
or boxes, or to the wheel tyres, or the metals. In consists in constructing axle
boxes with a suitable vertical recess on each side, and so forming the horn
plate or guiding frame in which each axle-box slides vertically, that its edge
being rounded or otherwise formed to correspond with a plate of hardened
steel or other metal placed within the recess of each axle-box, takes its bearing
thereagainst; behind this metal plate a pad, slab, plate, or packing piece of
vulcanized india-rubber or other permanently elastic material is placed, for the
purpose of giving end or horizontal play in the direction of the length of the
engine or carriage. The thickness of elastic material on each side of each
axle-box may be varied in proportion to the amount of play or end motion
required for passing curves, and the form of the metal plate or strip inserted
between the elastic material and the horn plate or guide may be varied, as
also the dimensions and nature of the metal employed.
The third part of my Invention relates to the construction of locomotiveand
other furnaces, and is intended more particularly for the more perfect com-
bustion of coal as a fuel in locomotive engine and other furnaces, and it
consists in constructing and placing within the furnace a hollow, conical,
pyramidical, or other similar form or structure of fire-clay, fire-brick, or other
fire-resisting material; and such hollow cone or pyramid I prefer to surmount
with a hollow head, or what is known as a "get-head," and the circumference
or surface of the cone or pyramid, and the under side of the "get-head" or
button head is perforated with numerous holes, which may either be circular

page_text: openings or small slots, suitably disposed for distributing the air to the fuel
contained within the furnace. I prefer to dispense with the ordinary fire bars,
and to mount the hollow perforated chamber upon a wrought-iron frame
placed in the position usually devoted to supporting the furnace bars, and
which frame may be suspended or pivotted for facilitating the discharge of the
fuel from the furnace when necessary. I prefer to fit butterfly or flap valve
dampers or regulators to the under side of the wrought-iron bearing frame,
and so arrange them that one or both of the damper plates or regulator flaps
may be partially or wholly closed at pleasure from the foot'plate; and for the
regulation of the admission of air to the "head "I apply a valve in the throat'
of the conical, pyramidical, or other form of perforated chamber, and whether
constructed of fire-clay, fire-brick, or any other material, and irrespective of its
shape, the object being to place the perforated chamber in the midst of the
fuel, so as first to heat the air therein before permitting.it to pass through
the numerous openings into and amongst the incandescent and green tuel,
by which perfect combustion may be obtained, and coal be substituted in
locomotive furnaces for coke. To apply the hollow perforated fire-resisting
material to the furnaces of marine and other boilers, a suitable modification
of the shape must necessarily be made; but the object in which each case
is to form a reservoir in which the air is received and becomes heated, and
is afterwards permitted to escape into the midst of the fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gregory in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GREGORY, of Barreiro, in the Kingdom of Portugal, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent' Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, 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 John Gregory, Her special licence that'I, the said John Grégory,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or' such other's as I, the said
Jolin Gregory, my executors, administrators, and assigns; should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times-there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might makë, use,
exercise, aud vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain' and Ire-

page_text: land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Gregory, 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 John Gregory, 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 statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:—
This Invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to locomo-
tive engines, and the construction or arrangement and disposition of the
various parts of such like machines.
The first part of my said Invention consists in constructing locomotive
engines with four steam cylinders, and eight wheels mounted upon four
axles placed parallel with each other, and 1 connect the two additional
cylinders with the coupled driving wheels by means of connecting rods, which
may be detached or disconnected for permitting two cylinders only being
used; and I place such two additional steam cylinders at the opposite end
of the engine framing to that at which the cylinders are ordinarily placed.
By increasing the length of the framing of ordinary six-wheel engines, having
four wheels coupled, and adding an additional pair of wheels as trailing
wheels, I am enabled to increase the capacity of the boiler and steam-
generating surfaces; and by disposing the additional pair of steam cylinders
behind the trailing wheels, relatively in the same position as that in which
the cylinders are ordinarily placed at the smoke-box end, 1 am enabled to
connect the piston rod ends or cross heads, by means of connecting rods,
with the outside cranks or pins of the driving wheels. I remove the flanges
from the four driving wheels, or construct them without flanges, and by
increasing the length of the engine base by the addition of the fourth pair
of wheels, I am enabled to obtain a much steadier, safer, and more power-
ful engine; as the additional power of the extra pair of cylinders can be
transmitted through the four coupled driving wheels, whilst the removal of
the flanges euables curves of shorter radius to be travelled.
The second part of my Invention relates to the axle boxes of locomotive
engines and carriages, and consists in a novel contrivance for permitting the
assumption of radial positions by the axles in traversing sharp curves, without

page_text: undue straining of the frames or the horn plates, or injury to the axle bearings
or boxes, or to the wheel tyres, or the metals. It consists in constructing
axle boxes with a suitable vertical recess on each side, and so forming the
horu plate or guiding frame in which each axle-box slides vertically, that its
edge, being rounded or otherwise formed to correspond with a plate of hardened
steel or other metal placed within the recess of each axle-box, takes its bearing
thereagainst; behind this metal plate a pad, slab, plate, or packing piece of
vulcanized india-rubber or other permanently elastic material is placed, for
the
purpose of giving end or horizontal play in the direction of the length of
the engine or carriage. The thickness of elastic material on each side of each
axle-box may be varied in proportion to the amount of play or end motion
required for passing curves; and the form of the metal plate or strip inserted
between the elastic material and the horn plate or guide may be varied, as
also the dimensions and natures of the metal employed.
The third part of my Invention relates to the construction of locomotive
and other furnaces, and is intended more particularly for the more perfect
combustion of coal as a fuel in locomotive engine and other furnaces; and it
consists in constructing and placing within the furnace a hollow, conical,
pyranidical, or other similar form or structure of fire-clay, fire-brick, or other
fire-resisting material, which may either be made in one piece or in several
pieces, for facility of transport and construction, and also for the purpose of
preventing fracture by aud from the effects of expansion and contraction ;
such cone, pyramid, or other suitable form I prefer to surmount with a hollow
head, or what is known as a "get-head," and the circumference or surface of
the cone or pyramid (or of whatever other form it may be), and the under
side of the "get-head," or button-head is perforated with numerous holes,
which may either be circular openings, or small slots, suitably disposed for
distributing the air to the fuel contained within the furnace. I prefer to
dispense with the ordinary fire bars, and to mount the hollow perforated
chamber upon a wrought-iron frame, placed in the position usually devoted to
supporting the furnace bars, and which frame inay be suspended or pivotted,
for facilitating the discharge of the fuel from the furnace when necessary.
prefer to fit butterfly or flap valve dampers or regulators to the under side of
the wrought-iron bearing frame, and to so arrange then that one or both of
the damper plates or regulator flaps may be partially or wholly closed at
pleasure from the foot plate. And for the regulation of the admission of air
to the "head," I apply a valve in the throat of the couical, pyramidical, or
other form of perforated chamber, and whether it be constructed of fire-clay,
fire-brick, or any other fire-resisting material, and irrespective of its shape, the
I

page_text: object being to place the perforated chamber in the midst of the fuel, so as
first to heat the air therein, before permitting it to pass through the
numerous openings into and amongst the incandescent and green fuel, by
which perfect combustion may be obtained, and coal be substituted in
locomotive furnaces for coke. To apply the hollow perforated' fire-resisting
material to the furnaces of marine and other boilers, a suitable modification
of the shape must necessarily be made; but the object' in each case is, to
form a reservoir in which the air is received and becomes heated; and is
afterwards permitted to escape into the midst of the fuel.
66
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevational
view, partly in section, of a locomotive saddle tank engine constructed according
to my Invention, with four cylinders and eight wheels, fitted with a furnace
according to this Invention, as herein-before described, in which is shewn a
hollow coue A (which may be of fire-clay or any other suitable material), and
get-head" B, perforated for the distribution of air to the fuel contained
within the furnace; Fig. 2 exhibits the hollow cone A with its" get-head" B
to an enlarged scale. This arrangement of furnace gives a much greater air
surface, and enables the air to euter, in-a heated state, the apertures in the
"get-head" driving the smoke upon the burning fuel, and consuming it.
a, a, being the "butterfly" or "flap valve" dampers for the admission of air
to the furnace; b, the "button valve," which regulates the supply of air to the
"get-head;" c, a wrought-iron lever, for raising and lowering the hollow cone
for the discharge of fucl, this lever, together with the "button valve" and
flap valve" dampers, being worked from the foot plate. Fig. 3 shews the
cone lowered for discharging the fuel. Fig. 4 is a section of an axle-box con-
structed according to my Invention, as herein described, by the application of
which, locomotive engines and carriages having an 'increased length of framing
are enabled to assume radial positions whilst traversing'sharp curves: Fig. 5
is a sectional plan, a being the "horn plate" or guide frame; b, plate of
hardened steel; c, pad of vulcanized iudia-rubber fitting within a recess castin
the axle-box; c, sectional view of axle-box; e, the brass. It will be seen that
the steel plate projects from the axle-box about of an inch, and in passing
round curves, the india-rubber in the front part of one axle-box is compressed,
and in like manner the india-rubber in the back part of the other axle-box-
is compressed, consequently the wheels adapt themselves' to the curve,
acting in a similar manner to the "bogie frames" now in use.
"
Having now described my improvements in locomotive and other steam
engines, and illustrated the same in the Sheet of Dravings hereunto annexed,
I wish it to be understood, that I do not confine myself' to the dimensions or

page_text: form of any or either of the parts of or relating to my said improvements
which are shewn in the Drawing; nor the precise arrangement or disposition
of the details of the several parts as therein shewn, as all such may require
to be varied, modified, and adapted to suit each particular case; but I
claim as my Invention the improvements in locomotive and other steam
engines, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gregory, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
F. ROBERTS,
Salisbury Street.
JOHN GREGORY. (L.S.)