IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH THE CYLINDERS OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH THE CYLINDERS OF STEAM ENGINES."
-A communication from abroad by Henry Wright Adams, M.D.,
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 28th November 1871, and dated the 24th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th June 1871.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH THE CYLINDERS OF
STEAM ENGINES," (a communication to me from abroad by Henry Wright
Adams, M.D., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of
America.) to be as follows:
•

page_text: engine so as to admit steam into the opposite ends. of the cylinder
through pipes or passages which are open to the air, and through which
the steam is exhausted.
And the Invention further consists in utilizing a portion of the ex-
haust steam from one side of the piston of a steam cylinder by causing 5
it to unite with a jet of live steam which will be directed into the
cylinder at the opposite side of the piston.
One of the advantages of admitting steam to and exhausting it from
the cylinder through open pipes will be that the latter will always afford
a free vent for the water of condensation which accumulates in the 1
cylinder, and which is the source of frequent accidents in ordinary steam
engines.
Another advantage to be derived from the adoption of this Invention
will be the free escape of the exhaust steam.
And according to this Invention the ordinary cumbrous and power- 1
absorbing valves of ordinary steam engines are dispensed with, light
and simple valves being alone required for directing the jets of steam to
their proper course, in fact, the jets of steam themselves being directed
alternately to opposite ends of the cylinder perform the duties of
valves.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middle- 2
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc- 3
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special
licence that I, the said Bristow Hunt, executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and

page_text: 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 OR CONNECTED WITH THE CYLINDERS OF STEAM ENGINES," (a communication
to me from abroad by Henry Wright Adams, M.D., of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 Bristow Hunt, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to simple and efficient improvements in steam
engines.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 represents a
vertical section of a steam, cylinder and appliances whereby the
Invention may be carried into effect, and Figure 2 an elevation of
Figure 1.
-
A represents a steam cylinder, of which B is the piston, and C the
piston rod passing through a stuffing box a, as usual, and connected to
a crank on a driving shaft as in ordinary steam engines; H and H' are
two pipes both communicating with the interior of the cylinder (one
pipe at one side of the piston and the other at the opposite side of the
same), and meeting at and communicating with a central pipe J;
G and G³ represent nozzles which communicate with a steam chest D
to which live steam from any adjacent boiler is admitted, and in which
chest is a valve I, so operated from any working part of the engine that
it will open and close (ports leading from the steam chest to) the
nozzles G and G' alternately. Any other valve mechanism which will
accomplish this duty may be substituted for the-valvo I. The pipe J.
communicates directly with the external air to which the interior of the

page_text: -
cylinder is consequently open. Supposing the nozzle G to be open or
partially open and the piston B to be at the termination of its forward
stroke, as indicated by the dotted lines, a jet of steam escapes from the
steam chest through the nozzle G into the pipe H, and passing thence
into the cylinder in front of the piston will force the latter rearward in
the direction of the arrow. The impetus of this forcible jet of the
steam into the comparatively contracted interior of the pipe H is such
at the point where it escapes from the nozzle and exerts so much
greater force at that point than is exerted on the piston that the latter
must yield without any interruption of the escape of the steam from the
said nozzle. While the piston is being thus forced rearwards the
nozzle G is closed and the steam at the rear of the piston is exhausting
through the pipe H³, and passing through the annular space between that
pipe and the end of the nozzle G. A portion of this exhaust steam will
by the action of the jet of live steam escaping through the nozzle G be
drawn into the pipe H, and uniting with the said jet will be reheated
thereby, and reinforcing the live steam will aid the latter in forcing the
piston to the termination of its rearward stroke. Whatever exhaust
steam is not drawn into the pipe H by the action of the jet of steam
from the nozzle G passes off into the air through the pipe J. The piston
will return on the nozzle G being closed and the nozzle G¹ opened, when
precisely the same action will take place, a jet of live steam passing
through the latter nozzle into the pipe H³, and a portion of the exhaust
steam from the pipe H uniting with the jet of live steam and being
reheated by the latter aiding in forcing the piston forward. One of the
advantages of admitting steam to and exhausting it from the cylinder
through open pipes is, that the latter always afford a free vent for the
water of condensation which accumulates in the cylinder and which is
the source of frequent accidents in ordinary steam engines. Another
advantage of the Invention is the free escape of the exhaust steam
owing to the action of the jet of live steam in line with the exhaust pipe.
This jet facilitates the withdrawal of the exhaust steam from one end
of the cylinder while live steam is being admitted into the opposite end
of the same. The ordinary cumbrous and power absorbing valves of
ordinary engines are dispensed with, light and simple valves for opening
and closing the nozzles being alone required for directing the jets of
steam to their proper courses, in fact, the jets of steam being themselves
directed alternately to opposite ends of the cylinder perform the duty
of valves.
•

page_text: The engine illustrated on the accompanying Drawings affords but one
example of the mode of carrying the Invention into effect, but it will be
evident to practical engineers that devices other than those described or
illustrated may be employed in connection with a steam cylinder for
5 carrying out the Invention, the character of the engine in many cases
suggesting the requirements most suited.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention
for "Improvements in or connected with the Oylinders of Steam
Engines," together with the manner in which the same is to be or may
O be performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in con-
clusion that I claim as the Invention communicated to me by the said
Henry Wright Adams,―
First. An engine, to the cylinder of which steam is admitted through
an open pipe.
Second. A steam cylinder, into the opposite ends of which alternately
steam is admitted through pipes or passages which are open to the air,
and through which the steam is exhausted.
And, third. Utilizing a portion of the exhaust steam from one side of
the piston of a steam cylinder, by causing it to unite with a jet of live
> steam directed into the cylinder at the opposite side of the piston, all
substantially as above described and as illustrated on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings or any mere modification or variation thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.