XII. Taylor's Instrument for Measuring Angles; Croft's Lace Machinery; Smith's Improvements in Weaving; XIII. Sievier's Improvements in Weaving Figured Fabrics; and Fuller's Machinery for Combing Wool. XIV. Carpenter's Improvements in Propelling; Wilkie and Schwieso's Elastic Seat; Day's Horse Collar; Sti ven's Universal Chuck; and Leese's Improvements in Calico Printing. XV. Bridson's Improvements in Drying Cotton, &c.; Hale's Windmill; Pedder's Lace Machinery; Debac's Weighing Machine; Gold's Apparatus for Grinding Glass ; Higgins' Improvements in Spinning; and Barton and Nye's Pumps. XVI. Rham's Improvements in Drilling Land; and White's Horse Hoe. XVII. J. T. Beale's Improvements in Steam-Engines; Tayler's in Railroad Carriages; Barnett's Fastenings for Wearing Apparel; and B. Beale's Improvements in Steam Engines and Boilers. XVIII. Sharpnel's Fire-Arms; Cramer's Steam-Engine; Littlewort's Improvements in Watches and Clocks ; Molinard's Figuring Movement for Looms; Weeks' Cooking Apparatus; and Cordes' Machinery for Making Nails and Screw Blanks. THE London JOURNAL AND REPERTORY OF Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures. CONJOINED SERIES. No. CXXII. Recent Patents. To JOSEPH MAUDSLAY, of Lambeth, in the county of Surrey, engineer, for an improvement in the arrangement and combination of certain parts of steam-engines, to be used for steam navigation.-[Sealed 16th March, 1841.] THIS improvement relates to the arrangement and combination of certain parts of steam-engines, of that kind or class whereof the centre of the steam-cylinder (wherein the piston works) is situated immediately beneath the rotative axis of the crank. And the particular parts of steamengines, to which the arrangement and combination relates, are the steam-cylinder, with its bottom and cover, the piston and piston-rod, the cross-head belonging to the pistonrod, and the connecting-rod,―together with all requisite appurtenances to the several parts. In Plate I., several views of the improved construction of engine are shewn; fig. 1, being a longitudinal vertical section; fig. 2, a horizontal plan of the upper part of the VOL. XX. B engine; fig. 3, a horizontal section of the cylinders; and fig. 4, a transverse vertical elevation and section, representing two engines, disposed side by side, for combined action, in the manner engines usually are combined on board steam vessels,—one of the engines being represented in section, the other in elevation. a, a, is the steam-cylinder, its interior surface being bored truly cylindrical, as usual, for steam-cylinders; and b, b, is a small cylinder, fixed concentrically within the steam-cylinder a, a;-the external cylindrical surface of the small cylinder is turned true in a lathe, but the interior of the small cylinder does not require boring. n, n, is the bottom of the steam-cylinder, to which the flange, around the lower part of the steam-cylinder a, a, is fitted, as usual, with a close joint; and the small cylinder b, b, is also fitted to the same bottom, with an internal flange at its lower end, so as to be truly concentric with the interior of the cylinder a, a, in order that an annular cylindrical space may be left between the two cylinders, of exactly equal breadth all round; m, m, is the cylinder-cover, made so as to leave the small cylinder b, open, and is bolted to the exterior flange around the top of the cylinder; e, c, is the annular piston, fitted into the cylindrical space between the two cylinders; d, d, are two piston-rods, passing through stuffing-boxes, and are fixed to the annular piston, at two points, as shewn in figs. 1 and 3. The upper ends of these rods are securely fastened to the upper extremities of a T-shaped cross-head e, e, f,f, composed of two parallel sides, united together at the extremities of the upper horizontal part, and also united at the lower extremity of the upright stem ƒ, f, by the joint-pin s, at the lower end of the connecting-rod g; a space sufficient being left between these extremities to allow the connecting-rod g, to work therein, as shewn in figs. 2, 3, and 4. The upper end of the connecting-rod g, is fitted with similar joint, upon the crank-pin of the crank h, in the usual manner; p, p, (figs. 1 and 3,) are the two sliding pieces, at the lower ends of the upright stems f,f.-These sliding pieces are fastened to both the stems f, f, as shewn in fig. 3, and form, as it were, a sort of box, within which the joint, at the lower end of the connecting-rod g, is enclosed, but without touching the interior of such box. The two sliding pieces p, p, move up and down in angular grooves, formed in the two upright edges r, r, fixed withinside of the interior of the small cylinder b, b, at opposite sides of the circumference of that interior, so as to constitute a parallel vertical guiding groove. The two ends of the joint-pin s, are reduced to small joint-pins, which project out on each side, beyond the sides f, of the T-shaped cross-head; and on these pins are fitted the lower ends of two links j, j, for working the air-pump, their upper ends being united to the long ends of two levers k, k, situated one on each side of the cross-head e, e; and from the opposite or short ends of these levers, the rod l, of the air-pump x, is suspended by two suitable links, both of which are jointed thereto. The fulcrum t, of the levers k, k, is common to both levers, and is sustained by suitable framing. The horizontal axes i, i, i, of the cranks h, are the same as usual in marine steam-engines. The several bearings for the axes are sustained in one horizontal line, in a framing of iron, affixed between two parallel wooden beams, extending, horizontally, across the vessel, from side to side thereof; and the iron framing is upheld by four upright props of wrought-iron, firmly attached to the base, whereon the cylinder a, a, stands. This base is made to serve for the condenser, being continued out from beneath the cylinder, in order to admit the air-pump, to be placed in it. The air-pump, with its bucket and valves, and the hot well, also the hot-water pump, may be constructed in the ordinary manner. The base or condenser also has a lateral branch, projecting out from beneath the cylinder, to receive the lower end of the sliding valve, by which the steam is distributed to the cylinder; and the branch serves as the eduction passage for exhausting the steam from the cylinder, and conveying it down into the condenser. The upper surface of the base or condenser serves as the bottom n, n, of the steam-cylinder a, a; and a lateral passage y, may be formed within it, to lead beneath the open space within the small cylinder b, b, and give access to the joint at the lower end of the connectingrod, as already mentioned. The sliding valve, for distributing the steam to the cylinder, as represented in the drawing, is what is called a D sliding-pipe valve, of the same kind as is most commonly used in marine steam-engines, but any other kind of distributing-valve or valves may be used. The patentee claims the arrangement and combination of the parts (hereinbefore mentioned) of steam-engines, to be used for steam navigation, the distinguishing character of that improvement being, that the connecting-rod, with the requisite appurtenances of that rod, as hereinbefore enumerated, is situated and works within a space, which is left vacant for the reception of these parts, within the interior of the small open-topped cylinder, which is fixed in the central part of the steam-cylinder, and within the central part of the annular piston, which works up and down in the annular cylindrical space left between the interior of the steam-cylinder and the exterior of the small cylinder, as described.-[Inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, September, 1841.] |