176 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



QJlXE, 



laws of bankruptcy are most severe; the unfortunate are treated 

 there as the criminal, and not as here, the criminal as the unfortu- 

 nate. The settlement of property on women is most strict, and the 

 disposal of the wife's property greatly hampers both parties. Here, 

 again, is enterprise deprived of its resources; thoiigli, during the 

 peaceful reign of Louis Philippe, the country very much improved. 

 The funds, however, absorbed a large sum in new loans, and the 

 French have been employed for some time in buying back from 

 the English the rentes and railway shares. If, therefore, the 

 French do not press us more strongly in foreign markets, it is be- 

 cause we have greater material and personal resources. 



In the United States there is no want of enterprise, — there is a 

 spirit of enterprise beyond us; but the country is thinly-peopled, 

 and is wanting in those buildings and roads, the accumulated stock 

 of ages, the working plant of society, which so much abounds 

 here. The New Englanders are, however, doing their best to 

 make uj) for their wants, and with freer laws, greater enterprise, 

 and the power of accumulating capital in joint-stock undertak- 

 ings, they will prove more formidable rivals to us than they have 

 yet shown themselves. 



Now is the time to be stirring — not when we are beaten, but 

 while we have still the time to make headway. We have got a 

 warning, and we nnist take it. We are losing several branches of 

 trade already, and unless we bestir ourselves we shall lose more. 

 To beat our rivals, we must take advantage of the same means 

 that they do, and we must have the same freedom for our industry 

 and enterprise. 



CTo be continued.J 



REGISTER OF NEW PATENTS. 



LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



Samvkl Thornton', of Birmingham, AVarwickshire, merchant, 

 and James Edward i\tc C'onnell, of Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, 

 engineer, for '■'■improvements in steam-engines, and in the means of 

 retarding engines and carriages on railways, and in connecting railway 

 carriages or wagons together; also improvements in effecting a commu- 

 nication between one part of a railway train and another, by signals or 

 otherwise." — Granted August 7, 1848; Enrolled February 7, 1849. 

 f Reported in Newton's London Journal.'] 



This invention, so far as it relates to improvements in steam- 

 engines, consists, firstly, in an improved construction of piston; 

 secondly, in certain alterations in the chimney and blast-pipe; 

 and thirdly, in certain arrrangements and alterations of the educ- 

 tion-passages and valves, for the purpose of diminishing the back 

 ])ressure, or the resistance of the steam in the eduction-passages 

 to the motion of the piston. 



The improvement in the piston consists in a certain arrangement 

 and combination of parts, for the purpose of ensuring uniformity 

 of pressure on the rubbing surface of the piston. 



p-T'" "A^umss^sW^ai 



Fig. 1. 



The improved piston is shown in cross section at fig 1. The 

 novelty consists in the adoption of one or two packing-rings a, a, 

 which are of a form to allow of a projection towards the interior 

 of the piston, having the surface conical at b, h; on which conical 

 surfaces two inner rings c, c, are accurately fitted, in such a man- 

 ner as to act easily to and fro; — the expansion of the outer or 

 packing-rings being allowed for by their being cut asunder in the 

 usual manner. The inner rings are not cut; but, being concentric 

 with the outer rings, they are made to fit closely against the 

 conical surfaces b, by the elastic pressure of a spiral spring /, 

 which allows of their taking a position suitable to the varying 

 diameter of the rings a. On each of the inner rings c, there is 

 fitted one of two thin elastic discs e,e, of tempered cast-steel, for 



the purpose of receiving the pressure of the spring/, which causes 

 the inner rings, ce, to act on the outer or packing-rings, as before- 

 mentioned, and thus render the rubbing surface steam, water, or 

 air-tight. Instead of the two discs being pressed from each other 

 by means of the spiral spring/ a spring of india-rubber or other 

 elastic substance, placed in the centre of the rings round the 

 ])iston-rod, may be employed for that purpose. In this arrange- 

 ment of the piston, the rings may, by means of pins or holders, at 

 relative distances in the piston, be shifted round, so as to wear 

 equally, and prevent the formation of ridges and marks in the 

 cylinder or packing. The piston may be also made of wrought- 

 iron or steel, in one piece with the piston-rod, and with the adop- 

 tion of one breadth of packing, so that the piston may be as light 

 as possible. Under this division of their invention, the patentees 

 claim the construction of pistons above described, in which the 

 packing-rings are adjusted by means of two conical surfaces, acted 

 on by a sjiring and elastic discs. 



Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



The second improvement, relating to steam-engines, consists in 

 cei'tain alterations in the chimney and blast-pipe of locomotive 

 engines, and is intended to obtain, from the escaping steam, an 

 efl^ectual means of accelerating the ingress of atmospheric air to 

 the furnace, and at the same time increase the effective force of 

 the steam acting upon the pistons. It is generally known that the 

 quantity of steam which escapes, at the usual pressure, from the 

 smallest cylinders of any engine used on railways, is sufficient to 

 eject the air from the chimney; and it has been the usual practice 

 to vary the diameter of the chimney in a certain proportion to 

 the diameter of the cylinders of an engine, and to preserve a 

 nearly uniform height for the chimney: namely, tlie greatest which 

 the l)ridgcs o\-er any particular railway would admit. Now, the 

 object of this part of 'the invention is to obtain the advantage of a 

 chimney of a height incompatible with the ordinary working of a 

 railway, limited as such height is by the head-way of the bridges; 



