120 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



In cirrying out the first part of tlie invention, the plastic materials 

 may be rolled out into sheets or strips, ami llien embossed and moulded 

 into auit.ible forms for mouldinsjs, or such plastic materials, or after 

 havi'jg been first spread on wood mouldings in the manner described 

 in respect to gilders' preparation, may be subjected to dies in like 

 manner to be embossed. 



LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



Elijah Galloway, of Buckingham-street, Strand, Middlesex, engineer, 

 for " Improvemenls in locomotive engines." — Granted iVpril 18; Enrolled 

 October 18, 1S16. IVit/i Engravings, Plate IX. 



In constructing locomotive engines for railways, it has heretofore been 

 usual to give motion to two or more of the wheels which carry the engme 

 and it has been proposed to apply a central rail to a railway and to employ 

 rollers on either side, pressed towards eachother by a hand lever, and motion was 

 communicated to one of them from the axis of two of the carrying wheels. 

 Now one of the objects of this invention is no longer to use the carrymg 

 wheels as driving wheels. Another object of this invention is to apply the 

 power emploved to both of two wheels placed on either side of a central 

 rail, and to obtain the requisite holding or bite on the central rail by causing 

 such two driving wheels to be pressed towards each other, and consequently 

 against the rail, by means of springs and apparatus suitably arranged for 

 causing the two driving wheels (on each side of the central rail) to press the 

 rail more or less, according as more or less holding to the rail is required 

 from time to time. . 



The driving wheels of the locomotive engine, shown in the engraving, 

 Plate IX. are applied horizontally on each side of a centre or middle rail, 

 and are pressed towards each other by means of springs, the pressure of 

 which can be regulated by adjusting screws, or by any other convenient 

 means, so that they may be pressed towards each other with any degree of 

 force the springs will admit of. The pressure, therefore, of these wheels is 

 exerted simultaneously on each side of the middle rail. By such an arrange- 

 ment it will be evident that the bite or adhesion necessary to propel the 

 train is independent of the weight of the engine, and as the adhesion can be 

 increased or diminished exactly according to the amount of force with which 

 the driving wheels are pressed against the rail, this system obviates the slip- 

 ping of the driving or propelling wheels upon the rail, heretofore consequent 

 on making the driving wheels also carrying wheels in a locomotive engine. 



Fig. l,isasideelevation,and fig. 2, a cross section of a locomotive engine and 

 fig. 3, is a plan, with the boiler and such parts omitted as would interfere with 

 the view of the same, a, a, are the driving wheels worked by cranked axes. 

 Each wheel is worked by a pair of cylinders, the one above the other, the 

 pistons of which operate on the axes in much the same way as the engines 

 of the present locomotive. The slide valves may he at either side of the 

 cylinders, and worked by eccentrics placed on the axes. To secure the ne- 

 cessarv bite on each side of the middle rail, the lower bearings of the axes 

 are at'liberty to move for a limited distance horizontally, in mortices or slots 

 for that purpose in the horizontal frame, b. b ; these bearings are pressed 

 towards each other by the springs, c, c. To effect the desired adjustment of 

 the pressure of the springs, the rods are connected to the centre pieces, e, e, 

 one of which has a right and the other a left-handed female screw through 

 it, the threads of which fit the right and left-handed screws on the rod,/,/. 

 On one end of /, /, there is a bevel wheel g, working into another bevel 

 wheel h, the axis of which is carried up in front of the fire box, as seen 

 dotted in fig. 3, and has a handle accessible to the engineer, so that the 

 pressure of the springs on the driving axes, and consequently the bite of the 

 driving wheels on the middle rail, can be adjusted at pleasure when the en- 

 gine is in motion. 



The claim is for the mode of giving motion to locomotive engines, whereby 

 two actuated wheels, a, a, are used; and the causing of two wheels to be 

 pressed towards each other and to a central rail. 



THREE-CYLINDER LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



George Stephenson, of Tapton House, Cbesterfield, in the county 

 of Derby, engineer, and Willia.m Howe, of Newc.istle-upon-Tyne, in 

 the coutity of Northumberland, mecli.mic, for " an improi'emenl in lo- 

 comotive steam-engines." -Grimed February II; Enrolled August 

 1 1, 184t;.— (Reported in the. London Journal.)* {iVtth hngramngs, 

 p'late IX.) 



The ordinary kinds of locomotive engines are, as is well known, 

 constructed with two horizontal, or nearly horizontal, steam-cylinders, 

 disposed parallel to each other, either between or outside the wheels 

 of the engine; the present improvement consists in substituting for 

 one of the said steam-cylinders two smaller steam-cylinders, with 

 »uitabl« valves, &c.; the smaller cylinders being of such dimensions 

 that the contents or capacity of the two together will be equal to the 

 contents or capacity of the larger cylinder for which they are substi- 



* An abridged account of ibli patenJ wu given la Uw Jouraal for September laal, 

 mtbout drawiDgs. 



luted. The two small cylinders are placed one at each side of the 

 central line or middle of the breadth of the engine, and at equal dis- 

 tances from that central line; and the remaining large cylinder is 

 situated in the said central line, instead of at one side thereof as usual. 

 The crank-pins belonging to the smaller cylinders are arranged pa- 

 rallel to each other, and pointing in the same direction ; and the crank- 

 pin of the cntral cylinder is so placed, that the direction assumed by 

 its radial line will bi- at right angles to the direction assumed by thi 

 radial lines of the other two crank-pins. 



The object and ert'ect of this improvement is to counteract or neu- 

 tralise any tendency that the oblique action of the several connecting- 

 rods on their crank-pins may have to produce a lateral vibration or 

 rocking motion of the engine upon its supporting spring*, wlijn tra- 

 velling very rapidly ; because the oblique direction in which each 

 connecting-rod acts, when the piston is near the middle of its course, 

 causes the exertion of a force either to lift up or press down the guides 

 which retain the joint at the end of the connecting-rod and of the pis- 

 ton rod in its intended rectilinear motion ; and iii the common loco- 

 motive engines, with two steara-cylinders, this force operates alter- 

 nately at opposite sides of the central line of the engine, and conse- 

 quently tends to produce the lateral vibration or rocking motion above 

 mentioned. But this tendency to produce lateral vibration will be 

 wholly counteracted or neutralised in locomotive engines constructed 

 according to this improvement; because the central steam-cylinder, 

 with its connecting-rod, is operative at the middle of the breadth of 

 the engine, and therefore the lifting or depressing force resulting from 

 the oblique action of that connecting-rod will act equally on both sides 

 of the engine; and further, as the pistons of the two small cylinders 

 act simultaneously, and in the same direction, the lilting or depressing 

 forces which may result from the oblique action of their conneeling- 

 rods are equally operative at the same time, and in the same direc- 

 tion, at opposite sides of the said central line, and at equai distances 

 therefrom, and will therefore have no tendency to produce lateral 

 rocking. 



Plate IX., fig. I, is an elevation of an improved locomotive engine ; 

 fig. 2, is an end view, partly in section, of the thiee steam cylinders, 

 with their valves and accessaries, on an enlarged scale ; and fig. 3, is 

 a corresponding horizontal section and plan ot the same parts. The 

 ordinary parts of the locomotive engine being well known, any descrip- 

 tion thereof is unnecessary. a,is the central steam-cylinler, situated 

 beneath the boiler, b, is the uppermost of the two guides for direct- 

 ing the motions of the joint by which the end of the central piston- 

 rod is attached to the forked end of its connecting-rod, the other end 

 of this rod is secured to a crank at the centre of the axis c, of the 

 driving-wheels. d,d\ are the two small steam-cyanders. e, e, are 

 the guides fur the joints of the piston-rods: each joint is connected 

 by a rod/i with a crank-pin g, on the nave or boss of each driving- 

 wheel. The requisite distribution of steam to the cylinders a, d, d', 

 may be performed by means of sliding- valves, and working gear, in 

 the usual manner, but so that the valves of the two cylinders U, d', will 

 always be moved simultaneously in the same direction, which may be 

 done by the working gear, without requiring any other eccentrics on 

 the main shaft e, than is usual. In fig. 2, the valves are represented 

 as sliding against vertical surfaces at the sides of their respective 

 cylinders, in order that the valve-rods may point directly tu tlie cen- 

 tral line of the main shaft c ; which arrangement of valves (as well as 

 the arrangement of all the wheels A, (,j, beneath the cylindrical partX', 

 of the boiler) forms part of certain improvements in locomotive engines, 

 described in the specification of a patent obtained by Robert Stephen- 

 son, June 23, 1841; but although that arrangement of valves (and of 

 the six wheels) is suitable for engines constructed according to the 

 present improvement, the valves may be caused to slide against hori- 

 zontal surfaces, and the wheels may be arranged beneath the engine 

 in the usual manner. /, (tigs. 2 and 3,) is the steam-chest or valve- 

 box containing the slide-valve m, for the central cylinder a ; and n, is 

 the valve-rod, which passes through a stuffing-box in the end of the 

 steam-chest, o, is the steam-chest containing the slide-valve^, for 

 one of the small cylinders ti; and 5, is the valve-rod. The steam- 

 chests /, and 0, form one space for containing steam, which is con- 

 veyed from the boiler into it by the pipe r,and is alternately admitted 

 into one or other of the cylinders a, and d, by their slide-valves. 8, is 

 the steam-chest of the cylinder d^, which is supplied with steam from 

 the boiler by the pipe / ; and «, is the rod of tlii slide-valve belonging 

 thereto. The waste steam is carried ott' from the cylinder a, by the 

 eduction passage r, and from the cylinders d, d', by two passages w ; 

 these passages are continued by pipes, also marked c, and w, into the 

 smoke-box x, where they are turned upwards, in order to discharge 

 the whole of the waste steam up the chimney, as usual. The twj 

 steam-pipes r, and t, are branches of one common steam-pipe, ti» 

 which they are united iu the siuoke-box; and llw supply ul sleaai 



