152 



THE CIVIL ENGIiNEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[May, 



and conventicle builder; another, a pothouse keeper, who began his 

 career as a joiner, and perfected himself asi a toll clerk of a market house. 



The Judge made a just award, upon which the committee did not act, 

 but, contrary to all reasonable expectation, they gave the lirst premium to 

 their friend whose hranily-anduater and pennyworths of tnbacco had oft 

 regaled the majority after closing their shops. 



Much more might be said, but this suffices to show the state of art in 

 this great niauufdcturing place, and how hopeless is the chance of any 

 young or old architect to erect a public building here, unless expressly 

 oummissiuned by some of the few men of education and taste who remain 

 to us of llie ancien regime. 



I remain, Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



Lttit, April 18, 1846. Viator. 



REGISTER OF NEW PATENTS. 



IfaddiHoral Informatiun be required respecting any patent, It may be obtained at tlie 

 •fice of thii Jourual. 



MOTIVE POWER, 



David Wilkinson, of Potters Bury, near Stoney Stratford, Gent., for 

 "improvements in obtaining motive power." — Granted October 10, 1845; 

 Enrolled April 9, 184G. 



This invention consists in a mode of combining heated air with steam, 

 instead of using air or steam separately. In carrying out this invention the 

 patentee proposes to apply an air pump of about half the cubic contents of 

 the cylinder, by means of which air is to be forced through tubes or other 

 suitable apparatus, such apparatus being heated externally, so that the air 

 may become highly heated, which is afterwards admitted into the steam 

 boilers or generators, that the heated air may combine with the steam 

 «nd go together into the working cylinder of the engine. This invention is 

 more particularly intended for high pressure engines, notwithstanding, the 

 patentee states the same is equally applicable to low pressure or condensing 

 engines. 



The claim is for forcing air through pipes or other suitable heated sur- 

 faces and then mixing the same with steam, and working the steam and 

 heated air conjointly. 



SLIDE VALVES OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



Robert Bewick Longridge, of the Bedlington Iron Works, near Mor 

 peth, Northumhi?rland, for " an improved locomotive engine." — Granted Jan- 

 uary 13; Enrolled March 13, 18-16. 



This invention for improvements in locomotive engines relates to the slide 

 valves and mode of working the same. The accompanying figure shews a 



transverse section of the slides and steam ports leading to the cylinder. 

 a a are the induction ports leading to the cylinder ; i is the eduction port ; 

 ec is a slide valve for opening and closing the ports in the cylinder, and is 

 worked by an arrangement of levers and excentric, which latter is capable 

 of being moved upon the shaft say 30 degrees on each side the centre of the 

 crank, for backward and forward movement of the engine. The induction 

 ports of the valve pass through to the back thereof, at which place there is 

 a second slide c' for cutting ofl" the steam at any required parti.f the stroke. 

 This Utter valve or shde is worked by an excentric, keyed fast on the shaft. 



and an arrangement of levers shown at fig. 2. d is the excentric rod, the 

 outer end of which is connected to a levtr keyed on the weigh shaft e ; ujion 

 this shaft is keyed a slotted lever/, which receives a stud attached to the 

 end of a link g; the opposite end of the link g is attached to the valve rod 

 A, so that by raising or depressing the stud in the slotted lever / the 

 amount of motion imparted to the valve rod A and valve or slide c' can bt 

 varied at pleasure. The end of the link g is raised or depressed in the slot 

 by means of a rod i, attached to the end of a bell-cranked lever i ; to tht 

 opposite end is attached a rod /, actuated by a lever placed near the engine. 

 driver. Another improvement consists in heating the water supplied by the 

 feed pumps previous to entering the boiler. For this purpose the inventor 

 proposes that the water, after leaving the feed pumps and before entering 

 the boiler, shall pass through a chamber or series of pipes exposed to tb« 

 action of heated vapours, which pass through the tubes into the smoke box, 

 BO that the water may become highly heated before entering the boiler. 



LOCOMOTIVE ENOINES. 



Henry Samuel Ravser, of Ripley, Derby, Gent., for "certain imfrrore- 



ments in locomotive engines." — Granted September 4, 1845 ; Enrolled March 

 4, 1840. 



The object of the inventor is to construct a locomotive engine, which it to 

 be propelled by the pressure of the atmosphere acting upon the exterior sur- 

 face of a vessel or vessels exhausted of air. The annexed diagram shows a 

 side elevation of Mr. Rayner's locomotive, which may be termed a perpt^tual 

 locomoti\e, being of that class of machines when once started will continue 

 its course so long as liie parts of the apparatus will hold together ! a re- 

 presents a rectangular or oblong vessel of a wedge-shape form mounted npua 



the carriage framing ; above this vessel is fixed another (marked i) of the 

 same construction, but in a reverse position ; the object of reversing the two 

 vessels being for the backward and forward movement of the apparatus. 

 Each of these vessels are made hollow and perfectly airtight, and are con- 

 nected, by means of a pipe, with an air-pump c, also (ixed upon the framing 

 of the carriage. Now, in order to start the locomotive, Mr. R.iyner gravely 

 proposes to exhaust one of the two vessels a or b, when the locomotive will 

 be propelled either backward or forward as may be required. For the in- 

 ventor states, if the vessel b be exhausted of air, a certain amount of pres- 

 sure will be exerted on the whole of its exterior surface; that is to say, there 

 would be a vertical pressure on the upper or inclined surface, which the in- 

 genious Mr. Rayner supposes would propel the locomotive ; in order therefore 

 to counteract this propelling power, he proposes to luve the " wheels, rail», 

 and axles'* at an angle, so that the locomotive under such circumstances 

 would remain motionless. He then states that the sides of the vessels being 

 equal to one another, the pressure wnuld be equal ; that is to say, the pres- 

 sure on one side of the vessel would he counteracted by that of the other. 

 Now, the pressure on the under surface, the inventor states, is counteracted 

 hy the gravity o( the carriage (this would not have been a bad idea for 

 Ilansnii's ■■enal machine). Again, the pressure on the ends of the ves-el is 

 also the same per square inch as the other parts of the vessel ; but one of 

 the ends is double the area of the other, consequently, there will be double 

 the pressure on the larger end of the vessel b when exhausted, tending to 

 propel the carriage in the direction of the arrow ; and in order to reverts 

 the motion of the locomotive, it will only be necessary to exhaust, by means 

 of the air-pump c, the vessel a in place of the vessel b. In conclusion, it 

 would perhaps not be out of place to recommend the inventor to pay a littlt 

 more attention to the study of pneumatics before he attempts to bring his 

 invention before the public. 



PROPELLING POWER. 



John Lake, of Apsley, in the county of Herts, civil engineer, for " t*r- 

 tain improvements in propelling." — Granted October y, 1845; Enrolled 

 April 'J, 1846. 



This invention consists in a peculiar mode of propelling carriages on rail- 

 ways and common roads, and also barges or boats on rivers and canals, la 

 carrying out this invention it is proposed to lay between the rails a 

 continuous pipe, having a longitudinal slit or opening similar to those em- 

 ployed on atmospheric railways , as will be seen on referring to fig. 1, which 

 represents a longitudinal section of a portion of a tube showing the other 

 arrangements necessary for propelling a train of carriages upon a line of 

 railway, between the rails of which is placed the tube a, and continued 

 throughout the whole length of the line. Within this tube there are tw« 

 pistons b b, connected together by meant of a pipe c with a stop-eock d\ 



