US108137A - Improvement in valve-gear for steam-engines - Google Patents

Description

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Letters Patent No. 108,137, dated October 11, 1870.

H IMPROVEMENT IN VALVE-GEAR FCR STEAM-ENGINES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same'.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be 'it known that I, THOMAS HILL, of Vallejo, county of Solano, State of California, have invented an Improved Valve-Gear for Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following description and a'ccompanying drawing are sufficient to enable any person -skiled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use my said invention or improvements without further invention or experiment.

The object of my invention is to provide certain improvements in the valve-gear ot' steamlengines, by the use of which I 'am enabled to dispense with a portion ot'- the mechanism hitherto found indispensable.

My invention has been more especially developed to apply to double oscillating marine-engines, and,

by its use only one link and two eccentrics are nec-v essary, in order to reverse both engines, and run them in either direction, and by a slight modification only one eccentric will be needed.

Besides marinefcngines, my invention ca'n be applied to other forms, and especially locomotives.

Referring to the accompanying-drawing for a more.

complete explanation of myinvention'- A Aare two'cylinders of an oscillating engine, to which, in the present case, I have applied my invention'.

v B B are the steam-chests and valve-chambers.

The cylinders are mounted so as to oscillate upon trunnions at C, receiving steam through the branchpipes D D and exhausting at E.

A rock-shaft, F, extends across, between, and' above the cylinders, being supported upon the frame G. v

At one end of this shaft is fastened a rocker-arm, H, a pin in its outer'end entering the slot' vin the link I, and upon this the link travels ywhen the engine is reversed. A

This is effected by the reverse-lever J and counesting-rod K, which is Vpinned to thc end of 'the link.

Two eccentric-rods L L are pinned to the lugs a a, on the inside of .the link, and through these the eccentrics M actuate the link.

At the opposite end -of the shaftF lfrom'the link arises another rocker-arm, N, 4so formed as to have two points of attachment for the connectingrods o o', by which the valves of the two engines are actuated. s

At the lower end of each of these rods is secured a link, P, at right angles to the rod, and having a The 'exhaust-port .f is made as shown, itssides forming a curve from each other, thus allowing the steam toescape freely.

In order to communicate motionfrom the valvespindle, a short arm, t', is keyed to it, and projects downward into :in-,opening in the top ofthe valve, so as to have a sort of rolling'motion, resembling that ofthe ball-and-socket joint'.

The operation of my engine is as .follows The link being moved or set by the reverse lever,

so as to bring the pin of the rocker-arm H under the influence of either of the cccentrics M, the shaft F will-'be turned alittle way, so"that the valves will, through their connections, receive a dilerentset from that given by the other eccentric, and the motion of thefenginc will be reversed.

f One eccentric might be employed, by constructing the upper end of the eccentric-rod as shown in Figure 4, a slot being made at m, so that as the pin a is thrown from one side tothe other of the link it can travel up and down this slot.

This is rendered necessary from the'fact that the link I is, in this case, keyed to the shaft Ifat the point 'r,; and thus communicates motion to it.

` The end ot' the link, by a'. cam, s, operated by the lever J'.

It is also possible to operate thevalves by the oscillationsof the engine` alone.

For this purpose the' valve-stem c has, in addition to the crank-arm It, a short arm, u, which connects it with the vibratory arm VL This arm is connected, by arod, w, to the arm` 'X, which is pinned to the frame,"as shown at Fignre 5.

The arm X is stationary, except when reversing the engine, when its movements change the set of the valves.

By means of the arms R u vw the Yvalves are operated by the simple oscillations of the engine.

Having thus described my invention,

What I- claim, and desire to secure by Letters -Patentisl. The device for operating both valves lfrom one rock-shaft, consisting of the double arm` N, the rods O 0', with their transverse links P and the arms R on the valve stem, substantially as herein described.

2. Theli-nk I, and either one or more eccentrics and rod or rods L, in conjunction with mechanism, asy described, for operating the valve-gear'of connected engines, substantially as set forth'. v

In witness' that the above-described invention is claimed by me, I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

THOMAS HILL. [L s.}

Witnesses z Gao. H. Stroxe, WM.. It. Booms.

pin n is secured, after it arrives at either

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