US582630A - Alfred d - Google Patents

Description

(NoModeH- A. D. FERGUSON.

REVERSING MECHANISM FOR STEAM ENGINES. No. 582,630. Patented May 18, 1897.

.1217. 1 1 man UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

ALFRED D. FERGUSON, OF ODESSA, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO HARVEY N. BROWN, OF SAME PLACE.

REVERSING MECHANISM FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,630, dated May 18, 1897.

Application filed April 25, 1896. Serial No. 589,082. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: designates thereciprocatory valve, which Be it known that I, ALFRED D. FERGUSON, is provided with a recess in its inner side of Odessa, Lafayette county, Missouri, have which conforms to the contour of the valve, 55 invented certain new and useful Improveas illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4, and is 5 ments in Reversing Mechanism for Steamadapted to communicate simultaneously with Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, the exhaust-port 6 and one of the inlet-ports 7. and exact description, reference being had to The piston-rod (not shown) is connected in the accompanying drawings, forming a part the customary manner to the crank-shaft S, 60 hereof. while the valve-stem 9 extends into the steam- 10 My invention relates to reversing mechanchest 3 and is provided with a hook 10 at its ism for steam-engines, and more especially end which slidingly engages a rib or projecto an improvement over my invention as emtion 11 upon the valve 5 in a manner clearly bodied in the patent on reversing mechanism shown and described in my aforesaid patent. 65 for steam-engines granted to me on July 21, At its opposite end it is connected to the ee- 15 1896, No. 564,274. centric 12 in the customary manner, and said The present invention contemplates the eccentric is mounted rotatably upon the employment,in connection with the valve conclutch-section 18, arranged to oscillate upon struction therein shown, of additional mechthe crank-shaft 8. It is prevented from mov- 7o anism whereby each time the valve is adinglongitudinally upon said shaft at one side justed to reverse the engine it will move obby means of a collar 14, secured rigidly by liquely in order to insure that a lead is obmeans of a set-screw 15 to the shaft, while at tained for the entrance of the steam to the its opposite side it is opposed by the clutchcylinder at all times. In my aforesaid invensection 16, which clutch-section is mounted 75 tion the valve is adjusted to reverse the enloosely upon the shaftvand is provided with gine always at right angles toits reciprocatory an inclined or cam slot 17, engaging a pin 18 movement, and it has been found in practice or antifriction-roller mounted thereon, which that the engine works more uniformly and projects radially from the shaft 8, as shown satisfactorily by adjusting said valve obclearly in Fig. 2. Said clutch-section 16 is 80 liquely to its reciprocatory motion and thereprovided eXteriorly with an annular groove,

0 by obtaining a lead for the steam at all times, wherein is journaled a collar 19, and projectas hereinbefore explained. ing outwardly at diametrically opposite points To this end the invention consists in cerfrom said collar are the pins 20, engaged by tain new and peculiar features of construclongitudinal slots in a yoke-shaped angle- 85 tion and combinations of parts, as hereinaf lever 21, mounted pivotally upon a stub-shaft ter described and claimed. or pin 22, supported in a suitable manner.

In order that the invention may be fully Said lever is pivotally connected in turn by understood, reference is to be had to the aca link-rod 23 to the wrist-pin 24, projecting companying drawings, in whichfrom a cog-pinion 25, mounted rotatably upon 90 Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stationary a stubshaft projecting from one corner of 40 engine provided with reversing mechanism the bracket or casting 26, secured to the embodying my invention, the frame of said steam-chest. Said pinion is engaged by a engine being broken away and its shaft shown toothed and segment shaped shifting-lever in section. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of 27, mounted upon a stub-shaft 2S, projecting 5 the same, except that the frame of the engine also from bracket or casting 26, and said lever is omitted. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken is provided with the usual spring-actuated on the line 0000 of Fig. 1. Fig. lis a face view pin 29 to engage a notched sector 30, secured to illustrate clearly the relation between the rigidly to and projecting from the cylinder ports and the valve. or other part of the engine. Connected bya 10o Referring now to the drawings in detail, 1 ball-and-socket joint, as at 31, to said lever,

designates the frame of a steam-engine, 2 the forward of its pivot, is a link 32, and said cylinder, and 3 the steam-chest. lever is pivotally connected to the lower end 4: designates the cap of the steam-chest. of a bell-crank lever 33, mounted pivotally,

as at 34, in a bracket 35, secured to the steamchest and projecting upwardly therefrom. The opposite end of said lever is bifurcated and provided with longitudinal slots 36, which engage loosely pins projecting outwardly from the collar 37, mounted rigidly upon the upper end of a rod 38, which extends upwardly into the steam-chest at right angles to the valve stem and is secured rigidly to the rectangular frame 39, which fits snugly against the end walls of the steam-chest, but is narrower than the same, so that it may be moved laterally when the rod 38 is reeiprocated to adjust the valve at right angles to its reeiprocatory movement, in order to reverse the engine when necessary or desirable. By thus adj ustin g the said frame, and thereby the valve, which it snugly embraces, the rib or projection 11 simply slides within the hook 10 of the valve-stem without interfering in the least with its reciproeatory movement.

In operation the valve reciprocates longitudinally with the motion imparted to it by its eccentric connection by the crankshaft in the customary manner, and in case it is desired to reverse the engine it is only necessary to operate in one direction or the other the frame 3.), in a manner clearly explained in my patent, to which reference has been frequently made. In the construction embodied in said patent, however, this lateral adjustment of the valve is accomplished by moving the frame 39 by means of a lever operated entirely independent of the mechanism for reciprocating the valve longitudinally. In the present construction, however, it is impossible to adjust the valve laterally by means of said frame without at the same time changing its position longitudinally With relation to the shaft Sthat is to say, supposing the valve to be in position as illustrated in Fig. 4, and it be desired to reverse the engine, the shifting-lever is thrown to the position indicated in dotted lines, thereby rotating the pinion 25 half-way around, or a distance of one hundred and eighty degrees, which obviously, by reason of the cam-slot engaging the pin 18, causes the clutoh-section 10 to slide outwardly upon the shaft in the direction indicated by the arrow a, and at the same time oscillate upon the shaft in the direction indicated by the arrow Z), and this movement, owing to the fact that one of the shoulders of said clutch-section bears against the opposing shoulder of the section 13,rotatably operates said section also in the direction indicated by the arrow (1, and consequently changes the relation of the eccentric to the shaft, and thereby longitudinally adjusts or moves for a slight distance the valve within the steam-chest. At the same instant,through the medium of the link 313, the bell-crank lever 33, and the rod or stem 38 of the frame 39, the latter adjusts the valve laterally, and these two movements taking place simultaneousl y consequently cause the valve to partake of the movement of each and thereby move obliquely or at an angle to both a direct longitudinal and a direct lateral movement. By such movement the valve when its lateral movement is ended has assumed the position illustrated in dotted lines, Fig. 4, and exposes slightly one of the inlet-ports of the steam-chest, whereby a lead for the steam passing to the cylinder is obtained. Vhen the shifting-lever is thrown to the position illustrated in dotted lines, it is obvious that it first moves the clutch-section 16 in the direction indicated by the arrows (t and Z2, and thereby adjusts the section 13, and then reverses such movement of the section 16 in order to cause the other shoulder of the same to abut against the opposite or opposing shoulder of the clutch-section l3. \Vhen so arranged, to reverse the engine again and to obtain a lead at the same time it is only necessary to swing the shifting-lever back to the position shown in full lines, and this operation obviously rotatably and longitudinally adjusts the clutch-section 10 as before, and consequently rotates the clutch-section 13, by reason of the other pair of shoulders be ing engaged, back to its original positionthat is, to its original position with relation to the shaft 8, as will be readily understood. By such operation the clutch-section 16 is again brought into engagement with the clutch-section 13-that is, with the shoulders originally or first referred to again in contact, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

From the above description it is obvious that I have produced a mechanism whereby the valve can be obliquely adjusted and the lead consequently obtained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and a laterally-adjustable frame embracing said valve, of a rotatable collar upon the crank-shaft, an eccentric mounted thereon and connected to the stem of the valve, and means to adjust said valve obliquely bysimultaneously moving its embracing frame laterally and said eccentricearryin g collar rotatabl y, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and a laterally-adjustable frame within the steam-chest and embracing said slide-valvc, of a clutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of the engine, an eccentric mounted thereon and connected to the stem of the valve, a second clutch-section upon said shaft and engaging the first-named clutch-section, and means to longitudinally and rotatably shift said lastnamed elutch-section upon the shaft and simultaneously move the laterally-adjustable frame embracing the valve, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a steam-engine, a

slide-valve therefor, and a laterally-ad; ustable frame embracing said slide-valve, of a clutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of the engine, an eccentric rotatably mounted thereon and connected to the stem of the valve, a pin projecting radially from the shaft, a second clutch-section mounted loosely upon the shaft and provided with an inclined slot engaging said pin, and means to move said last-named clutch-section outwardly and thereby rotatably from its relation to the said pin, and simultaneously shift the 1aterallyadjustable frame embracing the valve, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and a laterally-adjustable frame embracing said slide-valve, of a clutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of the engine, an eccentric rotatably ALFRED D. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

G. Y. THORPE, H. E. PRICE.

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