US715873A - Exhaust for locomotives. - Google Patents

Description

No. 7|5,873. Patentewnec";"5.1902.

- F. nosmsou. V

EXHAUST FOB LOCOMOTIVES.

' (Application file i Feb. 23, 1901.)

2 Shoets.-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

llll-l \A/IT EESES;

No. 7|5,-873. Y Patented Dec. l6, I902.

F. nosmson.

EXHAUST FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

(Applicafion filed Feb. 23, 1901.!

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(Nb Model.)

UNITED ST TES.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK ROBINSON, OF BANGOR, MAINE.

EXHAUST FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,873, dated December 16, 1902.

Application filed February 23, 1901. Serial No. 48,450. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bangor, in the county of Penobscot and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Exhausts for Locomotives, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

Steam from the cylinders of locomotives is now exhausted into the exhaust-chamber in intermittent unrestrained discharges, the practical effect of which is to cause an irregular and uncertain vacuum to be formed, a wasteful and imperfect combustion of fuel to take place, a noisy explosion or discharge of the exhaust into the atmosphere to occur, and a disagreeable escape of black smoke and cinders to follow; and the object of my present invention is to improve the form of exhausting apparatus or device whereby the exhaust from the cylinders is received by a reservoir and discharged from it through the exhaustchamber into the smoke-stack in a manner to produce a more continuous and complete vacuum, a more uniform and steady combustion, a saving in fuel, a better steaming result,and discontinuance of the explosive noise of the discharge and of the escape of black smoke and cinders.

the exhaust from the cylinders passes and which is of a size to receive and momentarily store it and which is provided with a throttling mouth or outlet cylindrical in form ,which acts to retard the flow of the exhaust from the reservoir and also to direct it into and through the exhaust-chamber and the escape-passage of the smoke-stack in the form of a relatively continuous slow-moving solid body or column of steam, completely filling the passage in the stack and impenetrable by the outer air, and

This result is accom-' plished by means of a reservoir through which a the important results which I have enumerated.

I will now describe the invention in detail by reference to the drawings forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a view, principally in longitudinal vertical section, of the forward end of a locomotive, representing the exhaust-chamber, smoke-stack, and my improvement. Fig. 2 is a view, enlarged, in vertical central section of my exhaust apparatus, the portion which I have called an annular head being detached. Fig. 3 represents in vertical central section the said annular head. Fig. 4 shows in the same section the two parts of Figs. 2 and 3 associated together. Fig. 5 is a view in vertical central section at a right angle to the section of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a view in plan of the device. Fig. 7 is a view in plan, inverted, thereof.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the usual exhaust or vacuum chamber at the forward end of the locomotive, into which the boiler-tubes extending from the furnace open and which the exhaust from the cylinder traverses and from which it escapes with the spent products from the furnace through the outlet-passage formed by the smoke-stack.

B is the boiler of the locomotive, andb the forward ends of some of its tubes leading from the furnace.

C is the smoke-stack, and c is the passage therein,which connects the exhaust or vacuum chamber A with the outer air.

D is the exhaust apparatus, by means of which myinvention is produced. I have represented it as contained in the exhaustchamber A and as formed by a metal shell d, having at its lower end a flange d, by which it is fastened in place, and which shell is of a shape to form an enlarged reservoir or chamber (1, having at its lower ends within the flange d the inlets (1 d by means of which the exhaust from the cylinders enters the reservoir. The reservoir is of considerable capacity, both as to height and as to horizontal area, especially with regard to the area of its mouth or outlet 01 through which the exhaust is expelled into theexhaustchamber A from the reservoir. The reservoir should be of a size to receive and temporarily hold the exhaust, which to some degree is throttled in the reservoir, because the mouth or outlet d is not of an area to instantly permit the discharge of the full contents of the reservoir. The shell dalso has a central post d, preferably, though not necessarily, cast integral with the rest of the shell and rising from the wall d and forming the partition between the two inlets (1 d At the upper end of this post is a circular head (1 which extends upward and outward on all sides from the post and serves to partially close the upper end of the reservoir. Its lower surface d preferably, is curved inwardly, and its circular edge d is straight and forms the inner wall of the outlet or mouth (1 to the reservoir. The outer wall of the outlet or mouth is formed by the straight edge d to the annular opening in the head D, detachably fastened to the upper end of the shell din any convenient way,and which annular head also serves to partially close the upper end of the reservoir. I have represented the annular head as provided upon its under side with a circular flange d, which fits within a neck 01 at the upper end of the shell and as having a shoulder (Z to rest upon the upper edge of the neck. I have shown the head as detachably fastened to the neck of the shell by a looking or fastening screw passing through the neck, and the inner end of which enters a circular groove in the flange (1 Any other means, however, suitable for detachably securing the head to the reservoir-shell may be employed. This annular head is made detachable from the shellin order that the width, and therefore the area, of the circular outlet or mouth (i to the reservoir may be varied at will by the removal of one having an annular hole of a given diameter and substituting therefor another having an annular hole of a larger orsmaller diameter, according as it maybe desired to increase or diminish the width or area of said outlet or mouth. This is an important feature of the invention, as it is necessary to vary the area of the outlet or mouth to adjust the exhaust to variations in pressure, its quantity, and frequency, and also to regulate the size, speed, and force of the exhausting column to various conditions existing in the exhaust-chamber and to variationsih the size of the passages in the petticoats and smokestack. The post or inner and the removable or outer head serve to form the outlet or mouth to the reservoir and also to form the top of the reservoir.

WVhile I prefer the construction represented in the drawings, where the inner head is rep resented as extended above the outer edge of the shell and the outer head makes up the difference in height, so thatits outer surface is flush with the outer surface of the inner head, yet I do not confine myself to this form. The reservoir-shell may be placed within the exhaust-chamber A, so that the outlet or mouth to the reservoir may have any desired relation to the passage in the smoke-stack or in any petticoat arranged beneath the smokestack. In the drawings I have shown two petticoats beneath the stack.

The outlet or mouth to the reservoir, it will be noticed, is in the shape of a narrow annular passage of relatively large diameter opening from about the center of the top of the reservoir-chamber, the inner wall of which passage is always permanently defined by the edge of the post or inner head while its outer wall is made variable in diameter and any distance from the inner wall by the removal of one detachable headand the substitution therefor of another having an annular openingofadifferentdiameter. Areservoirmouth or outlet of this shape and arrangement, in conjunction with a reservoir of sufficient capacity to receive and hold the exhaust, will cause it to be expelled from the reservoir in a continuous or very nearly continuous length, column, or stream of the full size and capacity of the passage in the petticoat and in the stack and having substantially the same density throughout and through which the outer air cannot break, thereby causing the formation of a substantially continuing vacuum of relatively low pressure. This continuing vacuum is in part produced because thereservoir and its mouth or outlet are so proportioned that the reservoir can be immediately relieved from the exhaust charges which it receives from the cylinders, and con-- sequently does not deliver the exhaust through the mouth or outlet into the stackin spasmodic forcible interrupted impulses, the reservoir serving to check these characteristics of the exhaust and in part from the shape, density, continuity, and force of the exhausting column due to the shape of the mouth or outlet, its relation to the pressure in the reservoir, the size of the exhaustchamber, and the size of the passage in the petticoat or stack.

It will be seen that the invention accomplishes these improvements: first, it improves the exhaust itself, in that it provides a more continuous and complete vacuum in the exhaust-chamber than has heretofore been attained; second, it improves the combustion of the fuel, economizes its use, and provides a better steaming-engine; third, it does away with the formation and expulsion of black smoke and cinders, and, fourth, it prevents the unpleasant explosion now incident to the discharge of the exhaust from the smokestack.

I would not be understood as limiting the invention to the shape of the shell or reservoir shown or to a reservoir having two exhaust-inlets, for the reservoir may take the exhaust from one cylinder or other source or from more than two and the reservoir may have any other desirable shape than that shown and it may be used in conjunction with any other kind of escape-passage than that provided by a smoke-stack.

While I have described the post 01 as solid and have so shown it, it may be made hollow, as indicated by the dotted line of Figs. 2, 4, and 5.

It should be observed that myinvention is intended to substitute for the noisy intermittent blast now commonly employed upon 10- comotives, and which is destructive and wasteful of energy, one which is mild, continuous in its discharge, and which conserves energy by creating a mild continuous draft in the furnace without any intermittent back drafts. This result is accomplished by using in lieu of the ordinary exhaust-pipe, which is only a means for receiving the discharge of the cylinders, and a discharge nozzle, through which the discharge is forcibly driven as rapidly as it is made, a structure which provides a reservoir for receiving the exhaust from both cylinders and which is provided with an outlet of such a proportion to the capacity of the receiving-chamber that it serves to partially hold or retard the outflow of steam from the chamber, so that it leaves the chamber in the form of a vertical continuous column rather than as a shortintermittentblast. This is due to three principal causes: first, because a receiving chamber is provided which is much larger in area than the area of the cylinder-passages combined, so that it acts as a storing and expanding chamber for holding the steam and allowing it to expand before it reaches the outlet; second, because this holding and expanding chamber is connected with both cylinders, so that the steam from both cylinders enters it and is held and expanded together therein; third, because of the size of the outlet, which is so proportioned to the size of the holding and expanding chamber that it retards the flow of steam therefrom and gives it opportunity to collect and expand therein, so that it may always provide a practically continuous supply for passage through the outlet. These considerations I deem to be of large value because of the desirable and economical advantage I gain.

I am aware of the patents, No. 449,825, to

Player, No. 458,320, to Pitkin and Lane, No.

576,122, to Borbridge, No. 654,589, to Barnes, No. 650,227, to Bute; but as these patents do not describe, in connection with a single discharge-outlet, a storage'chamber into which the exhaust from both cylinders enters'and in which it is permitted to expand and by which it is held and from which it escapes through the smoke-stack in the form of a mild continuous column, but they describe modifications of the old type of escape-nozzle by which the exhaust is forcibly ejected into the smoke-stack in the form of short intermittent blasts, I consider that they do not contain my invention and disclaim anything shown and described therein.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. The improved exhausting apparatus herein described, the same comprising a steam expanding and holding chamber common to both steam-cylinders and with which both cylinders are connected, the said holding and expanding chamber'being of a sufficient size to receive the exhaust from both cylinders, hold it and permit it to expand therein, the said holding and expanding chamber having an unrestricted inlet and an outlet in area so proportioned to its capacity as to serve to retard the outflow of steam therefrom and cause the steam to issue from the chamber in the form of a substantially continuous column relatively regardless of the times of the cylinders exhausts and which outlet is located in line with the passage through the smoke-escape, whereby the column of steam is caused to traverse the same and thus provide a practically continuous and relatively mild draft.

2. In an exhaust apparatus of the character specified a metal casting shaped to form a steam holding and expanding chamber of a capacity sufficient to receive and allow to expand the successive exhausts of the steamcylinders and having unrestricted inlets from the steam-cylinders relatively small in area compared with the size of the chamber, the said casting also having an integral central head, the wall of which forms the inner wall of the outlet, and means for detachably holding a removable annular head, the inner wall of which forms the outer wall of said outlet, and which with said head forms a dischargeopening so proportioned to the capacity of the chamber as to cause the steam entering it to be held and expanded therein and to escape therefrom in the form of a substantially continuous column.

F RANK ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

HARRY MERRILL, LEON F. HIGGINS.

ICC

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