US746934A - Engine-valve mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

No. 746,934. PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

R. L; BUTCHER.- I ENGINE VALVE MECHANISM.

APPLIUATIQN FILED MAY 5, 1902. no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-'SHEET 1.

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R. L. BUTCHER. ENGINE VALVE MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. 1902.

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Patented. December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. BUTCHER, OF STITES, IDAHO.-

ENGINE-VALVEYMEGHAINISM.

srncrnrcazrron forming ee of Letters Patent No. 746,934, dated December 15. 1903.

Application filed May 5, 1902. Serial No. 105,936. v(No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT L. BUTCHER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Stites, in the county of Idaho and State of Idaho,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Engine-Valve Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a slide-valve, a reversing-valve therefor, and certain parts otherwise related thereto.

Reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a horizontal section showing the slide valve as applied to a simple engine. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section somewhat similar to Fig. 1 and showing the valve at the center of its travel upon the valve-seat. Fig. 3 is fragmentary elevation of the valve-seat and its accompanying parts. Fig. 4is a central section at right angles to Fig. 3 on the line 4 4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of the reversing-valve andits seat. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan View,

partly in section, of the reversing-valve seat.

Fig. 7 is a section showing my reversing-valve and a pair of my slide-valves arranged upon a cross compound engine, certain parts being broken away.

The cylinder of a simple engine is shown at 1 and is provided with a piston 2 in the usual manner. cation with the cylinder by means of the channels 3 4, terminating in ports 5 6'. These channels are alternately used for live and exhaust steam, from which it follows that the ports 5 6 are alternately employed as admission and exhaust ports. Channels 7 8 are likewise provided with ports 7 8, these channels and ports being employed exclusively for the admission of live steam. The exhaust- A valve-seat 2 is in commu-.

' 18 are employed for the purpose of securing the cover of the steam-chest in position. The valve-stem 19 passes through astufling-box 20 in the wall of the casing 10 and may be operated. by the usualform of eccentric. A

nut 2lis loosely mounted in an aperture 21 in the body of the slide-valve 22 and is engaged by the valve-stem 19 for the purpose of rendering the valve adjustable relatively to the stem. The slide-valve is provided with channels 23 24 25 26 of the shape indicated more particularly in Figs. 1 and 2. A horizontal slideway 27 is disposed at right angles to the slide-valve, and said valve rests .4. Semicylindrical apertures 34 35, located centrally within the slide valve, serve as channels and also as ports, as indicated more particularly in Fig. 1.

The operation of my slide-valve as applied to a simple engine is somewhat similar to that of the well-known Giddings valve described in Patent No. 314,120, dated March 17, 1885. Steam is admitted through the channels 7 8 and ports 7* 8? to the semicylindrical ports or channels 34 35. The direction of the steam from these ports depends somewhat upon the position of the valve. If the valve is in the center of its travel and the engine is stopped, the steam will not pass into either end of the cylinder, but the latter will simply rest upon a dead-center, as in any other simple engine. If, however, the valve is moved to the left, as indicated in Fig. 1', the live steam passes from the channel 7 through the port 7 a and the two channels 23 and 34, thus having a double inlet. Thence it flows through the channel 3 to one end of the cylinder, driving the pieton 2 to the other end of the cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the other end of the cylinder now passes up through the channel 4 and port 6, thence divides and passes through This draining is done by 211- the two channels 26 and 24 to the exhaust 9.

The valve being moved to the right, the re- Verse operation takes place, live steam enter- 'ing through the channel 4 to the cylinder and the exhaust-steam passing out through the channel 3. Y

My reversing-valve is shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The reversing-valve seat is provided with ports 41, 42, 43, 44, and and is slidably engaged by the valve 46, this valve being provided with channels 47 and 48 of the shape indicated inFig. 5. A pressureplate 49 is mounted upon screws 50 51, which are tightened in place by the lock-nuts 52 53. A valve-stem 54 (see Fig. 7) is connected with a lever 55, pivoted at 56 and movable by hand. This lever is normally stationary and is used for the purpose of sliding the reversing-valve when it is desired to stop, start, or reverse the engine. In Fig. 7 the reversingvalve is shown as applied to a compound engine. In this instance I use two slide-valves 56 57, provided with valve-stems 58 58. These two slide-valves are provided with channels 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71, all arranged as above described with reference to the simple engine. The channels 72 73 72 73 are alternately used as admission and exhaust channels. The channels 74 75 are used for the admission of steam, which may be from the boiler in the first instance or from the exhaust of the other cylinder, as hereinafter explained.

Suppose now that the several parts of the compound engine are in the position indicated in Fig. 7. The lever 55 being handoperated may confer any arbitrary position upon the reversing-valve and may therefore be used for the purpose of governing the flow of steam and also for changing the general direction of rotation of the engine, as above explained. The engine may therefore be reversed or changed in speed at any part of the stroke. Supposing the steam to be admitted through the port 41, as indicated in Fig. 7, it passes in the direction indicated by the arrows to the channel 75, whence it finds no exit except that indicated by the arrows in the lower left-hand corner of the figure. Following these arrows it divides into two paths, passing, respectively, through channels 66 and 67, through the channel 72 into the lefthand end of the cylinder. The exhauststeam from the other end of the cylinder now passes through the channel 73, divides into two paths, as indicated by the arrows, follows channels 70 and 71 to the central port 71*, whence it proceeds upward and to the right to the port 42. From here it passes into the outer and longer channel 47 of the reversing-valve, by which it is carried over the exhaust-port of the valve and is inducted into the port 43 at the opposite end of the reversing-valve, its passage being indicated by the long arrows shown in Fig. 7. It passes through the port 43 upward and to the left through the channel 74 and then divides into two paths, as indicated by the arrowsto wit, through channels 64 and 65 thence passes through the channel 72 to the lefthand end of a larger or secondary cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the other end of this cylinderpasses through the channel 73, divides, and passes through the channels 60 61 of the upper slide-valve, thence passes in the direction indicated by the arrows to the port 44, whence it passes into the exhaust-cavity 48 of the reversing-valve and out through the final exhaust 45 in the center of the valveseat.

Suppose that the several parts of the compound engine are in the position indicated in Fig. 7, the lever 55 being controlled by hand. Now if it is desiredto use live steam from the boiler in both cylinders, which is of great importance in traction or road engines or for steam-carriage engines to get up steep hills, it is only necessary to draw the hand-lever 55 back until the port 43 is uncovered by the valve 46. Thiswill admit live steam to the channel 74, and the engine will now run as a simple double engine with greatly-increased power. The exhaust will now pass from both cylinders directly into the exhaust-cavity 48 of thereversing-valve and out through the final exhaust 45 in the center of the valve seat.

. Suppose now that the structure shown in Fig. 7 is to be constructed as a simple double engine instead of compound, as shown above. In this case it is necessary to change the reversing-valve 46, leaving it with the cavity 48 only and minus the channel 47. Now it is necessary also to change the reversingvalve seat 40, using the ports 43 45 44 only, leaving the seat 40 minus the ports 41 and 42. The ordinary movements of the sliding valves automatically reverse the direction of the steam through the cylinders. This follows as a necessary consequence from the fact that the valves are symmetrical with each other and with the several ports. The reverse stroke is made as follows: Suppose that the valve-stems 58 59 are automatically shifted to the right, the reversing-valve of course remaining in its present position. Live steam enters at 41, as before, passes through channel 7 5,'channels 69 70, and channel 7 3 to the right-hand end of the cylinder. The exhaust steam escapes from the lefthand end of the cylinder through the channel 72, through channels 67 68, port 71 port 42, channel 47, port 43, channel 74, channels 61 62, channel 73 to the right-hand end of the larger or secondary cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the left-hand end of this cylinder flows through the channel 72 and the two channels 63 64 over to the center of the valve, thence passes through the righthand channel (indicated by dotted lines in the direction of the dotted arrows) to the port 44, from whence it passes through the central port 48 of the reversing-valve to the final exhaust 45. When the lever 55 is moved to the left, so as to reverse the engine, the slidevalves are not moved. Suppose that the reversing-valve is thusmoved. The steam enters through the port 42 and follows a direction directly the reverse of the arrows-that is to say, the steam flows from port 42 through the channel indicated by dotted lines to the port 71, whence it proceeds through channels 70 71 73 to the right-hand end of the smaller or primary cylinder. From the lefthand end of this cylinder exhaust steam flows through the channel 72, the channels 66 67 of the slide-valve, the channel 75 of the valve-seat to the-port 41, thence (this port being covered by the reversing-valve) the steam proceeds through the channel 47 in the reversing-valve to the port 44 of the reversing-valve seat, thence through the righthand channel (indicated by dotted lines) to the central port of the other slide-valve seat, thence through channels 60 61 of the slidevalve over to the right and into the channel 73, whence it proceeds to the right-hand end of the larger or secondary cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the left-hand end of this cylinder passes through the channel 72, channels 64 65, channel 74, through the channel indicated bydotted lines to port 4:3,thence through the central port 48 of the reversing-valve (this valve being to the left, as above stated) over to the final exhaust through port 45. The reverse stroke follows the same path, but in the reverse direction throughout the system. It

will be noted, therefore, that I produce a double passage for the exhaust-steam, thus reducing back pressure to a minimum and allowing a longer travel of the piston before the flow of steam into the same is released.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a valve mechanism, the combination of a fiat valve-seat provided with channels and with an exhaust-cavity, said channels and said exhaust-cavity terminating flush with the seat, and a so-called D-valve slidably resting upon said seat and provided with a plurality of substantially U-shaped channels, said channels being disposed concentrically and so spaced relatively to each other that a plurality thereof are capable of alinement with each of said channels of said seat and at the same moment with said exhaustcavity of said seat.

2. In a valve mechanism, the combination of a fiat valve-seat provided with a flat face and with a plurality of channels and an exhaust-cavity terminating flush with said face, and a valve provided with a flat face slidably engaging said face of said valve-seat, and also provided with a plurality of U-shaped channels, said channels of said valve being disposed concentrically and provided with ends,

all of which terminate flush with said fiat,

face of said valve-seat, said ends being of such size and so spaced relatively to each other that a plurality of said ends are capable of alinement with each of said channels of said seat and at the same moment with said exhaust-cavity thereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of the subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT L. BUTCHER.

Witnesses:

THos. MULLEN, WILLIS ANDREWS, R. S. ANDERSON.

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