Part 4

The water constantly evaporating in the boiler of a steam engine is usually renewed by forcing water into the boiler against the pressure of the steam by means of a small pump worked by the engine. In the engraving of Watt’s engine this pump is shown at M. But recently the feed-pump has been to a great extent superseded by a singular apparatus invented by M. Giffard, and known as Giffard’s Injector. In this a jet of steam from the boiler itself supplies the means of propelling a stream of water directly into the boiler. Fig. 6 is a section of this interesting apparatus through its centre, and it clearly shows the manner in which the current of steam is made to operate on the jet of water. The steam from the boiler passes through the pipe A and into the tube B through the holes. The nozzle of this tube is of a conical shape, and its centre is occupied by a rod pointed to fit into the conical nozzle, and provided with a screw at the other end, so that the opening can be regulated by turning the handle, C. At D the jet of steam comes in contact with the water which feeds the boiler, the arrangement being such that the steam is driven into the centre of the stream of water which enters by the pipe E, and is propelled by the steam jet through another cone, F, issuing with such force from the orifice of the latter that it is carried forward through the small opening at G into the chamber H. Here the water presses on the valve K, which it raises against the pressure of the steam and enters the boiler. The water issuing from the cone, F, actually traverses an open space which is exposed to the air, and where the fluid may be seen rushing into the boiler as a clear jet, except a few beads of steam which may be carried forward in the centre, the rest of the steam having been condensed by the cold water. The steam, of course, rushes from the cone, B D, with enormous velocity, which is partly communicated to the water. The pipe, L, is for the water which overflows in starting the apparatus, until the pressure in H becomes great enough to open the valve. The supplies of water and of steam have to be adjusted according to the conditions of pressure in the boiler, and according to the temperature of the feed-water. It is found that when the feed-water is at a temperature above 120° Fahrenheit, the injector will not work: the condensation of the steam is therefore necessary to the result. For, as the steam is continually condensed by the cold water, it rushes from D with the same velocity as into a vacuum, and the water is urged on by a momentum due to this velocity. We must observe, moreover, that the net result of the operation is a lessening of the pressure in the boiler; for the entrance of the feed-water produces a fall of temperature in the boiler, and the bulk of steam expended is fourteen times the bulk of the water injected: thus, although the apparatus before actual trial would not appear likely to produce the required result, the effect is no more paradoxical than in the case of the feed-pump. The injector has been greatly improved by Mr. Gresham, who has contrived to make some of the adjustments self-acting, and his form of the apparatus is now largely used in this country. The injector is applicable to stationary, locomotive, or marine engines.

Steam boilers are now always provided with one of _Bourdon’s_ gauges, for indicating the pressure of the steam. The construction of the instrument will easily be understood by an examination of Fig. 7. The gauge is screwed into some part of the boiler, where it can always be seen by the person in charge. The stop-cock A communicates with the curved metallic tube C, which is the essential part of the contrivance. This tube is of the flattened form shown at D, having its greatest breadth perpendicular to the plane in which the tube is curved, and it is closed at the end E, where it is attached to the rod F, so that any movement of E causes the axle carrying the index-finger, F, to turn, and the index then moves along the graduated arc. The connection is sometimes made by wheelwork, instead of by the simple plan shown in the figure. The front plate is represented as partly broken away, in order to show the internal arrangement, which, of course, is not visible in the real instrument, where only the index-finger and graduated scale are seen, protected by a glass plate.

When a curved tube of the shape here described is subjected to a greater pressure on the inside than on the outside, it tends to become straighter, and the end E moves outward; but when the pressure is removed, the tube resumes its former shape. The graduations on the scale are made by marking the position of the index when known pressures are applied. The amounts of pressure, when the gauges are being graduated, are known by the compression produced in air contained in another apparatus. Gauges constructed on Bourdon’s principle are applied to other purposes, and can be made strong enough to measure very great pressures, such as several thousand pounds on the square inch; they may also be made so delicate as to measure variations of pressure below that of the atmosphere. The simplicity and small size of these gauges, and the readiness with which they can be attached, render them most convenient instruments wherever the pressure of a gas or liquid is required to be known.

A point to which great attention has been directed of late years is the construction of a boiler which shall secure the greatest possible economy in fuel. Of the total heat which the fuel placed in the furnace is capable of supplying by its combustion, part may be wasted by an incomplete burning of the fuel, producing cinders or smoke or unburnt gases, another part is always lost by radiation and conduction, and a third portion is carried off by the hot gases that escape from the boiler-flues. Many contrivances have been adopted to diminish as much as possible this waste of heat, and so obtain the greatest possible proportion of available steam power from a given weight of fuel. Boilers wholly or partially formed of tubes have recently been much in favour. An arrangement for quickly generating and superheating steam is shown in Fig. 8, in connection with a high-pressure engine.

Steam engines are constructed in a great variety of forms, adapted to the purposes for which they are intended. Distinctions are made according as the engine is fitted with a condenser or not. When steam of a low pressure is employed, the engine always has a condenser, and as in this way a larger quantity of work is obtainable for a given weight of fuel, all marine engines—and all stationary engines, where there is an abundant supply of water and the size is not objectionable—are provided with condensers. High-pressure steam may be used with condensing engines, but is generally employed in non-condensing engines only, as in locomotives and agricultural engines, the steam being allowed to escape into the air when it has driven the piston to the end of the stroke. In such engines the beam is commonly dispensed with, the head of the piston-rod moving between guides and driving the crank directly by means of a connecting-rod. The axis of the cylinder may be either vertical, horizontal, or inclined. A plan often adopted in marine engines, by which space is saved, consists in jointing the piston-rod directly to the crank, and suspending the cylinder on trunnions near the middle of its length. The trunnions are hollow, and are connected by steam-tight joints, one with the steam-pipe from the boiler, and the other with the eduction-pipe. Such engines have fewer parts than any others; they are lighter for the same strength, and are easily repaired. The trunnion joints are easily packed, so that no leakage takes place, and yet there is so little friction that a man can with one hand move a very large cylinder, whereas in another form of marine engine, known as the side-lever engine, constructed with oscillating beams, the friction is often very great.

_THE LOCOMOTIVE._

The first locomotive came into practical use in 1804. Twenty years before, Watt had patented—but had not constructed—a locomotive engine, the application of steam to drive carriages having first been suggested by Robinson in 1759. The first locomotives were very imperfect, and could draw loads only by means of toothed driving-wheels, which engaged teeth in rack-work rails. The teeth were very liable to break off, and the rails to be torn up by the pull of the engine. In 1813, the important discovery was made that such aids are unnecessary, for it was found that the “bite” of a smooth wheel upon a smooth rail was sufficient for all ordinary purposes of traction. But for this discovery, the locomotive might never have emerged from the humble duty of slowly dragging coal-laden waggons along the tramways of obscure collieries. The progress of the locomotive in the path of improvement was, however, slow, until about 1825, when George Stephenson applied the blast-pipe, and a few years later adopted the tubular boiler. These are the capital improvements which, at the famous trial of locomotives, on the 6th of October, 1829, enabled Stephenson’s “Rocket” to win the prize offered by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The “Rocket” weighed 4½ tons, and at the trial drew a load of tenders and carriages weighing 12¾ tons. Its average speed was 14 miles an hour, and its greatest, 29 miles an hour. This engine, the parent of the powerful locomotives of the present day, may now be seen in the Patent Museum at South Kensington. Since 1829, numberless variations and improvements have been made in the details of the locomotive. In weight, dimensions, tractive power and speed, the later locomotives vastly surpass the earlier types.

Fig. 9 represents the section of a locomotive constructed _c._ 1837. The boiler is cylindrical; and at one end is placed the fire-box, partly enclosed in the cylindrical boiler, and surrounded on all sides by the water, except where the furnace door is placed, and at the bottom, where the fuel is heaped up on bars which permit the cinders to drop out. At the other end of the boiler, a space beneath the chimney called the smoke-box is connected with the fire-box by a great number of brass pipes, open at both ends, firmly fixed in the end plates of the boiler. These tubes are from 1¼ in. to 2 in. in diameter, and are very numerous—usually about one hundred and eighty, but sometimes nearly double that number. They therefore present a large heating surface to the water, which stands at a level high enough to cover them all and the top of the fire-box. The boiler of the locomotive is not exposed to the air, which would, if allowed to come in contact with it, carry off a large amount of heat. The outer surface is therefore protected from this cooling effect by covering it with a substance which does not permit the heat to readily pass through it. Nothing is found to answer better than felt; and the boiler is accordingly covered with a thick layer of this substance, over which is placed a layer of strips of wood ¾ in. thick, and the whole is surrounded with thin sheet iron. It is this sheet iron alone that is visible on the outside. The level of the water in the boiler is indicated by a gauge, which is merely a very strong glass tube; and the water carried in the tender is forced in as required, by a pump (not shown in the Fig.). The steam leaves the boiler from the upper part of the _steam-dome_, A, where it enters the pipe, B; the object being to prevent water from passing over with the steam into the pipe. The steam passes through the _regulator_, C, which can be closed or opened to any extent required by the handle, D, and rushes along the pipe, E, which is wholly within the boiler, but divides into two branches when it reaches the smoke-box, in order to conduct the steam to the cylinders. Of these there are two, one on each side, each having a slide-valve, by means of which the steam is admitted before and behind the pistons alternately, and escapes through the blast-pipe, F, up the chimney, G, increasing the draught of the fire by drawing the flame through the longitudinal tubes in proportion to the rush of steam; and thus the rate of consumption of fuel adjusts itself to the work the engine is performing, even when the loads and speeds are very different. Though the plane of section passing through the centre of boiler would not cut the cylinders, one of them is shown in section. H is the piston; K the connecting-rod jointed to the crank, L, the latter being formed by forging the axle with four rectangular angles, thus, __¦¯¯¦__; and the crank bendings for the two cylinders are placed in planes at right angles to each other, so that when one is at the “dead point,” the other is in a position to receive the full power of the piston. There are two safety valves, one at M, the other at N; the latter being shut up so that it cannot be tampered with.

Locomotives are fitted with an ingenious apparatus for reversing the engines, which was first adopted by the younger Stephenson, and is known as the “link motion.” The same arrangement is employed in other engines in which the direction of rotation has to be changed; and it serves another important purpose, namely, to provide a means by which steam may be employed expansively at pleasure. The link motion is represented in Fig. 10, where A, B, are two eccentrics oppositely placed on the driving-shaft, and their rods joined to the ends of the curved bar or link, C D. A slit extends nearly the whole length of this bar, and in it works the stud E, forming part of the lever, F, G, movable about the fixed joint, G, and having its extremity, F, jointed to the rod H, that moves the slide-valve. The weight of the link and the eccentric rods is counterpoised with a weight, K, attached to the lever, I K, which turns on the fixed centre, L. This lever forms one piece with another lever, L M, with which it may be turned by pulling the handle of O P, connected with it through the system of jointed rods. When the link is lowered, as shown in the figure, the slide-valve rod will follow the movement of the eccentric, B, while the backward and forward movement of the other eccentric will only be communicated to the end of C, and will scarcely affect the position of the stud E at all. By drawing the link up to its highest position, the motion due to eccentric A only will be communicated to the slide-valve rod, which will therefore be drawn back at the part of the revolution where before it was pushed forward, and _vice versâ_; hence the engine will be reversed. When the link is so placed that the stud is exactly in the centre, the slide-valve will receive no motion, and remain in its middle position, consequently the engine is stopped. By keeping the link nearer or farther from its central position, the throw of the slide-valve will be shorter or longer, and the steam will be shut off from entering the cylinder when a smaller or larger portion of the stroke has been performed.

Although Fig. 9 represents with sufficient clearness all the essential parts of a locomotive, it should be observed that as actually constructed for use on the different lines of railway the machine is greatly modified in the arrangement and proportions of its parts. A greater number of adjuncts and subsidiary appliances are also provided for the more effective and convenient working of the engine, and for giving control over the movement of the train, and these, in fact, conduce much to the greater economy and safety with which trains are now run. As the circumstances and conditions under which railways are worked vary much in different parts of the world, the locomotive has to be designed to meet the requirements of each case, and its general appearance, details and dimensions are accordingly much diversified. From among the many types of recent locomotives we select for illustration and a short description the form of express passenger engine that has lately been designed by Mr. T. W. Worsdell, the engineer of the North Eastern Railway, and this will give the opportunity of noticing some of the newest improvements, which are embodied in this engine. See Plate II.

The plan of causing the steam to work expansively has already been mentioned on pages 8 and 9, as used by cutting off the steam when part of the stroke of the piston has been made. Another mode by which the expansive principle has long been made use of in stationary and marine engines is to allow the steam from the boiler to enter first a smaller cylinder and from that, at the end of the stroke, to pass into a larger one in which, as it expands, it exercises a diminished pressure. This arrangement has been called the compound or double-cylinder engine, and was known to possess certain advantages where high pressure steam was made use of. Indeed, in marine engines the principle of “triple expansion” is now quite commonly adopted—that is, the steam passes successively into three cylinders of successively greater diameter. Mr. Webb, the locomotive engineer of the London and North Western Railway, appears to have been the first to make the “compounding” system a practical success as applied to the locomotive. In Mr. Webb’s arrangement there are three cylinders, two smaller ones for the high-pressure steam from the boiler, and between these a single large low-pressure cylinder which receives the steam that has done its work from both the smaller cylinders. In Mr. Worsdell’s engine the original and simpler locomotive construction of two cylinders has been adhered to, and thus the general plan of the engine is unchanged except in the larger size of the low-pressure cylinder. In the present engine the stroke is 24 in.; the high-pressure cylinder has its internal diameter 20 in. and the low-pressure cylinder a diameter of 28 in. The boiler-shell is made of steel, the fire-box is of copper, and there are 203 brass tubes, 1¾ in. diameter and 10 ft. 11 in. long, connecting the fire-box with the smoke-box. The frame, and indeed most parts of the engine, are also made of steel. The driving-wheels, which here are a single pair, have a diameter of 7 ft. 7¼ in. The total “wheel-base” is nearly 21 ft., and it will be observed that the forepart of the engine is supported on a four-wheeled _bogie_. The _bogie_ is capable of a certain amount of horizontal motion by turning round a swivel, but this movement is controlled by springs, so that, notwithstanding the length of the frame, the engine is enabled to take curves with great facility, while its motion is perfectly steady even at the highest speeds. The working pressure of the steam in the boiler is 170 lbs. on the square inch. The steam which leaves the high-pressure cylinder is conveyed to the low-pressure cylinder by a pipe that is led round the inside of the smoke-box, and thus enters the larger cylinder after taking up heat that would otherwise be wasted, so that its elastic force is fully maintained. This circumstance, no doubt, contributes to the very marked economy of fuel that has been effected by the compound engines. How great the economy is found in the working will be seen by the following results, which are taken from the actual records. The same train was taken over the same rails in ordinary quick passenger traffic for several journeys which, as performed in the same time by the compound engine and by another otherwise similar non-compound engine, required for the compound, 25,254 lbs. of coal; for the non-compound, 32,104 lbs.; or, the consumption of coal by the former was 28 lbs. per mile; by the latter, 36 lbs. per mile. This represents a saving of about 21 per cent. of the fuel. As the steam enters the high-pressure cylinder first, it would not be possible to start the engine if it had stopped at one of the “dead-points” on that side, without a special arrangement for admitting the steam directly to the other cylinder in such cases. This, of course, is required only for the first stroke, and Mr. Worsdell and M. von Borries have contrived for this purpose an ingenious valve, brought into operation when required by a touch from the engineer, and then immediately adjusting itself automatically, so as to restore the steam connections to their normal condition.

Another type of the high-speed passenger engines used for express trains on several of the great English railways is well represented by one of the Great Northern Company’s locomotives, as depicted in Fig. 10_a_. In this there are a single pair of driving wheels of very large diameter, namely, 8 ft. 2 in., so that each complete movement of the pistons will carry the engine forwards a length of nearly 26 ft. There are outside cylinders, and therefore the driving axle is straight, and the leading wheels are in two pairs, mounted on a _bogie_ which is capable of a certain amount of independent horizontal rotation.

The Stephenson’s link motion, described on page 17, has lately been often supplanted by another arrangement known as Joy’s valve gear, which leaves the crank axle unencumbered with eccentrics, and, as taking up less space, is generally now preferred for locomotives and also for marine engines. Its principle is very simple, and will be readily understood from the diagram in Fig. 10_b_, where _c_ is the spindle of the slide-valves as in Fig. 5, but capable, we shall now suppose, of a horizontal movement only. Jointed to it at D is a rod D E attached to a block at E, which can move only within a slot in the strong bar E F in a circular segment, the centre of which is at D. The bar we suppose for the moment to be immovable, and disposed symmetrically to C D. Now let an alternate up and down motion along the circular segment be given to block E, and the effect will be to leave the centre, D, unchanged in position, and, therefore, in that case the valve will not be moved at all. Now this reciprocating movement is given to the block E by a system of levers (not here shown), jointed to the connecting-rod (K, Fig. 9) in such a manner that the rod D E is compelled to follow the movement of the connecting-rod, but the end E must always travel in the circular segment. We have hitherto supposed this segmental piece to be fixed, but the engineer has the power of so turning it as to tilt either the upper or lower part towards D. If, for instance, the guiding segment is fixed as at II, the block in rising will push in the valve-spindle, and in descending draw it out, as the length of the rod D E is invariable. But if the guides be turned over so as to bring F nearer D than E, the same movement of the block will give the reverse motions to the valve-spindle.

From the great rapidity with which the machinery of the locomotive moves, the different parts require to be carefully balanced in order to prevent dangerous oscillations. For example, the centrifugal force of the massive cranks, etc., is balanced by inserting between the spokes of the driving wheels certain counterpoises, the weights and positions of which are finally adjusted by trial. The engine is suspended by chains and set in motion, and a pencil attached to one corner of the frame marks on a horizontal card the form of the oscillation, usually by an oval figure. When the diameter of this figure is reduced to about 1/16 inch, the adjustment is considered complete.