The Single-Acting Engine unfit to impel Machinery. — Various contrivances to adapt it to this purpose. — Double-Cylinder. — Double-Acting Cylinder. — Various mode of connecting the Piston with the Beam. — Rack and Sector. — Double Chain. — Parallel Motion. — Crank. — Sun and Planet Motion. — Fly Wheel. — Governor.

In the atmospheric engine of Newcomen, and in the improved steam engine of Watt, described in the last chapter, the action of the moving power is an intermitting one. While the piston descends, the moving power is in action, but its action is suspended during the ascent. Thus the opposite or working end of the beam can only be applied in cases where a lifting power is required. This action is quite suitable to the purposes of pumping, which was the chief or only object to which the steam engine had hitherto been applied. In a more extended application of the machine, this intermission of the moving power and its action taking place only in one direction would be inadmissible. To drive the machinery generally employed in manufactures a constant and uniform force is required; and to render the steam engine available for this purpose, it would be necessary that the beam should be driven by the moving power as well in its ascent as in its descent.

When Watt first conceived the notion of extending the application of the engine to manufactures generally, he proposed to accomplish this double action upon the beam by placing a steam cylinder under each end of it, so that while each piston would be ascending, and not impelled by the steam, the other would be descending, being urged downwards by the steam above it acting against the vacuum below. Thus, the power acting on each during the time when its action on the other would be suspended, a constant force would be exerted upon the beam, and the uniformity of the motion would be produced by making both cylinders communicate with the same boiler, so that both pistons would be driven by steam of the same pressure. One condenser might also be used for both cylinders, so that a similar vacuum would be produced under each.

This arrangement, however, was soon laid aside for one much more simple and obvious. This consisted in the production of exactly the same effect by a single cylinder in which steam was introduced alternately above and below the piston, being at the same time withdrawn by the condenser at the opposite side. Thus the piston being at the top of the cylinder, steam is introduced from the boiler above it, while the steam in the cylinder below it is drawn off by the condenser. The piston, therefore, is pressed from above into the vacuum below, and descends to the bottom of the cylinder. Having arrived there, the top of the cylinder is cut off from all communication with the boiler; and, on the other hand, a communication is opened between it and the condenser. The steam which has pressed the piston down is therefore drawn off by the condenser, while a communication is opened between the boiler and the bottom of the cylinder, so that steam is admitted below the piston: the piston, thus pressed from below into the vacuum above, ascends, and in the same way the alternate motion is continued. Such is the principle of what is called the Double-acting Steam Engine, in contradistinction to that described in the last chapter, in which the steam acts only above the piston while a vacuum is produced below it.

It is evident that, in the arrangement now described, the condenser must be in constant action: while the piston is descending the condenser must draw off the steam below it, and while it is ascending, it must draw off the steam above it. As steam, therefore, must be constantly drawn into the condenser, the jet of cold water which condenses the steam must be kept constantly playing. This jet, therefore, will not be worked by the valve alternately opening and closing, as in the single engine, but will be worked by a cock, the opening of which will be adjusted according to the quantity of cold water necessary to condense the steam. When the steam is used at a low pressure, and, therefore, in a less compressed state, less condensing water would be necessary than when it is used at a higher pressure and in a more compressed state. In the one case, therefore, the condensing cock would be less open than in the other. Again, the quantity of condensing water must vary with the speed of the engine, because the greater the speed of the engine, the more rapidly will the steam flow from the cylinder into the condenser; and, as the same quantity of steam requires the same quantity of condensing water, the supply of the condensing water must be proportional to the speed of the engine. In the double-acting engine, then, the jet cock is regulated by a lever or index which moves upon a graduated arch, and which is regulated by the engineer according to the manner in which the engine works.

This change in the action of the steam upon the piston rendered it necessary to make a corresponding change in the mechanism by which the piston-rod was connected with the beam. In the single acting engine, the piston-rod pulled the end of the beam down during the descent, and was pulled up by it in the ascent. The connection by which this action was transmitted between the beam and piston was, as we have seen, a flexible chain passing from the end of the piston and playing upon the arch-head of the beam. Now, where the mechanical action to be transmitted is a pull, and not a push, a flexible chain, or cord, or strap, is always sufficient; but if a push or thrust is required to be transmitted, then the flexibility of the medium of mechanical communication afforded by a chain, renders it inapplicable. In the double-acting engine, during the descent, the piston-rod still pulls the beam down, and so far a chain connecting the piston-rod with the beam would be sufficient to transmit the action of the one to the other; but in the ascent the beam no longer pulls up the piston-rod, but is pushed up by it. A chain from the piston-rod to the arch-head, as described in the single acting engine, would fail to transmit this force. If such a chain were used with the double engine, where there is no counter weight on the opposite end of the beam, the consequence would be, that in the ascent of the piston the chain would slacken, and the beam would still remain depressed. It is therefore necessary that some other mechanical connection be contrived between the piston-rod and the beam, of such a nature that in the descent the piston-rod may pull the beam down, and may push it up in the ascent.

Watt first proposed to effect this by attaching to the end of the piston-rod a straight rack, faced with teeth, which should work in corresponding teeth raised on the arch-head of the beam as represented in fig. 13. If his improved steam engines required no further precision of operation and construction than the atmospheric engines, this might have been sufficient; but in these engines it was indispensably necessary that the piston-rod should be guided with a smooth and even motion through the stuffing-box in the top of the cylinder, otherwise any shake or irregularity would cause it to work loose in the stuffing-box, and either to admit the air, or to let the steam escape. In fact, it was necessary to turn these piston-rods very accurately in the lathe, so that they may work with sufficient precision in the cylinder. Under these circumstances, the motion of the rack and toothed arch-head were inadmissible, since it was impossible by such means to impart to the piston-rod that smooth and equable motion which was requisite. Another contrivance which occurred to Watt was, to attach to the top of the piston-rod a bar which should extend above the beam, and to use two chains or straps, one extending from the top of the bar to the lower end of the arch-head, and the other from the bottom of the bar to the upper end of the arch-head. By such means the latter strap would pull the beam down when the piston would descend, and the former would pull the beam up when the piston would ascend. These contrivances, however, were superseded by the celebrated mechanism, since called the Parallel Motion, one of the most ingenious mechanical combinations connected with the history of the steam engine.

It will be observed that the object was to connect by some inflexible means the end of the piston-rod with the extremity of the beam, and so to contrive the mechanism, that while the end of the beam would move alternately up and down in a circle, the end of the piston-rod connected with the beam should move exactly up and down in a straight line. If the end of the piston-rod were fastened upon the end of the beam by a pivot without any other connexion, it is evident that, being moved up and down in the arch of a circle, it would be bent to the left and the right alternately, and would consequently either be broken, or would work loose in the stuffing box. Instead of connecting the end of the rod immediately with the end of the beam by a pivot, Watt proposed to connect them by certain moveable rods so arranged that, as the end of the beam would move up and down in the circular arch, the rods would so accommodate themselves to that motion, that the end connected with the piston-rod should not be disturbed from its rectilinear course.

To accomplish this, he conceived the notion of connecting three rods in the following manner:—A B and C D (fig. 14.), are two rods or levers turning on fixed pivots or centres at A and C. A third rod, B D, is connected with them by pivots placed at their extremities, B and D, and the lengths of the rods are so adjusted that when A B and C D are horizontal, B D shall be perpendicular or vertical, and that A B and C D shall be of equal lengths. Now, let a pencil be imagined to be placed at P, exactly in the middle of the rod B D: if the rod A B be caused to move up and down like the beam of the steam engine in the arch represented in the figure, it is clear, from the mode of their connexion, that the rod C D will be moved up and down in the other arch. Now Watt conceived that, under such circumstances, the pencil P would be moved up and down in a perpendicular straight line.

However difficult the first conception of this mechanism may have been, it is easy to perceive why the desired effect will be produced by it. When the rod A B rises to the upper extremity of the arch, the point B departs a little to the right; at the same time, the point D is moved a little to the left. Now the extremities of the rod B D being thus at the same time, carried slightly in opposite directions, the pencil in the middle of it will ascend directly upwards; the one extremity of the rod having a tendency to draw it as much to the right as the other has to draw it to the left. In the same manner, when the rod A B moves to the lower extremity of the arch, the rod C D will be likewise moved to the lower extremity of its arch. The point B is thus transferred a little to the right, and the point D to the left; and, for the same reason as before, the point P in the middle will move neither to the right nor to the left, but straight downwards.[17]

Now Watt conceived that his object would be attained if he could contrive to make the beam perform the part of A B in fig. 14., and to connect with it other two rods, C D and D B, attaching the end of the piston to the middle of the rod D B. The practical application of this principle required some modification, but is as elegant as the notion itself is ingenious.

The apparatus adopted for carrying it into effect is represented on the arm which works the piston in fig. 15. The beam, moving on its axis C, every point in its arm moves in the arc of a circle of which C is the centre. Let B be the point which divides the arm A C into equal parts, A B and B C; and let D E be a straight rod equal in length to C B, and playing on the fixed centre or pivot D. The end E of this rod is connected by a straight bar, E B, with the point B, by pivots at B and E on which the rod B E plays freely. If the beam be supposed to move alternately on its axis C, the point B will move up and down in a circular arc, of which C is the centre, and at the same time the point E will move in an equal circular arc round the point D as a centre. According to what we have just explained, the middle point F of the rod B E will move up and down in a straight line.

Also, let a rod, A G, equal in length to B E, be attached to the end A of the beam by a pivot on which it moves freely, and let its extremity G be connected with E by a rod, G E, equal in length to A B, and playing on pivots at G and E.

By this arrangement the joint A G being always parallel to B E, the three points C, A, and G will be in circumstances precisely similar to the points C, B, and F, except that the system C A G will be on a scale of double the magnitude of C B F: C A being twice C B, and A G twice B F, it is clear, then, that whatever course the point F may follow, the point G must follow a similar line,[18] but will move twice as fast. But, since the point F has been already shown to move up and down in a straight line, the point G must also move up and down in a straight line, but of double the length.[19]

By this arrangement the pistons of both the steam cylinder and air-pump are worked; the rod of the latter being attached to the point F, and that of the former to the point G.

This beautiful contrivance, which is incontestably one of the happiest mechanical inventions of Watt, affords an example with what facility the mind of a mere mechanician can perceive, as it were instinctively, a result to obtain which by strict reasoning would require a very complicated mathematical analysis. Watt, when asked, by persons whose admiration was justly excited by this invention, to what process of reasoning he could trace back his discovery, replied that he was aware of none; that the conception flashed upon his mind without previous investigation, and so as to excite in himself surprise at the perfection of its action; and that on looking at it for the first time, he experienced all that pleasurable sense of novelty which arises from the first contemplation of the results of the invention of others. This and the other inventions of Watt seem to have been the pure creations of his natural genius, very little assisted by the results of practice, and not at all by the light of education. It does not even appear that he was a dexterous mechanic; for he never assisted in the construction of the first models of his own inventions. His dwelling-house was two miles from the factory, to which he never went more than once in a week, and then did not stay half an hour.

(a) However beautiful and ingenious in principle the parallel motion may be, it has recently been shown in the United States that much simpler means are sufficient to subserve the same purpose. In the engines constructed recently, under the direction of Mr. R. L. Stevens, a substitute for the parallel motion has been introduced that performs the task equally well, and is much less complex. On the head of the piston-rod a bar is fixed, at right angles to it, and to the longitudinal section of the engine. The ends of this bar work in guides formed of two parallel and vertical bars of iron, by which the upper end of the piston-rod is constrained to move in a straight line. The cross-bar that moves in the guides is connected with the end of the working beam by an inflexible bar, having a motion on two circular gudgeons, one of which is in the working beam, the other in the cross-bar. This is therefore free to accommodate itself to the changes in the respective position of the piston-rod and working beam, and yet transmits the power exerted by the steam upon the former whether it be ascending or descending, to the latter and through it to the other parts of the machine.—A. E.

(b) The most improved form of Watt's engine was reached by successive additions to the old atmospheric engine of Newcomen and Cawley. Hence, the working-beam, derived from the pump brake of that engine, always formed a part; and the parallel motion, or some equivalent contrivance was absolutely necessary. In many American engines, and particularly in those used in steam boats, the working beam is no longer used for the purpose of transmitting motion to the machinery. This is effected by applying a bar, called the cross-head, at right angles to the upper ends of the piston-rod. The ends of the cross-head work in iron guides, adapted to a gallows-frame of wood. On each side of the cylinder, connecting rods are applied, which take hold of the cranks of the shafts of the water-wheel. Two other connecting rods give motion to a short beam, which works the air and supply pumps.

The working beam is also suppressed in engines which work horizontally. The connecting rod is in them merely a jointed prolongation of the piston-rod, extending to the crank, whose axis lies in the same horizontal plane with and at right angles to the axis of the cylinder.—A. E.

(55.) A perfect motion being thus obtained of conveying the alternate motion of the piston to the working beam, the use of a counterpoise to lift the piston was discontinued, and the beam was made to balance itself exactly on its centre. The next end to be obtained was to adapt the reciprocating motion of the working end of the beam to machinery. The motion most generally useful for this purpose is one of continued rotation. The object, therefore, was by the alternate motion of the end of the beam to transmit to a shaft or axis a continued circular motion. In the first instance, Watt proposed effecting this by a crank, connected with the working end of the beam by a metal connector or rod.

Let K be the centre or axis, or shaft by which motion is given to the machinery, and to which rotation is to be imparted by the beam C H. On the axle K, suppose a lever, K I, fixed, so that when K I is turned round the centre K, the wheel must be turned with it. Let a connector or rod, H I, be attached to the points H and I, playing freely on pivots or joints. As the end H is moved upwards and downwards, the lever K I is turned round the centre K, so as to give a continued rotatory motion to the shaft which revolves on that centre. The different positions which the connector and lever K I assume in the different parts of a revolution are represented in fig. 16.

(56.) This was the first method which occurred to Watt for producing a continued rotatory motion by means of the vibrating motion of the beam, and is the method now universally used. A workman, however, from Mr. Watt's factory, who was aware of the construction of a model of this, communicated the method to Mr. Washborough of Bristol, who anticipated Watt in taking out a patent; and although it was in his power to have disputed the patent, yet rather than be involved in litigation, he gave up the point, and contrived another way of producing the same effect, which he called the sun and planet wheel, and which he used until the expiration of Washborough's patent, when the crank was resumed.

The toothed wheel B (fig. 17.) is fixed on the end of the connector, so that it does not turn on its axis. The teeth of this wheel work in those of another wheel, A, which is the wheel to which rotation is to be imparted, and which is turned by the wheel B revolving round it, urged by the rod H I, which receives its motion from the working-beam. The wheel A is called the sun-wheel, and B the planet-wheel, from the obvious resemblance to the motion of these bodies.

This contrivance, although in the main inferior to the more simple one of the crank, is not without some advantages; among others, it gives to the sun-wheel double the velocity which would be communicated by the simple crank, for in the simple crank one revolution only on the axle is produced by one revolution of the crank, but in the sun and planet-wheel two revolutions of the sun-wheel are produced by one of the planet-wheel; thus a double velocity is obtained from the same motion of the beam. This will be evident from considering that when the planet-wheel is in its highest position, its lowest tooth is engaged with the highest tooth of the sun-wheel; as the planet-wheel passes from the highest position, its teeth drive those of the sun-wheel before them, and when it comes into the lowest position, the highest tooth of the planet-wheel is engaged with the lowest of the sun-wheel: but then half of the sun-wheel has rolled off the planet-wheel, and, therefore, the tooth which was engaged with it in its higher position, must now be distant from it by half the circumference of the wheel, and must therefore be again in the highest position, so that while the planet-wheel has been carried from the top to the bottom, the sun-wheel has made a complete revolution. A little reflection, however, on the nature of the motion, will render this plainer than any description can. This advantage of giving an increased velocity, may be obtained also by the simple crank, by placing toothed wheels on its axle. Independently of the greater expense attending the construction of the sun and planet-wheel, its liability to go out of order, and the rapid wear of the teeth, and other objections, rendered it decidedly inferior to the crank, which has now entirely superseded it.

(58.) Whether the simple crank or the sun and planet wheel be used, there still remains a difficulty of a peculiar nature attending the continuance of the rotatory motion. There are two positions in which the engine can give no motion whatever to the crank. These are when the end of the beam, the axle of the crank, and the pivot which joins the connector with the crank, are in the same straight line. This will be easily understood. Suppose the beam, connector, and crank to assume the position represented in fig. 15. If steam urge the piston downwards, the point H and the connector H I will be drawn directly upwards. But it must be very evident that in the present situation of the connector H I, and the lever I K, the force which draws the point I in the direction I K can have no effect whatever in turning I K round the centre K, but will merely exert a pressure on the axle or pivots of the wheel. Again, suppose the crank and connector to be in the position H I K (fig. 16.), the piston being consequently at the bottom of the cylinder. If steam now press the piston upwards, the pivot H and the connector H I will be pressed downwards, and this pressure will urge the crank I K in the direction I K. It is evident that such a force cannot turn the crank round the centre K, and can be attended with no other effect than a pressure on the axle or pivots of the wheel.

Hence in these two positions, the engine can have no effect whatever in turning the crank. What, then, it may be asked, extricates the machine from this mechanical dilemma in which it is placed twice in every revolution, on arriving at those positions in which the crank escapes the influence of the power? There is a tendency in bodies, when once put in motion, to continue that motion until stopped by some opposing force, and this tendency carries the crank out of those two critical situations. The velocity which is given to it, while it is under the influence of the impelling force of the beam, is retained in a sufficient degree to carry it through that situation in which it is deserted by this impelling force. Although the rotatory motion intended to be produced by the crank is, therefore, not absolutely destroyed by this circumstance, yet it is rendered extremely irregular, since, in passing through the two positions already described, where the machine loses its power over the crank, the motion will be very slow, and, in the positions of the crank most remote from these, where the power of the beam upon it is greatest, the motion will be very quick. As the crank revolves from each of those positions where the power of the machine over it is greatest, to where that power is altogether lost, it is continually diminished, so that, in fact, the crank is driven by a varying power, and therefore produces a varying motion. This will be easily understood by considering the successive positions of the crank and connector represented in fig. 16. This variable motion becomes particularly objectionable when the engine is employed to drive machinery. To remove this defect, we have recourse to the property of bodies just mentioned, viz. their tendency to retain a motion which is communicated to them. A large metal wheel called a fly-wheel is placed upon the axis of the crank (fig. 15.), and is turned by it. The effect of this wheel is to equalize the motion communicated by the action of the beam on the crank, that action being just sufficient to sustain in the fly-wheel a uniform velocity, and the tendency of this wheel to retain the velocity it receives, renders its rotation sufficiently uniform for all practical purposes.

This uniformity of motion, however, will only be preserved on two conditions; first, that the supply of steam from the boiler shall be uniform; and secondly, that the machine have always the same resistance to overcome or be loaded equally. If the supply of steam from the boiler to the cylinder be increased, the motion of the piston will be rendered more rapid, and, therefore, the revolution of the fly-wheel will also be more rapid, and, on the other hand, a diminished supply of steam will retard the fly-wheel. Again, if the resistance or load upon the engine be diminished, the supply of steam remaining the same, the velocity will be increased, since a less resistance is opposed to the energy of the moving power; and, on the other hand, if the resistance or load be increased, the speed will be diminished, since a greater resistance will be opposed to the same moving power. To insure a uniform velocity, in whatever manner the load or resistance may be changed, it is necessary to proportion the supply of steam to the resistance, so that, upon the least variation in the velocity, the supply of steam will be increased or diminished, so as to keep the engine going at the same rate.

(59.) One of the most striking and elegant appendages of the steam engine is the apparatus contrived by Watt for effecting this purpose. An apparatus, called a regulator or governor, had been long known to mill-wrights for rendering uniform the action of the stones in corn-mills, and was used generally in machinery. Mr. Watt contrived a beautiful application of this apparatus for the regulation of the steam engine. In the pipe which conducts steam from the boiler to the cylinder he placed a thin circular plate, so that when placed with its face presented towards the length of the pipe, it nearly stopped it, and allowed little or no steam to pass to the cylinder, but when its edge was placed in the direction of the pipe, it offered no resistance whatever to the passage of the steam. This circular plate, called the throttle valve, was made to turn on a diameter as an axis, passing consequently through the centre of the tube, and was worked by a lever outside the tube. According to the position given to it, it would permit more or less steam to pass. If the valve be placed with its edge nearly in the direction of the tube, the supply of steam is abundant; if it be placed with its face nearly in the direction of the tube, the supply of steam is more limited, and it appears that, by the position given to this valve, the steam may be measured in any quantity to the cylinder.

At first it was proposed that the engine-man should adjust this valve with his hand; when the engine was observed to increase its speed too much, he would check the supply of steam by partially closing the valve; but if, on the other hand, the motion was too slow, he would open the valve and let in a more abundant supply of steam. Watt, however, was not content with this, and desired to make the engine itself discharge this task with more steadiness and regularity than any attendant could, and for this purpose he applied the governor already alluded to.

This apparatus is represented in fig. 15.; L is a perpendicular shaft or axle to which a wheel, M, with a groove is attached. A strap or rope, which is rolled upon the axle of the fly-wheel, is passed round the groove in the wheel M, in the same manner as the strap acts in a turning lathe. By means of this strap the rotation of the fly-wheel will produce a rotation of the wheel M and the shaft L, and the speed of the one will always increase or diminish in the same proportion as the speed of the other. N, N are two heavy balls of metal placed at the ends of rods, which play on an axis fixed on the revolving shaft at O, and extend beyond the axis to Q Q. Connected with these by joints at Q Q are two other rods, Q R, which are attached to a broad ring of metal, moving freely up and down the revolving shaft. This ring is attached to a lever whose centre is S, and is connected by a series of levers with the throttle-valve T. When the speed of the fly-wheel is much increased, the spindle L is whirled round with considerable rapidity, and by their natural tendency[20] the balls N N fly from the centre. The levers which play on the axis O, by this motion, diverge from each other, and thereby depress the joints Q Q, and draw down the joints R, and with them the ring of metal which slides upon the spindle. By these means the end of the lever playing on S is depressed, and the end V raised, and the motion is transmitted to the throttle-valve, which is thereby partially closed, and the supply of steam to the cylinder checked. If, on the contrary, the velocity of the fly-wheel be diminished, the balls will fall towards the axis, and the opposite effects ensuing, the supply of steam will be increased, and the velocity restored.

The peculiar beauty of this apparatus is, that in whatever position the balls settle themselves, the velocity with which the governor revolves must be the same,[21] and in this, in fact, consists its whole efficacy as a regulator. Its regulating power is limited, and it is only small changes of velocity that it will correct. It is evident that such a velocity as, on the one hand, would cause the balls to fly to the extremity of their play, or, on the other, would cause them to fall down on their rests, would not be influenced by the governor.

We have thus described the principal parts of the double-acting steam engine. The valves and the methods of working them have been reserved for the next chapter, as they admit of considerable variety, and will be better treated of separately. We have also reserved the consideration of the boiler, which is far from being the least interesting part of the modern steam engine, for a future chapter.