A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine Part 9

1. The expansion of steam, and six methods of applying the principle and of equalizing the expansive power.

2. The double-acting steam-engine, in which the steam acts on each side of the piston alternately, the opposite side being in communication with the condenser.

3. The double or coupled steam-engine--two engines capable of working together, or independently, as may be desired.

4. The use of a rack on the piston-rod, working into a sector on the end of the beam, thus securing a perfect rectilinear motion of the rod.

5. A rotary engine, or "steam-wheel."

The efficiency to be secured by the expansion of steam had long been known to Watt, and he had conceived the idea of economizing some of that power, the waste of which was so plainly indicated by the violent rus.h.i.+ng of the exhaust-steam into the condenser, as early as 1769.

This was described in a letter to Dr. Small, of Birmingham, in May of that year. When experimenting at Kinneil, he had tried to determine the real value of the principle by trial on his small engine.

Boulton had also recognized the importance of this improved method of working steam, and their earlier Soho engines were, as Watt said, made with cylinders "double the size wanted, and cut off the steam at half-stroke." But, though "this was a great saving of steam, so long as the valves remained as at first," the builders were so constantly annoyed by alterations of the valves by proprietors and their engineers, that they finally gave up that method of working, hoping ultimately to be able to resume it when workmen of greater intelligence and reliability could be found. The patent was issued July 17, 1782.

Watt specified a cut-off at one-quarter stroke as usually best.

Watt's explanation of the method of economizing by expansive working, as given to Dr. Small,[40] is worthy of reproduction. He says: "I mentioned to you a method of still doubling the effect of steam, and that tolerably easy, by using the power of steam rus.h.i.+ng into a vacuum, at present lost. This would do a little more than double the effect, but it would too much enlarge the vessels to use it all. It is peculiarly applicable to wheel-engines, and may supply the want of a condenser where force of steam is only used; for, open one of the steam-valves and admit steam, until one-fourth of the distance between it and the next valve is filled with steam, shut the valve, and the steam will continue to expand and to pa.s.s round the wheel with a diminis.h.i.+ng power, ending in one-fourth its first exertion. The sum of this series you will find greater than one-half, though only one-fourth steam was used. The power will indeed be unequal, but this can be remedied by a fly, or in several other ways."

[40] "Lives of Boulton and Watt," Smiles.

It will be noticed that Watt suggests, above, the now well-known non-condensing engine. He had already, as has been seen, described it in his patent of 1769, as also the rotary engine.

Watt ill.u.s.trates and explains his idea very neatly, by a sketch similar to that here given (Fig. 28).

Steam, entering the cylinder at _a_, is admitted until one-fourth the stroke has been made, when the steam-valve is closed, and the remainder of the stroke is performed without further addition of steam. The variation of steam-pressure is approximately inversely proportional to the variation of its volume. Thus, at half-stroke, the pressure becomes one-half that at which the steam was supplied to the cylinder. At the end of the stroke it has fallen to one-fourth the initial pressure. The pressure is always nearly equal to the product of the initial pressure and volume divided by the volume at the given instant. In symbols,

_PV_ _P'_ = ----.

_V'_

It is true that the condensation of steam doing work changes this law in a marked manner; but the condensation and reevaporation of steam, due to the transfer of heat to and from the metal of the cylinder, tends to compensate the first variation by a reverse change of pressure with change of volume.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28.--Expansion of Steam.]

The sketch shows this progressive variation of pressure as expansion proceeds. It is seen that the work done per unit of volume of steam as taken from the boiler is much greater than when working without expansion. The product of the mean pressure by the volume of the cylinder is less, but the quotient obtained by dividing this quant.i.ty by the volume or weight of steam taken from the boiler, is much greater with than without expansion. For the case a.s.sumed and ill.u.s.trated, the work done during expansion is one and two-fifths times that done previous to cutting off the steam, and the work done per pound of steam is 2.4 times that done without expansion.

Were there no losses to be met with and to be exaggerated by the use of steam expansively, the gain would become very great with moderate expansion, amounting to twice the work done when "following" full stroke, when the steam is cut off at one-seventh. The estimated gain is, however, never realized. Losses by friction, by conduction and radiation of heat, and by condensation and reevaporation in the cylinder--of which losses the latter are most serious--after pa.s.sing a point which is variable, and which is determined by the special conditions in each case, augment with greater rapidity than the gain by expansion.

In actual practice, it is rarely found, except where special precautions are taken to reduce these losses, that economy follows expansion to a greater number of volumes than about one-half the square root of the steam-pressure; i. e., about twice for 15 or 20 pounds pressure, three times for about 30 pounds, and four and five times for 60 or 65 and for 100 to 125 pounds respectively. Watt very soon learned this general principle; but neither he, nor even many modern engineers, seem to have learned that too great expansion often gives greatly-reduced economy.

The inequality of pressure due to expansion, to which he refers, was a source of much perplexity to Watt, as he was for a long time convinced that he must find some method of "equalizing" the consequent irregular effort of the steam upon the piston. The several methods of "equalizing the expansive power" which are referred to in the patent were attempts to secure this result. By one method, he s.h.i.+fted the centre as the beam vibrated, thus changing the lengths of the arms of that great lever, to compensate the change of moment consequent upon the change of pressure. He finally concluded that a fly-wheel, as first proposed by Fitzgerald, who advised its use on Papin's engine, would be the best device on engines driving a crank, and trusted to the inertia of a balance-weight in his pumping-engines, or to the weight of the pump-rods, and permitted the piston to take its own speed so far as it was not thus controlled.

The double-acting engine was a modification of the single-acting engine, and was very soon determined upon after the successful working of the latter had become a.s.sured.

Watt had covered in the top of his single-acting engine, to prevent cooling the interior of the cylinder by contact with the comparatively cold atmosphere. When this had been done, there was but a single step required to convert the machine into the double-acting engine. This alteration, by which the steam was permitted to act upon the upper and the lower sides of the piston alternately, had been proposed by Watt as early as 1767, and a drawing of the engine was laid before a committee of the House of Commons in 1774-'75. By this simple change Watt doubled the power of his engine. Although invented much earlier, the plan was not patented until he was, as he states, driven to take out the patent by the "plagiarists and pirates" who were always ready to profit by his ingenuity. This form of engine is now almost universally used. The single-acting pumping-engine remains in use in Cornwall, and in a few other localities, and now and then an engine is built for other purposes, in which steam acts only on one side of the piston; but these are rare exceptions to the general rule.

The subject of his next invention was not less interesting. The double-cylinder or "compound" engine has now, after the lapse of nearly a century, become an important and usual type of engine. It is impossible to determine precisely to whom to award the credit of its first conception. Dr. Falk, in 1779, had proposed a double-acting engine, in which there were two single-acting cylinders, acting in opposite directions and alternately on opposite sides of a wheel, with which a rack on the piston-rod of each geared.

Watt claimed that Hornblower, the patentee of the "compound engine,"

was an infringer upon his patents; and, holding the patent on the separate condenser, he was able to prevent the engine of his compet.i.tor taking such form as to be successfully introduced. The Hornblower engine was soon given up.

Watt stated that this form of engine had been invented by him as early as 1767, and that he had explained its peculiarities to Smeaton and others several years before Hornblower attempted to use it. He wrote to Boulton: "It is no less than our double-cylinder engine, worked upon our principle of expansion." He never made use of the plan, however; and the princ.i.p.al object sought, apparently, in patenting this, as well as many other devices, was to secure himself against compet.i.tion.

The rack and sector patented at this time was soon superseded by the parallel-motion; and the last claim, the "steam-wheel" or rotary engine, although one was built of considerable size, was not introduced.

After the patent of 1782 had been secured, Watt turned his attention, when not too hard-pressed by business, to other schemes, and to experimenting with still other modifications and applications of his engine. He had, as early as 1777, proposed to make a steam-hammer for Wilkinson's forge; but he was too closely engaged with more important matters to take hold of the project with much earnestness until late in the year 1782, when, after some preliminary trials, he reported, December 13th: "We have tried our little tilting-forge hammer at Soho with success. The following are some of the particulars: Cylinder, 15 inches in diameter; 4 feet stroke; strokes per minute, 20. The hammer-head, 120 pounds weight, rises 8 inches, and strikes 240 blows per minute. The machine goes quite regularly, and can be managed as easily as a water-mill. It requires a very small quant.i.ty of steam--not above half the contents of the cylinder per stroke. The power employed is not more than one-fourth of what would be required to raise the quant.i.ty of water which would enable a water-wheel to work the same hammer with the same velocity."

He immediately set about making a much heavier hammer, and on April 26, 1783, he wrote that he had done "a thing never done before"--making his hammer strike 300 blows a minute. This hammer weighed 7-1/2 hundredweight, and had a drop of 2 feet. The steam-cylinder had a diameter of 42 inches and 6 feet stroke of piston, and was calculated to have sufficient power to drive four hammers weighing 7 hundredweight each. The engine made 20 strokes per minute, the hammer giving 90 blows in the same time.

This new application of steam-power proving successful, Watt next began to develop a series of minor inventions, which were finally secured by his patent of April 27, 1784, together with the steam tilt-hammer, and a steam-carriage, or "locomotive engine."

The contrivance previously used for guiding the head of the piston-rod--the sectors and chains, or rack--had never given satisfaction. The rudeness of design of the contrivance was only equalled by its insecurity. Watt therefore contrived a number of methods of accomplis.h.i.+ng the purpose, the most beautiful and widely-known of which is the "parallel-motion," although it has now been generally superseded by one of the other devices patented at the same time--the cross-head and guides. As originally proposed, a rod was attached to the head of the piston-rod, standing vertically when the latter was at quarter-stroke. The upper end of this rod was pivoted to the end of the beam, and the lower end to the extremity of a horizontal rod having a length equal to one-half the length of the beam. The other end of the horizontal rod was coupled to the frame of the engine. As the piston rose and fell, the upper and lower ends of the vertical rod were swayed in opposite directions, and to an equal extent, by the beam and the lower horizontal rod, the middle point at which the piston-rod was attached preserving its position in the vertical line. This form was objectionable, as the whole effort of the engine was transmitted through the parallel-motion rods. Another form is shown in the sketch given of the double-acting engine in Fig. 31, which was free from this defect. The head of the piston-rod, _g_, was guided by rods connecting it with the frame at _c_, and forming a "parallelogram," _g d e b_, with the beam. Many varieties of "parallel-motion" have been devised since Watt's invention was attached to his engines at Soho. They usually are more or less imperfect, guiding the piston-rod in a line only approximately straight.

The cross-head and guides are now generally used, very much as described by Watt in this patent as his "second principle." This device will be seen in the engravings given hereafter of more modern engines. The head of the piston-rod is fitted into a transverse bar, or cross-head, which carries properly-shaped pieces at its extremities, to which are bolted "gibs," so made as to fit upon guides secured to the engine-frame. These guides are adjusted to precise parallelism with the centre line of the cylinder. The cross-head, sliding in or on these guides, moves in a perfectly straight line, and, compelling the piston-rod to move with it, the latter is even more perfectly guided than by a parallel-motion. This arrangement, where properly proportioned, is not necessarily subject to great friction, and is much more easily adjusted and kept in line than the parallel-motion when wear occurs or maladjustment takes place.

By the same patent, Watt secured the now common "puppet-valve" with beveled seat, and the application of the steam-engine to driving rolling-mills and hammers for forges, and to "wheel-carriages for removing persons or goods, or other matters, from place to place." For the latter purpose he proposes to use boilers "of wood, or of thin metal, strongly secured by hoops or otherwise," and containing "internal fire-boxes." He proposed to use a condenser cooled by currents of air.

It would require too much s.p.a.ce to follow Watt in all his schemes for the improvement and for the application of the steam-engine. A few of the more important and more ingenious only can be described. Many of the contracts of Boulton & Watt gave them, as compensation for their engines, a fraction--usually one-third--of the value of the fuel saved by the use of the Watt engine in place of the engine of Newcomen, the amount due being paid annually or semiannually, with an option of redemption on the part of the purchaser at ten years' purchase. This form of agreement compelled a careful determination, often, of the work done and fuel consumed by both the engine taken out and that put in its place. It was impossible to rely upon any determination by personal observation of the number of strokes made by the engine. Watt therefore made a "counter," like that now familiar to every one as used on gas-meters. It consists of a train of wheels moving pointers on several dials, the first dial showing tens, the second hundreds, the third thousands, etc., strokes or revolutions. Motion was communicated to the train by means of a pendulum, the whole being mounted on the beam of the engine, where every vibration produced a swing of the pendulum. Eight dials were sometimes used, the counter being set and locked, and only opened once a year, when the time arrived for determining the work done during the preceding twelve-month.

The application of his engine to purposes for which careful adjustment of speed was requisite, or where the load was subject to considerable variation, led to the use of a controlling-valve in the steam-pipe, called the "throttle-valve," which was adjustable by hand, and permitted the supply of steam to the engine to be adjusted at any instant and altered to any desired extent. It is now given many forms, but it still is most usually made just as originally designed by Watt.

It consists of a circular disk, which just closes up the steam-pipe when set directly across it, or of an elliptical disk, which closes the pipe when standing at an angle of somewhat less than 90 with the line of the pipe. This disk is carried on a spindle extending through the pipe at one side, and carrying on its outer end an arm by means of which it may be turned into any position. When placed with its face in line with the pipe, it offers very little resistance to the flow of steam to the engine. When set in the other position, it shuts off steam entirely and stops the engine. It is placed in such position at any time, that the speed of the engine is just that required at the time. In the engraving of the double-acting engine with fly-wheel (Fig. 31), it is shown at _T_, as controlled by the governor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 29.--The Governor.]

The governor, or "fly-ball governor," as it is often distinctively called, was another of Watt's minor but very essential inventions. Two heavy iron or bra.s.s b.a.l.l.s, _B B'_, were suspended from pins, _C C'_, in a little cross-piece carried on the head of a vertical spindle, _A A'_, driven by the engine. The speed of the engine varying, that of the spindle changed correspondingly, and the faster the b.a.l.l.s were swung the farther they separated. When the engine's speed decreased, the period of revolution of the b.a.l.l.s was increased, and they fell back toward the spindle. Whenever the velocity of the engine was uniform, the b.a.l.l.s preserved their distance from the spindle and remained at the same height, their alt.i.tude being determined by the relation existing between the force of gravity and centrifugal force in the temporary position of equilibrium. The distance from the point of suspension down to the level of the b.a.l.l.s is always equal to 9.78 inches divided by the square of the number of revolutions per second--i. e., _h_ = 9.78 (1/_N_^2) = 0.248 (1/_N_^2) meters.

The arms carrying the b.a.l.l.s, or the b.a.l.l.s themselves, are pinned to rods, _M M'_, which are connected to a piece, _N N'_, sliding loosely on the spindle. A score, _T_, cut in this piece engages a lever, _V_, and, as the b.a.l.l.s rise and fall, a rod, _W_, is moved, closing and opening the throttle-valve, and thus adjusting the supply of steam in such a way as to preserve a nearly fixed speed of engine. The connection with the throttle-valve and with the cut-off valve-gear is seen not only in the engraving of the double-acting Watt engine, but also in those of the Greene and the Corliss engines. This contrivance had previously been used in regulating water-wheels and windmills.

Watt's invention consisted in its application to the regulation of the steam-engine.

Still another useful invention of Watt's was his "mercury steam-gauge"--a barometer in which the height of the mercury was determined by the pressure of the steam instead of that of the atmosphere. This simple instrument consisted merely of a bent tube containing a portion of mercury. One leg, _B D_, of this U-tube was connected with the steam-pipe, or with the boiler by a small steam-pipe; the other end, _C_, was open to the atmosphere. The pressure of the steam on the mercury in _B D_ caused it to rise in the other "leg" to a height exactly proportioned to the pressure, and causing very nearly two inches difference of level to the pound, or one inch to the pound actual rise in the outer leg. The rude sketch from Farey, here given (Fig. 30), indicates sufficiently well the form of this gauge. It is still considered by engineers the most reliable of all forms of steam-gauge. Unfortunately, it is not conveniently applicable at high pressure. The scale, _A_, is marked with numbers indicating the pressure, which numbers are indicated by the head of a rod floating up with the mercury.

A similar gauge was used to determine the degree of perfection of vacuum attained in the condenser, the mercury falling in the outer leg as the vacuum became more complete. A perfect vacuum would cause a depression of level in that leg to 30 inches below the level of the mercury in the leg connected with the condenser. In a more usual form, it consisted of a simple gla.s.s tube having its lower end immersed in a cistern of mercury, as in the ordinary barometer, the top of the tube being connected with a pipe leading to the condenser. With a perfect vacuum in the condenser, the mercury would rise in the tube very nearly 30 inches. Ordinarily, the vacuum is not nearly perfect, and, a back pressure remaining in the condenser of one or two pounds per square inch, the atmospheric pressure remaining unbalanced is only sufficient to raise the mercury 26 or 28 inches above the level of the liquid metal in the cistern.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30. Mercury Steam Gauge. Gla.s.s Water Gauge.]

To determine the height of water in his boiler, Watt added to the gauge-c.o.c.ks already long in use the "gla.s.s water-gauge," which is still seen in nearly every well-arranged boiler. This was a gla.s.s tube, _a a'_ (Fig. 30), mounted on a standard attached to the front of the boiler, and at such a height that its middle point was very little below the proposed water-level. It was connected by a small pipe, _r_, at the top to the steam-s.p.a.ce, and another little pipe, _r'_, led into the boiler from its lower end below the water-line. As the water rose and fell within the boiler, its level changed correspondingly in the gla.s.s. This little instrument is especially liked, because the position of the water is at all times shown to the eye of the attendant. If carefully protected against sudden changes of temperature, it answers perfectly well with even very high pressures.

The engines built by Boulton & Watt were finally fitted with the crank and fly-wheel for application to the driving of mills and machinery.

The accompanying engraving (Fig. 31) shows the engine as thus made, combining all of the essential improvements designed by its inventor.

In the engraving, _C_ is the steam-cylinder, _P_ the piston, connected to the beam by the link, _g_, and guided by the parallel-motion, _g d c_. At the opposite end of the beam a connecting-rod, _O_, connects with the crank and fly-wheel shaft. _R_ is the rod of the air-pump, by means of which the condenser is kept from being flooded by the water used for condensation, which water-supply is regulated by an "injection-handle," _E_. A pump-rod, _N_, leads down from the beam to the cold-water pump, by which water is raised from the well or other source to supply the needed injection-water. The air-pump rod also serves as a "plug-rod," to work the valves, the pins at _m_ and _R_ striking the lever, _m_, at either end of the stroke. When the piston reaches the top of the cylinder, the lever, _m_, is raised, opening the steam-valve, _B_, at the top, and the exhaust-valve, _E_, at the bottom, and at the same time closing the exhaust at the top and the steam at the bottom. When the entrance of steam at the top and the removal of steam-pressure below the piston has driven the piston to the bottom, the pin, _R_, strikes the lever, _m_, opening the steam and closing the exhaust valve at the bottom, and similarly reversing the position of the valves at the top. The position of the valves is changed in this manner with every reversal of the motion of the piston as the crank "turns over the centre."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 31.--Boulton & Watt's Double-Acting Engine, 1784.]

The earliest engines of the double-acting kind, and of any considerable size, which were built to turn a shaft, were those which were set up in the Albion Mills, near Blackfriars' Bridge, London, in 1786, and destroyed when the mills burned down in 1791. There were a pair of these engines (shown in Fig. 27), of 50 horse-power each, and geared to drive 20 pairs of stones, making fine flour and meal.

Previous to the erection of this mill the power in all such establishments had been derived from windmills and water-wheels. This mill was erected by Boulton & Watt, and capitalists working with them, not only to secure the profit antic.i.p.ated from locating a flour-mill in the city of London, but also with a view to exhibiting the capacity of the new double-acting "rotating" engine. The plan was proposed in 1783, and work was commenced in 1784; but the mill was not set in operation until the spring of 1786. The capacity of the mill was, in ordinary work, 16,000 bushels of wheat ground into fine flour per week. On one occasion, the mill turned out 3,000 bushels in 24 hours. In the construction of the machinery of the mill, many improvements upon the then standard practice were introduced, including cast-iron gearing with carefully-formed teeth and iron framing. It was here that John Rennie commenced his work, after pa.s.sing through his apprentices.h.i.+p in Scotland, sending his chief a.s.sistant, Ewart, to superintend the erection of the milling machinery. The mill was a success as a piece of engineering, but a serious loss was incurred by the capitalists engaged in the enterprise, as it was set on fire a few years afterward and entirely destroyed. Boulton and Watt were the princ.i.p.al losers, the former losing 6,000, and the latter 3,000.

The valve-gear of this engine, a view of which is given in Fig. 27, was quite similar to that used on the Watt pumping-engine. The accompanying ill.u.s.tration (Fig. 32) represents this valve-motion as attached to the Albion Mills engine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 32.--Valve-Gear of the Albion Mills Engine.]