The Uniflow Steam-Engine

THE UNIFLOW STEAM-ENGINE.

BY

F. B. PERRY, M.I.MECH.E.

EXCERPT MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING

OF

THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS,

IN LINCOLN, 21ST JULY 1920.

CAPTAIN H. RIALL SANKEY, C.B., C.B.E., R.E., RET.,

PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

Contents

The Uniflow Steam-Engine.

Principle and Special Features

Advantages of the Uniflow Engine

Details of Design

THE UNIFLOW STEAM-ENGINE.

BY F. B. PERRY, OF LINCOLN, Member.

Having regard to the high price of all classes of fuel at the present time and the consequent necessity of reducing consumption to a minimum, it is thought that a short Paper on the history, principle of working, and details of construction of the Uniflow Engine, the latest development of the reciprocating steam-engine, may be of interest.

History.—The Uniflow Engine was invented in this country in 1885 by T. J. Todd. Quoting from the specification, the object of the invention was to produce a double-acting steam-engine which shall work more efficiently, which shall produce and maintain within itself an improved graduation of temperature extending from each of its two hot inlets to its common central cold outlet, which shall cause less condensation of the entering steam, and which shall work with greater economy than has hitherto been the case.

The invention is described as follows:—In the first place I take a double-acting steam-engine cylinder of that type which has one or more outlet openings placed at or near its longitudinal centre, and which has also a piston so proportioned in length and which piston is also fitted in some cases with self-contained internal escape ports, and which piston is so worked, that it, by and of itself, forms the release valve, for releasing the waste steam through the central escape outlet or outlets near the end of each single stroke, and which piston also closes the central escape outlet or outlets at all other parts of each single stroke. In such double-acting steam-engine cylinders it is therefore the piston itself which forms the escape-valve and which releases the waste steam automatically near the end of each single stroke, and as, in this class of double-acting steam-engine cylinders, the waste steam can only be released near the termination of each single stroke, I will herein afterwards, in order to avoid repetition, call and designate such double-acting steam-engine cylinders ‘terminal exhaust cylinders.’

FIG. 1. The Uniflow Steam-Engine. Detail of Cylinder.

The inventor’s description will be easily understood by reference to Fig. 1, which shows the latest development of the invention.

Although the inventor seems to