As soon as this book was off my hands, I devoted myself to the revision and standardizing of the engine.
As made up to that time, it was not reversible, and the valves could not be handled. It could not therefore be used in rolling-mills, the field to which I felt already that it was especially adapted. Moreover, every engine should be capable of being backed in starting, as otherwise whenever it had stopped with the piston at a point later than the latest point of cut-off, or say in the last half of the stroke, which it would do half the time, it would need to be pulled around by hand to a position in which one of the admission ports would be open. This in a large engine, or one connected with extensive lines of shafting, would be a serious matter, so much so that in some engines little starting cylinders are required.
Longitudinal Section of Cylinder and Valves.
Cross-section of Cylinder and Valves.
Elevation and Plan of Valve Connections.
I had also determined to use the equilibrium admission valves with adjustable pressure plates, according to the drawings sent to me by Mr. Allen in 1863, and to abandon the separate steam chest, and put the exhaust valves on the opposite side of the cylinder.
Then the engine needed to be standardized, so as to cover the field with the fewest number of sizes, symmetrically distributed. The existing practice with all makers of engines had been to let the purchaser dictate the size and speed of the engine he wanted, a practice which resulted in a lot of patterns and drawings not adapted to other people’s requirements, and not properly distributed. For an organized manufacturing business, this habit must be entirely broken up.