Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/866

LOCOMOTIVE POWER] There were two high-pressure cylinders placed outside the frames and driving on a trailing wheel, and one low-pressure cylinder placed between the frames and driving on a wheel placed in front of the driving-wheel belonging to the high pressure cylinders. The steam connexions were such that the two high-pressure cylinders were placed in parallel, both exhausting into the one low-pressure cylinder. The first engines of this class were provided with high-pressure cylinders, 11 in. diameter and 24 in. stroke, a low-pressure cylinder 26 in. diameter, 24 in. stroke, and driving-wheels 6 ft. 6 in. diameter; but subsequently these dimensions were varied. There were no coupling rods. A complete account of Webb’s engines will be found in a paper, “The Compound Principle applied to Locomotives,” by E. Worthington, ''Proc, Inst. C.E.'', 1889, vol. xcvi. Locomotives have to start with the full load on the engine, consequently an outstanding feature of every compound locomotive is the apparatus or mechanism added to enable the engine to start readily. Generally steam from the boiler is admitted direct to the low-pressure cylinder through a reducing valve, and valves and devices are used to prevent the steam so admitted acting as a back pressure on the high-pressure cylinder. In the Webb compound the driver opened communication from the high-pressure exhaust pipe to the blast-pipe, and at the same time opened a valve giving a supply of steam from the boiler direct to the low pressure valve chest. T. W. Worsdell, developed the design of the two-cylinder compound in England and built several, first for the Great Eastern railway and subsequently for the North-Eastern railway. The engines were built on the Worsdell and Von Borries plan, and were fitted with an ingenious starting valve of an automatic character to overcome the difficulties of starting. Several compounds of a type introduced by W. M. Smith on the North-Eastern railway in 1898 have been built by the Midland railway. In these there are two low pressure cylinders placed outside the frame, and one high pressure cylinder placed between the frames. All cylinders drive on one crank-axle with three cranks at 120°. The driving wheels are coupled to a pair of trailing wheels. A controlling valve enables the supply of steam to the low-pressure cylinders to be supplemented by boiler steam at a reduced pressure. For a description and illustrations of the details of the starting devices used in the Webb, Worsdell and Smith compounds, see an article, “The Development of the Compound Locomotive in England,” by W. E. Dalby in the Engineering Magazine for September and October 1904. A famous type of compound locomotive developed on the continent of Europe is the four-cylinder De Glehn, some of which have been tried on the Great Western railway. There are two high-pressure cylinders placed outside the frame, and two low-pressure placed inside the frames. The low-pressure cylinders drive on the leading crank-axle with cranks at right angles, the high pressure cylinders driving on the trailing wheels. The wheels are coupled, but the feature of the engine is that the coupling rods act merely to keep the high-pressure and low-pressure engines in phase with one another, very little demand being made upon them to transmit force except when one of the wheels begins to slip. In this arrangement the whole of the adhesive weight of the engine is used in the best possible manner, and the driving of the train is practically equally divided between two axles. The engine can be worked as a four-cylinder simple at the will of the driver. S. M. Vauclain introduced successful type of four-cylinder compound in America in 1889. A high- and low-pressure cylinder are cast together, and the piston-rods belonging to them are both coupled to one cross-head which is connected to the driving-wheels, these again being coupled to other wheels in the usual way. The distribution of steam to both cylinders is effected by one piston-valve operated by a link motion, so that there is considerable mechanical simplicity in the arrangement. Later Vauclain introduced the “balanced compound.” In this engine the two piston-rods of one side are not coupled to a common cross-head, but drive on separate cranks at an angle of 180°, the pair of 180° cranks on each side being placed at right angles.

§ 18. The Balancing of Locomotives.—The unbalanced masses of a locomotive may be divided into two parts, namely, masses which revolve, as the crank-pins, the crank-cheeks, the coupling rods, &c.; and masses which reciprocate, made up of the piston, piston-rod, cross-head and a certain proportion of the connecting-rod. The revolving masses are truly balanced by balance weights placed between the spokes of the wheels, or sometimes by prolonging the crank-webs and forming the prolongation into balance weights. It is also the custom to balance a proportion of the reciprocating masses by balance weights placed between the spokes of the wheels, and the actual balance weight seen in a driving-wheel is the resultant of the separate weights required for the balancing of the revolving parts and the reciprocating parts. The component of a balance weight which is necessary to balance the reciprocating masses introduces a vertical unbalanced force which appears as a variation of pressure between the wheel and the rail, technically called the hammer-blow, the magnitude of which increases as the square of the speed of the train. In consequence of this action the compromise is usually followed of balancing only ⅔ of the reciprocating masses, thus keeping the hammer-blow within proper limits, and allowing ⅓ of the reciprocating masses to be unbalanced in the horizontal direction. It is not possible to do anything better with two-cylinder locomotives unless bob weights be added, but with four-cylinder four-crank engines complete balance is possible both in the vertical, and in the horizontal directions. When the four cranks are placed with two pairs at 180°, the pairs being at 90°, the forces are balanced without the introduction of a hammer-blow, but there remain large unbalanced couples, which if balanced by means of revolving weights in the wheels again reintroduce the hammer blow, and if left unbalanced tend to make the engine oscillate in a horizontal plane at high speed. The principles by means of which the magnitude and position of balance weights are worked out are given in the article (Applied Mechanics), and the whole subject of locomotive balancing is exhaustively treated with numerous numerical examples in The Balancing of Engines by W. E. Dalby, London, 1906.

§ 19. Classification.—Locomotives may be classified primarily into “tender engines” and “tank engines,” the water and fuel in the latter being carried on the engine proper, while in the former they are carried in a separate vehicle. A tender is generally mounted on six wheels, or in some cases on two bogies, and carries a larger supply of water and fuel than can be carried by tanks and the bunker of a tank engine. A tender, however, is so much dead-weight to be hauled, whilst the weight of the water and fuel in a tank engine contributes largely to the production of adhesion. A classification may also be made, according to the work for which engines are designed, into passenger engines, goods engines, and shunting or switching engines. A convenient way of describing any type of engine is by means of numerals indicating the number of wheels—(1) in the group of wheels supporting the leading or chimney end, (2) in the group of coupled wheels, and (3) in the group supporting the trailing end of the engine. In the case where either the leading or trailing group of small wheels is absent the numeral 0 must be used in the series of three numbers used in the description. Thus 4–4–2 represents a bogie engine with four-coupled wheels and one pair of trailing wheels, the well known Atlantic type; 4–2–2 represents a bogie engine with a single pair of driving-wheels and a pair of trailing wheels; 0–4–4 represents an engine with four-coupled, wheels and a trailing bogie, and 4–4–0 an engine with four-coupled wheels and a leading bogie. A general description of the chief peculiarities of various kinds of locomotives is given in the following analysis of types:—

(1) “Single-driver” type, 4–2–2 or 2–2–2. Still used by several railways in Great Britain for express passenger service, but going out of favour; it is also found in France, and less often in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe. It is generally designed as a 4–2–2 engine, but some old types are still running with only three axles,