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IMPROVED HIGH-SPEED ENGINE.


This engine, exhibited at South Kensington by Fielding and Platt, of
Gloucester, consists virtually of a universal joint connecting two
shafts whose axes form an obtuse angle of about 157 degrees. It has four
cylinders, two being mounted on a chair coupling on each shaft. The word
cylinder is used in a conventional sense only, since the cavities acting
as such are circular, whose axes, instead of being straight lines, are
arcs of circles struck from the center at which the axes of the shafts
would, if continued, intersect. The four pistons are carried upon
the gimbal ring, which connects, by means of pivots, the two chair
couplings.

[Illustration: THE FIELDING HIGH SPEED ENGINE.]

Fig. 10 shows clearly the parts constituting the coupling, cylinders,
and pistons of a compound engine. CC are the high-pressure cylinders; DD
the low pressure; EEEE the four parts forming the gimbal ring, to which
are fixed in pairs the high and low pressure pistons, GG and FF; HHHH
are the chair arms formed with the cylinders carrying pivots, IIII,
which latter fit into the bearings, JJJJ, in the gimbal ring. Figs.
1, 2, 3, 4 show these parts connected and at different points of the
shaft's rotation. The direction of rotation is shown by the arrow. In
Fig. 1 the lower high-pressure cylinder, C, is just about taking steam,