Manual lubrication of steam engine cylinders

Admitting oil (or grease or tallow) to the cylinders by hand had to be done in such a way as to prevent steam pressure from blowing out the lubricant while it was being fed in. An overview of the manual methods in use before automatic methods became widespread was given by Hugh Campbell in an 1863 patent (U.S. #40673). All were performed while the engine was in motion.

• For Low-pressure engines, in which there was an alternating inward and outward pressure relative to the atmosphere, Campbell explains: "In lubricating the cylinders of steam engines it has hitherto been necessary in low-pressure engines to open the grease-cock when it is on the side of the piston open to the exhaust, so that the pressure of the extereal atmosphere would force the oil or melted tallow to the inside of the cylinder." The same technique is also mentioned in Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia (1875-8). If the piston moved very rapidly, it might be necessary to instead use the technique for high-pressure engines (below).
• High-pressure engines. According to Campbell: "In high-pressure engines, where, even on the exhaust side, the pressure is always greater than that of the atmosphere, it has been necessary to furnish the cylinder with a grease-cup fitted with two cocks, so arranged that it may be filled with the lower one closed to prevent the escape of steam, and emptied into the cylinder by closing the upper cock and opening the lower one, so that it may gradually find its way from the cup to the cylinder." The same arrangement is also described by Gustavus Weissenborn (American Locomotive Engineering, 1871, p133).
• For locomotives, no special arrangements were required, as lubricant could be admitted into the cylinders while the train was coasting. Joseph Marks (U.S. patent #30416, 1860) tells of the "usual system of applying lubricating material...when the steam is shut off from the engine and the valves and pistons are kept in motion by the momentum of the train."