185. Link-motion valve-gear of a locomotive. Two eccentrics are used for one valve, one for the forward and the other for the backward movement of the engine. The extremities of the eccentric-rods are jointed to a curved slotted bar, or, as it is termed, a link, which can be raised or lowered by an arrangement of levers terminating in a handle as shown. In the slot of the link is a slide and pin connected with an arrangement of levers terminating at the valve-stem. The link, in moving with the action of the eccentrics, carries with it the slide, and thence motion is communicated to the valve. Suppose the link raised so that the slide is in the middle, then the link will oscillate on the pin of the slide, and consequently the valve will be at rest. If the link is moved so that the slide is at one of its extremities, the whole throw of the eccentric connected with that extremity will be given to it, and the valve and steam-ports will be opened to the full, and it will only be toward the end of the stroke that they will be totally shut, consequently the steam will have been admitted to the cylinder during almost the entire length of each stroke. But if the slide is between the middle and the extremity of the slot, as shown in the figure, it receives only a part of the throw of the eccentric, and the steam-ports will only be partially opened, and are quickly closed again, so that the admission of steam ceases some time before the termination of the stroke, and the steam is worked expansively. The nearer the slide is to the middle of the slot the greater will be the expansion, and vice versa.