Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Apr., 1887
Complete Left, 2nd Jan., 1888
Complete Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1888
I, JOHN. HESLOP of 50 Harrowgate Street, Sunderland, in the county of Durham,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is the construction of an apparatus capable of auto-
matically measuring the quantity of feed-water supplied to the boiler of a marine or
other steam engine.
My said apparatus consists of two compartments or chambers of known capacity
capable of holding from, say one to five gallons of water each. Slide valves are
provided at the tops and bottoms of these chambers, that is to say one valve to the
top and one valve to the bottom of each chamber, to regulate the ingress and egress
of water to be measured.
The slide valves on the tops of the chambers, when open, place the said chambers in
communication with, and determine the amount of feed-water to be admitted from the
hot-well, or other source of supply, for measurement.
The slide valves on the bottoms of the chambers open communication between the
feed-pumps and the water measured or contained in the chambers.
The whole set of valves on the two chambers is worked by a steam cylinder,
having a piston and piston-rod working through the cylinder cover at each end.
Attached to each end of the said rod is a crank, which is keyed on to a counter-
shaft. These counter-shafts, through the medium of other cranks keyed upon them,
give motion directly to the slide-valve spindles. The admission of steam to the said
cylinder is regulated by a small piston slide-valve, which allows the steam to flow
alternately on the top and bottom of the cylinder piston.
Two or more circular, longitudinal, or otherwise suitably shaped floats, are suspended
in the aforesaid chambers by means of rods from the ends of a rocking-beam, and the
said rocking-beam by means of rods and levers, or other suitable devices, is connected
with the aforesaid piston slide-valve.
The valves on the chambers are so arranged that when one chamber is in communi-
cation with the feed-water supply, the other will be open to the feed pump and vice

page_text: versa. Neither chamber can at the same time be in communication with both the
feed water supply and the feed pump. As soon as one of the chambers has become
filled, the water will raise the float or floats therein, which by means of the rocking-
beam will actuate the piston slide valve and bring the steam cylinder into action,
causing the feed-water to be shut off from the said chamber and the communication
with the feed pump to be opened, while in the other chamber the reverse action will
simultaneously be effected.
The aforesaid rocking-beam, with its floats, in combination with the rise and fall of
the water in the two separate chambers thus supplies the initial motion by which the
apparatus is worked.
Any suitable form of counter or recording device may be combined with my
apparatus to shew the number of times the chambers are filled and emptied and
thus enable the quantity of feed water supplied to the boiler in any given time to be
automatically registered.
AMBROSE MYALL,
21, Cockspur Street, S.W.,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Automatic Feed-water Measurer for Marine and other Steam
Engines.
I, JOHN HESLOP of 50 Harrowgate Street, Sunderland, in the county of Durham,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The object of my invention is the construction of an apparatus capable of automa-
tically measuring the quantity of feed-water supplied to the boiler of a marine, or
other steam engine.
In the accompanying two sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2
a side sectional elevation through the line a a in Figure 1, Figure 3 a back
sectional elevation and Figure 4 a plan on the line bb in Figure 1 of an apparatus
constructed according to my invention.
Similar letters of reference denote similar parts throughout the drawings.
A, A', are two separate compartments or chambers of equal capacity. Their size
will depend chiefly upon the dimensions of the boiler or boilers with which they
are to be connected, but their capacity may conveniently range from one to five gallons
of water each.

page_text: An inlet port B is provided in the top and an outlet port B' in the bottom of the
chamber A, and similar ports B2, B3, are provided in the chamber A'. These
ports B, B1, B2, B3, are opened and closed respectively by slide-valves C, C1, 0, 0³,
to regulate the ingress and egress of water to be measured. The slide-valves C, C²,
on the tops of the chambers A, A', when open, place the said chambers in communica-
tion with the inlet chamber D. This chamber is provided with a nozzle D' for
making connection with the hot-well or other desired source of supply of the
feed water.
The slide-valves C, C³, at the bottom of the chambers A, A', open communication
between the said chamber and the outlet chamber E, which by the means of the
nozzle E is connected with the feed pumps, injector or other apparatus employed to
feed the boiler.
The slide-valves 0, 0, 0, 0, are operated by a steam cylinder F, having a piston
and piston-rod F' working through the cylinder covers at each end. Rock-
shafts H, H', are carried in bearings in brackets J, J', on the front of the apparatus.
The upper end of the piston-rod is connected by means of links to an arm K keyed
on the rock-shaft H, and the lower end of the said rod is similarly connected to an
arm K¹ keyed on the rock-shaft H. Two arms 1, L2, are keyed on the shaft H, and
are connected by links with the valve rods M, M2, of the valves (0², and two
arms L', L, on the shaft H are similarly connected to the rods M¹, M³, of the
valves C, (³. The whole four valves are therefore operated by each upward or
downward stroke of the piston of the cylinder F, and as will be seen from Figure 4
which is a plan of the top cover of the chambers A, A, the ports B, B2, opening
respectively into the chambers A, A', are so placed that the upward stroke of the
piston will open port B, and close port B2, while the downward stroke will close port B
and open port B. The ports B', B³, are similarly situate in the bottom cover and the
arms L, L, are so arranged on the shaft H' that when B is opened and B closed,
B is closed and B³ opened and vice versa, that is to say that while one of the
chambers A, A¹, is in communication with the feed-water supply the other is open to
the feed-pump; and neither chamber can at the same time be in communication with
both the feed-water supply and the feed-pump.
The
The admission of steam to the cylinder F is regulated by a piston slide-valve N.
A float P is suspended within the chamber A by means of rods Q, Q1, and a cross-
bar R, from one end of a rocking-beam S, while a similar float is similarly
suspended by rods Q3, Q³, and a cross-bar R' from the other end.
rods Q, Q, Q, Q, pass through tubes T, T, T, T, in the inlet chamber D. The
piston valve N is operated from the rocking-beam S by means of the system of links
and levers U, U₁, Ù³, U³, as shewn.
Doors V, V2, are provided on the sides of the inlet chamber D to give ready access
for inspection or removal of the valves C, C2, similar doors V1, Va, are provided on the
sides of the chambers A, A', for the valves C¹, C³, and doors V, V, are provided on
the backs of the same chambers for the inspection or removal of the floats P, P¹.
Gauge glasses W, WI, are provided to shew the level of water in the chambers.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-
While both floats P and P' are supported by water in the chambers A, A', they will
be in equilibrium and the rocking-beam S will be horizontal and the piston-valve N
consequently in the central position, cutting off steam from the cylinder F; it may
be assumed that the inlet is open in chamber A and the outlet in chamber A¹. As
soon as A has become full and A' empty, the float P will rise and the float P¹ descend,
moving the rocking-beam S and the piston-valve N which will admit steam to the
cylinder F causing its piston to move and reverse the position of all the slide
valves C, C¹, C, C, the feed-pump will then draw from the full chamber A while the
empty chamber A' will be filled up from the supply; as soon as the chamber A has
been emptied and the chamber A filled, the floats will move in the reverse manner,
and this cycle of operations will be automatically repeated so long as the feed-pump
is at work.
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise design or

page_text: relative positions and connections of the various parts of my apparatus in the manner
which I have shewn and described. Thus the floats P, P₁, as shewn, are more
especially intended for land boilers, but for marine use I prefer to make the floats of
almost the same dimensions in plan as the chambers, and I provide a central opening
to allow the water to pass freely through.
Again the steam cylinder F, instead of being placed in front of the apparatus, may
conveniently be arranged on the top and the piston slide-valve rod connected directly
to the rocking beam S.
Also in place of the two horizontal, rock-shafts H, H', one single perpendicular
shaft may be used with suitable connections to work the slide valves C, C¹³, C², C³.
Any suitable form of counter or recording device may be combined with my
apparatus to shew the number of times the chambers are filled and emptied,
and thus enable the quantity of feed-water supplied to the boiler in any given time
to be automatically recorded. Such recording device may be fixed on the apparatus
and worked from the rocking-beam S, or other suitable reciprocating part, or such
device may be fixed at a distance from the apparatus and operated through the
medium of electrical or other suitable means.
Thus the rocking-beam S might be caused at the end of each oscillation to close
an electric circuit, which by means of an electro-magnet would operate the recording
mechanism.
The recording mechanism may consist of a form of counter simply exhibiting by
numerals the number of gallons used, or it may trace a line on, a travelling strip of
paper, suitably divided by longitudinal and transverse lines for time and gallons, in
which case the strip would form a permanent record, shewing the quantity of water
used from hour to hour during the day.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
The apparatus for automatically measuring feed-water supplied to steam engines,
constructed substantially as herein described and shewn with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 2nd day of Januar 1988
AMBROSE MYALL,
21, Cockspur Street, London,
Agent for the Applicant.