IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Paton, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VALVES."
Sealed the 11th April 1860, and dated the 1st December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Paton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
December 1859.
I, JOHN PATON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VALVES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of what are
technically known as equilibrium or balanced pressure valves of the duplex
class, the object of the Invention being the general improvement of the work-
ing action of such valves, and the removal of the difficulties as regards the
unequal and varying pressure upon the valvular details during the operations
of opening and closing. According to one modification of these improved valves,
they consist in each case of a spindle having upon it at the proper distance
asunder two disc valves with conical or inclined faces, as adopted in ordinary
lift valves. Suitable faces are fitted up in the interior of the valve casing or

page_text: chest to receive these valves in the usual way, the upper valve disc being some-
what larger than the lower one. A short distance above the upper valve there
is fitted upon the valve spindle a small solid piston or plunger arranged to
work steam-tight in a short cylinder bored in or attached to the steam chest
cover, or carried in any other convenient way in the interior of the valve
chest.
This cylinder is open at the bottom, at which end the piston is entered, and
solid or closed at the top. Beneath the upper valve disc lateral openings are
formed in the body portion of the valves so as to communicate with a thorough-
fare in the valve spindle, which is tubular at this part. This tubular portion
opens up a communication with the small cylinder by means of diverging open-
ings through the piston. The valve spindle may be worked in any convenient
way, and the steam or other fluid may be admitted to it either between the
two valve discs or outside, or, in other words, above the upper and beneath the
lower one, the exit of course taking place correspondingly. The effect of this
arrangement when the steam is admitted externally to the valve, the upward
pressure against the lower side of the piston relieves the equilibrium valve from
large amount of downward pressure, and when opened the steam entering
into the space between the discs, finds its way through the hollow of the spindle
into the cylinder above the piston, and thus a downward pressure is given to
the valve, which restores the equilibrium, and the valve can be closed again
without any appreciable shock or resistance. Instead of the piston above the
valve, a flexible diaphragm or other moveable detail may be used, the essential
object of the Invention being the fitting up in connection with a duplex or
equilibrium valve a separate and distinct piston or working pressure surface,
for the purpose of balancing the pressure during the operations of opening and
closing the valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Paton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PATON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Paton, Her special license that I, the said John Paton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Paton, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times theréafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Paton, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Paton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of what are
technically known as equilibrium or balanced pressure valves of the duplex
class, the object of the Invention being the general improvement of the
working action of such valves, and the removal of the difficulties as regards the
unequal and varying pressures upon the valvular details during the operations
of opening and closing. According to one modification of these improved
valves, they consist in each case of a spindle having upon it at the proper dis-
tance asunder two disc valves with conical or inclined faces, as adopted in
ordinary lift valves. Suitable faces are fitted up in the interior of the valve
casing or chest to receive these valves in the usual way, the upper valve disc
being somewhat larger than the lower one. A short distance above the upper.
valve there is fitted upon the valve spindle a small solid piston or plunger
arranged to work steam-tight in a short cylinder bored in or attached to the
steam chest cover, or carried in any other convenient way in the interior of
the valve chest. This cylinder is open at the bottom, at which end the piston is
entered, and solid or closed at the top. Beneath the upper valve disc lateral
openings are formed in the body portion of the valve so as to communicate
with a thoroughfare in the valve spindle, which is tubular at this part. This
tubular portion opens up a communication with the small cylinder by means
of diverging openings through the piston. The valve spindle may be worked

page_text: in any convenient way, and the steam or other fluid may be admitted to it
either between the two valve discs or outside, or, in other words, above the
upper and beneath the lower one, the exit of course taking place cor-..
respondingly. The effect of this arrangement is, that when the steam is
admitted externally to the valve, the upward pressure against the lower side of
the piston relieves the equilibrium valve from a large amount of downward
pressure, and when opened the steam entering into the space between the discs
finds its way through the hollow of the spindle into the cylinder above the
piston, and thus a downward pressure is given to the valve, which restores the
equilibrium, and the valve can be closed again without any appreciable shock or
resistance. Instead of the piston above the valve, a flexible diaphragm or other.
moveable detail may be used, the essential object of the Invention being the fit-
ting up in connection with a duplex or equilibrium valve a separate and distinct
piston or working pressure surface for the purpose of balancing the pressure
during the operations of opening and closing the valve.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in valves may be
properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the several illustrative
Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended,
for the purpose of showing certain modifications under which my improvements
may be judiciously carried out in practice, that is to say, Figure 1 on the ac-
companying Sheet of Drawings is a vertical sectional elevation of one modifica-
tion of my improved valves; Figure 2 is an elevation of the valve detached;
Figure 3 is a plan corresponding to Figure 1, and Figure 4 is a plan of the valve
corresponding to Figure 2. According to the arrangement as delineated in the
accompanying Drawings, the valve casing or chest A is made of a tubular figure,
the upper portion forming a cylindrical chamber in which the valvular details
are arranged. At the lower part of this cylindrical chamber is cast an internal
flange, in which is fitted the valve seating B. The face of this valve seating is
bevelled, and ground to correspond to the angle of the disc valve C, which works
up and down in the annular seating B, the feathers D, on the under side of the
disc, serving to guide the valve. The stem E, which springs from the upper
face of the disc C, connects the disc with the piston or plunger F. This piston
has a groove formed in its periphery to receive the metallic spring packing G.
On the upper face of the piston F are formed two overhanging lugs H, which
serve to retain the lower T-shaped end of the valve rod or spindle I. The
stem E of the valve is made hollow, and opens upwards from the lower face
of the disc C. This tubular passage communicates at the lower part of the
piston F with two diverging rectangular channels J, which open out on each
side of the lugs H. The cover K of the valve chest A is made sufficiently

page_text: deep to admit of the lower part being bored out, so as to form a small cylinder
to receive the piston F, which works steam-tight therein. The valve spindle I
works out through the stuffing box L in the cover K, which is fitted in the
usual manner with the gland M. The steam or other fluid enters by the
lateral passage, shown to the left of Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying
Drawings, and passes round the tubular stem E of the valve, and so exerts as
much pressure on the lower face of the piston F in an upward direction as it
does on the upper face of the disc C, in a downward direction. In this way
the valve is maintained in equilibrio, or in a state in which it is free to be
moved in either direction up or down, irrespective of the pressure of the steam,
the force of which is neutralized by the arrangement of the contiguous sur-
faces of the parts C and F. The valve is supposed to be actuated in the usual
way from the engine, the reciprocatory movement imparted to the valve being
communicated through or by means of the spindle I. When the valve is
raised, the steam or other fluid passes down into the tubular passage at the
lower part of the casing A, and thence to the engine or other purpose to which
it is applied. Upon the opening of the valve of the steam or other fluid under
pressure passes also up through the tubular stem E, and out by the openings J,
into the cylindrical space above the piston F; by these means, the pressure
which is exerted by the steam or other fluid on the under side of the valvular
disc C is counteracted by an equivalent or nearly equivalent force exerted in
the opposite direction on the upper face of the piston F; in this way the valve
is kept in a state of equilibrium, and free to move in either direction with a
trifling expenditure of power. These valves, while embodying the general
principle of construction for obtaining the equilibrium of the valve under all
circumstances, may, with trifling modifications, be readily adapted for con-
trolling the passage of steam or other fluids, to suit any particular class
of machinery or apparatus where such a valvular arrangement is needed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
First, the general arrangement and construction of equilibrium or balanced
valves, as herein-before described, and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the application to and use in steam engines or other machinery of
valvular apparatus for controlling or regulating the flow or passage of steam or
other fluids, in which apparatus the pressure of the steam or other fluid is
balanced or counteracted by the peculiar arrangement of the valve, so as to

page_text: admit of its being moved easily in either direction, and unchecked by the
pressure of the steam or other fluid, as herein-before described, and delineated
in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Paton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty.
JOHN PATON. (L.S.)