IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES OR DAMPERS FOR PIPES, PASSAGES, OR FLUES SERVING TO CONDUCT GASES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Cochrane at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
March 1868.
I, CHARLES COCHRANE, of Woodside Iron Works, near Dudley, in
the County of Worcester, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES OR DAMPERS FOR PIPES, PASSAGES,
OR FLUES SERVING TO CONDUCT GASES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has for its object so to construct valves or dampers,
more particularly applicable to pipes for conveying hot blast at very
high temperatures, that they shall effectually withstand the great heat
of the blast in contact therewith when closed, while when open the
valves shall be removed from immediate contact with the blast. For
this purpose I construct a casing somewhat similar in form to that of an
ordinary sluice valve, the casing being made by preference of wrought
iron lined with fire-brick; against the one side of this casing, round the
opening communicating with that side of the hot blast pipe which leads
to the furnace, I fix a valve seat by preference of cast iron with an
internal water space for the circulation of cold water, which water space

page_text: may be conveniently formed by casting a wrought-iron pipe bent into
a circular form in the seat, the two ends of the pipe being connected
externally to the service pipe for supplying the water; against this valve
seat works a sliding valve constructed by preference of cast iron and
formed hollow inside for the circulation of water therein; at the top of
this water space the valve has two openings, over which are fixed two
long pipes passing up through long necked stuffing boxes fixed to the
top of the valve casing, which pipes are connected together at their
upper ends by a crosshead, by means of which the valve is raised or
lowered by any suitable contrivance. The one valve pipe is in com-
munication at its upper end with a cold water service pipe, from which
the cold water passes either directly down the valve pipe, or by pre-
ference through a smaller pipe placed inside the same, and surrounded
by water contained in the valve pipe in order to prevent the water from
becoming too heated before reaching the valve; this inner pipe passes
down some distance into the water space of the valve in order to
introduce the cold water into the bottom thereof, and thus to insure the
perfect circulation of the water before escaping up through the second
before-mentioned valve pipe. From this pipe the water may be con-
veniently led off through a small branch pipe fixed to the side thereof
and passing down into a larger stand pipe fixed on the top of the valve
casing, whence the water is conducted to wherever required. The
sliding valve works between guides formed in the sides of the casing,
and is formed with an inclined face, as is also the seat thereof, in order
to insure a close contact between the two when the valve is closed; on
opening the valve it is raised up by means of the two before-mentioned
water pipes until it is situated entirely inside a chamber in the valve
casing projecting beyond the top of the valve seat, so that when in this
position the valve is entirely removed from immediate contact with the
hot blast. In the lower part of the casing is formed a man hole closed
by a cover, through which access may be gained to the interior of the
valve.