AN APPARATUS INDICATING THE LEVEL OF WATER IN STEAM CALDRONS OR BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jean Jules Varillat, of Rouen, in the
Empire of France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS
INDICATING THE LEVEL OF WATER IN STEAM CALDRONS OR BOILERS."
Sealed the 2nd March 1860, and dated the 7th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jean Jules Varillat
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1859.
I, WILLIAM JEAN JULES VARILLAT, of Rouen, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
APPARATUS INDICATING THE LEVEL OF WATER IN STEAM CALDRONS OR BOILERS,"
to be as follows:-
I purpose by my Invention to indicate with precision the exact level of
water in the boiler of a steam engine, and, the apparatus, which I propose to
employ is composed essentially of the following parts, namely: A float or
spherical ball, three-fourths of the. diameter of which will dip into the water in
the boiler, and a rod or arm in connection with the float, which rod transmits
the movement occasioned by the rise or fall of the float to a needle, or hand
placed in.a box.on the exterior of the boiler, which needle acts upon an index
or sliding, scale. The rod or arm passes from the float to the needle through
a-tube which is screwed at one end to a stuffing box (of one piece with the
exterior, box), and has a bronze box screwed on to its other end, which box

page_text: serves as support to the arm or rod, and has large lateral openings through
which the water passes, nuts (made of bronze) and washers secure the tube at
its entrance to the boiler. One washer is soldered to the rod, and bearing
upon the bottom of the stuffing box stops its plunge. The other is moveable,
and pressing upon the fixed one arrests the action of the stuffing box, which
by its pressure might otherwise act as a break upon the fixed washer, and
prevent the rod turning. The motion of the needle or hand which is attached
to the rod is transmitted to an indicator furnished with a slide, in which
passes a button fixed on the end of the needle. The arm passing through the
needle renders its movement vertical, making the scale or index rise or fall
by the action of the button in the slide, the centre of the button being on the
axis of the circle described by the needle. By the play of this apparatus every
change in the level of the water in the boiler may be easily and exactly read
and verified from the exterior.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Jean Jules Varillat in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEAN JULES VARILLAT, of Rouen, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date' the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Jean Jules Varillat, Her special licence that I, the said
William Jean Jules Varillat, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Jean Jules Varillat, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might' make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN APPARATUS INDICATING THE LEVEL OF WATER IN STEAM
CALDRONS OR BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Jean Jules Varillat, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention and in

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Jean Jules Varillat, 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 Sheet of
Drawings forming part of this my Specification, and to the figures and
letters of reference placed thereon :-
The defective construction of the water guages now in use, which is such
as to necessitate the employment of two or three different systems mutually
checking each other, (and which, from the frequent regulating and repairing
they require, become very costly, and are even dangerous when the engine
driver or stoker is not under strict supervision,) having long engaged my
attention, I have been led to the construction of the apparatus herein-after
described, which may be applied to the steam boiler alone, it not requiring
checking by any other system of water guage, as its accuracy may be verified
at any moment; it will last an indefinite time without needing repair, and the
facilities of examination are very great, as the index is visible at a hundred
paces, and is placed before the boiler where the glass tube is placed, and at
the same time above the boiler on a double-faced dial, thus giving a treble
indication.
The nature of my Invention and its application will be better understood by
reference to the Sheet of Drawings, on which Figure 1 shews a vertical projec-
tion of a steam boiler furnished with my water guage (which I term a “precise
indicator,"). on the dial of which the index marks the proper level of the water
in the boiler, that is to say, about four inches above the extreme height of
the vent holes; t, pipe, serving to empty and cleanse the tube, through which
passes the rod, to which the movement of the float is communicated by means
of the small valve S, which on pushing the button opens a passage to the
water or steam from the boiler, accordingly as the water is above or beneath
the tube, offering a simple method of verifying the proper action of the appa-
ratus; b, spherical float, one half of its diameter dipping in the water. Figure 2,
horizontal projection of said apparatus; C, rod, receiving motion from the
float according to the variations of the water level, and transmitting the move-
ment to a needle a placed in the exterior box. This rod traverses, firstly, a
stuffing box d of one piece with the exterior box; secondly, a tube e screwed
to the stuffing box; thirdly, a cast iron or bronze box f screwed to the extre-
mity of the tube e, serving to support the rod C, while allowing the water to

page_text: pass through two large lateral openings; n; n', nuts screwed on to the tube e,
.making joint on the iron plate by means of. two.washers, so as to solidly fix
the said tube at its passage into the boiler; ; ; two washers, one of which is
soldered upon the rod C, and bearing upon the bottom of the stuffing box,
prevents its being forced in; the other in bronze is moveable, and resting in a
retreat in front of the soldered washer in such wise as to divert from this
latter the pressure exercised by the stuffing box in retaining the mass of tow,
and avoiding as much friction as possible; the result is such that no matter
what the pressure of the screws, the action of the rod C remains always as free
as if it passed through no stuffing box. The effect of the washer soldered to
the rod is; firstly, to prevent any variation backward or forward of the rod C;
secondly (the pressure of the boiler being from within to without), this washér
presses on the free one, the which communicates its pressure to the stuffing,
and I prevents any running from the stuffing box, even when the pressure is
insufficient or entirely relaxed. Figure 3, interior view of the box of the
apparatus, the dial being removed; a, needle attached to the rod C;. its move-
ment is transmitted to a bronze index bearer P furnished with a slide, in
which passes a button fixed to the end of the needle; P, index bearer; moved
by the needle, its motion rendered vertical by the rod L, which passes
through it, makes the index placed at the point O follow all the movements
communicated by the button which traverses the slide. The dotted lines shew
all the positions occupied by the slide in rising and falling, as well as the
button, the centre of which is on the arc of the circle described by the needle a.
The dotted lines of the float shew the angle formed by the line from the
centre to the point where it is attached and that of the needle, the button of
which is always level with the water in the boiler, and consequently the
index J, Figures 1 and 2, notwithstanding its vertical movement. Figure 4,
elevation of a dial, which is the reproduction of the divisions marked on the
indicating dial, Figure 1. This dial is at the top of a hollow column fitted
above the box of the apparatus. An iron wire which is attached at the bottom
to the index bearer P, supports an index placed so as to reproduce with fidelity
upon the upper dial the indications marked upon the lower. The upper dial
has a double face, and is placed high enough to be seen from the top of the
boiler; Figure 5, vertical and horizontal view of a tubular float, which instead
of being spherical like that shewn at b, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is composed of
two or more tubes, permitting it therefore to be placed in a tubular boiler,
marine, locomotive, or other the rows of tubes within which would not permit
the spherical float to displace sufficient water. This application will be found
of great service, as it allows the suppression of glass tubes; and by 'the pre-

page_text: ceding it will be obvious that my apparatus as a whole forms a complete
innovation and novel application, inasmuch that no complete apparatus has yet
existed which could take the level of the water within steam boilers at the
point where it is most desirable to ascertain it as in marine boilers, where the
pitching of the vessel makes the water level, as indicated by the glass tube,
vary enormously, when in reality it varies very little in the centre of the boiler,
nor possessing a perfectly tight stuffing box, which nevertheless gives free
play to the rod which transmits motion from the interior to the exterior, fur-
nished with a tube and verificating valve, which never runs or leaks like taps,
and which permits to escape beneath the fire-place liquid and steam from the
boiler, so that the indication upon the dial may be verified at each instant by
letting off water or steam, accordingly as the water is above or below the tube
within the boiler; and, lastly, giving, by means of a supplementary dial, two
other indications above the boiler itself. The vertical and rectilineal indicator
is also a novel application.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
I carry it into effect, I would have it distinctly understood that I do not con-
fine myself to the exact details herein given.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jean Jules Varillat, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
WILLIAM JEAN JULES VARILLAT. (L.S.)
Je certifie véritable la signature
de M Varillat,
PAMEL, Aine,
Graveur,
Cours Boieldieu, à Rouen.