AN IMPROVED STEAM TRAP
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hilton and Francis Rowland Clarke,
both of Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, for the Inven-
T"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hilton and
Francis Rowland Clarke at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 6th March 1875.
We, WILLIAM HILTON and FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE, both of
Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED STEAM TRAP," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of what are known as "steam
traps," which are employed for allowing of the escape of air and condensed
water from steam pipes, steam chests, or drying cylinders, and at the
same time preventing the escape of steam therefrom.
The Invention is applicable to that class of steam traps wherein the
rising and falling of a hollow copper ball or float in a vessel of water

page_text: closes or opens the aperture of the steam pipo so as to allow the air and
water to escape at intervals without losing the steam, and is intended to
prevent the sticking fast of the plug of the tap which is a frequent
occurrence in such steam traps, and also the choking of the syphon
pipe with dirt that may be contained in the water, cither of which events
would at once stop the action of the steam trap.
C.
We dispense with the plug tap entirely, and in its place we screw or
fix a cylindrical valve box at the end of the steam pipe in which is a
conical valve seating fitted with a conical disc valve attached to a short
hollow stem in the sides of which are openings. This stem is provided
with a quick-threaded screw working in a similar nut formed or fixed in
the interior of the valve box, and thus by turning the hollow stem of the
valve the latter is either opened or closed so as to open or close com-
munication between the interior of the steam pipe and the inside of the
hollow stem of the valve.
ייך
Outside the valve box the hollow valve stem is curved or bent round
horizontally at a right angle, and to it is attached a tube which thus
serves as a lever to open or close the valve and at the same time serves
as an inlet pipe to the ball or float. The other end of this tube is bent
downwards and attached to the upper part of the hollow ball or float
passing through.an air vessel. fixed to the top of the ball. There is a
small opening leading_from_the_ball_into_this_air_vessel, and an escapo
pipe for the air leading from the top of the same.. Leading from the
bottom of the ball is an S shaped pipe which is of about the same
diameter as the inlet pipe, and is curved upwards round the outside of
the ball and terminates in a discharge opening. The air escapo pipe
above named leads into the upper curve of this S shaped pipe, and in
the lower part of the latter above the bottom of the ball but below the.
line of floatation is a small orifice through which water can be admitted
into the ball.
The action is as follows:-The ball being filled with water which
enters through the orifice last referred to sinks and opens the valve in
the end of the steam pipe. As soon as the steam is turned on the air in
the pipes, steam chest, or drying cylinder escapes through the valve,
and passing by the inlet pipe to the air chamber above the ball escapes
by the air escape pipe before named. The air is then followed by the
water of condensation which forces the water out of the ball up the

page_text: S shaped pipe and discharges it, the steam continuing to drive the water
of condensation through the ball of the S shaped discharge pipe. But
as soon as all the water has been forced out and the steam attempts to
follow, the ball, being lightened, rises up and closes the valve. The ball
then commences to fill again slowly with water and the operation is
repeated as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hilton and Francis Rowland Clarke in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th September 1875. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, William
HILTON and FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE, both of Heaton Norris, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Hilton and Francis Rowland
Clarke, Her special license, that we, the said William Hilton and
Francis Rowland Clarke, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said William Hilton and Francis Rowland
Clarke, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED STEAM TRAP," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Hilton and Francis Rowland Clarke,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Hilton and Francis
Rowland Clarke, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and
accompanying Drawings:-
"
This Invention relates to the construction of what are known as
steam traps," which are employed for allowing of the escape of air and
condensed water from steam pipes, steam chests, or drying cylinders,
and at the same time preventing the escape of steam therefrom.
The Invention is applicable to that class of steam traps wherein the
rising and falling of a hollow copper ball or float in a vessel of water
closes or opens the aperture of the steam pipe so as to allow the air and
water to escape at intervals without losing the steam, and is intended to
prevent the sticking fast of the plug of the tap which is a frequent
occurrence in such steam traps, and also the choking of the syphon
pipe with dirt that may be contained in the water, cither of which events
would at once stop the action of the steam trap.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention we will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be
or may be performed or carried into practical effect; and in order that
the same may be clearly understood we have annexed hereunto a
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof :-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a vertical section taken longitudinally
through our improved steam trap; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same
with the valve box shown in section. a, a, is the vessel; b, b, the ball
or float; and c, c, the syphon pipe.
We dispense with the plug tap entirely, and in its place we screw
or fix a cylindrical valve box d, d, at the end of the steam pipe e, e, in
which is a conical valve seating fitted with a conical disc valve f, f,
attached to a short hollow stem 9, 7, in the sides of which are openings;
this stem is provided with a quick-threaded screw h, h, working in a
similar nut i, į, formed or fixed in the interior of the valve box d, d, and
thus by turning the hollow stem g, g, of the valve the latter is either
opened or closed so as to open or close communication between the

page_text: interior of the steam pipe e, e, and the inside of the hollow stem g, g, of
the valve f,f.
Outside the valve box the hollow valve stem 7, 9, is curved or bent
round horizontally at a right angle, and to it is attached a tube k, k,
which thus serves as a lever to open or close the valve, and at the same
time serves as an inlet pipe to the ball or float b, b. The other end of
this tube is bent downwards and attached to the upper part of the
hollow ball or float b, b, passing through an air vessel 1, 1, fixed to the
top of the ball. There is a small opening leading from the ball into the
air vessel, and an escape pipe m, m, for the air leading from the top of
the same. Leading from the bottom of the ball b, b, is an S shaped
syphon pipe c, c, which is of about the same diameter as the inlet
pipe k, l, and is curved upwards round the outside of the ball and
terminates in a discharge opening at n. The air escape pipe m, m, above
named leads into the upper curve of this S shaped syphon pipe c, c, and
in the lower part of the latter above the bottom of the ball but below
the line of floatation is a small orifice at o through which water can be
admitted into the ball.
The action is as follows:-The ball b, b, being filled with water which
enters through the orifice o last referred to sinks into the position shown
by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and opens the valve in the end of the
steam pipe. As soon as the steam is turned on the air in the pipes,
steam chest, or drying cylinder escape through the valve, and passing
by the inlet pipe k, k, to the air chamber 2, 1, above the ball b, b, escapes
by the air escape pipe m, m, before named. The air is then followed by
the water out of the ball b, b, up the S shaped syphon pipe c, c, and
discharges it, the steam continuing to drive the water of condensation
through the ball and the S shaped discharge pipe. But as soon as all
the water has been forced out and the steam attempts to follow, the ball,
being lightened, rises up and closes the valve. The ball then commences
to fill again slowly with water and the operation is repeated as before,
and it will be evident that every time the steam blows through the trap
cleans itself.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as our Invention, the improved steam trap herein-beforo

page_text: described and represented by the Drawings annexed; and especially we
claim the adaptation to steam traps of this class of the disc valve
actuated by a quick-threaded screw in connection with the hollow stem
of the ball or float.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Hilton and Francis
Rowland Clarke, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
WILLIAM HILTON.
(L.S.)
Witnessed by
JOHN HUGHES,
FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE. (L.S.)
Clerk to Geo. Davies, C.E.,
Patent Office,
4, St. Ann's Sq.
Manchester.