IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Houldsworth Grierson, of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and John M°Elroy, of Sale, in the
County of Chester, Clerk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Houldsworth
Grierson and John McElroy at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 12th February 1867.
We, HENRY HOULDSWORTH GRIERSON, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and JOHN M°ELROY, of Sale, in the County of Chester,
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," to be as
follows:
Our Invention refers to arrangements whereby the effect of the governor is
in proportion to the variations in speed. To accomplish this object we make
use of balls which are carried by arms similar to those in ordinary use, but we
adapt links constituting a parallel motion, and the said balls are thus caused
to move in a plane at right angles to the shaft by which they are driven. The
centrifugal action we balance by means of a spring mounted upon the aforesaid
shaft, which shaft also carries a loose screw provided with a nut connected to
a collar which supports the revolving balls; the aforesaid screw is driven by
the engine and carries the nut with it bodily when running at the right speed;

page_text: but if faster or slower then the said nut is caused to travel upon the thread,
and by altering the tension of the spring will permit the balls to fly outward
or to approach each other.
In another arrangement we mount the balls as above described, but in this
instance we balance them by springs placed in arms which extend at right
angles to the shaft; this constitutes an apparatus similar to a Salter's balance,
and as the balls move inward or outward the resistance offered by the spring
is in proportion to the spaces through which they move; to accomplish this,
however, we arrange the said spring so that they would be inert if the centres
of the balls were coincident with the centre line of the driving shaft; if,
therefore, the practical starting point be six inches, for instance, from the said
central line, then the springs will be compressed to an amount due to that
space of six inches.
We also accomplish the same object (the balls being mounted as above
described) by attaching a weighted cord to the sliding collar which com-
municates motion to the throttle valve, and causing the same to pass over a
scroll pulley, the different points of radii in which are calculated to afford
increased or decreased resistance in proportion to the variations of speed in
the engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Houldsworth Grierson and John McElroy in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 12th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, HENRY
HOULDSWORTH GRIERSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, and JOHN MCELROY, of Sale, in the County of Chester, Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry Houldsworth Grierson and John M°Elroy, Her special license that
we, the said Henry Houldsworth Grierson and John M°Elroy, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Houldsworth
Grierson and John M°Elroy, our executors, administrators, 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,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," upon the
condition, amongst others, that we, the said Henry Houldsworth Grierson
and John McElroy, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals.
(or under the hand and seal of one of us), 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 McElroy, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention refers to arrangements whereby the effect of the governor is
in proportion to the variations in speed. To accomplish this we make use of
balls which are carried by arms similar to those in ordinary use, but we adopt
links constituting a parallel motion, and the said balls are thus caused to move
in a plane at right angles to the shaft by which they are driven.
Fig. 1 represents a governor constructed according to our Invention. The
shaft a is provided with a pulley b, which is driven by the engine; upon this
shaft is a fixed collar c provided with liuks d, the other ends of which are
jointed to the usual arms e wbich carry the balls f; the arms e are jointed at
their upper ends to a collar g, which is loose upon the shaft a, and moves up
and down thereon. At h are the lever and rod which impart motion to the
throttle valve. The collar c is furnished on either side with tubes i within
which are spiral springs abutting against pistons formed upon rods k, which
rods are at their other ends formed as forks and connected to the balls f. The
springs balance the centrifugal force, and we so arrange them that they
would be inert if the centres of the balls were coincident with the centre line.
of the driving shaft; if, therefore, the practical starting point be six inches,
for instance, from the said central line then the springs will be compressed to
an amount due to that space of six inches. Motion being communicated to
the shaft a the fixed collar c will be caused to revolve, carrying with it the
balls f, but instead of their moving upward while they fly out, as is usual, the
links d and rods e constitute a parallel motion, and the said balls will move in
a plane at right angles to the driving shaft, and the collar g being. loose will
move upward or downward and act upon the throttle valve through the medium
of the lever and rod h. It has been stated that the springs balance the balls f

page_text: after the manner of a Salter's balance, and as the balls always move in the
same plane an isochronous property is imparted to the governor.
In Fig. 2 the balls are mounted with a parallel motion, as already described,
but in this instance a cord or chain 7 is connected with the moveable collar g,
and passes over a pulley m, a weight n being attached to its other end, which
weight balances the balls in place of the springs in Fig. 1. The pulley m is
formed as a scroll, and the cord or chain as the collar 9 rises or falls bears on
varying radii, whereby the effect of the weight is modified and the centrifugal
force of the balls is balanced in every position of the governor when running
at the right speed.
In Fig. 3 the balls are mounted with a parallel motion, as before, but the
arrangement is inverted, the collar c being fixed and the other collar 9 move-
able; to the latter is connected a link o, which at its other end is jointed to a
lever p turning upon a fixed centre r; the lever p carries a weight q which
is the balance, and this weight may be adjusted upon the said lever; the rod
for the throttle valve is a h.
Fig. 4 shews another arrangement, c being the collar which is fast upon
the shaft, and carrying the parallel motion, as in the formerly described
instances. At g is the sliding collar, to which are attached rods & passing
freely through the collar c, and connected at their other ends to a nut t
mounted on a screw u, loose on the revolving shaft a; between the two
collars c, g, is a spring v which balances the balls. Motion being commu-
nicated to the shaft a, the fast collar c will carry round the sliding collar g and
nut through the medium of the rods 8, the screw u being also caused to revolve
by friction with the out, and, these parts will maintain the same relative
positions for a given speed of the governor, but should that speed increase or
decrease then the nut t will run upon the screw u, and the sliding collar g
will be slidden, the rods s being capable of sliding through the fixed collar c.
In Fig. 5 the stationary collar is at c free to run loose between two flanges
ou the driving shaft, and the moveable collar is at g, between which two parts
is the balancing spring v; to the coilar 9 are fixed rods which pass freely
tbrough the other collar c. Upon the driving shaft is formed a screw u situate
in a nut formed in the collar g; upon an increase or decrease of speed the
screw u will run the collar g backward or forward, the difference between this
and the arrangement shewn at Fig. 4 being that in this instance the screw u
is fast with the driving shaft and acts direct upon the sliding collar.
In Fig. 6 there are two sliding collars 9, 9', with the balancing spring v
between them, and provided with rods e which carry the balls f; each of the
collars g, g', is formed with a nut placed upon screws w, w', the one being

page_text: right-banded and the other left-handed, and formed upon the driving shaft;
as this shaft revolves it carries the balls with it by the friction of the screws
upon their nuts, and when alterations of speed take place the said collars are
caused to approach or recede from each other.
In the Figure just described the centres of the balls are coincident with the
centres of the links constituting with the equal pitched screws a parallel
notion; in the arrangement shewn at Fig. 7 this is not the case, the balls f
being on an extended part of the rods e, and under those circumstances it
becomes necessary to impart a quicker motion to one of the collars 9, 9', than
to the other in order that the balls may move in a constant plane. The two
sliding collars are at g, g', with the balancing spring between them, the said
collars being formed with nuts placed upon screws w, w¹, on the driving shaft,
the screw w being of quicker pitch than w¹, and thus the correction is made for
causing the balls to move in the required plane. The relative pitches of the
screws may in the first place be calculated, but the balls are made adjustable
on the arms for the purpose of correcting any small inaccuracy, and the same
adjustment is adopted in other Figures before referred to.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,
Firstly, the use of the parallel motion constituted by the links, and also
the screws and nuts, above described, whereby the governor balls are caused
to move in a plane substantially at right angles with the driving shaft.
Secondly, the spring balance described in reference to Fig. 1, also the
balance obtained by means of the scroll pulley, Fig. 2.
In witness whereof, I, the said John McElroy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
(L.S.) JOHN MCELROY.