IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF STEAM
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rudolph Bodmer, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn,
Lonlon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR REGULATING
THE SUPPLY OF STEAM."-A communication.
Sealed the 18th March 1859, and dated the 25th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rudolph Bodmer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1858.
I, RUDOLPH BODMER, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn, London, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR REGULATING
THE SUPPLY OF STEAM," (being a communication from a foreigner residing
abroad,) to be as follows:-
This Invention is chiefly applicable to those valves which are intended to
regulate the admission of steam to drying cylinders, where the object is to
keep the steam in the drying cylinders as much as possible at a uniform
pressure, which is, in the great majority of cases, very much inferior to that
in the boiler, or in the pipe leading from the boiler.
This purpose is effected by causing the steam in the drying cylinders and
that supplied from the boiler to press in opposite directions upon pistons of
proportional areas, working in cylinders in such a manner that a prepon-
derance of pressure in the drying cylinders will cause the smaller piston

page_text: to move in one direction, and thereby to close the orifice or valve through
which the steam is supplied from the boiler, whilst a preponderance in
the opposite direction will cause the piston to move accordingly, and to
open the said orifice. Or another arrangement of apparatus may be em-
ployed, in which the orifice or passage for the supply of steam is covered
with a weighted valve. The side of the valve acted upon by the pressure of
the steam in the drying cylinders is reduced in diameter, so that the sum of
the pressure produced by the weight, and that produced by the steam in the
drying cylinders, shall be equal, or nearly so, to the pressure of the steam
arising from the boiler. The arrangement last described admits of the
pressure in the boiler and that in the drying cylinders being made to bear any
desired proportion to each other. Other arrangements of apparatus for
carrying out the principles described may be employed, and the improved
valves may, if requisite, be applied for regulating the passage and supply of
various fluids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rudolph Bodmer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RUDOLPHI
BODMER, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto mc,
the said Rudolph Bodmer, Her special licence that I, the said Rudolph
Bodmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Rudolph Bodmer, my 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VALVES FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF STEAM," (being a communication
from a foreigner residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Rudolph Bodmer, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in. what

page_text: 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 Rudolph Bodmer, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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.
This Invention is chiefly applicable to those valves which are intended to
regulate the admission of steam to drying cylinders, where the object is to
keep the steam in the drying cylinders as much as possible at a uniform
pressure, which is in the great majority of cases very much inferior to that in
the boiler, or in the pipe leading from the boiler. This purpose is effected by
causing the steam in the drying cylinders, and that supplied from the boiler,
to press in opposite directions upon pistons of proportional areas, working in
cylinders in such a manner that a preponderance of pressure in the drying
cylinders will cause the smaller piston to move in one direction, and thereby
close the orifice or valve through which the steam is supplied from the boiler,
whilst a preponderance in the opposite direction will cause the piston to move
accordingly, and to open the said orifice; or, instead of enlarging the arca
upon which the steam in the drying cylinders presses, an ordinary valve may
be employed, and the difference between the pressure of the steam supplied
from the boiler and that desired to be maintained in the drying cylinders may
be regulated by loading that area of the valve upon which the steam in the
drying cylinders acts to the required extent by means of levers and weights or
springs, or any other suitable combination of mechanism.
In order that this Invention may be better understood, and moro readily
carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same, reference being
had to the annexed Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, similar parts being marked with the same letters of reference.
In Sheet 1 of Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a vertical section, Fig. 2 a
horizontal section, and Fig. 3 a side view of one of my improved regulating
valves, in which the difference of pressure between the steam supplied from
the boiler and that desired to be maintained in the drying cylinders is effected
by means of two pistons A & A+, the area of the latter being to the area of
the former in the proportion of the pressure of the steam supplied from the
boilers to that required in the drying cylinders. The large piston A+ is
moveable in the cylinder B', whilst the sinall piston A is guided by the bush B,
both of them being made sufficiently steam-tight. The steam is supplied
from the boiler through the pipe or passage C, whilst the pipe or passage D

page_text: is in communication with the drying cylinders; the steam ways B² (see
Fig. 2), admitting of the steam supplied by the boiler making its way to the
pipe D. Now, so long as the pressure of the steam in the drying cylinders
upon the area of the large piston A+, is superior to the pressure of the steam
supplied.by the boiler through the pipe C upon the area of the small piston A,
the latter being formed with a slightly conical seating 1 will close the pipe C,
and cut off all communication with the boiler; but as soon as the pressure
upon the small piston A preponderates, the latter will be raised from its
seating and admit a fresh supply of steam, which will make its way through
the steam ways B³ into the pipe D, and from thence into the drying cylinders.
The apparatus will thus be kept constantly regulated, without at any time
allowing the pressure in the drying cylinders materially to exceed the pre-
scribed limit or to descend below it.
Fig. 4 is a vertical section, Fig. 5 a ground plan, and Fig. 6 a side view of
a modification of the regulating valve, in which a given degree of pressure of
the steam in the drying cylinders is maintained by loading the upper side of
the valve A to the required extent by means of a weight suspended from the
lever A and the pivot A¹. Under these circumstances the steam which
comes from the boiler by the passage C, acts upon the under side of the valve
A, which has its seating at 1, and the difference between the pressure exerted
by it and the pressure exerted by the lever and weight on the opposite side,
regulates the pressure which will be maintained in the drying cylinders, to
which the steam flows through the passago D, for as soon as the pressure in
the drying cylinders diminishes, the valve A will be slightly raised, and admit
a fresh supply of steam until the equilibrium between the pressures upon
the lower and upper area of the valve is once more established. This
construction of valve admits of the relative pressures in the boiler and in the
drying cylinders being regulated at pleasure by simply increasing or diminishing
the weight or the distance of its point of suspension from the fulcrum of
the lever.
Figs. 7, 8, & 9 represent respectively in vertical and horizontal section and
in side view a regulating valve, similar in construction to the above, but in
which the lever and weight, instead of acting downwards, force the valve A
upwards against the seating 1, which is in this case reversed. This modification
of the apparatus admits of the use of a thin picce of steel wire A', instead of
a pivot of considerable diameter as a connection between the lever and the
valve, and consequently effects a very considerable diminution of friction.
In Sheet 2, Figs. 1 & 2, the upper area of the valve A, which is guided by
means of feathers A³ in the cylinder B', is acted upon by the spiral spring A',

page_text: in order to produce the differential pressure, Fig. 2 being a section on the
line b, c; Fig. 3 is a vertical section; and Fig. 4, a horizontal section on the
line b, c, of another modification of the apparatus, in which the valve A is
weighted by weights A suspended from a hoop or ring A².
In Figs. 5 & 6, the former being a vertical and the latter a horizontal
section of the apparatus, on the line b, c, the valve A is weighted by the
weight A, which is guided at the top by a pin or stud A', and rests upon the
valve by means of a pivot A'.
Fig. 7 represents in vertical, and Fig. 8 in horizontal section, through the
line b, c, another modification of the reducing valve, in which the differential
pressure upon the valve A is obtained by the volute spring A', which can be
adjusted to produce a greater or less tension by the regulating screw A³, to
which the washer Aº serves as a nut; this regulating screw is countersunk into
the plate B³, so as to produce a steam-tight fit, and terminates at the top in a
square head for the reception of a key.
Having now described the nature of my improvements in valves for regu-
lating the supply of steam, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that what I claim as the Invention intended to be
secured to me by the abovo in part recited Letters Patent, is,
The combination of parts forming the apparatus for regulating the supply and
pressure of steam, constructed and applied as herein described,
In witness whereof, I, the said Rudolph Bodmer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
year
Witness,
JOHN G. HORNER.
RUDOLPH BODMER. (L.S.)