IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING PARTS OF MACHINERY EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF STEAM
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th January 1868.-A communication from abroad by Louis
Auguste Gerin, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING PARTS OF
MACHINERY EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF STEAM," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and apparatus
for steam lubrication. The lubrication of surfaces working in steam or
surrounded therewith is always effected with difficulty, the frictional
parts being but imperfectly lubricated, especially in the case of pistons,
cylinders, slide valves, or their faces, which are always moving over a
large extent of surface, while the lubrication being only intermittent
is generally excessive for the moment, but ceases before the introduction
of fresh fatty matters, which is further unnecessary were it not for
the grinding of the unlubricated surfaces immediately they commence
to wear.

page_text: The improved mode of lubrication forming the object of the present
application for Letters Patent consists in the use of steam as a vehicle
for the introduction of the fatty matters in a continuous or regularly
intermittent manner. The lubricant may be applied at any point where
the steam passes before its introduction to the part or parts to be
lubricated.
The lubricating apparatus consists of a cock to be placed between
the steam pipe and the grease cup for cutting off the communication
with the steam, in the stem of which cock fits a solid plug. A groove,
cavity, or channel of the desired dimensions is made at a suitable part
of the solid plug by means of which the plug on being rotated is placed
alternately in communication with the grease cup so as to be filled
therefrom and with the steam pipe for the purpose of discharging the
matters contained therein. The steam in its passage carries with it all
the fatty matters contained in the cavity or channel above mentioned
in a highly subdivided state and serves as a vehicle for lubricating all
the parts or frictional surfaces with which it is brought in contact.
The motion of the plug is maintained either continuously or in an
intermittent manner by the engine or other apparatus employing the
steam by means of a cord or strap, ratchet, or other gearing or
analogous means. By regulating the lubrication by the aid of the
apparatus itself the supply is caused to cease immediately the motion
is arrested when further lubrication is not required; but in certain
cases the motion may be independent of that of the apparatus to be
lubricated and be operated by hand or otherwise.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing shows a vertical section of a lubri-
cating apparatus arranged according to these improvements to which
is attached a cock for introducing and shutting off the supply of steam
thereto, while Figure 2 is an end view, and Figure 3 a plan of the
apparatus. The same letters serve for all the Figures.
A, stem of cock for supplying steam to the lubricator placed between
the generator and the apparatus to be lubricated, the steam passing
up through channel a; B, conical plug of cock; C, reservoir or
grease cup containing the lubricating matter; D, boss for connecting
reservoir C with channel a; E, solid rotating plug mounted in part D
and closing the communication between the reservoir C and channel a;
this plug E is provided with a cavity or channel e; G, pulley for
transmitting motion to plug E actuated by the apparatus, or any other

page_text: means may be adopted for the purpose. The plug E in rotating
alternately presents the channel e for filling to reservoir C, and then to
the channel a for discharging the fatty matter, which is carried away
with the steam passing through A, the supply ceasing immediately the
motion of the apparatus is arrested.
This improved lubricating apparatus may be applied in various ways
according to the nature of each case, the distinctive features of the
Invention consisting in the displacement of the supply cavity by the
rotary motion of the plug and the distribution of the fatty matters by
the steam, all as before described.