IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL CANS OR APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY.
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Miller, of New Lanark, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OIL CANS OR APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY.
Sealed the 16th October 1857, and dated the 11th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Miller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th May 1857.
I, JOHN MILLER, of New Lanark, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OIL CANS OR APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
This Invention relates to mechanical apparatus to be used for lubricating
the working or rubbing surfaces of machinery, in such manner as to afford an
efficient application of the oil, and secure superior economy in the consumption
of the lubricating matter. The cans or oil reservoirs made according to this
Invention are fitted up with clockwork mechanism or spring wheelwork, which
is connected with an air admission valve governing the influx of air to the
interior of the oil chamber. This apparatus operates so as to allow the oil to
escape from the can or chamber only drop by drop; or, by another arrange-
ment, the mechanism works an oil discharge valve direct, so as to regulate the
flow of the oil to a similar end.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JoпN
MILLER, of New Lanark, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Miller, Her special-license-that--I, the said John Miller, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Miller, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the terni 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL
CANS OR APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Miller, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Miller, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to mechanical apparatus to be used for lubricating
the working or rubbing surfaces of machinery, in such manner as to afford an
'efficient application of the oil, and secure superior economy in the con-
'sumption of the lubricating matter. The cans or oil reservoirs made according
to this Invention are fitted up with clockwork mechanism or spring wheel-
work, which is connected with an air admission valve governing the influx of
air to the interior of the oil chamber. This apparatus operates so as to allow
'the oil to escape from the can or chamber only drop by drop; or, by another
arrangement, the mechanism works an oil discharge valve direct, so as to
regulate the flow of the oil to a similar end.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several illustrative Figures on the explanatory Sheet
of Drawings which I have hereunto appended, for the purpose of showing
certain modifications under which my improvements may be judiciously
carried out in practice.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of Drawings is an elevation, partially in section, of one
modification of the improved oil can or apparatus for lubricating machinery
or other similar purposes; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is an
elevation or front view of the mechanism, by means of which the oil is impelled
or caused to flow from the spout of the oil can drop by drop; Figure 4 is a
transverse section, corresponding to Figure 3; Figure 5 is an elevation or
front view of a portion of the mechanical detail; Figures 6 and 7 are sectional
views of the valvular apertures, through which a certain quantity of air is
admitted at regular intervals to the interior of the can or oil vessel.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 on my Sheet of Drawings, the oil can or
vessel A may be either of the shape therein shown or of any other suitable
configuration. The vessel is filled with oil or other lubricating matter by
means of an aperture in the upper part of the can, which aperture is closed
by means of a milled head screw cap, which is made to accurately fit the
tubular aperture, and effectually prevent the egress of air. At the back of
the oil vessel A, a metal box B is fitted, and to the outer part of this box is
attached the handle C. The box B contains a mechanical arrangement, by
means of which a certain predetermined quantity of air is admitted to the
interior of the oil vessel. The mechanical arrangement consists of a barrel
spring, by means of which an escapement movement is made to actuate a
valve, which valve alternately opens and closes two tubular passages, one of
which communicates with the external air, and the other with the inner part
of the oil vessel. The main spring is fitted within the barrel D, in manner
similar to that of an ordinary timepiece or watch; the chain E is attached at
one end to the barrel, and at the other to the fusee F. The fusee gives motion
to the pinion G, on the scape wheel H, and this wheel actuates the anchor
escapement I. The form of the anchor escapement is more clearly shown in
the detail view, Figure 5, the central portion bulges outwards, so as to allow
of an opening or slot being made therein, which admits of the escapement
vibrating on each side of the spindle of the balance wheel J. On the spindle
of the wheel J is fixed a small double pallet K, which strikes against the sides
of the opening in the escapement when acted upon the motion of the balance.
The balance wheel J is similar to that of an ordinary watch, and it is actuated
in like manner by the reaction of the hairspring L. To the upper extremity

page_text: of the vertical part of the escapement I is fitted a valve M; this valve forms
a small air chamber, as shown in transverse section, Figure 4. The valve. M
is a brass box, and has an aperture of an oblong shape made in it on its inner
or working side, as the valve moves to and fro with the motion of the escape-
ment; this opening alternately communicates with the valvular passages N
and O. The air passages N and O correspond externally with the aperture
in the valve M, and one of them communicates with the interior of the oil
vessel, as shown in the vertical section, Figure 6, whilst the other air passage O
is open to the external air, as shown in Figure 7. The pressure of the main-
spring unwinds the chain E off the fusee F, the rotatory motion of which
actuates the pinion G and scape H. The pressure of the scape wheel
against the pallets of the escapement moves its vertical part to and fro, and
thereby causes the aperture in the valve or air chamber M to coincide or
correspond alternately with one of the air passages N or O. In Figure 5, the
opening in the valve M is over the port O, and in Figure 6, it is shown dotted
in between the two ports N and O, the escapement I being in a vertical
position. By this movement the opening in the valve M is brought over or
in coincidence with the air passages, and thus the chamber of the valve M is
alternately in communication with the atmosphere and the interior of the oil
vessel. When the oil can is tilted, for the purpose of pouring oil from the
spout, none will flow, on account of the atmospheric pressure being cut off;
the air contained within the vessel is however rarefied or attenuated. And as
the valve M vibrates to and fro, it admits a small quantity of air of the same
density as the external air, and this being greater than that within the vessel,
a drop of oil falls from the spout. As the quantity of air admitted to the oil
vessel is regulated by the chamber of the valve M, the size of this chamber
must be adjusted to the quantity of oil it is desired to impel from the spout
at each vibration of the escapement. The clockwork may also be arranged
by means of a stop motion, as to be put in action only at the moment the
vessel is being used for lubricating purposes, and when used in this manner
will very rarely require winding up. These improved oil cans or vessels may
be modified in their arrangement, so that the air valve may be made to work
to and fro in the interior of the oil vessel, instead of being in the box B, as
shown in the Drawing. In this arrangement the requisite quantity of air is
admitted to the valve chamber as it passes to and fro over an opening made
through the oil vessel. Oil cans or vessels arranged according to these
improvements are calculated to economise in the most effective manner the
consumption of oil as applied to lubricating purposes, the greater portion of
which, as now applied, is wasted; the consumption of oil for lubricating

page_text: machinery forming in establishments of magnitude an item of no little
importance.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of cans or vessels for
holding oil for the lubrication of machinery, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of impelling or forcing a drop or other pre-
determined quantity of oil or lubricating matter from a vessel by means of the
difference between the external and internal pressure of the atmosphere, as
herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of the differential action arising from the
relative effect of the external and internal atmospheric pressures in discharging
lubricating matter from its containing chamber.
Fourth, the use and application of the mechanical arrangement or arrange-
ments by means of which a specific quantity of air is admitted to the interior
of the vessel at regular intervals, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Miller, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of November, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
JOHN MILLER. (L.S.) '