IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRI- CATING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES, STEAM HAMMERS, AND OTHER MECHANISM IN WHICH STEAM IS THE MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wilson, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRI-
CATING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES, STEAM HAMMERS, AND OTHER
MECHANISM IN WHICH STEAM IS THE MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 17th May 1870, and dated the 20th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th November 1869.
I, HENRY WILSON, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LUBRICATING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES, STEAM HAMMERS, AND OTHER
MECHANISM IN WHICH STEAM IS THE MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to a lubricating apparatus by which the
steam used for driving engines and other steam machines is thoroughly
impregnated with grease or fatty matter before entering the engine, and
is so constructed that any kind of material in which fat exists can be
used, and in my experiments I have used with perfect success tallow,

page_text: suet, waste fat, or fatty bodies of any kind, greasy waste, washings of
greasy dishes, and anything containing grease of any kind.
The apparatus can be constructed as follows:-I have a cylindrical
vessel of brass or other suitable material, which is turned out smooth
inside and fitted with a lid or valve which is carried by a bar working
on a swivel and fitting into a pin, such lid or valve being raised or
lowered by a screw, which upon the apparatus being required to be
opened is slackened, when the bar being freed at the pin allows the valve
to be turned round, and gives free access to the interior of the apparatus.
At the bottom of the vessel a valve or cock is placed, which is so con-
structed that it controls the passage leading from the screwed part at
the bottom of the apparatus, which is fitted into the steam pipe or other
part of the machine to which the lubricant is supplied. This cock or
valve is also fitted with a passage to allow the spare steam to escape
after closing the ingress of steam and before opening the top lid or
valve for the purpose of replenishing the vessel. I sometimes use a
separate valve or cock for this purpose. The vessel for containing the
matter to be used as a lubricant is a plain cylinder, which may be of tin
or copper, open at the top with a wire bow to lift it out with; this vessel
is wrapped round with hempen cord or any other suitable material, and
fits accurately into the cylindrical vessel, which is slightly tapered to
allow this inner vessel to be easily removed or replaced. The inner vessel
being filled with the matter to be used as a lubricant is placed inside
the vessel, and the valve or lid screwed home, the valve or cock is
opened, and the steam is admitted to the apparatus and passing up
through the hempen wrapping of the inner vessel condenses on the lid of
the apparatus and falling among the contents of the vessel (which are
boiled by the action of the steam) displaces all greasy matter contained
therein, which passes down through the packing, and in this case acts
as a purifier or filter, and in addition to the action of the steami in
clarifying the contents of the vessel ensures a perfectly pure lubricant
being passed into the steam.
I also sometimes perforate the inner vessel if it is required to inject
the lubricant very rapidly into the steam, but for general purposes the
mode described above is quite sufficient.
In the above arrangements the following are important features:-The
adoption of the inner vessel for convenience in filling and removing the
refuse matter when the lubricant has been extracted; the packing or

page_text: filter round the outside of this vessel to ensure the perfect purity of the
lubricant, no matter how impure or dirty the materials from which it is
extracted may be, which is very necessary, for this being the perfect
lubricating and reducing to a minimum the friction in the internal
working parts of steam driven machinery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILSON, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Wilson, Her special
licence, that I, the said Henry Wilson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Wilson, my 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, 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
LUBRICATING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES, STEAM HAMMERS, AND OTHER
MECHANISM IN WHICH STEAM IS THE MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Wilson, my executors or adminis
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Wilson, do licreby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same 'is' to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-

page_text: My improvements refer to the construction and arrangement of that
class of lubricating apparatus for steam engines and other machinery in
which the lubricant is contained in a vessel attached to the steam pipc,
such vessel having an oil passage and connection with such pipe, through
which passage steam enters the lubricant chamber from the pipe, the
oil flowing into the steam pipe from the chamber mingling with or
"greasing" the steam and being conveyed with the steam to all the
mechanism connected with the steam passages.
My present Invention consists primarily in placing within the lubri-
cator chamber an auxiliary vessel for containing the oil, grease, or fatty
matters, which auxiliary vessel serves not only to receive the grease or
other matters and discharge the lubricant, but to hold all residuum
remaining after the oil is separated therefrom.
Having thus far referred to the nature of my said Invention I now
proceed to particularly describe and ascertain the same and in what
manner the same is to be performed or put in practice.
The Drawings represent inside view and in sectional elevation an
apparatus embodying my improvements.
A denotes a metal cylinder or vessel having a screw threaded tube B,
(extending from its bottom,) by which to attach the cylinder to a steam a
pipe. This cylinder A is provided with a lid or cap O hung upon the
bottom of a screw D which works in a nut thread formed in a cross bar E,
said bar resting upon the tops of pins F, G, and swivelling horizontally.
upon one of the pins. By turning the screw in one direction the cap
is forced tightly down upon the cylinder, (a suitable packing being a
interposed between the cap and cylinder to make a steam-tight joint)
and by turning the screw in the other direction the cap is raised from
the cylinder, so that the bar may be swung round on the pin F, to carry
the cap to one side of the cylinder and permit access to the open top
thereof. I do not confine myself to this form of valve or lid and a
fastening, but use other modes as shown in Figures and 3. Within
the cylinder A is the auxiliary vessel H (preferably made like a bucket
with a bail to lift it out of the vessel A), this vessel being open at top,
and its open top being below the top of the vessel A as shown. At the
bottom of the chamber in the cylinder A (or in the tube B) is a valve a
or valve cock K controlling a small steam and oil passage L leading
from the vessel through the tube B into the steam pipe. The bucket or
vessel H being filled with refuse grease or other fatty or oil containing

page_text: matter is placed in the chamber or cylinder A, and the cap is swung
around over the cylinder and forced tightly down upon it by the
screw D. The cylinder having been thus made tight at top the cock K is
opened and steam from the steam pipe rushes into the cylinder, heating
the vessel H, and more or less melting or liquifying the contents of the
.vessel. As the steam condenses on the under surface of the lid or
cover C the water of condensation drops into the vessel H and sinks to
the bottom thereof, and by displacing the liquid oil in the vessel said
oil overflows and runs down the outside of the vessel, and finally passes
through the steam and oil passage L into the steam pipe "greasing the
steam," which acting as the vehicle conveys the oil to all the parts
connecting with the steam pipe and needing lubrication. To filter the
lubricant flowing over the vessel H and down its sides I wrap or wind
round the vessel cords or other suitable fibrous material N, through
which the lubricant percolates, and under the vessel between it and the
passage into the cock K a fibrous packing N may be interposed, such
packing being preferably covered with a piece of wire guaze. It will be
obvious that the vessel H may be charged with very coarse or refuse
grease or oil containing matters, and that after the melting of all tho
oil therefrom and the displacement and overflow of this oil the residuous
or non-fatty or solid matters will remain in the vessel H, from which
they are readily removed by loosening and swinging the cap aside, and
lifting out the vessel H, which being emptied is recharged and returned
to the cylinder and enclosed within it as before.
It will also be obvious
around the vessel H,
that by the employment of the filtering packing
only the pure thin oil, freed wholly from foreign matter can pass into
the steam pipe. The extent of supply of the oil is readily regulated by
opening the cock K more or less, and the cylinder may have a blow-off
cock O for blowing off excess of steam.
The apparatus thus made is very simple, enduring, and inexpensive,
easy to regulate, and liable to no derangement, and is adapted for the
using of any material containing fatty matter or grease, and more
especially crude and refined parafine.
If it be required to inject the lubricant very rapidly into the steam,
I can, if it be desired, perforate the inner vessel, but for general purposes
the mode described above is quite sufficient.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same may be

page_text: performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim, the
Invention of the herein-before described "Improvements in Lubricating
Apparatus for Steam Engines, Steam Hammers, and other Mechanism
in which Steam is the Motive Power," and particularly the combination
with the cylinder A. and its attaching tube B, valve or cock K, and lid
or cap C, the auxiliary lubricant vessel H, substantially as shown and
described.
Also, in combination with the vessel II a fibrous packing wound around
or surrounding the vessel H, substantially as shown and described.
Also, in combination with the vessel H the packing or filter N inter-
posed between the bottom of the vessel and the outlet passage from the
cylinder chamber, substantially as described.
Also, the adoption of this vessel for use of crude or refined parafine
for the purpose of greasing or lubricating the interior parts of steam
machinery.
In witness whereof, I; the said Henry Wilson, have hercunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
ARCHIBALD ELLIOTT,
Raglan Terrace,
Stockton-on-Tees.
HENRY WILSON. (L.S.)