IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING AND APPLYING APPARATUS FOR INDICATING, RECORDING, AND GIVING ALARMS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stevenson Symington, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Telegraph Engineer, for the.
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING AND APPLYING APPARATUS FOR
INDICATING, RECORDING, AND GIVING ALARMS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CHANGE
OF TEMPERATURE.
"
ealed the 21st April 1874, and dated the 27th October 1873.
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stevenson
Symington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his,
✓ Petition, on the 27th October 1873.
:
I, ROBERT STEVENSON SYMINGTON, of Glasgow, in the County of:
Lanark, North Britain, Telegraph Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING AND:
APPLYING APPARATUS FOR INDICATING, RECORDING, AND GIVING ALARMS ON THE
OCCURRENCE OF CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE," to be as follows, that is to
say:
F
This Invention has for its chinat to annly electric on

page_text: In carrying out the Invention a mercurial column, arranged as in a
thermometer or otherwise, is used with a platinum or other suitable wire
arranged to communicate with the lower part of the mercury, whilst a
second similar wire is adjusted in the tube so as to be reached by the
mercury when the temperature attains a degree fixed upon. The wires
are connected to a galvanic battery, and the mercury completes the
circuit on being expanded and reaching the upper wire. The wires are
connected to what is known to clectricians as a trembling electric bell,
which sounds an alarm as long as the current. passes through the wire.
The mercury tube is formed with a bend, arranged so that the point
corresponding to the temperature at which it is wished the circuit shall
be closed is at or near the bottom of the bend, and the wire entering the
bulb is continued into the tube, and down one side of the bend.
An important use of my improved apparatus will be to give alarm in
case of fire, and when fire occurs near one of the thermometers the heat
may very soon be intense enough to burst the bulb. The bursting of
the bulb would cause the opening of the electric circuit, and consequent
discontinuance of the ringing of the alarm bell, were it not that the
bend will retain sufficient mercury to keep the two wires in metallic
connection.
In some cases a number of separately insulated wires may be fixed in
one mercury tube, with their ends at points corresponding to different
temperatures, and these wires may be connected to suitable electric indi-
cating or alarm apparatus, so as to givé indication or alarm at different
temperatures in succession.
The same arrangement is also applicable for recording successive
changes of temperature.
Instead of the mercury tube being arranged as herein-before described,
it may be made with an open mouth at a point corresponding to the
temperature at which it is wished that the indication or alarm shall be
given. A small cup is in this case provided with the two electric wire
points in it, and when the prescribed temperature is. exceeded some
mercury exudes from the tube, and falling into the cup forms a metallic
connection between the wires, and so completes the circuit.
By this Invention also mercury is hermetically enclosed in small glass
bulbs when heated to certain temperatures; and a bulb. being placed in a
small cup having the electric wire points in it the bulb bursts on being

page_text: subjected to a temperature exceeding that at which it was enclosed, and
the mercury forms a metallic connection between the wires.
·
When it is wished to obtain indications or alarms on the temperature
being lowered to a certain point, the well-known arrangement may be
used in which mercury is combined with alcohol or other suitable imper-
fectly conducting fluid; and in this case one of the wires is adjusted in
such fluid so as to be reached by the mercury when the temperature
becomes low enough, the other wire being always in the mercury.
In addition to the herein-before mentioned application of the com-
bined thermic and electric apparatus for giving alarms in cases of fire,
various other important applications may be made of it, as, for example,
in breweries, distilleries, oil refineries, and chemical works, for drawing
attention to unsuitable changes of temperature in liquids undergoing
fermentation, distillation, or other processes; and in grain or other
stores or warehouses and ships' holds, to draw attention to elevations of
temperature threatening injury to the grain or other commodities stored
or carried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Stevenson Symington in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
STEVENSON SYMINGTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Telegraph Engineer, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Stevenson Symington,
Her special licence that I, the said Robert Stevenson Symington, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Stevenson Symington, 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

page_text: of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING AND APPLYING
APPARATUS FOR INDICATING, RECORDING, AND GIVING ALARMS ON THE OCCURRENCE
OF CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Stevenson Symington, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands i
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 Robert Stevenson Symington, do
'hereby 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to apply electric or galvanic
currents in various improved ways for indicating, recording, and giving
alarms on the occurrence of change of temperature.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
'the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
examples of my improved apparatus and arrangements. In these
Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or
-like parts wherever they are repeated.
In carrying out my Invention, according to one modification, shown s
in Figure 1, a mercurial column 1, arranged as in a thermometer tube 2,
'or it might be otherwise, is used with a platinum or other suitable
wire 3, arranged to communicate with the lower part of the mercury 1
by being fused into the glass of the bulb, whilst a second similar wire 4
is adjusted in the tube 2, so as to be reached by the mercury when the
temperature attains a degree fixed upon. The mercury tube 2 is by
preference made with the bore enlarged near the bulb, which tends to
prevent the mercury from becoming separated on a reduction of tem-
perature taking place. An enlargement is also made at the upper end
of the tube 2 to provide space for the expansion of the mercury at high
temperatures. The platinum or other fine wires 3, 4, entering inside of
the tubo are externally connected with copper wires 5, 6, by being

page_text: .
bound against the outside of the tube with a few convolutions of the
latter, and these latter are connected with screw studs 7, 8, to which the
'electric or galvanic circuit wires 9, 10, are secured. The parts are
mounted on a wooden medallion or block 11, convenient for being fixed
3 against a wall, the tube 2 being set in a cavity formed for it in the
block, and having paraffin by preference run round and over it to pro-
téct it and make it less liable to be tampered with. A label is placed
outside showing the nature and use of the instrument, whilst the bulb is
exposed to the action of heat under a small perforated protecting cap.
The wires 9, 10, are connected to a galvanic battery, and the mercury
completes the circuit on being expanded and reaching the upper wire 4.
The wires 9, 10, are also connected to what is known to electricians as a
trembling electric bell, which continues to sound an alarm as long as the
current passes through the wires.
In some cases a number of separately insulated wires 4, 4, may be
'fixed in one mercury tube 2, as shown in section in Figure 2, with their
inner ends at points corresponding to different temperatures, and theso
wires may be connected to suitable electric indicating alarm apparatus,
'so as to give indication or alarm at different temperatures in succession.
:
. The same arrangement is also applicable for recording successive
changes of temperature.
Instead of the mercury tube 2 being arranged as herein-before
described, it may be made, as shown in Figure 3, with an open mouth 12
at a point corresponding to the temperature at which it is wished that
the indication or alarm shall be given. A small cup 13 is in this case
provided with the two points 3, 4, in it, and when the prescribed tem-
'perature is exceeded some mercury exudes from the tube 2, and falling
'into the cup 13 forms a metallic connection between the wires 3, 4,
and so completes the circuit.
.
An important use of my improved apparatus will be to give alarm in
case of fire, and when fire occurs near one of the thermometrical
detectors, such, for example, as that shown in Figure 1, and' herein-
before described, the heat may very soon be intense enough to burst the
bulb. The bursting of the bulb, by letting out the mercury, would
cause the opening of the electric circuit, and consequent discontinuance
of. the ringing of the alarm bell. This may however be prevented by
arranging the mercury tube 2, as shown in section.in Figure 4, that is,

page_text: with a downward bend 14, and with the electric wires 3, 4, projecting
down into the bend below the level of the bulb. With this arrangement
there will, on the bulb bursting, be sufficient mercury retained in the
bend 14 to keep the two wires in metallic connection.
By my Invention also mercury is hermetically enclosed in small glass
bulbs when heated to certain temperatures, and a bulb 15 being placed
in a small cup 13, as shown in Figure 5, having the electric wire
points 3, 4, in it, the bulb bursts on being subjected to a temperature
'exceeding that at which it was closed, and the mercury forms a metallic
connection between the wires 3, 4.
When it is wished to obtain indications or alarms on the temperature
being lowered to a certain point, the well-known arrangement may be
used in which mercury is combined with alcohol or other suitable
imperfectly conducting fluid, and in this case one of the wires is
adjusted in such fluid so as to reached by the mercury when the
temperature becomes low enough, the other wire being always in the
mercury.
In addition to the herein-before mentioned application of my com-
bined thermic and electric apparatus for giving alarms in cases of fire,
various other important applications may be made of it, as, for example,
in breweries, distilleries, oil refineries, and chemical works, for drawing
attention to unsuitable changes of temperature in liquids undergoing
fermentation, distillation, or other processes; and in grain or other stores
or warehouses, and in ships' holds, to drawing attention to elevations of
temperature threatening injury to the grain or other commodities stored
or carried.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to
be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging and applying of apparatus for indicating, recording,
and giving alarms on the occurrence of change of temperature in the
improved modes, substantially as herein-before described...
2. The improved modes, herein-before described, of arranging mer-
curial columns so as to complete a metallic electric circuit on certain
temperatures being attained...

page_text: 3. The arranging of electric wire points in different positions in a tube
containing mercury, so that different circuits may be completed on
different temperatures being attained, as herein-before described.
4. The placing of mercury in a receptacle, so as on a certain tem-
perature being exceeded, to issue by an opening or on bursting the
receptacle, and by falling into a cup form a metallic connection between
two electric wires, as herein-before described.
5. The applying of improved apparatus, substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before described, in breweries, distilleries, oil refineries,
chemical works, grain or other stores or warehouses, or ships' holds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stevenson Symington, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
R. S. SYMINGTON. (L.S.)