Improvements in Apparatus for Working Water Gauge Cocks for Steam Boilers.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 4th June, 1894
Complete Specification Left. 28th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 30th Mar.,
1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Working Water Gauge Cocks for
Steam Boilers.
I, JOHN HUTCHESON Engineer 125 Crookstone Street Glasgow in the County of
Renfrew do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to the working of water gauge cocks, as applied to
steam boilers, to indicate the height of water in the boiler and its object is to so
regulate the opening and shutting of the three cocks connected with the gauge, that
the plugs of the three cocks are moved simultaneously at the same angular velocity;
and the ports through plugs and gear are so arranged that the operator in giving
the first motion through the first quarter of a circle opens the drain cock and gives
a blow through top and bottom cock both being open. The second motion through
the next quarter of the circle shuts the top cock and blows through the bottom cock
only. The third motion shuts the bottom cock and opens the top one and blows
through the top cock only. The last motion returns the handle to the starting
point closes the drain cock and leaves the top and bottom cock open in working
order.
If my apparatus is applied to water gauges it is impossible, with due application,
for the fireman or engineer in charge of the boiler to be misled as to the true
position of the water by the chocking up of the water or steam ways the source of
many serious boiler explosions. I will now describe the ordinary water gauge cocks
as fitted to boilers with top and bottom cocks attached on to front of boilers and
when open communicating with a glass tube connecting the two cocks. At the
bottom of this tube there is a drain cock cast in one with the bottom gauge cock.
Steam or water will blow out of this drain cock according as the top or bottom
gauge cock is opened or shut, and the danger with this apparatus is that the man in
charge may open the drain cock and when he finds a blow through thinks that both
cocks are free and neglects to test them by shutting first the one and then the other.
But with my apparatus he must go round the whole circuit and thereby this danger
is obviated.
I by preference mount a ratchet wheel on plug of drain cock workable in one
direction only by a handle and also a tooth wheel gearing into an idle wheel which
gears into a tooth wheel on plug of bottom gauge cock. On the plug of top and
bottom gauge cocks are attached pitch chain wheels and connected by a pitch chain
or other suitable band. By this arrangement if the ratchet handle is moved and
the drain cock plug is turned round, the plugs of the other cocks move in the same
direction and at the same angular velocity. By preference I put two water ways
in the plugs of all the three cocks the one above the other communicating with one
port in each branch of cock and these two water ways will be placed at such
an angle to each other as to meet the conditions specified above.
Ond Tune 1801
JOHN HUTCHESON.

page_text: '
Improvements in Apparatus for Working Water Gauge Cocks for
Steam Boilers.
I JOHN HUTCHESON Engineer 125 Crookston Street Glasgow in the County of
Renfrew do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement. :-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for working water gauge
cocks for steam boilers and is illustrated on the accompanying drawings on
which―
Fig. 1 represents in side elevation; and Fig. 2 in front elevation, an arrangement
of the apparatus, applied to a set of water gauge cocks.
Fig. 3 represents a sectional plan of the top cock; and Fig. 4 that of the bottom
cocks.
Fig. 5 represents in elevation a plug having the water-ways on different planes.
I fix, by feather or square, the cogged wheel A, on to the plug B, of the drain
cock C; into wheel A l gear the pawl D jointed to handle E. By this means the
apparatus can only be turned round in one direction; and the operator after
starting must move the plugs through the whole cf a circle in one direction before
he can bring them into working position again. On plug F of bottom cock G I fix
a cogged wheel H of same dimensions and pattern as A; and, by preference, I put
an idle wheel J into gear with wheels A & H; so that the plug F will be turned
round in the same direction as the plug B; but in the case of small gauges I gear
the wheels A & H direct into one another; and arrange the water ways in the
plug F to suit the reversed motion. On to the plugs F & K of gauge cocks G
& L, I, by preference, fix chain wheels M M and connect them by a pitch
chain N; or other suitable band. But in some cases I connect the two plugs F & K
with a shaft and mitre wheels.
By this arrangement, when the handle E is moved the plug B of drain cock C
will be turned round; and the plugs F & K of the cocks G & L will move
simultaneously in the same direction; and at the same angular velocity with B.
By preference I put two water-ways P P in the plugs B, F & K of cocks C, G
& L. Those water ways may be on the same plane -as indicated on Figs. 3 & 4;
or in different planes as in Fig. 5. The two water ways P. P. in each plug will be
placed at such an angle to one another; so as to meet the following conditions viz.:-
When the bottom gauge cock G is open to blow off the drain cock C will be open
and the top gauge cock L shut; when the top gauge cock L is open to blow off the
drain cock C will be open and the bottom gauge cock G shut; and when in
working position the top and bottom cocks G & L will be open and the drain
cock C shut.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner' the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The arrangement of apparatus herein-before described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
2. The arrangement of water ways in plugs of gauge cocks substantially as
described.
Dated this 26th day of February 1895
JOHN HUTCHESON.