IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF FLUIDS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Chrimes, of Rotherham, in the County of
York, Brassfounder for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF FLUIDS."
Sealed the 5th June 1857, and dated the 12th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Chrimes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th January 1857.
I, RICHARD CHRIMES, of Rotherham, in the County of York, Brassfounder,
do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF FLUIDS," to be as follows:-.
This Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrangements
of apparatus for regulating the pressure of fluids, such apparatus being more
particularly applicable to the regulating of the fluid pressure in water mains
and service pipes.
According to one arrangement of apparatus, it is proposed to employ a piston
in connection with the ordinary sluice valve at present in use in water mains.
. This piston is so. arranged that the pressure of the fluid will tend to raise it
and open the valve. On the side of the valve on which the pressure is desired
to be reduced is fitted, on to the main, a second piston of larger area than the
first-mentioned one, and these two pistons are connected by means of a lever
in such a way that when one rises the other will fall, and vice versa.

page_text: Supposing the fluid pressure in the main be equal to two hundred pounds and
it is desired to reduce such pressure to fifty pounds, the areas of the pistons
must be so proportioned that when a greater pressure than fifty pounds is
exerted on the second or larger piston it will be elevated, and will consequently
When the
depress the first piston and close or partially close the valve.
pressure on the larger piston is reduced below fifty pounds, the two hundred
pounds pressure acting upon the smaller or valve piston will overcome the
pressure on the larger piston, and so open the valve.
Another modification consists of a valve stem, fitted at each extremity with
a piston working in cylinders cast on the main, and this stem carries also a disc
valve near its middle portion, which rests on a suitable valve seat when closed.
The top or inlet piston is of a smaller area than the bottom or outlet piston,
and the area of the valve is still smaller than either of the pistons. The fluid
acting between the inlet piston and the valve raises that piston, and with it the
valve, it being of larger area than the valve. The head pressure of, say, two
hundred pounds, acts against the inlet piston, while the reduced pressure of,
say, fifty pounds, only acts upon the bottom or outlet piston, the result obtained
being the same as that described with regard to the first arrangement.
A third modification consists of a fixed valve, placed inside the main, the
seat of which is moveable vertically, and is weighted and fitted with a shank
and small piston. The moveable valve seat consists of a short tube working
in a cup leather, which when the pressure exceeds the desired amount is
drawn up by the action of that pressure against the weighted piston and shuts
off the supply. In order to balance or counteract the back pressure of the
fluid on the bottom lip of the tube when its upper lip is against the fixed valve,
it is proposed to bevel or expand slightly the upper lip, and so that there will
be space for the fluid to act in a downward direction upon the valve seat when
closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Chrimes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CHRIMES, of Rotherham, in the County of York, Brassfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Chrimes, Her special license that I, the said Richard Chrimes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Chrimes, 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 term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF FLUIDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Chrimes, 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 Richard Chrimes, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrange-
ments of apparatus for regulating the pressure of fluids, such apparatus being
more particularly applicable to the regulating of the fluid pressure in water
mains and service pipes.
According to one modification of my said Invention, the apparatus consists
of a valve stem, fitted at each extremity with a piston, working in cylinders
cast on the main, and this stem carries also a disc valve near its middle portion,
which valve rests upon a suitable valve seat when closed.
The top or inlet piston is of smaller area than the bottom or outlet piston,
and the area of the valve is smaller than either of the pistons. The fluid
acting between the inlet piston and the valve raises that piston, and with it the
valve, by reason of the piston being of larger area than the valve.
Supposing the fluid pressure in the main to be equal to 200 lbs. and it is
desired to reduce such pressure to 50 lbs., the areas of the pistons must be so
proportioned that when a greater pressure than 50 lbs. is exerted on the larger
or outlet piston it will be forced down, and will consequently depress and
close or partially close the valve. When the pressure on the larger piston is
reduced below 50 lbs., the 200 lbs. pressure acting upon the smaller or inlet
piston will overcome the pressure on the larger piston, and so open the valve.

page_text: A second modification of my Invention consists of a fixed valve placed
inside the main, the seat of which valve is the upper lip of a tube working in
a cup leather, which tube is herein-after described as the tubular valve seat,
and is moveable vertically. The upper lip of the tube is slightly bent outwards
or expanded, and is embraced at two or more opposite points by a forked or
other shaped bridle piece, the upper part of which is fitted with a stem and
small weighted piston working in a cylinder. When the pressure exceeds the
desired amount the piston is forced upwards, taking with it the bridle piece and
the tubular valve seat, which is thereupon brought nearer to or pressed upon
the face of the fixed valve, and the pressure of the fluid is thereby reduced.
The back pressure of the fluid on the area of the bottom lip of the tube will be
more or less balanced or counteracted when the valve seat and valve are in
contact, by the upper lip being, as before described, slightly bent outwards
or expanded.
A third arrangement of apparatus consists of two pistons working in sepa-
rate cylinders, and attached by means of rods to the opposite ends of an
oscillating beam, this apparatus being employed in connection with a valve
similar to the ordinary sluice valve at present in use in water mains. One of
these pistons is so arranged that the pressure of the fluid will tend to raise it
and open the valve.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
The stem B carries at its
pistons D, D', working in
The surfaces of the two
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of my Drawings represents a vertical section of my
fluid-pressure regulator, constructed according to the first described arrange-
ment; and Figure 2 is an external elevation of the same. A is a disc valve,
fitted on to the stem B, and resting on the seat C.
upper and lower extremities, respectively, the two
the short cylinders E and E', cast on the main.
pistons are to be so proportioned to each other (the upper one D being always
smaller than the lower one D¹) that the pressure reduced by the partial
closing of the valve shall maintain the valve at or near the same point, whilst
if the pressure upon the lower piston be increased, by the further opening of
the valve consequent upon an increased head pressure, the lower piston will
be depressed and the valve lowered. On the other hand, if the pressure upon
the lower piston be reduced below a certain amount, previously regulated, the
valve will be further opened. For example, if it is desired to maintain a

page_text: pressure at or about a given amount upon the water in the service pipes, and
there happens to be at any given time a head pressure of greater amount, by
duly proportioning the areas of the two pistons, the head pressure 'upon the
upper piston and the reduced pressure upon the lower piston will so balance
one another, that the pressure upon the water in the service pipes' may be
maintained at or near the required amount. For if the unreduced head
pressure of, say 200 lbs., is acting against the piston D, the arrangement: may
be such, that a pressure of, say 50 lbs., only acting upon the lower piston D¹
will not influence it so as to close it; but when that reduced pressure of 50 lb.
is exceeded, the larger piston will be depressed and will close the valve; and
when the pressure becomes reduced below 50 lb. the action of the head pressure
on the piston D will open the valve more or less, and will conséquently restore
the pressure to the amount for which the apparatus has been constructed.
The several areas of the pistons and valve must obviously be so propor-
tioned, that the unreduced head pressure exerted upon the smaller piston D
will rather more than balance the reduced pressure exerted upon the larger
piston D', and so keep the valve always partially open, except when there is
no water being drawn from the main of service pipe. The relative pressures
on opposite sides of the valve may be indicated by adapting to the main any
convenient arrangement of pressure indicator, as shewn in Figure 2 at F, F¹.
Figures 3 and 4 represent, respectively, in section and elevation, the same
principle applied on a smaller scale to ordinary service pipes, the several parts
being lettered to correspond to Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 5 represents a vertical section of my second modification of appa-
ratus; and Figure 6 is an external elevation of the same applied to a main,
as in Figures 1 and 2.
In this modification the valve A is fixed or stationary, the stem B being
secured into the bottom of the main by a nut, as shewn in the Drawing. C is
the valve seat, which consists of a tube sliding vertically in the cup leathers
at F; F. This tubular valve seat is connected by the bridle piece G with the
small piston D working in the cylinder E. This piston is weighted, as shewn
at H, according to the pressure of fluid required. The back or reduced.
pressure in the main, by acting upon the small piston D, elevates it, and
thereby causes the tubular valve seat to be drawn up more or less (according to
the amount of pressure) towards the fixed valve, so as to reduce the aperture:
for the passage of the fluid therethrough, and so reduce the pressure of
such fluid in that portion of the main behind the valve. It will be obvious.
that this reduced pressure may be adjusted to any required extent by increasing.
or diminishing the weight upon the piston D. The upper lip of the tubular

page_text: valve seat is slightly bent outwards or expanded, as shewn at a, a, for the
purpose of balancing or counteracting the pressure exerted upon the lower lip
at b, b, when the seat is against the valve tube.
Figures 7 and 8 represent, respectively, a vertical section and external eleva-
tion of the same apparatus, adapted to ordinary service pipes, the same letters
of reference indicating the corresponding parts to Figures 5 and 6. In this
adaptation I substitute a spring for the weights which act upon the piston. In
Figure 5 the valve aperture is shewn fully open, whilst in Figure 7 it is
represented as being closed. The strength of the spring in this latter modifi-
cation will regulate the pressure of the fluid.
Figure 1 on Sheet 2 of my Drawings represents a complete side elevation
of a third modification of my apparatus, adapted for working a valvė similar
to the ordinary sluice valve at present in use in water mains; and Figure 2 is a
corresponding vertical longitudinal section of the main, and apparatus connected
therewith. A is the sluice valve, which bears against the seat C, and is-
connected by a link B with the small piston D. This piston works fluid-tight
in the small cylinder E, which opens at its lower end into the main in front of
the valve, so that the head pressure will always be exerted against the under
side of the piston D. A rod K connects the piston D with one end of the
oscillating beam L, working on a fixed centre in the support M, which is
bolted to the upper side of the main. The opposite end of this lever is con-
nected by the rod N with the large piston D¹, working fluid-tight in the
cylinder E¹, the lower end of which opens into the main behind the valve, so
that the reduced pressure will be exerted upon the under side of the large
piston.
The action of this apparatus is similar to that described with reference to
Figures 1 and 3 on Sheet 1 of my Drawings: that is to say, supposing the
head pressure exerted against the under side of the piston D to be equal to
200 lbs., and that it is desired to maintain a reduced pressure of 50 lbs. in the
service pipes, the areas of the two pistons D and D¹ must be proportioned
accordingly, so that the 200 lbs. pressure on the small piston D will rather
more than balance the reduced pressure of 50 lbs. exerted against the under
side of the large piston D¹. When the reduced pressure of 50 lbs. is exceeded,
the large piston D¹ will be clevated, and will depress the piston D and with
it the sluice valve A; and if it be diminished below the regulated pressure,
then the diminished pressure on the piston D₁ will allow that piston to
descend, and thereby draw up and consequently open more or less the sluice
valve A, so as to restore the pressure to the regulated amount.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would 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 said 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 constructions, arrangements, and combinations of appa-
ratus for regulating the pressure of fluids in mains and service pipes, as
herein-before described, and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second, the adjustment of fluid pressure in main and service pipes, by means
of a valve in combination with two pistons of different areas working in
separate cylinders, as illustrated by Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 on Sheet One of
my Drawings, and Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 2 of my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Chrimes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
RICHARD CHRIMES. (L.S.)