IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING AND LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINERY
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Attwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
August 1864.
.I, HENRY ATTWOOD, of Wapping Wall, Shadwell, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PACKING AND LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINERY,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in packing and lubricating
parts of steam engines and other machinery. In order to pack the piston rods
of steam engines, and other rods which have to work fluid-tight through a
stuffing box, I employ rings made of soft metal, hollow or tubular, and circular
or elliptical in section. These rings are introduced into the stuffing box one
over the other until the box is full,, and they are made of such a size that they
just fit easily around the piston rod and into the box, then when the gland
is screwed down upon them they become slightly compressed and expand
laterally and a tight joint is made; it is obvious that a continuous spiral may
be used in place of separate rings, but not I believe so advantageously. In
some cases I employ solid rings of soft metal fitting the piston rod, and the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: box as before and each ring having a V-form groove in its upper surface and
about the centre thereof, and another corresponding groove in its under
surface. In putting the rings into the box there is interposed between each
soft metal ring, and the next a hard metal ring of ◊ -form section, so that
when the gland is screwed down the top and bottom angles of the form rings
squeeze the soft metal rings both ontwards and inwards, and so make tight
joints.
For the purpose of lubricating parts of machinery employ a small
reservoir, surrounded with a steam jacket, for the purpose of containing
tallow and keeping it in a melted state. In the reservoir is a cylinder open
at the top and containing a piston, the rod of which is connected with a lever
pivotting conveniently on a fulcrum on the cover of the reservoir. At the
bottom of the cylinder there is a passage into it from the reservoir, and this
passage is furnished with an inlet valve; from the cylinder there is another
passage furnished with an outlet valve and communicating by a pipe to the
part of the engine or machine to which it is desired that the lubricating
matter should be supplied. The lever which actuates the piston is connected
with any moving part of the apparatus, and at each stroke a portion of lubri-
cating material is forced into the part of the machine or engine in which it
is required. By altering the distance from the fulcrum of the connection for
working the lever, the stroke of the piston and the quantity of lubricating
matter supplied may be regulated as desired. This lubricator is very appli-
cable for injecting tallow into the steam pipe or passage of a steam engine to
lubricate the face of the slide, and for injecting grease to and lubricating
bearings into which it is difficult to get lubricating matter in ordinary ways.
by the said Henry Attwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, HENRY
ATTWOOD, of Wapping Wall, Shadwell, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Attwood, Her special licence that 1, the said Henry

page_text: Attwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Attwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PACKING AND LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER
MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Attwood, my executors or administrators, 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 Attwood, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in packing and lubricating
parts of steam engines and other machinery. In order to pack the piston rods
of steam engines and other rods, which have to work fluid-tight through a
stufling box, employ rings made of soft metal, hollow or tubular, and circular
or elliptical in section. These rings are introduced into the stuffing box one
over the other until the box is full, and they are made of such a size that they
just fit easily around the piston rod and into the box, then when the gland
is screwed down upon them they become slightly compressed and expanded
laterally and a tight joint is made. It is obvious that a continuous spiral may
be used in place of separate rings, but not I believe so advantageously.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section of a packing composed of a series of
hollow circular rings, as above described; the rings are composed of a soft.
metal, by preference, such as is now commonly used for forming soft metal
bearings, and, as before mentioned, the internal and external diameter of the
rings before they are compressed by the gland being screwed down upon them,
is such that the rings may fit loosely around the rod to be packed, and also
within the box. These rings I prefer to form from a straight length of tube
of the diameter required for this purpose. I first fill the tube with wax, and
then bend the tube into a ring and solder the ends together. In some cases [
employ solid rings of soft metal fitting the piston rod and the box, as before,
and each ring having a V-form groove in its upper surface and about the

page_text: centre thereof, and another corresponding groove in its under surface. In
putting the rings into the box there is interposed between each soft metal
ring and the next a hard metal ring of ◊-form section, so that when the
gland is screwed down the top and bottom angles of the form rings
squeeze the soft metal rings both outwards and inwards and so make tight
joints. A section of a portion of a packing constructed of a series of rings,
as above described is shewn at Figure 2; the soft metal rings, which have
the grooves in their upper and under surfaces are by preference of soft
metal, such as is now commonly used for soft metal bearings; the rings which
are interposed between them are by preference of steel or iron, though other
metal may be employed. The soft metal rings are by preference cast of the
form desired, and after casting the internal diameter of the rings may be
bored out to fit loosely the rod which it is desired to pack.
For the purpose of lubricating parts of machinery 1 employ a small reservoir
surrounded with a steam jacket for the purpose of containing tallow and keeping
it in a melted state. In the reservoir is a cylinder open at the top and containing
a piston, the rod of which is connected with a lever pivotting conveniently on a
fulcrum on the cover of the reservoir. At the bottom of the cylinder there is a
passage into it from the reservoir, and this passage is furnished with an inlet
valve; from the cylinder there is another passage furnished with an outlet
valve, and communicating by a pipe to the part of the engine or machine to
which it is desired that the lubricating matter should be supplied. The lever
which actuates the piston is connected with any moving part of the apparatus,
and at each stroke a portion of lubricating material is forced into the part of
the machine or engine in which it is required. By altering the distance from
the fulcrum of the connection for working the lever, the stroke of the piston,
and the quantity of lubricating matter supplied may be regulated as desired.
This lubricator is very applicable for injecting tallow into the steam pipe or
passage of a steam engine to lubricate the face of the slide, and for injecting
grease to and lubricating bearings into which it is difficult to get lubricating
matter in the ordinary way.
Figure 3 shews a vertical section, Figure 4, a side view, partly in section,
and Figure 5, a horizontal section of a lubricating apparatus constructed as
above described. a is the reservoir for containing the tallow, which is closed
at the top by a cover a, as is shewn, and is surrounded by a jacket b. Steam
is admitted into the space between the jacket and reservoir by the pipe c, and
is allowed to pass away together with any condensed water by the pipe d; the
tallow in the reservoir is thus kept melted. In place of the tallow in the
reservoir being kept melted by the reservoir being surrounded by a stean

page_text: jacket the tallow in the reservoir may be kept heated by a steam pipe passing
into or through it. Within the reservoir is a force pump composed of a
cylinder e open at the top. and having fitted within it a plunger f: a rod f
from this plunger rises up through a hole bored for it in the cover a of the
reservoir, and at its upper end is connected to the lever g. which is supported.
as is shown, from the cover a' of the cylinder: h is a passage from the bottom
of the reservoir to the bottom of the cylinder: in this passage is an inlet
valve i. from the bottom of the cylinder is also an outlet passage k fitted with
a valve this passage leads from the bottom of the cylinder through the
centre of the screw stem I. by which the apparatus is screwed on to the steam
supply pipe of a steam engine, in order to lubricate the face of the slide, or
on to the top of a bearing or other part of a machine requiring to be lubri-
cated. Tlie lever g is connected by the rod m with any moving part of the
apparatus so as to give to the lever a reciprocating motion, and at each stroke
of the lever a portion of lubricating material is forced into the part of the
machine or engine in which it is required: the lever g has several holes formed
in it at distances apart from each other, as is shewn, so that the rod m can be
connected to the lever at any desired distance from its fulcrum, and by this
means the quantity of lubricating matter supplied may be regulated as
desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Attwood. have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY ATTWOOD. (L..s.)