IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC STEAM-TRAPS.
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Wilkins at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1883. Communicated to him
from abroad by Albert Gimbel manufacturing engineer of Berlin Kingdom of
Prussia, Empire of Germany.
.
THOMAS WILKINS, consulting engineer & patent-agent, of 19 Lyndhurst Road
in the Parish of Camberwell in the County of Surrey. IMPROVEMENTS IN
AUTOMATIC STEAM-TRAPS. [Communicated to him from abroad by Albert Gimbel
manufacturing engineer of Berlin Kingdom of Prussia, Empire of Germany.]
This invention relates to that class of steam-traps in which the expansion of a
liquid, caused by the temperature of the steam, closes the inlet; which inlet opens
again when the said liquid contracts in consequence of the reduction of temperature
which accompanies the condensation of the steam.
.
This invention however differs very widely from all previous steam-traps of this
kind, both in its construction and in the application of the laws of the dilation and '
contraction of liquids. Hitherto liquids of low boiling points, such as alcohol, have
been used; and that portion of the apparatus which contained the said liquid was
not entirely filled. Moreover, the heat of the incoming steam not merely expanded
the liquid, but caused it to evaporate; and thus the expansive force of the vapour
of the liquid, not that of the liquid itself, was used to close the inlet by means of a
flexible diaphragm.
These improved automatic steam-traps consist of hollow vessels with suitable
inlet and outlet openings. The inlet openings are so arranged and constructed as
to form seats for boxes which contain the expansible liquid. These boxes are
guided and supported by suitable guides & supports in the hollow vessels. The
said boxes are constructed with strong sides of suitable metal, while one or both
of their ends are of thin flexible sheets of suitable metal The said boxes are
entirely filled with any liquid of high boiling point, such as turpentine, and when
filled are hermetically sealed.
As soon as steam enters the said hollow vessels the liquid in the said boxes is
expanded and forces outwards their flexible end or ends. And if the dimensions of
the whole apparatus are suitably proportioned, the inlets of the hollow vessels will
be closed by the boxes becoming forced against them in consequence of the said
expansion, and thus the further admission of steam will be prevented;

page_text: After a time the steam in the said hollow vessels will have condensed; and the
temperature having been thereby lowered the expanded liquid in the .boxes will
have contracted, and the inlets of the hollow vessels will again be open This will
allow any water of condensation which may have collected in the inlet pipes to
flow into the hollow vessels and pass away through the outlet pipes. But as soon
as the water of condensation has passed and steam again enters the hollow vessels
the liquid in the boxes again expands and the hereinbefore described operation is
repeated.
The forms and dimensions of these improved steam-traps may be as varied as
required.
These improved steam-traps may also be constructed so as to consist of hollow
vessels partitioned by flexible diaphragms on one side of which are chambers
containing the aforesaid expansible liquid while the chambers on the other side have
suitable inlets and outlets; the said inlets being so arranged as to be closed when
the diaphragms are forced against them by the expansion of the liquid due to the
heat of the entering steam. The action is practically the same as when boxes are
used as hereinbefore described.
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