Improvements in water-gauges.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Dec
1894
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1895-Accepted, 13th July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1895-Accepted, 13th July, 1895
Improvements in
water-gauges.
We, JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON and JOSEPH HOPKINSON, both of the Firm of
J. Hopkinson & Co. Ld., of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
This invention relates to water-gauges of the kind or class described in the
Specification of prior Letters Patent granted to us No. 6141 dated 22nd April
A.D. 1890, that is to say, to water-gauges having balls or valves in the steam and
water-arms to prevent the escape of steam and water when the gauge-glass breaks,
and having a communication between the steam and water-arms of the gauge
supplementary or additional to that afforded by the gauge glass. This supple-
mentary communication is hereinafter termed the "back tube."
The chief object of the present invention is to prevent the possibility of forcing
the ball in the steam arm to its seat and thus closing the passage leading to the
gauge-glass by a sudden rush of water when the cock of the water-arm is turned to
open the communication with the boiler after a new gauge-glass has been inserted,
or after the glass has been emptied of water by blowing through with steam or
otherwise. We at the same time provide a communication through the back tube
between the steam and water arms and the try cock when the cock in the water
arm has been turned to close the communication to the boiler. In this gauge, the
ball in the upper arm is, when the gauge-glass breaks, closed solely by the
steam pressure without any assistance from the water rising in the back-tube.
For carrying out our invention we so provide that the communication that exists
between the back tube and water arm shall be closed before the communication
through the water arm between the gauge-glass and the boiler is opened. We
may do this in several ways. For example we sometimes arrange the cock of the
water-arm at or near the junction of the back tube and the passage through the
water-arm, and we so construct and arrange the said cock that when the thorough-
fare in the water arm leading to the boiler is closed there is a communication
between the steam and water-arms and the try-cock, and when the said cock is
turned to open the communication between the boiler and gauge-glass the communi-
Moreover the
cation between the back tube and water arm is thereby closed.
cock of the water arm and the back tube are so arranged that both the aforesaid
communications cannot be open at the same time.
Another mode of accomplishing the same end is by having a cock arranged
at the aforesaid junction and providing an additional thoroughfare in the water-arm
to form a communication through the plug of the cock between the gauge-glass
and back tube when the cock is turned to close the communication with the boiler.
The said additional thoroughfare in the water-arm and the back tube are closed
by the cock when the latter is turned to open communication with the boiler.
Other modifications may be employed for accomplishing the same object.
The back tube serves the purpose as heretofore of allowing the steam to be
blown through the steam arm and gauge-glass without any liability to blowing the
upper ball or valve to its seat and retaining it there. When the cocks in the steam
and water-arms are closed, the gauge-glass and back tube can be drained by
opening the try-cock; the balls then fall away from their seats.
Dated this 8th day of December 1894.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: improvements in Water-gauges.
We, JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON and JOSEPH HOPKINSON, both of the Firm of
J. Hopkinson & Co. Ld., of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Engineers,
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 water-gauges of the kind or class described in the
Specification of prior Letters Patent granted to us -No. 6141 dated 22nd April
A.D. 1890, that is to say, to water gauges having a ball or valve in the steam-arm
and also in the water-arm to prevent the escape of steam and water when the
gauge-glass breaks, and having a communication between the steam and water-arms
of the gauge supplémentary or additional to that afforded by the gauge-glass.
The tube forming this supplementary communication is hereinafter termed the
back-tube.
The chief object of the present invention is to prevent the possibility of forcing
the ball in the steam-arm to its seat (and thus closing the passage leading to the
gauge-glass) by a sudden rush of water when the cock of the water-arm is turned
to open the communication with the boiler after a new gauge-glass has been inserted,
or after the gauge-glass has been emptied of water by blowing through with steam
or otherwise.
For effecting this object we so provide that the communication that exists
between the back-tube and water-arm shall be closed before the communication
through the water arm between the gauge-glass and the boiler is opened. In this
gauge therefore the ball in the upper arm is, when the gauge-glass breaks, closed
solely by the steam pressure without any assistance from the water rising in
the back-tube. In our improved gauge a communication is provided through the
back-tube between the steam and water-arms-and the try-cock when the cock in the
water-arm bas been turned to close the communication to the boiler. So that when
the cocks in the steam and water arms are turned to close the thoroughfare leading
to the boiler and the try-cock is opened the steam and water-arms, and back-tube
and gauge-glass can be completely drained.
In the accompanying drawings we have shown partly in side elevation and
partly in central section three water-gauges constructed according to our invention.
"Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A is the steam-arm; B is the water-arm; C is the gauge-glass; D. is the back-
tube; and E is the try-cock. Fis the cock in the steam-arm; G is the cock/in
the water-arm; and H is the ball in the steam-arm for closing the thoroughfare
leading to the gauge-glass when the said glass breaks. This valve-normally-rests
on the upper end of the back tube 'as indicated by the full lines. K is the ball in
the water arm arranged and operating as described in the Specifications of previous
Patents granted to us.
Referring now to Figure 1, 'the cock G is in the construction there shown placed
at the junction of the thoroughfare leading from the back-tube with that through
the water arm leading from the boiler to the gauge-glass, and the said cock is
furnished with a straight 'through passage gas beretofore and also with a
passage.g leading out of the through passage.g to the side of 'the cock. The cock
is shown in the ordinary working position, that is to say, in the position it occupies
when the gauge-glass is indicating the water level in the boiler. In this position
of the cock the lower end of the back-tube is seen to be closed and the water from
the boiler cannot enter said tube. The tube is then empty or contains only
condensed steam which finds its way therein at the top. The said 'tube will not

page_text: therefore be liable to become choked by deposit 'as might happen were 'the boiler
water allowed to remain therein.
To close the thoroughfare through the water arm 'from the boiler to the gauge-
glass the handle of the cock G is 'turned 'to the left. When the said handle 'is so
urned, the back-tube is placed in communication with the gauge-glass through
the passages g, g. If now the try cock E is opened, the back tube will be drained.
When the cock G is turned 'back to its working position the communication with
the back-tube is closed again before that with the boiler is opened so that water
cannot enter the back tube from the boiler through the water arm and the ball H
will not be driven to its seat h. The cock G is preferably provided with a stop to
prevent its being turned to the position where all three thoroughfares through the
cock riz. that to the boiler, that to the gauge-glass, and that to back-tube would
be open at the same time.
In the modification of our invention illustrated in Figure the cock G is
provided with one through passage g only; the water arm however is provided
with an additional thoroughfare & leading from the lower side of the chamber in
which the cock G works to the chamber below the gauge-glass. By turning the
cock G from the working position through an angle of 90° the back-tube is placed
in communicated with the gauge glass and try-cock through the thoroughfare b
and can then be drained, while the thoroughfare through the water-arm from the
boiler to the gauge glass is closed. It will be seen that with this construction
the back-tube cannot be placed in direct communication with the boiler through
the water arm.
J is a removable plug in the water arm in line with the back-tube; on removing
said plug a cleaning rod can be introduced for the purpose of cleaning the back-
tube.
The construction shown in Figure 3 is the same as that shown in Figure 2 with
the exception that the positions of the try-cock and plug J are interchanged.
One advantage of this construction is that the steam blows through the thorough-
fare when the try cock is opened. The back-tube can be cleaned by the
introduction of a cleaning rod through the try cock and cock G when the said
cocks are turned to the proper position and the cock in the steam arm is closed.
The handle of the cock in the water arm in the two constructions shown in
Figures 2 and 3 may be placed up or down, and may be turned completely round
without interfering with the proper working of the gauge.
The back tube serves the purpose as heretofore of allowing the steam to be
blown through the steam-arm and gauge-glass without blowing the upper ball or
valve to its seat h and retaining it there. When the cocks in the steam and
water-arms are closed, the gauge-glass and back-tube can be drained by opening
the try-cock, and the balls fall then away from their seats.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a water-gauge, a supplementary or back-tube so arranged in combination
with the cock in the water-arm that when the said cock is turned to place the
boiler and gauge-glass in communication it shuts off the back-tube from the water-
aim before it opens the communication to the gauge-glass, and when it is turned
to shut the communication with the boiler it opens that between the back-tube,
gauge-glass and try-cock, for the purposes specified.
2. The combination, with the steam and water-arms, of the back-tube and the
cock in the water-arm arranged at the junction of the thoroughfares leading from
the back-tube and gauge-glass to the boiler, said cock having a through passage g
and another passage g₁ leading therefrom, substantially as described and for the
purpose specified.
3. The modification of our invention wherein the cock in the water-arm has a

page_text: single through passage arranged in combination with a supplementary thoroughfare b
and the back-tube, substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
4. A water-gauge constructed substantially as described with reference to
Figure 1, or to Figure 2, or to Figure 3, for the purposes specified.
Dated this 17th day of May 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.