CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF . LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES, AND OF APPARATUS ATTACHED TO STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE METHOD OF PREPARING AND ADAPTING CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lees, of Stockport, in the County of Chester,
Machinist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF
. LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES, AND OF APPARATUS ATTACHED TO
STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE METHOD OF PREPARING AND ADAPTING CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 20th February 1855, and dated the 22nd August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lees at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd August
1854.
I, THOMAS LEES, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OF LUBRICATING PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES, AND OF APPARATUS ATTACHED
TO STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE METHOD OF PREPARING AND ADAPTING CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The apparatus which I use is a cup or vessel, the cover of which fits steam-
tight. There is a passage (or passages) of communication between this vessel
and the steam cylinder or chamber, into which lubricating matter is to be
introduced, which serves to admit steam into the grease cup, and allow the
grease to pass in the contrary direction. The steam is admitted into the cup
for the purpose of rendering down the fat from butchers' offal, or other like

page_text: substance containing oleaginous matter, with which the grease cup is to.be
supplied. In applying the apparatus to a steam cylinder, a small passage
from the cup to the interior of the cylinder (without cock or valve) is all that
is required, as the alternate ingress and egress of the steam produces the
desired effect; in applying it to valve chests, I prefer to introduce a cock
with a large plug. The plug has, however, no aperture through it, but only a
cavity, with an external opening towards one side, which being presented
towards the cup, the cavity is filled with grease, which is then transferred to
the valve chest on reversing the position of the plug, thus introducing a few
drops of the grease. The apparatus connected with boilers to which the
Invention is applicable are steam valves, or others similarly circumstanced..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Lees in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LEES, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Lees,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Lees, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Lees, 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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF LUBRICATING
PARTS OF STEAM ENGINES, AND OF APPARATUS ATTACHED TO STEAM BOILERS, AND
IN THE METHOD OF PREPARING AND ADAPTING CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR THAT
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Lees,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Lees, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement (that is to say):
My Invention has reference to those parts of steam engines or of apparatus
attached to boilers wherein moving parts requiring lubrication are enclosed
within chambers or passages containing steam, such as the cylinder in the
former, or the steam valve chest in the latter, class. The improvements which
it comprehends consist, in the first place, in rendering down raw suet, fatty
offal, or other unprepared animal tissue, and extracting the fat or grease
therefrom by means of steam admitted from the steam vessel, chamber, or
passage within which such grease is to be subsequently used or applied; and,
in the second place, in the transmission, by self-acting means, into the vessels or
chambers aforesaid of the grease so prepared in minute quantities and at
frequent intervals, in order to the diffusion of it over the surfaces to be
lubricated. The rendering down of the fat or suet is effected by admitting
into the vessel containing it a portion of steam from the adjacent steam vessel,
chamber, or pipe, by the heat whereof its soluble and oily parts are dissolved
and detached from the bulk, the process continuing slowly and gradually as
fresh surfaces of the substance become exposed to the action of successive
portions of steam. The transmission of the liquid grease thus detached to the
surfaces to be lubricated is effected by the reflux of the steam previously
admitted to dissolve it. Such steam, after acting upon the raw material, re-
enters the steam chamber, charged with particles of the extracted greasy
matter, which it diffuses and ultimately deposits on the inner surfaces of such
chamber, or on the surfaces of the valves or passages connected with it. The
cylinder and piston and the slide valves of engines may be instanced as parts
to which the application of my improvements is especially appropriate; an
explanation of their working in combination as applied to a cylinder will
render sufficiently intelligible the principle of the Invention, and exemplify the
mode of carrying it into practical effect. On the top of the cylinder I affix a
steam-tight cup or vessel made of metal, as the receptacle of the suet or other
raw material from which the lubricating matter is to be extracted. In the
lid of the cup is an aperture, closed by a screwed metal plug, for the purpose
of introducing from time to time fresh supplies of the raw material. The cup
has also a passage of communication with the interior of the cylinder, which
passage is kept constantly open when the engine is at work. The capacity of
the passage may be adjusted to the required rate of supply by means of a

page_text: small cock, the magnitude of the opening of which varies according to the
position of its plug. Through this passage steam is admitted to the cylinder
at every down stroke of the piston, and dissolves a small portion of the grease.
The reflux of the same steam, consequent on the exhaustion of the cylinder
above the piston, at the return or up stroke of the latter, impels the detached
particles of grease through the passage into the cylinder, within which they
are diffused, and ultimately find a lodgment on the interior surfaces of the
cylinder or on the piston.
For the better illustration hereof, I have represented in the Drawing attached
to these Presents a form of apparatus adapted for carrying into effect the
combined purposes of the Invention in the manner above described. In
these Drawings, similar numerical characters indicate corresponding parts of
the apparatus throughout all the Figures.
Fig. 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2 a vertical section, of the grease cup or
vessel, the planes of projection of the two views being assumed at right angles
to each other. 1 is the body of the cup, forming the reservoir for the raw
material intended to be rendered; 2 is the lid or cover of the cup, fitted to it
with a steam-tight packing of gasket or india-rubber, seen in section at 8, 3;
4 is the screw plug which closes the hole in the lid, through which fresh
supplies of the raw material are to be introduced as required. In the head of
the plug 4 is a hole, for the reception of a small pin or capstan bar, for turning
the screw in removing or replacing the plug; 5 is the channel or passage
through the stem or leg of the cup, which forms the communication between
the interior of that vessel and the cylinder; 7 is the plug of the regulating
cock; and 8, an index finger, fixed externally on its projecting end; 9 is a
small graduated arc, over which the point of the index finger 8 traverses when
moved. The extent of opening of the cock or plug 7 sufficient for the
requirements of the engine having been once ascertained by trial, and the
position of the index finger on the graduated are corresponding thereto
observed, the attendant is enabled at all times to regulate such opening at
once, by causing the index finger to coincide with the point on the arc 9,
previously observed; 10 is the handle for opening, closing, and regulating the
cock 7. In using the apparatus, the cup is to be replenished with the raw suet
or other substance furnishing the grease through the opening in the lid, the
cock 7 having been first closed. The opening in the lid being then closed, by
inserting the plug 4, the communication between the cup and cylinder is to
be re-opened to the required extent by turning the handle 10, until the index
finger 8 stands at the proper division on the graduated arc. Steam from the

page_text: cylinder will now enter the cup, and liquefy a portion of the grease. On the
valves being reversed, and the upper part of the cylinder exhausted, the detached
particles of grease will be drawn into the cylinder along with the refluent
steam, and diffused over its inner surface or that of the piston. These
operations being repeated at each double stroke of the piston will maintain a
constant and nearly uniform supply in small incriments of lubricating matter
to the rubbing surfaces of the internal parts requiring it. By applying a
similar apparatus to the valve chest a like effect will be produced, a constant
ebb and flow of steam from and into the cup being caused by the fluctuations
of the steam in the valve chest ensuing upon the alternate opening and closing
of the valves. In some instances it may be more convenient that the extracted
grease should be applied occasionally at the discretion of the attendant; in
such cases the apparatus may be modified so as to adapt it to the use of the
first before-mentioned method or improvement only, by substituting in the
stem of the cup a cock and passages arranged and formed as represented in
section at Fig. 3. Here 11 is the channel of communication between the
cup and steam vessel for the passage of the grease as before. The plug in
this case has no aperture through it, but only an enlarged cavity 12, with an
opening 18 towards one side. When the plug is turned, so as to present the
opening 18 upwards towards the grease cup, the cavity will be filled with
grease, which is transferred to the steam vessel, by reversing the position of
the plug, so as to present the opening downwards. 14 is another passage or
channel, cored out in the stem of the cup, and continued upwards nearly to the
top of the grease cup, by means of a small pipe inserted into its higher orifice.
Through this passage the steam is admitted into the cup over the raw material
to render it down as before, and the rendered grease subsiding to the bottom
of the cup remains in readiness to be applied when wanted, in the manner
before mentioned.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, and how it is to be carried
into effect, I hereby declare that I do not claim nor seek to appropriate the
exclusive use of any of the apparatus or parts of the apparatus before described,
otherwise than according to the modes or improvements or for the purposes of
my Invention as herein pointed out, or any of them; neither do I restrict
myself to the use of such apparatus as the only means for carrying such my
improvements into effect; but what I do claim as novel and of my Invention
in reference to the matters herein-before set forth are,--
Firstly, the rendering down raw suet, offal, or other unprepared animal
tissue for the purpose of extracting therefrom grease or lubricating matter by

page_text: the application of steam admitted from the steam vessel, chamber, or passage
within which such grease or lubricating matter is to be eventually used or
applied, into a steam-tight cup or vessel containing the matter or substance to
be rendered.
Secondly, the arrangements and appliances herein-before described for
conveying such lubricating matter from the steam-tight cup or vessel aforesaid,
and distributing the same to the surfaces requiring its application by the reflux
of the steam.
And, thirdly, the use and application of the above methods in combination,
as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings, and as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lees, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Thomas Lees, in the presence of
J. TAYLER,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
THOMAS LEES. (L.S.)