IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LUBRICATORS
Year: 1873

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LETTERS PATENT to John Davis, of 176, Great Dover Street, in the
Borough of Southwark, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LUBRICATORS."
Sealed the 6th February 1874, and dated the 4th December 1873.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Davis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 4th December 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section of the`
Patent Law Amendment, Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DAVIS, of 176, Great Dover Street, in the Borough of Southwark, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LUBRICATORS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I
am the first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Davis, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under hand and seal, fully

page_text: describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following state-
ment and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
This Invention has for it object to afford a simple and expeditious
means of lubricating the inside of steam cylinders, steam chests, or slide
boxes, of all those kinds of engines in which steam, air, or other
descriptions of gas are used or employed for the production of motive
power, and especially of those in which a vacuum is produced at stated
intervals by the rarefaction of the air. To this end I provide a conical
plug or valve, connected with a long cylindrical spindle or wire fitting
into and guided within a corresponding aperture made in the bottom of
a lubricating vessel, which I attach to the cylinder or steam chest of
the engine. I so arrange the valve and its spindle that the pressure of
the steam or gas in the cylinder is alone sufficient to keep the lubricating
aperture hermetically closed, and prevent any oil, grease, or other
lubricating material from passing through it whilst the pressure of the
steam or gas is on, and, owing to the existing capillary attraction
impede the flow of the lubricating material when the engine is standing

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In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings I have shewn in Figure 1
a longitudinal section of a lubricator constructed according to my
Invention, and in Figure 2 a sectional plan of the lower portion of the
lubricator shewn in Figure 1.
A is the cup of the lubricator; B, the lid or cover, fitted with a
thumb screw C upon the ordinary plan; D is the arm or elbow which
is intended to connect the lubricating vessel proper with a horizontal
cylinder or steam chest, the sides of which are to be lubricated. The
cup A is fitted into the bracket or elbow D by means of the screw
threads E. However, the bracket or arm D may be dispensed with in
the case of the lubricator being fitted at the top of a vertical or
horizontal steam cylinder; F is the conical plug or valve; G, the wire
or spindle attached thereto, and which, being inserted within the
longitudinal aperture H in the bottom part of the cup A, is guided
therein.
At the bottom of the conical plug or valve F I provide a continuation
I of the wire or spindle, which has for its object to prevent the undue
fall of the valve. For the one central wire or spindle G, two, three, or
more wires or spindles may, in some cases, be substituted, to effect a
safer guidance, or for any other purpose.
In Figure 1 the valve F and the spindles G, I, are shewn in their
normal or closed position, in which no portion of the contents of the
lubricating cup A is allowed to pass through the aperture H.
When the steam or gas is cut off and a vacuum produced through
the rarefaction of the air the valve F, together with its wires or
spindles G, I, is depressed, and a suction of the lubricating material
effected, which thence is drawn down along the sides of the aperture H
and enters the steam cylinder or steam chest with which the lubricator
is connected through the hole J in the bracket or elbow D, or through
any other suitable channel. Once the communication between the
generator and the cylinder or steam chest re-established the pressure of
the steam or gas replaces the valve F in its normal position, shewn in
Figure 1, and again shuts off the lubricating material.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and illus-
trated the same in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, I wish it to
be understood that I do not claim generally the construction of valves
that are actuated or worked upon by the vacuum produced by the

page_text: rarefaction of the air in the cylinder or steam chest, with which the
lubricator is connected, various descriptions of such valves having been
known and employed heretofore; but what I claim is, the use or
employment of a conical plug or valve fitted with one or more wires
or spindles and working automatically, without any ancillary mechanism,
for the purpose and in the manner described in the foregoing, and
illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOSEPH THEODORE DANN,
43, Cowley Road,
Brixton, S.W.
(L.S.) JOHN DAVIS.