IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Finegan, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 10th February 1860, and dated the 22nd August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Finegan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
August 1859.
I, WILLIAM FINEGAN, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for regulating the supply of lubricating material to the pistons and
slides of steam engines, and to other parts of machinery generally, whereby a
considerable saving of lubricating material is effected, whilst. the apparatus
itself is both simple in construction and effective in action. In carrying out
this Invention it is proposed to employ a reservoir or receptacle for the lubri-
cating material fitted at the bottom with a double seated valve box, and two
clack valves carried by one valve spindle, and so adjusted thereon that when
one valve is on its seat or closed, the other is full open, and vice versa, for the
passage of the lubricant. Beneath these valves is a small chamber connected

page_text: by a pipe with the interior of the cylinder, or other surface to be lubricated,
subject to steam pressure. The steam on entering the pipe forces up the
valve spindle closing thereby the lower valve, and opening the upper one.
This admits of a certain supply of the lubricant descending by its own gravity
into the space between the valves. When the vacuum in the cylinder comes
into action, the valve spindle descends, closing the upper valve, and opening
the lower one, at the same time allowing a small quantity of the lubricant to
pass through into the pipe which is drawn into the cylinder, the upper valve
by being down on its scat effectually preventing all further egress of the
lubricant until the stroke. By making the distance between the two valves
on their spindle variable at pleasure, the amount of discharge of lubricating
material at each beat of the valves may be regulated to suit any emergency.
Branch pipes may be conducted from the pipe which leads to the cylinder
to any other part of the engine or other piece of mechanism in connection
therewith.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Finegan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FINEGAN, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Finegan, Her special license that I, the said William Finegan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Finegan, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Finegan, 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,

page_text: 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 William Finegan, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked' thereon, that is to say :-
My said 'Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for regulating the supply of lubricating material to the pistons and
slides of steam engines, and to other parts of machinery generally, whereby a
considerable saving of lubricating material is effected whilst the apparatus
itself is both simple in construction and effective in action.
In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to employ a reservoir or
receptacle for the lubricating material fitted at the bottom with a double-seated
valve box and two valves, carried by one valve spindle, and so adjusted thereon
that when one valve is on its seat, or closed, the other is full open, and vice
versa, for the passage of the lubricant. Beneath these valves is a small
chamber, connected by a pipe with the interior of the cylinder or other surface
to be lubricated, subject to steam pressure. The steam, on entering the pipe,
forces. up the valve spindle, closing thereby the lower valve and opening the
upper one.
This admits of a. certain supply of the lubricant descending by
its own gravity into the space between, the valves.
When the vacuum in the cylinder comes into action, the valve spindle
descends, closing the upper valve and opening the lower one, at the same
time allowing a small quantity of the lubricant to pass through into the pipe,
which is drawn into the cylinder; the upper valve, by being down on its seat,
effectually preventing all further egress of the lubricant until the next stroke.
By making the distance between the two valves on their spindle variable at
pleasure, the amount of discharge of lubricating material at each beat of the
valves may be regulated to suit any emergency..
Branch pipes may be conducted from the pipe which leads to the cylinder
to any other part of the engine or other piece of mechanism in connection
therewith.
I
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the Figure on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, which represents
a. full-sized sectional view of niy lubricator applied to the side of a steam
evlinder

page_text: A is a vessel for containing the lubricating material; it is provided with a
lid B and wire gauze or other strainer C. When practicable, I prefer to
place this vessel or tallow receiver against the side of the cylinder, so that the
heat of the cylinder will always keep the tallow in a melted state. At the
bottom of this vessel is fitted a plug containing a pair of conical disc valves
E, F, attached to one common screw spindle G, and capable of adjustment
nearer to or further apart by screwing the upper valve along its spindle, and
fixing it at any desired distance from the bottom valve by the nut or screwed
head H. I is a chamber below the valves communicating by the pipe K with
the interior of the steam cylinder, one side only of which is shewn in section
at L, L. Any number of these lubricators may be applied round a cylinder
or connected with the ends or covers thereof. The valves are so arranged
that when one is closed, the other will be open, and vice versa.
The action of this lubricating apparatus is as follows:-On steam being
admitted into the cylinder, it exerts a pressure through the pipe K upon the
bottom valve F, and forces it into its seat at the bottom of the hollow plug D.
The top valve will consequently be thereby opened, and will allow a certain
quantity of the lubricating material to descend and fill the chamber or hollow
space d, surrounding the valve spindle, and contained within the plug D
between the two valve seats. When a vacuum or partial vacuum is established
in the cylinder by the escape of the steam into the condenser, the atmospheric
pressure will force down the upper lubricating valve E and open the lower
one F, thereby allowing the grease in the chamber d to escape down the
pipe K in the cylinder, whilst the closing of the upper valve will prevent any
more of the lubricant from escaping from the vessel A. The re-admission of
steam into the cylinder again elevates the valves when the chamber d is again
filled with the lubricant, and the operation is repeated as before. In this way,
a certain measured quantity of lubricating material (corresponding to the
capacity of the chamber d) will be supplied to the cylinder at each stroke of
the piston so long as the engine is working, but when the engine is at rest
the valve E will remain down on its seat, and effectually prevent any super-
fluous or unnecessary flow of the lubricant into the cylinder. These lubricators
may obviously be applied to valve chests or other surfaces requiring to be
lubricated, subject to steam pressure.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―

page_text: First, the general construction and arrangement of apparatus for lubricating
the interior of steam cylinders and other surfaces, as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar combination of valves, valve seats, and chamber d, for
regulating the supply of lubricating material to the parts to be lubricated by
the action of steam pressure and of a vacuum, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Finegan, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM FINEGAN. (L.s.)