IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE WATER LEVEL IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
April 1861. A communication from abroad by George Washington
Rains, of Newbury, Orange County, in the State of New York, and
United States of America.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE
WATER LEVEL IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a self-acting apparatus capable of
supplying water to steam boilers and of giving audible signals when the water
is too high or too low. The improved apparatus consists of a cylinder placed
outside of the boiler and having its lower part connected with the water space,
and its upper part connected with the steam space thereof, so that the level in
the said cylinder corresponds with that in the boiler. The cylinder is fitted
with a piston which is raised from time to time and let fall upon the water
therein by suitable lifting and disengaging mechanism connected with the
piston rod. This lifting apparatus it so connected with a feed-regulating valve
and alarm apparatus that the regulating valve is caused to be opened and
closed by the variation of the level in the cylinder, and the feed is thereby
properly regulated so long as the supply of water does not fail at its source,
and in case of such failure an alarm will be given in time to prevent injurious

page_text: consequences. The piston has two or more holes right through it, and is
fitted on its under side with a ring valve to close these holes. This valve is
attached to the piston by screws which allow it to drop a short distance below
the piston to permit steam to pass freely through the latter in its descent
through the upper portion of the cylinder; but when the piston descends to
the surface of the water the valve is caused to close the holes in the piston.
The piston rod, which runs through both ends of the cylinder, is weighted at
its lower end sufficiently to overcome the friction of the stuffing boxes and
produce the descent of the piston and rod in the cylinder. At the bottom of
the cylinder there is a throat of inverted conical form. The opening of this
throat is made sufficiently larger than the piston to permit of free water com-
munication between the cylinder and the boiler, but yet to prevent too much
of the water being driven back into the boiler by the falling of the piston, so
that the latter may be arrested almost instantaneously on its arrival in contact
with the water. The piston rod and piston derive motion from a ratchet wheel
secured to a short horizontal shaft carried by an adjacent standard. This
wheel is driven by a ratchet attached to a rocker operated by the excentric
rod of the engine. On the face of the wheel there are two pins and a pro-
jecting arc. The pin nearest the centre projects further forward than the
other pin and the arc. An adjustable sliding clamp is fitted to the piston rod,
and acted upon by the shorter pin, in order to raise the rod with its piston.
This clamp is furnished with a weighted arm which tends to keep it free of
the rod, but is retained in action by the arc on the face of the ratchet wheel.
Above the clamp is a weight fitted to slide on the piston rod, and also
furnished with a weighted clamping arm for gripping the piston rod. The
duty of this weight is to act upon the clamp and cause it to arrest the piston
rod and piston in their descent. The short pin in the wheel and tho arc
are made less prominent than the other pin in order that they may pass the
weight in their revolution with the wheel. A catch attached by a pin to the
adjacent standard is used for the purpose of disengaging the weight from the
piston rod during the descent of the latter. The weight is raised by the action
of the longer pin on the wheel, and when it is allowed to fall it will, by
striking the sliding clamp below it, cause that clamp to gripe the piston rod.
The continued rotation, therefore, of the ratchet wheel will again raise the
piston in its cylinder. Secured to the upper end of the piston rod is a cross
head, from one arm of which a rod is suspended for controlling the feed-
regulating cock, and from the other arm depends a rod for opening the valve
of a steam whistle which is attached to the upper part of the cylinder. The
rod in connection with the whistle is provided with two tappets, the distance

page_text: between which is greater than the distance which the piston is generally
raised, the tappets being for the purpose of acting upon a small lever so
applied in connection with the valve of the whistle that it will open the valve
either by an upward or downward movement. In case of the water from any
cause getting dangerously low or objectionably high in spite of the action of
the apparatus on the lever of the supply cock, or in case of the apparatus
getting out of order, the piston continuing to fall lower or rise higher than
usual, brings one of the tappets into action on the small lever, and so causes
an alarm to be given by the whistle.