IMPROVE- MENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dundas Scott, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES."
Sealed the 10th October 1872, and dated the 20th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dundas Scott
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th April 1872.
I, WILLIAM DUNDAS SCOTT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," to
be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to a combination of parts, forming a governor
for motive-power engines, which is capable of being proportioned to
) present any desired degree of sensitiveness or quickness, and which can
be easily adjusted for any speed within the range for which each
instrument is constructed. The combination comprises a reservoir for

page_text: oil or other suitable liquid, a centrifugal pump driven from the engine
and drawing the oil from the reservoir, a cylinder into which the pump
delivers the oil and which has in it a piston with a rod passing out
through a stuffing box and connected to the throttle valve of a steam
engine, or to the equivalent detail of any other engine, and two pipes
leading from the cylinder back to the reservoir, and one of which is
fitted with an adjustable regulating valve. The pipe with the valve
leads from the end of the cylinder into which the pump delivers the
oil, the other pipe leading from a point near the other end of the
cylinder. The piston is loaded by its own or a separate weight, or by
a spring, and it remains stationary or nearly so as long as the engine
goes at the proper rate and that for which the valve in the connecting
pipo is adjusted. If the speed increases the pump delivers the oil into
the cylinder more quickly than it can get back again through the valve
and the piston is in consequence forced to rise and act on the throttle:
valve. When the speed is too low the oil gets through the valve more
quickly than it enters the cylinder and the piston in consequence falls.
Should the speed continue to increase notwithstanding the action of tho
piston the piston ultimately passes the opening into the second pipo
which then gives free outlet to the oil and so prevents the piston from :
being moved further. When the pump is driven at a suitably rapid
rate (100 to 500 revolutions per minute for example) the combination
forms a convenient and very sensitive governor for screw propeller
engines. The shaft of the pump passes out through a stuffing box, and
all the spaces or passages wherein the oil works are enclosed, so that 2
the oil is not liable to be wasted or become impure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Dundas Scott in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 18th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 30
DUNDAS SCOTT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty- 38

page_text: fifth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, tho said William Dundas Scott, Her special licence that
I, the said William Dundas Scott, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Dundas Scott, . my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec with, and`
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, uso, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS ` IN
GOVERNORS FOR MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Dundas Scott, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
1 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 Dundas Scott, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :—
'
My said Invention relates to an improved combination of parts forming
a governor for motive-power engines which is capable of being propor-
tioned to present any desired degree of sensitiveness or quickness, and
which can be easily adjusted for any speed within the range for which
cach instrument is constructed.
•
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Shicct of
O explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
convenient modification of my improved apparatus. In these Drawings
the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 is a vertical
5 section as at right angles to Figure 1.
.
My improved combination comprises a reservoir 1 for oil or other
suitable liquid, a centrifugal pump 2 to be driven from the engine and

page_text: drawing the oil from the reservoir 1 by a pipe 3, a cylinder 4, into which
the pump 2 delivers or tends to deliver the oil by the passage 5, and a:
piston 6 working in the cylinder 4, and attached to a rod 7, which passes
out through the cover 8. The piston rod 7 is connected to a lever 9,
which carries an adjustable weight 10, and which is connected by a link
11 to the throttle valve of a steam engine or to the equivalent detail
of any other engine. I proposed to connect the lower part of the
cylinder 4 with the reservoir 1 by a return pipe or passage with a valve
in it, but I have simplified the arrangement by dispensing with such
return pipe and valve, and by making the piston 6 a somewhat loose fit 1
in the cylinder 4, so that a certain leakage or small flow of liquid may
take place up past it and get back to the reservoir 1 by a communicating
port 12 made between it and the top of the cylinder 4. As the apparatus
acts more sensitively and satisfactorily when the pump is driven at a
considerable speed, say at the rate of about 1,200 revolutions per minute, 1
the spindle 13 of the pump is represented as having on it a grooved
pulley 14, to be driven frictionally by a grooved wheel 15 on a shaft 16,
on which there is fixed a pulley 17 to receive a driving belt from any
suitably revolving part of the prime mover, the speed of which is to be
regulated. Where convenient however the second shaft 16 may be 2
omitted and the driving power be applied directly to the pump spindle
13. When the speed of the prime mover is what it is desired to be the
upward pressure which the liquid in the cylinder 4 exerts in consequence
of the action of the pump 2 is just sufficient to sustain the weight of the
piston 6, rod 7, and weighted lever 9. With a greater speed the piston 2
will rise, and with a less speed it will be allowed to descend, and will in
each case act on the throttle valve in a manner to modify the supply of
steam when the prime mover is a steam engine. The apparatus is
altered to suit different speeds by adjusting the weight 10 on the lever 9.
A spring may be substituted for the weight 10. The spindle or shaft 13 3
of the centrifugal pump 2 passes out through a stuffing box and all the
spaces or passages wherein the oil works arc enclosed, so that the oil is
not liable to be wasted or become impure. A pressure gauge may be
fitted in connection with the bottom of the cylinder 4, and will serve to
indicate the speed of the prime mover, speeds being marked on the dial 3
either along with or instead of the corresponding pressures.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to:

page_text: the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combining
together of a reservoir, a centrifugal pump, and a cylinder having in
it a piston connected to a throttle valve or other regulating appliance
so as to act as a governor, substantially in the improved manner herein- .
before described.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dundas Scott, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- .
two.