Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for Stopping Injecting or Pumping Apparatus when Well or Reservoir, and.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th May, 1887
Complete Left, 9th Feb., 1888
Complete Accepted, 23rd Mar., 1888
Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for Stopping Injecting or
Pumping Apparatus when the Level of the Liquid Pumped in
the Hot Well or Reservoir Falls to a Given Point, and Starting
the Apparatus when the Liquid Rises to a Given Height.
I, ALEXANDER HORNE of 55 Chepstow Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is chiefly designed for use with very high pressure condensing
engines, having independent pumping apparatus, so as to prevent the pumps from
running empty. The apparatus is designed to automatically either cut off the steam
at the throttle valve, or cut off the delivery from the pump. In the one case it cuts.
off the power from the pump, in the other, it chokes the pump and prevents
the power acting. Hitherto this has been done by the engineer in charge.
In carrying out my invention for the above purpose I provide a vessel as a counter-
weight to a lever having balance weight or spring at other end, and connected with the
throttle or shut off valve. The vessel when empty is overbalanced by the counter-
weight or spring, and the valve is closed, but when full the vessel acts on the lever,
overbalances the counterweight, and opens the valve. I further so connect the vessel
with the hot well or reservoir, that the vessel shall fill from the hot well reservoir when
the liquid in the latter rises to a given point, and gradually or immediately empty
when the liquid falls below another given point.
In my experimental apparatus the communication between the hot well of the con-
denser, and the vessel or receiver, is secured by means of making the lever tubular ;.
it is also convenient to make its pivot or joint hollow so as to allow the passage of.
the water, though other means may be employed if desired, such as connecting the
tubular lever with the hot well by a flexible or jointed pipe. For this purpose I
provide a frame or bracket secured in position to a chamber which communicates with
the hot well. One side of this frame has a chamfered hole for the joint or gudgeon of
the lever, the other side with an adjustable steady pin. The lever is made hollow of
any convenient shape, and its pivot is made with a joint or gudgeon on one side also
hollow, which fits the hole above mentioned, so as to be capable of a rocking motion.
It is held in position laterally by means of steady or set pin. A tubular passage is

page_text: therefore formed through the joint and lover to the receiver. The end of the lever
enters the receiver at or near its lower extremity. The lever is extended beyond
its pivot a suitable distance, and carries on its end a tension rod with an adjustable
nut or other device for the spring. An arm forming part of the above mentioned
bracket holds the spring in position, and as the receiver descends, causes the
spring to be compressed. The same end of the lever carries a rod communicating
with the throttle valve of the feed or donkey pump, or it may communicate,
if preferred, with a variable expansion valve.
The upper part of the receiver is provided with a valve having a float. The normal
position of the valve is open so as to allow the froe escape or admission of air, but if
the receiver is filled with water the float is caused to rise and close the valve. A feed
pipe is connected at or near the lower part of the hot well and communicates with the
receiver through the hollow lever. The apparatus may be fixed to the side of the hot
well, or in other convenient position, but it is placed so that the bottom of the receiver
is at, or about, the same level as the bottom of the hot well. The connections between
the hot well, and the donkey pump are made in any ordinary manner.
The mode of action is as follows:
As the exhaust steam is condensed the water is drawn into the hot well by the air
pump. As the level of the water rises therein, so a corresponding rise of water will
take place in the receiver. Its weight being thus increased will overcome the resistance
offered by the balance spring or weight so that the receiver will fall. The movement
of the lever caused by the descent of the receiver, will cause a proportional movement
of the throttle valve, variable expansion valve, or exit valve, of the pump, and admit-
a supply of steam to the cylinder of the donkey pump, or allow of exit from the
pump, thus causing it to be set in motion, and a supply of feed water forced into the
boiler. As the water in the receiver rises, so the weight increases, overcomes the resist-
ance of the balance spring, and causes the lever to fall still further, and thereby open
the valve further, and thus increase the action of the pump. The motion of the pump
will therefore increase as the water rises in the hot well. The air in the vessel or
receiver is allowed to escape through the atmospheric valve in the top until the water
comes in contact with the float and causes the valve to close, thereby preventing any
water escaping. The throttle valve or the steam ports of the variable expansion valve
or delivery valve of the pump, being now fully open, the pump will be working at
full speed, and may be arranged to feed more quickly than the steam is condensed.
The water in the lot well will therefore fall, the receiver will rise, the steam or exit
is gradually cut off, and the speed of engine reduced. Pressure being removed from
the float the atmospheric valve will open and admit air to the receiver. The balance
spring being made adjustable, the receiver may be made to fall or rise more or less
readily as desired.
The apparatus forms therefore an automatic feed governor, the speed of the force
pump being regulated in proportion to the amount of water in the hot well.
I do not however, limit myself to the form of apparatus above described, the rocking
receiver being replaced if desired by a receiver having a vertical movement in any
suitable bracket or guide, said receiver being connected by suitable rods with the
steam or throttle valve. The position of the receiver in relation to the hot well, is the
same as that before described. It is provided near its bottom with an orifice, having
a pipe forming a connection between it and the hot well. In order to allow of the
free vertical movement of the receiver, the connection may be made of flexible tube,
or it may be formed of a sliding or other joint.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
6, Lord Street,. Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for Stopping Injecting or.
Pumping Apparatus when the Level of the Liquid Pumped in
the Hot Well or Reservoir Falls to a Given Point, and Starting
the Apparatus when the Liquid Rises to a Given Height.
I, ALEXANDER HORNE, formerly of 55 Chepstow Street, Liverpool, but now of
Walton Villa, Cathcart, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to bo particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the feed-pumping apparatus of condensing steam
engines and especially engines working with high pressure and having independent
pumping apparatus, and its object is to provide new or improved automatic apparatus
for preventing the pumps from running empty. The action of my apparatus is
dependent on the level of water in a hot well or reservoir, and cuts of or lets on the
steam to the pumping apparatus, accordingly as the water attains a given low level or
a given high level; or instead of acting on the steam supply the mechanism may close
or open a valve in the pump delivery passage with the same effect.
In carrying out my Invention I arrange in communication with the hot well or
reservoir a movable vessel in connection with a lever, which has applied to it a weight
or spring acting oppositely to the weight of the vessel, and which is connected by a
rod to the valve for admitting steam to the pumping apparatus or to a valve controlling
the pump delivery. The movable vessel becomes more or less filled with water accord-
ingly as the level in the hot well or reservoir is higher or lower, and its weight varies
correspondingly and acts through the lever on the controlling valve or valves in the
desired manner.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same may
be properly understood I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings to be
hereinafter referred to and representing examples of the modifications or forms in
which my improved apparatus may be constructed.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the accompanying drawings is a sectional side elevation of
one form of my improved apparatus, and figure, 2, is a sectional plan of part thereof.
Figure, 3, is a side elevation of a second modification, and figure, 4, is a sectional
elevation of a third modification; whilst figures, 5, and 6, on sheet, 2, are side
elevations of a fourth and a fifth modification. In these drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In the modification shown in figures, 1, and 2, the movable vessel, 7, which may be
of any convenient form, is fixed at its bottom on the outer end of a hollow arm or
lever, 8, with which it communicates, and this hollow arm, 8, communicates
at its fulcrum with the interior of the hot-well or reservoir, 9. On the
inner side of the hollow arm, 8, there is a nozzle formed with a conical rim or lip
which fits and works in a conical seat formed round the aperture communicating with
the interior of the hot-well or reservoir, 9; and the hollow arm is held in place with
its nozzle in water-tight contact with the seat by a screw centre pin, 10, screwed
through the outer part of a bracket, 11, bolted to the hot-well or reservoir, this screw
pin and the seat in which the nozzle fits serving as the fulcrum bearing of the hollow
arm, &, and allowing it to move as a lever. The hollow arm, 8, has formed on it a

page_text: lever arm, 12, extending on the other side of the fulcrum; and this lever arm, 12,
has jointed to it a rod, 13, which is connected to the controlling valve of the pumping
apparatus. The lever arm, 12, has also connected to it a spring, 14, which bears
against a projection on the bracket, 11, and serves for counterbalancing more or less
of the weight of the vessel, 7, and hollow arm, 8, so as to raise these parts when there
is little or no water in the vessel and to then draw down the rod, 13. An air valve, 15,
and float, 16, are fitted to the top of the vessel, 7, to allow air to pass out or in as
water enters or leaves the vessel, but preventing the escape of water.
In the second modification, shown in figure, 3, there is substituted for the air valve
in the top of the movable vessel, 7, a flexible tube, 17, connecting the vessel with an
upper part of the hot-well or reservoir, 9; and with the view of diminishing the strain
on the fulcrum part of the hollow arm, 8, that arm is connected by a link, 18, to a
separately centered lever, 19, made in the same piece with the lever ariu, 12, to which
the rod, 13, and spring, 14, are connected.
In the third modification shown in figure, 4, the movable vessel, 7, is arranged to
move vertically, being made with a pipe, 20, extending down from its bottom through
a stuffing box into a pipe, 21, communicating with the interior of the hot-well or
reservoir, 9. An air pipe, 22, is fixed to the top of the vessel, 7, and the vessel is
guided by the air pipe, 22, and the water pipe, 20, working through guide eyes in
brackets, 23, 24. Motion is given to the rod, 13, by means of a lever, 25, acted on
by collars on the air tube, 22; and the spring, 14, is applied between the bottom of
the vessel, 7, and the lower bracket, 24.
In the fourth modification shown in figure, 5, the movable vessel, 7, is connected to
the hot-well or reservoir, by two parallel hollow arms, 26, 27, each of which may be
connected at each end to the hot-well or reservoir and movable vessel, respectively, by
a joint like that hereinbefore described as at the fulcrum end of the hollow arm, 8, in
the first modification. Either of the hollow arms, 26, 27, may, be connected to the
lever, 19, 12.
In the fifth modification, shown in figure 6, the movable vessel, 7, is fixed on a solid
lever, 28, and is more or less counterbalanced by a weight, 29, whilst the passage for
the water is by a pipe, 30, jointed to the movable vessel, 7, and working telescopically
through a stuffing box into a pipe, 31, jointed to the hot-well or reservoir.
When the movable vessel, 7, is fixed on a lever arm, or when guided to move
vertically, either the lever arin if hollow, or the vessel may be connected to the hot-
well or reservoir by a flexible or jointed pipe for the passage of the water to and from
the movable vessel.
When my improved apparatus is in action the movement of the movable vessel, 7,
caused by changes of the level of water in the hot-well will cause the pumping action
to stop when the level descends to a predetermined point, and when the level rises will
set the pumping apparatus free to operate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Automatic apparatus for controlling the action of pumping apparatus and com-
prising a movable vessel connected to the hot-well or reservoir from which the water
or liquid is being pumped, the connection being such that the movable vessel fills or
empties with change of level in the hot-well or reservoir, and by the consequent change
of its weight moves the controlling valve or valves, the parts being arranged and
operating substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
T
11 1
c
1
1000