IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR OPERATING THE DAMPERS OF STEAM BOILERS AND OF OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Brusch, of Kingston-upon-Hull, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR
OPERATING THE DAMPERS OF STEAM BOILERS AND OF OTHER FURNACES."
Sealed the 19th August 1870, and dated the 11th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Brusch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th March 1870.
I, FRANCIS BRUSCH, of Kingston-upon-Hull, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC
APPARATUS FOR OPERATING THE DAMPERS OF STEAM BOILERS AND OF OTHER
FURNACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of apparatus for working or operating dampers
or regulators for governing the draught or passage of air or waste
currents from furnaces, and is applicable not only to the flues of steam
boiler furnaces, but also to the flues of other furnaces where the pressure
due to the expansion of either elastic or liquid fluids or gases can be
obtained and made available for actuating the apparatus.

page_text: The apparatus consists of a shallow inverted cylindrical vessel of
suitable area, the top being closed, the bottom or mouth thereof being
open. There is no stuffing 'box gland or other opening in, on or through
the top, except an opening for the admission of steam or other pressure
within the cylinder by means of a passage way or tube in connection
with an external pipe or conduit. The bottom of the cylinder may be
closed either by a corrugated metal diaphragm secured all round with a
steam-tight joint, or any other suitable diaphragm may be used to receive
the pressure, and transmit the motion due thereto to a loosely fitting
piston below it. This piston is fitted on to, within, and upon the upper
face of the bottom bar of a metal sling-like or stirrup-like frame, to which
it is securely fixed; this frame surrounds and encloses within it the case
of the apparatus, and it is so formed at its upper end loop-like or stirrup-
like, as to hang conveniently upon the shorter end of a lever arm, the
fulcrum of which lever arm may rest on or in a suitable bearing, either
formed on the top of the cylinder or in any convenient manner, so as to
support the lever and its fittings and connections for working the
damper. The longer end of the lever arm is raised when the excess of
pressure produces a downward motion of the piston and the sling-like or
stirrup-like frame to which it is attached, and by means of a shifting
weight the load or pressure upwards or applied to the under side of the
piston is varied to suit the pressure within the cylinder intended to be
resisted. The movement thus produced by the pressure within the
cylinder overcoming the load on the lever is made available for actuating
the damper of a furnace flue by means of a rod or connecting links
jointed at one end to the lever arm near to its fulcrum, and connected
at the other end to one arm of a bell crank, whilst to the lower arm of
the same bell crank is connected one end of a rod, the other end of
which near to the damper has a handle, and either several pin holes for
taking on to a stud or crank pin fitted on the damper spindle, or it may
have a gab, gabs, or openings for receiving the stud or pin of the crank
arm of the damper spindle. The spindle of the damper may be vertical
and pivot like a butterfly valve, the frame being set upright or at right
angles to the axial line of the horizontal flue, and the damper valve
being pivoted should be so balanced as to shut when free by the up
draught of the normal current or current of cold air when the damper
or valve is disconnected from the gearing or apparatus. By means of a
chain or rope the stoker can lift the lever for the purpose of closing the
damper independently of the apparatus, and thus allow it to close

page_text: independently in case of sudden stoppage of the engine, or when a
ecssation of work to be done by the furnace is necessitated. Instead of
the pressure of steam. from: a steam boiler, which would of course be
employed for operating, the apparatus when such boiler is used to supply
the motive power to a steam engine, the requisite pressure and move-
ment may be obtained from the expansion of an elastic fluid or gas
contained within a closed vessel, or from the expansion of mercury due
to the additional degrees of heat, and a small separate or independent
vessel for containing the same may be applied or fitted in any convenient
position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Brusch in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
BRUSCH, of Kingston-upon-Hull, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Francis Brusch, Her special licence,
that I, the said Francis Brusch, my executors,. administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Brusch, 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 "IMPкOVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC
APPARATUS FOR OPERATING THE DAMPERS OF STEAM BOILERS AND OF OTHER
FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis
Brusch, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Brusch, 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 and the accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
My Invention consists of apparatus for working or operating dampers
or regulators for governing the draught or passage of air or waste
currents from furnaces, and is applicable not only to the flues of steam
boiler furnaces, but also to the flucs of other furnaces where the pressure
due to the expansion of cither elastic or liquid fluids or gases can be
obtained and made available for actuating the apparatus.
The apparatus consists of a shallow inverted cylindrical vessel of
suitable area, the top being closed, the bottom or mouth thereof being
open. There is no stuffing box gland or other such opening in or on
the top, but an opening for the admission of the steam or other pressure
within the cylinder, by means of a passage way or tube in connection
with an external pipe or conduit so provided, and forms the only opening
thereinto or thereout of. The bottom of the cylinder may be closed
either by a corrugated metal diaphragm secured all round with a steam-
tight joint, or any other suitable diaphragm may be used to receive the
pressure and transmit the motion due thereto to a loosely fitting piston
below it. This piston is fitted on to, within, and upon the upper face of
the bottom bar of a metal sling-like or stirrup-like frame, to which it is
securely fixed; this frame surrounds and encloses within it the case of
the apparatus, and it is so formed at its upper end, loop-like or stirrup-
like, as to hang conveniently upon the shorter end of a lever arm, the
fulcrum of which lever arm may rest on or in a suitable bearing, either
formed on the top of the cylinder or case, or in any convenient manner,
so as to support the lever and its fittings and connections for working
the damper. The longer end of the lever arm is raised when the excess
of pressure produces a downward motion of the piston and the sling-like
or stirrup-like frame to which it is attached, and by means of a shifting
weight the load or upward pressure pulling against the piston is capable
of being varied to suit the amount of pressure within the cylinder
intended to be resisted. The movement thus produced by the pressure
within the cylinder overcoming the weight or load on the lever may be
made available in various ways for actuating the damper of a furnace
flue; as, for instance, by means of a rod or connecting links jointed at
onc end to the lever arm near to its fulcrum, and connected at the other

page_text: end to one arm of a bell crank, whilst to the lower arm of the same bell
crank is connected one end of a rod, the other end of which near to the
damper has a handle, and either several pin holes for taking on to a stud.
or crank pin fitted on the damper spindle, or it may have a gab, gabs, or
openings for receiving the stud or pin of the crank arm of the damper
spindle. The spindle of the damper may be vertical, and pivot like a
butterfly valve, the frame being set upright or at right angles to the
axial line of the horizontal flue, and the damper valve being pivotted
should be so balanced as to shut when free by the up draught of the
natural current or current of cold air, when the damper or valvo is
disconnected from the other portion of the gearing or apparatus. By
means of a chain or rope the stoker can lift the lever for the purpose of
closing the damper independently of the apparatus, and thus allow it to
close independently in case of sudden stoppage of the engine, or when a
cessation of work to be done by the furnace is necessitated. By con-
necting the handle of the connecting rod in a similar manner it may be
withdrawn from the crank arm of the damper spindle, and the damper
valvo would thereupon close self-actingly. Instead of the pressure of
steam from a steam boiler, which would of course be employed for
operating the apparatus when such boiler is used to supply the motive
power to a steam engine, the requisite pressure and movement of the
diaphragm and the loosely fitting piston beneath it may be obtained
from the expansion of an elastic fluid or gas contained within a closed
vessel, or from the expansion of mercury due to the additional degrees
of heat imparted thereto, and a small separate or independent vessel for
containing the same and resisting the requisite amount of internal
pressure may be applied or fitted in any convenient position to the end
of the pressure pipe or conduit communicating with the apparatus.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 is an elevation or
side view, partly in section, for the purpose of more clearly exhibiting
the working parts of the apparatus that are novel; Figure 2 is a plan
view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical sectional
view of the apparatus, taken on the line A, B, of Figure 1. In cach
view the diaphragm, which is there shewn as a plain surface or sheet of
clastic material, and the loosely fitting piston and the other moving parts
of the apparatus are shown as being at rest, or without any pressure
acting thereupon. In cach of the Figures the same letters of reference
refer to like or corresponding parts.

page_text: 1.
The steam pipe or connection between the apparatus and the source
of pressure, whether it be the steam boiler or a separate vessel for con-
taining a body of mercury or an elastic body capable of expanding by
heat, is lettered a; the passage therefrom, upon, or within the case by
which the pressure is communicated to the diaphragm is lettered b;
c, c, are the bracket pieces or jaws forming the fulcrum, within which the
lever arm d is supported; d, the lever arm, having its fulcrum. pin
resting within the jaws of the bearings c, c; e, a stirrup-like frame
surrounding the case or cylinder of the apparatus; e¹, the upper part of
the stirrup frame e resting on the short end of the lever d; f, the loosely
fitting piston beneath the diaphragm; 9, a screw pin or stud having a
nut thereon, by which the piston f is secured to the stirrup-like frame;,
h, the short end of the lever d; i, the diaphragm; j, the body of the
apparatus or body of the vessel within which the steam, water, or other
pressure for acting on the diaphragm is received; k, the ring beneath the
diaphragm, and within which the loosely fitting piston f works; this
ring k is secured by means of screws to the under side of the apparatus
or vessel j; 1, 1, are the standards upon which the cylinder and apparatus
is mounted; m, m, bracket pieces upon which the bell crank n, n, is
mounted; o is a short connecting rod or link between the bell crank n
and the lever arm d; p, the rod or bar, connected at one end by means
of a single or compound joint to the lower arm of the bell crank n, the
other end having a handle, and also a series of holes formed therein for
receiving the pin of the crank arm fitted upon the spindle of the damper
valve; q, the damper valve, fitted within a vertical frame and upon a
vertical spindle pivoted at the bottom; r, a balance weight, capable of
being adjusted upon the longer end of the lever arm d, in accordance
with the variation in the pressure at which the apparatus has to be
worked or made to operate.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shown the apparatus constructed
according to my Invention as adapted for operating the damper valve of
a steam boiler furnace through the action of steam pressure from the
steam boiler, and the diaphragm has a sheet of vulcanized india-rubber
or other flexible material, and I have shown the lever arrangement for
transmitting the movement of the piston to the damper valve as one of
several modes that may be adopted; but I do not intend to make any
claim for the precise arrangement and disposition of the parts n, o, p, as
there shown in Figure 1; nor do I intend to limit or confine myself

page_text: thereto as a mode or means of transmitting the motion of the piston;
but what I claim as my Invention is,-
First. The novel arrangement of the parts of apparatus for operating
the dampers or damper valves of steam boiler and other furnaces, as
herein described and as illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
"
Second. The improvements in automatic apparatus for operating the
dampers of steam boilers and of other furnaces, by which the pressure
of steam from a steam boiler or other close vessel, or from the expansion
of mercury or gas, or any clastic body contained within a close vessel
and subjected to the action of heat is made to act upon a diaphragm
and a loosely fitted piston on the outside thereof, in the manner herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Brusch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of September One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.
FRANCIS BRUSCH. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN HOLDSWORTH,
Agent for Mr. William Smith, C.E.,
19, Salisbury St., Strand, London.