Improvements in Gas Lighting Apparatus for the Lighting of Railway Cars and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 7th Nov., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Lighting Apparatus for the Lighting of
Railway Cars and the like.
I, ROBERT MUNN DIXON, a citizen of the United States, residing at East
Orange, County of Essex, State of New Jersey, United States of America,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to produce certain improvements in gas lighting
systems especially designed for railway service, in which the gas to be utilized is
stored under high pressure until required for use. In systems of this description it
is necessary to reduce the high pressure gas to a pressure low enough to render it
available in the usual burners for example. This reduction of pressure is usually
accomplished by what is known in the art as a regulator.
Heretofore where regulators for railway car service have been employed they
have been connected to the receiver by pipes, for example.
Broadly stated, my invention consists in the incorporation of a regulator into a
receiver, thereby dispensing with much of the piping now employed, in that way
simplifying the system, and at the same time completely protecting the regulator
by the heavy walls of the receiver and making it impossible in any ordinary
accident for any gas to issue from the receiver except under low pressure, in which
state it is comparatively harmless.
The specific features of my invention as distinguished from its generic form, will
be hereinafter defined in the specification and succinctly set forth in the appended
claims.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. I is a side elevation of a portion of a car with one of my receivers
attached.
Fig. II is a central vertical section of one end of a receiver with the regulator
shown in elevation.
Fig. III is a transverse section thereof looking towards the regulator.
Fig. IV is an end view of a modified form of my invention.
Fig. V is a transverse section thereof taken through the regulator with the
operative parts of the regulator, except the flexible diaphragm, omitted.
Referring to the figures on the drawings:
1 indicates the body part of the receiver, being preferably a cylinder of heavy
plate metal. 2 indicates one head thereof, and 3 the other, the heads being secured
to the body part, as by tap bolts 4, serving to securely unite the heads to the body
part by gas tight joints. 5 indicates brackets secured to the heads by rivets 6, by
means whereof the receiver may be secured to hangers 7 that suspend it from the
underside of the car body 8. 9 indicates a gas supply inlet, the outflow from which
is controlled by any suitable valve mechanism as for example au ordinary gravity
check valve 10. 11 indicates a bridge secured as by rivets 12 to the opposite sides
of the cylinder 1 near the head 3. 13 indicates any suitable gas regulator, which
may be provided with lugs 14 by means whereof bolts 15 extending through
openings in the same and screwing into the bridge 11, may firmly secure the
regulator in place within the receiver.
The details of the regulator being perfectly understood in the art, and con-
stituting no part of my present invention, are not illustrated. It is deemed
sufficient for the present purpose to specify that the regulator is provided with the

page_text: usual regulator inlet 16 and low pressure outlet 17, the regulator inlet opening
directly into the receiver, while the low pressure outlet communicates as by a
pipe 18 passing through a wall of the head 3 with the lamp system, or other pipe
system, not illustrated, of the car.
19 indicates a pipe communicating at one end with the interior of the regulator
above the diaphragm and extending through air tight connection 20 at the other
end to the outside of the head 3, and which serves to insure atmospheric pressure
only on the upper side of the diaphragm, thereby securing the proper automatic
regulation of the degree of pressure through the low pressure outlet 17 and
pipe 18.
Let it be observed in this connection that the regulator, is entirely surrounded
by and protected at all points by the heavy walls of the receiver.
If it should become necessary to repair the regulator in any wise, the bolts 4 may
be unscrewed and the head 3 taken out for that purpose.
In Figs. IV and V of the drawings, I illustrate a modified form of apparatus.
In these figures the head of the receiver indicated by 21 is provided with a circular
opening 22 concentric with the axis of the cylindrical receiver. Within this is a
concave or dish-shaped head 24 secured as by bolts 25, an annular gasket 26 being
secured between the edge of the head 24 and the head 21 to insure a tight joint.
The wall of the head 24 being of equal thickness with that of the head 21, the.
strength of the receiver is unimpaired and, on account of its shape, the regulator
located within it is entirely protected by it. The annular wall of the head 24 is
preferably cast thick enough to accommodate a high pressure inlet 27, that is
controlled by a conical valve 28 whose stem 29 may be turned by a wrench from
the outside of the receiver as required. A bushing 30 may be employed between
the metal of the head 24 and the valve stem 29.
31 indicates an internally screw-threaded socket within which the nipple of the
regulator valve mechanism, not illustrated, may be screwed. The valve mechanism
of the regulator proper is, as above suggested, purposely omitted the only portion
thereof which is shown being the well-known flexible diaphragm 32, that is secured
against the annular face 33 of the head 24, as by a ring 34, and its intermediate
gasket 35. The ring 34 preferably carries a rini 36 to which may be screwed a
cap 37, the cap 37 being provided with an air hole 38 corresponding in office to the
pipe 20 above mentioned.
By the employment of the dish-shaped head 24 and the cap 37 the regulator is
entirely incorporated within the receiver and is as fully protected thereby as in the
form of embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. I to III inclusive. I prefer
the form shown in Figs. IV and V, however, because of the facility with which
access to the interior of the regulator may be gained for repairing or adjusting the
mechanism.
39 indicates the low pressure outlet which establishes communication between
the interior of the regulator and the lamp or pipe system, supplying gas from the
former to the latter under low pressure.
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
1. The combination with a gas receiver, of a pressure regulator incorporated
within the same and protected by the walls thereof, substantially in the manner and
for the purpose specified.
2. The combination with a gas receiver, of a pressure regulator enclosed within
the same, and having its exterior pipe connections embodied within the walls of the
receiver, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination with a gas receiver, and pressure regulator contained therein,
of a high pressure gas inlet communicating with the regulator and opening directly
into the receiver without an intervening connection of any kind, substantially as
set forth.

page_text: 4. The combination with a gas receiver head and opening therein, of a dish-
shaped head, means for securing said parts together, and pressure regulating
mechanism carried within the dish-shaped head, substantially as set forth.
5. The combination with a gas receiver head, dish-shaped head secured thereto,
and pressure regulating mechanism therein, of a low pressure outlet opening from
the face of the dish-shaped head, a high pressure inlet formed in the wall thereof, a
valve controlling the high pressure inlet, and mechanism for operating said valve
on the outside of the dish-shaped head, substantially as set forth.
6. The combination with a gas receiver head, and dish-shaped head secured
thereto, of a high pressure inlet and low pressure outlet in the wall of said dish-
shaped head, and a flexible diaphragm secured across the face of the dish-shaped
head, substantially as set forth.
7. The combination with a gas receiver head and dish-shaped head secured
thereto, of a high pressure inlet and low pressure outlet in the wall of said dish-
shaped head, a flexible diaphragm secured across the face of the dish-shaped head,
and a cap secured to the wall of the head and covering the diaphragm, substantially
as set forth.
8. The combination with a receiver bead, dish-shaped head secured thereto, and
a high pressure inlet and low pressure outlet in the walls thereof, of an annular face
upon the dish-shaped head, a ring, means for securing the ring to the face, a flexible
diaphragm secured between the ring and the annular face, and a cap secured to the
ring, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 15th day of September 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.