AN IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR HEATING APPARATUS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR HEATING
APPARATUS," A communication.
Sealed the 2nd January 1857, and dated the 17th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton..
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th July 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 60, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for AN IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR HEATING
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of rendering the supply of steam, hot
water, or hot air to heating pipes self-regulating. To this end, the Inventor
avails himself of the natural tendency of metal pipes to contract and expand
under varying temperatures. A section of the exit steam pipe, formed of iron
tubing, of, say, 20. feet in length, is fixed at one end of the building to be
heated, and its other end, which is free, carries a valve or valve box. Into
this valve box enters (through a stuffing box attached thereto) another tube,
which is also affixed to the building to be heated. This tube is closed at its
end, and lateral holes are made in it to permit of the passage of the steam.
As the temperature increases, the tubes will elongate between the fixed points,
and the valve box will slide over the inserted tube, and, by its proximity thereto,
close or partially close the passage for the steam, as required, and thereby
regulate the amount of heat given off by the heating apparatus,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Alfred
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and 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 "AN
IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR HEATING APPARATUS," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
consists in so arranging a section of the exit steam pipe from a building or
room fitted with steam or hot water heating apparatus, that the pipe itself shall
operate to open or close a valve, and thus restrain the escape of steam and
water, and consequently the amount of entering steam and water, and thereby
regulate the heat of the building or apartment. It has been found difficult
heretofore to regulate effectually the amount of steam and hot water flowing
through the tubes of heaters in buildings warmed thereby, but the Inventor of
the present improvement has discovered that by using a pipe or tube about

page_text: twenty feet long, and attaching one end thereof to the building and leaving the
other end free to operate a valve or valve box, the exit pipe itself may be made
a complete and reliable regulator. The mode of carrying out this Invention is
shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an outside view of the
improved regulator, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.
A, B, is a piece of iron tubing, say, twenty feet long, placed in the course of
the regular steam tubing at or near the point of discharge from a room or
building. This pipe is connected consecutively with the other pipes at A in
an ordinary manner, as by screw joint. The end A is also secured permanently
against the wall of the room or building by means of the bracket C, D). The
other end of the tube B fits into a valve box E, G, arranged as follows:-
E, H, forms the top of the valve box; J, K, is a piece of ordinary steam
tubing, closed at its extremity J, and having several small apertures i, i, near
that extremity; L, M, is a packing box, through which the tube J, K, can
slide; F, G, is the bottom of the valve box, which serves to keep the packing
in its place. The tube J, K, is attached at K to the regular discharging
tube R, S, and also, by means of the bracket N, N, to the wall of the building
or apartment.
As the tube A, B, is fixed at its extremity A to the wall of the building,
and as the piece J, K, is also permanently fixed at its extremity K to the
wall, it follows, that as the pipe A, B, expands and elongates by the heat of
its contents, the box E, G, will be forced to slide upon the tuhe J, K, and the
part O in the box E, H, will approximate to J. The part O, which forms a
continuation of the aperture of the pipe A, B, acts also as a valve seat for the
closed extremity J of the pipe J, K, to fit upon. As J approaches O it tends
to diminish the aperture for the steam to pass through into the space e, e, and
thus checks the delivery of steam from A, B, into the space e, e. From this
space
the steam passes through the apertures i, i, into the tube J, K. When
the extremity J of this tube fits close upon the seat O no steam or water can
flow from the tube A, B, into the space e, e, but as J recedes from O, the
annular passage for the escape of steam from A, B, into the space e, e, is
proportionately increased. Hence, as the tube A, B, becomes heated, and the
proximity of the points O and Jincreases, the flow of steam or other heating
medium from the pipe A, B, is decreased, and the consequent circulation
thereof through all the preceding tubes is correspondingly checked. The
reverse action will of course take place when the pipe A, B, becomes cooled
and contracts in its length. It has been found in practice that if the tube A, B
is made about twenty feet long it gives about five-eighths and one-third of an
inch practical play or slide between the points O and J, and this is amply

page_text: sufficient for ensuring the efficient working of the regulator. The advantages
of this improvement are, that the exit pipe through which the steam flows is
made to regulate the temperature of the building; the steam at that point
having performed its function of heating, is then properly a test of the tem-
perature of the preceding parts of the piping, and of the temperature of the
room. Second, the pipe itself is so constructed and adapted as to form the
regulating agent, and being most directly influenced by the steam contained
therein, itis superior to any exterior thermostatic appliance. Third, its obvious
cheapness and its practical efficiency commend it. I may also add, that a
regulating tube and valve box, constructed as above, and opening directly into
the atmosphere, may be advantageously interposed in the course of the tubing
at the highest point of the building. When the pipe is heated by the flowing
of steam the aperture to the atmosphere is closed, and when the supply or
steam to the building is cut off air is allowed to enter there; the water in the
system of pipes will then flow off, and prevent the injurious effects that might
arise from the water freezing in the pipes. A small adjusting or set screw is
interposed at P, Q, whereby the sliding play of the tube A, B, on J, K, may
be increased or diminished, thereby increasing or diminishing the heat of the
apartments. But after the first adjustment it will not be necessary to alter it
unless a change of temperature is desired.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Regulator for Heating Apparatus," as communicated to me from abroad, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim connecting
one section of the tubing with another section in such manner that they will
(on the principle of contraction and expansion) serve to regulate or control the
heat of the building to which the heating apparatus is applied, as above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)