IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DAMPER GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Ripley, of Brook Street, West Square,
Lambeth, County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DAMPER GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS."
Sealed the 12th December 1862, and dated the 24th June 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Ripley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th.
June 1862..
1, ABRAHAM RIPLEY, of Brook Street, West Square, Lambeth, County of
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DAMPER GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS," to be
as follows:-
Connected with the engine boiler, or with a pipe proceeding from the same,
is another pipe, preferably syphon-shaped, the mouth of the latter pipe com-
municates with the bottom of a small cylinder, within which moves a piston;
the rod of the piston is attached to a lever which, by means of a link or series
of levers er links, is connected with the damper placed in the flue. The
syphon-shaped tube I fill with oil, and I load the piston, or what is
the same thing the lever, with a weight equal to the required pressure of
the steam, hence, whenever the pressure of the steam exceeds the load upon
the piston, the oil in the tube will be forced under the piston, and will urge it.
upwards, and the rod, acting upon the damper through the system of levers or

page_text: links, will slowly close it, and lessening the draught will diminish the pro-
duction and pressure of the steam, and the piston will then return to its
normal position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Ripley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAHAM
RIPLEY, of Brook Street, West Square, Lambeth, County of Surrey, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Abraham Ripley, Her special licence that I, the said Abraham Ripley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Abraham Ripley, 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 Ire-
land, the Channel Islands; and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DAMPER GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Abraham Ripley, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I,, the said Abraham Ripley, do hereby declare, the.
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention relates to an improved method of regulating the draught, in
boiler and other flues. To effect this I mount on any convenient place.
adjacent, a cylinder having a piston or plunger and rod, from the bottom of the
cylinder I lead a pipe connected with the boiler in the form of a double bend,

page_text: this I fill with oil, in quantity equal to the capacity of the cylinder, when the
piston is at the extreme stroke, and force up the piston in the cylinder by this
means. The oil serves to lubricate the piston, and makes it work easy. The
top of the connecting rod is attached to a long lever, one extremity of which
acts upon a rod or chain connected with the damper, and the other end of the
lever carries an adjustable weight to regulate the damper. The action is as
follows:-The weight on the lever indicating say forty pounds per square
inch, the steam will have no effect upon the oil, and therefore on the piston
until it gets over that amount, the piston will then be raised and the damper
closed, and the generation of steam checked until the pressure is reduced, then
the piston will descend and the damper will be opened.
In order to illustrate my Invention more clearly, I have appended the
Drawings accompanying this Specification, in which Figure 1 is an elevation,
shewing the cylinder and piston in section; Figure 2 is an end view, shewing
the pipe. A is a cylinder, at the bottom of which the pipe C is connected at
c', as shewn in Figure 2; D is the piston or plunger, so that when the
pressure of the steam is greater than is required, it urges the oil along the
double bend pipe C into the cylinder A, causing the piston or plunger D to
rise, and the lever or system of levers closes the damper E, and the flue F,
the diminution of the draught lessening the production of steam, the pressure
in the boiler becomes less, and is unable to balance the weight G at the other
end of the lever H, when the piston again returns to its normal state, as
shewn in Figure 2, on the accompanying Drawings.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it understood that what I claim as new, and
desire to have secured to me by the before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the method of actuating and regulating the damper of a boiler flue by means
of the variable pressure of steam acting upon a column of oil in contact with
a piston, and thereby actuating and regulating the piston, piston rod, lever, and
damper, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Ripley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.