AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING OIL AND OTHER FLUID LUBRICATING MATTERS TO MACHINERY
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Bovill, of No. 22, James Street,
Buckingham Gate, in the City of Westminister, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING OIL AND OTHER
FLUID LUBRICATING MATTERS TO MACHINERY."-A communication from
abroad by Louis Edouard Auguste Gobert, of the City of Brussels,
Ingenieur-en-Chef of the Belgian State Railways.
Sealed the 18th January 1863, and dated the 5th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Bovill
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th September 1862.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD BOVILL, of No. 22, James Street, Buckingham Gate,
in the City of Westminister, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING OIL AND
OTHER FLUID LUBRICATING MATTERS TO MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
An oil cup or reservoir is either formed or fixed under or at a lower level
than the axle bearing or machinery to which the oil or other fluid lubricating
matter is to be applied. A wick or pad, or several wicks or pads, or a com-

page_text: bination of both, possessing the property of capillary attraction is inserted in
the oil cup or reservoir so that one end of the wick or pad shall touch the
axle, bearing, or machinery to be lubricated, and the other end shall dip into
and absorb the oil or other lubricating matter. The wick or pad is supported
by a collar or case of wood, metal, leather, or any rigid substance, and is kept
in its place and in constant contact with the axle, bearing, or machinery to be
lubricated by a spring and guide or other mechanical contrivance. The oil
cup or reservoir may either be formed in and as part of the box or case of the
axle, bearing, or machinery to be lubricated, or made separately and fixed to
such axle, bearing, or machinery, and may be made either wholly open at the
top or with a neck (through which the wick or pad passes), so as to prevent
the spilling or loss of the oil from the movement of the machinery, and if
necessary to support the wick, pad, collar, or case; and such cup or reservoir
may be made with an aperture in the lower part closed by a screw plug or
any suitable mechanical contrivance so as to enable it to be cleansed when
requisite without dismounting the axle, bearing, or machinery or the cup.
The object of this Invention is to apply oil and other fluid lubricating matters
to axles, bearings, and machinery in motion beneath, and from beneath through
the agency of capillary attraction, and I claim to be entitled to the whole and
every or any part or parts of such Invention and to every method of using or
applying the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Bovill in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD BOVILL, of No. 22, James Street, Buckingham Gate, in the City
of Westminister, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of September, 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 William Edward Bovill, Her special licence, that I, the said William
Edward Bovill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Edward Bovill, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: 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 IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING OIL AND OTHER FLUID
LUBRICATING MATTERS TO MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Bovill, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 William Edward Bovill, 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, that is to say:-
An oil cup or reservoir is either formed or fixed under or at a lower level
than the axle, bearing, or machinery to which the oil or other fluid lubricating
matter is to be applied. A wick or pad, or several wicks or pads, or a com-
bination of both, possessing the property of capillary attraction is inserted in
the oil cup or reservoir so that one end of the wick or pad shall touch the axle,
bearing, or machinery to be lubricated, and the other end shall dip into and
absorb the oil or other lubricating matter. The wick or pad is supported by
a collar or case of wood, metal, leather, or any rigid substance and is kept in
itspl ace and in constant contact with the axle, bearing, or machinery to be
lubricated by a spring and guide or other mechanical contrivance. The wick
or pad should be of such form and material that it may not be broken down
or hollowed out by the movement of the machinery so as to form a bed for
any detritus, dust, or other matters; as such detritus, dust, or other matters
would check the flow of the oil and might be taken up again by the machinery
and increase the friction. The wick should therefore be made as narrow as
feasible, and supported and stiffened by the collar or case.
The oil cup or
reservoir may either be formed in and as part of the box or case of the axle,
bearing, or machinery to be lubricated, or made separately, and fixed to such
axle, bearing, or machinery, and may be made either wholly open at the top or
with a neck (through which the wick or pad passes) so as to prevent the
splashing or loss of the oil from the movement of the machinery, and if necessary
to support the wick, pad, collar, or case. And such oil cup or reservoir is to

page_text: be made with a sloping bottom and an aperture in the lower part closed by a
screw plug, or any suitable mechanical contrivance, so that the detritus, dust,
or other impurities may settle in the lowest part and so as to enable the cup
or reservoir to be cleansed when requisite without dismounting the axle,
bearing, or machinery or the cup; and such cup or reservoir is when requisite
to be made with an aperture through which the oil or other fluid lubricating
matter may be introduced at such a level that when the oil cup or reservoir is
filled up to it the oil or other lubricating matter will not overflow; this aperture
is to be closed by a lid and washer or suitable contrivance. And in order to
utilise any superfluous oil or other lubricating matter which is taken up from
the wick or pad by the movement of the axle, bearing, or machinery a conduit
or channel or conduits or channels is or are formed in the upper bearing of
the axle box or other machinery leading from a hole or holes in such upper
bearing to any part or parts of the axle, bearing, or machinery, so that when the
oil or other lubrictaing matter which is taken up from the wick or pad by
the movement of the axle, bearing, or machinery rises, as it will do, and fills the
holes it will flow through the conduit or channel or conduits or channels to
such part or parts of the axle, bearing, or machinery as may be required. I
am aware that wicks, and pads, and holes in the upper bearings are already
used in lubricating machinery. I do not therefore claim any exclusive use of
any of them.
The above Invention consists in the nature and structure of the wick or
pad, i.e. in its continuity and the mode of supporting and stiffening it by a
collar or case and in the oil cup or reservoir of the form and construction
above described, and in the conduits or channels in the upper bearing, also
above described, as the means of applying oil and other fluid lubricating
matters to axles, bearings, and machinery in motion beneath and from beneath,
through the agency of capillary attraction. And I claim to be entitled to
the whole and every or any part or parts of this Invention, and to every
method of using or applying the same.
The following is the description of the Drawing relating to the above
Invention:-
A, A, is the oil cup or reservoir; B, the opening for the introduction of the
oil; C, the plug for cleansing the cup or reservoir; D, the lubricating wicks
and pad with the spring and guide (d) and collar or case (c); E, E, the
upper bearing with H, H, conduits or channels therein. In this Drawing a
grease box G of the ordinary construction is shown with a fusible plug F which
in case of accidental overheating melts and allows the grease in the box G

page_text: to flow and lubricate the journal, but this is no part of the above Invention, nor
is any claim made in respect of it.
The Drawing shows the Invention as applied to railway axles, and it is to
be applied in the same manner to any other axles, bearings, or machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Bovill, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.