AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Minton Courtauld, of Bocking, in the County of
Essex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS
FOR STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 18th October 1865, and dated the 15th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Minton Courtauld
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th April 1865.
I, JOHN MINTON COURTAULD, of Bocking, in the County of Essex,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of a copper or other suitable
metal tube carried through the upper part of the boiler, and descending below
the proper working water level therein, and in connecting to the upper part of
the tube, carried to a greater or lesser height from the top of the boiler, a rod
which by the expansion of the tube acts upon a safety valve when the water
falls below the proper level and allows steam to escape from the boiler.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Minton Courtauld in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN MINTON
COURTAULD, of Bocking, in the County of Essex, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victorin, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Minton Courtauld, Her special licence that I, the said John
Minton Courtauld, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Minton Courtauld, 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 SAFETY APPARATUS FOR STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition
.(amongst others) that I, the said John Minton Courtauld, 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 John Minton Courtauld, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a copper or other suitable
metal tube carried through the upper part of the boiler, and descending below
the proper working water level therein, and in connecting to the upper part
of the tube, carried to a greater or lesser height from the top of the boiler, a
rod, which by the expansion of the tube acts upon a safety valve when the
water falls below the proper level and allows steam to escape from.the.boiler.
Instead of carrying the tube through the top of the boiler I sometimes
cause it to dip in a pipe carried out from the boiler as shewn in the accompany-
ing Drawings, Figure 1 of which is a front, and Figure 2 a side elevation of
the safety apparatus. Similar letters refer to like parts in both Figures.

page_text: A is the boiler plate; B is a pipe extending from the lower part of the
boiler; C is a brass tube carried through guides a, a; the lower end of this
tube passes through the top of the pipe B, and communicates with the water
in the boiler. D is a tap on the tube C; E is a lever centred at b and
resting upon the top of the tube C. The long arm of the lever E has
suspended from it a connecting rod F carrying grip hooks G, G, which
embrace a neck on a weighted valve spindle H free to rise and fallin a case I.
K is a pipe communicating with the steam space in the boiler; Lis a passago
in the case I leading to a steam whistle M; N is a detector shewing when
the valve spindle has been raised; 0, weight on the spindle; P is a frame
carrying parts of the apparatus.
When the steam is admitted into the tube C by the water being allowed
to get below the proper level the tube C expands and raises the lever E
together with the valve spindle H, and the whistle M is sounded. The
whistle will continue to sound until the water is again above the mouth of
the tube C and for about half an hour after unless stopped by the attendant.
My apparatus is of simple construction, is not likely to get out of order,
and is easily tested by turning the tap D. It may also be employed to give
alarm when the pressure of steam is becoming too great, for this purpose the
valve should be so weighted as to lift a little before the main safety valve.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the improved
safety apparatus for steam boilers herein-before described consisting of a
tube or pipe dipping in the water in the boiler, or in a tube communicating
therewith, and acting by expansion upon a safety valve, substantially in manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Minton Courtauld, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN M. COURTAULD. (L.S.)