IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING OR REGU- LATING THE SPEED OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Miller (the younger), of Clarendon
Place, Vassall Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING OR REGU-
LATING THE SPEED OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES."
Sealed the 19th July 1861, and dated the 21st February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Miller at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st February 1861.
I, JAMES JOHN MILLER (the younger), of Clarendon Place, Vassall
Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING OR
REGULATING THE SPEED OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object the production of a sensitive appliance for
regulating the speed of steam and other engines and machines, and more
especially those intended for marine purposes, by means.. or apparatus of a
simple character, but which shall allow or permit, the apparatus to be used or
worked at pleasure in opposite directions of rotation, a result which, I believė,
has not been attained by any of the marine governors hitherto in use, except-
ing by contrivances of complicated and comparatively expensive, character.
This Invention belongs to a class or description of governors in which are

page_text: employed a momentum wheel, or balanced weights, or fliers, and a sliding
sleeve or collar for actuating a throttle valve by or from its sliding motion, the
sliding motion being induced by inclined or cam-like surfaces on the collar
and on the boss of the momentum wheel, or some piece or part connected
thereto.
The improvements embrace the so disposing or arranging the inclined sur-
faces that the desired sliding motion of the sleeve or collar may be obtained
from rotation, not only in one direction, but in either direction; also in the
combination with or addition to such double-acting arrangement of stops or
eatches, or equivalents, for preventing the effective use of such inclined surfaces
in other than the intended and proper manner, according to the direction of
rotation which may be given; and also in providing as the means of resistance
to such sliding motion a flat spring with adjusting screw or contrivance for
regulating its pressure. To prevent misapprehension, the term "flat spring
as here used, is to be understood as embracing any convenient shape of spring
formed of sheet or plate metal, bent or curved if need be, but not disposed in
a helical or spiral form. This spring improvement may be used in combina-
tion with or addition to a double-acting arrangement of inclined surfaces, as
above set forth, or otherwise, in combination with or addition to an arrange-
ment of inclined surfaces acting in one direction of rotation only.
I would remark, that the Invention is not limited to the use of a flat spring
for the purpose above mentioned, but wish it to be noted that the firstly-men-
tioned improvement may (if it be preferred) be used in combination with a
spring of any convenient description, and that in some cases a weight may be
used instead of a spring to give the necessary pressure..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James John Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JOHN MILLER (the younger), of Clarendon Place, Vassall Road, Brixton, in
the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James John Miller, Her special licence that I, the said James

page_text: John Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James John Miller, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING OR REGULATING THE SPEED OF STEAM'
AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James John Miller, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 James John Miller, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
.
My said Invention has for its object the production of a sensitive appliance
for regulating the speed of steam and other engines and machines, and more
especially those intended for marine purposes, by means or apparatus of a
simple character, but which shall allow or permit the apparatus to be used or
worked at pleasure in opposite directions of rotation, a result which, I believe,
has not been attained by any of the marine governors hitherto in use, except-
ing by contrivances of complicated and comparatively expensive character.
This Invention belongs to a class or description of governors in which are
employed a momentum wheel, or balanced weights, or fliers, and a sliding
sleeve or collar for actuating a throttle valve by or from its sliding motion, the
sliding motion being induced by inclined or cam-like surfaces on the collar
and on the boss of the momentum wheel, or some piece or part connected
thereto.
One of the said improvements consists in so disposing or arranging the
inclined surfaces that the desired sliding motion of the sleeve or collar may be
obtained from rotation in either direction, instead of (as heretofore) from
rotation in one direction only.
Another of the said improvements consists in the combination with or addi-
tion to such double-acting arrangement of certain stops or catches, or equiva-
lents, for preventing the effective use of such inclined surfaces in other than
the intended and proper manner, according to the direction of rotation which

page_text: may be given ; and also the said improvements include the providing as the
means of resistance to such sliding motion a flat spring with adjusting screw
or contrivance for regulating its pressure. To prevent misapprehension, the
term "flat spring" as here used, is to be understood as embracing any con-
venient shape of spring formed of sheet or plate metal, bent or curved if need
be, but not disposed in a helical or spiral form. My Invention comprehends
this spring improvement not only when used in combination with or addition
to a double-acting arrangement of inclined surfaces as above set forth, but
also when, or if used in combination with or addition to an arrangement of
inclined surfaces, acting in one direction of rotation only.
The accompanying Drawing and the following description of same will
illustrate the manner in which my said Invention is to be and may be
performed.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a governor specially intended for using
with marine "screw" engines, and constructed in accordance with the several
improvements above set forth; Figure 2 is a plan view corresponding with
Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4 are an elevation and plan view corresponding with
each other, representing certain of the parts in an altered position; Figure 5
is a perspective sketch of the improved sliding collar or sleeve; Figures 6 to
11 are herein-after more particularly referred to,
a is framing furnished with two bearings b, b, in which the shaft c is free
to revolve, being driven by the (fixed) pulley d directly from the screw shaft
of the engine or otherwise, or by appropriate gearing; e is an iron block
keyed fast on the shaft, and turning therewith; f is the sliding sleeve or
collar free to move longitudinally on the shaft, but by means of a feather or
key caused also to turn therewith; g is a lever with fork or crutch at its
upper end lying in a groove or channel in the sleeve f, and so receiving motion
from the sliding of the sleeve; h is a rod for communicating such motion to
the "throttle" or other regulating valve of the engine or machine to which
the governor is applied; i is the flat spring for resisting the sliding motion of:
the sleeve, and returning it or causing it to slide back again, as hereafter.
explained. This spring is either fixed at one end, as shewn, or may be loosely
fitted into a notch or seat or contrivance for holding it, and its other end
bears against the lever g, the pressure being adjusted by means of a screw k
or otherwise, according to the degree of sensitiveness desired, its power in any
case being sufficient to return the collar; its being a flat spring allows it to
be easily and cheaply replaced if damaged, and admits of a shorter shaft c being
employed. is a momentum wheel loosely mounted, free to turn upon
the shaft c, but prevented from sliding thereon by a shoulder c* and by the.

page_text: face of the block e. It is similar to an ordinary momentum wheel except in
this particular, that it is furnished with a boss m, having inclined surfaces
m*, mx, upon it formed, disposed, or arranged in accordance with one of the
special features of my Invention, as above set forth, and the sleeve f is also
furnished with corresponding inclined surfaces f*, fx, to bear against those of
the boss m.
All the parts mounted upon the shaft are capable of rotation, but for con-
venience of illustration the momentum wheel is represented in a similar
position in all the Figures, in order that the relative position of the remaining
parts, under the circumstances of varying velocities, may be more clearly
understood. When the engine is working uniformly and requiring full steam;
the sleeve (is in the position Figure 1 and) drives the momentum wheel (by
the contact and friction of the inclined surfaces f* and m*) at the same
velocity as the shaft c; but if the engine, and consequently the shaft c, sud-
denly turn faster, the momentum wheel will not so readily receive the
increased speed; and consequently by the action of the inclined surfaces.
against each other the sleeve will become driven away, and will slide or recede
from the wheel. And the inclined surfaces f*, m*, are so disposed or
arranged that this result will obtain whether the engine and the shaft c turn:
in one particular direction or in an opposite direction of rotation. In either
case the sleeve f being turned round at a different rate or velocity from the
momentum wheel, will be caused to slide upon the shaft from the normal
position represented in the Figures 1 and 2 (corresponding with the throttle-
valve being fully open, or as much so as it may be desirable to adjust it) to an
extent more or less according to the variation of velocity, the extreme position.
being represented in the Figures 3 and 4 (corresponding with the throttle
valve, being completely closed), the pressure of the spring i gradually causing"
the return of the sleeve into the normal position when the sleeve and
momentum wheel shall be running at the same velocity. It is, however, to be
noted that the maximum amount of action on the throttle valve rod h is attained
when the relative positions of the sleeve and momentum wheel differ to the
extent of about half a revolution (as shewn in Figures 3 and 4), and that
should this be exceeded, the return sliding movement will improperly take
place, and frustrate the intended object of the apparatus. And further, it is
to be noted that when the spring i is properly returning the sleeve to its
normal position, an improper effect will be the result if such normal position
be exceeded. To prevent such improper action in either or both of the ways
above mentioned, the block e is furnished with a fixed stop or catch e* and
with a sliding bolt or adjustable stop or catch &; and the boss of the.

page_text: momentum wheel is also furnished (on the side laying against the block e)
with a fixed stop or catch (*.
These several stops or catches are shewn in the Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and
also very distinctly in the Figures 6 and 7, Figure 6 being a face view of the
block, and Figure 7 a face view of the boss of the wheel. Figure 8 shews
in black lines the face of the block with its stops, and in colored lines the
relative position of the wheel and its stop when the sliding sleeve f is in the
normal position indicated in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 9 is a similar view
corresponding with the extreme position of the sliding sleeve indicated in
Figures 3 and 4. These Figures 8 and 9 answer to the above description
when the direction of rotation corresponds with that indicated by the arrows
in the said Figures; but if the rotation be in the opposite direction, the
relative positions of the block and wheel would be slightly altered, that is to
say, so that the bolt e* (in Figure 8) and the stop e* (in Figure 9) might lie
against the opposite side or edge of the stop * on the momentum wheel.
s is a sliding ring connected to the bolt e³, and t is a forked hand lever for
shifting or altering the position as required.
In order still further to explain the action of the apparatus, it may be
stated that (as constructed) the shaft c, the block e, and the sleeve ƒ must
necessarily rotate together in the same direction and at the same velocity,
and that when the engine (to which the apparatus is applied) is working
uniformly, the direction and velocity of rotation of the momentum wheel will
also coincide with them. If, however, the rate of working of the engine should
suddenly vary, then the differential position of the momentum wheel will, by
the arrangement of stops and catches above described, be limited to about half
a revolution, and consequently the improper action (of the apparatus) above
described will be prevented.
I would remark that the Figures 1 to 5 do not quite correctly represent
the inclined surfaces fx and m*, the edges of which or parts of them are in
practice rounded off so as to allow them the more evenly to bear one against
the other. With this exception, the Figures correctly illustrate the simplest
form of the sleeve and the boss of the momentum wheel, the two together pre-
senting the appearance of a continuous tube divided by a straight cut passing
obliquely through it. I prefer, however, that the inclined surfaces should be
uniformly and evenly developed, in which case they will correspond with those
of a square-threaded screw (as represented in the Figure 10,) or rather of
two halves of different screws, one being right-handed and the other left-
handed; or cam-like surfaces distributing the inclination in any approved
practicable relation to the half circumference may be substituted. Also the

page_text: inclined or cam-like surfaces need not necessarily be formed on both the
sleeve and the boss, but the one may have the desired surfaces and the other
may have a roller to press against them, or a pin, or stud, or block, so as to
reduce the friction. The Figure 11 illustrates this modification, but the
surfaces may be formed on the boss m instead of on the sleeve f, as therein
shewn, and in any case such surfaces may be formed, if preferred, upon some
convenient piece or part connected to the sleeve and the boss instead of being
formed directly upon the sleeve or the boss themselves. But I have found,
from experiments, that with inclinations distributed in the simple form shewn
in Figures 1 to 5 (the edges of the surfaces being rounded off) I have
obtained a very satisfactory result. In these experiments the degree or angle
of inclination has been such as to produce an amount of travel or sliding
action of the sleeve equal to about half a diameter of the sleeve, and I
consider this a proper amount, as the power of the spring i and weight of
momentum wheel will afford ample means of proper adaptation to different
circumstances.
The Drawing is made to a scale of about one-fourth of the actual linear
dimensions, and represents an apparatus adapted for working directly a
throttle valve for a steam pipe of about eight or nine inches in diameter.
I would remark that my Invention is not limited to the use of a flat spring
for the purpose above mentioned, but wish it to be noted that the firstly
mentioned improvement may (if it be preferred) be used in combination
with a spring of any convenient description, and that in some cases a weight
may be used instead of a spring to give the necessary pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said James John Miller, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JAMES JOHN MILLER, JUN³. (L.S.)