Improvements in Means for Automatically Removing Scum and other Impurities and Deposits from Boilers, Separators, Econo- misers, Filters, and other Steam Producing or Water Heating and Purifying Vessels and Apparatus.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Apr., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 17th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 23rd Feb., 1889
Improvements in Means for Automatically Removing Scum and
other Impurities and Deposits from Boilers, Separators, Econo-
misers, Filters, and other Steam Producing or Water Heating
and Purifying Vessels and Apparatus.
I WILLIAM FAIRCLOUGH of 275 Wellington Road South, Stockport, in the County
of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
My said Ivention relates to means for automatically removing scum and other
impurities from steam generators separators economisers, filters and other steam pro-
ducing or water heating and purifying vessels and apparatus. In the various means
which have been devised to collect and carry off scum from boilers and the like or to
separate impurities from the water, it is usually the custom to remove the scum or
impurities by a valve or tap which is opened at irregular intervals by the attendant.
In the event of the attendant neglecting his duties in this respect the scum is not
removed or the separator when such is employed is choked and rendered inoperative.
My invention consists of an arrangement of apparatus whereby the tap or valve on
the scum pipe is automatically opened and closed at regular intervals. The apparatus
as at present arranged is operated by a driving belt and pulley which rotates a
crank disc which vibrates the outer end of a lever which is pivotted upon a sleeve
extending from a bracket. The said vibrating lever carries two ratchet pawls. One
of the said ratchet pawls engages with and continuously operates a ratchet wheel
which is keyed to a shaft or stud which passes through the hollow sleeve of the
bracket. The other ratchet pawl is permitted to engage with its corresponding
ratchet wheel only on the occasions when the apparatus is timed to operate the tap
or valve on the scum pipe. The said ratchet wheels may have any convenient
number of teeth, say for example 40. If the driving pulley runs at the rate of 40
revolutions per minute and the pawl advances the ratchet wheel a tooth at a time,
then the shaft carrying the ratchet wheel will make one revolution per minute. I
secure or form a tooth in or upon the shaft and opposite to the said tooth I place an
го. 017

page_text: intermediate toothed wheel which is thus moved one tooth for each revolution of the
shaft. The shaft which carries the intermediate wheel also carries a disc having an
elevation on its periphery or it might be more than one such elevation. When the
aforesaid intermediate wheel has made say a complete revolution the elevation on the
disc is brought beneath a projection from a pivotted quadrant which supports
the second vibrating pawl clear of its ratchet wheel. The moving of this supporting
quadrant by the elevation on the aforesaid disc, clears the pawl and allows it to fall in
gear with the ratchet wheel which immediately begins to revolve at say the same
speed as the continuously rotating ratchet wheel. The second intermittently rotating
ratchet wheel carries or actuates a bevel wheel which gears with another bevel wheel
the spindle of which operates the scum tap or valve. At the end of say one
revolution of the ratchet and bevel wheels lasting for say one minute during which
the scum is blown out of the boiler or separator the elevation on the disc has passed
from beneath the supporting quadrant which then falls back into its normal position
and again holds the ratchet pawl clear of the ratchet wheel and thus stops its
revolution. Stops or brakes may be applied to the various ratchet wheels to prevent
back lash. The whole apparatus is preferably immersed in a box containing oil so as
to keep the parts in working order and secure perfect lubrication. It will be evident
that my apparatus is capable of many modifications in the construction and arrange-
ment;
for example instead of an elevation on the slowly rotating disc I might have a
depression, or the elevation or depression or elevations or depressions where more
than one are employed may be so formed or the gearing operated therefrom may be
so arranged as to give a longer or shorter opening to the scum tap than that herein-
before indicated. Instead of bevel or spur gearing for opening and closing the valve
I might open and close the valve through an arrangement of levers operated from the
intermittently rotating ratchet wheel. The invention is applicable not only to the
cleansing of boilers and separators but also to the removal of dirt or scum at regular
intervals from other vessels and apparatus such as economisers and filters.
Dated this 18th day of April 1888.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: Improvements in Means for Automatically Removing Scum and
other Impurities and Deposits from Boilers, Separators, Econo-
misers, Filters, and other Steam Producing or Water Heating
and Purifying Vessels and Apparatus.
I WILLIAM FAIRCLOUGH of 275 Wellington Road South, Stockport, in the County
of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:-
My said Invention relates to means for automatically removing scum and other
impurities from steam generators, separators, economisers, filters and other steam
producing or water heating and purifying vessels and apparatus. In the various
means which have been devised to collect and carry off scum from boilers and the
like or to separate impurities from the water, it is usually the custom to remove the
scum or impurities by a valve or tap which is opened at irregular intervals by
the attendant. In the event of the attendant neglecting his duties in this respect
the scum is not removed or the separator,when such is employed is choked and rendered
inoperative. My invention consists of an arrangement of apparatus whereby the tap
or valve on the scum pipe is automatically opened and closed at regular intervals.
In order to render my invention more clear I will now proceed to describe the
same with reference to the accompanying two sheets of drawings:
On sheet 1 Fig. 1 is a side view of the apparatus.
Fig. 2 is a plan view and Fig. 3 a detail view.
On sheet 2 Fig. 4 is a view of the side of the apparatus opposite to that shown at
Fig. 1 while Figs. 5 and 6 are views of a modification of part of the apparatus.
The apparatus is preferably but not necessarily enclosed in a box A which may be
filled with oil so that the parts are kept well lubricated and are protected from dust
and dirt. To the bottom of the box A I bolt a bracket a upon which the rest of the
parts are supported. The driving shaft b is carried in a sleeve c and is driven by
a pulley d at the outside of the box A. The inner end of the shaft b carries a crank
disc e which oscillates the end of the lever by means of the crank pin and block g
sliding to and fro in the slotted end of the lever f. This lever fis pivotted on a
hollow sleeve extending from the bracket a and there is fixed to or formed on the said
lever an arm which carries two ratchet pawls g and h situated on opposite sides of
the arin and lying right and left. A shaft or stud i passes through the sleeve on
which the lever fis pivotted and at one end of this shaft i there is a bevel wheel j
loose on the shaft and carrying on its boss a ratchet wheel & opposite to the pawl g.
The opposite end of the shaft carries a ratchet wheel which is fixed to the shaft
and is opposite to the ratchet pawl h. The shaft i is also provided with a removable
tooth or projection m opposite to the ratchet or other toothed wheel n. The shaft
carrying the toothed wheel n has fixed on its opposite end a disc o having one tooth

page_text: or projection p on its circumference. A bracket 9 pivotted on the same sleeve which
carries the lever f carries an adjustable finger which lies across the disc o and in
the path of the tooth or projection p so that when the tooth or projection p comes
round it will lift the bracket q. The form of the bracket is such that when it is
not raised by the tooth p a portion of it marked q' lies beneath a heel g¹ on the
ratchet pawl as shown at Fig. 1 so as to keep the nose of the pawl clear of the ratchet
wheel. But when the bracket g is lifted by the tooth p the portion q' moves from
beneath the heel g¹ and allows the nose of the pawl g to drop into gear with the
ratchet wheel and thus to actuate it as shown at Fig. 3. The bevel wheel is thus
j
rotated and gives motion to the other bevel wheel with which it gears. A shaft s
extends to the valve, tap or cock which has to be opened and closed. A stop t
prevents the ratchet wheel k from-being turned in the wrong direction. The manner of
operating the herein before described apparatus is as follows. Motion being imparted by
the pulley and driving shaft, the lever with its arm f¹ is oscillated the ratchet pawl h
(see Fig. 3) giving continuous motion to the wheel 7 and shaft i while the ratchet
pawl g rides with its heel on the raised part of the bracket y and does not actuate the
ratchet wheel k. Suppose that it is desired to open and close the cock or valve once
every hour and that the driving pulley makes 40 revolutions a minute, the wheel l
would then have 40 teeth and would make one revolution per minute the tooth m on
the shaft i thus advancing the ratchet wheel n one tooth per minute. If the wheel n
had 60 teeth it is clear this wheel would make one revolution per hour. As the disc o
rotates at the same speed as the wheel n the tooth p will come into contact with the
finger and will lift the bracket and keep it raised during one revolution of the
ratchet wheel that is to say for the space of one minute during which the ratchet
pawl g will actuate the ratchet wheel . As the ratchet wheel has also 40 teeth it
will be revolved once during this period and will thus turn the shafts and open and
close the cock or valve in connection therewith, allowing scum or impurities or other
matters to be blown out or run off. At the next advance of the wheel n and disc o,
the tooth will move from beneath the finger and allow the bracket to drop,
thereby replacing the part q beneath the heel of the ratchet pawl g and raising the
pawl clear of the ratchet wheel k. In some cases it might be required to maintain
the cock or valve open for a longer space of time than one minute at each actuation.
In such a case I provide two teeth on the shaft i and at opposite sides, one tooth m
being opposite to the wheel n (sco Figs. 5 and 6) and the other tooth m¹ being
opposite to two teeth u. fixed to the side of the wheel n. On the disc o there are
two teeth p and p¹. When the ratchet wheel and disc have been moved round until
the first tooth p has lifted the finger and bracket thereby actuating the ratchet wheel k
and opening the cock as hereinbefore described, the next half revolution of the shaft i
brings the tooth m¹ opposite to the tooth whereby the wheel and disc are moved
another tooth and the bracket y drops, raising the ratchet y out of action and leaving
the cock or valve open to its full extent. The wheel and disc are now moved round
tooth by tooth by the tooth m the valve meanwhile remaining open, until the finger
and bracket are again lifted by the second tooth p¹ and the ratchet wheel is
actuated so as to close the valve. In order that no more than one half a revolution
may be made by the shaft s the tooth m next meets the tooth u¹ on the ratchet
wheel n and moves the wheel and disc at the end of half a revolution of the shaft s,
thereby causing the bracket to drop and arresting the motion of the ratchet wheel k
If this latter provision were not made, the shaft s would perform a complete revolution
and the cock or valve would be turned full on again. The teeth p. pl on the disc o
and the teeth u. u¹ on the ratchet wheel n can be made adjustable so as to provide for
a longer or shorter dwell in keeping the tap or valve open. It will be evident that
my apparatus is capable of many modifications in the construction and arrangement,
for example instead of driving from a shaft and pulley as described I might give
motion to the apparatus by a reciprocating lever or rod and instead of an elevation on
the slowly rotating disc I might have a depression, or the elevation or depression or
elevations or depressions where more than one are employed may be so formed or
the gearing operated therefrom may be so arranged as to give a longer or shorter
1

page_text: opening as desired to the scum tap. Instead of bevel or spur gearing for opening and
closing the valve I might open and close the valve through an arrangement of lovers
operated from the intermittently rotating ratchet wheel. The invention is applicable
not only to the cleansing of boilers and separators but also to the removal of dirt or
scum at regular intervals from other vessels and apparatus such as economisers and
filters and the like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
.
(1) The general arrangement and combination of apparatus for automatically
operating a cock, tap or valve at stated intervals for removing scum and other
impurities and deposits from boilers, separators economisers, filters and the like,
substantially as herein before described and shown.
(2) In apparatus of the indicated nature the combination of parts comprising the
apparatus and consisting of the lever for an equivalent reciprocating part, the
pawls g, the ratchet wheels k,l the tooth m, the ratchet wheel n the disc o and
tooth p, the finger the bracket ratchet pawl g and ratchet k, all arranged and acting
substantially as described and shown.
(3) The arrangements described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6, for obtaining a
prolonged opening of the cock or valve and for adjusting the continuance of the said
opening substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 16th day of January 1889.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.