AN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE VARYING PRESSURES OR CONTROLLING THE SUPPLY OF GAS OR OTHER FLUID
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Waddy Maughan, of 41, Cheapside, in the
City of London, Gas Engineer, for an Invention of "AN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE VARYING PRESSURES OR CONTROLLING THE SUPPLY
OF GAS OR OTHER FLUID."
•
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Waddy Maughan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th February 1880.
BENJAMIN WADDY MAUGHAN, of 41, Cheapside, in the City of London, Gas
Engineer. AN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE VARYING PRESSURES
OR CONTROLLING THE SUPPLY OF GAS OR OTHER FLUID,"
And consists in a novel arrangement of automatic apparatus whereby the flow of
gas or other fluid entering the same at unequal pressures is discharged therefrom
at a more uniform or uniform rate. This I accomplish by providing a chamber of
any suitable material, which said chamber I divide by means of a fixed yet
adjustable diaphragm into two parts, one of which I hereinafter term the inlet part,
and the other the outlet part. In the inlet part of the said chamber I suspend a
swinging or pendulous diaphragm, smaller than the section or sections of the afore-
said chamber. The shape of the said chamber I make conformable to the shape
and movement of the said swinging or pendulous diaphragm in such a manner that
it, the said swinging or pendulous diaphragm, is free to move or oscillate. The
said swinging or pendulous diaphragm is provided at the back, that is to say, the
nearer side to the outlet part of the said chamber, with one or more projections, of
a conical or other suitable form, which enter into or retire from a suitably formed
orifice or orifices in the aforesaid fixed yet adjustable diaphragm. This fixed yet
adjustable diaphragm is intended to enable the inlet part of the aforesaid chamber
to be increased or diminished in size at will. When the inlet part of the said
chamber is thus increased in size the swinging or pendulous diaphragm having a
larger space to move through requires more force to raise it to such a position that
the aforesaid projection or projections of a conical or other suitable form on the
back thereof can reach or enter into the orifice or orifices in the aforesaid fixed yet
adjustable diaphragm, thus permitting the gas or other fluid to escape at a higher
pressure than if the fixed yet adjustable diaphragm were placed so as to diminish

page_text: the size of the inlet part of the said chamber, in which case the pressure of the gas
or other fluid would be proportionately reduced.
Assuming that the fixed yet adjustable diaphragm has been set so as to permit
the gas or other fluid to leave the said chamber at a specified or desired pressure
it will then be obvious that the gas or other fluid on entering the inlet part of the
said chamber must impinge on the swinging or pendulous diaphragm and cause it
to deviate more or less from its normal or original position in proportion as the
gas or other fluid increases in pressure, and to fall or regain its normal or original
position in proportion as the gas or other fluid decreases in pressure, and in so
doing causes the aforesaid projection or projections of a conical or other suitable
form or forms at the back theroof to enter into or rotire from the outlet orifice or
orifices in the herein before described fixed yet adjustable diaphragm, and so pro-
portionately to the increase or diminution of pressure to increase or diminish the
area through which the gas or other fluid must pass. It will also be obvious that
while the swinging or pendulous diaphragm, which is made of a suitable weight or
is suitably weighted, is in its normal, that is, its natural or original position, a
very slight force will cause it to deviate therefrom and commence to exert an
increasing resistance with each further deviation from the normal or original
position, thus equalizing, or tending to equalize, the pressure of the gas or other
fluid.
In the case of gases or fluids subjected to sufficient pressure to render it necessary
I attach to a moveable diaphragm, which I make as much smaller than the section
or sections of the said chamber herein before mentioned as may be necessary to
permit the passage of the gas or other fluid, a suitably formed spring or springs of
any suitable material, placed within or without the said chamber in such a manner
as to exert a sufficient resistance to the aforesaid pressure, and capable of automatic
increase or diminution in proportion to the increase or diminution of the aforesaid
pressure, the said moveable diaphragm being provided at the back with one or
more projections of a conical or other suitable form, which enter into or retire from a
suitably formed orifice or orifices in the before mentioned fixed yet adjustable
diaphragm, and also acts in all other respects as the swinging or pendulous diaphragm
berein before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Benjamin Waddy Maughan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th August 1880.
BENJAMIN WADDY MAUGHAN, of 41, Cheapside, in the City of London, Gas
Engineer. "AN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR REGULating the VåRYING PRESSURES
OR CONTROLLING THE SUPPLY OF GAS OR OTHER FLUID."
And consists in a novel arrangement of automatic apparatus whereby the flow of
gas or other fluid entering the same at unequal pressures is discharged therefrom
at a more uniform or uniform rate. This I accomplish by providing a chamber of
any suitable material, which said chamber I divide by means of a fixed yet adjust-
able diaphragm into two parts, one of which I hereinafter term the inlet part, and
the other the outlet part.
In the inlet part of the said chamber I suspend a swinging or pendulous
diaphragm, smaller than the section or sections of the aforesaid chamber. The
shape of the said chamber I make conformable to the shape and movement of the
said swinging or pendulous diaphragm in such a manner that it, the said swinging
or pendulous diaphragm, is free to move or oscillate. The said swinging or
pendulous diaphragm is provided at the back, that is to say, the nearer side to the
outlet part of the said chamber, with one or more projections of a conical or other
suitable form, which enter into or retire from a suitably formed orifico or orifices
in the aforesaid fixed yet adjustable diaphragm. This fixed yet adjustable diaphragm
is intended to enable the inlet part of the aforesaid chamber to be increased or
diminished in size at will.
When the inlet part of the said chamber is thus increased in size the swinging or
pendulous diaphragm having a larger space to move through requires more force to
raise it to such a position that the aforesaid projection or projections of a conical or
other suitable form on the back thereof can reach or enter into the orifice or orifices
in the aforesaid fixed yet adjustable diaphragm, thus permitting the gas or other
fluid to escape at a higher pressure than if the fixed yet adjustable diaphragm
were placed so as to diminish the size of the inlet part of the said chamber,
in which case the pressure of the gas or other fluid would be proportionately
reduced.
Assuming that the fixed yet adjustable diaphragm has been set so as to permit
the gas or other fluid to leave the said chamber at a specified or desired pressure
it will then be obvious that the gas or other fluid on entering the inlet part of the
said chamber must impinge on the swinging or pendulous diaphragm and cause it
to deviate more or less from its normal or original position in proportion as the gas
or other fluid increases in pressure, and to fall or regain its normal or original
position in proportion as the gas or other fluid decreases in pressure, and in so
doing causes the aforesaid projection or projections of a conical or other suitable
form or forms at the back thereof to enter into or retiro from the outlet orifice
or orifices in the hereinbefore described fixed yet adjustable diaphragm, and
so proportionately to the increase or diminution of pressure to increase or
diminish the area through which the gas or other fluid must pass. It will also
be obvious that while the swinging or pendulous diaphragin, which is made
of a suitable weight or is suitably weighted, is not subjected to the pressure of
gas or other fluid, and is in its normal, that is, its natural, or original, or inert
position, a very slight force will cause it to deviate therefrom and commence
to exert an increasing resistance with each further deviation from the normal or
original position, thus equalizing, or tending to equalize, the pressure of the gas or
other fluid. It will also be obvious that the swinging or pendulous diaphragm may
be suspended in such a manner as not to be perpendicular when at rest, but to be
when at rest in a position somewhere between the perpendicular and the horizontal;
it must not however be so near the horizontal position as to render it incapable of

page_text: opposing a corresponding increasing simultaneous resistance to the corresponding
increase of force of the gas or other fluid.
It will also be obvious that I can effect the same object by attaching to tho
moveable diaphragm, constructed and situated as herein before described, not
necessarily suspended in a vertical or oblique position but placed in any suitable
position, a spring or springs of suitable construction, so arranged as to oppose to
the increasing force of the gas or other fluid a corresponding and simultaneous
increase of resistance. In the case of gases or fluids subjected to sufficient pressure
to render it necessary I attach to a moveable diaphragm, which I make as much
smaller than the section or sections of the said chamber hereinbefore described as
may be necessary to permit the passage of the gas or other fluid, a suitably formed
spring or springs of any suitable material, placed within or without the said
chamber in such a manner as to exert a sufficient resistance to the aforesaid pressure,
and capable of automatic increase or diminution in proportion to the increase or
diminution of the aforesaid pressure, the said moveable diaphragm being provided
at the back with one or more projections, of a conical or other suitable form, which
enter into or retire from a suitably formed orifice or orifices in the before mentioned
and described fixed yet adjustable diaphragm, and also acts in all other respects
as the swinging or pendulous diaphragm herein before described.
Having now set forth and explained my Invention I wish it to be understood
that I claim,—
Firstly. The general arrangement and combination of apparatus substantially as
hereinbefore described, or any mere modification thereof.
Secondly. The use, for the purpose aforesaid, of a moveable diaphragm, con-
structed and situated as hereinbefore described, so as to oppose a corresponding
increasing or diminishing simultaneous resistance by its natural increase or decrease
of weight to the corresponding increasing or diminishing force of the gas or other
fluid.
Thirdly. The use, for the purpose aforesaid, of a moveable diaphragm, constructed
and situated as herein before described, so as to oppose a corresponding increasing
or diminishing simultaneous resistance by the aid of the increase or decrease of the
tension of a spring or springs to the corresponding increasing or diminishing force
of the gas or other fluid; and
Lastly. The use, for the purpose aforesaid, of a moveable diaphragm, constructed
and situated as herein before described, so as to oppose a corresponding increasing
or diminishing simultaneous resistance by the conjoined use of the force of gravity
and of the tension of a spring or springs to the corresponding increasing or
diminishing force of the gas or other fluid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Waddy Maughan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.