IM- PROVEMENTS IN STEAM TRAPS OR DEVICES FOR WITHDRAWING CONDENSED WATER FROM STEAM DRYING OR HEATING APPARATUS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM TRAPS OR DEVICES FOR WITHDRAWING CONDENSED
WATER FROM STEAM DRYING OR HEATING APPARATUS." -A communica-
tion from abroad by Edward Lamson Perkins, Joseph Hatch
Moulton, and Charles Edmund Sawyer, all of Boston, Massachusetts,
United States of America.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th February 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton Buildings,
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM TRAPS OR DEVICES FOR WITHDRAWING CONDENSED WATER FROM STEAM
DRYING OR HEATING APPARATUS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to

page_text: grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
it has been communicated to me from abroad by Edward Lamson
Perkins, Joseph Hatch Moulton, and Charles Edmund Sawyer, all of
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Haseltine, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and scal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
sintement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings forming
a part of this Specification :-
The plugs and seats of valves of steam traps when made of metal are
objectionable as they are soon cut or destroyed by being forced against
each other by expansion, and also by the action of the steam and water;
and when out of order the flow of water cannot be properly regulated
to prevent the escape of steam.
This Invention has for its object to overcome these objections and
to produce a steam trap which will do the greatest amount of work at
the least possible expense, and in which the flow of water can be
automatically regulated with great nicety; and my Invention consists
in the application to the spindle of the valve of a steam trap of a
yielding or clastic plug or packing (of any form) which will withstand
the action of ordinary steam, and which is so placed as to be capable of
being easily renewed.
The said Invention also consists in a steam trap provided with a
Figure 1'is a plan of my improved steam trap; Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal section through the same; Figure 3 is an enlarged section on 30
the line, x, Figure 1.
•
A is a pipe of brass or other suitable metal; B is a valve provided
with a spindle a which is turned in and out against the end 6 of the
escape pipe A that forms the outlet for the water of condensation. The
end of the pipe A passes through the stuffing box c and is free to slide 35
within the shell of the valve as it is lengthened or shortened by

page_text: expansion or contraction. The end of the spindle a which is enlarged
is provided with a recess to receive an clastic or yielding plug or
packing & which forms the seat or bearing for the end 6 of the pipe A;
this plug or packing may be of any suitable form and composed of a
material that will withstand the action of ordinary steam. The other
end of the pipe A is secured firmly to the metallic post C to which the
connection with the coil or series of pipes or heater is made. D, D, are
metallic posts or supports through which the pipe A passes and slides
freely; these supports together with the post C and valve B are secured
between two pieces of wood E which form a frame for retaining the
post C and valve B at a fixed and unvarying distance apart, while the
supports D preserve the axis of the pipe A in a line passing through
the centre of the valve B and post C. Soon after the steam is admitted
to the drying or heating apparatus to which the steam trap is connected
it begins to condense, the water filling the pipe A, and it then becomes
necessary to draw off the water without permitting any waste of steam.
To accomplish this the spindle a is unscrewed by turning the hand
wheel G, so as to withdraw the yielding plug or packing d a short
distance from the end of the pipe A, the size of the outlet thus formed
being adjusted so as not to permit the water to entirely run out of the
end of the pipe A, but so that it will extend back therein as far as
required to prevent the escape of steam. If from any cause the water
should entirely run out of the end of the pipe A the heat of the steam
will instantly expand and lengthen it, so that its end 6 will come into
contact with the yielding plug or packing d on the end of the spindle a
when the escape of steam will be immediately stopped. The water of
condensation will then commence to fill the pipe A, contracting and
shortening it so that its end 6 will be withdrawn from the yielding plug
or packing d and the water will then be free to escape through the
pipe A which is placed on a line with the yielding plug or packing d.
By forming the frame E of wood, as above described, or of other material
which will not expand or contract to so great an extent as the pipe A,
I am enabled to utilize the greatest amount of expansion of the pipe A
in a given length. When the elastic or yiclding plug or packing
becomes worn out from constant use it may be readily renewed at a
trifling expense.
By the application to the valve of a steam trap of an clastic or yielding
plug or packing that will withstand the action of ordinary steam as

page_text: above described, the destruction of the plug or packing by cutting or
otherwise is prevented, in consequence of which the apparatus is not
liable to get out of order, and will last for a great length of time while
the flow of water can be automatically regulated with a great degree of
nicety, so that when the apparatus is once adjusted it will not requiro
the constant attention heretofore needed.
.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I claim,-
The elastic or yielding plug or packing d in combination with the
expansible pipe A, operating substantially in the manner and for the :
purpose set forth.
I also claim a steam trap provided with a frame E composed of wood
or other material less expansible than the escape pipe A, substantially
as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto set:
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.s.)