IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING THE CON- SUMPTION OF SMOKE IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Samuel Walker and Robert Hoyle, both of
Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING THE CON-
SUMPTION OF SMOKE IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FOR
PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 11th January 1860, and dated the 13th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Samuel Walker
and Robert Hoyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 13th July 1859.
We, CHARLES SAMUEL WALKER and RODERT HOYLE, both of Bury, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING
THE CONSUMPTIRN OF SMOKE IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FOR
PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOLLERS," to be as follows:-
The first part of our Invention consists in applying air between two or
more bridges, and in the machinery for regulating the time during which the
air is admitted. This machinery consists of a cylinder furnished with a piston
connected to the door of the furnace, and to the door, damper, or valve through
which air enters between the bridges. When the furnace door is opened to
feed the fire with fresh coal the piston is raised, thereby filling the cylinder
with air or other fluid, and the door, damper, or valve is opened, and the
descent of the piston depends on the orifice through which the air or other
fluid is allowed to escape from the cylinder. This orifice can be increased or
diminished in any convenient manner when more than two bridges are

page_text: employed. The air can be heated before it is admitted into the flue; in
locomotive steam engines the air is admitted in the smoke box.
Our improvements in machinery for preventing the explosion of steam
boilers, consists of an improved combination of parts to indicate the level of the
water, and to open the safety or other valves. In performing our Invention,
we employ a dial and an index, to the spindle of which is fixed a cam and a
pinion; this pinion gears in a segment connected to a float lever. When the
water is either too high or too low the cam raises a valve, and admits steam
to-a-whistle-or-other alarum, and opens the safety valve or valves by means of
a connecting rod and lever. The valve of the steam whistle is weighted, and
is made so that the steam can raise it when it has attained a given pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Samuel Walker and Robert Hoyle in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
SAMUEL WALKER and ROBERT HOYLE, both of Bury, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Iler reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Charles
Samuel Walker and Robert Hoyle, Her special licence that we, the said Charles
Samuel Walker and Robert Hoyle, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as wc, the said Charles Samuel Walker and Robert Hoyle,
our 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 MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE IN STEAM BOILER
AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Samuel Walker
and Robert Hoyle, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their, or one of our or 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

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Charles Samuel Walker and Robert
Hoyle, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
The first part of our Invention consists in an improved mode of applying
air between two or more bridges, and in the machinery for regulating the
time during which the air is admitted. This machinery consists of a cylinder
furnished with a piston connected to the door of the furnace and to the door,
damper, or valve, through which air enters between the bridges. When the
furnace door is opened to feed the fire with fresh coals, the piston is raised,
thereby filling the cylinder with air or other fluid, and the door, damper, or
valve is opened, and the descent of the piston depends on the orifice through
which the air or other fluid is allowed to escape from the cylinder; this orifice
can be increased or diminished in any convenient manner. When more than
two bridges are employed, the air can be heated before it is admitted into tho
flue. In locomotive steam engines the air is admitted in the smoke box.
Our improvements in machinery for preventing the explosion of steam
boilers consists of an improved combination of parts to indicate the level of
the water, and to open the safety or other valve. In performing our Invention,
we employ a dial and an index, to the spindle of which is fixed a cam and a
pinion; this pinion gears in a segment connected to a float lever. When the
water is either too high or too low, the cam raises a valve and admits steam
to a whistle or other alarum, and opens the safety valve or valves by means
of a connecting rod and lever. The valve of the steam whistle is weighted,
and is made so that the steam can raise it when it has attained a given
pressure.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the acompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of the end of
a steam boiler, to which our improvements are applied; Figure 3 is a detached
view of part of our improvements. a is the outer casing or shell of the
boiler; b, b, the flues; c, c, the doors of the furnace or fire-grates d; e is a
box attached to the end of the boiler, containing the cylinders f; f, each of
which is furnished with a piston g, valve 9', and screw tap g², seen in Figure 9.
The piston rods are jointed to the levers h, fixed to the shaft i, to which are
also fixed the levers j, which are acted upon by the horizontal levers & and the

page_text: excentrics, the hinge pin of each fire door c being provided with one
excentric; to the shaft i, are also fixed the levers m, to which one end of the
link n is jointed, the other end being connected to the swivel door, damper, or
valvo o, which is hinged in an opening provided for it in the front part b¹ of
the bridge. The door o' is also hinged in the same opening as the damper o;
this door o' is made of wirework, or otherwise perforated for the purpose of
dividing the air entering between the front part 6' and back part b' of the
bridge. The mode of operation is as follows: -When the furnace door c is'
opened to feed the fire with fresh fuel, the excentric l, acting on the horizontal
lever and vertical lever j, causes the shaft i to swivel partly round, and in
so doing the damper o is opened by the lever m and link n; the piston is
at the same time raised from the lower to the upper end of the cylinder f, and
while the piston g is rising, the valve 9' admits air or other fluid into the
cylinder. As soon as the door c is closed the excentric ceases to act on the
lever k, and the piston 9 is at liberty to descend in the cylinder f at a speed
varying according to the size of the orifice in the screw tap g³, through which
the air or other fluid escapes from the cylinder; and as the damper o is con-
nected to the piston 9 by the levers and other parts above enumerated, it is
evident that the damper o will be closed more or less rapidly according to the
size of the orifice in the tap 9'; or the damper o may be kept closed until
the fuel has been put on the fire and opened by the closing of the furnace
door c.
By means of these improvements in machinery or apparatus for promoting
the consumption of smoke in steam boiler or other furnaces, a fresh supply of
air is admitted between the bridges b' and every time the furnace door is
opened or closed, and this supply is gradually cut off by the descent of the
piston g in proportion to the reduced quantity of smoke evolved by the coal.
The fresh air, after passing the damper o, is divided into small streams by the
perforated door o', which is hinged at os for the purpose of being able to clean
out the space between the bridges. When more than two bridges are
employed, the air can be heated before is admitted into the flue. In loco-
motive steam engines the air is admitted into the smoke box by a similar
arrangement of machinery.
Our improvements in machinery for preventing the explosion of steam
boilers consist in the following parts:-p is a dial attached to the front of the
boiler, and q is an index fixed to the spindle or shaft r, to which is fixed the
cam and pinion; this pinion gears in the segments, forming part of the
float lever s; the fulcrum stud of this lever and the end of the shaft r aro
supported in a cross stay or other convenient fixture attached inside the boiler.

page_text: To one end of the lever s¹ is suspended the floats, and to the other end is
connected the counterweights. The extremity of the shaft r is provided
with a crank pin, taking into an open slot in the spindle t of the safety
valve t'. Above the dial p is the whistle p'; the steam for sounding this
whistle is admitted through the valve p³, which is furnished with a weight p³.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When the water in the boiler is at its
proper level, the lever s¹ retains its horizontal position, as shewn in Figure 1;
but as soon as the level becomes either too high or too low, the float lever s¹
assumes a diagonal position, and the segment & causes the pinion to rotate,
thereby bringing the cam r' in contact with the bottom of the weight p³, and
admitting steam to the whistle p¹ to give notice to the attendant; at the same
time the crank pin, acting on the spindle t, lifts the safety valve t', and
allows the steam to blow off, and the index q points to the graduations on the
dial P
to indicate the level of the water in the boiler. If the water remains
at its proper level while the steam attains a greater pressure than that to
which the valves p³ and t' are weighted, the steam acting on the said valves
raises them off their seatings in the usual manner, the slot in the spindle t being
open, as shewn in Figure 3, to allow the valve t' to rise without bringing the
spindle against the crank pin ³.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim,―
First, the improved combination of machinery or apparatus, shewn and
described, for promoting the consumption of smoke in steam boiler and other
furnaces.
Secondly, the application of a perforated door placed in the bridge to admit
air to the flue, as described.
And, thirdly, the improved combination of machinery to indicate the level
of the water in the boiler, and to open the safety or other valves, as shewn
and described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Samuel Walker and Robert
Hoyle, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eleventh day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sivty
CHARLES SAMUEL WALKER. (L.S.)
ROBERT HOYLE,
(L.8.)