IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING PRIME MOVERS DRIVEN BY WATER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hamilton, of Number 8, Exchange Square,
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING PRIME MOVERS
DRIVEN BY WATER."
Sealed the 13th October 1859, and dated the 16th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hamilton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1859.
I, JOHN HAMILTON, of Number 8, Exchange Square, Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING PRIME
MOVERS DRIVEN BY WATER," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the regulation of prime movers, such as water
wheels and turbines driven by water. It has hitherto generally been the
practice to regulate such prime movers by means of governors arranged or
contrived to act on apparatus for altering the supply of water, with which
arrangement it is impossible to obtain the rapidity of regulating action that
is desirable; by this present Invention, however, such governors are arranged
or contrived to act upon brakes or other frictional retardative appliances
adapted to the first motion shaft of the prime movers, or as is preferred to
shafts in gear with the first motion shafts, and rotating at a greater speed. This
arrangement is of peculiar advantage in cases wherein the load on the prime

page_text: mover is subject to temporary reductions; on the reduction of load occurring, a
slight increase in speed causes the governor to put the brake apparatus in
action, so as to prevent an injurious increase in speed whilst on the full load
again coming upon the machinery the brake is released, and the supply of water
having continued undiminished the proper speed is maintained without the tem-
porary decrease, which would occur had the supply of water been diminished.
The details of the apparatus may be arranged in various ways, but it is preferred
to mount the brake blocks or frictional straps, so as to be balanced, or so that
their weight may not be opposed to the action of the governor. In one modi-
fication, a brake wheel is keyed on the first motion shaft, and brake blocks or
straps, jointed on fixed centres below the wheel, are applied to each side of it,
being actuated by a horizontal spindle formed with reverse screw threads to
draw together or separate the brake blocks or straps, when the spindle is
acted upon by the governor. In cases wherein considerable power is required
to actuate the retardative appliance, the governor may be arranged to act on the
valves of a cylinder, the piston of which actuates the retardative appliance.
It is preferred to arrange this cylinder so that there is a constant and equal
flow of water or other fluid into both ends thereof, the effective pressure in
either direction being obtained by giving egress to the fluid at one or other
end of the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HAMILTON, of Number 8, Exchange Square, Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Hamilton, Her special licence that I, the said John.
Hamilton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Hamilton, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: 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 REGULATING PRIME MOVERS DRIVEN BY
WATER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Hamilton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 John Hamilton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the regulation of prime movers, such as water
wheels and turbines driven by water. It has hitherto generally been the
practice to regulate such prime movers by means of governors arranged or
contrived to act on apparatus for altering the supply of water, with which
arrangement it is impossible to obtain the rapidity of regulating action that is
desirable; by this present Invention, however, the supply of water is not
interfered with, the governor being arranged or contrived to put in action a
brake or other retardative appliance, which absorbs any surplus power, and
thereby prevents such power from increasing the speed of the machinery.
This arrangement is of peculiar advantage in cases wherein the load on the
prime mover is subject to temporary reductions; on the reduction of load
occurring a slight increase in speed causes the governor to put the retardative
appliance in action, and thereby prevent an injurious increase in speed, whilst
on the full load again coming upon the machinery the retardative appliance is
released, and the supply of water having continued undiminished, the proper
speed is maintained without the temporary decrease which would have occurred
had the supply of water been diminished.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and carried
into effect, I will particularly describe the practical application thereof, referring
as I proceed to the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings, upon which
are delineated two modifications of my improved apparatus, premising that the
same reference letters mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
. In the modifications of my improved apparatus, which I have found most.

page_text: efficient and serviceable in practice, the power required to actuate the retarda-
tive appliance, such as a frictional brake, is obtained by means of a water
pressure cylinder, the action of which is controlled by the governor.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of one modification of the apparatus; and
Figure 2 is a corresponding plan. The power-absorbing appliance comprises
in this case a pair of wooden brake blocks A, B, which are applied to opposite
sides of a wheel or drum C, fast on the shaft D, by which the power of the
water wheel is transmitted to the machinery. The brake block A is attached
to a swivelling box E, jointed upon the upper short arm F, of a three-armed
lever, the centre or fulcrum pin of which rests in bearings fixed to brackets G,
forming part of a box-shaped casting H, which supports the governor I, and
contains the actuating details. The governor I is represented as of the ordinary
kind, but other kinds may be used. The opposite brake block B is similarly
attached to a swivelling box e, jointed upon the upper end of a lever f, centred
upon a stationary bearing g; this lever f being connected by link rods h to a
short downwardly projecting arm j of the three-armed lever. This three-
armed lever is formed with a long horizontal arm j, carrying a counterweight.
at its outer end, and having attached to its under side an adjustable bearing
picce K, by which it rests upon a horizontal lever L below. This lower lever L
has one end jointed to the box casting H, whilst its opposite end lies in a slot
formed in the rod M of a piston N, which works in a short cylinder O; this
cylinder has fitted to it an inlet pipe P, by which it receives water of a suit-
able pressure obtained in any convenient way, whilst the water is discharged
by the adjustable tap or outlet Q. The supply pipe P is provided with a tap R,
the plug lever of which is connected by the link S to the governor lever T.
The piston rod M is formed with a second slot, through which the lever arm J
passes, and above this it passes through a guide U fixed upon the casting H,
whilst it carries at its upper end a number of weights V. The action of the
apparatus is as follows:-Assuming that the machinery has been running at
the proper speed, and that a reduction of load causes an increase of speed,
the expansion of the governor balls I will immediately open the tap R to
admit an increased supply of water to the cylinder O; as this supply will
exceed the quantity discharged in an equal time by the outlet Q, it will cause
the piston N to rise, carrying with it the lever L, which, acting on the three-
armed lever J, F, j, will press the brake blocks A, B, upon the periphery of the
wheel or drum C, so as to absorb the surplus power and prevent injurious
increase of speed. Similarly on the load on the machinery being increased
the governor
I will close the tap R, more or less, and so reduce the supply of

page_text: water to the cylinder O. The discharge will then exceed the supply, and the
piston N will descend being aided by its weight and by the weights V, and the
brake blocks A, B, will in consequence be released. To prevent the surfaces
of the drum C and brake blocks A, B, from becoming too much heated, the
drum is made to run in a trough W containing cold water, which is con-
stantly being renewed. This condition conduces very much to the efficiency
and durability of the apparatus.
In Figure 3 I have represented in elevation a modification of my im-
proved apparatus, which is somewhat simplified as regards its details. The
governor I is in this case mounted on a box casting h, which is bolted down to the
top flange of the water pressure cylinder O; the piston of this cylinder is made
of sufficient weight in itself to dispense with additional weights, and it acts
directely on a long lever J, centred on stationary bearings at G, and acting on a
single brake block attached to the swivelling box E. This brake block is
applied to the under side of the wheel or drum C, fast on the shaft D, by which
the power of the water wheel is transmitted to the machinery; or the wheel C
may be on a shaft gearing with the water wheel shaft. The brake block is
surrounded by a trough W, which is continually supplied with fresh cold water
to prevent the surfaces from heating.
The details of the apparatus may be modified in various ways. Thus, steam
or other fluid may be made to act in the cylinder O instead of water.
The requisite action may be obtained by connecting the governor to the
outlet tap instead of the inlet tap R. The cylinder O may be made
double-acting-instead of single-acting, as shown.
A flexible diaphragm may
be substituted for the piston N.
Finally, the surplus power may be absorbed by pumps or other apparatus,
controlled by the governor in such a way as to absorb more or less power
accordingly as the load on the machinery is less or more. I would, how-
ever, remark, that the modifications which I have delineated upon the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and have herein-before more particularly described,
are those which I believe to be the most suitable in practice.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state, that I
do not restrict myself to the precise details herein-before described or deli-
neated, and that I do not claim to have invented every separate detail herein-
before described and delineated; but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention, secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is, the regulating of hydraulic and water-driven prime

page_text: movers by means of governors arranged to adjust the ingress or egress of
fluid, by the motive pressure or resistance of which frictional or other
retarding or power-absorbing appliances are made more or less effective, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hamilton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.
JOHN HAMILTON. (L.S.)