IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM
AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES."-A communication from abroad
by Marie Joseph Denis Farcot, Jean Joseph Leon Farcot, Michel
Basile Abel Farcot, and Joseph Etienne Eloi Chateau, Members of
the Firm of Farcot and Sons, of Saint Ouen, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 9th October 1868, and dated the 21st May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st May 1868.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR
STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of various improvements upon an Invention
for marine engine governors patented by me for Messieurs Farcot and
Sons 24th June 1867, No. 1839.

page_text: In the governor which forms the subject of the present Invention two
heavy metal balls are placed at the upper ends of two arms which are
jointed at their lower end to a system of levers arranged in the form of
an isosceles triangle. The lower arms of this arrangement of levers are
jointed to a weight which is capable of moving up and down the central
spindle as the expansion of the centrifugal balls increases or diminishes.
The central spindle is driven by bevil toothed wheel bands and pullies or
any other suitable arrangement of gearing. One end of a bell-crank
lever is jointed to the rising and falling weight on the central spindle,
and the other end of the same lever is connected by a rod to the valve
gear for cutting off or regulating the admission of steam. An adjustable
weighted rocking lever is also jointed to the rising and falling weight,
and on to one end of this rocking lever is hooked a helical or coiled
spring, the opposite end of which is attached to one end of a rocking
lever above. To the opposite end of this rocking lever is attached
another helical spring which is secured by its other end to some fixed
part of the framing. The fulcrum or rocking pivot of the adjustable
lever is capable of adjustment in a slot formed therein and may be moved
along such slot by means of a screw, and provided with a hand wheel at
the end. The rising and falling weight is secured to a sleeve through
which passes the central spindle, and to the upper end of this sleeve
is attached a piston which works in an air cylinder, so that as the
piston rises therein it compresses a cushion of air which acts as a spring
buffer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my 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 GOVERNORS FOR STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE-
POWER ENGINES," being a communication to me from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is. to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that
is to say):
The general principles and the different applications of this governor
to marine engines were described in the Specification of a Patent granted
to me the Twenty-fourth June One thousand eight. hundred and sixty-.
seven, No. 1839. Since that time many experiments have been.made to
determine in an absolute manner the conditions that governors of marine.
and other engines ought to fulfil to become efficient in. their working,.
and in consequence certain modifications and improvements have been
introduced in the construction of this system of governors; and although
a part of the principles which serve as a base to this system were set
forth in the previous Patent, I now desire to extend my claim to the
various details and modifications hercin-after set forth. To this end
a complete description of the improved: governor is given as now.
constructed..

page_text: It was stated in the previous Patent that all governors of marine and
other engines ought (in order to be efficient and produce the expected
result in a proper manner) to be constructed in such a manner that their
regulating properties and their constant equilibrium should be inde-
pendent of the weights in order that the movements of the vessel should
not shake them. It was also stated that it was indispensable (as well for
marine engines as for other motive-power engines) that the governors
should be isochronous, that is to say, they should have the same normal
velocity for all positions of the balls. This condition is realized by the
system of crossed arms, hereafter described, which maintains the pen-
dulum at a uniform length. But these conditions which are realized by
the new governor are not the only ones which are required for a governor
of a marine engine to work properly under all circumstances. From
new experiments which have been made the inventor has been induced
to greatly modify the first form of governor, especially in the number
and simplicity of the parts that compose it, and new conditions have
been discovered without which the governors of marine engines cannot
give satisfactory results.
The first of these conditions in a governor of this kind necessitate that
the action of the balls shall be in constant ratio to the resistance desired
to be overcome. This condition that the new system fulfils in a very
simple manner is realized, first, by the arrangement of crossed arms,
which admits of the length of pendulum measured on the axis of rotation
being rendered uniform; second, by the line formed by joining the three
points x, y, z, Fig. 1, so as to form an isosceles triangle, of which the
base a,, is parallel to the axis.
Another condition that the new governor ought to fulfil, and which
was only mentioned in the previous Patent, is that the normal velocity
can be varied at pleasure while the machine is working.
These essential conditions are completely satisfied by the arrangement
and construction of the new governor hereafter described, which differs
from the old four-ball marine governors with two opposite pendulums
and coupled to a transverse spring in that, first, it is consists of a single
pendulum of two balls; second, the equilibrium is maintained by a
counterweight placed on the axis of rotation; third, it allows of the
variation at pleasure of the normal velocity of the machine while
working, a condition that the old four-ball governors did not fulfil, as

page_text: the normal velocity could only be varied while the engine was at rest.
This new property (without which a governor on board is rather injurious
than useful) renders the apparatus really applicable to the purposes of
navigation.
The improved governor shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accom-
panying Drawing consists of a single pendulum with crossed arms b, b',
and two balls a, a', balanced, firstly, by a counterweight c, mounted on
the rotating shaft; secondly, by the weight of the other moveable
accessory pieces placed below the centre of suspension o, o', and in which
the centripetal force acts instead of the weight of the balls to close the
arms of the pendulum. This force is produced by a spring d, which in
the arrangement of parts here explained is parallel to the rotating shaft.
In order to avoid any disturbing influences (occasioned by the weights
or by the rolling of the vessel) on the spring, this latter is divided into
two equal parts suspended one to each arm of a small balance lever in
such a manner that the action of the weight and the vis inertia will
neutralize one another on each of these small springs, or at least will
weaken one another considerably, so that the tension transmitted to the
governor ought to be very little different from that which the spring
sustains independently of its own proper weight.
In the improved governor the normal velocity can be varied at will
(while the engine is at work) by simply varying the tension or action of
the spring. This is effected by means of a kind of spring dynamometer d
mounted on the slotted balance arm f, which is worked by the sleeve
shaft g. The moment of action of the dynamometer or the effect of the
tension of the spring on the lever arm, which is determined by the
distance which separates the point of attachment of the spring on the
balance arm from the point of oscillation of the latter, is regulated
by turning the screw h, which is moved by the fly wheel i. This screw
works in a sliding piece l, carrying the centre of oscillation j of the
balance leverf, and thus causes the position of the centre j to change
through the action of a slider k moving in the slot of the balance lever f,
and attached to the sliding piece 1. The result is that the balance lever f,
as well as all the accessories, are balanced by the counterweights m. It
will be understood that this arrangement of parts is not the only one
that may be used, but that the same end may be attained by causing
the spring to act by compression instead of by traction. I therefore

page_text: reserve to myself the right to use the spring in any manner which is
capable of effecting the desired object, merely observing that this part of
the Invention consists in isolating the spring from the pendulum, so that
its tension may be fixed or constant, or in arranging it on a moveable
axis, or on a fixed point independent of the movement of rotation of
this latter.
Figures 4 and 5 represent another arrangement of parts, which is a
modification of that shewn at Figures 1 and 2, and effects the same
object. The principal difference in the arrangement consists in that the
axis of oscillation of the slotted balance arm does not vary as in Fig. 1,
and although the arrangement shewn at Fig. 4 is more simple of manu-
facture than that shewn at Fig. 1, the latter arrangement is preferable.
The equilibrium of the balls by the counterweight c, spoken of at the
commencement of this description is a property quite new, of which
it is desired special note should be made, the governor being thus
rendered independent of the weight and of the oscillations of the vessel
without any sensible difference being made in its external appearance or
its construction from the governors of ordinary stationary engines. This
constant equilibrium, which is independent of the inclination of the axis,
may be proved by finding the centre of gravity of the whole system,
which will always be found in the middle of the line which joins the two
centres of suspension o, o¹, thus the equilibrium is always independent of
the position (whatever it may be) of the balls with regard to the counter-
weight; they may therefore be either above or below this counterweight.
It will be found more advantageous that the governor should regulate
the machine by the stop instead of acting on a clack or butterfly valve
in order to realize the greatest economy of steam, and at the same time
to obtain the greatest amount possible of motive power capable of regu-
lating the most considerable variations in the resistance of the vessel.
In order to obtain these results it is indispensable that the governor
should possess not only great sensibility but great precision in action, and
that it must never become unstable or uncertain whatever disturbing
influences may be brought to bear.
These conditions are realized by fitting a small apparatus called a
regulator to the governor. This regulator is applicable equally to both
kinds of governor, and is shewn at A, Fig. 1, and in detail at Fig. 3.
The apparatus is composed of a cylinder n filled with air and fixed on

page_text: the rotating shaft of the pendulum, and enclosing a moveable piston o
connected to the sleeve shaft g. A lateral channel p, the size of which
is capable of being regulated at pleasure by a conical screw q, allows the
air to pass from one side to the other of the piston in a longer or shorter
space of time according to the degree of opening of the channel, so that
the oscillating movement of the pendulum can take place with the least
possible amount of force, and yet not be too prompt in action. The
rapidity of action is regulated at will by the conical screw; this
regulator can be made either with a moveable or fixed piston, but I do
not confine myself to any precise arrangement of parts.
Another point of great importance in the employment of these
governors is to cause them to work the slide valve of a small cylinder
instead of acting on the clack valve or stop action of the steam pipe, as
explained. The small cylinder would be supplied with steam, gas, or
other motive agent, and would thus be able to overcome all the
resistance of the working parts without causing the governor, properly
speaking, to do a large amount of extra work. By this means it will
be easy to regulate the working of very large machines through the
aid of small governors, which do not occupy much room and which can
be placed under the immediate superintendence of the engineer in
charge of the machine, a very important point in the case of marine
engines. This last improvement, which has a very extended application,
can be adapted to any other system of governor with very satisfactory
results.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondents, I claim,-
Firstly. The arrangement and construction of the governor above
described and shewn at Fig. 1.
I claim particularly the crossed arms and balls constructed and
arranged as set forth, and also the application of a counterweight so
arranged on the rotating shaft as to balance the pendulum.
I also claim the use of a tension spring, in the manner and for the
purpose herein set forth.
I further claim the application of a small regulator to the governor,
as set forth.

page_text: I also claim causing the governor to work the slide valve of a separate
cylinder in order to regulate and control the motions of the engine.
In witness whereof,. I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)