CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Mellor, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanic, and Thomas Young, of the City of Manchester, Tobacco
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 7th October 1856, and dated the 21st April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas
Young at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 21st April 1856.
We, SAMUEL MELLOR, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic,
and THOMAS YOUNG, of the City of Manchester, Tobacco Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS, to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in certain improvements upon the machinery for
supplying water to steam boilers, for which Letters Patent were granted to us
on the First day of August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
According to our present improvements, when the water in the boiler descends
below the proper level, the steam from the boiler enters into the smaller end
of a cylinder in which is a double piston, the larger end of this double piston
is furnished with a compound valve, and with passages to convey the steam
from one side of the larger piston to the other. To the double piston is
attached a plunger, working in a cylinder in connection with the supply and
feed pipes. When the machinery is at work, the double piston is moved to-
and-fro in the cylinder, and the compound valve is opened and closed to admit
the steam alternately on each side of the piston, and to convey the exhaust

page_text: steam to the off pipe by a sliding bar, the ends of which act on the ends of the
cylinder, thereby dispensing which the tumbler, lever, and the stuffing boxes,
before required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file
by the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas Young in the Great Seal Paten
Office on the 20th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUE
MELLOR, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic, and THOMAS
YOUNG, of the City of Manchester, Tobacco Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight] hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas Young, Her special license that we, the
said Samuel Mellor and. Thomas Young, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas
Young, 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 CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS, upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas Young, 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 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 we, the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas Young,
do liereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
The nature of our said Invention consists in certain improvements upon the
machinery for supplying water to steam boilers, for which Letters Patent were s
granted to us on the First day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five; and in order that our present improvements may be fully understood,

page_text: and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued
by us, referenco being had to the accompanying Drawing; and to the figures
and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is sectional elevation of our improvements; and Fig. 2, the front
elevation of a boiler, drawn to a reduced scale, to which our improvements are
applied. a is the boiler, which may be cylindrical, as shewn, or of any other
shape; b is a valve box fixed to the boiler, and containing the double valve c,
attached to the rod d; at the lower end of which is fixed the floater e. The
pipe f formis the communication for the steam to pass from the valve box b
to the double cylinder g, which is attached to the brick-work of the boiler
seating, or in any other convenient position; within the double cylinder g is
the double piston h; the upper and larger portion of the doublé piston h is
furnished with a compound valve formed by the bush i, fixed in the piston,
and the tube j, which works up and down in the bush : The spindle k gives
the up and down motion to the tube j, as will be explained hereafter. To the
spindle k is attached the small piston l, working in the cylinder m, attached to
or cast with the double piston h, in the lower part of which the spindle k is
guided; n is a passage in the double piston, to convey the steam from the
lower to the upper end of the cylinder g; o is another passage for conveying
the exhaust steam from the upper part of the cylinder to the exhaust pipe.;
and p is a passage to convey the steam from the passage n to the cylinder m...
To the upper flange of the cylinder gis attached the flange g, and above this is
the pump barrel r, which we prefer to line with brass, as shewn in the Drawing.
The plunger s, working within the pump barrel r, is connected to the double
piston h by the rod t. The valve box u is secured to the top of the pump
barrel, and contains the valve v, through which the supply of water passes ito.
the pump barrel, and the valve w, through which the water,passes to the boiler,
by means of the pipe x.
The Drawing represents the parts in the positions they assume when the
plunger in descending is drawing water from the supply pipe in connection
with the flange u¹ of the valve box u. The level of the water in the boiler is
supposed to be too low, consequently the floater e, in descending, has opened
the double valve c, and the steam from the valve box 6 passes along the pipe f
and into the lower part of the double cylinder g; the double piston is now
being brought down by the action of the steam on its upper surface, the steam
passing from the lower to the upper part of the cylinder g-by the passagen,
and the passages on the left-hand side of the bush i and tube j, which now
coincide. During the descent of the double piston h, the plunger s draws
water into the pump barrel; and when the double piston h arrives near the

page_text: bottom of its stroke, the end of the spindle k comes in contact with the lower
lid of the cylinder g, thereby preventing the further descent of the spindle.
When the double piston h, in continuing to descend, brings the passage p
below the piston 1, the steam, entering below the piston l, raises the said piston
quickly to the top of the cylinder m, the shoulder acts at the same time on
the studs, by which the spindle k is connected to the tube j, thereby raising it,
so that when the double piston h is at the bottom of its stroke, the passage of
steam is shut between the under and lower sides of the double piston, and the
right-hand openings in the tubej and bush i are made to coincide. When
the double piston h rises by the action of the steam from the boiler on the
smaller surface of the said double piston, the steam in the upper part of the
cylinder g is exhausted through the passage o and pipe z, and the water in
the pump barrel is forced through the valve w and pipe x, to the boiler. As
soon as the double piston h arrives near the upper end of its stroke, the spindle
k comes against the flange q, the piston is thus held until the passage p rises
above it, when the steam acting above it causes the spindle k to descend; the
upper shoulder then acts on the studs, by which the spindle k is connected
to the tube j, which is thus brought back to its original position, and so the
operations are repeated until the floater e rises sufficiently to close the double
valve c. The spindle k is slightly reduced in diameter above and below the
piston, to allow the steam from the cylinder m to escape into the exhaust
pipe z, during the ascent or descent of the said piston l.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit our-
selves to the precise details herein set forth; but what we claim is, the general
combination of the parts for supplying water to steam boilers, and particularly
the compound valve, composed of the parts marked i and j, and the spindle k,
with the piston l, for working the same.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Mellor and Thomas Young,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
L.S.)
Witness,
THOS YOUNG.
(L.S.)
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.