A NEW METHOD OF DIS- CHARGING THE AIR, OR AIR AND CONDENSED STEAM, FROM PIPES USED FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF STEAM, FOR THE PURPOSES OF HEATING BUILDINGS OR OTHER PLACES
Year: 1815

page_text: HOULDSWORTH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL AND SUNDRY TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL
COME, I, HENRY HOULDSWORTH, of Anderston, near the City of Glasgow,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty George, the Third, by the
grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King,
Defender of the Faith, did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighteenth day of March, in the fifty-fifth year of His reign,
give-and grant to me, the said Henry Houldsworth, His especial licence
that I, the said Henry Houldsworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
during the space of fourteen years in manner therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
Town or Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF DIS-
CHARGING THE AIR, OR AIR AND CONDENSED STEAM, FROM PIPES USED FOR THE
CONVEYANCE OF STEAM, FOR THE PURPOSES OF HEATING BUILDINGS OR OTHER
PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me,

page_text: the said Henry Houldsworth, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months after the date
of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.
4
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Houldsworth, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the application of the force obtained by the
expansion and contraction of the pipes conveying steam, or by the expansion
and contraction of other pipes or vessels, bars or rods connected with the pipes
for conveying steam,) to effect and regulate the discharge of the air, or air and
condensed steam, from the steam pipes aforesaid, and I apply this expanding
and contracting force to regulators for discharging the air, or air and condensed
steam, in different methods, as circumstances may require. Such regulators
may consist of cocks or valves, or other machinery now commonly employed.
My usual methods of applying the aforesaid force to the moving of these
regulators are as follows:-
First, let A, B, (Figure 1) be a pipe for conveying steam, and used to
warm any building or other place requiring heat; let the end B of the pipe
press against a wall or other fixture: if the pipe is composed of a metallic or
other substance capable of being expanded by heat, it will, on the admission of
steam into it, increase in length, so that the end A will have expanded to a
or approached nearer to it than it was previous to the admission of the steam.
b, c, d, is a bent lever, movable upon an axis at c; the end 6 of this lever and
the end of the pipe A are connected together by a rod or link b, e, furnished
with joints at each end from the pivot at d on the end of the lever; a rod d, f,
is suspended, and upon which is fixed a valve g, and below this valve a weight h;
tlie valve, g fits when shut into a seat at i in the valve box C. This valve
box is fixed in the position shewn, and above the valve seat a pipe j, k, is joined,
communicating at & with the under side of the steam pipe A, B, at or near to
the end A; another pipe l, m, joins the valve box below the valve seat; at n
is a stuffing box, through which the rod d, f, works. The apparatus being
arranged as described and shewn in Fig. 1, on admitting steam into A, B, (by
the pipe o) the end A will expand towards c, and by its connection with the
lever b, c, d, the end d will be depressed, and the weight & being thus allowed
to descend will shut the valve g, and this will take place when the pipe A, B,

page_text: is either wholly or partially heated, according to the adjustment of the
apparatus, there being a scrow at p to lengthen or shorten the rod d, f,
according as more or less heat is required. The pipe j, k, is made of copper
or other substance, that will allow it to yield as the pipo A, B, lengthens and
shortens; its use is to convey the air, or air and condensed steam, into
the upper part of the box C.above the valve. The pipe l, m, is to convey
away the air and condensed steam after. it has passed the valve. When the
pipe A, B, has expanded so much as to cause the valve 9 to shut, no
more air or condensed steam can be discharged, and an accumulation of
these will take place, which will cool the pipe A, B, in some degree, and
in consequence it will contract in length and reopen the valve, and allow
the air and condensed steam again to escape, when the steam (now sup-
plying their places) will cause the pipe again to expand, and the valve will
again be closed, and by a continuation of these operations a regular discharge
of the air, or air and condensed steam, will be effected. In adapting this
apparatus to pipes used for the conveying of steam, I usually make the
different parts proportional to the length and diameter of these pipes, that is
to say, I make the valve 9 in diameter from one-third to one-sixth of the
diameter of the pipe A, B, and the pipes j, k, and l, m, from one-fourth to one-
sixth of the said diameter; and I proportion the two parts of the lever b, c, d,
in such manner that the motion of the pipe A, B, when fully heated by steam,
shall move the valve 9 through a space equal to twice or thrice its diameter.
Great nicety in these proportions I have not found requisite, and I vary them
occasionally as circumstances may require; the weight h may be equal to
fifteen or twenty pounds, or so much as to overcome the friction of the
rod d, f, in the stuffing box n, and shut the valve g with certainty.
Secondly, Figure 2 represents a method of applying the expansive force
aforesaid to the discharge of air, or air and condensed steam, and which can
be applied to steam pipes placed in an horizontal or vertical or any other
position. A represents one extremity of the steam pipe (the other end being.
fixed as shewn at B, in Fig. 1,) whether in an horizontal or vertical position,.
as Numbers 1, 2, & 8. a, b, is a bar fixed to the end of the pipe at a, and
connected by a moveable joint at 6 to one end of a lever b, c, d; this lever
moves upon a fixed centre at c. At d is another moveable joint, from which
proceed d, e, or bar or rod, with a valve e at its extremity; this valve, when
shut fits into a seat at f. g, h, i, a valve box, fastened-to-the-end of-the-pipe A,
and having a stuffing box at h for the rod d, e, to work through, and an opening.
or branch at i, to take away the air, or air and condensed steam, after it has.

page_text: passed the valve. The apparatus being arranged as described and shown in
the Figure, on admitting steam into the pipe the end A will be expanded
towards C; this will cause the bar a, b, to act upon and move the lever b, c, d,
in such a manner, that by its conection with the valve'e this valve will be
made to approach the seat f, while the said valve seat f is approaching the
valve, and by this means the valve may be made to shut, when the pipe A is
either partly or wholly heated, there being an adjusting screw at a to regulate
the length of the bar a, b, and thereby cause the valve to shut sooner or later,
according to the degree of heat required in the place to be warmed.
Thirdly, another method of applying the expansive force aforesaid to
regulate the discharge of air, or air and condensed steam, is shewn in Fig 3,
and which can be applied to pipes placed in an horizontal, vertical, or other
position. A represents one end of a steam pipe (of which the other end is
fixed as described in Fig. 1); a, b, a tube fixed to the pipe, and communicating
with it; the end 6 forms a seat for the valve c, and this valve is placed in a
box d, e, f, fixed in the position shewn, and furnished with a stuffing box at d,
in which the tube a, b, is contained; the branch or opening f is to convey away
tho air, or air and condensed steam, after it is discharged through the tube a, b;
at g is an adjusting screw, by which the position of the valve with respect to
its distance from the seat 6 can be regulated. The parts being arranged as
shewn, the valve will be closed by the expansion of tho pipe A on admitting
steam therein, and the regular discharge of the air, or air and condensed steam,
will be effected by the apparatus just described, that is, in Figure 3, and also
by the apparatus in Figure 2, in the same manner as described in Figure 1.
The method shewn in Figure 3 is particularly applicable in cases where the
steam pipe A is of considerable length, and its quantity of expansion there-
fore considerable, but by enlarging the diameter of the tube and valve, it may
be applied where the steam pipe is comparatively short.
Fourthly, the said expansive force may be applied to regulate tho aforesaid
discharge from a steam pipe A, Figure 4, by causing the steam to act upon
and expand an apparatus connected with the pipe A. a, b, c, d, is a tube or
vessel of copper or other metal capable of expanding considerably by heat, and
it is formed to the pipe A by a branch a; at b is a pivot or joint connected
with the upper part of the tubo. c, a stuffing box; d, an opening, in which is
fixed a valve seat, through which the air, or air and condensed steam, is
discharged; g, c, a rod or bar fixed at g, passing through the stuffing c, and its
lower end carries the fixed axis, upon which the lever k, e, f, moves.
The end is connected with the pivot at 6, and the end with a bar or rod

page_text: (of copper or other metal capable of expanding considerably by heat) f, h, to
the lower end of which is fixed a valve, and this valve when shut fits the
seat d, steam being admitted into A and through the branch a into the
vessel a, b, c, d; this vessel will expand in length, and the pivot b, acting
upwards upon the end of the lover k, e, f, will cause its other end f to be
depressed, and will have a tendency to close the valvo at h, and this tendency
will be encreased by the expansion of the bar f, h. The different parts of this
apparatus being properly adjusted, the valve h will be shut, when the whole
of it, that is, the apparatus, is heated, and any escape of air, or air and condensed
steam, prevented until an accumulation of these in the apparatus shall have
cooled it a little, and thereby caused the parts to contract, by which the valve
will again be opened, and the air, or air and condensed steam, again be dis-
charged, and this discharge will proceed with regularity in the same manner
as pointed out in Figure 1.
I have thus described different methods by which the aforesaid force obtained
by the expansion and contraction of the pipes conveying steam, or by that of
other pipes or bars attached to them, may be applied to the effecting and
regulating the discharge of air, or air and condensed steam. But my Invention
consists in the application of these forces to effect and regulate such discharge.
The methods by which the force aforesaid can be applied to the purpose above
specified are various. Those which I have described are what I generally
adopt, and will readily suggest other methods of applying the aforesaid force to
the purpose above specified.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and seal to these Presents, the
MALCOM
HENRY HOULDSWORTH. (LS.)
Signed, sealed and delivered (having the words "and con-
traction" interlined in the tenth line, and the words "a
weight" interlined in the twenty-first line hereof, and
being duly stamped), in the presence of
EIDINGTON SMEETON HUTTON, Witness.
ПENRY CREIGHTON, Witness.
Eidington Smeeton Ifutton, of Anderston, near the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer, maketh oath and saith, that he did see Henry Houldsworth, named
and described in the Deed Pool hereunto annexed, sign, seal, and deliver the
same as his act and deed in presence of this deponent, and Henry Creighton,
of Soho, in the County of Stafford, Civil Engineer; and that the signature

page_text: Henry Houldsworth; appearing to the said Deed Pool as the subscribing
party thereto, is of the handwriting of the said Henry Houldsworth, and that
the. signatures Eidington Smeeton Hutton and Henry Creighton, appearing
as the witnesses thereto, are of the handwriting of the said Henry Creighton
and this deponent respectively.