Apparatus for Preventing the Bursting of Steam and Warm Water Pipes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 5th May, 1894-Accepted, 23rd June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Preventing the Bursting of Steam and Warm Water
Pipes.
I, HEINRICH LÖHR, Mechanician, of 54 Koepnikerstrasse, Berlin, Germany,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an attachment to steam or warm water conduits which
has for its object, to prevent the bursting of such pipes and the breaking of
flanges.
The apparatus chiefly comprises a hollow cylindrical body having a flat bottom
and a cover of corrugated sheet iron. Both close air tight the vertical side or wall
of the cylinder.
This hollow body is surrounded by a rectangular vertical frame, the upper side
of which carries a vertical adjusting screw. The lower side carries a valve, fitting
tightly upon a valve seat in the base of the apparatus, and serving to close the
passage which leads from the steam conduit to the cylinder. On the base or valve
box is mounted a cylindrical casing, which encloses the cylinder and rectangular
frame and has at the top an open and removeable cover. About the middle of its
height the said casing has two horizontal adjusting screws placed diametrically
opposite each other, and passing through vertical slots of the rectangular frame
mentioned above, to support by their points the mantle or wall of the hollow
cylindrical body at a certain distance from the rectangular frame.
If the cylinder is in its lowest position and therefore the valve passage open,
and if warm air or steam is supplied to the conduit, the cold air is pressed to the
highest point, whence it rises through the open valve passage into the annular
space formed between the external surface of the cylinder and the inner surface of
the outer casing, and then it escapes through the opening of the cover.
If no
more cold air is in the conduit,. the warm air will take the same course, thereby the
air, enclosed in the hollow cylindrical body is warmed and the corrugated cover
is pressed outward.
As the point of the adjusting screw fixed in the top of the rectangular frame
bears against said cover, the cover will lift the said screw and with it the whole
frame and also the valve, thus pressing the latter to its seat. Consequently, the
valve passage is closed; now the warm air may pass unhindered through the conduit
without risk of bursting the same.
As soon as the conduit grows cool, the valve descends again, so that cold air
may enter the pipes, and prevent the formation of a vacuum in the same.
Dated this 5th day of August 1893.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Preventing the Bursting of Steam and Warm Water
Pipes.
I, HEINRICH LÖHR, Mechanician, of 54 Koepnikerstrasse, Berlin, Germany,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to an attachment to steam or warm water conduits and has

page_text: for its object to prevent the bursting or collapse of such pipes and the breaking of
flanges in consequence of variations of pressure.
In the accompanying drawings;
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an apparatus embodying my invention,
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same,
Fig. 3 a horizontal section along line 1-2 of Fig. 1.
The apparatus chiefly comprises a hollow cylindrical body A having a flat
bottom and a cover of thin corrugated sheet iron. Both close air-tight the vertical
side or wall of the cylinder.
This hollow body A is surrounded by a rectangular vertical frame B; the upper
side of which carries a vertical adjusting screw b. The lower side is provided
with a conical valve e fitting tightly upon a valve seat a in the base Ċ of the
apparatus and serving to close the steam inlet. On the base plate C or valve box
is mounted a cylindrical casing D which encloses the cylinder A and rectangular
frame B and has at the top an open and removeable cover. About the middle of
its height, the said casing D has two pivotal screws ff placed diametrically
opposite each other, and passing through vertical slots & s'of the frame B mentioned
above, to support by their points the wall of the hollow cylindrical body A at a
certain distance from the frame B.
8
If the frame B is in its deepest or lowest position and therefore the valve
passage y open, and if warm water, air or steam is supplied to the conduit, the cold
air contained in the same is pressed to the highest point x, whence it rises through
the open valve passage y into the annular space formed between the external
surface of the cylinder A and the inner surface of the outer casing D, and then
it escapes through the opening of the cover. If no more cold air is in the
conduit, the warm air will take the same course as the latter, thereby the air,
enclosed in the cylindrical body A is warmed, and the corrugated cover is pressed
outward.
As the point of the adjusting screw bears against the said cover, the cover
will lift the said screw and with it the whole frame B and also the valve c, thus
pressing the latter to its seat and closing the passage y. The warm air may
now pass unhindered through the conduit, without risk of bursting the same.
As soon as the conduit and the cylinder A grow cool, the valve descends again,
and allows cold air to enter the pipes, thus preventing the formation of a dangerous
vacuum in the same.
In this manner the apparatus serves to equalize the inner and outer pressure in
the case of steam and hot water pipes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Apparatus for equalizing the internal and external pressure of steam and hot
water pipes, comprising in its construction a hollow body or receptacle A and
accessories, said body A being suspended between pivotal screws f, f and provided
with an expansible cover adapted to close a valve passage y in the bottom Cof
the apparatus, as soon as the cold air has escaped from the conduit along the surface
of the body A through the top opening, and to open the said valve passage aud
admit air, when the conduit together with the air in A have cooled down, sub-
stantially as described.