A SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING, ACCIDENTS FROM STEAM MACHINERY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John
Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A SELF-ACTING
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING, ACCIDENTS FROM STEAM MACHINERY." — A
communication from abroad by Victor Moreaux,. of 39, Faubourg
St. Martin, Paris, France..
-
Sealed the 17th June 1870, and dated the 21st December 1869:.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners. of. Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1869.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE; of the Firm of John Gedge and Son,
of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS FROM STEAM MACHINERY,"
a communication to me from abroad by Victor Moreaux, of 39, Faubourg
St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The braking or stopping of steam machinery by self-acting means is an
unsolved problem. It is proposed in order to supply this deficiency to

page_text: attach to the engine itself an apparatus, which when disarangement of
any of the parts of the engine may render it desirable may stop its
motion at once. The apparatus is composed of an upright or vertical
rod carrying on each of its extremities two claws which are fixed thereon.
This rod may slide in a fixed part of the engine frame, and if at any
moment the stroke of the piston of the engine should lengthen and cause
any part of its rod to butt against the two claws above mentioned, there
would result from such shock an alteration in the position of the rod,
and consequently the release of a clutch movement so disposed as to
sustain a weight, which weight would be held in two slide bars. This 1
clutch arrangement being freed would set free the weight, which falling
by its proper gravity on the lever which governs the cock serving to
admit the steam into the cylinder will cause it to close and the machine
to be instantly stopped. This releasing might be effected by the hand
of any person if an accident should happen at a spot a little removed 1
from the engine by means of a wire leading from the workshops to the
engine.
The Invention has for its object an adaptation of self-acting mechanical
means ensuring the instantaneous stoppage of any steam engine at any
distance from it
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: 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 "A SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS PROM STEAM
MACHINERY," a communication to me from abroad by Victor Moreaux,
of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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 William Edward Gedge, 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 accompanying Sheet
of Drawing and to the letters of reference placed thereon:-
The instantaneous and self-acting stoppage of steam engines is a
requirement never hitherto practically met, and this Invention consists
in an apparatus applied to the engine itself in such a manner that its
working is stopped directly if any one of its parts should happen to get
out of order.
This apparatus is composed, as shown on the annexed Sheet of Drawing,
of a rod A, B, having at its ends two shoulders or claws T, T, secured
on the rod A, B, by two adjusting screws and v¹. The rod A, B, passes
through holes in a guide 0, 0, 0, fixed to the horse-shoe piece or frame
of the machine; at one of the holes O is a small regulating screw, which
only permits the rod to move from the effect of a blow or concussion.
At the point D of the rod A, B, is jointed the end L of a lever supported
at O, and the other end of which is linked to the pin of the angle
piece or square S, S¹. The end S' of this square supports a small shoulder
or clutch on which rests the shoulder or clutch of a rod fixed rigidly to
the weight P. G, G, are two slide bars intended to keep the weight in
a vertical position and prevent its deviating therefrom when it meets
the key or lever of the steam cock.

page_text: The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Any kind of projection
is formed on that part of the radius bar of the steam engine nearest the
rod A, B. The shoulders or claws are set so that in the regular working
of the engine they nearly touch this projecting point. Now if any dis-
placement takes place in the machinery whereby the length of stroke of
the piston is lengthened, the aforesaid projecting point strikes one of
the shoulders T or T, and gives to the rod A, B, an upward or a down-
ward movement, which causes the lever L, L, to describe the arc of
a circle. The angle piece or square movement actuated by the lever
also describes a segment of a circle, the small shoulder or clutch at its
end releases the small clutch of the weight, which thus abandoned falls
on to the lever or key of the steam cock and stops the engine. It
should be observed that the shoulder or clutch of the square S, S¹, is
moveable in three directions, from left to right like the square, and from
front to back by a movement which it makes independently of the 1
square. This permits fixing to the shoulder or clutch a bell wire
arrangement communicating with each workshop, so that it is only
necessary to pull a wire to cause the fall of the weight and the stoppage
of the machine.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the Invention?
communicated to me as aforesaid, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein given, as such may
be varied without departure from the principle of my Invention; and I
claim the combination of mechanical parts herein described and shown
on the accompanying Drawings for the purpose of instantaneously?
stopping motive-power engines, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.