IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FEED REGULATORS FOR CARBURETERS."
Year: 1878

page_text: "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Axel Knute Pettersson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th April 1878. A communication
from abroad by Byron Chollar, of Chicago, United States of America.
AXEL KNUTE PETTERSSON, of Myrtle Lodge, Norton, West Cross, Swansea.
IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FEED REGULATORS FOR CARBURETERS." [A com-
munication from abroad by Byron Chollar, of Chicago, United States of America.]
This Invention of improvements in automatic feed regulators for carbureters
relates to a device for automatically regulating the feed of the hydrocarbon in car-
bureting devices. It is designed more particularly for regulating the feed of the
hydrocarbon in carbureting ordinary city illuminating gas at large public buildings;
such as theatres, churches, hotels, &c., in order to enrich the quality of the gas just
before it is consumed, and thus to secure a more economical consumption of the
same, as well as a better light, by making a smaller amount of gas supply the
requisite light by reason of its increased illuminating power resulting from the absorp-
tion of the rich hydrocarbon.
The object of the improvement is to render the carbureting of either air or gas
uniform by making the automatic regulation of the flow of the liquid hydrocarbon
dependent directly upon the flow of the gas, and to utilize all of the hydrocarbon
employed. To this end the Invention consists in connecting the valve of any of
the ordinary forms of automatic gas governors directly with the valve or cock
controlling the supply of hydrocarbon, so as to cause them to act in constant unison
together, whereby the sensitiveness of both valves is always the same, and the
respective flows of the gas and hydrocarbon always maintain a constant and uniform
relation to each other independently of the carbureting apparatus, the proportion
of hydrocarbon being constantly just that which that amount of gas can take up.
The Invention also consists in apparatus for the adjustment of the devices to the
varying temperature of the season and the pressure of gas in the mains; and also
further in the adaptation of the valve of the governor to the valve or cock of the
hydrocarbon circuit, all as herein-after more fully described with reference to the
Drawings forming part of this Specification, in which,-
Figure 1 is a front view, with the gas governor in vertical section.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the device taken in a plan at right angles to the
section of the covernor in Figure 1.

page_text: Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail view of the hydrocarbon plug valve.
A represents a common form of gas governor having an inlet a and an outlet b
for the gas, the flow of which is regulated by a valve c attached to a rod depending
from a flexible diaphragm d, and arranged to move in the valve chamber to increase,
diminish, or entirely close the annular opening about the same through which the
gas passes.
Just above the governor, upon suitable supports, is arranged a pipe B, through
which the volative hydrocarbon is fed to the carbureting apparatus. This pipe B
communicates at one end with a supply of the hydrocarbon placed outside of the
building for immunity from fire, and at the other end with the carbureting
apparatus, while the gas governor A is connected at its inlet with the pipe from
the meter, and has its outlet end b also connected with the carbureting apparatus.
The form of carbureting apparatus (not shown) may be varied, but that which is
preferred is a simple coil of pipes, the lower end of which is connected with the
outlet from the gas governor, while the upper end of said coil is connected with
the hydrocarbon pipe B. Now as the gas passes up through this coil from the
governor the hydrocarbon passes down through the same in contact with the gas,
and imparts thereto its rich illuminating properties.
To control automatically the amount of hydrocarbon admitted in constant pro-
portion to the flow of gas (which itself varies with the number of burners) an
opening is cut in the upper portion of the outer shell, and, in accordance with the
Invention, to the upper portion of the valve above the diaphragm is attached a
connected rod C by means of a pivotted joint. The upper portion of this rod C
is then attached to a lever D, which latter is rigidly connected with and operates a
valve or cock fin the pipe B, which cock controls the flow of the hydrocarbon to
the carbureter. Now as the valve of the automatic governor rises and falls in pro-
portion to the flow of the gas consumed, it causes by reason of the rod C and lever D
the cock of the hydrocarbon supply to correspondingly open or close in unison, and
proportionally regulates the amount of hydrocarbon admitted to the carbureter.
Under the different temperature of the different seasons different amounts of the
hydrocarbon will be taken up by the gas, the latter taking up a larger quantity' in
hot weather, and a smaller quantity in cold weather, and to adapt the device to
this change the lever D is perforated, and the end of the rod C arranged to be
adjusted farther from or closer to the cock to admit a larger or smaller supply of
hydrocarbon to the carbureter.
In making the adjustable connection the lever D is curved to an arc struck by a
rod C as a radius when the governor valve is up or closed. This enables the rod C
to be connected directly to the lever throughout the several adjustments, and thus
obviates the necessity of an additional joint and connecting rod.
In order to secure a correct result in thus combining the gas governor valve and
the hydrocarbon valve, it is necessary that they should both bear a constant relation
to each other, and to this end the governor valve is in a paraboloidal form, which
gives for an equal movement of the valve equal increase or decrease of areas through
which the gas flows, that is to say, a movement of the valve one quarter of its
length opens or closes the inlet areas one quarter and so on.
In adjusting the hydrocarbon valve or cock f to the same principle of equal
movement for equal areas of flows the orifice is made square or rectangular. This
square orificed plug valve or cock and paraboloidal form of governor valve having
this interrelation is preferred as being the most practical form; but I do not confine
myself to the same, as any construction and relation of one valve to the other which
give a proportional flow of the bydrocarbon for a given flow of the gas will serve
the purpose.