IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING MECHANISM
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Gray, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LUBRICATING MECHANISM."
Sealed the 9th March 1858, and dated the 15th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
September 1857.
I, ALEXANDER GRAY; of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LUBRICATING MECHANISM," to be as follows, that is to say:-..
The said Invention relates to an improved arrangement of mechanism for
lubricating various moving details of machinery.
In this improved mechanism the lubricating fluid is contained in a vessel,
in which is the open mouth of a passage communicating with the surfaces
to be lubricated; the level of the lubricating fluid is always retained
below the mouth of this passage, and a small supply is dropped into the
passage at intervals by means of a tilting tube or scoop; this tube is set on
centres in such a way that when it is not tilted one end rests in the lubri-
cating fluid, the other end being over the mouth of the passage; there is an
aperture on the under side of the upper end of the tube by which the fluid
drops into the passage when the tube is tilted, and there is an air hole on the
upper side of the upper end, to enable the fluid to run freely into and out of

page_text: the tube; the lower end of the tube is half closed, the fluid entering it by the
upper open half, so that on the tube being tilted all the fluid that has entered
it runs out again, except the small quantity retained by the metal closing the
Jower half of the tube end; the quantity retained is consequently always the
same, and is what is dropped into the passage each time the tube is tilted up.
The tilting is effected by a small wiper on a horizontal spindle, turned slowly
by means of suitable gearing connecting it with the moving detail to be
lubricated. According to one modification of such gearing, the wiper spindle
has fixed on it a worm wheel drived by a worm on a second spindle which
passes through the sides of the vessel, and has fixed on its projecting end a
ratchet wheel turned intermittently by means of a lever and catch, the lever
being made to vibrate in any convenient way by the moving detail to be lubri-
One lubricating vessel may be fitted with two or more tilting tubes
with corresponding passages leading to the surfaces to be lubricated, the
several tubes being tilted by wipers on the horizontal spindle.
cated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEX-
ANDER GRAY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing-date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alexander Gray, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LUBRICATING MECHANISM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexander Gray, my executors or administrators, 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

page_text: 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 Alexander Gray, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying, Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved mechanism for lubricating various
moving details of machinery, and comprehends the use of a tilting tube or
scoop, arranged to take up at intervals a determined quantity of the lubricating
fluid, and drop it into a passage communicating with the surfaces to be lubri-
cated.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood, I have
delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings hereunto appended, and
shall now proceed to describe two modifications of lubricating mechanism,
arranged or constructed according to the said Invention. The herein-after
contained letters and figures of reference apply to the said. Sheet of Drawings,
and the like letters mark the same or siinilar parts in the several Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 on the Sheet of Drawings are yertical sections taken at
right angles to each other of one modification; and Figures 3 and 4 are
similar sections of another modification of the improved lubricator or lubri-
cating mechanism. In these lubricators the lubricating fluid is contained in
reservoirs or vessels A of cast iron or other suitable material, in which vessels
are the open mouths B of passages or tubes C communicating with the
surfaces to be lubricated. In the Drawings the tubes C are represented as
screwed externally, for the double purpose of securing them in the vessels A
by means of nuts D, and of fixing the entire lubricators in the covers of shaft
bearings, or in other situations where they may be required, This mode of
constructing and securing the tubes and of fixing the lubricators does not
however form an essential feature of the present Invention, The surface E of
the lubricating fluid in the vessels A is always retained below the edges of the
mouths B of the passages or tubes C, and a small supply is dropped into each.
passage at intervals by means of a tilting tube or scoop F; this tube F is in
each case set on centres contrived in the side of the mouthpiece B in such a
way that when it is not tilted the longer end rests in the fluid outside the
mouthpiece B, the shorter end being over the mouthpiece, as represented in
Figures 1 and 2; there is an aperture G on the under side of the upper and
shorter end of each tube F, by which the fluid drops into the passage C, when.

page_text: the
the tube F is tilted; and there is an air hole H on the upper side of the
upper end, to enable the fluid to run freely into and out of the tube;
lower end of each tube F is partly closed, the fluid entering it by the upper open
portion I, and on the tube being tilted all the fluid that has entered it.runs
out again, except the small quantity retained by the closed portion of the tube
end. In consequence of this construction the quantity of lubricating fluid
retained at each movement of each tube F is always the same, and it may, 1 be
varied in different cases by varying the dimensions, proportions, or form of the
tube or scoop F and aperture I. I may here remark that the tubes F may
be made of any convenient calibre, provided they are not made so small that
capillary action will prevent their working properly. The tilting of each tube
F is effected by a small wiper J on a horizontal spindle K, turned slowly:by
means of gearing connecting it with the moving detail to be lubricated; the
position into which the wiper J tilts the tube F is indicated by dotted
lines in Figure 1. In this position the tube is inclined down towards the
mouth B, and the lubricating fluid retained by it immediately runs out by the
aperture G into the mouth, and thence into the passage C. In the lubricator
represented in Figures 1 and 2 the wiper spindle K has fixed upon it a worm
wheel L, driven by a worm M on a second spindle N, which-passes through the
sides of the vessel A, and has fixed on its projecting end a ratchet wheel O, turned
intermittently by means of a lever P and spring catch Q, the lever P being
made to vibrate in any convenient way by or in connection with the moving
detail to be lubricated. The lubricator represented in Figures 1 and 2: is
fitted with only one tube C; lubricators may, however, be constructed. each
with two or more tubes C, each tube C being fed by a separate tilting tube F,
or two or more tubes C being fed by a single tilting tube F. The lubricator
represented in Figures 3 and 4 is fitted with four tubes C, each fed by a
separate tilting tube F; in this instance the spindle K is fitted with four
wipers J, one to act on each tilting tube F, and these wipers are set in
different positions on the spindle K, so as to act on the several tilting tubes F
one after the other as the spindle turns round. The spindle K is in this
modification fitted with a spur wheel L, driven by a pinion M on a second
spindle N passing through the sides of the vessel A, and having fixed on its
projecting end a ratchet wheel O, which may be turned by the same means
as the corresponding wheel O in the modification represented in Figures 1
and 2. Instead of the ratchet wheel O the spindle N may in either modi-
fication have fixed on it a disc, such as is indicated by dotted lines at R in
Figures 3 and 4, this disc being of such a size as to touch the shaft, to the
bearings of which the lubricator is applied, so that the shaft may drive it by

page_text: frictional contact. I have thus described certain means of driving the wiper
spindle K which are of convenient application in practice, but I may remark
that they do not form an essential feature of my Invention, and the spindle K
may be driven in any other suitable way. A glass tube may be fitted into
the side of the lubricator vessel A, as represented at S in Figure 2, to show
the level of the lubricating fluid inside; the bottom of this glass tube S
communicates with the inside of the vessel A, whilst the top is open to allow
the fluid to rise in it. It is preferred to cast a recess in the side of the vessel
A to receive the tube S, so that the tube may be rendered less liable to injury
by not projecting from the side of the vessel A.
Having now particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I must observe that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details which I have herein delineated
and described, nor do I claim to have invented every separate detail to which
I have herein referred; but what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the application to moving details of machinery of
lubricating mechanism in which a tube or scoop, tilted at intervals by means
of gearing actuated by or in connection with the moving detail to be lubricated,
takes up from a reservoir at each tilting movement a determined quantity of
the lubricating fluid, and drops it into a passage leading to the surfaces to be
lubricated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, S. Enoch Square, Glasgow.
B
ALEX GRAY. (L.S.)