AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR FOR MARINE AND OTHER STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR FOR MARINE AND OTHER
STEAM ENGINES."-A communication from abroad by H. C. Sergeant, of
the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR FOR MARINE AND OTHER
STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the use of a small steam. engine working indepen-
dently of the engine whose speed is to be governed, and applied so as to drive
certain mechanism which offers an unvarying resistance to its motion, and
is combined with mechanism driven by the engine to be governed, the
whole of the mechanism being so arranged as to work a regulating valve
which controls the supply of steam to the last-named engine. The supply of
steam is regulated by a double puppet valve, mounted in a box, having an inlet
passage, to which is connected the steam pipe of the engine to be regulated

page_text: (or main engine) and an outlet passage which communicates with the valve
chest of the main engine. The inlet is between the two valve seats of the
doubled-headed valve, and the outlet passage has two branches which com-
municato with the box between its ends and the valve seats. The valve stem
projects through a stuffing box at one end of the valve box, and the one head
of the valvo is made just so much larger than the other head as to cause the
minimum pressure of the steam in the steam pipe by its action on the excoss
of area on that head to overcome the friction on the valves and their stem, and
keep the valves as far open as is permitted by the mechanism which is
employed outside of the valve box to control the opening of the valve. The
steam supplied to the regulator engine from the valve box is taken from the
inlet side of the regulating valve. A conical valve is applied to the steam
pipe for regulating, by means of a diaphragm regulator box with which it is
connected, the pressure of the steam supplied to the regulator engine. In a
line with the stem of the double-headed valve is a hollow shaft fitted to rotate
but not permitted to move longitudinally in its bearing. To one end of this
shaft a bevil wheel is attached, which gears with another bevil wheel on tho
crank shaft of the regulator engine, and at the other end of the shaft is a disc,
on the face of which and facing the end of the valve stem are two similar
semicircular helical projections which are equivalent to wedges or portions of
screw threads. Passing through the hollow shaft is a solid shaft, which is
fitted to its bearings so as to be capable of moving longitudinally therein, and
carries at its outer end a pulley to receive a driving band running from a
pulley on the shaft of the engine to be regulated. Near its other end this
shaft carries a disc, the counterpart of that on the hollow shaft, and intended
to work in contact therewith. They are each provided with stop pins to prevent
the wedge-like projections of the respective discs rotating too far. Or in place
of one of these discs there may be employed a hub with two attached arms
carrying friction rollers to work against the helical projections on the face of
the remaining disc. The end of this shaft is intended to be in contact with
the outer end of the stem of the regulating valve when that valve is open.
On steam being admitted to the valve box it presses upon the double-headed
valve, and passes through the outlet to the main engine as well as to the
regulator engine, and sets both in motion, while the main engine gives rotary
motion to the pulley shaft and its disc or equivalent, the regulator engine gives
rotary motion to the disc or its equivalent on the hollow shaft in the same
direction; the regulator engine meeting only with a uniform resistance. The
pressure of the steam against the larger head of the main regulating valve will
keep the valve stem in contact with the end of the pulley shaft, and the valve less

page_text: or more open according as there is a tendency of the pulley shaft disc (driven
by the main engine) to rotate faster or slower than the other disc driven by the
regulator engine. As the speed of the pulley shaft disc exceeds that of the
disc with which it is in contact, the double-headed valve will be forced near
its seats, and the supply of steam to the main engine will be proportionately
contracted until the speed is sufficiently reduced. The contrary effect will be
produced when the disc on the pulley shaft moves near to its contact disc,
which it will do by reason of being driven at a slower speed than that actuated
by the regulating engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR FOR MARINE AND OTHER STEAM ENGINES," being a
communication from H. C. Sergeant, of the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-.
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to the use of a small steam engine working independently of the engine whose!
speed is to be governed, the same being so applied as to drive certain
mechanism which offers an unvarying resistance to its motion, and is combined
with mechanism driven by the engine to be governed, the whole of the afore-
said mechanism being so arranged as to work a regulating valve, which controls
the supply of steam to the last-named engine, that any variation in the load
of that engine and consequent tendency to an increase or diminution of its
velocity, as compared with the velocity of the smaller engine, which may be
termed the "regulator engine," causes the opening of the regulating valve to
be diminished or increased in a proper degree to overcome such tendency,
and cause the velocity of the larger engine to be always (notwithstanding
the greatest variation in the load upon it) in exact proportion to that
of the smaller engine, which latter velocity can be controlled without any
difficulty.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1
is a plan view, representing the improved governor with its regulating valve in
condition for application to a steam engine; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the
same, in the plane indicated by the line a, a, in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical
section in the plane indicated by the line y, y, of a regulating apparatus, by
which the pressure of steam on the piston of the regulator engine is renderod
uniform to insure its uniform velocity; Fig. 4 is a view representing detached
a part of the mechanism by which the combined actions of the engine to bo
regulated, and of the regulator engine, are made to produce their effect on the
regulating valve; Fig. 5 is a face view of one of the gears employed in the
governor. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the
several Figures.
A is the box which contains the regulating valve, having an inlet a, to
which is connected the steam pipe of the engine to be regulated, which for the
sake of distinction may be termed the main engine, and an outlet 6 which
serves as a commnnication with the valve chest of the main engine; B, B,
represents the two heads of a double puppet valve, which is the kind of valve
preferred to be used to regulate the supply of steam, both heads being secured
to the same stem C, and fitting to two seats c, c', within the box A: The
inlet a of this box A is between the two valve seats c, c', and the outlet has
two branches d, d, which communicate with the box between its ends and the

page_text: valve seats. The valve stem C projects through a stuffing box e at one end of
the box A, and the head B is made just so much larger than the head B¹ as is
sufficient to cause the minimum pressure of the steam in the steam pipe, by
its action on the excess of area on that head, to overcome the friction on the
5 valves and their stem, and keep the valves as far open as is permitted by the
mechanism which is employed outside of the box A to control the opening of
the valve; D, D, is the framing; E, the cylinder; F, the piston rod; G, the
crank; II, the crank shaft; H', the fly wheel; and W the exhaust pipe of
the regulator engine, which is of the high-pressure kind, and may be of any
form, either reciprocating or rotary, but it is represented as having an oscillating
cylinder. This engine needs no particular description, as it may be constructed
and fitted up in any well known way. Its framing D, D, is bolted to the
valve box A for.the convenience of attaching the entire governor at once to a
steam engine. The area of the piston need not be more than about one-sixtieth
() that of the piston of the engine to be governed; R is the steam pipe
which supplies steam to the regulator engine from the valve chest A, tho steam
for this purpose being taken from the inlet side of the regulating valve B, B';
U (Fig. 3) is a conical valve in the pipe R, for regulating the pressure of the.
steam supplied to the regulator engine, and causing a uniform pressure upon
the piston of that engine, and S, T, k, l, m, is a regulator for controlling the
opening of the valve U. This valve U is of the puppet kind, and arranged in
a box U, in the top of which is a stuffing box h, through which the stem i of.
the valve passes. The regulator consists of a box S, containing a flexible
diaphragm T, many times larger than the valve U, made of corrugated stee!
or brass plate, and having communication with the steam pipe R, below the
diaphragm; secured to the diaphragm is a rod k, which passes through a hole
in the top of the box, and constitutes a bearing for one end of a lever l, the
other end of which bears on the valve stem i. The fulcrum of this lever is the
point of a screw m, which screws into the top of an upright piece of metal n,
which is attached to an arm p, standing out from the valve box. The pressure
of the steam upon the valve U opens it, but the amount of its opening is
regulated by the pressure upon the diaphragm T.which has a tendency to push
up the rod against the lever 1, and thus cause the lever to force down the
valve stem and contract the opening of the valve. The greater the pressuro
of the steam the greater will this tendency be, and vice versâ; and if the
distances of the stem i and rod k from the fulcrum mare properly proportioned
the opening of the valve will be in the inverso ratio as the pressure of steam
entering the pipe R, and hence the pressure on the piston of the regulating
engine will be always uniform. To provide for the adjustment of the fulcrum

page_text: to the proper distance from k and i, the piece n is made moveable on the
arm p. J is a hollow shaft fitted to rotate, but not permitted to move longi-
tudinally in a bearing e in the framing D, D. This shaft has its axis in line
with the axis of the valve stem C, and has secured to one end a bevil wheel K
gearing with another bevel wheel L on the crank shaft of the regulator engine;
at its other end the shaft J carries a disc I, on the face of which and facing the
end of the valve stem C, are two similar semicircular helical projections f,f,
which are equivalent to wedges or portions of screw threads. Fig. 4 is a faco
view of this disc I. As the shafts HI and J cross each other the teeth of the
wheel K must be cut tangentially to a circle described from the axis of the
shaft J (see Fig. 5), so that the teeth of the wheel L, which are cut like those
of ordinary bevil gearing, may have a proper bearing against them; M is a
shaft passing through the hollow shaft J, which constitutes one of its bearings
and fitting to another bearing g in the framing D, D. This shaft which is fitted
to its bearings so as to be capable of moving longitudinally therein, has fast at
one end a pulley N to receive a driving band running from a pulley on the
shaft of the engine to be regulated, and near the other end it has a disc P,
like the disc I, having two helical or wedge-like projections j, j, which resemble
thosef, f, on the disc I, and are intended to work in contact therewith; 9, 9,
are stop pins attached, one to each of the discs I, P, to prevent the wedge-like
projections ff, and j, j, rotating too far; or, in place of one of these discs
there may be employed a hub with two attached arms carrying friction rollers
to work against the helical projections on the face of the remaining disc. The
end of the shaft M is intended to be in contact with the outer end of the stem
C of the regulating valvo when that valve is open.
The operation of the governor is as follows:-On steam being admitted to
the valve box A it presses open the double-headed valve B, B¹, and passes
through the outlet 6 to the main engine as well as through the pipe R, to tho
regulator engine, and sets both in motion, and while the main engine gives
rotary motion to the pulley shaft M and the disc P or its equivalent; the
regulator engine gives rotary motion to the disc I or its equivalent in the same
direction. The regulator engine meeting only with the resistance due to
the friction of its parts, which is at all times the same, and occasionally a
slight resistance due to the friction of the surfaces of f. f, and j, j, which is
scarcely appreciable, and the pressure of steam on its piston being rendered
uniform by the action of the regulator S, T, k, l, m, on the valve U, there will
never be any appreciable variation in its velocity. The pressure of the steam
against the larger area of the head B, of the main regulating valve B, B', will
keep the valve stem C in contact with the end of the pulley shaft M, and the

page_text: valve B, B', less or more open, according as there is a tendency of the disc P,
driven by the main engine, to rotate faster or slower than the disc I, driven by
the regulator engine, for the slightest acceleration of the disc P will, by the
action of the impinging helical faces j, j, and f, f, upon each other, cause the
disc P to move away from the disc I, and thus advance the shaft M upon the
valve stem C, by which means a movement will be imparted to the valve B, B',
that will reduce the opening of the valve and contract to a proportionate degree
the supply of steam to the main engine. This action will continue until the
speed of the disc P is reduced to that of the disc I, when the valve will
become stationary. On the contrary, if there is any retardation of the disc P,
it will be permitted to approach closer to I, and will thus permit the valve to
open wider, until, by the increased supply of steam, the speed of the disc P,
again reaches that of I. It is obvious that the velocity of the regulator
engine will control positively that of the main engine, even under the greatest
possible variations of the load, and this it does without any visible variation in
the velocity of that engine. To give the main engine the desired velocity, the
fulcrum screw m is caused to lift or depress the valve U, and afford more or
less opening for the passage of the steam to the regulator cylinder.
It has been remarked that other contrivances may be employed in place of
the discs I, P, to combine the shafts J, M, driven respectively by the regulator
engine, and the engine to be regulated, but the discs constructed with helical
projections f, f, and j, j, and stop pins q, q, possess advantages over other con-
trivances in the smoothness of their working, the regularity of their friction,
and in the absence of liability to give the valve too great a motion. The
motion of the valve is controlled by the stop pins 9, 9, and the shoulders f¹‚ƒ'‚
and 1,, the stop pins being set to come in contact with each other just as the
valve closes, and thus to compel both discs to rotate together, and stop any
further longitudinal motion, which would only jam the valve violently into its
seat. The shoulders f, f' and ',, act as stops to prevent the valve opening
too far. Such discs may also be used in combination with any constant
motor applied in a manner to operate like the regulating engine as a
regulator.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Governor for Marine and other Steam Engines," as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, a steam engine governor composed in part of a steam engine which is
subject to a uniform resistance, and which works independently of and by

page_text: its own velocity, controls the velocity of the engine to be governed, substantially
as herein set forth.
Secondly, the employment of the two dises or their equivalent driven
'substantially as described, for the purpose of operating the regulating valve of
'an engine required to be regulated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.B.)