IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE HEIGHT OF WATER IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Walker, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE HEIGHT OF WATER IN STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 18th December 1860, and dated the 21st June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Walker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
June 1860.
I, THOMAS WALKER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,.
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention. for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE HEIGHT OF WATER IN STEAM BOILERS,"
to be as follows:-
The float in the boiler is connected to a rod which passes upwards through
a suitable guide frame into an external chamber provided with a tranparent
medium, as glass or talc, adapted to resist the pressure of steam in the
boiler. The glass I prefer to be enamelled on one side. The upper part of
the rod is formed to indicate through the transparent medium the height of
the float and consequent height of water in the boiler. When the float
descends beyond a determined point, the rod acts to open a whistle, when the
sound obtained by the escape of steam indicates to the attendants. I also
form the rod adjustable in length in order to its being adapted to different
boilers or different heights of water therein. I prefer to use a float lighter
than the water in the boiler, but when using a heavier float I employ spring
counterbalance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WALKER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Walker, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Walker, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Walker, 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 MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE HEIGHT OF
WATER IN STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Walker, 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 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 Thomas Walker, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The float in the boiler is connected to a rod which passes upwards through
a suitable guide frame into an external chamber provided with a transparent
medium, as glass or talc, adapted to resist the pressure of steam in the boiler.
The glass I prefer to be enamelled on one side in order that the position of
the top of the rod or a finger or other mark thereon may be the better seen
through the opposite side. The upper part of the rod is to indicate through
the tranparent medium the height of the float and consequent height of water
in the boiler. When the float descends beyond a determined point the rod
acts to open a whistle, when the sound obtained..by the escape of steam

page_text: indicates to the attendants. I also form the rod adjustable in length in order
to its being adapted to different boilers or different heights of water therein.
I prefer to use a float lighter than the water in the boiler, but when using a
heavier float I employ spring counterbalance.
But that the nature of the improvements may be more fully understood
I will proceed more fully to describe the same by the aid of the accompanying
Drawing.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Figures 1 and 2 represent an indicator made on my plan, and consists of a
cast-iron cylinder A screwed to the top of the boiler a, a, by the flange F, on
the top of which cylinder is screwed the open-sided case E with a flange at
each end; to the top of this case is screwed the lid D with the whistle H
attached. C is a glass tube made steam tight, between the end of the cylinder
A and the lid D; L, is a float to which a hollow tube B is attached by means
of the rod B', which tube passes up through the cylinder A into the transparent
glass tube C, and shows conspicuously through the glass tube the height of the
water. From the valve of the whistle H hangs a wire N, which passes through
a hole in the top of the tube B, and has a nut or projection O on its lower end,
which is acted upon by the top of the tube B, when the float sinks below the
proper water level, and thereby opens the valve of the whistle H, and raises
an alarm; K is the index.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means which
I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details shown and described, so long, as the
peculiar character of my improvements be retained; but what I do claim is
the adaptation and combination of means or apparatus for indicating the height
of water in steam boilers substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
THOMAS SMITH,
Birmingham.
THOS. WALKER. (L.S.)