IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND CONTROLLING THE ACTION OF MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Murdoch, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain; Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND CONTROLLING THE ACTION OF
MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES.
Sealed the 17th November 1874, and dated the 26th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Murdoch ät
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on
the 26th May 1874:
L
I, WILLIAM MURDOCH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND CONTROLLING THE ACTION
OF MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has principally for its object the regulating and con-
trolling of marine engines by improved apparatus of a simpler, more
direct, and more reliable kind than existing apparatus, but some of
the improvements are also applicable to other engines.

page_text: The first part of the Invention relates to regulating apparatus of a
well-known kind, deriving its action from the variation in the immersion
of the stern of a screw steamer, and consists in making the chamber
communicating with the external water in the form of a differential
cylinder, having a differential plunger or piston made tight by rubber
rings acting as rolling packing or having two opposed flexible diaphragms
of different areas. The smaller end of the cylinder communicates with a
pipe which is filled with a fluid and transmits the action from the stern
to the engine room or other convenient part of the ship. The forward
end of the pipe communicates with a cylinder having in it packed by a
rolling rubber ring a piston or plunger, the rod of which is connected to
the throttle valve. The last mentioned cylinder is by preference put in
communication with the condenser by a pipe.
,
:
The second part of the Invention relates to apparatus of the kind
deriving its action from the variation in the speed of the engines. This
apparatus comprises a drum or casing which is mounted loosely on a
shaft and certain parts within the drum, and fixed on the shaft. Either
the drum or the shaft may be driven from the engine shaft by means of
a cord or belt, or of toothed or frictional gearing, the part not driven
being connected to the throttle valve and to a spring or weight. The
drum and its contents may be constructed like any suitable known kind
of rotatory engine or pump, excepting that the parts which would be the
inlet and outlet in the pump or engine, are made to communicate with
each other by one or more spaces or passages, the area of which can be
altered by a valve or otherwise. In the construction which is pre-
ferred the drum is formed with an eccentric annular chamber, and a
concentric ring fixed to the shaft is arranged in the chamber, and
touching or nearly touching at two points. The ring-is as it were
cut through at one point and the annular chamber is there crossed
by a stop which in one modification is a curvilinear piece hinged
to the ring and in other modifications slides through the ring. In
some cases there may be two diametrically opposite stops, or the drum
may be made with a concentric annular chamber, having in it an
oval or elliptical ring fixed to the shaft, whilst stops slide in grooves in
the drum part, so as to adapt themselves to different parts of the ring
during rotation. Or one part of the apparatus may be an oval or. ellip-
tical chamber internally touching at one point a cylindrical centro
which forms the other part of the apparatus, and which has a stop or
•
.

page_text: piston piece sliding diametrically through it. When the apparatus is
thus constructed it is by preference made in duplicate with the piston.
pieces at right angles to each other. The drum spaces and passages aro
filled with a fluid, and the rotation of the drum on the shaft or of the
shaft within the drum, causes a continuous forcing or pumping of the
fluid through the passages. In proportion to the resistance the fluid
experiences the rotation tends to be communicated to the part that is
not directly driven, and through it to the throttle valve, but the spring
just balances the resistance when the rate of rotation is what it should
be; and it is only when the rate becomes too great that the spring is
overcome and the throttle valve is acted on so as to diminish the supply
of steam. On the rate becoming reduced the spring reacts and opens
the throttle valve.
The third part of the Invention relates to a relief valve arranged to.
be acted on by the governor or regulating apparatus, so as on the main .
throttle valve closing to put the top and bottom of a steam cylinder in
communication with each other, and which valve is also capable of
being moved by hand to admit steam to either end of the cylinder
when starting the engines. The arrangement is more particularly of
advantage with compound engines, and consists of a valve fixed on a
spindle in a cylindrical chamber, which chamber has a steam inlet and
two ports leading to the two ends of the cylinder. The valve is made
with an opening which is brought over either port for starting purposes
by moving tlie valve longitudinally, and it is formed with a cavity.
which is brought over both ports for giving relief on the spindle of.
the valve being turned by the governor to which it is connected..
If preferred the valve may be arranged to be moved longitudinally by
the governor being turned by a hand lever into either of the positions
for acting as a starting or relief valve..

page_text: -
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Murdoch in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MURDOCH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Murdoch, Her special licence.
that I, the said William Murdoch, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Murdoch, 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
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND CONTROLLING THE ACTION OF MARINE AND OTHER
ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Murdoch, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 calendar2
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Murdoch, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has principally for its object the regulating and
controlling of marine engines-by improved apparatus of a simpler, more
direct, and more reliable kind than existing apparatus, but some of my
improvements are also applicable to other engines.
-

page_text: the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications of my improved apparatus.
The first part of my Invention relates to regulating apparatus of a
well-known kind, deriving its action from the variations in the immersion.
of the stern of a screw steamer, and consists in making such apparatus
as shown on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, and as hercin-after.
described :-
Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of part of the stern of a screw
steamer; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section; and Figure 3 is also
a siniilar section as at a more forward part of the vessel; I make the
chamber communicating with the external water by a pair of passages 1,
2, in the form of a differential cylinder 3, 4, having a differential plunger.
or piston 5, 6, made tight by rubber rings 7 acting as rolling packing.
Or the chamber may be made with two opposed flexible diaphragms of.
different areas. The smaller end 4 of the cylinder communicates with
a pipe 8, which is filled with a fluid, and transmits the action from the
stern to the engine room or other couvenient part of the ship. The
forward end of the pipe 8 communicates with a cylinder 9, having in it, .
packed by a rolling rubber ring, a piston or plunger 10, the rod 11 of
which is connected to the throttle valve of the engines. The large end
3 of the cylinder at the stern, and the top of the cylinder 9 in the
engine room are by preference put in communication with the condenser
by pipes 12, 13, and a spring 14 is applied to the rod 11 to resist and
regulate the action caused by the variation of external water level rela-
tively to the stern of the ship. When the stern rises out of the water
the consequent diminution of pressure in the middle space of the
cylinder 3, 4, causes a forward movement of the piston 5, 6, and a
raising of the piston 10, and rod 11, so as to close the throttle valve
more or less, but on the stern becoming again immersed the valve is.
reopened by the reaction of the spring 14 and the return of the piston
5, 6. The cylinder 9 may be dispensed with and a rod for acting on the.
throttle valve may be attached directly to the differential piston 5, 6,
the small end 4 of the cylinder being in that case put in communication
with the condenser by a pipe (13).
The second part of my Invention relates to regulating apparatus of

page_text: the kind deriving its action from the variation in the speed of the
engines.
A modification of this apparatus is shown in Figures 4, 5, 6, on Sheet
2 of the accompanying Drawings, Figures 4 and 6 being vertical sections
as at right angles to each other, and Figure 5 an clevation. This
apparatus comprises a drum or casing 15 which is mounted loosely on a
shaft 16, and which has within it certain parts fixed on the shaft.
Either the drum or the shaft, but by preference the former, is to be
driven from the engine shaft by means of a cord or belt, or of toothed
or frictional gearing, the part not driven being connected to the throttle
valve, and to a spring or weight. In the modification now being
described, the drum 15 is intended to be the driven part and to have a
driving belt applied on its circumferential part, whilst the shaft 16 has
fixed on it a pulley 17, to which is a jointed a rod 18 connected to the
throttle valve lever, and which has suspended from its grooved rim a set
of weights 19. The drum 15 is fixed to a back plate 20 formed with an
elongated boss 21, which runs in bearings in a pedestal 22, and which
has the shaft 16 passing loosely through it. The drum 15 and the parts
within it are constructed like a certain kind of rotatory engine or pump,
excepting that the parts which would be the inlet and outlet in the
pump or engine are made to communicate with each other by one or
more spaces or passages, the area of which can be altered by a valve or
otherwise.
In the modification shown in Figures 4 and 6, the drum 15 is formed
with an eccentric annular chamber 23, 24, and a concentric ring 25,
fixed to the shaft 16, is so placed within such chamber as to touch or
nearly touch at two points which are diametrically opposite, but one on
the outside and the other on the inside of the ring. The ring 25 is as it
were cut through at two diametrically opposite parts, and at each of
these parts there is jointed to the ring a curvilinear stop piece 26. The
two stop picces 26 separate the annular space 23, 24, into two portions
both outside and inside the ring.25, and would act as revolving pistons
were the drum held stationary and were a fluid under pressure admitted
by one of each pair of the passages 27, 28, that are shown formed in the
circumferential and central parts of the annular space 23, 24, so that
the shaft 10 would be made to rotate; or if the shaft 16 were held and
the drum 15 free, then of course the latter would rotate. If however an
external force is applied to the drum 15 the shaft 16 being held, the

page_text: apparatus would act as a pump, drawing in a fluid at one of cach pair
of passages 27, 28, and expelling at the other.
The two passages
of cach pair 27, 28, are in communication, and therefore the fluid ex-
pelled by one simply proceeds to and re-enters by the other, experiencing
however a certain amount of frictional resistance depending on the
speed of the pumping action and on the arca or size of the passages.
For the purpose of varying this resistance stop-cocks 29, 30, are fitted
into the passages 27, 28, and by adjusting these stop-cocks the governor
may be made to suit a particular speed. It will be obvious that as the
resistance to the passing of the fluid along the passages 27, 28, is greater
or less so will be the tendency to turn the shaft 16. This tendency to
turn the shaft 16 is resisted by the weight 19 which is of course in
practice proportioned to suit the speed at which it is desired the
engines should be kept, and when from the elevation of the propeller
out of the water or other cause the engines begin to increase in speed,
there is at once through the pumping action in the drum 15 an increased
tendency developped to turn the shaft 16 which causes the weight 19
to be raised and the rod 18 at the same time to close the throttle valve
more or less. On the speed diminishing the reverse action takes place.
A pin 31 fixed to the pedestal 22 and projecting into a slot in the pulley
17 acts as a stop to limit the range of movement of the pulley. The
small subsidiary passages shown in Figure 6 as leading from the passages
27, 28, are for allowing fluid to pass at the times when the other ports
are closed by the ring 25, or by the stop 26.
In the modification shown in Figures 7, 8, 9, there is a simplified con-
struction of the internal parts. The apparatus is carried on a horizontal
stud 32, fixed to a bracket which can be attached to a bulkhead or other
vertical support. The ring 25 is formed with a tubular boss which,
projecting out through the cover 20 of the drum 15, has the pulley
17 fixed on it. The stop 31; limiting the range of the pulley 17, is
fixed on an arm 33 screwed on the end of the stud 32 and serving to
keep the parts on the stud. In Figure 8 the pulley 17 is shown as con-
nected to a spring 34 instead of the weight 19. In the internal part tho
ring 25 is cut through at one part only, and a single stop piece 26 is
fitted to slide through the cut part. The passage of the fluid from one
side of the stop 26 to the other is provided for by making the stop
smaller than what it would be if a tight fit between the flat sides of the
chamber.

page_text: Figure 10 is a section showing a modification of the internal parts in
which the drum 15 is made with a concentric cylindrical chamber 35,
having in itan oval or elliptical boss 36 fixed to the shaft 16, whilst
stops 26 slide in grooves in the drum part so as to adapt themselves to
different parts of the boss 36 during the rotation, one stop being con-
nected to the other, as indicated by dotted lines, so that one may be.
drawn inwards by the outward movement of the other.
In the modification shown in Figure 11, the drum. 15 is made with an
elleptical chamber 37, internally touching at one point a concentric
cylindrical centre or boss 38 fixed to or forming part of the shaft 16,
and which centre has a stop or piston piece 26 sliding diametrically
through it. I prefer to make this modification of the apparatus with
the parts in duplicate, as indicated by the dotted lines, the piston
pieces 26 being arranged at right angles to each other.
In all the modifications, shown in Figures 4 to 11, it is to be observed
that the arrangement is extremely compact and convenient, the parts
on which the action of the apparatus depends being contained within
the pulley or drum to which rotatory motion is communicated, and the
whole being carried by a single bearing.
The third part of my Invention relates to a relief valve arranged to:
bo acted on by the governor or regulating apparatus, so as on the main
throttle valve closing to put the top and bottom of a steam cylinder in
communication with each other, and which valve is also capable of being
moved by hand to admit steam to either end of the cylinder when
starting the engines. This arrangement is more particularly of advantage:
with compound engines. Figures 12 and 13 are sections as at right
angles to each other, showing the arrangement which comprises a.valve
39 working in a cylindrical chamber 40; this chamber having a steam
inlet 41, and two ports 42, 43, leading to the two ends of the cylinder, the
valve 39 is fixed on a spindle 44 passing through stuffing boxes at both
ends of the casing, and it is made with an opening 45, which is brought
over cither port 42 or 43 for starting purposes, by moving the valve
longitudinally by means of a lever 46, linked to a swivel joint at one
end of the spindle 44. The valve 39 is also formed with a cavity 47
which is brought over the ports 42, 43, for giving relief by the spindle
44 being turned by means of a lever 48 fixed on it, and connected to
the governor. If preferred the valve 39 may be arranged to be moved,

page_text: longitudinally by the governor being turned by a hand lever into either
of the positions for acting as a starting or relief valve.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—-
1. The application of the differential cylinder 3, 4, and differential
piston or plunger 5, 6, in apparatus for controlling marine engines by
means of the variation of the relative level of the external water, sub-
stantially in the manner herein-before described.
2. The constructing of an engine governor, substantially in any of the
improved modes herein-before described with reference to Figures 4 to
11 of the accompanying Drawings.
3. The constructing of an engine governor with working parts having
a pumping action wholly contained within a drum or pulley to which
the rotatory motion is communicated, substantially as herein-beforc
described.
4. The constructing of a combined relief and starting valve, sub-
stantially in the improved manner herein-before described with reference
to Figures 12 and 13 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Murdoch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W³. MURDOCH. (L.S.)