IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF GAS FOR GENERATING STEAM, AND IN ENGINES CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Beckett Johnson, Manager for Messrs.
Ormerod and Son, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF GAS FOR
GENERATING STEAM, AND IN ENGINES CONNECTED THEREWITH,"
Sealed the 24th June 1859, and dated the 24th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Beckett Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou
the 24th December 1858.
I, WILLIAM BECKETT JOHNSON, Manager for Messrs. Ormerod and Son,
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF GAS FOR
GENERATING STEAM, AND IN ENGINES CONNECTED THEREWITH." to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in certain methods of regulating the com-
bustion of gas accordingly as more or less heat is required to be imparted
to the boiler. For this purpose, firstly, I employ the governor of the
engine, and cause it to act upon cocks or other such apparatus, so as to
regulate the flow of gas. Secondly, for the like purpose I cause the pressure
or the temperature of the steam or water to act similarly to the governor.
Another part of iny Invention relates to the prevention of accident arising
from the water becoming deficient; in such cases I cause the supply of gas to
be shut off or diminished by the water falling below a certain level.
ID 17
A

page_text: practical method of accomplishing this consists in the employment of a
fusible plug, which, by melting, allows the water or steam from the boiler
to flow into the gas pipe.
Another part of my Invention consists in the employment of several
independent chambers provided with wire gauze for burning "aerated
gas," the supply to such chambers being so arranged that the governor
may be cause to act upon them consecutively, that is, to close one before
it operates upon another, so that the others may still have their proper
supply of gas in proportion to the areas of their chambers; but I also pro-
vide means for the whole being closed at once.
Another part of my Invention consists in the application of a "master
light," for the purpose of relighting the burners after the supply has been
shut off and reopened.
Another part of my Invention consists in an arrangement of engine and
boiler to be used in conjunction with boilers heated by gas. The boiler I
form as a vertical cylinder of cast iron with a concave bottom of copper; to
the side of this the cylinder is bolted, and the main shaft passes transversely
over the boiler, carrying the fly wheel upon the opposite side to the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Beckett Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BECKETT JOHNSON, Manager for Messieurs Ormerod and Son, of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Beckett Johnson, Her special license that I, the said William
Beckett Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Beckett Johnson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF GAS FOR GENERATING

page_text: STEAM, AND IN ENGINES CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said William Beckett Johnson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Beckett Johnson, 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 and accompanying Drawing, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in certain methods of regulating the com-
bustion of gas accordingly as more or less heat is required to be imparted to
the boiler. For this purpose, firstly, I employ the "governor "of the engine,
and cause it to act upon cocks or other such apparatus so as to regulate the
flow of gas. Secondly, for the like purpose I cause the pressure or the tem-
perature of the steam or water to act similarly to the "governor."
A
Another part of: my Invention relates to the prevention of accident arising
from the water becoming deficient. In such cases I cause the supply of gas
to be saut off or diminished by the water falling below a certain level.
practical method of accomplishing this consists in the employment of a
fusible plug, which, by melting, allows water or steam from the boiler to
flow into the gas pipe.
part of
Another
my Invention consists in the employment of several inde-
pendent chambers provided with wire gauze for burning " aerated gas," the
supply to such chambers being so arranged that the governor may be caused
to act upon them consecutively, that is, to close one before it operates upon
another, so that the others may still have their proper supply of
in pro-
gas
portion to the areas of their chambers; but I also provide means for the
whole being closed at once.
Another part of my Invention consists in the application of a "master
light," for the purpose of relightning the burners after the supply has been
shut off and reopened.
Another part of my Invention consists in an arrangement of engine and
boiler to be used in conjunction with boilers heated by gas. The boiler I form
as a vertical cylinder of cast iron with a concave bottom of copper; to the side
of this the cylinder is bolted, and the main shaft passes transversely over the
boiler, carrying the fly wheel upon the opposite side to the cylinder.
And in order that these several features of my Invention may be fully

page_text: understood, I will proceed to describe the Sheet of Drawings accompanying
this my complete Specification.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the arrangement of engine and other improve-
ments; Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof; and Figs. 3 and 4 and 5, detached
views of certain parts; and although my Invention embraces several distinct
improvements, it will be convenient to describe the whole as a combination,
and subsequently to point out particularly the claims which I make.
One part of the boiler is shewn at a formed as a pillar, the lower part
thereof being cup-shaped, and within which is a similarly formed part b, of
copper, so that these two portions form a water chamber c, of small capacity
in proportion to the heating surface; from the part 6 extends upward a pipe
d constituting a flue, the upper end of which is attached to the boiler top,and
is open to a chamber e, from which the products of combustion pass off by a
pipe f. The boiler rests upon a hollow pedestal g, the top plate h of which
has openings, as at Fig. 3, for the reception of tubesi, which may be employed
in any convenient number. These tubes are covered with wire gauze at
, according to the method of burning "aerated gas," and rest upon the
plate h by the rings l, which secure the gauze. The main gas pipe is shewn
at m supplying three pipes n¹, n², n³, each of which is provided with a separate
cock as at o¹, 02, 03. Each of the pipes n', n², 13, is bent upward at two
places as at p, so as to supply gas to two of the tubes i, and the source of heat
may therefore be shut off from two, four, or the whole of the burners.
Air is admitted to the pedestal g by openings q, and from thence to the
tubes or burners by holes r. The cylinder of the engine is shewn at 8 fixed
at the side of the boiler a, and receiving its supply of steam by a pipe t, which
is bent upward within the boiler. The crank to be connected to the piston in
any ordinary manner is at u upon the main haft v, which at its other end
carries the fly wheel w. The feed punip a is fixed to the boiler side, and is
worked by an excentric at y. The governor. is shewn at 2, to the lever 1 of
which is connected a rod 2 operating upon a lever 3, by which the ordinary
To the outward end of the
throttle valve of the engine is opened or closed.
lever 3 is jointed a rod 4, the lower part of which is connected by means of
pins 5, 6, 7, to levers fixed upon the cocks o', 02, 03, of the gas pipes n', n, n3.
The lowest of these pins 5 is a simple connection, but those above are situate
within slots of different lengths, so as to come into operation successively.
Supposing, therefore, that the speed of the engine is too great, the governor
by flying out, will depress the lever 4, and the first effect will be to close or
partially close the cock o', after which the top of the first slot will arrive in
contact with the pin 6, so as to close another cock, and subsequently the top

page_text: and longest slot will in like manner act upon the pin 7. Thus by the first
operation gas will be shut off from two of the tubes or burners i; by the
secoud, from an additional two; and by the third, from the whole.
Fig. 3 represents a detached view shewing how the supply of gas may be
regulated by the pressure of the water or steam. Within a chamber S is
placed a diaphragm 9 of india-rubber, metal, or other suitable substance, which
diaphragm is kept up against the pressure in that part of the chamber marked
8* by a spring 10. To the diaphragm 9 is connected a rod 11, which extends
downward, and its lower end is provided with slots acting upon cocks, after
the manner of that already described and shewn at 4, when the rod 11 is
therefore forced down by the pressure of the steam, the gas will be shut off,
as already described.
Fig. 5 is a detached sectional view shewing two other parts of my Invention;
a portion of the boiler is at a, b, and one of the tubes or burners at ; at 12 is
a branch gas pipe, furnished with a smaller pipe 13 for burning a small jet
within the combustion chamber; this jet may be lighted through an aperture
14, which can then be closed by a movable plug, and as it receives its supply
of gas from a source not acted upon by the governor, it is constantly burning,
so that upon the cocks o¹, 02, 03, being closed, as already described, this jet
remains as a master light to light the gas of the burners i when the cocks
01, 02, 03, are again opened. In the casings of the boiler is placed a tube 14
closed at its inward end by a nut 15 which secures it; this tube is furnished
with a number of holes and is filled with fusible metal, which, when in a solid
state, closes them, and its outward end is connected to the gas pipe 12.
Supposing a deficiency of water to take place, and the bottom of the boiler to
become heated, the fusible metal being melted will run through the holes in
the tube, leaving them open to steam or water, which being blown into the
pipe 12, and from thence to the main supply gas pipe of the boiler, will shut
off the supply and extinguish the burners. I would observe in reference to
the regulation of gas to the burners, that although I have shewn and described
that regulation as taking place by distinct and consecutive operations, I do not
confine myself thereto, as the governor or the elastic force of the steam may
be caused to act by one operation, so as to shut off or open the whole supply
of gas simultaneously, and that instead of the consecutive arrangement above
described, the operation may take place upon each burner separately or upon
a combination of three or any other number. I also employ the temperature
of the steam or water for regulating the supply of gas instead of the pressure
thereof, as above described; in order to effect which I use bars of simple or

page_text: compound metals, which by their expansion communicate motion by suitably
multiplied leverage to the rod 11, or similar part.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that I claim as applied to the employment of gas for generating steam
for engine or other purposes,
Firstly, the use of the "governor " for regulating the supply of gas.
Secondly, the pressure or temperature of the steam or water for the like
purpose.
Thirdly, the use of the fusible plug for the purpose aforesaid.
Fourthly, the consecutive action of the governor upon two or more
chambers constituting gas burners.
Fifthly, the use of the master light.
Sixtbly, the arrangement of engine and boiler above described, and
ticularly in such arrangement the form of the bottom of the boiler.
par-
In witness whereof, I, the said William Beckett Johnson, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundrd and fifty-nine.
W. B. JOHNSON. (L.S.)