IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER GUAGES FOR STEAK BOILERS, AND IN ARRANGEMENTS FOR DISCHARGING AIR FROM BOILERS. PIDES. AND ATHED VSEOUTE MANWOMEN "B
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Smith, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and William Brierley, of the same Place,
Brass Founder & Finisher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WATER GUAGES FOR STEAK BOILERS, AND IN ARRANGEMENTS FOR DISCHARGING
AIR FROM BOILERS. PIDES. AND ATHED VSEOUTE MANWOMEN
"B
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Smith and
William Brierley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th February 1873.
We, EDMUND SMITH, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, En-
gineer, and WILLIAM BRIERLEY, of the same Place, Brass Founder &
Finisher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " In-
PROVEMENTS IN WATER GUAGES FOR STEAM BOILERS, AND IN ARRANGEMENTS FOR
DISCHARGING AIR FROM BOILERS, PIPES, AND OTHER VESSELS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH," to be as follows:-
Firstly. Our improvements relate to glass tubo water guages made for
two tubes, and simplified to dispense with several taps, and consist in
arrangements as follows:-A tube of metal is connected at its upper and

page_text: lower end with the boiler, there being a tap or valve in each connection,
and a pet cock at the lower end of the tube for blowing off. Thereare
branches from cach side of the metal tube provided with screw packing
arrangements to secure the glass tubes therein, and there are screw plugs
opposite the bore of each connection and the branches, so that obstruc- ||
tions can be readily removed when required, and glass tubes replaced
when broken.
Secondly. Our improvements relate to arrangements for discharging
air from steam boilers and their connections, when the steam is first
generated after the boiler has been cold, or when the steam is turned on :
into pipes or vessels which have been cold, and consists of a pipe, one
end of which is connected with the pipe or vessel. This pipe has a
valve seating at its upper end, which comes opposite an adjustable valvo
fixed firmly to any suitable bracket. When the pipe is cold the seating
at its end is withdrawn from the valve, and thus air can pass in or out;
but when the steam begins to enter or pass the pipe gets hot, and this
causes it to expand and bring its seating firmly against the valve and
thus close it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Smith and William Brierley in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDMUND
SMITH, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and
WILLIAM BRIERLEY, of the same Place, Brass Founder and Finisher,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Edmund Smith and William Brierley,
Her special license that we, the said Edmund Smith and William
Brierley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Edmund Smith and William Brierley, our 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,

page_text: should and lawfully might make, uso, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Islo of Man, an Invention for “IɛPEOVEMENTS IN WATER Guages For
STEAM BOILERS, AND IN ARHAGUEMENTS FOR DISCHARGING AIR FROM BOILERS,
PIPES, AND OTHER VESSELS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Edmund Smith and William Brierloy,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and scal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain tho
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to bo
performed, and causo 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 we, the said Edmund Smith and William
Brierley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the samo is to bo performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, and the accompanying
Drawings (that is to say) :—
Firstly. Our improvements relate to glass tube water guages mado for
two tubes (though they may be constructed upon the same arrangement
with one glass tube), and simplified to dispense with several taps, and
consist in the combination, arrangement, and construction as described
below, reference being had to Fig. 1, a front clovation partly in section,
and Fig. 2, a side sectional of the accompanying Drawings.
a is a tube secured as shown in the end of the boiler (x) or other
connected part above the water level; 6 is a corresponding tube secured
in like manner below the water level of the boiler. In each tubo a and b
there is a hollow cone plug tap c fitted, kept in place by a surow
cap o³. The stem from cach hollow cone plug is tubular, closed by a
scrow plug o' which also serves to secure the handle o³ upon tho stem.
On each side of the tubes a and b there is a branch or elbow arranged as
shown to hold the glass tubes d, there being a screw plug o³ in each.
branch from the tube a to insert the glass tubes. There are also scrow
plugs to open or clean out the passages in the elbows when required.
There are three ways in cach cone plug tap c, so that when the handles ·
care in the position in which they are shewn in the Drawings, tho
water and steam in the boiler will communicate with the glass tubes d´
but when the handles are turned to the right or left into tho hori-
zontal position then the communication with the boiler will only be
open
"
"

page_text: to that glass tube towards which the handles point; to the other glass
tube the communication with the boiler will be closed. By turning the
handles half-way between the horizontal and vertical position the
communication is closed between the boiler and both glass tubes. This
arrangement provides means for instantly closing the communication t
with the boiler in case of the breakako of one or both glass tubes, and
for replacing broken glass tubes when the boiler is at work. e is a pet
cock for blowing through, either through both tubes at the same time or
separately.
Guages may be constructed with a single glass tube upon the same
arrangement as shown and described for the double glass tube, by
omitting the branch or elbow on one side of the tubes a and b, the taps
being made to correspond, the pet cock e in this case may be dispensed
with, and the lower tap may be made to act in place of the pet cock to
blow out from that side where the elbow is omitted.
Secondly. Our improvements relate to arrangements for discharging
air from steam boilers and their connections when the steam is first
generated after the boiler has been cold or when the steam is turned on
into pipes or vessels which have been cold, and consists of a tube of any
suitable metal, one end of which is connected with the steam pipe or
vessel. This tube has a valve seating formed upon or attached to its
outer and, which comes opposite an adjustable valve fixed firmly to any
suitable bracket or support. When the tube is cold the scating at its
end is withdrawn from the valve, and thus air can pass in or out; but
when the steam begins to enter or pass the tube gets hot, and this
causes it to expand and bring its seating firmly against the valvo and
thus close it.
Fig. 3 is a full size sectional view of one end of the said tube, showing
the valve attached. a is a tube; if of iron, say, about four feet long, if
of brass or other metal of greater expansion than iron it may be shorter.
The tubo is fixed in a vertical position by preference, its lower end being
screwed into the vessel or pipe with which it is to be used, and to its
upper end a cap b is screwed, in which a valve seating b' is formed. The
valve c is formed on the end of a stem passing through a gland d which
together with three projections c¹ from the under side of the valve,
serve to guide it to its seating. The stem c³ of the valve c is hollow,
and holes are made above the valve to allow the fluid which passes tho

page_text: valve to go out through the hollow stem. e is the bracket fixed to a
wall or any other support, which bracket carries the valvo which is
adjusted by the screw nuts upon the stem.
Fig. 4 is a side sectional elevation of the tube, showing tho valvo sup-
ported by rods carried by a cross bar screwed to the lower end of the
tubo; is a cross bar at the lower end of the tube a. This cross bar
has two holes in it bushed with wood or other bad conductor of heat.
hare the two rods connected with a cross bar & at their upper ends, also
bushed with wood, to which upper cross bar the valvo is attached, as
shown. Thus arranged the tube a only will be affected by the heat or
cold from tho steam pipo with which it communicates. If the rods h..
are made of iron, and the tubo a of brass or other metal which expands
more than iron by the same quantity of heat then the wood bushes/
need not be used.
Wo have now particularly described the nature of our. Invention and
the mode of carrying it into effect, and claim as our Invention,―
Firstly. The combination, arrangement, and construction of glass tubo
water guages, either with double or single glass tubes, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The arrangement of a tubo and valve whereby the expansion
and contraction of the tubo or pipe will close or open the valve for the
passage of air from steam pipes or vessels, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, wo, the said Edmund Smith and William
Brierley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.