IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPA- RATUS FOR GOVERNING STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Leatham, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPA-
RATUS FOR GOVERNING STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 10th August 1860, and dated the 14th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Leatham at
the Oflice of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th February 1860.
I, WILLIAM LEATHAM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to self-acting means or apparatus for regulating the
admission or supply of steam to the cylinders of steam engines for governing
or equalizing the speed of such engines, and the improvements consist in the
employment of variable friction pullies or surface plate and pulley for driving
the governor, so arranged that when the balls of the governor tend to expand
or collapse by the variable speed of the engine, the pulley, which is capable of
sliding endwise on the governor spindle without turning thereon, will be
moved near to or further from the centre of the driving plate, whereby an
additional increase or decrease of speed will be given to the governor, and
thereby cause the said governor to act more quickly than heretofore upon the
throtle valve or valve for regulating the admission of steam to the cylinder.
Also, in the employment of an equilibrium throtle valve operated by a screw

page_text: spindle and an adjustable arm or lever, by the use of which friction is
diminished, the liability to stick fast by corrosion or dirt is prevented, and
consequently a more certain and a quicker action of the governor is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Leatham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LEATHAM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day-of-February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Leatham, Her special licence that I, the said William
Leatham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Leatham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING STEAM ENGINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Leatham, my exe-
cutors 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 William Leatham, 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 (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to self-acting means or apparatus for regulating the
admission or supply of steam to the cylinders of steam engines for governing
or equalizing the speed of such engines; and the improvements consist in the
employment of variable friction pullies or surface plate and pulley for driving 3
the governor, so arranged that when the balls of the governor tend to expand

page_text: or collapse by the variable speed of the engine, the pulley, which is capable
of sliding endwise on the governor spindle without turning thereon, will be
moved nearer to or further from the centre of the driving plate, whereby an:
additional increase or decrease of speed will be given to the governor, and
thereby cause the said governor to act more quickly than, heretofore upon the.
throttle valve or valve for regulating the admission of steam to the cylinder.
Also, in the employment of an equilibrium thottle valve operated by a screw:
spindle and an adjustable arm or lever, by the use of which friction is dimi-:
nished, the liability to stick fast by corrosion or dirt is prevented, and con-
sequently a more certain and a quicker action of the governor is obtained.
This Invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and the several figures and letters marked thereon..
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a governor with my improvements applied thereto,
and Fig. 2, a plan of the same; Fig. 3, an elevation of an equilibrium
throttle valve according to my Invention; and Fig. 4, a section of the said.
valve, shewing the interior arrangement thereof, in which A is a spindle of
brass or other suitable metal, on which is cut a screw B of quick pitch, and
working in a bush C of gun metal; D are brass valves fixed on the said
spindle, and E are the valve seats, also of brass, and are connected together as
shewn at F; G is a stuffing box, and E a gland bushed with gun metal; I is
the shiell or casing of said valve with flanges J for connecting the inlet and
outlet pipes; K are bridges cast in the shell, in which the seatings are fixed;
L is the inlet, and M the outlet, as indicated by the arrows; N is a boss
keyed on the spindle, having two circular or concentric slots therein; "and O is
an arm or lever with corresponding slots for fixing and adjusting same to the
boss;
P is an universal joint, working on a stud Q, which is fixed to.and
capable of adjustment by a slot 0¹ in the said lever; and R is a lubricator.for.
the spindle; S (Figs. 1 and 4) is a bevel wheel keyed on the fly wheel shaft
of the engine, or other shaft driven thereby; and S₁ is another bevel wheel
fixed on one end of a horizontal shaft T. On the other end is a friction-pulley
or surface plate U, which is driven by a feather on, the said shaft, and free to
slide thereon, but is pressed up by a spring and an adjusting nut V into
contact with another friction pulley W, which is fixed on a tube X in con-
nection with, and jointed to the arms of the governor at Y, by which the
governor is driven, and which, as the balls expand or collapse, slide up or
down on the governor spindle, operating or moving the said friction pulley W
further from or nearer to the centre of the plate U, whereby the speed or
rotation of the governor will be increased or decreased additionally or in a
greater ratio than the variation of speed in the engine, and consequently

page_text: cause the governor to act more quickly than heretofore upon the throttle
valve, to which motion is communicated by the bell-crank lever Z and con-
necting rod Z, which are coupled or attached to the universal joint P.
Instead of the spring and adjusting nut V a weighted lever may be employed
for the same purpose.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details of arrangement or construction of
apparatus as herein set forth; but what I claim, as my Invention, is,―
Firstly, the application and use or employment of variable friction pullies 1
for driving governors of steam engines, as herein explained.
Secondly, the employment of an equilibrium throttle valve constructed and
operated as herein described.
Thirdly, the combination and general arrangement of apparatus.for governing
or regulating the speed of steam engines substantially, as herein described and
illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Leatham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM LEATHAM. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within
named named William Leatham, in the
presence of
WN. TASKER, Patent Agent,
Halifax.