Improved Method of and Means for Lubricating Parts of Machinery.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 27th May, 1893-Accepted, 1st July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JOHANN FRIEDRICH AUGUST HÖPER, of
4, Brandstwiete II, Merchant, and ALBERT JACOBSON, of 26, Neuerwall,
Engineer, both of Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany.]
Improved Method of and Means for Lubricating Parts of
Machinery.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to a method of lubricating parts of machinery inter-
mittently with the aid of the electric current by utilizing the property of the
latter of causing the heating of the conductor through which it flows at points
where the resistance in the said conductor exceeds a certain amount.
The lubricating device is actuated automatically by any known device, which
closes the electric circuit at certain intervals or this may be effected periodically
by hand.
The improved method is carried into practice by arranging in single lubricating
receptacles to be filled with pasty grease, preferably in proximity to the point of
discharge, one or more bodies consisting of a material adapted for conducting the-
electric current, the two ends of the body being joined to the conducting wire.
As regards its material or its sectional area the said body differs in so far
from the conducting wire as it offers so much more resistance to the current
that this current in its flow through the said body will cause it to be heated.
Dated this 29th day of August 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Means for Lubricating Parts of
Machinery.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,. do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to bo
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention comprises improvements relating to the lubrication of parts of
machinery by the aid of electricity by utilizing the property of the electric current
of causing the heating of the conductor through which it flows at points where the
resistance in the said conductor exceeds a certain amount.
In carrying my invention into practice, I arrange in the single lubricating
receptacles or oil or grease cups to be filled with pasty grease or any other
consistent lubricant preferably in proximity to the point of discharge, one or more
bodies consisting of a material adapted for conducting the electric current, the two
ends of the body being joined to the conducting wires. As regards its material or
its sectional area the said body differs in so far from the conducting wire as it offers

page_text: so much more resistance to the current, that this current in its flow through the
said body will cause it to be heated.
I attain this object by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawing in
which,
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section of a plummer-block provided with
an oil or grease cup made in accordance with my invention.
Figures 2 and 2 show a modified form of my oil or grease cup and
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show further modifications of my improved oil or grease cup.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of
the drawing.
Referring to Figure 1 A is a plummer block fitted with a lubricating apparatus
which consists of an oil cup or lubricating receptacle a within which is arranged a
weighted piston 6 for the purpose of pressing the lubricant liquefied by means of
the electric current through the tube a² at the bottom a¹ of the receptacle a into
the journal e of a shaft. Through the wall of the bottom a¹ which is made of non-
conducting material is passed a conducting wire d into the interior of the oil cup or
lubricating receptacle a and thence electrically connected to a spirally wound
body of high electrical resistance, so that the current flowing through said
body will cause it to be heated and thus liquefy the lubricant in proximity to
the same.
For this reason the inner end of the coil ex is led into the tube a²
on one side of a partition a³ close to the lower open end of the tube a² and
returned on the other side of the said partition a³ where it is connected to the
other end of the conducting wire, which latter passes also through the wall of
the bottom a¹ to the outside of the oil cup or lubricating receptacle.
In the lubricator of the class represented in sectional side elevation and an
underside plan in Figures 2 and 24 respectively, the liquefied lubricant is discharged
through lateral recesses f¹ of the pin f onto the journal of the shaft. These
recesses are also adapted to receive the heating body e bent in the form of a U
around the upper end of the lubricating pin f and connected at its lower ends to the
conducting wire d d'.
The lubricator represented in Figure 3 consists of the outer receptacle a of non-
conducting material and the inner receptacle g of thin heat-conducting material,
around which is wound a coil c¹ of high electrical resistance, which is connected at
its upper and lower end to the leading-in wires d d', so that the heat generated by
the electric current flowing through the coil c' may be transmitted through the
wall of the receptacle 9 upon the lubricant within the same, which latter will
thus become partly liquefied and will be discharged through the lower opening of
the receptacle.
In the lubricator shown in Figure 4 the clectric current flows through the
heating body c² wound helically about the pin and connected at its upper and
lower end to the conducting wire d d'. The pin is arranged within an open-
ended tube h of heat-conducting material extending through the lubricating
receptacle a.
In Figure 5 the heating body is formed by the inner tube ³ extending
through the receptacle a and an annular piston b adapted to press upon the
lubricant.
The receptacle is made of an electric conducting material and connected to
the conducting wire d', while the other wire d is directly attached to the tube c³.
When the electric current flows through the tubular heating body c³, the lubricant
in proximity to the latter is liquefied and thus adapted to discharge through
the opening of the former. When applying the lubricator to a bearing the
receptacle a should be properly insulated.
By these means the periodical lubrication of a great number of parts of
machinery, the lubricators of which being interposed within the same electric
circuit, may be simultaneously or successively performed and thus not only the
lubrication facilitated but also a greater economy in the use of lubricating material
attained.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The method of lubricating parts of machinery by means of electricity by
utilizing the property of an electric current of causing the heating of a conductor
of high electrical resistance and thereby liquefying the lubricant in proximity to
the same substantially as set forth.
2. A lubricating device in which the lubricant within the receptacle is heated
and liquefied by means of an electric current flowing through a conductor of high
electric resistance which is arranged within or without the lubricating receptacle,
substantially as set forth.
571
1000
MARY T
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.