IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATORS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Ramsden Shaw and
Sydney Boardman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th December 1870.
We, THOMAS BAMSDEN SHAW, of Pendleton, in the County of Lan-
caster, Mill Manager, and SYDNEY BOARDMAN, of Oldham, in the same
County, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATORS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the lubricators employed to supply oil or
other lubricant to the bearings of shafting, and to the parts of machinery
requiring to be lubricated. In a well known class of lubricators the
lubricant is contained in a vessel usually made of glass, which is inverted
when in operation, the interior being open to communication with the outer
atmosphere only through the tubes or passage which conveys the lubri-
cant to the bearing. In such lubricators it has been found that the
supply of lubricant to the bearing, being affected by changes in the
temperature of the atmosphere, has been irregular, and also that such
supply has continued at times when not required, thus causing a loss of
lubricant.

page_text: In our improved lubricator we prefer to employ the enclosed reservoir,
but we employ a valve to regulate the amount of lubricant supplied in
manner as herein-after indicated. The portion of the said valve resting
on the seat is by preference of a ball or globular form, and the said
valve is seated upon the upper or inner end of the tube or passage
through which the lubricant is supplied. The said valve is fitted or
formed with a shank, which enters the said tube, and with a prolongation
extending in an upward direction, which prolongation is made of a
length and weight sufficient to affect the stability of the valve upon its
seat, the result of which want of stability is that a slight vibration of
the part to which the lubricator may be fixed causes the valve to rock
to some extent upon its seat and thereby to induce or permit the passage
of oil to the bearing. The length of the said prolongation may be made
adjustable, or a weight or piece may be so fitted thereto as that the
distance or height of the said weight from the valve may be adjusted.
The oil reservoir may be made of glass, metal, or other suitable material,
and may in some cases be fitted with a lid or cover, capable of being
screwed or fixed on the said reservoir in such a manner as to be air-tight,
or the said reservoir may be formed in the cap or cover of the pedestal
or bearing, or in any other part suitably adjacent to the said bearing,
We also employ the said valve in lubricators specially adapted to be
formed in or attached to revolving bodies, in order to lubricate the axles
around which the said bodies and lubricators revolve, as, for example,
the said lubricators may be fixed to or formed in the bosses of loose
pullies. The oil reservoir in such lubricators is preferably formed of
metal, and fitted with a lid or cover as aforesaid, and prepared to screw
into the orifice through which the oil is to be conveyed to the axle, but
the material, form, and method of attachment may be varied. The valve
is seated on the inner end of the oil passage, as in the case of the
lubricator first described, and is made of or fitted or formed with a shank
or prolongation of a weight suitable to cause the said valve to open and
close during the rotation of the pulley or other body, and at times when
the speed of rotation is not so great as to counteract the gravity of the
said valve. A fixed or adjustable stop limits the extent to which the
said valve may rise from off its seat when the lubricator is in operation.
We have found the said valve to permit a sufficient supply of oil to the
axle, and at the same time to prevent to a great extent the waste of
lubricant arising as has been herein-before mentioned.

page_text: A further portion of our Invention is applicable to pneumatic lubri-
cators. In the tube or oil passage of such a lubricator we fit an inner
tube of metal, and we form a slit or two or more slits or slots in the
upper end of the said inner tube, so that the flow of the lubricant may
be increased or decreased accordingly as a greater or a lesser portion of
the said slot or slots is allowed to project beyond the inner end of the
outer tube.