IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS POR PRIME MOVERS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hick and William Hargreaves, both of the
Firm of Benjamin Hick & Son, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineers, and Robert Harwood, of the same Place, Mill-
wright, in the employ of the said Benjamin Hick & Son, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS POR PRIME MOVERS."
Sealed the 17th December 1858, and dated the 16th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hick, William
Hargreaves, and Robert Harwood at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th October 1858.
We, JOHN HICк and WILLIAM HARGREAVES, both of the Firm of Benjamin
Hick & Son, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, and
ROBERT HARWOOD, of the same Place, Millwright, in the employ of the said
Benjamin Hick & Son, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS FOR PRIME MOVERS," to be as
follows:-
Our improvements consist in connecting the clow, shuttle, or valve, the
position of which is to be adjusted for the purpose of regulating the speed of
water wheels, or other prime movers, with a piston moveable in a cylinder.
This piston is actuated by means of water or steam (as the case may be)
admitted alternately on one side, and on the other by means of a valve, whose

page_text: motions are regulated by a centrifugal or pendulum governor in connection
with the prime mover. By these means the force to be exerted can in every
case be proportioned to the resistance to be overcome in moving the clow,
shuttle, or valve, whilst the ball governor has only the friction of the admission
valve to overcome.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hick, William Hargreaves, and Robert Harwood in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoпN
HICK and WILLIAM HARGREAVES, both of the Firm of Benjamin Hick & Son,
of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, and ROBERT
HARWOOD, of the same Place, Millwright, in the employ of the said Benjamin
Hick & Son, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
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
us, the said John Hick, William Hargreaves, and Robert Harwood, Her
special licence that we, the said John Blick, William Hargreaves, and Robert
Harwood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said John Hick, William Hargreaves, and Robert Harwood, our exe-
cutors, administrators, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR
REGULATORS FOR PRIME MOVERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said John Hick, William Hargreaves, and Robert Harwood, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of our or 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 we, the said John Hick, William Hargreaves,
and Robert Harwood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our improvements relate to apparatus for regulating the supply of water
to turbine or other water wheels, and consist in connecting the clow, shuttle,
or valve, the position of which is to be adjusted for the purpose of regulating
the speed of the water wheel, or other prime mover, with a piston moveable
in a cylinder. This piston is actuated by water admitted either on the one
side or on the other side of it through an admission valve, whose motions are
regulated by a common ball or other governor in connection with the prime
mover. By these means power can be accumulated proportionate in every
case to the resistance to be overcome in moving the clow, shuttle, or valve,
whilst the ball governor has only the friction of the admission valve to over-
come. The opening and shutting of the clow at the starting and stopping of
the water wheel or turbine is accomplished by means of a simple mechanism,
actuated by a spoke or other wheel turned by hand, whereby the connection
between the ball governor and admission valve can be lengthened or shortened
at will, and the action of the valve entirely reversed, as is hereafter described.
By shortening the said connection a constant pressure can be maintained
against the under side of the piston, thus causing it to move upwards and
raise the clow or supply valve, until the supply of water is effectually shut off
from the water wheel or turbine; this position is maintained until the valve is
reversed by turning the spoke or other wheel in the contrary direction. By
lengthening or shortening the connection between the governor and the
admission valve, the speed of the water wheel may at any time be altered, if
found necessary, without any change being made in the wheels which drive
the ball governor.
Racks and screws as at present used for opening and
shutting clows or valves are dispensed with.
In order that our Invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect, we will now proceed to describe the same, reference being had to the
annexed Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
In Sheet 1 of Drawings, Fig. 1 is a front view of our improved governor,
partly in section, as applied to a water wheel, Fig. 2 being an end view of
the same.
The clow A, which regulates the admission of the water through the openings
or sluices B upon the water wheel C, is, by means of the rods D (see Fig. 2)
and the bush E, connected with the piston rod F, to the upper end of which is
fixed the piston G, which is moveable in the cylinder H. This cylinder is,
similarly to the cylinders of steam engines, fitted with the ports and passages
1 & 2, and an exhaust port and passage 8, as well as with a cylindrical valve.

page_text: chest H', the latter being provided with the piston valves I & I', which are
fixed to the rod K. This rod is guided by a bracket projecting from the
upper end of the cylinder H; it is hinged at the top to the lever L on the
shaft L', (see Fig. 2), and by the arm or lever L on the same shaft, and by
means of the rod M and the arms or levers N & N¹, is connected with the
rod O' of the ball governor O in the usual manner.
The cylinder H, and everything belonging to it, is immersed in the cistern
or reservoir P, which is filled with water up to the line X, the column of water
being of sufficient height to be able to raise or depress the piston G, rod F,
and the clow A attached thereto, an operation which will require the less
force, as the weight of the clow, piston, and piston rod is counterbalanced by
the weight Q.
As represented in the Drawing, the piston valves I & I have just been
raised by the expansion of the governor balls through the medium of the arms
or levers N' & N, rod M, arm L², shaft L, arm L, and rod K, so as to place
the
port and passage 1 in communication with the exhaust port and passage 3,
and to allow the pressure of the column of water to act upon the under side of
the piston G through the port and passage 2. The piston G must therefore
be supposed to be slowly moving upwards in the cylinder II, thereby raising
the clow, and at the same time forcing a proportionate quantity of water
contained in the upper part of the cylinder out through the port 1, exhaust
port 3, and pipe R down into the box or chest R'.
A diminution of the speed of the water wheel below that to which the
ball governor is adjusted, will of course have the effect of depressing the
piston valves I & 1', and causing the column of water to press on the top of
the piston G by placing the port and passage 1 in communication with the
cistern or reservoir P, and allowing a corresponding portion of the water from
under the piston to escape through the exhaust port and passage 3 and pipe R.
The clow will therefore descend and admit a larger body of water upon the
water wheel, until the normal velocity being once more established, the valves
I&I will, through the action of the ball governor, cover the ports 1 & 2,
and for the time being arrest all further motion of the piston and of the clow.
In order to admit of the position of the clow being regulated and controlled
when the water wheel is at rest, without making use of racks and screws, or
other mechanism of a similar nature, as hitherto used, and also for the pur-
pose of affording the means of modifying the absolute velocity of the water
wheel, without any change being made in the wheels which impart motion to
the ball governor, we fix upon the rod M, which is free to revolve in the
connecting socket M', a small spoke wheel S. By turning this spoke wheel

page_text: cither in one direction or in the other, the connection between the ball
governor and the distance between the levers L & N, can be lengthened or
shortened at pleasure, the end of the rod M opposite to the wheel S being
screwed, and passing through a connecting nut M². Thus, by shortening the
distance between these levers, and thereby raising the piston valve l' beyond
the port 2, a constant pressure can be maintained upon the under side of the
piston G until the clow shall have completely closed the sluices B, and cut off
all access of water to the wheel. Or, by altering the relative position of the
valve rod, whilst the wheel is in motion, the absolute velocity of the wheel can
be modified at pleasure.
In order to avoid loss of water when the regulator is not in operation, the
stop-cock W is closed by means of the shaft or spindle X and the horizontal
shaft Y, the latter being fitted with the handle Z, and giving motion to the
spindle X through the bevil wheels Y' & X'.
Fig. 3 in Sheet 2 represents a modification of our apparatus. The cylinder
H, and pipes U, T, and V, are filled with water, and when in action one of the
pipes, U or T, being alternately open at the bottom, and immersed in the
water of the tail race, the pipe U, through tho bottom, and the pipe T, through
the open top of the admission valve cylinder, must necessarily form, as it were,
the banging leg of a syphon, but the passage of the water being interrupted
by the piston G in the cylinder H, a pressure is exerted upon the upper
or under side of the piston G, as the case may be, the clow supposed to
be attached to the piston rod F being thereby either raised or lowered.
According to the position of the valve pistons I & I', as represented in the
Drawing, the pressure is being exerted upon the upper side of the piston G,
the pipe U forming, in this instance, the hanging leg of the syphon. Should
the velocity of the governor, which is connected with the valve rod K, cause
the valve pistons I & I¹ to move downwards, then the current of the water
through the pipes T & U, and the motion of the piston G would be reversed.
Again, when the water wheel, turbine, or other horizontal wheel is moving at
the proper speed, the governor balls, occupying a central position, the valve
pistons I & I will likewise occupy a central position by coming exactly before
the waterways and shutting off the influx or cflux of water to or from the
cylinder II; the piston will remain stationary until a change takes place in
the speed of the water wheel and governor. The height of the column of
water is represented by the distance from the water level a to the water level 6,
and the pressure exerted upon the piston will, therefore, be represented by
multiplying the weight of the column of water a, b, with the area of the piston
G, the unit of surface being the same in both. The water required for this

page_text: kind of regulator being small in quantity, may in some cases be obtained
from a source higher than the head water which supplies the water wheel, as
in Sheet 1.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, we wish it to be understood, that
without confining ourselves to the precise mechanical parts, or combination of
parts, herein set forth, we claim as the Invention intended to be secured to us
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, the obtaining and applying
the power required for closing and opening the clows, shuttles, or valves used
for the regulation of the speed of water wheels and other prime movers
actuated by water in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Hargreaves and Robert
Harwood, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day
of April, in the year, of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.
W. HARGREAVES.
(L.S.)
ROBERT HARWOOD. (L.S.)
W. HARGREAVES.
(L.S.)
ROBERT HARWOOD. (L.S.)