AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNOR
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
GOVERNOR." A communication from abroad by Jean Joseph
Molard, of Paris, France.
-
Sealed the 23rd January 1872, and dated the 8th August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th August 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION
* GOVERNOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of parts for operating
by the aid of centrifugal force the supply valves of steam or other
engines.

page_text: Supposing the Invention to be applied to a vibrating valve the spindle
of this valve is fitted with an arm which is jointed to a rod that
connects it with a horizontal sliding rack or its equivalent. This rack is
slotted longitudinally to allow the governor shaft passing through it,
and it is provided with two rows of teeth, one above and the other below
the shaft, and set in different vertical planes. This horizontal shaft is
mounted in a tubular projection of a fixed bracket piece, and this
tubular projection also serves as a hollow axle for a band pulley which
is driven by a strap from the engine that is intended to be regulated.
Mounted concentrically with the shaft are two sectors forming together
a kind of expanding drum; these sectors are recessed to receive a flange
of the driving pulley, over which they are free to slide as guides under
the impulsion of centrifugal force. These sectors are held together by an
internal coiled spring, the opposite ends of which are each made fast to
one of the sectors. Projecting from the side of the sectors is a wedge-
shaped or taper ring flange, the opposite side of which are intended to
act alternately as friction driving surfaces. Within the sectors is fitted
a friction wheel, which is keyed to the central shaft; and by the side of
this wheel is mounted a second friction wheel, which runs loosely on the
central shaft, and is intended to embrace the taper flange of the sectors.
Made fast to the boss of this loose friction wheel is a pinion, which
gears into the lower row of teeth of the rack before-mentioned, and
serves to drive the rack in the direction closing the valve. A similar
pinion keyed on the central shaft gears into the upper row of teeth
of the rack, and serves to drive it in an opposite direction so as to open
the valve. The sectors are connected to the driving pulley by a cross
piece in such a manner as to ensure their rotation with the rotation of
the pulley, while at the same time they are free to expand as their speed
of rotation increases. When the engine is working at the desired rate
the sectors will be, by reason of the contractile power of the internal
spring, causes the sectors to bind upon the inner friction wheel and drive
that wheel together with the central shaft on which it is keyed; thus
the valve will be kept open, and the supply of steam will be maintained.
As soon, however, as the speed of the engine increases the sectors will,
under the action of the centrifugal force, fly out, and leaving the keyed
friction wheel will come in contact with and drive the loose friction
wheel, the rotation of which will cause the valve to close and thereby
cut off the supply of steam to the engine. As the speed of the engine
decreases the sectors will retire, leaving the loose friction wheel and

page_text: bearing again upon the keyed friction wheel. A coiled spring surrounds
a portion of the central shaft, and it is connected at one end to the shaft
and at the other to a loose bearing, through which one extremity of the
shaft passes. This bearing would be carried round with the shaft by
reason of its connection with the spring if it were not fitted with a stop
pin, which when arrested holds the bearing quiescent. The use of this
arrangement is to wind up the spring during the opening of the valve,
and on the release of the keyed friction wheel by the centrifugal action
of the sector (in consequence of increase of speed) the spring will start
the valve, thus facilitating its motion when the loose friction wheel
comes into action to close the valve..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree witlı,
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 "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNOR," being a communication to me from abroad by
Jean Joseph Molard, of Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to

page_text: 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of parts for operating
by the aid of centrifugal force the supply valves of steam and other
engines.
In this improved governor the centrifugal force gencrates a power
which acts as a break on the whole circumference of the apparatus in
virtue of this principle, that when the centrifugal force animates two
friction sectors connected loosely at points placed at one of their opposite
extremities and jointed at their other extremities to a disc that receives
rotary motion from the engine to be regulated, the increased velocity
acquired by the disc will cause the sectors to recede from their centre of
motion, and if a spring is used to bring them back a frictional force
more or less powerful will be obtainable from the inner or outer peri-
meter of the sectors. In order to carry this principle into practice two
friction wheels are employed, one of a diameter corresponding nearly
with the interior diameter of the sectors, and the other being furnished
with a flange enclosing their exterior circumference, just sufficient space
being left between these wheels for the free rotation of the sectors. The
great sensitiveness and energy of this principle of governor is due to the
fact that the sectors come into action on the slightest variation of their
diameter; thus this governor requires but a very inappreciable move-
ment to set it in action contrary to that which takes place in the ball
governors.
I may mention as one of the important points of the improved
governor the use of a spring, which regulating itself according to the
speed of the motor permits of the governor giving at any suitable
moment a reverse motion to the valve under control.
On examining the accompanying Drawing the construction of the

page_text: Fig. 1 shews a longitudinal section of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a
corresponding end view seen from the side of the mechanism attached to
the valve of a steam engine; Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section, and
Fig. 4 is a section through the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, shewing the sectors
with their coupling bar and spring.
A is a flanged friction wheel having an extended boss, and it is
mounted loosely on the shaft E, which is supported in a cylindrical
bracket bearing D; B, B¹, are the sectors; C is a friction wheel keyed
to the shaft E. The sectors B, B', project into the annular spacc
between the wheels A and C for the purpose of driving by friction of
contact the one or other of these wheels as the speed of the engine varies
from its mean rate. When the wheel A is driven the tendency will be
to close the valve Q, and when the wheel C is driven the opposite effect
will be produced. The collar T serves to adjust the wheels A and C
with regard to the sectors, the contact surfaces of the wheels and sectors
being made slightly conical for this purpose. Mounted loosely on the
cylindrical bearing D is a disc F, the boss of which forms a flanged band
pulley to receive a driving band from the motor engine intended to be
regulated. Pivotted to the face of this disc F by means of pins H are
the sectors B, B', and they are held firmly in place by the pins H
entering lugs F" projecting from the boss of the disc F. G is a cross
bar, which serves as a coupling for the sectors B, B₁, and it is supported
between the cylindrical bearing D and the boss of the disc F. This
cross bar receives at its extremities the pins I fixed at opposite extremi-
tics of the sectors. O is a curved spring, which can be regulated by
means of the screws o, and it serves to press the sectors B, B', towards
their centre of rotation. Motion is transmitted from the wheels A and C
to the supply valve Q by means of the slotted levers J and K, the lever J
being made fast to the boss of the wheel A, and the lever K being
connected through the shaft E to the wheel C. These two levers receive
in their respective slots a pin of a link arm L, which pins project from
opposite sides of the link arm. M is a guide in which the link arm L
slides, and it is by the sliding motion imparted to this link arm through
the vibrations of the slotted arms J, K, that the valve Q is operated.
U is a spring for returning the wheels A and C to their normal positions
relatively to each other when the sectors B, B', do not exercise friction
on one or the other. It will be seen that the sectors B, B', are coupled
so that they cannot recede from or approach one another without both

page_text: participating in the same movements. They are drawn towards the
centre by the effort of the spring O, and thus regulate the speed of the
machine. When the velocity of the machine is not sufficiently great
the friction wheel C will be acted on and caused to open the valve
wider, and when the speed of the motor is in excess the friction whicel A.
will be acted on and caused to close or partially close the valve. It may
be remarked that when one of the friction wheels A or C is carried
round by the sectors the other wheel will be free to return to its
quiescent position. This will take place from the action of the coiled
spring U contained within the boss of the wheel A and connect it at its
opposite ends directly or indirectly with the two friction wheels. It
will be evident to any practical mechanic that the movements of the
wheels A and C can be transmitted to the valve Q by other means than
that above described. Thus, for example, if the wheel A be fitted with
a bevil pinion, and a similar pinion be keyed to the end of the shaft E,
then a wheel taking into these pinions and keyed to a screwed rod
connected by a travelling nut with the valve will, by being driven
alternately in opposite directions, communicate the desired motions to
the valve. The screwed rod forming the axle of the bevil wheel may be
mounted in a swivel bearing carried by a forked piece supported on the
shaft E.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Governor," as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, the centrifugal governor constructed and operating as
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the
ycar
of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.