A MODERATOR PISTON
Year: 1858

page_text: 12115
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joze Luis at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th April
1858. A communication.
I, JOZE LUIS, of No. 1, Welbeck St, Cavendish Sqr, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A MODERATOR PISTON," (a communication,) to be as follows:-
This apparatus is intended to regulate the heat caused by the steam in the
spinning basius of the cocoons of the silkworm; it is simple, easy of con-
struction, practicable in application, and its results are certain and easy to
understand; it is not composed of any new piece of machinery, but is simply
the reunion of several of the pieces already in use by which we are enabled to
obtain this result. It has been sought for some time, but in vain, by several
of the spinning houses, by what means the heat can be regulated in the pans
or basins where the cocoons are cooked and separated. The apparatus is
composed, 1st, of a tube, in which the steam circulates; 2nd, of a double
cased cylinder; 3rd, of a piston with its rod surmounted by a small pulley;
4th, of a guide for the rod of the piston; 5th, of a beam; 6th, of its support;
7th, of a counterweight; 8th, of a connecting rod; 9th, of a valve & its crank.
The use & the mechanical working of this instrument are very simple. The
steam passing through the tube above mentioned distributes itself in the basins.
As soon as the tube and its ramifications are full of steam, the resistance of

page_text: the atmosphere and the water in the basins gives a pressure to the steam,
which when it amounts to a certain degree raises the piston. The raising of
the piston moves the beam, which causes the connecting rod, placed at the
other extremity of the beam, to descend; this connecting rod puts in move-
ment the crank, and thus shuts the valve. Then the pressure of the steam
decreases, 1st, because less steam can pass from the boiler; 2nd, because the
steam escapes in the basins. The piston now pressed by. the counterweight
descends, and the valve opens in proportion, and as much steam enters as is
necessary for the working of the apparatus; thus the equilibrium of the
machine is maintained. In order to effect this, it is necessary once for all to
regulate the counterweight, either by the length of the lever or by its own
weight. When this is effected, a uniform degree of pressure of the steam in
the tubes & basins will be obtained, and consequently a temperature always
equal in the water where the cocoons are placed.
Our moderator does not require a stop cock to each basin in the spinning
machines which have what is called beaters, and in which the workmen do
not carry on two operations, viz., beating the cocoons and spinning the silk;
on the contrary, in the spinning machines where the workmen perform both
the operations and where a stop cock is indispensable, on account of the
difference required in the temperature for beating & spinning, to each cock
we add, 1st, a sort of dial; 2nd, a needle or pointer. The dial is fixed to the
body of the stop cock, and the needle or indicator is connected with the key
of the stop cock. In turning the key, in order to open and shut the cock, the
needle arrives at a point marked on the dial indicating the precise spot where
the opening of the cock is sufficient to perform the desired operation. In this
manner the superintendance of the principal, foremen, & inspectors can be
performed by a single glance. In short, by using the moderator piston we
can regulate in an exact and perfect manner the pressure of the steam in the
tubes and the heat of the basins or pans in manufactories where the cocoons
are beaten separately. For the spinning machines in which the same work-
men perform the two operations (beating & spinning), we add a dial with its
needle or indicator to the cock of each basin or pan. These additional objects
can be adopted to all the different sorts of stop cocks at present used for
spinning machines.