IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE FLOW OF GAS, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO THE VALVES OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Elijah Freeman Prentiss at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
January 1861. A communication from abroad by Mr. D. H. Williams,
of Pittsburg, in the United States of America.
I, ELIJAH FREEMAN PRENTISS, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE FLOW OF GAS, PART OF WHICH IS
APPLICABLE TO THE VALVES OF STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improved apparatus for regulating the flow of gas has for
its object the equalization of the pressure of gas as it flows from the gas holder
to the burners, and will be found more particularly applicable when employed
to regulate the flow of gas under heavy pressure, such as when portable or
compressed gas is used for illuminating purposes. The gas under pressure is
conducted from the gas holder by means of a pipe provided with a peculiarly
formed cock or valve to a chamber, from whence, when the pressure is
diminished to the proper amount, the gas passes through another aperture or
pipe to the burners. The cock or valve which regulates the admission of the
gas to the chamber is constructed on the rotary principle; it is made of a
conical form, and of course is fitted to a seat of corresponding form.
A passage
is made along the axis of the cock to the centre, where it meets with a
transverse passage which conducts the gas in opposite directions to a chamber
made outside the cock in the seat. Another transverse passage is made in
the cock parallel to the former, and communicates with an exit passage also
in line with the axis of the cock and with the entrance passage above

page_text: mentioned. By this means the gas is made to press on both sides of the
cock alike, and consequently a balance of pressure on the cock is obtained.
The seat of the cock is made movable thereon, and is connected by a lever or
arm, and a rod with a spring box or elastic medium which is adjusted to a
given pressure. Upon gas being admitted through the regulating cock or
valve into the chamber, and pressure being exerted on the elastic or yielding
sides of the spring box, the latter will be collapsed thereby, and will con-
sequently tend to close, either wholly or partially, the entrance valve or cock
until the pressure is reduced, when the elasticity of the spring box will again
open the valve and allow the gas to flow in. The interior of the spring box
communicates with the external atmosphere by means of a tube which passes
through a stuffing box to prevent the gas from escaping from the chamber.
An adjusting screw is adapted to the tube of the spring box so that the appa-
ratus may be regulated to allow the gas to pass through a given pressure.
I prefer to construct the spring box or elastic medium above described in the
following manner, but I do not limit myself thereto :-The discs of which the
box is made are constructed of thin sheet brass which is wound up in a
convolute coil and covered over with some elastic air-tight substance. The
discs are slightly dished or concaved, and are soldered together at their edges
so as to form a shallow chamber which communicates, as above-mentioned,
with the external atmosphere. In using the above apparatus the gas is
admitted thereto through a valve which is placed on the supply pipe between
the gas holder and the regulator.