IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO STEAM, VACUUM, AND LOW WATER GAUGES FOR PRODUCING AT A DISTANCE FROM SUCH GAUGES VISIBLE OR AUDIBLE, OR VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE, SIGNALS • WHEN THEIR INDICES SHEW A PRESSURE, VACUUM, OR LEVEL EXCEEDING THE LIMITS OF VARIATION FOR WHICH THE GAUGES ARE ADJUSTED
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rudd Oswald, of Gracechurch Street, in the
City of London, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO
STEAM, VACUUM, AND LOW WATER GAUGES FOR PRODUCING AT A DISTANCE
FROM SUCH GAUGES VISIBLE OR AUDIBLE, OR VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE, SIGNALS
•
WHEN THEIR INDICES SHEW A PRESSURE, VACUUM, OR LEVEL EXCEEDING THE
LIMITS OF VARIATION FOR WHICH THE GAUGES ARE ADJUSTED."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rudd Oswald at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st February 1881.
WILLIAM RUDD OSWALD, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO STEAM, VACUUM, AND LOW WATER
GAUGES FOR PRODUCING AT A DISTANCE FROM SUCH GAUGES VISIBLE OR
AUDIBLE, OR VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE, SIGNALS WHEN THEIR INDICES SHEW A
PRESSURE, VACUUM, OR LEVEL EXCEEDING THE LIMITS OF VARIATION FOR WHICH
THE GAUGES ARE ADJUSTED."
According to my Invention contact pieces or terminals connected to an electric
battery or to electric batteries are provided in connection with steam, vacuum, and
low water gauges, and are so arranged that when the index finger of the gauge to
which they are applied comes in contact with either of such terminals an electric
circuit is completed (or broken), and a bell or alarm or other audible signal is
operated, and at the same time a visible signal, such as, for instance, the needle of a
galvanometer, or of a single needle telegraph, is actuated to denote whether it is
the maximum or the minimum limit of the travel of the index finger that has been
attained. The contact may be effected by a special finger or arm instead of by the
index finger.
The indications of the visible signal may take place to right or left according to
the direction of the current so as to represent the rising or falling of the finger of

page_text: an ordinary steam gauge; or two instruments may be provided on separate circuits,
one acting to shew that the maximum pressure or highest water level has been
attained or exceeded, and the other that the pressure or water level has fallen to
or below the minimum point.
Every gauge in a boiler or engine room may be connected to a separate signalling
or indicating apparatus, or one signalling or indicating apparatus may serve for a
number of gauges.
The details of my Invention as regards the way in which the battery or batteries
are to be connected up to the apparatus, and the forms of the audible and visible
signalling devices, may be variously modified to suit the circumstances under which
they are to be used..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Rudd Oswald in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
August 1881.
WILLIAM RUDD OSWALD, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London.
" IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO STEAM, VACUUM, AND LOW WATER
GAUGES FOR PRODUCING AT A DISTANCE FROM SUCH GAUGES VISIBLE OR
AUDIBLE, OR VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE, SIGNALS WHEN THEIR INDICES SHEW A
PRESSURE, VACUUM, OR LEVEL EXCEEDING THE LIMITS OF VARIATION FOR WHICH
THE GAUGES ARE ADJUSTED."
According to my Invention contact pieces or terminals connected to an electric
battery or to electric batteries are provided in connection with steam, vacuum, and
low water gauges, and are so arranged that when the index finger of the gauge to
which they are applied comes in contact with either of such terminals an electric
circuit is completed or broken, and a bell or alarm or other audible signal is
operated, and at the same time a visible signal, such as, for instance, the needle
of a galvanometer or of a single needle telegraph, is actuated to denote whether it
is the maximum or the minimum limit of the travel of the index finger that has
been attained. The contact may be effected by a special finger or arm instead of
by the index finger.
The indications of the visible signal may take place to right or left according to
the direction of the current so as to represent the rising or falling of the finger of
an ordinary steam gauge; or two instruments may be provided on separate circuits,
one acting to shew that the maximum pressure or highest water level has been
attained or exceeded, and the other that the pressure or water level has fallen to
or below the minimum point.
Every gauge in a boiler or engine room may be connected to a separate signalling
or indicating apparatus, or one signalling or indicating apparatus may serve for a
number of gauges.
The details of my Invention as regards the way in which the battery or batteries
are to be connected up to the apparatus, and the forms of the audible and visible
signalling devices, may be variously modified to suit the circumstances under which
they are to be used.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Fig. 1 is a face view of a
gauge provided with additions or electrical connections according to my Invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of the additional
parts.
A is a bracket with insulated contact points or surfaces B, B¹, B being the
minimum or lowest point to which the hand of the gauge should fall, and B¹ the
maximum or highest point, the distance between them representing the limits
of deviation allowed for the pressure without the signalling apparatus coming into
operation.
The bracket A can be adjusted to different parts of the scale by means of the
screws C, C, which can, after being slackened, be slid along the slots C¹, C', and
fixed in any required position. If found desirable the screws may be protected
from being tampered with by any simple arrangement, as, for example, by a cover
or case. The conducting wires are carried from the undersides of the contact pieces
B, B¹, to the battery through the gauge case at any suitable hole or holes. The
contact pieces may be both connected to one pole of the battery, and the finger that
comes in contact with them, which, instead of being the index finger shewn in the
Drawings, may be a special finger or arm on the same arbor, may be connected to
the other pole of the battery, in which case deviation in either direction will be

page_text: represented by the same signal; or the finger may be the common terminal of two
circuits containing signalling apparatus, such as a bell, or gong, or a galvanometer,
or a single needle telegraph, or a combination of two or more of such instruments,
whose other terminals are connected respectively to B and B¹. When the signals
are to be operated by breaking the electric circuit I employ a modification of the
arrangement shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4; I then make the terminals B, B¹, of
non conducting material and flush with the face of the bracket. One wire I connect
to the bracket, which must be insulated from the case, and one to the case, and the
finger slides in contact with the bracket, transmitting a continuous current until
it rests upon the non-conducting pieces.
Fig. 5 is a face view, Fig. 6 a cross section, and Figs. 7 and 8 detail views of a
gauge similar to that hereinabove described, but with the bracket A which carries
the contact pieces B, B', fixed inside the case by the screws C, C, which pass
through the slots C₁, C, in the feet of the bracket, and only accessible by removing
the glass front of the gauge. There is a slot in the face of the gauge to allow of
the protrusion and adjustment of the bracket.
The contact pieces may also be made adjustable on the bracket so that the limits
of deviation of the apparatus may be varied if desired.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be performed or carried into practical effect, I would have it
understood that what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim
as secured to me by the Letters Patent hereinbefore in part recited is,-
"
Producing at a distance from steam, vacuum, and low water gauges visible or
audible, or visible and audible, signals when the indices of such gauges show a
pressure, vacuum, or level exceeding in either direction the limits of variation for
which the said gauges are adjusted by causing the completion or breaking of an
electric circuit or circuits containing signalling apparatus by the contact of a finger
(either the index finger or a special finger) with terminals or contact pieces on or in
the said gauges, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rudd Oswald, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
Eighteen hundred and eighty-one.
WILLIAM R. OSWALD. (L.S.)