IMPROve- MENTS IN LUBRICATORS FOR LUBRICATING THE SHAFTS AND BEARINGS OF MACHINERY AND OTHER ROTATING BODIES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Friedrich Leonardt, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROve-
MENTS IN LUBRICATORS FOR LUBRICATING THE SHAFTS AND BEARINGS OF
MACHINERY AND OTHER ROTATING BODIES."-A communication from
abroad by Melchior Klosak, of Vienna, Civil Engineer.
Sealed the 7th June 1872, and dated the 22nd December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Friedrich Leonardt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd December 1871.
I, FRIEDRICH LEONARDT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
5 Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATORS FOR LUBRICATING THE SHAFTS AND BEARINGS OF
MACHINERY AND OTHER ROTATING BODIES," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the
manner herein-after described the parts of lubricators for lubricating

page_text: the shafts and bearings of machinery and other rotating bodies, by the
use of which lubricators oil is supplied according to the requirements
of the shaft and bearing, and a great saving of oil thereby secured.
The said lubricator consists of a cup or oil reservoir made of metal,
glass, or other material, the said cup or oil reservoir being closed at top
by a cap or cover. The bottom of the cup or oil reservoir is open, and
from the said open bottom a tube projects. In the axis of this tube is
a wire, the upper part of the said wire being situated in the cup or oil
reservoir. The said upper part of the wire in the cup or reservoir is
bent or doubled, the doubled part forming a spring leg which rests upon
the bottom of the cup or reservoir, and supports the wire firmly in the
tube. At the bottom end of the wire in the tube two collars or flanges
are made, and between the said collars a thread of wool or other fibrous
material is wound to form a loose piston or packing. The bottom of
the said piston is situated a short distance above the bottom of the tube,
the space thus left at the bottom of the tube being for the purpose
berein-after described. This said piston must not fit too tightly in the
tube as it is the means of regulating the supply of oil to the shaft to be
lubricated according as the said piston fits more or less tight in the tube.
The said piston prevents the oil in the oil reservoir passing into the space
below the piston excepting when the exhaustion herein-after referred to
takes place in the lower part of the tube. The tube of the oil reservoir
is fixed loosely in a hole in the cover of the bearing of the shaft to be
lubricated, the bottom of the tube resting on the shaft. On the rotation
of the shaft a partial vacuum is created in the lower part of the tube
of the oil reservoir below the piston described, and the oil is exhausted
or sucked through the said piston into the space beneath it, from whence
the oil passes to the shaft and bearing. As long as there is sufficient
oil on the shaft there is no exhaustion below the piston in the tube of
Thus a
the oil reservoir, and the supply of oil consequently ceases.
great saving of oil is effected, as the lubricator supplies oil only when
the shaft requires it.

page_text: filed by the said Friedrich Leonardt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRIEDRICH
LEONARDT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Friedrich Leonardt, Her
special licence that I, the said Friedrich Leonardt, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Friedrich
Leonardt, my executors, 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 LUBRICATORS FOR LUBRICATING THE SHAFTS AND BEARINGS
OF MACHINERY AND OTHER ROTATING BODIES," a communication to me from
abroad by Melchior Klosak, of Vienna, Civil Engineer, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Friedrich Leonardt, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of 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 I, the said Friedrich Leonardt, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The said Invention consists in constructing and arranging in the
manner herein-after described the parts of lubricators for lubricating
the shafts and bearings of machinery and other rotating bodies, by the

page_text: use of which lubricators oil is supplied according to the requirements
of the shaft and bearing, and a great saving of oil thereby secured.
The said lubricator consists of a cup or oil reservoir made of metal,
glass, or other material, the said cup or oil reservoir being closed at top by
a cap or cover. The bottom of the cup or oil reservoir is open, and from
the said open bottom a tube projects. In the axis of this tube is a wire,
the upper part of the said wire being situated in the cup or oil reservoir.
The said upper part of the wire in the cup or reservoir is bent or doubled,
the doubled part forming a spring leg which rests upon the bottom of
the cup or reservoir, and supports the wire firmly in the tube. At the
bottom end of the wire in the tube two collars or flanges are made, and
between the said collars a thread of wool or other fibrous material is
wound to form a loose piston or packing. The bottom of the said piston
is situated a short distance above the bottom of the tube, the space thus
left at the bottom of the tube being for the purpose herein-after described.
The said piston must not fit too tightly in the tube as it is the means
of regulating the supply of oil to the shaft to be lubricated, according
as the said piston fits more or less tight in the tube. The said piston
prevents the oil in the oil reservoir passing into the space below the
piston excepting when the exhaustion herein-after referred to takes place
in the lower part of the tube. The tube of the oil reservoir is fixed
loosely in a hole in the cover of the bearing of the shaft to be lubricated,
the bottom of the tube resting on the shaft. On the rotation of the
shaft a partial vacuum is created in the lower part of the tube of the
oil reservoir, and the oil is exhausted or sucked through the said piston
into the space beneath it, from whence the oil passes to the shaft and
bearing. As long as there is sufficient oil on the shaft there is no
exhaustion below the piston in the tube of the oil reservoir, and the
supply of oil consequently ceases. Thus a great saving of oil is effected
as the lubricator supplies oil only when the shaft requires it.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in elevation,
Figure 2 in vertical section, and Figure 3 in plan, a lubricator constructed
according to this Invention.
a is the cup or oil reservoir closed by the cup or cover b. c is the
tube projecting from the open bottom of the oil reservoir. d is a wire
or rod supported in the axis of the tube c by the spring leg d³, resting
in the manner represented upon the bottom of the oil reservoir a. e is

page_text: the loose fibrous piston or packing situated between the collars or
flanges f, g, on the lower part of the wire or rod d. The piston or
packing e, f, g, is so supported in the tube c that a space or chamber c³
is left between the bottom of the piston or packing and the bottom part
of the tube c as represented in the Drawing. The loose piston or packing
prevents the oil in the oil reservoir a passing into the space c², excepting
when oil is required to be supplied to the shaft as herein-after described.
Care must be taken that the piston or packing e does not fit too tight
in the tube c, as the said piston or packing is the means of regulating
the supply of oil according as it fits more or less tight in the tube.
Should it be found that the lubricator supplies too much or too little oil,
the fibrous material round the piston must be increased or diminished
as required. The tube c is fixed loosely in a hole in the cover of the
bearing of the shaft or other rotating body to be lubricated, the bottom
of the said tube c resting on the shaft. On the rotation of the shaft a
partial vacuum is created in the lower part 2 of the tube c, and the oil
is exhausted or sucked through the loose piston or packing e into the
space c² below the piston, from whence the oil passes to the shaft and
bearing. As long as there is sufficient oil on the shaft there is no ex-
haustion below the piston e and oil ceases to pass into the space c³, oil
is thereby supplied only when the shaft requires it. When the piston
or packing e is required to be renewed with fibre, the cap 6 is removed
and the piston is removed by the rod d. The lubricators are made of
various sizes and diameters to suit the sizes of the shafts and other
rotating bodies to be lubricated.
Figure 4 represents a small lubricator, in which it will be seen that
the length of the tube c is less in proportion to the diameter of the oil
reservoir than in the large lubricator Figures 1, 2, and 3, but I do not
limit myself to the particular proportions between the tube c and oil
reservoir a.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of the said Invention%; but I claim as the said Invention the
improvements in lubricators for lubricating the shafts and bearings of
machinery and other rotating bodies herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, the combination of

page_text: the loose fibrous piston or packing e, and supporting rod or wire d, d²,
with the oil tube c and oil cup or reservoir a, the said piston or packing
being supported a short distance above the bottom of the said tube c for
the purpose and substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Friedrich Leonardt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
FRIEDRICH LEONARDT. (L.S.)
ぐ