Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th June, 1898-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1898
A communication by FRED WILLIAM SPACKE, of Indianapolis, in the County of
Marion and State of Indiana, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
1
This invention relates to an improvement in governors for steam engines.
There are at the present time many different types of engines all working under
varying conditions, and it has been found practically impossible, up to the present
time, to provide a single type of governor which would successfully govern all
types of engines. The object of the present invention is to produce a governor
suited to all types of engines, a governor in which the throw of the valve may be
adjusted independently of the throw of the governor balls, or other speed controlled
mechanism, so that, for a given radial movement of the governor balls, the valve
throw may be greater or less according to the peculiar conditions resulting from
the particular type of engine or from the peculiar circumstances under which the
engine may be working. A further object of the invention is to provide an
improved spring mounting for the governor balls; an improved connection between
said balls and the supporting springs, whereby, if a spring should break, the ball
will be retained in position; to provide an improved automatic cut-off in case of
breakage of the governor belt; and to provide such other improvements in the
details of construction as shall be hereinafter described and claimed.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.
Figure 1 is a central vertical section thereof;
Figure 2 is a similar view showing the adjustment of the valve throw;
Figure 3 is an elevation of the "belt" side of the governor;
Figure 4 is a plan on line 4-4, Figure 3:
Figure 5 is a detail of the upper end of the governor;
Figure 6 is a detail of the ball connections.
In the drawings, 7 indicates the usual valve chamber in which is mounted a
balance valve 8 of the usual construction, the stem 9 of said valve passing upward
through cap 10 and the stuffing box 11 carried thereby. Secured to, or formed
integral with, cap 10 are two uprights 12, 12, and mounted in bearings formed
through suitable ears 13, carried by said uprights, is a transverse shaft 14 upon
which is mounted a lever 15. The inner end of lever 15 engages a head 16
vertically adjustable upon the upper end of valve stem 9, and pivoted to the outer
end of said lever 15 is a link 17 the upper end of which is provided with a cross
bar 18. Pivoted above lever 15 is a lever 19 the inner end of which engages a

page_text: head 20 vertically adjustable upon the lower end of a stem 21, the said inner end
being of substantially the same length as the inner end of lever 15. The outer end
of lever 19 is an arc shaped arm which is substantially concentric with the pivotal
point of link 17 when the various parts are in the positions shown in Figure 1.
Formed in the upper edge of the outer arc shaped arm of lever 19 is a series of
notches 22 any one of which is adapted to receive the cross bar 18 of the link 17,
the arrangement being such that, with the levers 15 and 19 in the positions shown
in Figure 1 (that is in the normal working position) cross bar 18 may be placed
in any one of notches 22 without affecting the position of the valve 8. The upper
ends of uprights 12 are connected by a suitable cross piece and secured to this cross
piece is a hollow stem 23 through which the stem 21 is extended. Revolubly
mounted upon the lower end of stem 23 is a gear 24 which meshes with a gear 25
carried by a shaft 26 supported in suitable bearings 261 carried by one of the
uprights 12. Secured to the outer end of shaft 26 is a pulley 27.
Secured to gear 24 and revoluble therewith around stem 23 is a
head 28 which is held in vertical position by means of a collar 28¹ secured to
stem 23. Secured to opposite sides of head 28 are 'the lower ends of two springs 29
the upper ends of which are secured to the opposite sides of a head 30 which is
revoluble and vertically movable upon the upper end of stem 23. Stem 21 is of
sufficient length to protrude through stem 23 and engage head 30. For the
purpose of holding the upper end of stem 21 in engagement with cap 30, upon
shaft 14 of lever 15, a spring 31 is mounted, onc end of which engages said lever
and the other end of which is secured to a collar 32 provided upon its periphery
with a worm gear 33 which meshes with a suitable worm 34 provided on its lower
end with a thumb nut 35 the arrangement being such that the tension of spring 31
may be adjusted to suit the varying conditions under which the governor may be
working.
For the purpose of providing an automatic cut off, the following mechanism is
provided:-
Secured to the outer end of shaft. 14 is an arm 36 provided at its outer end with
a transverse pin 37. Pivoted upon shaft 26 is an arm 38 which carries at its outer
end a weight 39 and pivoted to this arm is a link 40 provided at its lower end
with a slot 41 adapted to receive pin 37. Pivoted to weight 39 is an arm 42
which carries, at its outer end, an idler 43 adapted to rest upon the governor-belt 44
which passes around pulley 27. Arm 42 may be held in any desired angular
position with relation to weight 39 by means of a bolt 45 so that the position of the
idler may be adjusted to different positions of the governor-belt at the same time
maintaining the weight 39 in a substantially horizontal position. The weight 39
should stand in a substantially horizontal position, being maintained therein by
means of the idler 43, the arm 42 which supports it being swung around into
the required position and held by means of bolt 45. In case the governor-belt 44
breaks the weight 39 will drop and, through link 40, pin 37, arm 36, levers 15
and 19 and link 17, close the valve.
Springs 29 may be formed of a single strip of metal but it is preferable to form
said springs of two or more strips of thin metal placed one upon the other thus
producing an extremely flexible, but, at the same time, transversely rigid, spring.
The governor-balls 46 are secured to springs 29 at a point about mid-way between
the ends thereof and any desired fastening means may be used. In order, however,
to prevent accidents should one of the springs break, the following fastening means
is provided for said balls. Rotatably mounted and vertically movable upon stem 23
is an eye 47 provided with a pair of oppositely extending radial arms 48 each of
which extends through one of the springs 29. Mounted upon each of arms 48
is a nut 49 the head of which lies upon the inside of spring 29 and the stem 50 of
which is threaded and extended through said spring. After nut 49 has been placed
in position upon arm 48 a collar 51 is secured to the outer end of said arm the said
collar being a sufficient distance from the outer end of stem 50 to allow for an
outward movement thereof but said collar preventing the removal of the stem

page_text: from the arm. The governor-ball is provided with a suitable screw-threaded
opening 52 by means of which the said ball may be screwed upon stem 50 and
against the outside face of spring 29. In order to prevent the governor-ball from
turning upon stem 50 nut 49 is provided with a short ear 53 which may be bent
down into a notch 54 formed in the periphery of the ball.
A hole 55 is formed through the outer end of lever 19 through which a cord may
be tied and so arranged that the valve 8 may be held open or may be suddenly
closed in the usual well known manner.
}
In operation:-
-
The governor being rated to run a certain number of revolutions per minute,
is properly connected to some revolving part of the engine, by means of belt 44.
Cross-bar 18 of link 17 is then placed in the middle one of notches 22 the arrange-
ment being such that, with the link in this position, the outer ends of levers 15
and 19 will be substantially the same so that, for a given movement of the stem 21
stem 9 will be moved in the same direction and through the same distance. Sup-
posing now that the engine does not respond quickly enough to sudden changes in
load, in other words, the governor is not sufficiently sensitive and does not throw
the valve a sufficient distance in one direction or the other to give the engine the
proper amount of steam required at that particular moment. This indicates that,
for a given radial movement of the governor-balls, there is not a sufficient move-
ment of the balls. The operator therefore swings link 17 outward placing cross bar 18
in one of the notches 22 nearer the end of the outer arm of lever 19 thus increas-
ing the effective length of said outer arm and thereby increasing the throw of the
valve for a given movement of the balls. If, on the contrary, the engine shows an
inclination to "race," that is, the governor is too sensitive and throws the valve too
far in one direction or the other so as to more than compensate for the change in
load or speed, the operator throws link 17 inward placing the cross bar in one
of the notches nearer the pivotal point of lever 19 thus decreasing the effective
length of the outer arm of said lever and thereby decreasing the throw of the
valve for a given movement of the governor balls. By this means the operator may
adjust the throw of the valve with relation to the constant and normal throw of the
governor balls, so as to produce the best results under the peculiar conditions under
which the particular engine is working. If it is desired to change slightly the
limit of speed of the engine, spring 31 may be tightened or loosened thereby
increasing or decreasing the tension in springs 29.
It often occurs that, in some types of engines, such as traction engines and the
like, it is desirable to run the engine without interference by the governor. In
such cases the operator merely throws link 17 out of engagement with lever 19
when spring 31 throws valve wide open and mainains it in that position. It is
usually the custom for the operator to remove the governor belt to accomplish this
result, but this is of course inconvenient and very bad practice. By this con-
struction the same result may be accomplished very easily and without straining the
governor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In a governor, the combination with the valve and speed controlled means, of
intermediate adjustable connecting mechanism between said valve and said speed
controlled means whereby, when the said parts are in their normal working
positions, the throw of the valve may be made greater or less for any given change
of speed of said speed controlled means without changing the relative positions of
the speed controlled means and valve.
2. In a governor, the combination with a valve and a rotating speed controlled
means, of intermediate adjustable connecting mechanism between said valve and
speed controlled means whereby, when the said parts are in their normal working

page_text: positions the throw of the valve may be made greater or less for any given change
of speed of said speed controlled means without changing the relative positions of
the speed controlled means and valve.
3. In a governor, the combination with a valve and governor balls operated by
the engine, of intermediate adjustable connecting mechanism between said valve
and said governor balls whereby, when the said parts are in their normal working
positions, the throw of the valve may be made greater or less for any given change
of speed of the engine without altering the relative positions of the governor
balls and valve.
4. In a governor, the combination with the valve and governor-balls, of a lever
connected at one end with said balls and an adjustable connection between
said lever and the valve whereby, when the valve and balls are in their normal
working positions, the throw of the valve may be made greater or less for any
change of speed of the governor-balls without altering the relative positions of the
governor-balls and valve.
5. In a governor, the combination with the valve and governor-balls, of a lever
having one arm in engagement with the stem of said valve, a second lever, a link
carried by the other arm of the first lever and adjustably connected with one arm
of the second lever, whereby the throw of the valve may be increased or diminished
and a connection between the other arm of the second lever and the governor-balls,
substantially as described.
6. In a governor, the combination with the valve and governor-balls, a lever
having one arm adjustably connected with said valve, a second lever, a link
carried by the other arm of the first lever and adjustably connected with one arm
of the second lever, whereby the throw of the valve may be increased or diminished,
a stem adjustably connected to the other end of the second lever, and a connection
between said balls and stem, substantially as described.
7. In a governor, the combination with the valve and governor balls, a lever
having one end adjustably connected with said valve, a second lever, a link carried
by the other arm of the first lever and adjustably connected with one arm of the
second lever, whereby the throw of the valve may be increased, or diminished, a
stem adjustably connected to the other end of the second lever, and a spring engag-
ing said first lever in position to open the valve and to hold the stem in engagement
with the governor balls.
8. In a governor, the combination with the valve and governor balls, a lever
having one end adjustably connected with said valve, a second lever, a link carried
by the other arm of the first lever and adjustably connected with one arm of the
second lever, whereby the throw of the valve may be increased or diminished, a stem
adjustably connected to the other end of the second lever, a spring engaging said
first lever in position to open the valve, and to hold the stem in engagement with
the governor balls, and means for adjusting the tension of said spring, substantially
as and for the purpose set forth.
9. In a governor, the combination with the valve, of a weight, an arm carried by
said weight and adjustable thereon, means carried by said arm for engaging the
governor-belt and sustaining said weight, and intermediate connecting mechanism
between said weight and valve whereby, upon the breaking of the belt, the said
weight will close the valve.
10. In a governor, the combination with the valve of a weight, an arm carried
by said weight and angularly adjustable thereon, means carried by said arm for
engaging the governor belt and sustaining said weight, a shaft, an arm carried by
said shaft in engagement with said valve, a second arm carried by said shaft, and
a link between said arm and weight whereby, upon the breaking of said belt, the
said weight will operate to close the valve, substantially as described.
11. In a governor, the combination with the frame thereof, of a spring 29, eye 47
provided with an arm 48 extending through said spring, nut 49 mounted upon
said arm, weight 46 adapted to engage said nut and to clamp the spring between

page_text: said weight and nut, and a collar 51 secured to the arm, all combined and
arranged to co-operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
12. In a governor, the combination with the frame thereof, of a spring 29, eye 47
provided with an arm 48 extending through said spring, nut 49 mounted upon said
arm, weight 46 adapted to engage said nut and to clamp the spring between the
weight and nut, a collar 51 secured to the arm, a notch formed in the periphery
of the weight, and an ear carried by the nut and adapted to be bent down into said
notch and thereby lock the weight upon the nut,. substantially as described.
13. In a governor, the combination with the spring 29, of a nut 49 provided with
a stem 50 extending through said spring, a weight adapted to engage said stem,
a notch formed in the weight, and an ear carried by the nut and adapted to be
bent down into said notch and thereby lock the weight upon the stem.
10 1
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.