IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPETY VALVES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Beyer, of the Firm Beyer, Peacock, & Co.,
Gorton Foundry, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPETY VALVES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Johann Andreas Schubert, Professor of Engi-
neering at the Polytechnic School at Dresden.
Sealed the 16th October 1863, and dated the 25th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Beyer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1863.
I, CHARLES BEYER, of the Firm Beyer, Peacock, & Co., Gorton Foundry,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY VALVES," com-
municated to me from abroad by Johann Andreas Schubert, Professor of
Engineering at the Polytechnic School at Dresden, to be as follows:-
It is well known that the common or ordinary safety valve when loaded to
counterbalance a given pressure of steam does not lift or blow off freely until
the pressure has increased to a considerable extent above the pressure fixed
upon, consequently the boiler is but slowly relieved of the excess of pressure,
owing to the small area of the opening of the valve.
The object of this Invention is wholly or partially to remove this defect, by
causing the safety valve, when the pressure has become sufficient to overcome

page_text: the weight upon it, to lift much higher than the ordinary safety valve, and thus
give a larger opening for the escape of the steam or other fluid.
This Invention consists in forming a flange round the valve commencing
at the outer edge of the valve facing, which flange is undercut and concave
in shape, and the concave side is towards the seating of the valve, which has
also a flange upon it commencing at the outer edge of the valve seating, but
the upper surface of this flange is convex and corresponds nearly to the con-
cave surface of the flange upon the valve. There is a slight space between
the concave and convex surfaces of the two flanges, which diminishes towards
the outer edge of the flanges. When the steam begins to escape from
between the surfaces of the valve it gets between the concave and convex
surfaces of tho two flanges, and its force thus acts upon a larger area and
reacts upon the concave surface of the valve, and causes it to open to a greater
extent than the ordinary valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Beyer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, CHARLES
BEYER, of the Firm of Beyer, Peacock, & Co., Gorton Foundry, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Beyer, Her special license that I, the said
Charles Beyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
ns I, the said Charles Beyer, 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 of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY VALVES," a communication from Johann Andreas
Schubert, Professor of Engineering at the Polytechnic School at Dresden,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Beyer, ly an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: 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 Charles Beyer, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
It is well known that the common or ordinary safety valve when loaded to
counterbalance a given pressure of steam does not lift or blow off freely
until the pressure has increased to a considerable extent above the pressure
fixed upon, consequently the boiler is but slowly relieved of the excess of
pressure, owing to the small area of the opening of tho valve.
The object of this Invention is wholly or partially to remove this defect,
by causing the safety valve, when the pressure has become sufficient to
overcome the weight upon it, to lift much higher than the ordinary safety
valve, and thus give a larger opening for the escape of the steam or other
fluid.
This Invention consists in forming a flange round the valve commencing at
the outer edge of the valve facing, which flange is undercut and concave in
shape, and the concave side is towards the seating of the valve, which has also
a flange upon it commencing at the outer edge of the valve seating, but the
upper surface of the flange is convex and corresponds nearly to the concave
surface of the flange upon the valve. There is a slight space between the
concave and convex surfaces of the two flanges, which diminishes towards
the outer edge of the flanges. When the steam begins to escape from
between the surfaces of the valve it gets between the concave and convex
surfaces of the two flanges, and its force thus acts upon a larger area and
reacts upon the concave surface of the valve, and causes it to open to a
greater extent than the ordinary safety valve.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings shows a sectional elevation of a valve
formed according to the Invention.
a is the flange from the seating, having the convex surface towards the
valve, and 6 the flange upon the valve having the concave surface towards the
seating of the valve; c, valve spindle; d, valve lever; d', its fulcrum. This
improved valve will, as before stated, lift promptly when the required pressure
is attained, and will open to a much greater extent than the common safety
valve. Extra pressure upon the valve will readily close it after it has lifted,
but it does not shut self-acting till the pressure in the boiler has diminished
several pounds below the pressure at which the valve was lifted. To cause the

page_text: safety valve when it has been lifted by the excess of pressure to close again
self-acting, when the pressure has diminished to a given extent, the Inventor
employs the additional apparatus which is also shown upon the accompanying
Drawings in connection with his improved valve. It will be seen that the
valve is enveloped by a pipe or hood (e) which serves to conduct away the
steam escaping from the valve, the outlet for this steam being at e'. This
hood has a hole in it through which the top of the valve passes, it has also
another hole at which communicates with passages in a conical plug f, in
communication with a vertical pipe 9, the conical plug forming a joint for the
vertical pipe to swivel upon. The vertical pipe is screwed into the upper side
of a cylindrical vessel g', and another pipe 9, which is bent as shown, screws
into the lower side of the vessel g', and the other end of this bent pipe screws
into the lower side of another cylindrical vessel h, which has a double valve
box h¹ screwed into its upper side as shown. The valve box contains a spindle k
with reversed cone facings, one for the upper the other for the lower valve
seating. The upper end of the valve spindle k is screwed and has han
adjusting screw upon it, the shoulders of which rest upon a forked bracket
secured to the hood (e) as shown. Each end of the cylindrical vessel / has
a pivot formed upon it, and one end of a link is jointed upon each pivot, the
other ends of the links are jointed with a cross pin d² fixed on the end of the
lever d; it will now be seen that the cylindrical vessels g' and h and their con-
nected parts are sustained partly upon the lever d and the swivel cone plug f
and when the safety valve is shut, the screw k¹ is adjusted so that the cone on
the spindle k for the lower valve will just be open, in which position the air
can enter the vessel h. The vessel h is at a higher level than the vessel g',
which is filled with mercury, which communicates by the pipe with the
vessel h, but only reaches to its lower side when the safety valve is closed and
the steam is not escaping. When the safety valve opens, the end of the
lever d will lift, and with it the vessel h and its connected parts, the vertical
pipe 9 and connected vessel 9' will also turn slightly upon the swivel conical
plug f. The valve spindle will then be sustained upon the lower valve
seating (or so much of its weight as remains unbalanced by the buoyant
power of the mercury), and as the pressure of the escaping steam will act upon
the surface of the inercury in the vessel g', it will be forced into the vessel h,
and by this means an increased load will be put upon the valve lever d;
should the mercury rise into the valve box h', its escape will be prevented by
the rise of the valve spindle k till it comes against the upper valve seating, as
the spindle is of such proportions and so arranged as to descend into the
mercury so as to float when the mercury ascends sufficiently high in the vessel.

page_text: If the pressure of the steam diminishes so as not to sustain the mercury in the
vessel h, then when a part has run back, the valve spindle will descend
and will rest upon the lower seating and prevent the admission of air, and
consequently the escape of mercury from the vessel till the safety valve closes,
when the lever d, vessel h, and connected parts will descend, and the adjusting
screw nut of the valve spindle k will rest on the forked bracket k*, in which
position the valve is opened, consequently the remainder of the mercury in the
vessel will be permitted to return to the vessel g¹. If preferred, the vessel g
might be placed on the fulcrum of the lever d and the vessel h at the end of
the lever d communicating by a pipe (9), the arrangement of the other parts
being modified accordingly. In place of mercury, water or other fluid may be
used, the capacity of the vessels 9' and h being made sufficiently large.
I have now particularly described the nature of the Invention communicated
to me, and the mode of carrying the same into effect, and wish it to be under-
stood that I claim,-
Firstly, the construction of safety valves with flanges substantially in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, apparatus for self-closing safety valves after they have been lifted
by the pressure of the steam or fluid, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Beyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.