IMPROVED APPARA- APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE DENSITY OF FLUIDS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Me-
chanical Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARA-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 13th December 1852.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING THE DENSITY OF FLUIDS" to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to regulate the discharge called
blowing off of heated water from steam boilers, by its density to pre-
vent it from reaching the degree of saturation at which it would de-
posit marine salts; but the Invention is equally applicable to other
purposes where it may be desired to retain fluids at a given density
or gravity. To effect this object, the inventor employs an hydro-
meter, which floats in the liquid whose density or gravity is to be
regulated, and connects the hydrometer with an arrangement of

page_text: mechanism actuated by a motive force, whereby a valve or valves,
which govern the discharge of the liquid, is opened when the density
or gravity of the liquid becomes too great, or vice versa. The like
means is also employed for the supply of fresh liquid to reduce the
density or gravity of such liquid, or vice versa, the hydrometer
being free to float, except when it checks the said mechanism in its
range of motions; so that the hydrometer shall be sensitive to indi-
cate the density or gravity, whilst the mechanism may be operated
by a force sufficient to insure the workings of the valve or valves
which determine the discharge or supply of the liquid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 law-
fully 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE DENSITY OF
FLUIDS," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vin-
cent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
This Invention is intended chiefly to prevent water in steam
boilers from becoming overcharged with marine salts, but it is also
applicable to other and analogous purposes.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, shews in plan view the im-
proved apparatus as intended to be applied to a steam boiler; Fig. 2,
is a side elevation, and Fig. 3, is a vertical section of the same. The
same letters indicate like parts in all the Figures.
The leading purpose of the Invention is to regulate the discharge
called blowing off of heated water from steam boilers, by its den-
sity, to prevent it from reaching the degree of saturation, at which
it would deposit marine salts; but the said Invention is equally ap-
plicable to other purposes where it may be desired to retain fluids
at a given density or gravity.
The nature of the Invention consists in the employment of an
hydrometer floating in the liquid whose density or gravity is to be
regulated, in combination with, and to govern or gauge, the motions
of an independent mechanism actuated by a motive force, to operate
a valve or valves, which govern the discharge of the liquid when its
density or gravity becomes too great, or vice versa, or the supply of
fresh liquid to reduce the density or gravity of such liquid, or vice
versa; the said hydrometer being free to float, except when it checks
the said mechanism in its range of motions; so that the hydrometer
shall be sensitive to indicate the density or gravity, whilst the me-
chanism may be operated by a force sufficient to insure the workings
of the valve or valves which determine the discharge or supply of
the liquid.

page_text: In the Drawings a, represents a cylindrical vessel, open at top,
and closed at bottom, and connected with a steam boiler, by means
of a tube b, and provided with a waste tube c, which determines the
level of water within the said vessel. Within this vessel is placed
a hydrometer d, of any suitable construction, the stem of which is
provided with a metal bar e, adapted to slide freely between guides
f. One edge of this bar is formed with offsets, each in succession
further from the line of the ways in which the said bar slides. Di-
rectly in front of this sliding bar there is a rock shaft g, provided
with an arm h, which at certain times is made to bear against the
said offsets by a weighted arm i, on the said rock shaft. And this
rock shaft is provided with another arm j, the end of which is kept
against the face of a cam I, by the weighted arm.
This cam is on a
shaft m, receiving motion in any desired and suitable inanner from
the steam engine or other motor, and thus, at each revolution of the
shaft, the arm h, is drawn back from the bar on the stem of the hy-
drometer, whereby the hydrometer is left free to rise or fall, according
to the density or gravity of the water in the vessel a. When the cam
2, has passed the end of the arin j, the weighted arm i, will draw down
the arm h, against the bar. The position of the hydrometer floating
in the liquid, by reason of the offsets on its bar, determines the extent
of motion of the arm h, and likewise the motion of the rock shaft.
The armj, which is acted upon by the cam l, is provided with a pin
which fits into a groove n, in a sleeve o, that slides on and is connected
by a feather with the shaft m, so as to be turned by it, whilst at the
same time it is made to slide endwise by the action of the cam on the
armj. This sleeve carries a camp, which, according to its longitudinal
position on the shaft, acts upon different offsets q, on the ends of two
slides,, which slides at their opposite ends are jointed to the arins
8, 8, of a turning valve or cock t; in the blow-off pipe leading from the
boiler. When, therefore, the hydrometer rises too high, by reason of
the water becoming too much charged with marine salts, the arm h, in
its vibrations strikes one of the lower offsets on the bar, which ex-
tended motion of the arm 7, carries the camp, so far, as to act upon
the slide and effect the opening of the blow-off cock to discharge

page_text: water from the boiler, that the feed water may reduce the degree of
saturation; and when that takes place the hydrometer sinks, so that
the arm h, in its vibrations, strikes against one of the upper offsets
on the bar which retains the cam p, in a position to act upon the
other slide, to close the blow-off valve or cock, and arrést the dis-
charge of water.
In this way, by increasing the number of offsets on the bar of the
hydrometer, and on the ends of the slides connected with the arms
of the blow-off valve or cock, the discharge can be regulated with
the utmost nicety to keep the water at the required degree of satu-
ration, so as not to rise above or sink below a given degree. And
as the hydrometer is simply employed to act as a stop to the mecha-
nism which operates the blow-off valve, and after the range of motion
of this mechanism has been determined the hydrometer is liberated,
it will be perceived that the utmost delicacy can be given to the hy-
drometer, whilst at the same time an amount of power can be given
to the mechanism which operates the blow-off valve, such as to
ensure its working at all times.
It will be obvious from the foregoing that this apparatus can be
employed in any connection in which it may be desired to maintain
liquids at a given density or gravity, and this, too, whether applied
to operate a discharge or supply valve or cock, or both. Although
I have described the employment of an intermediate mechanisın to
act by gravity between the hydrometer and the mechanism operated
by the motive force, yet I do not wish to limit myself to this, as such
intermediate mechanism may be dispensed with, by having the me-
chanism impelled by the motive force to operate on the valve checked
or governed in its motions at given periods by the hydrometer, nor
do I wish to limit myself to the employment of the mechanism in
the manner herein described, as it will be obvious that the principle
of the Invention may be applied by other and equivalent means.
Having now described the Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood, that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the employment of an
hydrometer floating in the liquid whose density or gravity is to be

page_text: regulated in combination with, and to act as a stop or gauge to govern
the motions of a mechanism actuated by a motive force, to operate a
valve which governs the discharge of the liquid when too dense, or
admits a fresh supply to decrease the density or both, substantially
as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)