Improvements in Steam Traps.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Sept., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 25th June, 1894-Accepted, 28th July, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steam Traps.
We, JOHN SMITH RAWORTH and WILLIAM GEIPEL both of 112 Belvedere
Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows :-
Our invention relates to those devices which have for their object the draining
of water from steam pipes under pressure without permitting the steam to escape
and which devices are known as steam traps, and the object of our invention is to
construct a steam trap that will perform its functions with precision, whether the
water be pure or otherwise.
The action of our improved steam trap depends on the difference in weight
between equal volumes of steam and water. Our improved steam trap comprises
a vessel of sufficient strength to resist the pressure of the steam, and suspended
in air by means of two pipes which may be straight, bent, coiled, or jointed, with
or without the assistance of a spring or balance weight. One of the said pipes is
the inlet to the vessel and the other the outlet, and they are made with such a
ratio of length to diameter that they will deflect and allow the vessel to assume a
lower position when filled with water instead of steam, and the outlet pipe is
provided with a cock and lever so arranged that the descent of the vessel opens
the cock and allows the water to escape.
In connection with the improved steam trap there is provided two supplementary
three-way cocks, one placed on the inlet to serve the purpose of a bye-pass in the
event of repairs being required to the trap, and oue on the delivery pipe, for
the purpose of testing the working of the trap by discharging the water into the
open air.
1
Improvements in Steam Traps.
We, JOHN SMITH RAWORTH and WILLIAM GEIPEL, both of 112 Belvedere
Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineers, 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:-
Our invention relates to those devices which have for their object the draining
of water from steam pipes under pressure without permitting the steam to escape
and which devices are known as steam traps, and the object of our invention is to
construct a steam trap that will perform its functions with precision, whether the
water be pure or otherwise.
The action of our improved steam trap depends on the difference in weight
between equal volumes of steam and water. Our improved steam trap comprises a
vessel of sufficient strength to resist the pressure of the steam, and suspended in
air by means of two pipes which may be straight, bent, coiled, or jointed, with or
without the assistance of a spring or balance weight. One of the said pipes is

page_text: the inlet to the vessel and the other the outlet, and they are made with such a
ratio of length to diameter that they will deflect and allow the vessel to assume a
lower position when filled with water instead of steam, and the outlet pipe is
provided with a cock and lever so arranged that the descent of the vessel opens
the cock and allows the water to escape.
In connection with the improved steam trap there are provided two supple-
mentary three-way cocks, one placed on the inlet to serve the purpose of a bye-
pass in the event of repairs being required to the trap, and one on the delivery
pipe, for the purpose of testing the working of the trap by discharging the water
into the open air.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. I is a front elevation, and
Fig. 2 a plan of a steam trap constructed according to this invention.
u is the vessel which by its weight, when filled with water, automatically descends
and actuates a lever a¹ and opens a discharge valve a². is a coiled inlet pipe;
ca coiled outlet pipe. The discharge to the atmosphere takes place through a
pipe e. is a three-way cock by suitably turning which the discharge may be taken
to the atmosphere through a pipe g. This is for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the steam trap is working properly, and also for measuring the amount
of water discharged when making tests.
The inlet of steam to the water vessel is under the control of a three-way
cock the arrangement being such that by suitably turning over the handles of
the cocks k and the steam trap may be cut entirely out of circuit and the water
of condensation discharged through a bye pass pipe m and the pipe e. By the
construction described, when the suspended vessel a becomes charged with water
of condensation it will descend automatically and open the valve a² whereupon the
water or some of it will be discharged, by the pressure of the steam acting upon
it, through the pipe e org according to the position of the valve f.
As will be obvious the arrangement of the parts of a steam trap constructed
according to this invention can be varied almost indefinitely; it is only necessary
to make the connecting pipes b and c sufficiently flexible, either by their inherent
flexibility, or by the introduction of joints, which, however, is objectionable, to
obtain the required result.
In the example given the whole of the parts are shown mounted upon a cast-
iron back-plate, and a cover plate p is provided, part of which is broken away to
admit of the other parts being clearly seen.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. A steam trap comprising a vessel suspended in air, provided with flexible
inlet and outlet pipes and connected with a discharge valve, the arrangement being
such that when the vessel becomes charged with a given weight of liquid it will
descend by gravity and open the discharge cock or valve and so permit its liquid
contents to escape substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting our improved steam
trap with bye pass substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 25th day of June 1894.
For the Applicants,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.