IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OP AIR TO FURNACES
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Smith at the Office of,
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th December
1855.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of No. 82, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for the "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY
OP AIR TO FURNACES, to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of improvements in the construction of apparatus
used for regulating the supply of air to furnaces from time to time, when such
regulation may be rendered necessary by the introduction of fresh fuel or
otherwise. For this purpose, I employ quicksilver, water, or some other
fluid, and by varying the speed of the flow of such fluid by a tap, valve, or
other means, regulate the supply of air to a furnace from time to time, when
the apparatus shall be brought into action.
The fluid may be placed in a cylindrical or other shaped vessel, placed in a
vertical, horizontal, or other position, and with a piston or valve which, when
raised or moved for the purpose of bringing it into action, shall be at or near
one end of the vessel, and by its descent or motion, regulated by the flow or
transfer of the fluid through a pipe, valve, opening, or other passage from one
side of the piston or valve to the other side of it, by means of apparatus connected

page_text: with such piston or valve, regulate the opening or closing of the orifices or
valves for admitting air into a furnace.
Instead of such cylindrical or other vessel, as herein-before mentioned,
a vessel, having its side in the form of or nearly resembling the segment of a
circle, may be used; and within a vessel of such last-mentioned shape I mount
an arm capable of oscillating backwards and forwards, so that its motion in
one direction when brought into action shall be regulated by the flow or transfer
of the fluid in the vessel from one side of the oscillating arm to the other
side of it, and by means of apparatus connected with such oscillating arm, the
opening or closing of the orifices or valves for admitting air into a furnace
may be regulated.
Instead of the vessels being made of the shape lastly mentioned they may
be made cylindrical, and with blades or diaphrams mounted upon a spindle so
as to be capable of a rotary motion, or partially rotary motion, within the
cylinders, the motions of the blades or diaphrams being controlled by the fluid
in the cylinders, and the regulation effected by means of apparatus connected
with the spindles upon which the blades or diaphrams are mounted.
Another mode of constructing the regulator is to mount it upon a pin so as
to be capable of oscillating, one end of the regulator being heavier than the
other, but furnished with a chamber and apparatus in its interior containing
such a fluid as above mentioned, and so arranged that when the heavier end is
elevated, the fluid is thrown into such a position as to form a counterbalance
weight or partial counterbalance weight to the heavier end of the regulator,
and by the gradual flow of the fluid from that position into another position
within the regulator, permit the heavier end of the regulator to descend with
greater or less speed, according to the rate at which the fluid shall flow from
the one position to the other, within the other, the regulation of the admis-
sion of the air to the furnace being regulated by apparatus connected with one
end, or any other convenient part of the regulator.