IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REDUCING AND REGULATING THE PRESSURE OR QUANTITY OF STEAM, AND IN DISCHARGING THE WATER OF CONDENSED STEAM FROM CYLINDERS, PIPES, AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Blake, of Accrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR REDUCING AND REGULATING THE PRESSURE OR QUANTITY OF STEAM, AND IN
DISCHARGING THE WATER OF CONDENSED STEAM FROM CYLINDERS, PIPES, AND
OTHER VESSELS."
ealed the 29th December 1868, and dated, the. 1st July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Blake at the Office
' of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st July
1868.
I, JOHN BLAKE, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REDUCING AND REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF QUANTITY OF Steam,
AND IN DISCHARGING THE WATER OF CONDENSED STEAM FROM CYLINDERS, PIPES, AND
OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows "
This Invention consists; first, in improved modes of reducing and regulating
the pressure of steam. I employ a chest communicating by a pipe with the
boiler or other vessel which supplies the steam, in which chest there is a valve
box provided with an equilibrium or double mushroom valve, the rod of which
has at the bottom a weight, and at the top a link or slot for connecting it to a
lever jointed at the other end to a moveable vessel containing mercury, which
vessel has an aperture at the top through which is passed a stationary vertical
tube, which enters the mercury in the vessel, and extends, upwards through

page_text: the top of the chest, and is attached to a stationary vessel, raised above the
chest to any height in proportion to the reduced pressure of steam required,
having a tube at the top open to the atmosphere. The moveable vessel is
supplied with a certain quantity of mercury, which acts as a weight to open
the valve, and when steam is admitted into the chest it acts on the surface of
the mercury in the moveable vessel, and forces it into the vertical tube and
upper stationary vessel, thereby decreasing the weight of mercury in the
moveable vessel, and allowing the weight on the valve rod to close the valve
in proportion to the quantity of steam consumed.
In those descriptions of reducing valves in which an india-rubber disc is
used with a moveable metal plate or piston in contact with it, and actuated by
the same rod or spindle which connects the disc with the equilibrium valve, I
employ instead of the moveable metal plate or piston a disc spring made by
coiling sheet steel in a similar manner to a measuring tape or mainspring of
a watch. The steel of which the spring is formed decreases in vertical depth
or thickness from the outer circumference to the centre, in order to allow the
spring to have a greater deflection at the centre than it has near the outer
circumference, where the india-rubber disc is made fast.
Secondly, in improved modes of discharging the water of condensed steam
from cylinders, pipes, and other vessels. Instead of forming the steam trap of
one chamber only for admitting the different pressures of steam from which
the water formed by condensation is to be discharged, I employ a casting
having as many chambers as there are different pressures. Each chamber
contains an ordinary valve and float, and in consequence of the chambers
being separate the pressure from one pipe does not interfere with or neutralize
the pressure from another pipe, and therefore a number of pipes conveying
different pressures may be connected to one compound steam trap.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Blake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 81st
December 1863..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BLAKE, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs. and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Blake, Her special license that I, the said John Blake, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Blake, 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
REDUCING AND REGULATING THE PRESSURE OR QUANTITY OF STEAM, AND IN
DISCHARGING THE WATER OF CONDENSED STEAM FROM CYLINDERS, PIPES, AND OTHER
VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Blake,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the 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 John Blake, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be performed;
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, and the letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
.
"
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of one arrangement of my improved apparatus
for reducing and regulating the pressure or quantity of steam; Fig. 2, a
vertical section of another apparatus for the same purpose, having my
improvements applied; and Fig. 3, a vertical section of my improved
apparatus for discharging the water of condensed steam from cylinders, pipes,
or other vessels.
In Fig. 1, a represents a chest communicating by the pipe 6 with the boiler
or other vessel which supplies the steam, in which chest there is a valve box c,
provided with an equilibrium or double mushroom valve.d, the rod of which
has at the bottom the weight e, and at the top a link or slot for connecting it
to the lever f, which works on the fulcrum g. and is jointed at the other end
to the vessel h containing mercury, and moving up and down with the end of
the lever. The said vessel has an aperture at the top through which is passed
a stationary vertical tube i, which enters the mercury in the vessel, and
extends upwards through the top of the chest, and is attached to a stationary
vessel k, raised above the chest to any height in proportion to the reduced
pressure of steam required, and having a tube at the top open to the

page_text: atmosphere. The moveable vessel h is supplied with a certain quantity of
mercury, which acts as a weight on the lever f to open the valve, and when
steam, is admitted into the chest it acts on the surface of the mercury in the
moveable vessel, and forces it into the vertical tube i and upper stationary
vessel k, thereby decreasing the weight of mercury in the moveable vessel h,
and allowing the weight e on the valve rod d to close the valve in proportion
to the reduced pressure. of steam required or quantity of steam consumed; or,
instead of attaching the moveable vessel h. containing mercury to one end of a
lever, I place it when desired directly above or below the valve, and attach
the balance weight e to the end of the lever; or instead of the lever I connect
the said moveable vessel to the valve by a chain guided by pulleys, or employ
any other secondary connection.
:
In some cases I form a chamber at the bottom of the chest a, and cause the
moveable vessel h to work within it, in which case any water entering the
chamber from the condensation of steam or otherwise will rest upon the
mercury, and the steam acting upon, the water the effect upon the valve
will be similar to that in which steam only comes in contact with the
mercury.
:
.
In those descriptions of reducing valves in which an india-rubber disc is used
with a moveable metal plate or piston in contact with it, and actuated by the
same rod or spindle which connects the disc with the equilibrium valve, I
employ instead of the moveable metal plate or piston a disc spring m, Fig. 2,
made by coiling sheet steel in a similar manner to a measuring tape or main-
spring of a watch. The steel of which the spring is formed decreases in
vertical depth or thickness from the outer circumference to the centre, in
order to allow the spring to have a greater deflection at the centre than it has
near the outer circumference where the india-rubber disc is made fast; or
instead of decreasing the vertical depth of the spring it may in some cases be
made of one depth throughout.
I now describe my improved apparatus for discharging the water of con-
densed steam from cylinders, pipes, and other vessels.....
.
Instead of forming the steam trap of one chamber only for admitting the
different pressures of steam from which the water förmed: by condensation is
to be discharged, I employ a casting, as shewn at n, Fig. 3, having as many
chambers o, p, as there are different pressures. Each chamber contains an
ordinary valve and float, as at r, s, and also an inlet pipe t, through which the
water of condensed steam escapes to the chamber, and an outlet pipe u for the
escape of the water from the chamber, and in consequence of the chambers
being separate the pressure from one pipe does not interfere with or neutralize

page_text: the pressure from another pipe, and therefore a number of pipes conveying
different pressures may be connected to one compound steam trap.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim,-
The employment of a moveable vessel containing mercury, in which mercury
is placed the lower end of a tube of any required length communicating with
a stationary vessel above it, which moveable vessel acts indirectly or directly
upon a suitable valve for the purpose of wiredrawing or reducing the pressure
or quantity of steam.
Secondly, the application to the india-rubber disc of those descriptions of
reducing valves, in which an india-rubber disc is used, of a coiled disc spring,
which decreases in vertical depth towards the centre, or is made of one
uniform depth throughout.
And, thirdly, in steam traps, the employment of a casting having two or
more chambers each provided with a valve and float and also an inlet and
an outlet pipe, so that the water of condensed steam of different pressures
may pass through the apparatus without neutralizing each other, as all
such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Blake, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Blake, in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN BLAKE. (L.B.)