IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edouard Langlet, of Schaerbeck, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edouard Langlet at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st November 1870.
I, EDOUARD LANGLET, of Schaerbeck, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
5 Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to means or apparatus for preventing the
explosion of steam boilers. It is a well known fact that the most
O frequent cause of such explosions arises from the level of the water in
the boiler not being maintained at its proper height.
The object of my Invention is to maintain automatically the proper
level of the water in the boiler and thus prevent explosions.

page_text: By an arrangement according to my Invention round a hole made in
the top of the boiler I fix a valve chest in which works a suitable valve
opening inwards, the said valve being guided in its valve chest so as
to be kept in its proper position when opening or closing, and I prefer
to guide the said valve by means of a short rod projecting upwards
from the upper surface of the said valve, the said rod having upon it
arms or projections extending to the sides of the valve chest, against
which they are capable of sliding. To the said valve chest is fixed a
pipe, through which pipe when the said valve is open steam is conveyed
to an injector or other water pump or feeder worked by steam and
connected with the boiler. Affixed to the lower end of the said steam
valve is a rod extending downwards, and attached to a float resting on
the surface of the water within the boiler, the said float being supported
on the surface of the water by a balance weight suspended to one end
of a lever, which lever is jointed at a suitable point in its length to
a bracket affixed to the top of the boiler, and at its other end the said
lever is jointed to the valve and float rod, so as to allow of the said
valve rising and falling in a vertical line. When the level of the water
in the boiler is at the proper height to ensure the safety of the said
boiler the valve remains closed, but when the level of the water falls the
said float falls with it, drawing down the valve, which then opens and
allows steam to pass to the injector or feeder and to force water into
the boiler, thus raising the level of the water to the proper height in
the said boiler, when the float by rising closes the valve and stops the
feeding of the water into the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edouard Langlet in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
LANGLET, of Schaerbeck, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engincer, send 3
greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and suc- 3

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edouard Langlet, Her special
licence that I, the said Edouard Langlet, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edouard Langlet, my exc-
cutors, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edouard Langlet,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly
describe and ascertain 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 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 Edouard Langlet, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to means or apparatus for preventing the
explosion of steam boilers. It is a well known fact that the most
frequent cause of such explosions arises from the level of the water in
the boiler not being maintained at its proper height.
The object of my Invention is to maintain automatically the the
proper
level of the water in the boiler and thus prevent explosions.
By an arrangement according to my Invention I fix round a hole made
in the top of the boiler a valve chest, in which works a suitable valve
opening inwards, the said valve being guided in its valve chest so as
to be kept in its proper position when opening and closing. To the said
valve chest is fixed a pipe, through which pipe when the said valve is
open steam is conveyed to an injector or other water pump or feeder
worked by steam and connected with the boiler. Affixed to the lower
end of the said steam valve is a rod extending downwards, and attached
to a float resting on the surface of the water within the boiler, the said
float being supported on the surface of the water by a balance weight
suspended to one end of a lever, which lever is jointed at a suitable
point in its length to a bracket affixed to the top of the boiler, and at

page_text: its other end the said lever is jointed to the valve and float rod so as to
allow of the said valve rising and falling in a vertical line. When the
level of the water in the boiler is at the proper height to insure the
safety of the said boiler the valve remains closed, but when the level
of the water falls the said float falls with it, drawing down the valve,
which then opens and allows steam to pass to the injector or feeder and
to force water into the boiler, thus raising the level of the water to the
proper height in the said boiler, when the float by rising closes the valve
and stops feeding water into the boiler.
But that my Invention may be fully understood I will by the aid of
the accompanying Drawing proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section part a steam
boiler with my apparatus for preventing explosions applied to it. A
is the valve chest fixed round a hole made in the top of the boiler, the
said valve chest consists of an inner cylindrical chest a, in which works a
double piston valve c, c', and of an outer casing 6 cast with the chest a
and forming with it a channel b', through which steam from the boiler is
admitted into the upper part of the said chest a when the valve c, c¹,
is open. The said valve chest and casing are closed at top by a cover b²
as shown. Within the valve chest a works a double piston valve c, c¹,
consisting of two pistons c, c³, connected one with the other by a rod
or bar c³ cast with the said pistons or secured thereto. The said pistons
fit accurately the plain cylindrical parts a¹, a², of the valve chest a, so
as effectually to close the passage of steam when in the position repre-
sented in the Drawing. Part of the interior of the valve chest a is
corrugated or grooved at a³, a³, as shewn by Figure 2, which is a hori-
zontal section of the said valve chest through X, Y, Figure 1; d is a
pipe leading from the valve chest a to an injector or other water pump
or feeder worked by steam and connected with the boiler. I have not
thought it necessary to represent the said injector or feeder as such
machines are well known and per se form no part of my Invention; e is
a rod one end of which is fixed to the lower end of the double piston
valve c, c, and its other end is affixed to a float fresting on the surface
of the water within the boiler, the said float being supported by
means of a balance weight g on one end of a lever h, which lever
jointed at ito a bracket j affixed to the
other end is jointed to the rod e at e¹.
is
top of the boiler, and at its
When the level of the water.

page_text: in the boiler falls the float falls with it, drawing down the double piston
valve c, c¹, into the corrugated or grooved parts a³, a', of the valve
chest a.
Steam from the boiler then passes into the said valve chest at
top and bottom, as indicated by the arrows, and the said double piston
valve is guided within the valve chest by bearing against the ribs or
projections left between the corrugations or grooves at a³, a', whilst the
steam passes along the said grooves into the chest a and thence through
the pipe d to the injector or feeder, which is actuated thereby to force
water into the boiler, and thus raise the level of the water therein to the
proper height, when the float frising with the water forces up and closes
the valve c, c', and stops the feed of water into the boiler.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and means
pursued by me in carrying the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
what I claim is, the combination and adaptation of parts constituting
the improvements in means or apparatus for preventing steam boiler
explosions by forcing water automatically into the said boilors when the
water level therein falls, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edouard Langlet, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.