IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Smith at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th January
1868.
I, GEORGE SMITH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Brass and
Britannia Metal Finisher, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY,"
to be as follows (that is to say):
This Invention has for its object an improved self-acting apparatus for
the continuous lubrication of machinery whilst in motion, and consists of
a hollow disc mounted on an axle hollow at one end, having a passage
or passages formed by lateral openings or otherwise communicating to
the interior of the disc. The periphery of the disc is pierced with any
required number of small holes. The axle of the disc is mounted in
suitable bearings and enclosed in a circular case divided into two
chambers by a circular diaphragm, one of which chambers is fully or
nearly fully occupied by the hollow disc. The hollow axle projecting or
opening into the parallel chamber and the solid end thereof projecting
beyond the case is fitted with a small driving pulley or other suitable
appliance to give rotation to the hollow disc, power being communicated
thereto by the shaft or other machinery which it is used to lubricate, or
in any other convenient manner.

page_text: In some cases for the convenience of multiplying the speed it is
preferred to attach a penion on to the axle of the disc into which is
geared a toothed wheel keyed on to a small driving shaft carrying the
driving pulley or its mechanical equivalent. The chamber containing
the disc is fitted with a small pipe which leads to the bearings to be
lubricated and below the bearing there is a suitable receiver to catch the
surplus oil or other lubricating material, which receiver is provided with
suitable filtering media, after passing through which it falls into a small
chamber below, from whence it is conveyed through a small pipe to the
chamber parallel to the disc and into which the hollow end of the disc
axle opens. In some cases the supply chamber on the side of the disc
chamber may be dispensed with by connecting the supply pipe of the
filtring vessel with the hollow axle of the disc by means of a gland or
other suitable joint, in which latter case it is preferred to enlarge the
space below the filter in the receiving vessel.
The modus operandi is as follows:-All that requires to be done
after the apparatus is fixed in the required position is simply to fill
the same with oil, water, or other lubricating material intended to be
used through the receiving filtring cup and set the apparatus in motion
by means of a band or other mechanical equivalent actuated in any
convenient way, when the oil in the chamber will pass through the
hollow axle and be drawn into the hollow disc, from whence it will
pass through the openings in the periphery of the disc and fill any space
that may be in the chamber in which it is enclosed, thence it will pass
up through the small pipe to the bearing, where it is discharged. Any
excess falling into the filtring cup is there purified and again circulates
through the apparatus, and so continues as long as the apparatus is in
action.