AN IMPROVED RECORDING PRESSURE GAUGE AND ALARM APPARATUS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED RECORDING PRESSURE GAUGE AND ALARM APPARATUS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Marmont B. Edson, of the City and
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Haseltine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd September 1870.
I, GEORGE HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," South-
ampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED RECORDING PRESSURE GAUGE AND ALARM
APPARATUS," a communication, to be as follows :—
The said recording pressure gauges and alarm apparatus are arranged
and operated automatically by steam, air, gas, or other fluid or liquid
only, or are connected to and in part operated by the shaft from an

page_text: engine, so as to record its revolutions simultaneously with the recording
of the degrees of and fluctuations in pressure within any steam boiler,
steam cylinder, or other reservoir sustaining pressure as aforesaid.
The objects of the said Invention are to secure a faithful and true
record of all such pressures and variations of the same for reference
either in the interest of science or in investigations before coroners' and
other juries, and for inspection by insurers, proprietors of manufactories,
steamers, stationary engines, and locomotives, to ascertain at any time
the past as well as the present strain or pressure sustained, also whether
the employées are attentive to their duties and uniform in feeding the
fuel and water, or whether they are careless, irregular, or incompetent,
and therefore untrustworthy in the discharge of such important duties
as surround the generation and use of steam, whether at high or low
pressure.
The said Invention consists, firstly, in a new manner of constructing
and arranging circular diaphragm elastic chambers or springs (in one
or more pairs), in which the pressure acts; and, secondly, in the
mechanical devices, by which the action of the springs is made to
indicate the pressure upon the dial, and also is adapted to the recording
of such pressure (separately or in connection with the motion of the
engine) by tracings upon a chart.
The said springs consist of a scries of circular elastic chambers or
springs; they are composed of thin circular steel discs, with or without
corrugations, each pair forming a chamber by means of a flat brass or
composition ring interposed between their outer edges, and having two
compressing rings (one above and one under) the discs, the whole being
secured firmly together by screws, so as to be steam and air tight. A
thin flat packing of foil or of sheet rubber may be interposed for packing
between the discs and the rings, and the discs, the rings, the couplings
and other parts may be electro-plated with nickel, silver or gold, to
prevent oxydation, and thus preserve their accuracy for a longer time
than has heretofore been secured in steam gauges. These chambers are
connected together by hollow connections or couplings secured to the
centres of the discs around an opening, and they are provided with
alternate male and female screw threads, so as to be joined together in
a series, the joints being steam and air tight. The lowest chamber is
secured to the bed plate and is provided with a coupling, by which

page_text: connection is made through a suitable pipe with a boiler, steam chest,
or other vessel in which the fluid or liquid under pressure is generated
or held. The upper chamber has on the top plate (or spring) a short
fixed slotted vertical stud. These chambers are surrounded by a suitable
frame or casing, which supports the bearing whereon the oscillating
rack and other parts are fitted. The said frame is secured to the
bed plate to prevent any variation in the working parts. Upon
a suitable bearing is the segmental rack oscillating vertically upon
points, and having on its outer segmental periphery teeth which gear
into a pinion fast upon the horizontal shaft, on the front end of which
is fixed a large spur wheel for operating the vertical rack that carries
the spring pencil holder. On the opposite end of the horizontal shaft
a smaller spur wheel is fixed to gear into and to operate a horizontal
sliding rack which passes through slots in the frame at each end. Upon
the side of this segmental rack is fixed an open rectangular frame or
shoulder, within which is placed the sliding adjustable link, and which
is made to slide towards or from the centre of oscillation of the segmental
rack by means of the two adjusting screws at the opposite ends. A con-
necting rod is at its upper end pivoted upon a pin fast in the link, and
at its lower end is fastened by a pin to a stud. The use of the said
sliding link is to increase or diminish the extent of the oscillation of the
segmental rack. A réservoir drum, upon which the paper chart is
wound, has its bearings upon conical points at the centre of the drum
heads, the lower being fixed in the bed plate and the upper bearings
being the ends of adjustable screws, which pass through the horizontal
brackets. Upon the opposite side of the cylindrical casing is the
receiving druun, which has its bearing at the bottom, similarly to the
reservoir drum. These drums have each a narrow slot, behind which
is fitted an excentrically flattened rod to clip and hold the paper
chart. Around the edge of the top of the, receiving drum is a raised
rim making a hollow circular space, in which is placed a universal or
constant pawl, which is centred upon the drum head, but moving
horizontally upon the said bearing. The short arm of the said pawl is
so arranged that when the long arm is pushed from-the-centre it will
slip around within the rim loosely, so as not to turn the said drum, but
the instant the long arm is drawn towards the rack the short arm will
promptly impinge upon the rim and thus cause the drum to rotate.
The pawl lever is operated by a fixed pin in the end of the horizontal

page_text: rack. The paper for the charts is wound around the first drum and is
passed in front of the bearing upon the casing, and between the said
bearing and the pencil holder, passing thence to and around the receiving
drum. The paper chart is ruled with horizontal lines and figured on
the drum from zero to ninety pounds pressure. The chart may also
have zig-zag tracings, indicating fluctuations in pressure. In front of
the cylindrical frame the vertically sliding rack rests in suitable
frictionless bearings upon the said frame; the teeth of the rack mesh
closely into those of the spur wheel, by which the rack is operated and
is made to carry the pencil holder up or down as the pressure is
increased or diminished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Haseltine in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the International Patent Office," Southampton Build-
"
ings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, 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 successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Hazeltine, Her special licence that I,
the said George Haseltine, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Haseltine, 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 "AN IMPROVED RECORDING PRESSURE GAUGE
AND ALARM APPARATUS," a communication to me from abroad by Marmont
B. Edson, of the City and State of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Haseltine,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 2 JOLD CICY VL CULL
ՆԱ, P
Figure 3, having been removed to permit the interior parts to be seen;
Figure 2 is a top view of the same partly in section.
The aforesaid springs or circular elastic chambers are composed of thin
circular steel discs with or without corrugations, each pair forming a
chamber by means of a flat brass or composition ring interposed between
their outer edges, and having two compressing rings (one above and one
under the discs), the whole being secured firmly together by screws, so
as to be steam-and-air tight. A thin flat ring or washer-of-foil-or-of
sheet rubber may be interposed for packing between the discs and the
rings and the discs, the rings, the couplings, and other parts may be
electro-plated with nickel, silver, or gold to prevent oxydation, and thus
preserve their accuracy for a longer time than has heretofore been
practicable in steam gauges. These chambers are shown in Figure 1 in
section ; a indicates the pairs of elastic plates; b, the intermediate ring;
and c, the compressing rings. These chambers are connected together
by hollow connections or couplings secured to the centres of the discs
around an opening, and they are provided with alternate male and
female screw threads to join them together in a series with joints that
are steam and air tight. These screw connections are shown in Figure 1
at d. The lowest chamber is secured to the bed plate f, and is provided
with a coupling, as shewn at d¹, by which connection is made through
a suitable pipe with a boiler, steam chest, or other vessel in which the
fluid or liquid under pressure is generated or held. The upper chamber
has on the top plate (or spring) a short fixed slotted vertical stud d²
firmly secured to the top disc. These chambers thus joined are sur-
rounded by a suitable frame or casing e which supports the bearing g
whereon the oscillating rack and other parts are fitted and attached,
their fitting and attachment being for convenience effected before the
said bearing is secured to its position in the frame e.
The said frame e
is firmly secured to the bed plate f by screws inserted through
the flange at its bottom to prevent any variation in the working
parts.
The mechanism for moying the charts and recording pencil or tracing

page_text: segmental rack oscillating vertically upon the points i and having on.
its outer segmental periphery teeth which gear into a pinion j fast upon
the horizontal shaft k, on the front end of which is fixed a large spur
wheel for operating the vertical rack 10 that carries the spring pencil
holder X. On the opposite end of the horizontal shaft a smaller spur
wheel m is fixed to gear into and operate a horizontal sliding rack n
which passes through slots in the frame e extending outwardly at each
end. Upon the side of the segmental rack his fixed an open rectangular
frame or shoulder o, within which is placed the sliding adjustable link p,
and which is made to slide towards or from the centre of oscillation of
the segmental rack by means of the two adjusting screws p' at the
opposite ends, the points of which screws work in suitable sockets in the
link p.
A connecting rod a² is at its upper end pivotted upon a pin
fast in the link p and at its lower end is fastened by a pin to a stud d².
The use of the said sliding link p is to increase or diminish the extent
of the oscillation of the segmental rack h, and the range of the parts
which it puts into operation. R is a reservoir drum upon which the
paper chart is wound. Its bearings are upon conical points in corre-
sponding sockets in the centre of the drum heads, the lower one being
fixed in or upon the bed plate f, and the upper one being the pointed end
of an adjustable thumbscrew ¹, which passes through the horizontal
bracket, the rear ends of the said bracket are attached by screws firmly
to the back of the frame of the instrument. Upon the opposite side of
the cylindrical casing or frame e is the receiving drum S, which has its
bearing similar to those of the reservoir drum R. These drums have
cach a narrow slot into or just behind which is fitted an excentrically
flattened rod to clip and hold the paper chart when the end is passed
into the slot by impinging firmly upon it, as shown at s¹, Figure 2, and
so remaining until released by being turned loosely with the arm at the
top of each drum. Around the edge of the top of drum S is a raised rim
making a hollow circular space wherein is placed a universal or constant
pawl which is pivotted upon a central bearing on the drum head within
the recess and underneath the bracket 2, but moving horizontally upon
the said bearing when operating the drum S, either forward or backward
the short arm of the said pawl t is excentrically arranged so that
when the long arm is pushed from the centre it will slip around within
the rim loosely, and not turn the said drum, the drum being held from
recoiling by any suitable device or brake, to impinge upon or under-

page_text: neath the lower drum head, as shown at 4. But the said short arm is so
bevelled that the instant the long arm is drawn towards the rack, the
short arm will promptly impinge upon the rim, and thus cause the
drum S to rotate in proportion to the downward movement of the pencil
which corresponds with the decrease of pressure within the boiler or
other reservoir sustaining pressure, thus permitting the record to be
made. The pawl lever is at its outer end operated by a fixed pin in
the end of the horizontal rack n, working in a slot in the end of the
pawl t. The paper for the charts, which may be of any desired length is
wound around the drum R, and passed in front of the bearing upon the
casing e, and between the said bearing and the pencil holder X, passing
thence-to-and-around-the-receiving-drum-S-after receiving the
delincations of the pencil or tracing point showing the pressure and
fluctuations in pressure. The charts can be taken off by loosening the
thumbscrew at the top of drum S and removing the drum; then un-
winding the paper and cutting it off, the one end being released from
the excentric within the slot of the drum, after this has been done the
fresh end of the chart may be fastened in the slot, the drum S returned
to its proper position, and the thumbscrew carefully reset to again hold
the drum properly.
The paper chart is shown in Figure 2 at V, and it moves in the
direction indicated by the arrows; it is also shown in Figure 1 on both
of the drums, ruled with horizontal lines, and figured on the drum S
from zero (0) to (90) pounds pressure. The chart is also shown in
Figure 3 at V, with zig-zag tracings indicating fluctuations in pressure
during a decrease of the same from any cause when being diminished
gradually. In front of the cylindrical frame e the vertically sliding
rack W is shown (see Figure 2) in suitable frictionless bearings, the
teeth of rack W closely meshing into those of the spur wheel 7, by which
the rack W is operated and made to carry the pencil holder up or down
as the pressure is increased or diminished. The said spring pencil holder
is formed to press constantly upon the paper, and trace or delineate the
degrees of internal pressure being thus measured.
The operation of the above described apparatus is as follows:-
Pressure from a steam boiler, steam cylinder, or any other reservoir or
vessel under pressure being introduced into the diaphragm chambers
through the coupling ', the plates or discs expand and raise the rod a²

page_text: on the upper disc of the topmost spring chamber; this upward positive
and powerful movement raises the loose end of the oscillating segmental
rack h; this segmental rack meshing into a smaller pinion upon the
shaft gives the said shaft an increased motion, and proportionally
lengthens the travel of the pencil upon the chart by means of the large
spur wheel upon the front end of the said horizontal shaft k imparting
at the same time an upward movement to the pencil while the pressure
is increasing, but a downward movement during the decrease of such
pressure. When the pressure increases the smaller spur wheel at the
farther end of the shaft is operated, and this wheel operates the
horizontally sliding rack n, which has a pin so adjusted upon its outer
end that upon any determined limit in pressure being reached the said
pin will simultaneously hit or trip a spring and cause a hammer 1 of the
"alarm" apparatus 5 to strike the gong 2 and cause the same to ring
for some minutes, and thus give warning of the approaching danger from
over pressure. By this powerful and positive motion being continued
and communicated to the rack n during the decrease of pressure the
said rack causes the lever of the pawlt to bear upon the short arm
and impinge upon the inner side of the rim of drum S, and thus causes
it to rotate and draw and wind around itself, the chart being traced
upon so long as the pressure continues decreasing.. When the tracings
are to be upon unsized paper the pencil may be of lead, but when
"cards" or charts are to be taken upon what is called "metallic paper"
a metallic point must be used. These tracings will be as shown by
vertical and oblique lines when only steam or other fluids or liquids are
under pressure, and are thus made to operate the drums; but when they
are operated by being geared to an engine the delineations will be more
irregularly shaped and more continuous. The apparatus being thus very
compactly arranged, it is enclosed in a metal case of small size (about
11×8 inches in length and height, and six inches in width,) and has a
glass in front, through which the tracings may be observed; or the front
may be solid and close when desired for concealing the record. The said
case may be secured by a private or other lock. The charts or cards
should be filed away for preservation and reference after having been
dated and having other memoranda endorsed thereon which the interest
of science or the public welfare as well as private interest may in future
seem to require. Cards may be taken from a cylinder or steam chest
(with or without the revolutions of the shaft of an engine) continuously

page_text: or otherwise, and horse-power may be thereby computed with great
exactness.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it understood that I claim,―
First. The elastic circular diaphragm springs or chambers constructed
in the manner described united by hollow coupling connections at their
centres and arranged in a series of one or more pairs, substantially as
shewn, and operating in the manner and for the purposes specified.
Second. The combination of the springs, the connecting rod, and
the oscillating segmental rack with the pinions, shaft, spur wheels, and
racks, by which the range of motion is not only multiplied and made
highly useful (for denoting and recording, degrees of pressure as shewn)
but from which arrangement power is also obtained whereby (during a
decrease of pressure) to rotate the paper carrying drums, and to sound
an alarm when danger is impending from excessive pressure, all being
arranged substantially as described.
Third. The combination of a chart arranged upon drums with the
mechanism described for operating the same, so as automatically to
record the increase and decrease of pressure by diagonal, vertical, or
continuous lines whether in combination with an alarm apparatus or not
so combined.
Fourth. The arrangement and combination of the bridge g with the
connecting rod a³ within the cylindrical shell or frame e, which furnishes
support and firm bearings for the operating mechanism, whereby great
compactness and economy of space and material are attained, and which
also prevents injury to the springs and connections from vibrations of
a locomotive when the apparatus is used thereupon, substantially as
described.
Fifth. The combination of a series of pairs of diaphragm elastic
chambers or springs constructed substantially as described with an
alarm apparatus (either with or without the herein described operating
.mechanism for recording), the said alarm being set in motion or tripped
by the rise or upward movement of the springs, although not so operated
by their reverse movement for the purposes described.
Sixth. The combination of the elastic chambers and the pencil moving
mechanism with the paper chart and drums, the drum S either being

page_text: operated directly by the power and motion of the springs or by power
and motion received from the shaft of an engine directly or indirectly,
when such combination and use are intended to denote either pressure
or vacuum, substantially as herein-before described.
Seventh. The combination of one or more pairs of diaphragm discs
with a dial plate and hands or index for denoting degrees in pressure
or of vacuum, with or without the alarm and recording apparatus,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)