IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF STEAM TO STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dixon Churchill, of Langdon Road, Upper
"
Holloway, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF STEAM
TO STEAM ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Dixon Churchill at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th June 1880.
"
JAMES DIXON CHURCHILL, of Langdon Road, Upper Holloway, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE
SUPPLY OF STEAM TO STEAM ENGINES."
My Invention relates to apparatus for regulating either directly or through an
auxiliary engine the supply of steam to steam engines.
I effect the adjusting movements of the throttle or other valve through a con-
nection actuated by a spindle which is intermediate between two other spindles,
and is operated by inclines brought into action when one of those spindles driven
by the engine to be controlled overruns the other spindle, which is furnished with
means for retarding its rotation, such as vanes revolving in liquid, balls suspended
by rods, or other suitable means effecting the same object.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Dixon Churchill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
December 1880.
JAMES DIXON CHURCHILL, of Langdon Road, Upper Holloway, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE
SUPPLY OF STEAM TO STEAM ENGINES."
My Invention relates to apparatus for regulating either directly or through an
auxiliary engine the supply of steam to steam engines.
I effect the adjusting movements of the throttle or other valve through a con-
nection actuated by a spindle which is intermediate between two other spindles,
and is operated by inclines brought into action when one of those spindles driven
by the engine to be controlled overruns the other spindle, which is furnished with
means for retarding its rotation, such as vanes revolving in liquid, balls suspended
by rods, or other suitable means for effecting the same object.
Referring to the Drawings,-
Fig. 1 shews an elevation partly in section of an apparatus for regulating the
supply of steam to a steam engine.
Fig. 2 is a detailed sectional elevation of parts of the driving spindle, and of
the vane or brake spindle, and of the mechanisin for connecting them.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the same, and Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the driving spindle
on line A, B. 1 is the vessel provided with baffles 2, and charged with water or
other liquid; 3 is the vane or brake spindle, and 4 are its vanes. This spindle
carries a cam 22, constructed with two pairs of inclines 5, 5, and 6, 6, the inclination
being by preference about 45°. The cam rotates with the vane or brake spindle;
7 is the spindle driven from the engine to be controlled, and which I call the
driving spindle; it is arranged in the same axial line as the vane or brake spindle 3;
and between them is arranged concentrically the intermediate spindle 8 which
enters recesses in the vane or brake spindle and in the driving spindle respectively.
The intermediate spindle 8 is provided with a cross head 9 terminating in axles,
each of which carries two antifriction wheels or rollers 10, 11. The antifriction
wheels or rollers 10 rest upon the cam 22, one between the two inclines 5, 5, the
other between the two inclines 6, 6. The two antifriction wheels or rollers 11 are
respectively embraced by the sides of recesses 13, 14, in the annular wall 15 of an
inverted cup carried by the driving spindle. It will be understood the whole
arrangement is such that the intermediate spindle is able to rise (or move in the
direction of the arrow) somewhat within the driving spindle when the cam is
brought into operation, as hereinafter described. The upper end of the intermediate
spindle supports a collar 16 which surrounds the driving spindle, and is furnished
with a cross bar 17 that passes through slots in the driving spindle, and rests on
the intermediate spindle when the governor is in operation. Thus it will be under-
stood that the collar 16 rotates with the driving spindle. 18 is a collar that also
surrounds the driving spindle, but does not rotate with it. This collar rests on the
collar 16, and has connected to it by pivots 17B a lever 18B, which at one end is
connected to the valve that regulates the supply of steam to an auxiliary cylinder 19.
This lever has its fulcrum at 20, and by means of a spring 21, or equivalent
means capable of adjustment, the requisite load is, through the medium of this
lever, placed upon the intermediate spindle 8. When the apparatus is in use the
driving spindle 7, which is itself driven from the engine to be controlled, imparts
motion through the recesses 13, 14, in the cup 15 to the crosshead 9 of the inter-
mediate spindle 8, and from it through the rollers 10 to the cam 22 on the vane or
brake spindle. The vanes or brakes are thereby caused to revolve in the liquid in
the vessel 1, and in opposition to the resistance that liquid offers to such revolution.

page_text: Increase in speed of the engine above that for which the apparatus is set is checked
as follows:-
The driving spindle 7, by somewhat overrunning the vane or brake spindle 3,
causes, by extra pressure exerted on rollers 11 by the sides of the recesses 13 and 14
in the cup 15, the rollers 10 to mount up the inclines 5 and 6 (at one side or other
of the cam recesses, according to direction of revolution), thus causing the interme-
diate spindle 8 to rise within the recess in the driving spindle, thereby raising the
cross bar 17, and with it the rotating collar 16, and also the loose collar 17, which
in opposition to the spring or other load already referred to, operates (through the
lever 18B) the valve of the auxiliary cylinder. Normally the steam pressure is
maintained at one side only of the piston in the auxiliary cylinder, and the action
of the governor is to open that side to the exhaust, and admit steam to the contrary
side of the piston.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and explained in what
manner it is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would
have it understood that I do not claim as of my present Invention the use, for the
purpose of acting on the slide valve of the auxiliary cylinder, of a collar actuated
or moved by an intermediate spindle placed between and in the same axial line
with the driving spindle and vane or brake spindle (and which intermediate spindle
is caused to move in the direction of the said axial line), as such an arrangement is
described and claimed in the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to me
under date 5 December 1879, No. 4977, but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as secured to me under the Letters Patent first
hereinabove in part recited is,-
1. In apparatus for regulating the supply of steam to steam engines, the com-
bination of a driving spindle driven from the engine to be controlled, a vane or
brake spindle, an intermediate spindle able to move endwise in opposition to a
spring or load capable of adjustment, according to the desired speed of the engine,
this spindle being in the same axial line with the other two, and actuating
(directly or through an auxiliary engine) the throttle or other regulating valve of
the engine to be controlled, and a cam or inclines, whereby the said intermediate
spindle is brought into operation for the purpose named when there is a variation
between the speed of the driving spindle and that of the vane or brake spindle,
substantially as described.
2. In apparatus for regulating the supply of steam to steam engines, actuating
the distributing valve of an auxiliary engine that works the throttle or other
regulating valve of the engine to be controlled by means of a spindle operated by
a cam or inclines so arranged that the apparatus may be driven in either direction,
and that when the engine to be controlled exceeds the desired speed, the said cam
or inclines will (whichever be the direction of rotation) bring the said spindle into
operation, as and for the purpose substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Dixon Churchill, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
JAMES D. CHURCHILL. (L.S.)