IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO GOVERNORS FOR REGULATING THE SPEED OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents;
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO GOVERNORS FOR REGULATING
THE SPEED OF STEAM ENGINES."-A communication from abroad by Alphonse
Wackernie, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 28th June 1864, and dated the 25th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1864.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO GOVERNORS FOR REGU-
LATING THE SPEED OF STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The improvements which form the subject of the present Invention relate
to the application to steam engine or other governors of an adjustable
counterweight for the purpose of regulating their action. This counter-
weight is adjustable by hand upon a rocking lever arm operated by the action
of the balls of the governor according to the speed of the engine, and by this
arrangement, if it be required to raise or lower the speed of the engine, as is
necessary for spinning machinery (in the morning, for example, the normal
speed must not be employed), the weight is moved forward and the governor
ontinues to work properly at this new speed, whilst by only varying it by

page_text: varying the extent of opening of the steam valve on throwing the spinning
machinery out of gear the governor will no longer act. The governor proper
may be of the ordinary construction of ball governors, and acts upon the
valve lever through a connecting rod jointed to a rocking lever actuated by
the rising and falling of a runner attached to the arins of the rotating balls.
From this rocking arm is suspended another connecting rod, which commu-
nicates motion to a graduated rocking lever, to which is attached a frame
carrying a screwed rod. Upon this screwed rod works a female screw, from
which the regulating weight is pendent, and which carries a pointer for
indicating the graduations on the rocking lever above. The female screw
carrying the weight and pointer may be moved backwards or forwards upon
the screwed rod by turning a hand wheel at its extremity. The graduations,
which are ascertained by experiment and marked upon the rocking arm, will
shew the various positions to be given to the weight to correspond to the
different speeds of the governor required.
It will be understood that this apparatus may be applied to any kind of
motive engine and to any governors at present in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO GOVERNORS FOR REGULATING THE SPEED OF
STEAM ENGINES," being a communication from abroad by Al honse Wackernie

page_text: of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
--
The improvements which form the subject of the present Invention relate
to the application to steam engine or other governors of an adjustable counter-
weight for the purpose of regulating their action. This counterweight is
adjustable by hand upon a rocking lever arm, which is operated by the action
of the balls of the governor according to the speed of the engine, and by
this arrangement, if it be required to raise or lower the speed, of the engine, as
is necessary for spinning machinery (in the morning, for example, the normal
speed must not be employed), the weight is moved forward and the governor
continues to work properly at this new speed, whilst by only varying it by
varying the extent of opening of the steam valve on throwing the spinning
machinery out of gear the governor will no longer act.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the improved
regulator applied to an ordinary ball governor; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section
of the same shewing the mechanism for shifting the counterweight; Fig. 3
is a transverse section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. The governor
proper, which may be of the ordinary construction as represented, acts upon
the valve lever a through the connecting rod 6 jointed to a rocking lever c, as
indicated by the red lines in the Figure. The lever c is actuated by the rising
and falling of the runner m of the governor, as in ordinary steam engine
governors. From this rocking arm c is suspended another connecting rod d,
which communicates motion to a graduating rocking lever e, having its fulcrum
at e. To the lever e a frame g is attached by means of two metallic bands
ff. In this frame g is mounted an endless screw h, so as to be capable of
simply rotating therein. Upon the screw h is set the nut or traveller i, from
which the counterweight jis pendent, and which may be made to advance
or recede along the frame g by turning the screw h in either direction by
means of the hand wheel k. The graduations, which are ascertained by
experiment and are marked upon the rocking arm, c will shew the various

page_text: positions to be given to the weight to correspond to the different speeds of the
governor required, and to which it may be readily adjusted by means of a
pointer set upon the traveller i, carrying the counterweight j.
It will be seen that by the above arrangement the speed of any motive
engine may be regulated by merely shifting the counterweight j, and the
apparatus being very simple in its construction may be readily applied to any
existing governors.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements applicable to
Governors for Regulating the Speed of Steam Engines," and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid the adaptation to steam engine and other
governors of a vibrating frame and adjustable or moveable weight for the
purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight bundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)