IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walker Moseley, of Waltonbreck Road, Liverpool,
Telegraph Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS
FOR MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES."
Sealed the 10th June 1873, and dated the 16th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walker Moscley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1872.
I, WALKER MOSELEY, of Waltonbreck Road, Liverpool, Telegraph
Engineer, do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention is chiefly designed to afford the means for more
perfectly controlling the working of the engines of ocean steam vessels,
and more particularly to prevent the " racing" of the engines of screw
propellers, which ordinarily occurs when through the pitching of the
vessel in rough seas the screw is raised out of the water.

page_text: •
Various mechanical contrivances have been devised for effecting this
object, but none of them have been found satisfactory, chiefly for the
reason that they are dependant for their action upon the variations in
the speed of the engine, that is to say, the acceleration or retardation of
speed which the governor is designed to prevent must occur to some
extent before the opposing action of the governor is produced. The
governors therefore act after the engine, and according to their peculiar
construction and arrangement some of them have been found only
partially effectual to prevent the "racing," while others have through
their slowness of action materially diminished the speed of the vessel.
My improved apparatus is based upon a totally different principle. It
has a capability of action altogether independent of the variations of
the speed of the engines; it anticipates the effect produced on the said
engines by the alternate raising and submerging of the screw, and there-
fore entirely prevents both the "racing" and an undue slackening of
speed of the said engines.
In applying my said Invention to the engines of a screw steam ship
I prefer to adopt the following arrangement of apparatus, but the same
may be modified in many respects and will require modifications to adapt
it to differently constructed engines. Upon a suitable frame or stand I
mount a small crank shaft which is caused to rotate continuously, and
whose motion is derived from the main shaft of the engine through a
belt and pulleys or by other convenient means. The crank of this small
shaft is connected to a slide fitted to work upon the said stand, and
which is moved to and fro continuously by the aforesaid crank. Over a
the said slide I arrange another slide which has fingers or other con-
trivances arranged to grasp the lever that operates the throttle valve, or
the said slide is connected indirectly with the said lever. This outer
slide remains stationary, except when thrown into gear with the inner or
reciprocating slide as follows:
-
Over the said inner slide I arrange two clectro-magnets, and the inner
slide is provided with two armature levers, cach of which by the motion
of the said slide is kept moving to and fro under its magnet. The said
levers are formed with teeth or hooks, and the outer slide has catches or
notches for the reception of the said teeth or hooks. When the electric 3
current through either of these magnets is completed the said magnet
attracts its armature, and the lever thereof is instantly caused to engage
with the outer slide. The latter is then moved with the inner slide, and

page_text: carries with it the throttle valve lever. Each of the said lovers acts
upon the outer slide in one direction only, one opens the throttle valve
and the other closes it. When the aforesaid lever has been moved as
above described to either close or open the valve the electric circuit is
broken. The outer slide is thereby instantaneously released by the
armature lever, and remains with the valve lever in the position to which
they have been carried until the other magnet acts on its armature lever
and reverses the said slide. Or instead of using two magnets I some-
times employ only one magnet, the armature levers being fixed to the
outer slide and arranged to engage with the inner slide when either of
the said levers is attracted by the magnet.
The making and breaking of the electric circuit is accomplished by
the following contrivance :-In any convenient part of the engine room
I place an apparatus consisting of a fixed frame and a swinging arm.
The frame is made of brass or other metal; it has a curved bar supported
by side bars, and over which the extremity of the swinging arm moves.
The parts of the frame are insulated from each other and from the
swinging arm. Each of the two side bars is connected to one of the
magnets, and the pivot of the swinging arm is connected to the battery.
The curved bar is made in two parts, insulated from cach other by a
washer of india-rubber or other suitable material at its centre. When
the swinging arm is moved to either side of its centre it is in contact
with one of the portions of the frame and completes the circuit, and the
governor is caused to act as above described. The said apparatus is so
arranged that the swinging of the arm to either side of the frame is
produced by the pitching or endwise motion of the vessel, and the action
of the apparatus anticipates the raising of the screw out of the water
and also its return into the same.
When my improved governor is applied to engines already provided
with one of the governors hitherto used the latter may be retained to
afford the means for controlling the engines in case of the breaking of
the shaft, the loss of the screw, or in the case of a side wheel steamer
the loss or injury of the paddle wheels. But where the engine has not
been provided with such a governor I use in addition to the apparatus
above described a very small ball, vane, or other governor, which is
arranged to make or break the circuit through the aforesaid magnets,
and so cause the apparatus to act as above described.

page_text: I have more particularly described my improved governor as applied
to screw propellor engines, but it is obvious that the same may be
applied to side wheel engines. It may also be used for stationary engines
either in connection with the ordinary governors thereof or in combina-
“tion with a small centrifugal or other governor as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of. the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walker Moseley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALKER
MOSELEY, of Waltonbreck Road, Liverpool, Telegraph Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Walker Moseley,
Her special licence that I, the said Walker Moseley, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walker
Moseley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR MARINE AND OTHER ENGINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Walker Moseley,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Walker Moseley, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained

page_text: in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings forming a part of this Specification :-
My said Invention is chiefly designed to afford the means for more
perfectly controlling the working of the engines of ocean steam vessels,
and more particularly to prevent the "racing " of the engines of screw
propellors, which ordinarily occurs when through the pitching of the
vessel in rough seas the screw is raised out of the water.
Various mechanical contrivances have been devised for effecting this
object, but none of them have been found satisfactory, chiefly for the
reason that they are dependant for their action upon the variations in
the speed of the engine, that is to, say, the acceleration or retardation of
speed which the governor is designed to prevent must occur to some
extent before the opposing action of the governor is produced. These
governors therefore cannot act until after the engine has perceptably
varied its speed, and according to their peculiar construction and
arrangement some of them have been found only partially effectual to
prevent the racing, while others have through their slowness of action
materially diminished the average speed of the vessel throughout the
voyage.
•
My improved apparatus is based upon a totally different principle; it
has a capability of action altogether independent of the variations of
speed of the engines, it anticipates the effect produced on the said
engines by the alternate raising and submerging of the screw, and
therefore entirely prevents both the racing and an undue slackening of
speed of the said engines. I employ electricity in such a manner that
at the right moment apparatus is put into operation to act upon the
throttle valve and cause it to move to diminish or increase the amount
of steam passing through the throttle valve, and regulate the amount
required at that moment. The most suitable means available for regu-
lating the operation of the electric gear are the pitching and rising of
the vessel, and the immersion of the screw propellor. These may be
employed separately or conjointly, but as the various angles assumed
by a steamship are irregular I prefer to make use of contact makers
that will act at various degrees of immersion of the propellor. In this
way it is obvious that taking the relative specific gravities of mercury
and water it is easy to determine at what depth of immersion of the
screw propellor a given amount of steam shall be shut off or turned on,

page_text: And the method of operation on this principle which will hereafter be
more fully described obviates all necessity for determining the various
stages and conditions through which the steam passes from the throttle
valve to the exhaust. The amount of steam shut off or turned on at
the various intervals will be determined in every case on the first trial
of each particular engine, and once being fixed upon there will be
seldom any necessity for alteration or adjustment. In fact this electric
governor is intended to act upon the throttle valve automatically, and by
as many steps or degrees as are made desirable by the state of the sea
and the course being steered, thereby effecting with certainty all that
the engineer can accomplish with uncertainty and irregularity when he
stands by the throttle valve lever. With the best existing governor it
is necessary to supplement the governor by using the throttle valve
lever in order to check the racing of the propellor in a heavy sea. But
it will be quite practicable with the means herein-after described to
secure absolute and regular control over the speed of the propellor
when partially or completely out of the water. Before describing the
details of my Invention it is well to mention that in using electro-
magnetism to bring the governor gear into play I do not employ that
power to move anything, but merely to hold at the right moment a lever s
which is kept moving to and fro in face of an electro-magnet. The
immense force derived from a small battery power thus applied is ample
for all possible requirements to bring gear into action that will control
or direct the most powerful engine in use on sea or land.
In order to obviate the necessity for very strict attention to the a
batteries on board ship I provide a barrel full of the usual bichromate
of potash solution, namely 10th sulphuric acid, %ths water, and
saturated with bichromate of potash. The battery box is provided with
an inlet and outlet tube, so that a stop-cock being fixed to each a weak
battery may be emptied and filled in half a minute. In order to further 3
prevent doubt or mishap I provide a triple battery-3 pairs of carbon
and zinc plates 6 inches by 4 inches in each-with two relays introduced,
so that when the No. 1 battery is too weak to be trustworthy its weak-
ness causes the relay armature to remain in contact with the No. 2
battery connections, and every time the current passes a bell is rung to, 3
indicate the fact of No. 1 battery being in need of refilling. A relay is
used between Nos. 2 and 3 in the same manner. I also use where
desirable a relay and intensity battery-a Leclanché or similar constant

page_text: battery in order to work the long and short circuits to the best
advantage.
The method I adopt for acting on a column of mercury to make
contact at various degrees of immersion of the screw propellor for ships
say such as the White Star steamer "Oceanic" is illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing.