IMPROVEMENTS IN RINGS APPLICABLE TO PISTONS AND VALVES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Moy, of 37, Farringdon Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RINGS APPLICABLE TO PISTONS AND VALVES,"
Sealed the 15th May 1874, and dated the 19th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Moy at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1874.
I, THOMAS MOY, of 37, Farringdon Street, in the County of Middlesex,.
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN RINGS APPLICABLE TO PISTONS AND VALVES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of rings of any suitable
material, and by preference all in one piece, but when necessary in
several pieces, and of such form that the greater the pressure the more
perfect will be the fit of the ring. Such rings may also be constructed
as spring rings or not as required.

page_text: When the ring is required for a piston and to be made to fit by
internal pressure the external surface of the ring is turned to the
requisite size, circular holes are bored in the inner part of the ring and
near to but not touching the periphery, the internal surface is then
shaped and finished, and divisions or openings are made extending from
the periphery to the circular holes. A ring so constructed will be
capable of expanding by internal pressure so as to cause it to fit a
cylinder. Two or more rings may be combined breaking joint and with
covering surfaces to prevent steam from passing through the body of the
piston by means of the openings in the respective rings.
When the ring is required for glands or equivalent purposes it is made
so as to admit of its contracting by first turning or boring the internal
surface so as to be truly cylindrical, while the external part of the ring
is of an irregular figure and making the divisions or openings from the
internal surface to the said circular holes wider than in the case of the
piston ring. A ring so constructed is capable of contracting as required
when acted upon by external pressure.
In some cases wherein the rings are used as admission and eduction
valves they are formed of sufficient depth and thickness to have cavities
in their peripheries, which cavities act as ordinary slide valves in
allowing communication to take place between induction and eduction
ports.
By means of various modifications of the said rings they are applicable
to steam engine and other pistons, also to glands, pumps, pump valves,
and pump buckets. The rings are also specially applicable to the steam
engines described in the Specification of the Patent granted to me and
Richard Edmund Shill, No. 2762 (1871).
One ring within another is sometimes made use of, one ring serving
as an induction and eduction valve, and the other as an expansion or
cut-off valve, and in this case one ring is sometimes cut into segments
in order to adapt it to the purpose, as it requires to be turned truly both
internally and externally to allow of both faces working steam-tight.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Moy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
Mox, of 37, Farringdon Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Moy, Her special license that
I, the said Thomas Moy, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Moy, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 RINGS
APPLICABLE TO PISTONS AND VALVES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Moy, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 Thomas Moy, 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 in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Rings Applicable to Pistons and
Valves" consists in the construction of rings of any suitable material,
and by preference all in one piece, but when necessary in several pieces,
and of such form that the greater the pressure the more-perfect will be

page_text: '
the fit of the ring. Such rings may also be constructed as spring rings
or not, as required.
When the ring is required for a piston and to be made to fit by
internal pressure the external surface of the ring is turned to the
requisite size, circular holes are bored in the inner part of the ring and
near to but not touching the periphery, the internal surface is then
shaped and finished and divisions or openings are made extending from
the periphery to the circular holes. A ring so constructed will be
capable of expanding by internal pressure so as to cause it to fit a
cylinder. Two or more rings may be combined breaking joint and with:
covering surfaces to prevent steam from passing through the body of the
piston by means of the openings in the respective rings.
.
When the ring is required for glands or equivalent purposes it is made
so as to admit of its contracting by first turning or boring the internal
surface so as to be truly cylindrical, while the external part of the ring
is of an irregular figure and making the divisions or openings from the
internal surface to the said circular holes wider than in the case of the
piston ring. A ring so constructed is capable of contracting as required
when acted upon by external pressure.
In some cases wherein the rings are used as emission and eduction
valves they are formed of sufficient depth and thickness to have cavities
in their peripheries, which cavities act as ordinary slide valves in
allowing communication to take place between induction and eduction
ports.
By means of various modifications of the said rings they are applicable
to steam engine and other pistons, also to glands, pumps, pump valves,
and pump buckets. The rings are also specially applicable to the steam
engines described in the Specification of the Patent granted to me and
Richard Edmund Shill, No. 2762, One thousand eight hundred and
'seventy-one.
One ring within another is sometimes made use of, one ring serving
as an induction and eduction valve, and the other as an expansion or
cut-off valve, and in this case one ring is sometimes cut into segments
in order to adapt it to the purpose, as it requires to be turned truly both
internally and externally to allow of both faces working steam-tight. {
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed

page_text: Fig. 1 is a plan of a piston ring as cast; Fig. 2 is a section of Fig. 1
on the line a; b.
Fig. 5 is a plan of the body of piston ready to receive four rings;
and Fig. 6 a side view of the same.
The casting shewn in Figures 1 and 2 is bored, as represented at c, c,
of Figures 3 and 4, so as to leave thin rings, as shown, which are some-
what flexible. Saw cuts are made therein, as shewn, in a line with b.
When this has been done the two halves of the ring are held together
by the metal surrounding c, and on pressure being applied to the ring
internally the two halves of the ring have a tendency to move apart in
the direction of the arrows. d, d, Fig. 3 are two holes bored for the
reception of the studs e in Figures 5 and 6. The body of the piston
(Figures 5 and 6) is cast of such a form as to nearly fill the spaces in
the rings, or instead thereof the cylinder covers may be made to fill up
the spaces. fis the piston rod and e, e, are the studs before referred to
for keeping the rings firmly in their places, such studs receiving washers
and nuts g, g, Figures 7 and 8, on their ends.
Fig. 7 is a plan of the under side of a piston complete; and Fig. 8 is a
side view of the same. The steam has free access to the inner side of
each ring so as to press such ring outwards proportionately to its
pressure, and the rings on the exhaust side of the piston return to their
original size and cease to press against the cylinder.
It is preferred to make the rings fit easily in the cylinder so that on
the removal of pressure the friction is also removed, but if preferred the
rings can be formed with a greater or less amount of spring by making
them of a slightly larger diameter than the cylinder, increasing the
width of the saw cuts and compressing and turning up in the manner
commonly adopted with piston rings of ordinary kinds. The washers g, g,
shewn in Figures 7 and 8.prevent the steam from entering the spaces c, c,
and thereby passing the piston. "Four rings to à piston are sufficient to
make it steam-tight.

page_text: Fig. 9 is.a plan of a gland ring as cast. In this case it is sufficient
if two of the parts c, c, only are bored, as bolts are not necessary.
In Fig. 10 one such gland ring is shewn in position, f being the piston
rod shewn in section, and the gland box also shewn in section. Two
of such rings are required breaking joint next to the cylinder, and also.
two rings fashioned like Fig: 3 to fit the gland box. The gland cover
keeps them all in their places and no other packing is required."
* Figure 11 is a plan; Fig. 12 a side view; and Fig. 13 a section on the
line a, b, of Fig. 11, representing a piston valve suitable for annular
engines with a central valve box, and for engines with cylindrical valve
boxes and double steam passages.
Fig. 14 shows a modification of Figures 11, 12, and 13. In this case,
'the spaces c, c, are formed, as shewn, and passages i, i, are made leading
from c, c, into the eduction cavities of the valve. The spaces c, c, have
steam-tight covers at each end, and in case any steam should get into
them it passes to the eduction by the passages i, i, as the steam has free
access to the spaces k, k, the pressure is equalized, and this valve is
therefore an equilibrium valve.
Fig. 15 is another modification of the ring. This may be used either
as a reciprocating induction valve or as a rotary or partially rotary
induction valve, and modifications of this and of the valves shown in
Figures 11, 12, and 13 can be applied to expansive steam engines, the
dimensions of solid rings and spaces c¹ (Fig. 15) being arranged to supply
steam during any portion of the stroke as the valves rotate in their
boxes.
By placing one ring in another, the outer ring being turned truly
cylindrical inside and outside and separated in two or more sections, as
shewn in Fig. 16, engines. may be worked expansively as commonly
done with double valves. m, m, is the main valve or valves; and n, n,
acts as a cut-off valve.
:
Rings formed as shewn in Figures 9, 10, and. 15 may also be used as
induction and eduction pump valves and also for pump buckets, in
which cases the pressure of the fluid is made to move the rings so as to
allow of its passage, and on reversal of the pressure the rings close the
ports.

page_text: Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
THO. MOY. (L.S.)