IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM TRAPS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Edwards, of the Firm of Edwards
and Co., 38, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agents and Engineers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM TRAPS."-A communication
from abroad by James Henry Blessing, Frederick Townsend, and
George Pomeroy Jackson, all of Albany, in the State of New York,
United States of America.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Edmund Edwards at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 17th April 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
EDWARDS, of the Firm of Edwards and Co., 38, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agents and
Engineers, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM TRAPS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the said Invention
has been communicated to me from abroad by James Henry Blessing,
Frederick Townsend, and George Pomeroy Jackson, all of Albany,
in the State of New York, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Edwards, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawing:-
This Invention relates to improvements in traps which are used in
connection with apparatus for warming buildings with steam, and which
will automatically return back into the boiler the water of condensation,
thereby keeping the boiler supplied with warm or hot water.
In this improved trap there will be practically little or no loss of the
water of condensation, as the steam which is used in obtaining an
equilibrium of the pressures is taken directly from the boiler which
supplies the heating coils, and is returned in the form of hot water with
the water of condensation from the said coils back again into the boiler,
as will be herein-after explained.
The accompanying Drawings are in illustration of this Invention.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the improved trap and its connections with
a steam boiler; Figure 2 is a vertical section taken centrally through
the trap and its valve box; Figure 3 is a section taken vertically and
centrally through the trap in a plane at right angles to the sectional
plane of Figure 2. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in the several Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 is represented a steam boiler N in connection with
this improved trap, for the purpose of shewing the tubular connections
between the trap and boiler, without regard to the relative proportions
of the said parts or the arrangement thereof. C represents a cylinder
which is adapted for receiving this water of condensation from the
heating pipes and discharging this water back again into the steam
boiler. This cylinder and its attachments are mounted on knife edge

page_text: bearings a, a, which rise from the yoked portion of a lever B that has
its fulcrum at c on one upright arm of a frame A. The long arm of
the lever B is provided with an adjustable counterbalancing weight W,
which keeps the cylinder C in the elevated position shewn in Figure 1,
3 except when a sufficient quantity of the water of condensation accu-
mulates in it to overcome the said weight, then it will assume the
position indicated in Figure 2, until the water escapes from it into the
boiler. An extension 6 of the lever B works in a vertical slot in the
frame A, and limits the extent of vibration of this lever, and a rod T
which is pivotted to the frame A at one end and to a lug 6 in the centre
of the bottom of the cylinder O at the other end, serves to steady this
cylinder in its up and down movements. Through the head of the
cylinder C is a passage p, which communicates with the interior of
a-valve box D secured rigidly to this head. The valve box D is quad-
rangular in form, and is provided with a valve gª which has its seat
at the upper terminus of the passage p, and which is formed on the
lower end of a vertical stem that plays in and is guided by a screw
cap f. The valve stem is notched, and at this point it is embraced
by the bifurcated end of a lever g', which is formed on a oscillating
shaft g. This shaft 9 extends through one side of the valve box D,
and receives upon it outside of the box an angular lever h and a
forked segment . The angular lever is connected by its lower arm
to a fixed arm d by means of a rod h¹ the lower end of which is slotted.
The upper arm of this lever h is provided with a tumbler h³, on the
concave surface of which a loaded rod n' is supported by means of an
antifriction roller n. The rod n' is guided in its vertical movements
by means of the tubular portion of a bracket Q which is fixed to the
valve box D, and the weight n³ on the upper end of this rod n' is
adjustable, and can be fixed at the desired point by means of the
shouldered nut m shewn in Figures 1 and 3. In front of the angular
lover / is the forked segment i, between the ends of which plays a lug j
on the upper arm of the lever h.
When the parts just described are properly adjusted with relation
to the length of strokes of the cylinder O, and this cylinder is caused
to descend by an accumulation of water in it sufficient to overcomo
the weight of the ball W, the upper arm of the lever h will be forced
over to the left hand side of a vertical plane intersecting the axis of the
shaft g, and will by means of the lug j and segment i lift the valve g³..

page_text: When the weight W again preponderates by the escape of water from
the cylinder C, the latter will rise and by the mechanism above
described the valve 9' will be shut. The strokes of the cylinder O
will only move the upper arm of the lever h past the centre of the
shaft g slowly, but by having a slot in the rod ' and using the loaded
rod n¹, lug j, and segment i, the weight n³ is caused to act quickly
upon the valve g at the termini of the strokes of the cylinder C.
The pipe G¹ which communicates with the steam space of the steam
boiler and which is continuous with the steam coils or heaters, enters
the upper end of the trap through a valve box F and passages x³ and p. 1
In the box F is a valve which rises to admit the steam to the trap,
but which prevents its return. The pipe J leads from the water space
in the steam boiler into the bottom of the trap cylinder O, through
a valve box E, the valve 2 in which opens to allow the escape of water
from the trap, but closes to prevent its return therein. The pipe G 1
leads from the steam space in the boiler into the valve box D at r, or
this latter pipe may communicate with the steam pipe G³ if desirable.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The water of condensation
which is formed in the heating coils is forced therefrom under boiler
pressure, through the receiving valve box'F, and passages ², p, into a
the cylinder O at its upper end, and falls upon a finely perforated
distributing plate v, which facilitates the condensation of steam which
enters the cylinder with the water. The perforated plate is suspended
from the head of the cylinder C by rods O, O. When the cylinder has
received a sufficient weight of water to overcome the friction of the
parts and the weight n³ which is attached to the valve tripping device
this cylinder with its attachments descends, as indicated in Figure 2,
and opens the valve ' in the valve box D, thus establishing a com-
munication between the steam space in the boiler N and the interior of
the cylinder C, through the pipe G, and passage p. This allows the 3
water which had accumulated in the cylinder to descend into the boiler
through the drip pipe J, and its discharge valve 2. The trap is now
filled with steam corresponding in pressure with that in the boiler,
and as this steam is lighter than the water which was in the trap,
the latter will ascend by the preponderance of the weight W and shut
the valve g³, thereby cutting off the boiler pressure in the trap. In
a few seconds condensation reduces the steam in the trap to water,
and allows the water of condensation from the heating coils to be again

page_text: forced into the trap through the valve box F. In first starting the
heating coils, the water from condensation in them is cold as it enters
the trap, and in condensing quickly, the steam left in the trap from
a previous movement thereof produce's instantaneously so much of a
vacuum that it causes the water of condensation to flow into the trap
with great rapidity and the trap itself to move with greater speed than
is subsequently the case. After the trap has worked for a tinio the
coil becomes highly heated, and the water of condensation being of
much higher temperature and steam being mixed with it as it flows
through the valve box F, the trap does not move so rapidly, since
condensation is somewhat retarded. After working a still longer time,
the water being entirely drawn from the heating coils, steam alone
enters the trap, when an equilibrium of pressure is produced and
the trap ceases to move, until through condensation in the trap and
heating coils this equilibrium is destroyed, when the water of con-
densation again flows into the trap, and the latter continues to repeat
its movements automatically in accordance with the rapidity of con-
densation. The cock e is intended for allowing the escane of air from

page_text: tributing plate inside of the cylinder C, constructed substantially as
described.
Fifth, A gravitating receiver C of a steam trap to return the water
to the boiler, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Edwards, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.