IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR GOVERNING OR REGULATING THE SPEEDOTHERNESCHI
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Silver, of Philadelphia, U.S., Gentleman,
and John Hamilton, of Glasgow, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR GOVERNING OR REGULATING THE SPEED OP
Sealed the 21st August 1860, and dated the 25th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Silver and John
Hamilton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th February 1860.
We, THOMAS SILVER, of Philadelphia, U.S., Gentleman, and Jonn
HAMILTON, of Glasgow, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING OR REGULATING
THE SPEED OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES IN MOTION," to be.
as follows:-
This, Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery or apparatus
intended to be employed for governing or regulating the speed of steam and
other engines and machinery in motion, and it consists in mounting balls or
other weights upon lever arms so that they shall revolve around a central axis,
the levers being at right angles to the central spindle, and be free to vibrate
tangentially; such vibration or motion shall be parallel to the plane. of rotation
or motion, instead of as in the Watt and other description of governors, where
the pendulous arms, whilst they revolve' in a circle round a central axis, and
have a plane of rotation at right angles to such central axis, have their pen
dulous arms constantly varying in the angle of relation to the central spindle

page_text: of rotation, and the position of the planes of rotation of the balls is also
constantly changing with changes in the speed.
In the governors constructed according to the present Invention, the balls
are so mounted that they shall whilst in action, or when caused to revolve,
depart from or return towards the spindle of the governor in a tangential
direction whilst maintaining a constant plane of rotation.at right angles with
the common centre of rotation, and with the spindle to which they are con-
nected and around which they revolve, the plane of rotation being constant,
whilst the distance of the balls or weights from the centre of rotation increases
in accordance with the increase of speed. Thus the balls are so mounted as to
perform their vibrations or changes of position at right angles with the axial
line of the spindle or the common centre of rotation, and whilst in motion
have a constant tendency to increase their distance from the common centre
about which they revolve, this tangential action being restrained or counter-
acted by a spring or springs applied to each lever. The motion so produced
is taken advantage of to operate the admission or exit valve of a steam or
other engine, by which the velocity and power may be regulated to any
required extent.
For regulating steam and other engines and such like machinery, I prefer
to convert the motion or action last described, and make it available for acting
upon the throttle valve by fitting upon the central spindlo a sliding socket or
sleeve, and by interposing a reacting spring. And I prefer to connect such
sliding socket or sleeve by means of rods with wheel gearing interposed, for
the purpose of translating or converting circular or rotary motion into a
rectilinear or longitudinal motion, although any other convenient mechanical
means may be substituted for wheel gearing.
In applying the levers with balls or weights, herein-before described, for the
purpose of regulating the flow or emission of water, as in the Barker or
Whitelaw water-mills, I cause the tangential motion or action produced by
rotation to act upon a valve, either direct or through the intervention of con-
necting rods, or spur wheel and pinion gearing, or through any other of the
well-known and ordinary mechanical means in common use for transmitting
motion. In each case the inertness of the balls when in motion combine or
act in concert with the centrifugal force when the engine starts, or upon an
increase of speed, whilst, on the other hand, when the engine slackens speed
the momentum of the balls acts in concert with the force of the spring to
return them towards the spindle, or into the position of rest from which they
departed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Silver and John Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; we, THOMAS
SILVER, of Philadelphia, U.S., Gentleman, and JOHN HAMILTON, of Glasgow,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Silver and John Hamilton, Her special licence that we, the said
Thomas Silver and John Hamilton, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Thomas Silver and John Hamilton, our exe-
cutors, 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 APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING
OR REGULATING THE SPEED OF STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES IN
MOTION," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas
Silver and John Hamilton, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of their bands 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 we, the said Thomas Silver and John Hamilton,.
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in:
and by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:
:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery or apparatus
intended to be employed for governing or regulating the speed of steam and
other engines and machinery in motion, and it consists in mounting balls or
other weights upon lever arms, so that they shall revolve around a central
axis, the levers being at right angles to the central spindle, and be free to
vibrate tangentially, such vibration or motion being parallel to the plane
of rotation or motion, instead of, as in the Watt and other description of
governors, where the pendulous arms, whilst they revolve in a circle round a

page_text: central axis, and have a plane of rotation at right angles to such central axis,
have their pendulous arms constantly varying in the angle of relation to the
central spindle of rotation, and the position of the planes of rotation of the
balls is also constantly changing with changes in the speed.
In the governors constructed according to the present Invention, the balls
are so mounted that they shall, whilst in action or when caused to revolve,
depart from or return towards the spindle of the governor in a tangential
direction, whilst maintaining a constant plane of rotation at right angles with
the common centre of rotation, and with the spindle to which they are con-
nected, and around which they revolve, the plane of rotation being constant,
whilst the distance of the balls or weights from the centre of rotation increases
in accordance with the increase of speed; thus the balls are so mounted as to
perform their vibrations or changes of position at right angles with the axial
line of the spindle or the common centre of rotation, and whilst in motion
have a constant tendency to increase their distance from the common centre
about which they revolve, this tangential action being restrained or, counter-
acted by a spring or springs applied to each lever. The motion so produced
is taken advantage of to operate the admission or exit valve of a steam or
other engine, by which the velocity and power may be regulated to any
required extent.
For regulating steam and other engines and such like machinery, we prefer
to convert. the motion or action last described, and make it available for acting
upon the throttle valve by fitting upon the central spindle a sliding socket or
sleeve, and by interposing a reacting spring; and we prefer to connect such
sliding socket or sleeve, by means of rods, with wheel gearing interposed for
the purpose of translating or converting circular or rotary motion into a
rectilinear or longitudinal motion, although any other convenient mechanical
means may be substituted for wheel gearing.
In applying the levers with balls or weights, herein-before described, for
the purpose of regulating the flow or emission of water, as in the Barker or
Whitelaw water-mills, we cause the tangential motion or action produced by
rotation to act upon a balanced butterfly throttle valve, either direct or
through the intervention of connecting rods, or spur wheels and pinion
gearing, or through any other of the well-known and ordinary mechanical
means in.' common use for transmitting motion. In each case the inertness
of the balls when in motion combine or act in concert with the centrifugal
force when the engine starts, or upon an increase of speed, whilst on the other
hand, when the engine slackens speed, the momentum of the balls acts in
concert with the force of the spring to return them towards the spindle, or

page_text: into the position of rest from which they departed. It will thus be under-
stood, that in starting, or upon giving motion to the governor or regulator,
or to the machine or apparatus upon which it is fixed, the balls or weights.
will, as it were, first object to revolve, but after having revolved for some
time, or been continued in motion, they object, as it were, to stop, and.
advantage is taken of this well-known property of such bodies so mounted to
cause them to operate, as herein-before described, for the purpose of regulating
or governing the admission or emission or flow of steam or water, and for
other similar purposes.
.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings we have illustrated some of the
modes or methods in which we prefer to construct, apply, and work our.
present Invention, but various changes in the proportions of the parts, as well
as modifications in their dispositions, must, of course, be made, for the purpose
of adapting such governing or regulating apparatus.
Figure 1 is a side elevational view, of which Figure 2 is a plan, and,
Figure 3 a transverse sectional elevation, taken on the line A, B, Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a corresponding view to Figure 3, shewing the position assumed.
by the governor balls or weights when fully expanded. The three previous
illustrations shew the balls or weights at rest.
In these several Figures the
same letters of reference are employed to denote the like or corresponding
parts.
a is the governor shaft or spindle; b, the pulley, by means of which a con-
nection is taken from the engine; c, c, are hanging carriages or brackets for
supporting the governor apparatus; d, d, are supporting arms or levers keyed
to and rotating with the governor shaft or spindle a; e, e, are studs or guide
pins projecting from the ends of the arms d, d; f, f, are segmental toothed
wheels, each provided with a suitable boss, and free to rotate upon studs or
horns projecting from the enlargement formed for that purpose upon the
governor shaft or spindle a; h, h, are segmental toothed wheels (similar.
to f, f) and free to rotate upon the short spindles e, e, thus forming two pair
of segmental toothed wheels in gear; i, i, are the governor balls secured to
the ends of the arms k, k, these arms being secured to the back of the
segmental toothed wheels h, h, (as shewn,) and forming one with such
wheels; 1, 1, is an intermediate central arm or lever placed parallel with the
levers k, k, carrying the governor balls, and connected to such levers k, k, by
means of the links m, m; by this arrangement the possibility of damage to
the teeth of either pairs of the segmental toothed wheels f, f, and h, h, is
avoided. (The arrangement first described is shewn most clearly in Figures 3
and 4.) Each of the segmental toothed wheels f, f, are provided with a

page_text: suitable stud or studs n, n, projecting from the upper part of the face of one
wheel, and from the under or lower part of the face of the other. To these
studs are attached the side connecting links o, o, each of such side links being
free to move upon suitable pins in the crosshead of the sliding socket or
sleeve p; q is the spiral spring, one extremity of which is attached to or
pressed against the end of the sliding socket or sleeve, and at the other
extremity against a regulating collar or the cross arm d; r is a stud pro-
jecting from the governor shaft or spindle, and passing through a slot formed
in the sliding socket or sleeve, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2; s is a forked
lever, working in the grooved portion of the sliding socket or sleeve p, and to
which lever is connected the rod t for working the throttle valve.
{ Figure 5 is a view of an arrangement in which we do away with the inter-
mediate lever arm 1, 1, previously described, and this we accomplish by merely
lengthening the arms or levers k, k, and connecting the pair.of such levers
directly by means of links w, w.
Although we have not in this Sheet of Drawings shewn a fly wheel in com-
.bination with the governor or regulator apparatus according to our present
Invention, yet we prefer to employ a fly wheel for some of the purposes for
which the said governor apparatus, as described, is intended to be used.
The following are some modifications of the arrangement illustrated by a
Figures 1, 2, 3, & 4.
First, the intermediate lever or arm 1, l, to which the links m, m, are
attached, connected with the levers which have the balls at their extremities,
is hereby dispensed with, and instead thereof we lengthen the ends of each of
the levers k, k, (i. e., the end of such levers opposite to that which carries the
balls), and connect the opposite extremities of such lever by means of suitable
links.
Second, in order to secure additional sensitiveness of action, the introduction
of a fly wheel in combination with this arrangement of governor, which fly wheel
in one case has suitable guides or slots formed in its arms. In these guides a
work back and forth small friction rollers attached to the ends of the arms or
levers carrying the governor balls, or to the intermediate links connecting such
arms or levers. In another method of applying the fly wheel, studs or horns
are formed projecting from the face of the arms of the fly wheel, and working
in slots or guides formed in the levers or arms connecting the governor balls.
Third, although we have only shewn two balls in these arrangements of
governor apparatus, we do not limit ourselves thereto, as any greater number
of balls may be used.
Having now described our present Invention, and in the accompanying

page_text: Sheet of Drawings shewn arrangements of parts suited to particular appli.
cations herein-before referred to, we wish it to be understood that various
forms and arrangements of apparatus for governing or regulating machinery
in motion having been patented by Thomas Silver, the nature and properties
of which several Inventions are now so widely known that it is unnecessary
for us to point out the distinctions and differences between our present
Invention and those patented by the said Thomas Silver and by others; but
what we claim as our Invention is, the combination of balls, or weights of
other suitable form, with lever arms mounted, connected together, and working
as herein set forth, having relation to a central shaft or axis, as herein-before
described, and whether or not such novel arrangement and disposition of parts
and mode of working be employed in combination with one or more reacting
springs, and with a fly wheel, or either of them separately.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hamilton, on behalf of the said
Thomas Silver and of myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord One thou-.
sand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
WILLIAM OSBOURNE,
47, Garscube Road,
Glasgow.
JOHN HAMILTON. (L.S.)