IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM-ENGINES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Knowles, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster,
Cotton Spinner, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR
STEAM-ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Knowles at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st January 1882.
WILLIAM KNOWLES of Bolton in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM ENGINES."
The object of my Invention is to reduce to a minimum the variation of the speed
of steam engines through increase or decrease of pressure or load.
To effect this I operate automatically the nut, in which are a left and a right
hand thread, that joins the two portions of the rod which connects the ordinary
governor to the cut off or I cause a supplementary governor to act upon this rod or
one of its connections by a lever, weight, or springs or other appliances. I make
use of a supplementary pair of governors; to these governors I connect a pair of
friction discs and between these friction discs I place a friction pulley which does
not touch either disc when the engine runs at its normal speed; this friction pulley
is fixed at one end of a shaft on which is also fixed a grooved or plain pulley which
drives a cord or band that passes over a pulley the long boss of which forms a nut
in which are right and left hand helical grooves and in this nut are fitted the ends
of the divided rod which is connected to the ordinary governor and to the cut off;
the end of one portion of this rod has on it a right hand screw and the end of the
other portion of the rod has on it a left hand screw; these screwed ends enter
corresponding grooves in the nut which forms the long boss of the pulley which
connects them.
The supplementary governor is driven in any convenient manner from the
engine and an increase or decrease of speed causes the pulley between the discs
connected to this governor to be turned in one direction or the other and thus the
pulley with the long boss connecting the two portions of the rod which connects
the ordinary governor with the cut off is turned and the two portions of the rod
are caused to approach or recede from each other, and the engine is thus kept
almost exactly at its normal speed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Knowles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th July 1882.
WILLIAM KNOWLES, of Bolton in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM ENGINES."
The object of my Invention is to reduce to a minimum the variation of speed of
steam engines, through increase or decrease of pressure or load.
To effect this I operate automatically the nut, in which are a right and a left
hand thread, that joins the two portions of the rod which connects the ordinary
governor to the cut off or I cause a supplementary governor to act upon this rod
or one of its connections by a lever weight or springs or other appliances.
I make use of a supplementary pair of governors; to these governors I connect
a pair of friction discs and between these friction discs I place a friction pulley
which does not touch either disc when the engine runs at its normal speed, this
friction pulley is fixed at one end of a shaft on which is also fixed a grooved or
plain pulley which drives a cord or band that passes over a pulley the long boss
of which forms a nut in which are right and left hand helical grooves and in this
nut are fitted the ends of the divided rod which is connected to the ordinary
governor and to the cut off: the end of one portion of this rod has on it a right
hand screw,
and the end of the other portion of the rod has on it a left hand screw:
these screwed ends enter corresponding grooves in the nut which forms the long
boss of the pulley and connects them.
The supplementary governor is driven in any convenient manner from the
engine and an increase or decrease of speed causes the pulley between the discs
connected to this governor to be turned in one direction or the other and thus the
pulley with the long boss connecting the two portions of the rod which connects
the ordinary governor with the cut off is turned and the two portions of the rod
are caused to approach or recede from each other and the engine is thus kept
almost exactly at its normal speed.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference being had
to the figures and letters marked thereon.
On Fig. 1-a is the ordinary governor connected as usual to the cut off by the
shaft b and rod c: d is the nut (in which are right and left hand helical grooves)
that connects the screwed ends of the rod c, on this nut is a grooved pulley: c is
the supplementary governor driven from any convenient shaft which receives
motion from the engine: ƒ and g are friction discs between which is the friction
pulley h keyed on the shaft on which is fixed the pulley j. When the engine
exceeds its normal speed the disc g is brought into contact with the pulley h and
causes it to rotate and it communicates motion by the pulley j and band k to the
pulley on the nut d which moves the ends of the rod c from each other and thus
accelerates the action of the cut off. When the engine commences to runs lower
than its normal speed the disc f communicates motion to the pulley h and the
action is reversed.
Fig. 2 shows a modification of my invention.
On the shaft i to which motion is communicated by the supplementary governor
is the mitre wheel which gears into the wheel m fixed on the screwed shaft n
which when turned raises or lowers the nuts o and o¹ (provided with projections
that enter a vertical groove to keep them from turning) to each of these nuts is
fixed an arm connected by a spring to one end of the lever p fitted on the fulcrum

page_text: stud 2: the other end of the lever p is forked and a pin fixed in the connecting
rod c (in this case made of one piece) passes through slots in the fork, so that
when the other end of the lever is lifted or depressed by the action of the supple-
mentary governor the rod c¹ is raised or lowered.
Fig. 3 shows another modification of my invention.
c¹ is the connecting rod made of one piece; p¹ is a weighted lever fitted on the
fulcrum stud q': the weight slides on this lever and it is traversed nearer to or
further from the fulcrum by the screws nut s¹ and links s²: on the shaft of the
screw s is fixed a friction pulley h¹ which receives motion from the friction discs
connected to the supplementary governor e when the speed of the engine increases
or diminishes and thus moves the weight r nearer to or further from the
fulcrum q¹.
Fig. 4. shows another modification of my invention.-In this case I dispense
with the supplementary governor and connect directly to the ordinary governor a
two friction discs I also connect the divided rod joined by the nut d to the ordinary
governor and I form bearings for the shaft i in a rocking frame y pivoted at the
top of a pillar: this frame is connected by leather straps y' at each end to two
screwed rods attached to two weights y² at the upper end of each rod is a nut that
rests on an adjustable bracket z to keep the shaft i in a horizontal position when
the engine is running at its normal speed: when the engine commences to run
quicker or slower than the required speed one or other of the friction discs is
moved into contact with the friction pulley h and the band k which passes
over tension guide pulleys turns the nut d and keeps the engine at its normal
speed.
Fig. 5 shows another modification of my invention wherein I dispense with the
supplementary governor. I connect the divided rod joined by the nut d directly
to the ordinary governor a: I fit an india-rubber tyre in the groove of the pulley
on the nut d and I place two friction pulleys t t one a little above and the other
a little below the pulley on the nut d: the pulleys t t¹ are driven in opposite
directions, and as soon as the divided rod is raised or lowered by the action of the
governor the pulley on the nut d is moved into contact with either the pulley t
or the pulley t' which will cause the nut to turn and thus accelerate the action of
the cut-off.
Having stated the nature of my invention and described the manner of
performing the same I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the
details given as they may be varied or modified without departing from my
invention and―
I declare that I claim
1. Actuating the nut d automatically and the mechanism for effecting the same
substantially as and for the purpose herein described and shown.
2. The apparatus shown on Figs. 2 and 3 or any mere modification thereof
for operating automatically the connecting rod c³ as and for the purpose herein set
forth.
WILLIAM KNOWLES. (L.S.)