IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATORS WITH CONTINUOUS ACTION
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur Charles Henderson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th May 1878. A communication
from abroad by Louis Consolin, Chief Engineer of the General Transatlantic
Company of Havre.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of G, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATORS WITH
CONTINUOUS ACTION." A communication from abroad by Louis Consolin, Chief
Engineer of the General Transatlantic Company of Havre.
The lubricator, the subject of the present Invention, is applicable to recipients in
which a pressure reigns opposing itself to the natural introduction of oil or a lubri-
cant. Its action differs entirely from all other systems; it is based on the difference
of density of two liquids in contact reaching the same level, and subjected to a like
pressure. The two liquids in question are the lubricant or oil and condensed steam,
which acts on the oil by the simple difference of their respective densities, the
apparatus being arranged to submit the oil and the condensed steam to the same
pressure (that which the steam possesses) to the point of admission of the
lubricant.
With the new surface condensing machines working at high pressure the frictional
Jarts acting on the cylinders require continuous lubrication; this should be done
gently without interruption, so that the parts may work well. It should therefore
bo regulated so that the quantity of oil introduced in the steam admitted to the
slide valves should be completely used before this steam reaches the condenser.
Without this latter precaution the oil forms deposits which encrust the tubes of the
condenser, destroy the air pump valves, gorge the feed pumps, and finally, in a propor-
tion more or less considerable, these deposits enter the boilers where the fatty acids
quickly attack the boiler plates.
The ordinary lubricators, if they satisfy the general requirements, give rise to
serious inconveniences, and the greater part work by the action of the steam on the
oil in the apparatus; the result is, that the lubricant borne to a great heat before
its use decomposes and constitutes an exceedingly adherent incrustation. Morc-
over the lubricators suffer much dilatation, get out of shape, and cause permanent
escapes.

page_text: To prevent on one hand the rapid wear of the moving parts and the boilers, and
on the other the decomposition of the oil before its use, and the destruction of the
lubricator, the present Invention is a simple lubricator always under the eye of the
attendant, who can at any moment ascertain the quantity of oil used according to
the speed of the machine.
This system prevents any error or forgetfulness; its action once regulated is
continued to the last drop of oil, and this action being based on the difference of
density of the condensed steam and of the lubricant in direct contact, and subjected
to an identical pressure, or that of the steam, it follows that the oil is cold till its
introduction in the steam.
It should also be observed that the condensed steam is produced before the action
of the lubricator outside the apparatus.
From the following description, on reference to the accompanying Drawings, it
will be seen that the lubricator can be placed in any part of the machine on a frame
or partition either above or below at any distance from the cylinders. It always works
with the same regularity, letting fall in the steam, drop by drop, the oil necessary
for lubricating the parts of the machino.
In Fig. 1 the lubricator is represented ready for action.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the cylinder or capacity forming the lubricator; and
Fig. 3, the plan.
Fig. 4 shows the application of the lubricator to a ship's engines of 4
cylinders.
The lubricator consists of the capacity c, cylindrical or otherwise, continued above
to form a cup where the oil is fed, and below receiving two branches b, b'. The
plug serves to close the cup a.
At the lower part an appendage for the adaptation of two other branches c, d,
and the purge pis applied. The joints b' and ' communicate one with the other
by the level tube n, and are furnished at their extremities with small valves m, m³.
The joints band d are disposed for actuating two valves and c by manoeuvring
two small hand fly wheels, on which are written the words " oil" for that of h, and
"water" for that of e.
The valve is for the flow of the oil in the tube l, and that e for the admission
of condensed steam from the tube i to the lubricator c.
The tube conducts the oil at a desired point of the steam conduit T, and there
debouches by aid of a tap g, Figs. 4 and 5, with air-hole o. The tube i extends
from the conduit T of the tap V in front of the register R, and close to the tap 9
ascends a certain distance and descends in a serpentine K, and by the straight part i
to the branch & of the lubricator.