IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE AND FLOW OF STEAM, WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Wright Jones, of Pendleton, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE AND FLOW OF STEAM, WATER, AND OTHER
FLUIDS."
Sealed the 28th October 1856, and dated the 30th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Wright Jones at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th April
1856.
I, the said WRIGHT JONES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVE
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE AND FLOW OF STEAM, WATER,
AND OTHER FLUIDS, to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to regulate the pressure and flow of steam
and other fluids within boilers, pipes, or other chambers, the apparatus acting
as a safety valve, or for obtaining a desired amount of pressure or of heat in
the case of steam. For this purpose, I cause the source of supply by acting on
a column of mercury or other fluid to open or close a valve. Suppose, for
instance, that it is desired to admit steam of a given pressure to pipes, I apply to
the outlet passage a "double-beat" valve, the spindle of which carries a weight
also acting as a float within a vessel containing mercury. From this vessel a
pipe extends upward, capable therefore of containing a column of mercury

page_text: corresponding to the pressure upon the aforesaid float; as this ascends, the
valve necessarily falls and closes the orifice, through which the fluid enters a
chamber, within which the float is placed, and as it falls a reversed action
takes place. It is obvious, therefore, that the steam will be governed in
pressure within the chamber, or within pipes or other apparatus open to it.
In order to apply this principle to a steam boiler, and enable it to act as a
safety valve, the action of the valve may be reversed, so that it will be opened
by excess of pressure. The tube containing the column of mercury I graduate
so as to use it as a gange for indicating pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Wright Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1856..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WRIGHT
JONES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
.Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Wright Jones, Her especial license that I, the said Wright Jones, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Wright
Jones, my executors, 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 the Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING THE PRESSURE AND FLOW OF STEAM, WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS," upon.
the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Wright Jones, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Wright Jones, 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 state-
ment and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):

page_text: The object of my Invention is to regulate the pressure and flow of steam;
water, or other fluids within boilers, pipes, or other chambers, the apparatus
also acting as a safety valve, or for obtaining a desired amount of pressure or of
heat in the case of steam. For these purposes I cause the supply. acting on a.
column of mercury or other fluid to open and close a valve.
.:
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I have appended
to this my Specification an illustrative Drawing, which I will now proceed to
describe.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of the apparatus; and Fig. 2, a plan
view thereof. A vessel a is provided with two pipes b, c; the former I will
suppose leads from a steam boiler, and the latter to pipes or other apparatus
within which a certain pressure of steam is required. The pipe b opens into a
chamber d, furnished with seats for "a double" beat valve e, f, the former of,
which has a slotted pin g for the reception of a lever h, jointed at one end to a
bracket i, and at the other connected to a weight j, acting as a float within
a vessel of mercury k, which mercury proceeds from a column contained
within the pipe . The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Suppose the
desired amount of pressure to be within the pipe c, and consequently within
any others connected therewith, the valves e, f, being kept closed by the
weight j: should the said desired pressure decrease, the mercury within the
chamber will rise (supplied by the column ), and the weight or float j will
be lifted thereby, turning the lever h upon its centre, and raising the valves
e, f, from their seats, through which steam from the boiler will then be free to
pass, and this will continue until a sufficient quantity shall have entered to
restore the deficient pressure, by which time the mercury will have been
forced back into the column 7, and the valves will be closed by the sinking of
the weight or float j. By altering the column of mercury the pressure
within the pipe c may be varied at pleasure, and by graduating the tube I
obtain a guage for indicating the said pressure. I have above alluded to the
apparatus as applied to steam, but it will be obvious that it may be used after
the same manner for regulating the supply of water or other fluids. I have
also alluded to pressure as being the object in view, but it evidently follows
that for heating purposes it is equally applicable, as a given amount of pressure
will afford a constant amount of heat.
In order to adopt the above arrangement as a safety valve, it will merely
be necessary to reverse the action, that is, to connect the pipe c to the pressure,
and the pipe to the atmosphere, the valves e, f, being also reversed so as to
open downward instead of upward.
b
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim, as secured under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
Firstly, the employment of a column of mercury or other fluid as a medium
for opening and closing a valve, so as to regulate the pressure and flow of
steam, water, or other fluids.
Secondly, the employment of a column of mercury applied as before
described to a safety valve.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wright Jones, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
WRIGHT JONES. (L.S.)