IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING THE POWER AND VELOCITY OF MACHINES FOR COMMUNICATING POWER;
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WOODS, of Barge Yard Chambers, Bucklersbury, in the City of London,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her, present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighteenth day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the¸ said
Joseph Woods, Her, especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Woods, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Woods, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING THE
POWER AND VELOCITY OF MACHINES FOR COMMUNICATING POWER;" communi-
cated to me from a Foreigner residing abroad';, in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph Woods, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next, and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Woods, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to. say):-
The Improvements in Regulating the Power and Velocity of Machines for
Communicating Power consist in availing myself of the differential velocity
between the varying speed of machinery driven by prime movers, and the
constant velocity of the conic revolutions or oscillations of a pendulum, and
also from the regular rotation of a fly wheel, the pendulum or fly wheel being
actuated by force independent of the machinery to be regulated. By either of
the above arrangements, which will be particularly described herein, I am
enabled to regulate the supply of steam, water, wind, or other motive power
(either separately or in combination), in exact proportion to the resistance to
be overcome, however frequently that resistance may vary within the limit of
the maximum available power, and so..instantaneously as to produce almost
perfect regularity in the number of revolutions of shafting or repetitions and
duration of the strokes of pumping engines. From the circumstance of using
a detached instrument actuated at a certain constant speed, independant
of that of the machinery, I contemplate denominating it a "chronometric
governor." I will now explain several modifications of machinery to be
used in conjunction with the pendulum performing conic revolutions, which I
consider the best adapted for stationary engines and machinery, and afterwards
proceed to those in conjunction with a fly wheel, which is more applicable to
locomotive machinery.
1
'
Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents the governor as applied to regulate the amount
of expansion in a steam engine by means of a common cut off valve. This
modification consists of a pendulum P rotating freely on a ball or universal
joint J, and having its rod continued beyond the said centre of suspension, and
terminating in a steel point, which moves freely in a channel cut on the under
side of the curved crank C, to which is attached a vertical shaft 1 and bevil
wheel 2, geared into the wheel 3 on the shaft 4, which shaft also carries a
fixed pulley 5, and loose pulleys 6 and 7, driven simultaneously in one
direction by means of a ratchet wheel.. Over the pullies 5 and 7 an endless
cord 8 is placed, weighted with the unequal weights 9 and 10, supported by
the sheaves 11 and 12; the heavier weight 9 will have a constant tendency to
descend, and by that means drive round the pulley 5 and shaft 4 with the
constant force of weight of 9,- that of 10=C; and as the pullies 6 and 7 are

page_text: driven by the engine or machinery to be governed in an opposite direction to
that of the pulley 5, the weight will be constantly wound up by the engine,
and as constantly exert the force C in driving the shaft 4, and through it and
the intermediate geer the pendulum P; the ratio between the two weights or
the power C is so regulated as just to overcome: the resistance of the atmo-
sphere and friction of the apparatus, which makes a certain number of revo-
lutions per minute in relation to the perpendicular length of the pendulum
from the point of suspension to the centre of oscillation. Note. The weight
of the pendulum may be varied according to the momentum required for
opening and shutting the valves, in performing which duty the. arc of vibration
will vary a few degrees, but it will continue to perform almost exactly the
same number of revolutions in the same time, according to the well-known
law of pendulous motion, and the extent of the arc of vibration is accurately
regulated by the amount of the actuating force C. Before starting the engine
it is necessary to draw up the weight 9, which is accomplished by turning the
handle of the pulley 7, attached by a ratchet wheel to the driving pulley 6. I
have now explained that the shaft 4 is driven at a constant velocity in relation
to that of the pendulum, and by means of the spur wheels 18 and 14 it
drives the female screw F also at a constant velocity. A male screw M, fitting
and moving within this, is, however, driven direct by the prime mover through
the wheel 15, which admits of longitudinal motion of the male screw shaft,
and partakes of all its irregularities, although designed to revolve in the same
direction and at the same speed as the female screw, so that the slightest
variation causes it to be drawn inwards' or pushed outwards as the case may
be; and it is of this longitudinal motion produced by the difference of velocities
that I avail myself to act on the setting of the valves, sluices, or sails.
Figure 3 in conjunction with Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents one mode of
regulating the close of a shut-off steam valve, which is opened by the engine
in the usual manner. On the end of the shaft M, driven by the prime mover,
I form a screw of very quick pitch by twisting a square. bar on its axis; the
square section of this bar passes through a square helical hole in the centre of
the circular cam disc 16, and causes it to revolve simultaneously with the
shaft M, and the said cam disc is retained by an appropriate bracket 17 from
moving horizontally.; when, therefore, the shaft M becomes actuated hori-
zontally by the differential velocity of the male and female screws M, F, its.
screw m*, passing through the centre of this cam disc, produces angular motion
or revolution, independent of that imparted by the simple speed of the engine,
and therefore presents the two cams at an earlier or later period or division of
each stroke of the piston, as the case, may be, to perform its duty of with-

page_text: drawing the bolt or latch 18, which releases an ordinary cut-off valve 19.
The bolt 18 is made to move through a long slot hole in the valve spindle, and
sustains the weight of the suspended valve until drawn back twice during each
revolution of the engine by the aforesaid cams on the disc 16, and its return
to support the valve when lifted by the engine is effected by a spring 20; so
long, therefore, as the pressure of steam and the duty requiring to be performed
remain, the same regular speed and periods of cutting off the steam will obtain ;
but the slightest alteration in either of these conditions will instantaneously
alter the point of cutting off for expansion, and regulate the quantity supplied,
by which means the number of revolutions per minute are kept similar when
the engine is fully loaded, or when all work is thrown off and it has to over-
come its own resistance only. Moreover, in every stroke the quantity of steam
employed is the smallest which can overcome the resistance opposed to it. A
spring 21 is provided to push the male into the female screw when starting
the cugine.
A second modification of the chronometric governor is shewn by Figures 9
and 10, Sheet 1. In this instance a double skeleton screw M is driven by the
prime mover, and a pair of friction wheels F, F, attached to the vertical
shaft 1, are driven by the pendulum' P, having liberty to move in a vertical
direction by means of two keyways within the hollow shaft 2, which is
pre-
vented from revolving, independant of the internal shaft, by means of two steel
rollers placed thereon and traversing in the said keyways at the very top and
bottom, where the recess of the keyways is continued all round, allowing free
independant motion. The weight of the said shafts and 2, and of the
friction wheels F, F, induces a constant tendency to run down the skeleton
screw and produce revolution in the pendulum, and performs the same duty
as the weight 9, Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1. As the friction wheels are driven
at a constant velocity depending on the length of pendulum, it is necessary to
geer the pulley 15 so as to drive the skeleton screw at the same speed when
the prime mover is revolving accurately, and any alteration of the load causes
an elevation or depression of the upright shaft which is made to act on the
throttle or cut-off valve of an engine, or the shuttle of a wafer wheel.
Figure 6, Sheet 1', shews another mode of obtaining the same effect by means
of a screw-M driven by the prime mover working in contact with a pinion F
driven at a constant speed with the pendulum; the screw is permitted to move
horizontally, and if it revolves either faster or slower than the regulated speed,
it becomes actuated horizontally by the pinion F, and increases or diminishes
the supply of power. An improved revolving slide valve is shewn by
Figure 4, Sheet 1. It consists of a cylinder revolving within a steam case C,
".

page_text: and the Drawing represents an outside view of the cylinder, and a section of
the steam case. The cylinder is cut into. two portions, A and B, by a line
parallel to its axis from a to b, and a second helical line between the same
points a and b. These two pieces are shewn by Figure 5 as they. would
appear if flattened out and laid on a table. The lines a, b, and a², 63, in the
cylinder come to steam-tight contact, but are permitted to slide longitudinally.
on each other, and by so sliding them the parallel lines a*, 6*, and c, d, form-
ing helical curves round the axis, approach towards and diverge from each
other, and vary the breadth of the steamway between them. These portions
of a cylinder are caused to revolve by the steam engine within the steam case,
at one end of which steam is freely admitted from the boiler, and at the side
an aperture long but narrow and parallel to the helix on the inner cylinder is
provided for conveying steam to the valve chest on the engine cylinder. The
hollow axis D, driven direct by the engine, is attached to the portion of the
cylinder A, whose function it is, by revolving in the direction indicated by
the arrows, to open the valves constantly at the commencement of each stroke
of the engine. The axis E, passing through the hollow shaft D, and its stuff-
ing box, is attached to the other half B of the cylinder by a cross bar, leaving
free passage for steam at the bottom end; and this half of the cylinder and
the shaft E are driven by contact of the surfaces a, b, and a³, b³. I before
explained that longitudinal motion is provided for, and this motion is directed
solely to the half B by means of the longitudinal motion produced by the
governor, as already explained and described. It now only remains to state,
that this motion produces an increased or decreased distance between the
lines a*, 6x, and c, d, and varies the time of closing the aperture leading froin
the boiler to the valve chest on the side of the engine cylinder, and conse-
quently regulates the expansion that takes place within it.
Figures 7 and 8, Sheet 1, shew sectional Drawings of the application as
used direct on a throttle valve, which is constructed of two concentric cylinders
of metal, A and B, having vertical apertures or steaniways of similar dimen-
sions. Both these are inclosed in a steam chest having one pipe C in com-
munication with the centre of the inner, and another, D, with the circum-
ference of the outer cylinder, so that the steam from the inlet pipe has to pass
through the apertures of the two.cylinders before it can arrive at the exit pipe.
The inner cylinder is driven by the pendulum or fly wheel at a certain velocity,
and the outer cylinder by the prime mover, subject to variation, the effect of
which is to open and shut the compound aperture exactly according to the
variation of the load, and the accelerating power required by the pendulum or
By wheel is. supplied. by a convolute or other.spring not shewn in the Drawings,

page_text: one end of which is attached to the shaft of the inner, and the other end to an
arm on the shaft of the outer cylinder, permitting free motion between the two
while keeping a gentle tension on the pendulum or fly wheel shaft.
Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 2, represent a modification for applying the regular
rotation of a heavy fly wheel driven.at a considerable speed independant of the
engine. W is the fly wheel, on the axis of which is placed a pinion F, and
these revolve at a constant velocity. The screw M is driven by the prime
mover, and allowed to traverse horizontally when varying from the calculated
speed, which longitudinal motion is applied, as before, to open and shut the
valves. The resistance of atmosphere and friction is overcome by a spring or
weighted lever, as shown in the Drawing, constantly tending to move the
screw M horizontally, and thereby. turn the pinion F and fly wheel in the
direction of its revolution. Either of the modifications used with the pendu-
lum are equally applicable to the fly wheel. The valve shewn in Figures 1
and 2, Sheet 2, is precisely similar. to Figure 4, Sheet 1, (except that it is
provided with two exit apertures and pipes to the opposite ends of the
steam-engine cylinder for the supply of steam. On the revolving shaft E of
this valve are placed two eccentrics x, x, which open and shut the exhaustion
slides or valves V, V, of the steam engine.
Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 2, illustrate the mode of supplying the chronometric
governor to regulate a pumping or Cornish engine, which governor performs
two functions altogether different: first, that of regulating the number of
strokes per minute; and, secondly, the quantity of steam supplied to each
stroke in exact proportion to the duty required. P is a detached pendulum,
supported by a ball joint J, which may be fixed to the ceiling of the engine
room. The bottom of the pendulum rod is continued beyond the ball, and
oscillates freely in a long slot of the crank arm C on the shaft 1, on which is
a cog wheel 2 gearing into a second cog wheel 3 on the shaft 4, so arranged
that the relative speed of the shafts 1 and 4 can be easily changed by altering
the wheels 2 and 3. On the shaft 4 1 place a small water wheel 5 to supply
constant power for maintaining the revolutions of the pendulum and opening
the steam valve of the engine by its momentum. A pipe for bringing the
water required (which is regulated by a cock) is shewn at 8. On the end of
the shaft 4 is placed a wiper or cam 16 opening the valve of the engine by
means of the lever 17 at the commencement of the stroke, the valve being
made heavy enough to shut down. by itself so soon as liberated. The time at
which it is liberated gives the point of cutting off the steam for expansion, to
regulate which is the second function of the governor, and is attained by avail-
ing myself of the slightly varied length of the stroke in relation to the duty

page_text: performed at the moment. The lever 17, which lifts the steam valve, is sup-
ported on a pillar moved vertically by the lever 18 and rod F, on which is a
male screw F', driven by the shaft 4 at a constant velocity through the pullies
6 and 7. Revolving on this screw F is a female screw M, carrying a ratchet
wheel 19 and cog wheel M, by which it is driven in one direction by the
return or fall of a heavy segment 20, lifted by means of the long lever 21,
which is depressed by the piston rod or beam of the engine at the last part of
each stroke, any variation in the length of which alters the amount of rotation
imparted to the screw M in the same direction as that of the screw F, and the
difference in their velocity varies the length of rod F, and through the lever 18
raises or depresses the centre 22 of the lever 17; and consequently the amount
of elevation given to the expansion valve; maintaining it in suspension a longer
or shorter time, as required by the varying load. The equilibrium valve is
opened at the termination of each stroke by the engine, or by this governor
instead of by a cataract as is usually practised.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, Sheet 3, shew its application to a windmill and steam
engine combined. Here P, P, is a double pendulum formed of flattened
weights, which during revolution present considerable resistance to the atmo-
sphere for the purpose of limiting their arc of vibration. Their rods hang on
a hinge joint J, attached to the shaft 1, which carries the bevil wheel 2 geered
into 3 on the shaft 4; which is contained within the main shaft to which the
sails are attached, and is calculated to revolve at the same speed.. On its end
is placed a spur wheel F, which performs the same duty as the female screw F
of Figure 1, Sheet 1, and gears into the racks M, M, M, connected with the
vanes of the sails. Any difference in velocity between the wheel F and the
main sail shaft by this means varies the amount of clothing. In this instance
the friction and resistence of the atmosphere is overcome by a convolute or
other spring 5*, one end of which is attached to the shaft 4, and the other to
the main sail shaft. The regulation of the engine is performed by a male
screw on the pendulum shaft 1, having a female screw 5 driven by the main
vertical shaft of the mill. It moves vertically through its driving wheel 6, and
actuates' a combination of levers connected with the throttle valve of the
engine. To stop or start the windmill a pulley 7 is provided on the shaft 1,
with an endless rope passing over sheaves, and hanging down in the mill.
When you wish to stop the mill, hold the rope tight so as to retard the pen-
dulum shaft and open the vanes; and to start the mill, shut the vanes by
turning the pendulum in its proper direction. '
Figures 5 and 6, Sheet 3, represent the application to a-water wheel or

page_text: tourbine, and is almost similar to Figure 1, Sheet 1, a water wheel 5 being
substituted for the constant falling weight, and it has the addition of a shuttle
moved by the levers 6, 7, and 8 for turning on more water to sustain the arc-
of vibration while lifting the weight of the large water-wheel shuttle. A is the
lever moved by the longitudinal motion of the shaft F. B is a balance weight-
to counterpoise the shuttle, &c.; and s, the rod attached to the shuttle lever.
Note. The water wheel may be dispensed with by adding additional weight.
to the balance, which will then tend to accelerate the pendulum.
I have not shewn the escapement, &c., necessary for employing an oscil-
lating penduluni, as I consider them liable to get out of order, and find them
less manageable than the rotating pendulum.
Having now described the nature and construction of the Invention, and
the best manner I am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have
it understood that I do not confine myself to the details shewn and described,
provided the peculiar character of either of the arrangements be retained. İ
would also have it understood that I make no claim to many of the separate
mechanical parts herein described. But what I claim is,-
First, the application of detached pendulums revolving or oscillating at
certain speeds relative to their lengths in connection with machinery to be
governed, so as to employ the differential velocity between the machine and
governor for regulating the amount of steam, water, wind, or other power
supplied to it:
Secondly, the application of the nearly regular and constant velocity of a
detached fly wheel, so as to employ the differential velocity between it and the
machine to effect the same purpose:
Thirdly, the exclusive use of the revolving slide valve shewn by Figures 4
and 5, Sheet 1, as described herein, either in combination with the aforesaid
or any other governor or the hand, when used for regulating the distance
between the two helical curves:
Fourthly, the exclusive use of the cam and disc described by 16, Figures 1
and 3, Sheet 1, actuated with angular velocity independent of its simple velo-
city, by causing the shaft on which it is driven to move a screw on its circum-
ference longitudinally through a female screw in the centre of the disc when
and so often as it is employed to vary the time of closing valves or regulate the
supply of power:
And, fifthly, I claim the use of a detached pendulum or fly-wheel actuated
by a constant independent force for opening the valves of pumping or Cornish
engines, and also the difference of its velocity and the space passed through by
•

page_text: the piston rod converted into circular motion for regulating the time during
which the said valves remain open.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Woods, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.