IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING IN CONNECTION WITH THE LUBRICATION OF APPARATUS TO BE USED MACHINERY
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Nottbeck, Civil Engineer, of St. Petersburgh, in
the Empire of Russia, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING
IN CONNECTION WITH THE LUBRICATION OF
APPARATUS TO BE USED
MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Nottbeck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th October 1878.
CHARLES DE NOTTBECK, Civil Engineer, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of
Russia. "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION
WITH THE LUBRICATION OF MACHINERY."
The object of this Invention is to furnish an instrument which is at once simple,
economical, and certain in its action to notify insufficiency of lubrication to the
bearings of shafts, or axes, or other rotating or moving parts of machinery.
I apply for this purpose in connection with each bearing or other part a column
of mercury, arranged in such manner that the heat resulting from the defect in
lubrication is communicated to the mercury and dilates it. This dilation raises the
level of the mercury in the vessel which contains it, and so brings the mercury into
contact with a point in connection with a small battery. In this way a circuit is
completed, and included in the circuit there is an instrument by which intimation
is given to the superintendent, and his attention directed to the bearing or part the
lubrication of which is deficient.
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page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles de Nottbeck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
April 1879.
CHARLES DE NOTTBECK, Civil Engineer, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of
Russia. "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION
WITH THE LUBRICATION OF MACHINERY."
This Invention has for its object improvements in indicating apparatus to be
used in connection with the lubrication of machinery.
My improved indicating apparatus is represented in Figure 1 of the annexed
Drawings, as applied in connection with a crank pin bearing and also with
stationary bearings of a crank shaft.
a is the shaft; b, its bearing; c, the crank pin; d, the connecting rod of the
engine; e, the bearing at its end into which the crank pin is received; is a
galvanic battery; g, is an electric-bell apparatus of well-known construction, such
that the bell sounds whenever contact is completed in either of several, currents
with which the bell apparatus is coupled, and such that indication is also inade on
a dial showing which of the several circuits has been completed. At the point h in
the bearing e there is the contact maker which operates when the crank pin
becomes heated, and at i in the bearing b is another contact maker which operates
with the heating of the shaft a and bearing b; k, k, are two insulated springs from
which conducting wires pass to the bell apparatus g and to the battery f, as the
Drawing indicates. Figure 2 shows the same parts in plan; Figure 3 is a section
full size of the contact maker at h in Figures 1 and 2; it consists of a brass case l
This arm terminates
which is screwed into the bearings and attaches the arm m.
in a metal brush made of thin steel blades m¹, m'. There is also a similar brush
n¹, n¹³, upon the cover of the case ; this cover is also of brass, but it is insulated
from the part h. by a vulcanite ferrule o. The case contains within it the
It consists of a box
instrument, which is shown separately in section at Figure 4.
in two parts screwed together, the part p is of brass and the part 7 is of ivory.
Into the box there is inserted a thermometer like instrument 1. In the con-
struction of the thermometer two wire are sealed into the glass, one at either
end. The bulb and part of the bore are filled with mercury, and an air space is
formed beyond the mercury. The quantity of mercury is so regulated that at the
desired temperature it completes a metal connection from wire to wire through the
thermometer but at a lower temperature, the contraction of the mercury causes it
to pass out of metallic contact with one of the wires. The wire at one end of the
thermometer when this is in its box is in contact with a coiled spring, which serves
both to hold the thermometer steady in its place and to make contact with the
part p of the box. This part of the box it will be seen is itself in contact with
the case, and this with the arin m carrying the brush m¹.
The wire sealed into the other end of the thermometer is in contact with
the plungers passing through the ivory cap q, and when the thermometer
with its box is put into the case and the cover n is screwed on the plunger
establishes a metallic connection through the cover with the brush n¹ which it
carries.
In the use of the apparatus at each revolution of the shaft the brushes m¹ and n¹
make contact with the springs k, k, and whenever it so happens that the battery
circuit is also complete through the thermometer the bell will sound and the
indicator will show that the crank pin has become more or less heated. The
contact maker at i in Figures 1 and 2 is similar to that already described, except
that the arm m and brush m² are dispensed with, as is also the brush n² on the
cover and the current is carried by wires attached, the one to the metal of the
bearing b and the other to the cover n of the contact maker.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim the arrangement of
apparatus for indicating the heating and deficiency in lubrication of moving and
other parts of machinery, substantially as described and shown in the annexed
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Nottbeck, have hereunto set iny
hand and seal, this Eleven day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
C. DE NOTTBECK.
(L.S.)