IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER AND STEAM GUAGES FOR STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Slack, of Hyson Green, Terrace Street,
Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER AND STEAM
GUAGES FOR STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 21st February 1860, and dated the 30th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Slack at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
December 1859.
I, JAMES SLACK, of Hyson Green, Terrace Street, Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER AND
STEAM GUAGES FOR STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in water and steam guages
for steam boilers. For these purposes a water guage is constructed of suitable
metal tube, which I call the guage tube, which is formed with or without
glass in front. This guage tube at its lower end is, by means of a suitable
tube and stop cock, put in communication with the water in the lower part of
the boiler, and it has at its upper end a stop cock and tube, which connects it
with the upper or steam portion of the boiler. Up one side of the guage tube
perforations are made at intervals of an inch or other distances. By this
arrangement by turning the upper stop cock and then the lower one, the water
will flow out of the holes which are below the water level in the. boiler,.
whilst no water will flow out of the holes in the guage which are above the

page_text: water level in the boiler, and when glass is used at the front or other part of
the guage tube, the height of the water may also be seen through. In some
cases I use an unperforated metal tube in the interior of a steam boiler to
indicate the depth of water therein. In constructing a steam guage for a
steam boiler a zig-zag bent spring is used; the steeled metal used in making
such spring is made tapering, the lower end being thicker than the upper end
of the spring, and the bends of the spring decrease in extent as they rise higher
and higher. The upper end of the spring where it comes to the top of the
case enters into and is held by a socket or recess formed in the case to receive
it. The other or lower end of the spring is formed with an enlargement,
which fits correctly within a cylinder formed at the lower part of the case, and
such enlargement is prevented being raised too high by a projecting inner
flange at the upper part of the cylinder. The case is fixed by a flange to the
flange of the pipe, which connects it to a steam boiler, and between such
flanges is a flexible disc similar to what has before been used in steam guages,
and in which rests the lower end of the zig-zag spring, consequently. when the
disc is pressed on the lower end of the spring is pressed upward, the lower
enlarged end thereof being pressed more and more into the cylinder, and the
amount of such pressure is indicated on a dial by a pointing hand, which
receives motion by a toothed sector taking into a pinion on the axis of such
pointing end, the toothed sector receiving motion by a connecting rod or link,
which at its lower end is pin-jointed to the lower end of the zig-zag spring..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Slack in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SLACK, of Hyson Green, Terrace Street, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Slack, Her special licence that I, the said James
Slack, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Slack, 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and, Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER AND STEAM GUAGES. FOR STEAM BOILERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Slack, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the sanie 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 James Slack, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in water and steam
guages for steam boilers. For these purposes a water guage is constructed
of suitable metal tube, which I call the guage tube, which is formed
with or without glass in front; this guage tube at its lower end is by means.
of a suitable tube and stop cock put in communication with the water in the
lower part of the boiler, and it has as its upper end a stop cock and tube.
which connects it with the upper or steam portion of the boiler. Up one
side of the guage tube perforations are made at intervals of an inch or other
distances. By this arrangement by turning the upper stop cock and then
the lower one the water will flow out of the holes which are below the water
level in the boiler, whilst no water will flow out of the holes in the guage
which are above the water level in the boiler, and when glass is used at the
front or other part of the guage tube the height of the water may also be
seen through. In some cases I use an unperforated metal tube or tubes in
the interior of a steam boiler to indicate the depth of water therein. In
constructing a steam guage for a steam boiler, a zig-zag bent spring is used;
the steeled metal used in making such spring is made tapering, the lower end
being thicker than the upper end of the spring, and the bends of the spring
decrease in extent as they rise higher and higher. The upper end of the
spring where it comes to the top of the case inters into and is held by a
socket or recess formed in the case to receive it; the other or lower end
of the spring is formed with an enlargement, which fits correctly within a
cylinder formed at the lower part of the case, and such enlargement is pre-
vented being raised too high by a projecting inner flange at the upper part of,
the cylinder. The case is fixed by a flange to the flange of the pipe, which:

page_text: connects it to a steam boiler, and between such flanges is a flexible disc similar:
to what has before been used in steam guages, and in which rests the
lower end of the zig-zag spring; consequently when the disc is pressed on, the
lower end of the spring is pressed upward, the lower enlarged end thereof being
pressed more and more into the cylinder, and the amount of such pressure is
indicated on a dial by a pointing hand which receives motion by a toothed:
sector taking into a pinion on the axis of such pointing hand, the toothed
sector receiving motion by a connecting rod or link, which at its lower end:
is pin-jointed to the lower end of the zig-zag spring.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a front view, and Figure 2 a side view of a water guage,
constructed according to my Invention; a, a, is a tube having small holes
b, b, formed therein at regulated intervals; c, c, are two cocks applied thereto
and suitably formed for being fixed to a steam boiler, so that one of the cocks
may be fixed below the correct water line of the boiler, and the other above
it; d is a cock at the lower end of the tube a. When it is desired to ascer
tain the height of water in the boiler the upper cock c is opened, and then
the lower cock c is opened, the cock d being closed; the water will then flow
through those holes 6 of the tube which are below the water level in the:
boiler.
Figure 3 shews a front view, and Figure 4 a transverse section of another:
arrangement of a water guage, wherein an unperforated metal tube or tubes.
is used on the interior of the boiler, which being connected at one end to the
end of a hollow plug of a cock, so that it will rotate therewith, will indicate
the height of water in the boiler, when the plug of the cock is rotated by its:
position when its lower end first enters or leaves the water in the boiler. e,
is the tube which at its upper end is fixed to or forms part of the plug f of
the cock g which is made suitable for being fixed to a steam boiler by the.
screw h, or otherwise; is a handle and pointer fixed to the plug, and j is a
dial plate. The plug fis made with an opening k, which when the pointer
is moved round a short distance communicates with the groove 1, partly:
around the interior of the body of the cock; m is an outlet pipe connected to
the body of the cock. When the pointer is in a vertical position the passage
through the plug of the cock is closed, but when the pointer is inclined in:
either direction the passage will be opened, and if the bottom of the pipe e
is below the water in the boiler water will escape through the outlet m, but.

page_text: by continuing to incline the pointer more and more until steam commences to
escape through the outlet the height of the water in the boiler may be ascer-
tained. Figures 5 and 6, shew sections of a pressure guage constructed accord-
ing to my Invention; n is a zig-zag spring having at its lower end a piston o,
which works in the short cylinder p; the upper end of the cylinder p is con
tracted at q, so as to prevent the piston being forced too far by the pressure
thereon; r is a flexible diaphragm which closes that end of the cylinder p
fluid tight; s is a link or connecting rod attached at one end to the lower end
of the zig-zag spring, and at the other end to a toothed quadrant t, which acts
on a pinion on the axis of the pointer hand, which indicates the pressure on
the outside by a graduated face.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately, but what I claim is, first the combined
apparatus described in respect to Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings.
Secondly, I claim the mode of applying a tube e to indicate the height
of water in a boiler.
And, thirdly, I claim the combined apparatus described in respect to Figures 5
and 6 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Slack, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JAMES SLACK.
(L.S.)