IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATORS to be as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: I JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 169 Fleet Street in the City of London, Fellow
of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATORS to be as follows:-
"
The object of this invention is to construct an automatic and continuous
lubricator for those parts of steam engines such as the slide valves and pistons
which rúb under pressure and at high temperature.
The improved lubricator is composed of a vessel preferably metallic and
cylindrical and provided with an indicating tube protected from external damage;
this tube communicates at top and bottom with the vessel the connections being
hermetic. The top of the vessel has an aperture provided with a screw stopper,
through which the oil or lubricant is supplied thereto. At the bottom is a water
inlet fitted with a cock. The water as it rises in the vessel raises the oil which
then enters the open end of a tube within the vessel; the oil flows down this tube
and then through a cock to the tube which conducts it to the required part of the
engine. At a convenient part of this oil conducting tube an indicating box is
intercalated; it has openings in which panes of glass are hermetically fitted and it
is filled with water through which the oil passes drop by drop from the part of the
tube below the box to the part above. The rising of the oil can be seen through
the glass. This indicating box can be placed in any convenient position provided
it be in a vertical rising part of the oil conducting tube. The lubricator itself can
therefore be placed anywhere while the indicating box can be situated at the most
convenient point for inspecting it. A pipe, fitted with a cock, communicates with
the steam chest or steam pipe and conducts steam therefrom to a condenser; the
water from the condenser flows to the water inlet already described at the base of
the lubricator. It will thus be seen that this condensed steam or water acts to raise
the oil in the lubricator, that this oil passes down the tube which is within the
lubricator, is conducted by the oil conducting tube to the indicating box and thence
to the part to be lubricated; the pipe is here fitted with another cock.
The mode of mounting the lubricator will somewhat vary according to the
position in which it is placed. If it be placed above the valve chest or other

page_text: horizontal part of the engine it may be screwed to a boss on the top of a metal
piece or casting which communicates internally with the steam chest and has two
branches respectively for the outlet of steam and the inlet of oil. If it be mounted
upon a vertical steam pipe it will be attached at its side to a metal piece or casting
fixed to the steam pipe and such as just described. Or if it be placed against a
wall the metal piece or casting may be dispensed with while the oil inlet to, and
the steam outlet from, the steam pipe are separated.
Lubricators constructed in accordance with this invention never get hot; there-
fore the water they contain has no energy of its own; this is essential for the
continuity of the action because when a lubricator contains water at a temperature
of about 150° Centigrade (302° Fahrenheit) this temperature being that of the
ordinary working pressure of the engine, there is a sudden variation of the pressure,
the water enters into active ebullition, deranges the apparatus and empties it at
once.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
"
I JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 169 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow
of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATORS
and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to construct an automatic and continuous
lubricator for steam engines and more particularly for those parts such as the slide
valves and pistons which rub under pressure and at high temperature.
The improved lubricator is composed of a vessel preferably metallic and
cylindrical and provided with an indicating tube. The top of the vessel has an
aperture, provided with a screw stopper, through which the oil or lubricant is
supplied thereto. At the bottom is a water inlet fitted with a cock. The water
as it rises in the vessel raises the oil which then enters the open end of a tube
within the vessel; the oil flows down this tube and then through a cock to the
tube which conducts it to the required part of the engine. At a convenient part of
this oil conducting tube an indicating box is intercalated; it has openings in which
panes of glass are hermetically fitted and it is filled with water through which the
oil passes drop by drop from the part of the tube below the box to the part above.
The rising of the oil can be seen through the glass. This indicating box can be
placed in any convenient position provided it be in a vertical rising part of the oil
conducting tube. The lubricator itself can therefore be placed anywhere while
the indicating box can be situated at the most convenient point for inspecting it.
A pipe, fitted with a cock, communicates with the steam chest or steam pipe and .
conducts steam therefrom to a condenser; the water from the condenser flows to
the water inlet already described at the base of the lubricator. It will thus be
seen that this condensed steam or water acts to raise the oil in the lubricator, that
this oil passes down the tube which is within the lubricator, is conducted by the
oil-conducting tube to the indicating box and thence to the part to be lubricated;
the pipe is here fitted with another cock.
Figures 1 to 5 represent a steam engine lubricator constructed as herein before
described. Figure 1 is a vertical section of the lubricating vessel. Figures 2 and 3
are respectively a vertical section and a face view of the indicating box through
which the oil passes drop by drop. Figures 4 and 5 are elevations of the apparatus
on a smaller scale. V is the lubricating vessel fixed to the support P and having a
filling aperture at top fitted with a stopper T. GO is the water inlet at the
bottom. M is the tube within the vessel V this tube being open at top so that as
the oil rises in the vessel it may enter and flow down the tube. GH is the cock
which controls the flow of the oil from the tube M and h is the tube that conveys
the oil to the required part of the engine. L is the indicating box intercalated at
a convenient part of the tube h; this box has openings in which panes of glass V₁, V₁
are hermetically fitted with the aid of the screw caps E, E¹. The box L is filled
with water through which the oil rises drop by drop its passage being visible
through the panes V'. R, H is a cock at the other end of the oil tube h. SV is
the pipe which communicates with the steam .chest or steam pipe and conducts

page_text: steam therefrom to the condenser S from which the water flows by the pipe SG to
the water inlet GO. RV is a cock on the pipe S, V.,
In starting the apparatus close GO and GH, open RV, RH and T. Then open
successively and slightly GO and G H, so as to clear the air from the pipes (this
can be repeated); close GO and GH; fill with water, close T and open GO to see
that there is no escape; purge by GO, opening T, close GO, fill with oil and
close T. See that the condenser is cold and put the apparatus in work.
The mode of mounting the lubricator will somewhat vary according to the
position in which it is placed. If it be placed above the valve chest or other
horizontal part of the engine it may be screwed to a boss on the top of a metal
piece or casting such as X, Figure 4 which communicates internally with the steam
chest and has two branches, as shown, respectively for the outlet of steam and the
inlet of oil. If it be mounted upon a vertical steam pipe--see Figure 6-it will be
attached at its side to a metal piece or casting X fixed to the steam pipe and such
as just described. Or if it be placed against a wall- -see Figure 7-the metal piece
or casting may be dispensed with while the oil inlet to, and the steam outlet from,
the steam pipe are separated.
Figures 8 and 9.represent a somewhat modified form of apparatus in which the
indicating box L forms a prolongation of the cock GH the oil after passing through
this box being conducted as before by the tube h to the part to be lubricated. The
lubricating vessel V has a foot P by which it is fixed by means of a screw to the
support X, a lath of wood, hardened caoutchouc, or other insulating material P¹ being
interposed to prevent the vessel V getting heated; in the support ✗ are the two
passages for the inlet of oil and outlet of steam respectively. R is a water
reservoir, in the pipe SG for the purpose of providing for a considerable supply of
oil in case of need. For large engines the support K should be provided with two
cocks y and y¹ in order to allow of the apparatus being temporarily removed
without stopping.the engine; for small engines the use of these cocks is optional.
Lubricators constructed in accordance with this invention never get hot; there-
fore the water, they contain has no energy of its own; this is essential for the
continuity of the action because when a lubricator contains water at a temperature
of about 150° Centigrade (302° Fahrenheit) this temperature being that of the
ordinary working pressure of the engine, there is a sudden variation of the pressure,
the water enters into active ebullition, deranges the apparatus and empties it at
once.
my
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me, I declare that what I claim is
Constructing steam engine lubricators substantially as hereinbefore described and
represented in the annexed drawings.