IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP GEAR FOR STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 15th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 15th July, 1887.
P
We ROGER NICHOLSON of 13 Hastings Street Chorlton on Medlock Manchester
in the County of Lancaster Engineer and THOMAS THORP of the Salford Iron Works
Manchester aforesaid Manager do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP GEAR FOR STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES to be as follows:
--
The object of our Invention is to provide improved mechanism for automatically
knocking off or closing the throttle valve or other admission valve of a steam or other
engine so as to prevent the engine running away and also to provide means for stopping
the engine by hand in case of accident or otherwise.
To effect this we make one of the bars or rods in the connection between the governor
and the throttle valve in say two pieces, one piece being connected to the governor
and the other to the valve lever and when the engine is running at its normal speed
these two pieces are held together to work as one, by means of a weighted lever which
is pivoted to one piece and bears against the other to hold them together. Also
connected to the governor there is an arrangement of adjustable levers which when
the engine exceeds its normal speed raises the weighted end of the pivoted lever thus
allowing the two pieces which compose. the bar to separate that connected to the
throttle valve falling to close the valve and cut off the admission of steam or other
fluid under pressure.
For rope driving in conjunction with the foregoing arrangement we employ an
arrangement for automatically knocking off or stopping the engine when a strand of
the rope becomes loose or breaks. We place a suitable appliance such as a light
wooden bar parallel with the axis of and close to the periphery of the driving pulley.
We secure an arm to the pivoted weighted lever which holds the two pieces of the
knock off bar together and through the end of this arm passes or may pass a rod on

page_text: which is fixed an adjustable stop piece one end of the rod being connected to the
wooden bar or other appliance and the other to a rod with a counter-weight.
When a strand of the rope comes in contact with and breaks the light wooden bar
or releases the appliance it releases the wire so that the weight moving the rod, brings
the stop piece against and moves the arm and so moves the pivoted weighted lever
thereby allowing the two pieces to separate and thus shutting the throttle or admission
valve.
Wires could be carried from the wooden bar or other appliance to the different
rooms of a mill, so that by operating one of these wires the knock off motion would
be actuated to close the valve and stop the engine.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stop Gear for Steam and other Engines.
We ROGER NICHOLSON of 13 Hastings Street Chorlton on Medlock Manchester
in the County of Lancaster Engineer and THOMAS THORP of the Salford Iron Works
Manchester aforesaid Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this invention 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 our Invention is to provide improved mechanism for automatically
knocking-off or closing the throttle valve or other admission valve of a steam or
other engine so as to prevent the engine running away and also to provide means for
stopping the engine by hand in case of accident or otherwise.
To effect this we make one of the bars or rods in the connection between the
governor and the throttle valve in say two pieces one piece being connected to the
governor and the other to the valve lever and when the engine is running at its normal
speed these two pieces are held together to work as one by means of a weighted lever
which is pivoted to one piece and bears against the other to hold them together. Also
connected to the governor there is an arrangement of adjustable levers which when
the engine exceeds its normal speed raises the weighted end of the pivoted lever thus
allowing the two pieces which compose the bar to separate that connected to the
throttle valve falling to close the valve and cut off the admission of steam or other
fluid under pressure.
For rope driving in conjunction with the foregoing arrangement we employ an
arrangement for automatically knocking-off or stopping the engine when a strand of
the rope becomes loose or breaks.
We place a suitable appliance such as a light wooden bar parallel with the axis of
and close to the periphery of the driving pulley. We secure an arm to the pivoted
weighted lever which holds the two pieces of the knock-off bar together and through
the end of this arm passes or may pass a rod on which is fixed an adjustable stop piece
one end of the rod being connected to the wooden bar or other appliance and the other
to a rod with a counterweight.
When a strand of the rope comes in contact with and breaks the light wooden bar
or releases the appliance it releases the wire so that the weight moving the rod brings
the stop piece against and moves the arm and so moves the pivoted weighted lever
thereby allowing the two pieces to separate and thus shutting the throttle or admission
valve.
Wires could be carried from the wooden bar or other appliance to the different
rooms of a mill so that by operating one of these wires the knock-off motion would
be actuated to close the valve and stop the engine.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying four Sheets of Drawings reference being
had to the figures and letters marked thereon.

page_text: Figure 1 is a view of part of a horizontal engine to which our improved knock-off
mechanism has been applied.
valve c.
Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 are detail views on an enlarged scale of parts of the same.
In these views. a represents the governor b the governor rod which is connected
to the throttle valve c by means of a pivoted lever d and a rod e which is notched or
recessed into an inversely similar notched or recessed rod which is connected to
the slotted arm of a weighted elbow lever g fixed on the spindle of the throttle
The notched portions of the two rods e and fare normally held firmly
together by means of a lever h which is pivoted at e¹ to the rod e and is enlarged near
the middle where it is slotted to receive the rod f as best shown in the detail views
Figures 2 and 3. The lever has also a projecting weighted arm h² so that the
lever being pivoted to the lower rod e and bearing on the upper rod f the weighted
arm when in the position shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 holds the two rods together.
The end of the rod e is pivoted to a lever i which is fulcrumed on a stationary
bracket and in the other end of the lever i is a radial slot in which is secured an
adjustable stop i¹.
When the engine runs away and attains an excessive speed the governor balls rising
move the rods and levers in the several directions indicated by the arrows Figure
and bring the stop against the lever h thereby moving the lever h on its pivot e¹
raising the weighted arm * and disengaging the two notched portions of the rods e
and and allowing the weight on the elbow lever g to operate the spindle and close
the throttle valve c.
Having described the arrangement of parts for knocking-off when the engine runs
away we will now proceed to describe the mechanism by which the knocking-off is
effected automatically when the speed of the engine falls unduly or below what is
intended or when the strand of a rope or the lace of a belt works loose or breaks and
also the arrangement by which the engine can be knocked-off by hand from any part
of a mill in case of accident or when otherwise necessary.
l
On the frame is pivoted at k¹ a lever k see Figure 4 on which is a projection or
catch piece which fits in a recess in a sliding piece ; to this piece is connected
one end of a cord or equivalent m which is connected at the other end to one end of
a rod n which passes through a slot in the end of the lever h see Figures 2 and 3
and on which is an adjustable stop n¹; from the other end of the rod n the cord or
equivalent m is taken over a guide pulley o see Figure 1 and from the end of the
cord a weight p is suspended which always tends to pull the sliding piece away from
the projection or catch piece k on the pivoted lever k but is prevented from so doing
by means of the weight which is suspended by a cord q¹ from one end of the said
lever. The lever k is slotted at the other end and through the slot is passed a rod r
on which is fixed an adjustable stop ¹; from the lower end of the rod r is suspended
a weight and the upper end of the rod r is connected by a cord or equivalent
one end of a light bars which is placed close to the periphery and parallel with the
axis of the grooved rope pulleys and is made preferably in two pieces notched
or nicked to engage one another and connected at the other end to a stationary
bracket s².
to
On the lever k are a number of slotted plates t each of which is connected at one
end by a
spring t¹ to a stationary rail t and at the other end by a wire or equivalent t³
to one of the rooms in the mill or other building.
The operation of the above described mechanism is as follows:-When the speed
of the engine falls below the prescribed limit the movement of the rods and levers
in the reverse direction to that indicated by the arrows Figure 1 brings the upper
end of the lever h against the stop n¹ and so raises the weighted arm ³ disengages
the rods e and f and allows the weighted lever g to act and close the throttle valve.
Again when a strand of one of the driving ropes on the grooved pulley becomes
loose and strikes the bars the two parts forming it are at once disengaged the weight
falls and by the stop depresses the front end of the pivoted lever k thereby raising
the catchpiece thereon and releasing the sliding piece the effect of which is that
the weight p falls and as it falls brings the stop n against and moves the upper end

page_text: of the lever h thereby raising the weighted arm ³ disengaging the rods e and f and
knocking off as before described. It is obvious that in the event of a lace working
loose when driving with a belt and a plain pulley the parts of the bars would be
disengaged in like manner.
Similarly the engine may be stopped from any of the various rooms in the mill by
simply pulling one of the wires t³ and raising the end of the lever k to release the
sliding piece and knock off the engine. A number of tumblers t see Figure 5 one
for each plate t may be used each tumbler being arranged to fall over when its corre-
sponding plate t is raised so that by having the names or numbers of the rooms on
the plates it will be readily apparent from which room the wire was operated to
knock-off the engine and thereby valuable time will be saved in the event of fire or
accident.
Figure 6 is a view of part of a vertical engine which has an automatic cut-off, our
improved knock-off mechanism being shown applied to the equilibrium valve, shown
in section in Fig. 7.
In these views a represents the governor 61 the governor rod which is fulcrumed
at 6 and to which is pivoted a hanger 63 through a slot in which is passed the weighted
pivoted lever * which holds together the two notched parts and of the releasing
device as in the previously described arrangement; also pivoted to the governor
rod 6 is a forked rod or hanger 64 which passes over the lever and has an adjustable
stop 6. The part et is in this arrangement secured to the framing and the part f' is
connected to a weighted lever u fulcrumed on a stationary bracket or hanger v and
connected by a rod w to a lever z fulcrumed on a rod y to the equilibrium or steam
admission valve x.
When the speed of the engine becomes excessive the action of the governor through
the rod 6 and an adjustable stop 66 in the hanger 63 raises the weighted end of the
lever thereby allowing the weight of the lever u to disengage the two parts e* and f
and through the rods w and y to operate the equilibrium valve and knock-off the
engine. Similarly when the speed of the engine falls unduly the engine is knocked-off
by means of the rod 61 hanger and stop b.
The improved knock-off mechanism shown and described only operates when the
speed of the engine either rises excessively or falls unduly the ordinary regulation of
the engine is effected in the usual manner by means of the rod b' connected to the
regulating lever of the automatic cut-off valve.
The arrangement of the weight and stop for knocking off the engine auto-
matically when a strand of a driving rope or the lace of a driving belt breaks or works
loose is substantially the same as that already described with reference to Figure 1 but
in this case the stop r¹ operates directly on the lever h*.
The arrangement of wires t' for knocking off from different parts of the mill is
also substantially the same as that described for Figure 1 but in this case instead of
the lever we employ a disengaging device consisting of the notched stationary
piece to which is pivoted the weighted lever / through a slot in which passes the
piece f which is notched inversely to the piece e. The plates t are threaded upon the
weighted lever hand the piece f* is connected by a cord or equivalent z to a weight z¹;
the cord z passes through a slot or hole in the lever * and on the cord is an adjustable
stop piece When one of the wires t is pulled the weighted end of the pivoted
lever his raised whereby the weight 2 acting on the piece disengages it from
the piece and brings the stop against the lever * which is thus operated to knock
off as before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is
1.-The construction use and application of two notched or recessed rods or equivalent
parts one connected to the governor and the other to the throttle or other admission
valve of a steam or other engine said notched parts by means of a weighted lever
pivoted to one of them and bearing against or upon the other being held together to
work as one part until the said pivoted weighted lever is moved either automatically

page_text: or by hand and the two parts are disengaged to allow suitable operating mechanism
to knock-off the engine substantially as and for the purposes herein described and as
illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
2. The combination with two notched or recessed parts of a weighted lever pivoted
to one part and bearing on or against the other part substantially in the manner and
for the purposes herein described and as shown.
3. The combination with mechanism for knocking off or stopping an engine of
means for indicating that part of the mill or other building from which the knocking
off mechanism was operated substantially as herein set forth.
4.-The several constructions combinations and arrangements of parts constituting
our improvements in knock off mechanism for the throttle or admission valves of
steam or other fluid pressure engines substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and as shown.