IMPROVED STEAM AND WATER GAUGE FOR USE WITH STEAM BOILERS AND ANALOGOUS APPARATUS.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Hall, of New York City, in the
State of New York, and in the United States of America, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED STEAM AND WATER GAUGE FOR USE WITH STEAM
BOILERS AND ANALOGOUS APPARATUS.
"
Sealed the 10th October 1872, and dated the 27th August 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Charles Henry Hall at
the Office of the Commissioners' of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th August 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HENRY HALL, of New York City, in the State of New York, and in the
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVED STEAM
AND WATER GAUGE FOR USE WITH STEAM BOILERS AND ANALOGOUS APPARATUS,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,

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administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and
have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor
thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Henry Hall, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
My improved gauge provides a reliable means for indicating the
pressure of the steam and also the exact height of the water line in
the boiler at any desired distance from the boiler and within any
moderate height above, or when required at a lower level than the
boiler. It is adapted for mounting in the counting rooms of manu-
factories and in the cabins of steamers, as also for indicating the pressure
and height of the fluid in apparatus for distilling oils and various other
materials.
°
The following is a description of what I consider the best means of
carrying out the Invention as applied to a steam boiler. The accom-
panying Drawings form a part of this Specification.
Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved gauge with its connections,
and a portion of a steam boiler in section.
Figure 2 is a corresponding view of a slight modification.
Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in both the Figures.
A is a steam boiler, and B and C are pipes communicating therewith
at different levels and leading to any required distance, and up or down
as may be required. The pipe B is connected at a point at or a little
above the proper water line. The pipe C is connected below the level
to which the water should ever be allowed to sink.
Both pipes B and C communicate through three-way cocks b and c
to an inverted Ushaped glass tube marked M, which is conveniently
placed to be easily inspected. The ends of the pipe M are represented as
secured by tight stuffing boxes to the brass casting, in which are the
three-way cocks b and c, but they may be cemented or otherwise secured
as preferred. In some situations it may be important to allow a little

page_text: elasticity by providing connections of rubber or the like to reduce the
risk of fracture.
The steam pressure in the boiler forces the water through the pipes B
and C, and compressing the air above it causes it to stand in each leg of
the glass tube M at a certain level. There will under all ordinary con-
ditions be a difference of level of the water surface in the two legs of the
tube M. The difference will be exactly equal to the depth at which the
water level in the boiler stands below the junction of the pipe B. This
is due to the difference in hydrostatic pressure in the pipes B and C.
The steam pressure being exactly equal in each, and the communication
for the compressed air being open between the two pipes B and C
through the upper part of the glass tube M, exactly the same steam
pressure will obtain in each pipe B and C, and the slightest difference in
the water pressure due to the different elevation of water in the two parts
will be felt with its ordinary full effect in the glass gauge M. It will
be understood that in starting the apparatus the pipe B is filled with
water. In case this precaution is neglected the steam entering and con-
densing therein will soon fill it. In practice, the pipe B stands always
filled with water up to the point of its junction with the boiler, and the
hydrostatic pressure obtaining in the corresponding leg of the glass.
tube M is due to a column of that height, and is thus uniform. But
the pressure in the other pipe C is due to the varying height of the
water in the boiler, which under ordinary conditions is less, and will
induce a correspondingly less elevation of the water in the other leg of
the glass tube M.
I have experimented with the gauge, and find that every change of
elevation in the water in the boiler is promptly indicated by corre-
sponding fluctuations in the level of the water in the two legs of the
pipe M.
In order to avoid too great sensitiveness in the apparatus, which I find
may under some conditions throw the water quite over the bend at the
top of the glass pipe M, it may be desirable in some situations to partially
close one or both of the cocks b, c, so as to throttle or check the motion
of the water I prefer however another axnadient which I find has the

page_text: with the pipe B, to be available in case of a very sudden lowering of the,
water level in the boiler, as may sometimes occur from priming.
I provide an enlargement or chamber in the pipe B, as close to the
boiler as practicable. This is marked B¹ in the Drawing, and may be
larger or smaller than here represented, but it is important that it shall
be considerably larger than the main body of the pipe B.
N is a straight tube of glass hermetically sealed at the upper end and
joined at the base to a brass casting which is in free communication
with the pipe C above the stop-cock c. The gauge being properly
enclosed in a frame D, a properly graduated scale is mounted behind
the central tube N, which indicates exactly the pressure in the boiler
in pounds per square inch or in such other units as may be desired. The
pressure in the boiler may be approximately inferred from the mean
elevation of the water level in the two legs of the bent tube M; but it
is not easy to graduate so as to read it therefrom, and the indications are
liable to be inaccurate.
The arrangement allows of very conveniently cleaning the tubes. By
turning the cocks b, c, into certain positions they completely close the
connections from the pipes B and C, and by turning them a little further
they open communications with the glass tubes M and N so as to allow
the water to drain therefrom, under which conditions the tubes fill freely
with air. In case a partial vacuum or other cause prevents the water
from falling out of the tubes the breath may be applied to one of the
nozzles, and the water may be conveniently blown out.
✗ is a screw plug, which may be removed from below the central
tube N in case it is reluctant to empty.
I claim as my Invention,-

page_text: Also the combination of the three-way cocks b, c, and the cock or
movable plug X with the bent or branched tube M. and separate gauge N
adapted to serve with two connections B, C, to the boiler A, as herein
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Hall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
CHARLES HENRY HALL. (L.S.)