AN IMPROVEMENT IN WATER GAUGES FOR STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Datus Ensign Rugg, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN WATER GAUGES FOR STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 1st January 1858, and dated the 11th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Datus Ensign Rugg at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th July 1857.
I, DATUS ENSIGN RUGG, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN WATER GAUGES FOR STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
I attach a metallic pipe to the boiler at some convenient place above the
usual water line, extend the same to any convenient point contiguous to or
distant from the boiler, and bend or attach this pipe to a vertical or nearly
vertical pipe, and from the bottom of said vertical pipe I connect another pipe
to the bottom of the boiler. By this means the water in the aforesaid vertical
metallic pipe is at the same level as that in the boiler. I surround the said
metallic pipe with a glass tube or cylinder, and fill the same with water, oil, or
other fluid, so that the ebullition of said fluid by the heat induced by the

page_text: steam above the water level of the boiler shall indicate the said water level by
inspection. The water in the lower part of the aforesaid metallic tube is
comparatively cold, because there is no circulation. A small pipe may supply
water or other fluid to the said glass tube or cylinder, and if the top of said
tube or cylinder be closed the accumulation of vapor will keep the water in
the said glass cylinder at the same level as that in the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of. the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Datus Ensign Rugg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DATUS
ENSIGN RUGG, of the City and State of New York, United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Datus Ensign Rugg, Her special license that I, the said Datus Ensign Rugg,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Datus
Ensign Rugg, 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 make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WATER
GAUGES FOR STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Datus Ensign Rugg, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same 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 Datus Ensign Rugg, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-

page_text: My Invention relates to a manner of indicating by inspection the actual
water level of the boiler by the ebullition caused in a glass vessel filled with
water or other liquid, said ebullition being produced from the heat of a metal
pipe, connected at its top and bottom ends to the steam and water spaces
respectively of the boiler; and the water in said metal pipe being at the
same level as that in the boiler, and having no circulation, is comparatively
cold, while the steam above it is hot and causes ebullition in the said glass
vessel at the water line, and above that point, as aforesaid. Thereby tho
gauge cocks on the boiler, or on a separate pipe, are dispensed with, and my
Invention is far better than the glass tubes which have heretofore been
used, because said tubes speedily become discolored with sediment, so that tho
water line is not apparent, and are also liable to become broken and allow
steam and hot water to blow into the boiler room, often to the injury of the
attendants.
In the Drawing, a represents the end or any portion of a boiler to which
the gauge is to be applied; b is a vertical metallic pipe, connected at the upper
end to the steam space of the boiler, and at the lower end to the boiler as
much below the water level as convenient, so as to connect to the coolest part
of said boiler. Cocks may be applied to this pipe as at c, d, if desired. e is
a small ring or cup surrounding the pipe b, and having a small cock f; g is a
glass cylinder setting on said cup e, and surrounding the pipe b. This glass
cylinder may be left open at its upper end, but I prefer that a cap / be used,
similar to the cup e; i is a cock in the cap h, through which liquid is to be
supplied to the cylinder g; k is a pipe that may be used connecting from the
cock f to a glass cylinder 2, located in any distant part of the building. If tlio
cock i be open and the cock f closed, the steam will blow off by said cock i,
and may be used to sound a whistle or alarm when the water level of the boiler
descends sufficiently low to cause ebullition in said cylinder 9; and if the cock
i be closed and the cock f be opened, the accumulation of vapor in the upper
part of the glass cylinder 9 would force the water out of the same down to the
water level of the boiler, and thus indicate correctly said level, and any rise or
fall of the same, both adjoining the boiler and at any desired distant location,
by the glass cylinder 7.
I do not claim a metallic pipe connecting with the steam and water spaces
of the boiler, neither do I claim a glass water gauge in itself; but what I
claim is, the combination of the metallic pipe connected to the steam and
water spaces, and the surrounding transparent tube or cylinder, to indicate by

page_text: inspection the level of the water in the boiler, substantially as and for the
purposes specified.
In witness whercof, I, the said Datus Ensign Rugg, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
289, Broadway, New York,
THOMAS G. HAROLD,
289, Broadway, New York.
DATUS ENSIGN RUGG. (L.s.)