IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS OF REGULATING THE MOTION OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sanders Trotman, of Stowmarket, in the County
of Suffolk, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MODE AND
MEANS OF REGULATING THE MOTION OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER
MACHINES."
"
Sealed the 10th May 1872, and dated the 28th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sanders Trotman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th November 1871.
I, SANDERS TROTMAN, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVED MODE AND MEANS OF REGULATING THE MOTION OF STEAM ENGINES AND
OTHER MACHINES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its object an improved method of regulating
the motion of steam engines and other machines.
It consists of a pump
or pumps for causing a flow of water or other suitable liquid or fluid
through a vessel or chamber, which chamber is. furnished with a ram

page_text: working through a packing box, and with an aperture variable in area.
used to control the amount of liquid or fluid admitted to or taken from
the said chamber in a given time. A pressure or a partial vacuum is
maintained in the said vessel or chamber by the pump or pumps, and
the ram is connected with a spring, a weight, or other constant force
tending to counteract the said pressure or partial vacuum.
When this Invention is used to govern steam engines the ram of the
vessel is connected with the throtle valve, or with the link motion, or
with the expansion valve eccentric in any suitable manner.
For
This Invention may be applied to govern other machines.
example, when this Invention is employed to regulate the closeness
together of the upper and nether millstones of grinding mills the ram
is connected with the lighter gear or may be placed directly under the
toe of the millstone spindle.
The action of this improved governor is as follows:-When a liquid, 1
preferably oil or water, is used I arrange the aperture, which is variable
in area at pleasure, so that the contents of the vessel or chamber are
discharged into the suction passages of the pump or pumps; pressure is
applied to the ram, tending to force it into the vessel or chamber; the
suction passages of the pump or pumps are filled with the liquid; the 2
pump or pumps are set in motion by the communicated motion of
the engine or machine to be governed. The liquid is thus forced by the
pump or pumps into the vessel or chamber; the quantity passed by
the pumps is in proportion to their speed.
In adjusting this governor the aperture from the vessel or chamber to
the suction passages is decreased in area until the pressure of the liquid
in the chamber balances the counteracting pressure that is tending to
force the ram into it. Any alteration in the speed of the engine or the
machine to be governed will lessen or accelerate the speed of the pump
or pumps, and thus diminish or increase the pressure of the liquid in the 3
vessel or chamber. If this pressure be increased it will more than
counterbalance the counteracting pressure which is tending to force the
ram into the vessel, and the ram will be forced further outwards than its
mean position. If, on the other hand, the pressure in the chamber be.
lessened by a diminished speed of the pump or pumps, the ram will be a
forced by the counteracting pressure further into the vessel or chamber
than its mean position. These variations in the position of the ram

page_text: obtained by the varying pressure in the vessel are employed to regulate
the steam engine or other machine as required.
When a fluid, such as air or gas, is employed I regulate the area of
the aperture admitting the gas or air into the vessel. The pump or
pumps keep up a partial vacuum in the vessel; the atmospheric pressure
tends to force the ram into the said vessel. The force of the atmospheric
pressure upon the ram is balanced by a spring, a weight, or other
constant force tending to eject the ram from the vessel. The pump or
pumps being set in motion by the communicated motion of the steam.
engine or machine to be governed, the aperture admitting the fluid
to the vessel or chamber is decreased in area until a partial vacuum is
obtained of such degree that the atmospheric pressure upon the ram
balances the counteracting force which is tending to eject the ram from
the vessel. Any variation in the speed of the pump or pumps produces
a variation in the amount of vacuum. The varying vacuum is employed
in the way in which I employ the varying pressure obtained when a
liquid is used, as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sanders Trotman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SANDERS
TROTMAN, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Sanders Trotman, Her special licence
that I, the said Sanders Trotman, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Sanders Trotman, 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,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS
OF REGULATING THE MOTION OF STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Sanders Trotman,
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 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 Sanders Trotman, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
This Invention has for its object an improved method of regulating
the motion of steam engines and other machines. It consists of a pump
or pumps for causing a flow of water or other suitable liquid or fluid
through a vessel or chamber, which chamber is furnished with a ram
working through a packing box, and with an aperture, variable in area,
used to control the amount of liquid or fluid admitted to or taken from
the said chamber in a given time. A pressure or a partial vacuum is
maintained in the said vessel or chamber by the pump or pumps, and the
ram is connected with a spring, a weight, or other constant force tending
to counteract the said pressure or partial vacuum.
When this Invention is used to govern steam engines the ram of the
vessel is connected with the throtle valve, or with the link motion, or
with the expansion valve eccentric in any suitable manner.
This Invention may be applied to govern other machines. For
example, when this Invention is employed to regulate the closeness
together of the upper and nether millstones of grinding mills, the ram is
connected with the lighter gear or may be placed directly under the toe
of the millstone spindle.
The action of this improved covernor is as follows •When a liquid

page_text: in area at pleasure, so that the contents of the vessel or chamber are
discharged into the suction passages of the pump or pumps; pressure is
applied to the ram, tending to force it into the said vessel or chamber;
the suction passages of the pump or pumps are filled with the liquid; the
pump or pumps are set in motion by the communicated motion of the
engine or machine to be governed. The liquid is thus forced by the pump
or pumps into the vessel or chamber; the quantity passed by the pumps
is in proportion to their speed.
In adjusting this governor the aperture from the vessel or chamber to
the suction passages is decreased in area until the pressure of the liquid
in the chamber balances the counteracting pressure that is tending to
force the ram into it. Any alteration in the speed of the engine or
machine to be governed will lessen or accelerate the speed of the pump
or pumps, and thus diminish or increase the pressure of the liquid in the
vessel or chamber. If this pressure be increased it will more than
counterbalance the counteracting pressure which is tending to force the
ram into the vessel, and the ram will be forced further outwards than its
mean position. If, on the other hand, the pressure in the chamber be
lessened by a diminished speed of the pump or pumps, the ram will be
forced by the counteracting pressure further into the vessel or chamber
than its mean position. These variations in the position of the ram
obtained by the varying pressure in the vessel are employed to regulate
the steam engine or other machine as required.
When a fluid, such as air or gas, is employed I regulate the area of
the aperture admitting the gas or air into the vessel. The pump or
pumps keep up a partial vacuum in the vessel; the atmospheric pressure
tends to force the ram into the said vessel. The force of the atmospheric
pressure upon the ram is balanced by a spring, a weight, or other
constant force tending to eject the ram from the vessel.
The pump or
pumps being set in motion by the communicated motion of the engine
or machine to be governed the aperture admitting the fluid to the vessel
or chamber is decreased in area until a partial vacuum is obtained of
such degree that the atmospheric pressure upon the ram balances the
counteracting force which is tending to eject the ram from the vessel.
Any variation in the speed of the pump or pumps produces a variation
in the amount of vacuum. The varying vacuum is employed in the way
in which I employ the varying pressure obtained when a liquid is used,
as herein-before described.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal elevation of my improved governor as
adapted for use with liquids, such as oil or water; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the same; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the
same, and Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the same.
A are the plungers of two pumps connected by the cross bars B; Care
the parts to which a rod is attached to communicate motion to the pumps
from the engine or machine to be governed; D are the suction valves
and E the delivery valves of these pumps; F is the vessel or chamber
furnished with the ram G, which ram is prolonged to H for attachment
to the throtle valve or other required part of the engine or machine to be
governed. This prolonged end is guided by the hollow screw I, which
screw is also the means by which I regulate the amount of pressure upon
the ram G by the spring K, which tends to force the ram G into the
chamber F. The washer L prevents the action of the spring K beyond
the face of the gland M. The screw I is carried by the cross bar N and
is locked by the set nut O. P is the opening variable in area by means
of the tapering plug R, which plug is furnished with a screw and hand
wheel by which it is adjusted; S is the delivery passage from the pumps
to the chamber F; T is the suction passage; V is a safety valve to the

page_text: pumps, a pressure or a vacuum chamber, and other mechanism to form
a governor by which steam engines and other machines may be
regulated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sanders Trotman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.