AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM BOILER GAUGE COCKS. AND REGISTERING APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mann. Engineer of the City of London Gas
Works. for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM
BOILER GAUGE COCKS. AND REGISTERING APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH."
Sealed the 5th January 1858, and dated the 9th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mann at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition. on the
9th July 1857.
I. WILLIAM MANN. Engineer of the City of London Gas Works, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF
STEAM BOILER GAUGE COCKS AND REGISTERING APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH,"
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to modify the arrangement of the ordinary
water cock and steam cock in such manner as to keep a check upon the person
in charge of the boiler or boilers, and to cause at intervals, say, of half an hour,
a pointer or pencil to trace upon a card, moved by clockwork, the pressure of
the steam, and to indicate whether the aforesaid cocks have or have not been
examined at such intervals.
I employ a circular card with divisions to answer for the twenty-four hours,
and this card is caused by clockwork to perform a complete revolution in
twenty-four hours.
From the steam and water cocks of the boiler I lead a steam pipe, the mouth
of which opens into an expanding cylinder, formed by preference of two parts,
and united by a tube of vulcanized rubber connected to the upper half of the

page_text: cylinder, which is free to rise from the lower half; there is a rod, the top of
which fits into a notch cut into the under side of a lever, the short arm of
which is hinged to a fixed support, while its long arm is connected to an up-
right, fitted at top with a pencil or tracer, and free to rise and fall upon motion
being communicated to it through the lever.
The steam pipe is furnished with a cock for shutting off communication with
the registering apparatus, if necessary, and the lower end of the steam pipe
below the water cock is also furnished with a similar cock. The only outlet
for water from the water cock or steam from the steam cock opens into the
said steam pipe, which or a portion of which may, if desired, be formed of
glass.
The operation is as follows:-The card being fixed and connected through
its frame to the clockwork, the steam cock is opened, and steam rushing into
the steam pipe and cylinder raises the upper part of the latter, and with it the
rod. lever, and tracer, causing the last to describe a radial line from the centre
of the card upwards to a height depending upon the pressure: as long as the
same pressure is maintained the tracer will remain at the same height, and the
card being caused to move round by the clockwork. the tracer will describe a
curved line.
Now, supposing half an hour to clapse, the attendant in testing the cocks
shuts off the steam cock of the boiler and opens the lower cock of the steam
pipe, and consequently the steam rushes out of the latter, and the tracer falls,
marking a downward line towards the centre of the card; he then opens the
water cock and blows water through, and after shutting this, opens the steam
cock and blows steam through: then on shutting off the lower cock of the
steam pipe, the steam rushes up that pipe into the cylinder, and the tracer is
caused to make another upward radial line, and so on, as before described.
Any inequalities in pressure will be indicated by the height or distance the
traced lines are carried from the centre. Should the attendant omit to perform
these operations, that is, should he omit to test his water by means of the cocks
every half hour. the absence of the radial lines from the card will indicate such
inattention. It will be obvious that the card may be arranged for other than
half hour intervals, and that any number of tracers from different boilers may
be applied to the same card. It will be equally obvious that instead of the
revolving card and the tracing apparatus before described. any other convenient
apparatus for registering pressure may be applied in connection with the above
arrangement of gauge cocks.

page_text: SPECIFICATION
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Mann in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MANN, Engineer, of the City of London Gas Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Ifer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth 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 William Mann. Her special licence that I, the said William
Mann. my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I. the
said William Mann. 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
IMPROVED ÅRRANGEMENT OF STEAM BOILER GAUGE COCKS, AND REGISTERING APPA-
RATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Mann. my executors or administrators. by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Mann, 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 thereof reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to modify the arrangement of the ordinary
water cock and steam cock, in such manner as to keep a check upon the
person in charge of the boiler or boilers, and to cause at intervals. say of half
an hour, a pointer or pencil to trace upon a card moved by clockwork the
pressure of the steam, and to indicate whether the aforesaid cocks have or have
not been examined at such intervals.
I employ a circular card with divisions to answer for the 24 hours, and this
card is caused by clockwork to perform a complete revolution in 24 hours.
From the steam and water cocks of the boiler I lead a steam pipe, the mouth

page_text: of which opens into an expanding cylinder, formed by preference of two parts,
and united by a tube of vulcanized rubber. Connected to the upper half of
the cylinder, which is free to rise from the lower half, there is a rod. the top
of which fits into a notch cut in the under side of a lever, the short arm of
which is hinged to a fixed support, while its long arm is connected to an up-
right, fitted at top with a pencil or tracer, and free to rise and fall upon
motion being communicated to it through the lever. The steam pipe is
furnished with a cock for shutting off communication with the registering
apparatus, if necessary, and the lower end of the steam pipe below the water
cock is also furnished with a similar cock. The only outlet for water from the
water cock or steam from the steam cock opens into the said steam pipe,
which or a portion of which may, if desired, be formed of glass.
The operation is as follows:-The card being fixed and connected through
its frame to the clockwork. the steam cock is opened, and steam rushing into
the steam pipe and cylinder raises the upper part of the latter, and with it the
rol, lever, and tracer, causing the last to describe a radial line from the centre
of the card upwards to a height depending upon the pressure: as long as the
same pressure is maintained the tracer will remain at the same height, and the
card being caused to move round by the clockwork the tracer will describe a
curved line.
Now, supposing half an hour to elapse, the attendant in testing the cocks
shuts off the steam cock of the boiler and opens the lower cock of the steam
pipe, and consequently the steam rushes out of the latter, and the tracer falls.
marking a downward line towards the centre of the card; he then opens the
water cock and blows water through, and after shutting this opens the steam
cock and blows steam through: then, on shutting off the lower cock of the
steam pipe, the steam rushes up that pipe into the cylinder, and the tracer is
caused to make another upward radial line, and so on, as before described.
Any inequalities in pressure will be indicated by the height or distance the
traced. lines are carried from the centre. Should the attendant omit to per-
form these operations, that is, should he omit to test his water by means of the
cocks every half hour, the absence of the radial lines from the card will
indicate such inattention.
I will be obvious that the card may be arranged for other than half hour
intervals, and that any number of tracers from different boilers may be applied
to the same card. It will be equally obvious that instead of the revolving card
and the tracing apparatus before described, any other convenient apparatus for
registering pressure may be applied in connection with the above arrangement
of gauge cocks.

page_text: In Figure 1 I have shewn any improved arrangement of steam boiler gauge
cocks and registering apparatus applied to a steam boiler: Figure 2 is a front
view of the registering apparatus, shewn detached on an enlarged scale. and
Figure 3 is a side view of the same: Figures 4. 5, and 6. are longitudinal
sections of the pressure cylinders I prefer to employ. Similar letters refer to
similar parts in Figures 1. 2, and 3. A is a circular disc made of paper.
card, or other material. with circular lines a. and with radial lines, drawn.
impressed. or printed thereon; each circular line corresponds to a certain
number of pounds pressure, as shewn, and the radial lines correspond to the
24 hours in the day, and are so numbered. The disc A is attached to the
face of a disc of metal B, by a thumbscrew B. This disc has a boss C
attached to its back; on its centre by screws c a hole is formed in the boss C.
so that it may be mounted on a spindle caused to make one revolution every
24 hours, by means of suitable clockwork enclosed in the case D. and
regulated by the pendulum D. E is a bar. which is capable of being moved
in the direction of its length; E' is a boss or socket formed on or attached to
the end of the bar E: a pencil or other marking instrument F is inserted in
the boss with its point towards and resting on the paper disc A: F' is a set
screw, for securing the pencil in the socket or boss E¹. The bar E passes
between two sets of V-grooved pullies G, G. and II, II, and is guided by them
so that it may move parallel. The edges of the bar may be angular, to
correspond to the V grooves in the pullies G. G. and H, II. The spindles
d, d, of the pullies turn in bearings in the brackets I. I, secured to the
shelving bracket J, by screws e, e. The bracket J is secured to the frame-
work or standard K. to which standard the clockwork and case D are likewise
fixed.
The spindles in the pullies H. H. are parallel. and have no
shoulders or journals formed thereon, so that they are capable of being moved
longitudinally in either direction through their bearings in the brackets. I, I.
L. L. are slight springs fixed to the front of the brackets I. 1; the ends of
these springs exert a pressure on the conical points of the spindles d', which
project a little through the brackets I, 1. This pressure on the ends of the
spindles of the pullies I, II, causes the bar to press the pencil or other
marking instrument against the disc A. so that when the disc A revolves, the
pencil will make a simple curved mark thereon if the bar E and pencil F
remain stationary at zero; but as the bar E is attached by a cord or chain e¹
to a grooved quadrant f, which causes it with the pencil F to move to and
from the centre of the disc A, a compound line is described by the two
different motions. These motions are the angular or rotatory motion of the
disc A, and the parallel or radial motion of the bar E and pencil F. Motion

page_text: may be given to the disc through clockwork being acted on by a spring or
weight in the ordinary manner, while the bar E and pencil F receive their
motion from a piston or india-rubber disc placed or mounted in a cylinder. in
which steam (from the steam boiler M) is allowed to play and exert its
pressure. N is the steam cylinder, which is secured by its flanges g to flanges
g of a casting g"; this casting has a hollow neck O formed on it, which is
passed through a hole in the plate O, and there secured by a nut and washer
O". The plate 01 is supported on and fixed to columns P. P. by nuts and
screws. The lower ends of the columns are supported by and firmly
secured to the shelving plate of the bracket J. The piston rod j passes
through the end of the cylinder cover or bottom, and has an arm fixed on it:
the other end of the arm has a slot formed in it for the reception of the joint
pin of the joint k, which is passed through it. To the joint a rod k¹ is
attached; the rod is connected to the arm of a segmental rack 1', by a
joint which is secured to it by a thumb nut m: the arm 7 is slotted
similarly to that of the arm j. These slots afford the means by which the
rod may be readily adjusted in relation to the extent of the necessary travel
of the bar E and pencil F. so that it may correspond to the pressure in the
cylinder and the distances between the circular lines on the disc A, which
represent that pressure. Q. Q. are standards or brackets which support a
rocking shaft, on which the arm of the segmental rack is mounted. The
rack gears into a pinion m'. which is fixed on the same rocking shaft as
that on which the grooved quadrant is mounted. The rack, pinion, and
quadrant, or their equivalents, are necessary to give a sufficient amount of
travel to the bar and pencil or marker, if there is not sufficient in the piston
rod to cause the bar and pencil to traverse from zero to the greatest amount
of pressure which is required to be indicated. R is a tube of glass or other
material mounted between the steam cock R and water cock R", which are
fixed to and in communication with the boiler, the proper water line, of course.
being between the two cocks. To the opposite ends of the sockets, in which
the ends of the glass or other tube are inserted, pipes n. o, are attached, having
cocks n', o mounted on them. The end of the pipe o is for carrying off the steam
or water when the gauge cocks R' and R are being tested. The pipe nis
for supplying steam from the boiler M to the cylinder N of the pressure
gauge and registering apparatus, which may be fixed in any secure place apart
from the boiler and out of the reach of the stokers, so as to prevent tampering
with it, and likewise to preserve it from being destroyed, should at any time an
explosion of the boiler take place, and thus preserve a diagram which will
indicate the state of the pressure in the boiler when such explosion happened,

page_text: and also if the person or persons in attendance had been doing their duty. To
put the apparatus in operation. after a card or disc A has been placed and
fixed in proper position, that is, with the point of the pencil or marker resting
on the radial line or place, which corresponds with the hour or time of the day
or night, as the case may be, the pencil at this time standing to the lowest
circular or zero line. The clock is then set a going and the cock n' on the
pipe n, which leads from the boiler M to the cylinder, is opened, which admits
steam to the cylinder, and by pressing on the piston or disc moves the bar E
and pencil F by means of the before mentioned apparatus, through a space
corresponding to the pressure in the boiler; at the same time the pencil has
described a radial line, as at P¹ from the zero point to the present pressure
point; if the apparatus is allowed to go on undisturbed for an hour or for any
space of time the pencil will draw a curved line q. nearer to or farther from
the zero line, according to the amount of pressure in the boiler and cylinder.
When it is required to test the gauge cocks R' and R" (supposing them to
be shut) first shut the cock n' and open o'; when this takes place, the steam
escapes from the pressure cylinder, when the pencil makes a radial line to
zero, and the gauge cocks tested in the usual way, the gauge cocks are again
shut. and the cock o' is shut, and the cock n' opened, so as to admit steam to
the pipe and steam cylinder, when the bar E and pencil F will be moved
outward from zero to the point which indicates the pressure in the boiler. It
will be seen that the curved line q marked on the disc A by the pencil F will
represent the pressure in the boiler (whether it vary or not), at any time in
the day or night, and that the straight or radial lines marked with the pencil
will shew the number of times and at what time the gange cocks were tested.
and so keeping up a complete register of the state of pressure in the boiler and
of the number of times the gauge cocks have been tested. If it is not desirable
to keep up a complete register, but only from day to day, a piece of ground
glass. or transparent slate, or other material may be made use of, to trace
diagrams on instead of the paper disc A. After a diagram has been described
on the ground glass or slate, and examined, it may be wiped off. and so any
number may be made on the same piece of glass or slate. This ground glass or
transparent slate may be placed or fixed in a suitable frame and mounted on the
spindle of the clockwork, similarly to that on which the disc A is mounted. The
radial and curved lines which indicate the time and pressure, may be per-
manently painted on the back of the ground glass or transparent slate, or one
of the prepared paper discs A may be placed behind it or pasted thereon.
Figures 1. 5, and 6 are sections of the different modifications of the cylinders
which I prefer to use; Figure 4 shews a section of an elastic cylinder A,

page_text: composed of india-rubber and bound with metal hoops or rings B. B; C. C.
are flanges formed on its ends and clipped between rings á, a, and plates or
flanges D, D' where they are firmly secured by the screws b, b. E is a piece
cast or otherwise formed on the flange D', to which an arm may be attached
for the purpose of moving the bar and pencil, as formerly described; F is the
inlet through which steam is supplied to the cylinder from the boiler. When
steam is admitted its pressure on the ends D and D causes the cylinder to
expand in the direction of its length (as the side pressure is neutralized by
the rings B. B), and thereby moving (through its connections) the bar E and
pencil F. In Figure 5A is the cylinder, and B the inlet pipe; C is a piece
of india-rubber of the shape shown, securely fixed between the flanges D, D.
The back of this piece is thickened at D', as shewn; this part rests on a piston
or plate E. mounted on the rod F, which passes through india-rubber rings
G, G, G, and washers a. a, and out through a hole in the cylinder end, where
an arm may be mounted on to propel the bar and pencil. The washers a. a,
are formed with ridges a', a¹, to prevent the india-rubber spreading too far
when submitted to pressure. Figure 6 shews a method of using both au
india-rubber piece A, as already described, and a piston and piston rod B and
helical spring C in the same cylinder; D is the cylinder and E the inlet pipe.
The connections with the bar E and pencil F are similar to those already
described.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, declare that I claim the improved
arrangement of steam boiler gauge cocks. together with the registering
apparatus all acting in the manner herein-before described. to indicate and
register the pressure of the steam in the boiler. and the proper periodical
attention of the attendant to the water and steam cocks, all as herein-before
.described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mann, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Ninth day of January On the