IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING WATER FROM STEAM PIPES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Cochran, of Kirktonfield, in the
County of Renfrew, North Britain, and John Kerr, of Neilston, in
the same County, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DISCHARGING WATER FROM STEAM PIPES."
Sealed the 22nd November 1870, and dated the 24th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Cochran and
John Kerr at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th May 1870.
We, ALEXANDER COCHRAN, of Kirktonfield, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, and JOHN KERR, of Neilston, in the same County, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR DISCHARGING WATER FROM STEAM PIPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the contriving of apparatus for dis-
charging water from steam pipes, so as to act efficiently with steam of
comparatively high pressure.
Various kinds of apparatus are in use which act satisfactorily with
steam of low pressure, such as ten or fifteen pounds per square inch, but
which generally give great trouble when the steam is of the pressure

page_text: of forty pounds or upwards.
The improved apparatus, however, is
practically successful with the higher pressures indicated, whilst it also
answers with any lower pressures.
The improved apparatus consists of a casing connected to the steam
pipe, and containing a float, which is fixed on or connected to the outer
end of a long lever. This lever lies in a horizontal passage extending
out from the bottom of the float casing, and the discharge outlet is in
the bottom of the outer end of this passage. The outlet is closed by a
valve, which opens downwards, and which is connected to a very short
arm on the lever, the fulcrum of the lever being between the valve and
the float; or the discharge outlet may be on the top of the passage, the
valve in that case opening upwards, and being connected to a point on
the lever between the fulcrum and the float. The lever is in any case
made of a sufficient length for the weight of the float when not buoyed
up by water to keep the valve closed against the highest pressure of
steam for which the apparatus is intended.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Cochran and John Kerr in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 23rd November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEX-
ANDER COCHRAN, of Kirktonfield, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, and JOHN KERR, of Neilston, in the same County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Alexander Cochran and John Kerr,
Her special licence that we, the said Alexander Cochran and John
Kerr, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Alexander Cochran and John Kerr, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING

page_text: WATER FROM STEAM PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Alexander Cochran and John Kerr, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Alexander Cochran and John
Kerr, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what.
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being
had to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
-
Our said Invention has for its object the contriving of apparatus for
discharging water from steam pipes, so as to act efficiently with steam_
of comparatively high pressure.
Various kinds of apparatus are in use which act satisfactorily with
steam of low pressures, such as ten or fifteen pounds per square inch,
but which generally give great trouble when the steam is of the pressure
of forty pounds and upwards. Our improved apparatus, however, is
practically successful with the higher pressures indicated, whilst it also
answers with any lower pressures.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, we have hereunto appended a
Sheet with an explanatory Drawing, to be herein-after referred to, and
representing our improved apparatus as constructed for pressures up to
about seventy pounds per square inch. The Drawing is a vertical
section, and is made to the scale of one-half size.
Our improved apparatus consists of a casing 1 connected to the steam
pipe by a branch pipe 2, and containing a float 3, which is fixed on one
end of a long lever 4. This lever 4 lies in a horizontal passage 5
extending out from the bottom of the float casing 1, and the discharge
outlet 6 is at the outer end of this passage. The outlet is closed by a
valve 7, which opens outwards, and which is connected to a very short
arm 8 on the lever 4, the fulcrum of which is close to the valve 7. The
seat for the valve 7 is formed in a casting 9, which is also made with a
pair of lugs for the fulcrum pin of the lever 4, and the lever being
connected thereto by the fulcrum pin is entered along the passage 5 and

page_text: into a sheath or socket 10 formed for it upon the bottom of the float 3,
which is then fixed by a screw at 11. The lever 4 is in any case made
of a sufficient length for the weight of the float 3 when not buoyed up
by water to keep the valve 7 closed against the highest pressure of
steam, for which the apparatus is intended, whilst the float need not be
made more buoyant than what will just cause it to rise when the casing
becomes about three-fourths filled with water condensed from the steam.
The float 3 and casing 1 are by preference of a circular form in plan,
but this is not essential. In the cover 12 of the casing 1 we fit a
valve 13 for the escape of air when steam is first admitted to the pipes,
this being a conical valve closing upwards, and which is fixed to an
inverted external cup 14. After the air escapes the rush of steam
acting on the cup 14 lifts up the valve 13, and then the pressure keeps
it closed. This valve also serves as an anti-collapse valve to admit air
when the steam is shut off and a vacuum formed inside by condensation.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we have to state that we do not
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what we believe to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the making of apparatus for discharging water from steam
pipes with a discharge valve opening outwards, and connected to a lever
proportioned and weighted to resist the pressure of the steam on the
valve, and fitted with a float to cause the opening of the valve when
water accumulates in the casing, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Cochran, on behalf of
myself and the said John Kerr, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEX. COCHRAN. (L.S.)