IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR THE SUPPLY AND DISCHARGE OF GASEOUS BODIES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Willis, of Albany, Street, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, Organ Builder, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR THE SUPPLY AND DISCHARGE OF GASEOUS
BODIES."
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 30th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Willis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
April 1862.
I, HENRY WILLIS, of Albany Street, Regent's Park, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Organ Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR THE SUPPLY AND DISCHARGE OF GASEOUS BODIES,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to construct valves suitable for opening
and closing passages for the supply and discharge of air and other gaseous
bodies, that the pressure of such air or gas will not interfere with the free
action of the valve whether closed or open. To this end I propose to apply
For admitting
the principle of buoyancy for keeping the valve to its seat.
compressed air from the wind chest to the grooves of an organ, for example, [
may use either a valve with a vertical motion or a segmental rocking valve,

page_text: both kinds admitting of being constructed on the principle of my Invention.
Thus for a valve with a vertical motion I employ an inverted cup of wood or
other buoyant material having holes in the top, or merely a tube or cylinder
of the same material, which dips into a cup of mercury or other fluid suitable
for keeping the top of the cup, tube, or cylinder (which forms the valve) up
to its seat. The valve being enveloped in compressed air, offers no resistance
to its movement when depressed by the trackers set in action by the performer;
the power therefore required from the performer is only sufficient to overcome
the buoyancy of the cup tube or cylinder, which, when depressed, opens a
way for the passage of the air. To ensure the proper action of this valve
when an inverted cup is used, an opening should be provided for the free
ingress and egress of air to and from the interior of the valve cup.
cases it may be necessary to assist the closing of the valve, and to keep it
air-tight by employing a slight spring, or by forming a rim on the top of
the inverted cup tube or cylinder. When the inverted cup valve is used
as an escape valve, there need not be any holes in the top of the cup if the
inner part of the cup is open to the atmosphere. The segmental rocking
valve may be described as a bent tube with open ends, one of which covers
the air passage, while the other dips into a bath of mercury or other fluid
suitable for giving buoyancy to the tube. This tube is carried by rocking
arms, and it may be weighted dynamically so as to compensate for the
increasing resistance of the buoyant principle as the valve is pulled open. It
is kept closed by its own buoyancy, and when required to be opened it is
rocked on its fulcrum by the pull of a tracker. The end of the tube dipping
into the mercury is then more deeply immersed and the opposite end is raised,
thus opening up a passage for the air to flow through.
From this description it will be understood that the Invention is susceptible
of extended application, a valve acting alike easily under all atmospheric
pressures being specially useful in gas regulators and ventilating apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 30
by the said Henry Willis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILLIS, of Albany Street, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, Organ
Builder, send greeting.
D::
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Willis, Her special license that I, the said Henry Willis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Willis, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR THE SUPPLY AND DISCHARGE OF GASEOUS
BODIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Willis, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Henry Willis, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
The object of this Invention is so to construct valves suitable for opening
and closing passages for the supply and discharge of air and other gaseous
bodies, that the pressure of such air or gas will not interfere with the free
action of the valve, whether closed or open. To this end I propose to apply
the principle of buoyancy for keeping the valve to its seat..
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in sectional elevation, and
Fig. 2 in plan view, my Invention as applied to the supply of wind from the
wind chest of an organ to the grooves or channels in connection with the
pipes. In this arrangement the valve consists of a vertical cylinder a, made
of bard wood or other buoyant material, to which is attached an open cover,
or it may be arms 6. In the centre of this cover is inserted a rod c leading
down to a tracker, by which the valve is operated. The valve is so situated
as to close the vent from the wind chest to the groove or air channel, which it
is intended to command, and it dips into mereury or other suitable fluid d,
contained in an annular groove formed in a block e. This block serves also as
a guide for the vertical rod c.
The upper edge of the valve cylinder it will be

page_text: understood is kept in close contact with the valve seat by reason of the
buoyancy of the floating valve and the pressure of wind in the wind chest
acting equally on the cylindrical surface of the valve, will have no tendency
either to open or close it. All the exertion therefore required from the organ
performer in opening a passage for the wind will be to overcome the natural
buoyancy of the valve (the amount of which may be regulated with the greatest-
ease, either by weighting the valve or increasing its immersion), by depressing
the tracker in connection with the rod c. When the valve is drawn down the
air will pass over it in the direction of the arrows; but immediately the valve
is released from the pull of the tracker it will rise by its buoyancy and close
the vent, the free movement of the valve being ensured by the openings in the
cover of the valve admitting air within the valve, and thereby equalizing the
atmospheric pressure around it.
In some cases it may be necessary to assist the closing of the buoyant valve
and maintaining it in its closed position. This may be effected by the appli-
cation thereto of a light spring (coiled, for example, round the valve stem, and
acting on the under side of the cover), or a rim may be formed on the top
edge of the valve, for the compressed air'in the wind chest to act upon. When
applying the valve as an escape valve or for discharging gaseous bodies
under pressure into the atmosphere, its cap or cover may be closed, but the
inner part of the valve must be open to the atmosphere.
Fig. 3 shews in sectional elevation a modification of the buoyant valve;
instead of receiving a vertical motion it is operated by a rocking motion, for
which purpose the valve takes a segmental form, and is supported by rocking
arms in a curved or segment-shaped tube, carried by arms y, g, which rock
upon a fulcrum h. This tube is open at its ends, one of which bears upon its
sent i, and the other dips into mercury, glycerine, or other suitable fluid, con-
tained in channels k, k, formed in the block 1, the sections of which channels
are struck from the fulcrum h. These channels are connected together, their
plan view corresponding to the form of the tube in cross section (whether flat
sided or otherwise). The tube is weighted as shewn at m to compensate for
the increasing resistance of the buoyant principle as the valve is pulled open.
The Drawing represents this rocking valve as applied to a wind chest, and
commanding a vent n. A tracker for operating the valve is to be connected
to the rod o, which, when pulled in the direction of the arrow, will cause the
valve to rock, and open a way for the passage of the wind from the wind chest.
I would remark that this valve may also be formed as a quadrant to close a
horizontal passage p, as shewn by dots in Fig. 3. This class of valve 1 propose
also to apply for the purpose of ventilating buildings, as it will answer readily

page_text: to the action of any suitable thermometric arrangement which may be readily
applied thereto for opening or closing it, according to the temperature of the
apartment which it is intended to supply with fresh air. These valves may
also act in pairs, being coupled together by segment racks, in order to increase
the area for the supply of fresh or discharge of vitiated air.
Another modification of the buoyant principle is shewn at Figures 4 and 5,
as applied to an organ pallet valve, Fig. 4 being a longitudinal section and
Fig. 5 a cross section. The frame 2 of the valve is connected as usual by a
rod q' to the tracker, and it carries at its under side the valve q2, the ends of
which take a segmental form as struck from the centre of the hinge of the
valve. The edges of the valve dip as in the first example into mercury, a
suitably shaped channel being formed to receive it in the block r.
When adapting my improved buoyant valve to gas regulators I fit it up by
preference in the manner shewn at Figures 6 and 7, which represent in
vertical section and in sectional plan a modification of a Kidder's gas regulator
with my improvement applied thereto. The gas regulator consists mainly of
two castings A and B, the former of which, besides containing an inlet and
outlet passage for the gas, is fitted with three annular channels D, D¹, D, for
receiving mercury or other suitable fluid; B is a cylindrical casting, which
serves as a guide for the stem of the regulator, and also forms a seat for the
buoyant valve C. This valve consists of an open cylinder, and is connected
by armis to the stem of the bell or inverted cup E, so that both bell and valve
rise and fall together. The bell is weighted so as to regulate the flow of gas
through the apparatus (whatever the pressure at which it is supplied)
according to the well-known principle of action of the Kidder gas regulator.
The cylinder B is placed in the channel D', the mercury in which seals the
joint. The bell E dips into the mercury in the annular channel D; and the
valve C dips into the mercury in the channel D. When the gas is turned on
from the main, but none is being burned, the upward pressure of gas upon
the bell E will close the valve C. When however a supply of gas is required,
and a vent is opened for the gas, the bell will descend and open the valve C,
which will however throttle the central opening in the cylinder B to the
required extent to ensure an equable pressure at the burners.
I would bere remark, that although my buoyant valve is capable of a very
wide application, yet I do not propose to employ it where heavy pressures
(such as steam pressure) are required to be resisted, as the depth of the
mercury would in such case be excessive.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in
valves for the supply and discharge of gaseous bodies, and explained the

page_text: manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the construction of valves in
the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Willis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two..
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
HENRY WILLIS. (L.S.),