An Improved Method of Lubricating Engines and Separating or Softening the Incrustation in Boilers.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application 9th Dec., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 7th June, 1890-Accepted, 19th July, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Lubricating Engines and Separating or
Softening the Incrustation in Boilers.
I, ROBERT GOODBODY, of Upton, Clara, King's County, Ireland, Jute Spinner,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to lubricate the valves and pistons of steam engines,
and to more effectually prevent or separate the hard stony incrustation deposited
from hard water on to the plates of steam boilers, at one and the same operation.
When water containing lime salts or other impurities is used for raising steam, such
salts are deposited or separated by the action of heat, the efficiency of the steam raising
qualities of the boilers is reduced by the intervention of such deposit between the
heat and the water to be evaporated, and the life of the boiler is seriously shortened.
According to my invention I supply to the interior of a boiler a suitable hydrocarbon
oil by which means I am enabled to accomplish the double object of preventing or
separating hard incrustation and at the same time, by means of the oil carried
over by the steam, of efficiently lubricating all the working surfaces of the engine
which come into contact with the steam.
Heretofore steam engines have been often fitted with sight feed or displacement
lubricators attached to the pipes supplying the engine with steam for lubricating
purposes, and various compounds have been by means of pumps forced into the
boiler for the purpose of preventing the formation of scale on the plates of the boiler,
but such compounds have not possessed lubricating qualities. It will be seen that by
my invention perform both these functions by the simple expedient above and herein-
after described.
I employ a suitable hydrocarbon oil, which may be either the natural product
or the residuum of the distillation of the natural hydrocarbon, or other products
of the distillation of schists or minerals yielding hydrocarbon oils. The oil
which I have used and have found to answer admirably is a natural hydrocarbon
oil, imported from America, and known as Thompson Bedford Company's Cylinder
Oil A. Its specific gravity at 60 degrees Fahrenheit is about 900, water for
comparison being taken at 1000, and it possesses considerable viscosity or thickness,
like paint or treacle, and has a boiling point of about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
In carrying out my invention, a compound such as the above described is introduced
into the boiler continuously or regularly by means of an ordinary sight feed
lubricator, or an injector or small force pump or other equivalent means for the
regulated supply of the oil to the boiler pump. I prefer to introduce the oil into the
feed water in the boiler, but in cases, as in locomotives, where there is sufficient
agitation of the water, the oil may be introduced into the steam space of the boiler
instead of into the water.
In describing the modus operandi of my invention, I will use the apparatus, a sight
feed lubricator-which I find to be the most efficient for the purpose. When it is
desired to introduce the oil (say) into the steam space, the oil vessel of a sight feed
lubricator is filled with the oil, and on opening the taps in the two connecting pipes,
the hydrostatic column of water formed by the condensation of the steam in one of
the connecting pipes extending to the bottom of the vessel, being of greater specific
gravity than the oil, settles to the bottom of the oil vessel and thereby displaces the
oil, forcing it out in small quantities, which may be regulated by means of a tap in
the ordinary way into the steam space of the boiler.
One portion of the oil amalgamates with and passes away with the steam to the
engine, thereby lubricating the valves and pistons; the remainder of the oil changes
the character of the mineral deposit in the boiler from a hard into a soft substance
that is easily removable from the plates.

page_text: When it is desired to introduce the compound into the water space of the boiler,
the modus operandi is the same as above described, but the pipes from the sight feed
lubricator are connected to the steam space and to a point below the water level. In
this manner the injected oil is mingled with the water in the boiler, part of the oil so
injected passes to the engine and lubricates the valves and pistons, and that remaining
in the water in the boiler changes the character of the mineral deposit from a hard
into a soft substance.
D
..
1
1000
JOHN WAUGH,
Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of Lubricating Engines and Separating or
Softening the Incrustation in Boilers.
I, ROBERT GOODBODY, of Upton, Clara, King's County, Ireland, Jute Spinner,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
The object of my invention is to lubricate the valves and pistons of steam engines,
and to more effectually prevent or separate the hard stony incrustation deposited from
hard water on to the plates of steam boilers, at one and the same operation. When
water containing lime salts or other impurities is used for raising steam, such
salts are deposited or separated by the action of heat, the efficiency of the steam
raising qualities of the boilers is reduced by the intervention of such deposit between
the heat and the water to be evaporated, and the life of the boiler is seriously
shortened. According to my invention I supply to the interior of a boiler a suitable
hydrocarbon oil by which means I am enabled to accomplish the double object of
preventing or separating hard incrustation and at the same time, by means of the oil
carried over by the steam, of efficiently lubricating all the working surfaces of the
engine which come into contact with the steam.
Heretofore steam engines have been often fitted with sight feed or displacement
lubricators attached to the pipes supplying the engine with steam for lubricating
purposes, and various compounds have been by means of pumps forced into the
boiler for the purpose of preventing the formation of scale on the plates of the
boiler, but such compounds have not possessed lubricating qualities. It will be seen
that by my invention I perform both these functions by the simple expedient above
and hereinafter described.
I employ a suitable hydrocarbon oil, which may be either the natural product
or the residuum of the distillation of the natural hydrocarbon, or other products
of the distillation of schists or minerals yielding hydrocarbon oils. The oil
which I have used and have found to answer admirably, is a natural hydro-
carbon oil, imported from America, and known as Thompson Bedford Company's
Cylinder Oil A. Its specific gravity at 60 degrees Fahrenheit is about 900, water for
comparison being taken at 1000, and it possesses considerable viscosity or thickness,
like paint or treacle, and has a boiling point of about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
In carrying out my invention, a compound such as that above described is
introduced into the boiler continuously or regularly by means of an ordinary sight
feed lubricator, or an injector or small force pump or other equivalent means for the
regulated supply of the oil to the boiler. I prefer to introduce the oil into the
feed water in the boiler, but in cases, as in locomotives, where there is sufficient
agitation of the water, the oil may be introduced into the steam space of the boiler
instead of into the water.
In describing the modus operandi of my invention, I will use the apparatus a
sight feed lubricator-which I find to be the most efficient for the purpose.
When it is desired to introduce the oil (say) into the steam space, the oil vessel of
a sight feed lubricator is filled with the oil, and on opening the taps in the two

page_text: connecting pipes, the hydrostatic column of water formed by the condensation of the
steam in one of the connecting pipes extending to the bottom of the vessel, being of
greater specific gravity than the oil, settles to the bottom of the oil vessel and thereby
displaces the oil, forcing it out in small quantities, which may be regulated by means
of a tap in the ordinary way into the steam space of the boiler.
One portion of the oil amalgamates with and passes away with the steam to the
engine, thereby lubricating the valves and pistons; the remainder of the oil
changes the character of the mineral deposit in the boiler from a hard into a soft
substance that is easily removable from the plates.
When it is desired to introduce the compound into the water space of the
boiler, the modus operandi is the same as above described, but the pipes from the sight
feed lubricator are connected to the steam space and to a point below the water level.
In this manner the injected oil is mingled with the water in the boiler, part of the oil
so injected passes to the engine and lubricates the valves and pistons, and that
remaining in the water in the boiler changes the character of the mineral deposit from
a hard into a soft substance.
For introducing the oil into the feed pipe, many kinds of sight feed lubricators
are unsuitable, but I have invented a special form of apparatus for this purpose
which is the subject of an application for a Patent No. 17728 of the year 1889,
and will be found described in the complete specification thereof.
my
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In combination with a steam engine and boiler the use of apparatus of the kind
hereinbefore described for the purpose of continuously or regularly introducing into
the boiler or into the feed water, a suitable hydrocarbon oil, so as to prevent the
formation of hard scale in the boiler, and lubricate all the working surfaces of the
engine with which the steam comes into contact substantially as described.
2. A steam boiler arranged so that the double purpose of lubricating the working
surfaces and preventing or reducing incrustation is effected substantially as herein-
before described.
Dated this 4th day of June 1890.
JOHN WAUGH,
Agent.