Improved Means applicable for Use in Automatically Controlling the Speed of Motor Engines and other Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Dec., 1894-Accepted, 2nd Feb., 1895
.
COMEDIEN DE METATION.
Improved Means applicable for Use in Automatically Controlling
the Speed of Motor Engines and other Machines.
I, RANALD MACINTOSH MACDONALD, of 32, Cathedral Square, Christchurch,
in the Provincial District of Canterbury, in the Colony of New Zealand, Engineer,
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:-
This invention relates to apparatus adapted for automatically regulating the
speed of machinery, particularly of steam, gas, and other notor engines; the
object being to provide a governor which, whilst being automatic in character and
sensitive in action, is simple in construction and has few wearing parts.
The apparatus comprises a revolvable vessel in which a quantity of fluid such as
quicksilver or oil, or a number of metal balls, is or are placed; the revolution of
the vessel or of the arms within it causing the liquid or the balls to tend outwardly
by centrifugal force, and in so doing to press against and operate a disc or piston
attached to or bearing against the spindle of a valve, or other part of a machine
employed for controlling the admission of the steam or other operative fluid. The
vessel may be formed either wholly or partially of elastic material and thus be
free to alter its shape; such variation of shape resulting from the centrifugal
action of the enclosed liquid, according to the velocity of rotation, or to the
velocity of rotation of the arms revolving within the said vessel; a valve or other
part of the machine being thereby actuated through suitable mechanism as in the
previous instance.
Apparatus adapted for carrying my invention into effect is illustrated in the
accompanying drawings, whereof Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and
partly in vertical section, and Fig. 2 a plan, the vessel being provided with a piston
and arranged to revolve. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the vessel
provided with arms revolving within it. Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating the
employment, in place of a piston, of a disc of elastic material connected
circumferentially to the vessel. In Fig. 5 the vessel is spherical in form and is
made of elastic material; Fig. 6 showing a vessel of the same character but
having arms revolving within it. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in all the figures.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the revolving cylindrical vessel a which may have a
conical lower part is fitted with a piston c, beneath which is placed a quantity of
fluid such as quicksilver or oil d; or metal balls may be substituted. An inwardly
projecting flange or lip e is screwed or otherwise fastened to the upper edge of the
cylindrical vessel a to guard against the overflow of the liquid. The outer wall of
the piston c is perforated with a number of holes f through which liquid passing
between the piston and the inner surface of the vessel may flow into a cavity g
whence it escapes through the holes towards the centre of the vessel and returns
to the reservoir. The vessel a is formed with a tubular part i which serves to
support it upon a hollow stem k, rotative motion being imparted to the vessel by
means of a belt which may be applied about its exterior or to a pulley, or by any
other convenient means. A spindle m passes through the hollow stem k and being
connected to or in contact with the piston e communicates the vertical movement
of the latter to a throttle or other valve arranged to control the admission of steam
or other operative fluid to an engine, or to any other instrument or mechanism
serving to control the speed of a machine.

page_text: The vessel a is formed or provided with two or more radially projecting webs n
which revolve with it and impart motion to the quicksilver, oil or other fluid, or to
the metal balls.
The piston c may be allowed to revolve with the vessel a, or by means of the
spindle m or otherwise it may be prevented revolving; but in either case, it is free
to move vertically. It will be evident that when quicksilver or other fluid is used,
it is immaterial whether the bottom of the vessel a be conical or flat; but
when metal balls are used, it will be necessary to make the floor of the vessel of
such a form as to assist their return towards the centre of the vessel instead of
remaining heaped up about the circumference. In some cases, it may be preferable
to make the underside of the piston concave.
Referring to Fig. 3, instead of, or in addition to, revolving the vessel a, I arrange
the arms n to rotate by attaching them to or forming them integral with the
spindle k, which, in this case, will be driven by a pulley or other suitable means,
the vessel preferably remaining stationary.
In Fig. 4, a flexible disc C is substituted for the piston c and is connected by a
screwed flange or ring e to the vessel a; the spindle m, controlling the speed of
the machine to be governed, resting upon a ring or washer c¹ provided for the
purpose.
According to the method of construction illustrated in Fig. 5, the vessel a is
of a spherical form and is made of some flexible material such as india-rubber;
the same being rotated by a pulley attached to the tubular bearing i, or by
equivalent means; and it may be convenient in practice to support the spindle m by
a spring or counterbalance weight. The vessel may be surrounded by a casing o
to protect it from external injury.
In operation, the vessel a, or the arms within it, or both, is or are driven
rotatively from the machine it is desired to govern, the speed of revolution being
When the machine is
accordingly in constant relation to that of the machine.
working at the speed desired, the quicksilver, oil or other fluid, or the metal balls
contained within the vessel do not exert sufficient centrifugal force to lift the
piston or otherwise to operate as hereinafter described; but when the speed of the
machine exceeds the normal, the fluid or the metal balls is or are induced by
the centrifugal force due to such increase of speed to tend forcibly towards the
widest diameter of the vessel, and in so doing to press against and to lift the piston
or disc. When a flexible vessel is used, it is caused under the same influence to
expand diametrically at right angles to its axis of rotation, and consequently to
contract in an axial direction; the spindle of a valve or any other portion of a
machine used for controlling its speed being thus actuated and the desired
controlling action effected.
}
It will be evident that the operation of the governor can be varied by altering
the load on the piston c, or disc C or spindle m, a weighted lever or a spring being
applicable for the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
.1. In an automatic governor for regulating the speed of machinery, the
combination, with a cylindrical revolvable vessel, such as a, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, having
a. flat or upwardly and outwardly inclined floor such as b, of a piston such as c
enclosed within the said vessel, and arranged to be operated upon in a vertical
direction by the centrifugal force due to a quantity of quicksilver or other fluid, or
of-metal balls placed within such vessel and to which rotative motion is imparted,
substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
2. In an automatic governor for regulating the speed of machinery, the
combination, with a revolvable vessel, such as a, Fig. 4, of a flexible disc such
as C connected thereto arranged to be operated upon by the centrifugal force due
to a quantity of quicksilver or other fluid, or of metal balls placed within such

page_text: vessel and to which rotative motion is imparted, substantially as and for the purpose
herein set forth.
3. In an automatic governor for regulating the speed of machinery, the
employment of a spherical vessel such as a, Figs. 5 and 6, formed of flexible
material, containing a quantity of quicksilver, oil or other fluid, and adapted to
alter its shape under the influence of the centrifugal force generated on rotative
motion being imparted to the said fluid or metal balls; such alteration of shape
being applied to operate a throttle-valve or other speed-controlling device or
mechanism, substantially as herein described.
Dated this 30th day of November 1894.
For the Applicant