A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER GAUGE FOR STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Horton, of Handsworth, in the County of
Stafford, Brewer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER
GAUGE FOR STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 20th January 1860, and dated the 4th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Horton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
August 1859.
I, JAMES HORTON, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Brewer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
WATER GAUGE FOR STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The ordinary water gauge of steam boilers, consisting of a vertical glass
tube, opening at bottom and top into the boiler, is liable to fracture from the
pressure to which its ends are subjected, as well as from the effect of the heat
to which it is exposed. The said glass tube requires frequent renewal.
My Invention consists of a metal tube opening into the boiler in the same
way as the ordinary glass gauge. Openings are cut at intervals in the said
metal tube, which said openings are filled with glass or mica, or other trans-
parent substance, capable of bearing the heat and pressure. The height
of the water is readily seen through the said openings. I prefer to make two
or three of the said openings of about an inch and a half long, the said
openings being separated from each other by a short interval, but I do not.
limit myself to any particular number of the said openings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Horton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HORTON, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Horton, Her special licence that I, the said James Horton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Horton, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
WATER GAUGE FOR STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Horton, 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 James Horton, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, that is to say :-
The ordinary water gauge of steam boilers, consisting of a vertical glass
tube opening at top and bottom into the boiler by means of hollow brackets,
by which it is fixed on the outside of the boiler, is liable to fracture from the
pressure to which its ends are subjected, as well as from the effect of the
heat to which it is exposed. The said glass tube requires frequent renewal.
My Invention consists of a metal tube opening into the boiler in the same
way as the ordinary glass gauge. Openings are cut at intervals in the said
metal tube, which said openings are filled with glass, pebble, or rock crystal,
mica, or other transparent substance capable of bearing the requisite heat and
pressure. The height of the water is readily seen through the said openings.
Figure 1, of the accompanying Drawing, represents a front elevation of a

page_text: water gauge constructed according to my Invention, the said gauge being
fixed to a portion of a boiler, and Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same;
Figures 3, 4, and 5 represent on a larger scale portions of the said gauge
as herein-after explained. The same letters are employed to indicate the
same parts in the several Figures.
a is the metal tube of the gauge fixed to the boiler by the brackets or
arms c and d. The said brackets c, d, are hollow, and contain stop-cocks, one
end of each of the said brackets opening into the tube a, and the other end of
each of the said brackets opening into the boiler as in water gauges of the ordi-
nary construction; e, e, f, f, and 9, 9, are openings made at opposite sides
of the tube a, the said openings being filled with pieces of glass, pebble, or
rock crystal, or other suitable transparent material, marked h, the said glass
or rock crystal being fixed in the openings in the said tube in the manner
herein-after explained. The height of the water in the gauge is readily scen
through the glass or transparent material in the openings e, e, f, f, and
9. g. I prefer to make the openings in the gauge about an inch and a half
long, separated from cach other by a short interval, as represented in the
Drawing, but I do not limit myself to any particular number or size of the
said openings. Instead of having intervals between the openings in the gauge,
a continuous opening may be made at opposite sides of the said gauge, the
said openings being filled with glass or other transparent material, but I prefer
to make the openings in the gauge in the manner represented in the Drawing.
Figure 3 represents a vertical section on a larger scale of a portion of the
tube a before the insertion and fixing of the glass or other plates therein; and
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the said tube with the glass or other plates
inserted and fixed in the said tube. I prefer to fix the pieces of glass or other
transparent material in the openings cut in the gauge by first inserting the
said pieces of glass in metal frames, marked i in Figures, 1, 2, and 4, one of
which is shown separately in Figure 5, and afterwards to secure the said
frames in the openings by soldering them to the metal gauge or tube a.
Although I have found the method described of fixing the plates of glass or
other transparent material in the openings in the gauge to answer well in
practice, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as the said plates may be secured
in the openings in any other convenient way.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner of carry-
ing the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that 1 claim as my
Invention, the new or improved water gauge for steam boilers herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a
water gauge consisting of a vertical metal tube, having an opening or openings

page_text: formed at opposite sides of the said tube, the said openings being filled with
glass, pebble, or rock crystal, mica, or other transparent substance through
which the height of the water in the gauge is readily seen.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Horton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness.
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES HORTON. (L.S.)'