Improvements in Mechanism or Arrangements for Governing the Speed of Steam and other Motive Engines.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in Mechanism or Arrangements for Governing the
Speed of Steam and other Motive Engines.
I JOSEPH HIGGINSON Junior of 90, Henry Street, Ancoats, in the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Mill Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention to be as follows:
-
The object of my invention is to govern or regulate steam and other motive Engines
so as to keep the speed practically uniform, notwithstanding variations in the load to
be driven by the Engine or in the pressure or supply of the steam or other motive
fluid employed.
My improvements are applied to or combined with centrifugal governor mechanism
and consist of the following arrangements.
On any suitable fulcrum a two armed or beam lever is mounted-This fulcrum may
be that of the lever or arm acted upon by the sleeve of the governor as it rises and
falls or the lever is connected with the governor so as to oscillate with the governor
as it rises and falls.
On each arm of the lever, a vessel is mounted which may be of any desired shape
but cylindrical by preference and the vessel on one arm is connected to that on the
other arm by a pipe or passage in which there is or may be a cock or valve to open or
close more or less the passage between the two vessels which are each partly filled
with oil, water, mercury or other liquid, or other material that will pass freely by
gravity from one to the other.
In some cases the lever carrying the said vessels may be tubular to form the
communication between them-When the Engine is at its normal speed and condition
the two vessels are equally filled with the liquid employed, but if the governor rises
by increase of speed or falls by decrease of speed the two armed lever will be
oscillated one way or the other and the fluid will flow from one vessel to the other
accordingly.
Thus it will be seen that the governor is assisted to rise, when the speed increases
and to fall when the speed decreases below the normal speed, and so further operates

page_text: the governor to act upon the throttle or other valve or expansion gear mechanism to
increase or decrease the supply of motive fluid, or increase or decrease the expansive
working of the steam; and it brings the Engine to its normal speed but with the
governor in a position lower or higher than the normal one.
It will also be seen that these arrangements maintain the uniform speed but at a
variable height of the governor depending upon the pressure of the steam or motive
fluid and the load upon the Engine.
1040
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanism or Arrangements for Governing the
Speed of Steam and other Motive Engines,
I JOSEPH HIGGINSON Junior of 90 Henry Street, Ancoats, in the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Mill Manager, 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 govern or regulate steam and other motive Engines
so as to keep the speed of rotation practically uniform notwithstanding variations in
the load to be driven by the Engine or in the pressure of the steam or other motive
fluid employed.
My improvements are applied to or combined with centrifugal governor mechanism,
and are for the purpose of rendering the action of ordinary centrifugal governors
more perfect, which, as is well known moderate but do not prevent Huctuations of
speed under variations of load and the pressure of steam or other motive fluid
operating the Engine.
These fluctuations of speed in Engines regulated by the ordinary centrifugal
governor, arise in consequence of a change of the load to be driven or in the pressure
of the motive fluid, and all such changes to obtain a uniform speed, require a corre-
sponding greater or less admission of the motive fluid employed and consequently a
change in the position of the valve or mechanism controlling the supply of motive
fluid, and this necessitates (in the case of governors connected directly with the
controlling mechanism) a change in the plane in which the balls of the governor
rotate at the normal speed, and to effect this change the speed of rotation has either
to increase or decrease.

page_text: When a change of load or pressure of motive fluid takes place, a certain change is
required (as before stated) in the mechanism controlling the motive fluid, and the
intention of my invention, is to automatically add to or take from the load upon the
governor so that at the normal speed it will take a plane of rotation corresponding to
the change required in the motive fluid controlling mechanism to give a supply of the
latter which will just balance the load at the required speed of the Engine.
A centrifugal governor so arranged, I term isochronous, that is it will, when
rotating at a given normal speed allow the balls to remain in any plane of rotation
within the range of its lift or up and down movement.
Such practically isochronous governors can be, and are sometimes made, but they
are extremely sensitive, and are inclined and liable to "hunt" the Engine that is, to
make it run quick and slow, and these oscillations have to be checked in such
isochronous governors by an oil cylinder, or "dash pot" the action of which is
uncertain and variable-In practice it has hitherto been found proferable to allow
some variations of rotary speed between the higher and lower parts of the "lift"
of the governor; and it is the object of my invention to neutralize this variation and
make the governor practically isochronous without rendering it too sensitive or liable
to "hunt" the Engine.
I carry out my invention by mounting upon any suitable fulcrum a two armed
lever.
This fulcrum may be that of the lever or the axis of the lever or arm acted upon or
connected with the sleeve of the governor, and consequently this lever has the up and
down movements or oscillations imparted to it due to the rise and fall of the governor
owing to the variations in its speed of rotation.
On each arm and at the extreme end of the said two armed lever, a vessel is
mounted; which may be of any desired shape (in accordance with the explanation
hereinafter given) but is of cylindrical shape by preference, and the vessel on one
arm is connected with that on the other arin by a pipe or passage, in which there
is or may be a cock, valve or screw plug to regulate the velocity of the flow of
the fluid (mercury being used by preference) from one vessel to the other, each being
partly filled with fluid.
When the Engine is at its normal speed and condition of working, the two vessels
are on a level and are equally filled with fluid, but should the governor rise from
increase of speed, or fall from decrease of speed, the two armed lever will oscillate
from its level position accordingly one way or the other, and the fluid in the higher
vessel will flow to that in the lower vessel, through the said pipe or passage.
It will thus be seen that the governor is assisted to rise when the speed increases
and to fall when the speed decreases below the normal speed as the weight of fluid
which changes from one vessel to the other, reduces the load upon the governor in the
one case and adds to the load upon it in the other case..
The amount of fluid which changes sides from one vessel to the other is so pro-
portioned as to correspond to or counter-balance the load to be added to or taken
from the load upon the governor to cause its balls when at their normal speed to
rotate in the plane to which they have ascended or descended from their middle
position by the change of speed, so that the governor balls can continue to rotate in
the new position at the normal speed, as long as the load upon the Engine and
pressure of the motive fluid continue the same.
The position of the two vessels, their size to suit the weighting fluid employed, and
section to adapt them to the class of governor to be operated upon, can be arrived at
after a number of experiments, but I ascertain these particulars by calculation by the
following formula, and shall in explanation refer to fig. 1 which is a diagramatic
outline of the typical "Porter" or loaded governor drawn to a scale of one fourth
the full size.
a is the point at which the two links carrying each a ball c at their lower
ends are jointed with the vertical rotating shaft represented by the line d-The
balls e are shown in the middle or no mal plane of rotation by full black circles
and in the planes of their highest and lowest positions (two inclies in vertical lift of

page_text: Higginson's Mechanism for Governing the Speed of steam and other Moure 1ngines.
the sleeve apart) by peculiar dotted circles, and the supporting links are shown in
lines corresponding to those in which the balls c are represented, e are the links
jointed to the balls c at the upper end and to the sleeve indicated by two lines fon
each side of the centre vertical line d which sleeve slides up and down the vertical
shaft d and to this sleeve the load upon the governor is attached.
The small circle g represents the axis or fulcrum of the lever connected with the
sleeve which lever is represented by a full line g¹ and is shown in the middle or
level position of the sleeve and lever g' as when the Engine is at its normal speed
and condition.
The weight of each ball with an allowance for the connecting links b and e is
supposed to be 5 lbs., and the load upon the sleeve 100 lbs.
W V2 2°
=
The centrifugal force of the governor in any position is given by the formular
(WL) which formula may be found in text books on this subject
(where W represents weight V velocity g acceleration of gravity, radius, / height
and L load) from this formula is deduced (following the text books) a²
У до
(+) (1)~For isochronism a² (representing angular velocity) is constant.
-
In the governor represented by the diagramatic fig. 1, the load L is supposed to
be 100 lbs., and W (the ball allowing for the links) = 5-lbs., and.h_(the height or lift
of the bails from the point a of suspension from one plane to another) is shown in
three positions, (the lowest position) = 10"; h m (the middle position) = 9″ and h²
(the highest position
=
8".
Taking h m 9 as the normal height and the normal speed with L:
load required at 4 is found as follows (105) = 1/16 (
10 × 105 9 (105) therefore x = 105
and the total load required is 111-67 lbs.
-
10
105 +
(10-9), therefore x =
=
100 lbs., the
therefore
105
= 11-67 lbs.,
9
The load required at 12 is found as follows, % (105) = (105 + ") therefore
8 × 105 =
105
9 (105) therefore a =
===
9
88.33 lbs.
-
for
11.67 lbs. and the total load at h² is
From this it will be seen that in the lower position (h) 11-67 lbs. is required to he
added to the load to keep the governor balls rotating at the normal speed in the plane
of h, and in the upper position 2 = 11.67 lbs. is required to be taken from the load to
keep the governor balls rotating at the normal speed in the plane 2.
The value of a for the intermediate positions between hand hm, and hm and h 2
can be found in like manner, but it is obvious that the value of a for those positions
will vary regularly as the governor rises from 11.67 lbs. at its lowest position to o in
its middle or neutral position h m and from o in the latter position to minus 11-67 lbs.
in its highest position 2 = 8".
In the type of governor represented by the diagram fig. 1 the amount of load to be
added in the lowest position is equal to that to be subtracted in the highest position;
this however is rarely the case, as the loads to be added and substracted, vary and
depend upon the construction and proportions of the governor.
When the loads differ as above explained, the shape and capacity of the vessels to
suit the construction of the governor is varied as hereinafter explained.
The amount of mercury required (if that is the fluid to be employed as I prefer) in
each vessel is calculated as follows.
In the type of governor diagramatically represented by fig. 1 the lever 7'
connected with the sleeve of the governor (as an example) is supposed to be 10 inches
from the centre of its fulcrum to the centre of the sleeve and each of the arms i

page_text: for carrying the vessels ; (see the sectional elevation fig. 2) is supposed to be
20 inches long from the centre of the fulcrum or rocking shaft g to the centre of the
vessel (j).
=
I
Then as by the calculation hereinbefore given the weight to be added to or
substracted from the load L is 11.67 lbs. the weight of mercury required in the vessel
11.67 x 10
20 inches from the fulcrum is obtained thus
5.89 lbs. nearly and this
20
mercury must occupy four inches of the height of each vessel j when the governor
sleeve is in the middle or level position.
The mercury must in this example occupy four inches of the height of the vessels j
in the mid-position because when the governor has moved to one extreme, that is, two
inches of the movement of the sleeve from the middle position, the fluid in one vessel
at 20 inches from the fulcrum of the rock shaft will have entirely left it and have
passed to the other vessel j. A greater height of.mercury in the vessels may be used
but all height in excess of four inches (in this example) will be useless.
I prefer to make the vessels j of larger internal diameter than required and to adjust
their capacity to suit the governor to which they are applied by using filling in
pieces as shown in fig. 3, which will be hereinfurther explained in reference to
fig. 2.
When the amounts to be added and substracted from the load (L) differ, I vary the
sectional area of the vessels so that the displacement of fluid is greater in the upper,
then in the lower part of the lift of the governor, or vice versa.
This variation in the sectional capacity of the vessels is most conveniently effected
by making them cylindrical in their interior, and inserting pieces of wood or other
suitable material of the section and shape necessary to give the required cross sectional
capacity for fluid in the vessels.
If for example a governor required 15 lbs. adding to the load in its lowest position
and 10 lbs. substracting from the load in its higher position to make it isochronous.
I find what size of filling up piece inserted will cause the vessel j to contain 15 lbs.
of the fluid used (mercury by preference) in the height through which the vessel is
moved from its highest to its lowest position and also what size of filling up piece will
give 10 lbs. of mercury in the same height of vessel-then two filling pieces are
formed each tapering from an area which in the height of vessel; corresponds to
15 lbs. at one end, and also to an area which corresponds to 10 lbs. at the other end,
and one piece k is inserted in one vessel j and the other piece k in the other vessel j,
but the taper of one piece k is reverse to that of the other, as shown in fig. 2..
In place of a fixed length of lever and connecting tube, I sometimes use a flexible
or jointed or telescopic tube and attach the two vessels to the arins in such manner
that I can vary their distance from the fulcrum, and so increase or decrease the
weight or pressure upon the sleeve for a given displacement of fluid.
The use of the tap or its equivalent, enables me to vary the velocity of the flow of
fluid from one vessel (j) to the other, the object to be attained by this adjustment
being to get the maximum velocity of flow without "hunting" the Engine; a too
rapid flow having that effect.
1
In fig. 2, g is the axis of the rock shaft which is connected with the sleeve of the
governor. are covers or plugs, screwed into one end of each vessel i, each plug į¹
having a hole in it and a set screw 2 for securing it upon the end of the arm i-Each
screw plug i bas or may have one end of the taper or other form of filling up piece k
inserted in a hole in it as shown.
m is the pipe connecting the lower part of the two vessels; and 7 is the tap for
regulating the flow; ³ is a small hole in each screw plug to allow air to enter and
leave each vessel j.
In some cases, I arrange so that both vessels j are sealed or closed from the
atmosphere to prevent evaporation-This arrangement is illustrated by fig. 3, in which
a tube i* is used to act in place of the two armed lever i this tube i* is secured by a
set screw in a collar part g2 secured on the rock shaft g as shown.
The tubular two armed lever i* is connected air tight with the upper ends of both

page_text: vessels ; as shown, and there is a cock or its equivalent to regulate the passage of air,
and thus the flow of the weighting fluid from one vessel j to the other.
The lower ends of the two vessels j are also connected by a tube m and it is through
this tube that the weighting fluid passes from one vessel j to the other. but its velocity
is or may be determined by the speed the air is allowed to pass from the upper part of
one vessel to the upper part of the other through the tap l.
Instead of air being allowed to remain in the space at the upper part of each
vessel this space is or may be filled with oil, water or other fluid of small specific
gravity the weighting liquid being mercury.
The weighting fluid, and fluid of small specific gravity is or may be filled in
through holes closed by small screw plugs inserted in the screw plug i¹ but not shown
in fig. 3.
The two vessels ; may be supported on the rocking shaft by either the upper
tube i or lower tube m or both, in the latter case by extending the collar part 9 to
the lower tube m and both tubes are clamped in grooves in it by a plate 93 screwed
against its side as shown in fig. 4 an end view, or as shown in fig. of which fig. 6 is
an edge view.
:
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. The combination of two vessels partially filled with any suitable fluid, mercury
by preference arranged and mounted on opposite ends of a lever oscillated by
connection with a centrifugal governor the two vessels communicating with each other
by a pipe or passage to allow the mercury or other fluid to flow from one vessel to the
other as the governor rises and falls with filling up pieces k in the vessels (j)
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by figs. 2
and 3 of the drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of the two closed vessels (j) with an upper
tube or passage (ix) and lower tube or passage (m) substantially as and for the
purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by fig. 3 of the drawings.
3. The combination of a flexible tube, jointed or telescopic tubes with the vessels (j).
to allow of their adjustment on the arms carrying them to and from the fulcrum of
oscillation substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. In the case of centrifugal governors requiring an unequal weight added to or
substracted from the load at its lowest and highest positions to make them practically
isochronous the system or mode of effecting this object by proportioning and arranging
the sectional areas in the two vessels (1) for the weighting liquid or by filling pieces /
as required, substantially as hereinbefore explained and illustrated by fig. 2 of the
drawings.
5. The combination and arrangement of the mechanism substantially as and for the
purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by fig. 2 and by fig. 3, and as modified
by figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings.
Dated this Twenty sixth day of November 1888.
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.