Improvements in and relating to Gauge-glasses for Steam-generators and other Vessels under Pressure.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct.. 1894-Accepted, 2nd Feb., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Gauge-glasses for Steam-generators
and other Vessels under Pressure.
I, JOSEF BÜLLERBACH, Workmaster, of Recklinghausen, in the Province of
Westfalia and Kingdom of Prussia, 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 :-
There exists already a number of different kinds of protectors for gauge-glasses-
for steam generators and other vessels under pressure which however all still suffer
from such disadvantages as to be practically of no great use and unable to fulfil
their object. The chief object of all these contrivances is to protect the workman
from being scalded in case of the water-gauge bursting, and yet in general to make
it easy for him to see the height of the water. Experience proves how inadequately
up to the present this object has been attained. It has been shown in the pro-
tective appliances, consisting in surrounding the water-gauge with a thick outer
cylinder of glass, that usually on the water-gauge bursting, the protective glass
also bursts in consequence of the unequal heating and expansion by the hot steam.
The protective appliances usually made of wire-gauze or perforated metal still
allow some of the steam to escape through the openings; besides they also have
the great draw-back, which the protective appliances of so-called wire-glass also
have, that in case of the glass-gauge being dirty one cannot see the water-mark at
all through them, and that in order to try whether the gauge is acting, one
is obliged to turn round or take off the protector, so that the workman is quite
unprotected just when he is occupied in the immediate vicinity of the glass-gauge.
All these draw-backs are entirely avoided by my protective appliance, which is
founded on an entirely different idea.
This apparatus is represented in annexed drawing in Fig. 1 in side-view, in
Fig. 2 in front-view and in Fig. 3 in a view from above, the water-gauge being
single, while Fig. 4 shows the arrangement in ground plan when the water-gauge
is double.
My apparatus consists chiefly in the arrangement of a protecting case or gutter A
of non-transparent resisting material as wood, tin etc. on the front-side of the gauge-
glass W, which is turned towards the spectator, and of a mirror B somewhat
laterally behind the gauge-glass, having such a position with regard to it and the
protecting gutter A, that the spectator can easily see from in front the mark on
the inside of the gutter. It is best to have the inner side of the gutter A, which
is turned towards the gauge-glass, of a black or dark colour and to make a red or
light-coloured mark at the height of the water-level.
The details of the apparatus may be arranged as follows:
The protecting gutter A has at the upper margin an attaching mechanism of
wire or of metal bows a a₁, which are joined after the manner of wall-hooks by
screwing at 6 behind the gauge-glass thus surrounding and holding the latter fast.
At the lower end two metal bows c₁ are likewise arranged, which hold between
their free ends, i.e. behind the gauge-glass, a horizontal stem-like cross-piece d.
This piece d may be made of one piece with the bow c, or as shown in the drawing,.
be permanently attached to c by soldering, rivetting etc., while the bow c₁ is
attached to d by screwing at e, after the apparatus has been placed about the
gauge-glass in question. The cross-piece d carries a flat arm g pointing backwards
and capable of moving longitudinally in a slit-guide, as well as of turning about

page_text: the screwvf. To the back end of this arm, capable of turning about the hinge h, is
attached the one loop of the hinge i, the other loop of which, points to the front
and is somewhat bent and carries the mirror B on the front edge. By this
attachment of the mirror, it generally has a slight over-weight and inclines
forwards, but should the gauge-glass burst, it can give way slightly to the pressure
of the steam by opening backwards. In consequence of the slit-guide and the
turning-point at fit is possible to adjust the mirror as desired for any position of
the boiler and the spectator and also so as to suit the light.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said-
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :
Improvements in and relating to gauge-glasses for steam-generators and other
vessels under pressure distinguished by the arrangement of a rigid non-transparent
protecting gutter A of any material, surrounding the glass W on the front side, in
connection with a mirror B capable of being moved and turned at will in a
horizontal direction, in front of the side of the boiler, laterally behind the gauge-
glass.
Dated this Twenty-fifth day of October 1894.
For JOSEF BÜLLERBACH,
B. Brockhues.