Improvements in Thermostatic Valves.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd June, 1899 --Accepted, 19th Aug., 1899
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN A. SERRELL, of Bayonne, in the County
of Hudson, State of New Jersey, and MEREDITH LEITH, of Boston, County
of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, both in the United States of America.]
Improvements in Thermostatic Valves.
1, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
_
In thermostatic valve devices such as are used in steam heating systems great
sensitiveness and positiveness of action are desirable. This is particularly true
in those systems where a partial vacuum, or lower pressure, is maintained in the
valve outlet, as compared with the inlet, and the valve is designed to permit the
passage or discharge of air or water of condensation but to prevent the escape
of steam.
As the total expansion of such valves, due to the difference in temperature
between water of condensation and steam at low pressure is limited, it is desirable
that this total expansion should be available, and that the element of lost motion
due to wear, looseness or imperfect construction should be eliminated.
My invention is especially designed to render the total expansion available by
taking up the lost motion due to looseness, ill-fitting or wear between the
thermostatic expanding piece and the parts which support it or are controlled by
it. This I accomplish by the employment of a spring acting on the expanding
member to take up the looseness between it and its support, or the part it
operates, so that lost motion is eliminated and the total available expansion is
obtained.
The accompanying drawing shows a vertical sectional view of a thermostatic
valve embodying my invention.
My invention may be applied either to a globe or angle valve, but for purposes
of illustration I have shown it in the drawing applied to an angle valve.
I have shown my invention applied to a thermostatic valve of the character
shown in my prior Patent No. 9829 A.D. 1897.
In that valve the expanding piece E¹ is located within a casing I which forms
a closed compartment within the valve body, communicating through permanent
openings (shown in dotted lines) in the valve seat D', with the suction or
discharge side, and operates, when expanded, to close passageways e, f, through
the valve seat, independent of the openings g and leading to the supply side
of the valve body. The construction is such that a lower pressure or partial
vacuum maintained in the discharge side extends into the chamber in which the
expanding piece is located, and thus the expanding piece is protected from
the direct action of steam at high temperature and pressure. In that construction
the expanding member may be carried at its upper end in an adjustable plug H,
or may be loosely supported within the valve body. In either case there is
liability of lost motion owing to looseness between the plug and expanding piece
or between the plug and its screw threads. To overcome this lost motion we

page_text: employ the spring F¹ acting upon the expanding piece and pressing it against
the plug H, thus preventing any looseness between the plug and expanding
piece, or between the plug and its threadway, and rendering the total expansion
available.
In the construction shown the expanding piece E1 is provided near its top
with a shoulder h, which receives the thrust of the spring F arranged within the
valve bonnet B¹. An annular washer M may be placed between the spring and
shoulder to act as a bearing for the upper end of the spring and to prevent
injury to the composition of the expanding piece. The expanding piece may be
free from the plug H or directly connected therewith.
The spring acts to hold the expanding piece upon its seat or support and to
take up all looseness, whether that looseness be between the expanding piece and
the plug or between the plug and its threadway, and thus all lost motion is
avoided and the total expansion of the expanding piece is rendered available,
thus rendering the valve more sensitive and positive in its action.
I do not of course limit myself to the particular construction of the valve shown
as it is obvious that my invention may be applied to other forms of thermostatic
valves employing an expanding piece.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
First: The combination of the expanding piece and its support with the
spring acting on said expanding piece to maintain it in close contact with the
support and take up lost motion.
Second: The expanding piece E' formed with a shoulder and a spring F
acting on said shoulder for the purposes described with or without the inter-
mediate washer M.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.