AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM AND VACHUM GRAGES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Mather, of Salford Iron Works, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, and Charles Millward, of Salford,
in the County of Lancaster, Engine Manager, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM AND VACHUM GRAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Colin Mather and
Charles Millward at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd January 1856.
We, COLIN MATHER, of Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinist, and CHARLES MILLWARD, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Engine Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM AND VACUUM GUAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in steam and vacuum
guages, that the same column of mercury may be made to indicate either the
pressure of steam in the boiler, or the state of vacuum in the condenser. For
this purpose a tube is attached to the lower end of the glass containing the
mercury, and rises to any desired height; a branch tube is connected there-
with, and also to the condenser, there being a three-way cock on the tube
where the branch joins it. A tube is attached to the upper part of the glass
one containing the mercury, which is also connected with a steam boiler, and
this tube has also a branch open to the atmosphere, and a three-way cock at
the junction of the branch and the tube.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Colin Mather and Charles Millward in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd July-1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, COLIN
MATHER, of Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, and CHARLES MILLWABD, of Salford, in, the County of Lancaster,
Engine Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight liundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Colin Mather and Charles Millward, Her special licence that we, the said
Colin Mathor and Charles Millward, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Colin Mather and Charles Millward, our exccu-
tors, 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 ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM AND VACUUM GUAGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Colin Mather and
Charles Millward, our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Charles Millward, on behalf of myself
and the said Colin Mather, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say):-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in steam and vacuum
guages, that the same column of mercury may be made to indicate either the
pressure of steam in the boiler or the state of vacuum in the condenser. For
this purpose a tube is attached to the lower end of the glass containing the
mercury, and rises to any desired height; a branch tube is connected there-
with, and also to the condenser, there being a three-way cock on the tube,
where the branch joins it. A tube is attached to the upper part of the glass

page_text: one containing the mercury, which is also connected with a steam boiler, and
this tube has also a branch open to the atmosphere, and a three-way cock at
the junction of the branch and the tube.
Having thus explained the nature of the said Invention, we will proceed
more fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The object of this Invention, as above stated, is the improvement of those
guages in which the pressure of steam in a boiler or elsewhere, or the quality
of a vacuum obtained by an air pump, or otherwise, is indicated by the use of
a column of mercury. The principal feature of the improvement is, that both,
the above objects are obtained by the use of one and the same column of

page_text: the steam; if now the tap d be turned to shut off the steam, and to open the
tube to the atmosphere, or in the position as shown by the section g, the
quality of the vacuum alone will be indicated; if the tape is now turned to
shut off the vacuum, and be opened to the atmosphero as first described, the
column of mercury will again find its own level, and the surface como back to
zero on the scale, being open to the atmosphero on both sides.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, we would have it
understood, that what we claim is a combination by which the same column
of mercury is used to indicate the pressure of steam, or the quality of the
vacuum.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Millward, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM WILKINSON PLATT,
of Broughton, Manchester.
CHARLES MILLWARD. (L.S.)