AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR OR REGULATOR FOR STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Horatio Smith, of Norfolk Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN
Sealed the 20th April 1858, and dated the 20th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Horatio Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1857.
I, GEORGE HORATIO SMITH, of Norfolk Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED GOVERNOR OR REGULATOR FOR STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," to
be as follows':-
My Invention consists in the employment of the power or force exercised
by a vane or vanes so applied as to assume a position parallel or more nearly,
parallel to the plane of the direction of its or their motion when caused to
revolve round an axis for the purpose of governing or regulating the speed of
machinery in motion.
A convenient method of carrying my Invention into effect consists in the
employment of a vane or vanes connected with a rotating shaft by a boss, free
to slide up and down the shaft for the purpose of governing or regulating the
speed of a steam or other engine or other machinery in motion when the shaft
is made to rotate beyond a given velocity; should that velocity be exceeded

page_text: the vanes approach to or assume a position parallel to the direction of their
motion, or at right angles to the shaft, thereby drive the boss up the shaft, and
this boss through its connections closes the throttle slide or other valve wholly
or partially, or applies a break or regulator. The lower ends of the vanes are
free, and at the upper ends they are connected through arms or levers moving
upon joints to an adjusting collar, by altering the position of which collar upon
the shaft, the velocity at which the shaft may rotate without causing the vanes
through their connections to act upon the valve, the break, or regulator, is
fixed or determined.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Horatio Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HORATIO SMITH, of Norfolk Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Horatio Smith, Her special licence that I, the said George
Horatio Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Horatio Smith, 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 "AN
IMPROVED GOVERNOR OR REGULATOR FOR STEAM AND OTHER ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Horatio Smith, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 George Horatio Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of.my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists in the employment of the power or force exercised
by a vane or vanes so applied as to assume a position parallel or more nearly
parallel to the plane of the direction of its or their motion when caused to
revolve round an axis for the purpose of governing or regulating the speed of
machinery in motion.
a
A convenient method of carrying my Invention into effect consists in the
employment of a vane or vanes connected with a rotating shaft by a boss, free
to slide up and down the shaft for the purpose of governing or regulating the
speed of a steam or other engine or other machinery in motion when the shaft
is made to rotate beyond given velocity; should that velocity be exceeded
the vanes approach to or assume a position parallel to the direction of their
motion, or at right angles to the shaft, thereby drive the boss up the shaft, and
this boss through its connections closes the throttle slide or other valve wholly
or partially, or applies a break or regulator. The lower ends of the vanes are
free, and at the upper ends they are connected through arms or levers moving
upon joints to an adjusting collar, by altering the position of which collar upon
the shaft the velocity at which the shaft may rotate without causing the vanes
through their connections to act upon the valve, the break, or regulator, is fixed
or determined. .
The manner in which my Invention may be carried into effect is shewn
in the accompanying Drawing. A is the shaft of the governor driven by a
pulley B and Y, from à steam engine or other prime mover. C is a boss
connected to the shaft A by a pin a, free to slide up and down in the slot b,
made through the shaft A. H, H, H, are arms connected at their inner ends
by pivot joints to the boss C. I, I, I, are the vanes, three of these are shewn
in the figure, but fewer or more can be used as may be found convenient.
Each vane is connected to the apparatus at two parts; at their upper and
narrow ends they are jointed to connecting rods L, L, L, and at about one
third of their inner length, each vane is rivetted on the innerside to the
pivotted arms H, H, H. L, L, L, are the connecting rods jointed at their
upper ends to the collar G, which is caused to rotate with the shaft A, by the
key c, entering a groove on the inner face thereof. This collar is free to move
up and down the length of the key, when acted upon by the adjusting lever N.
J is a ring fitted loosely on the collar K so as to allow the collar to revolve freely
within it. Two trunnions or pins d, d, project from the sides of this ring, and
the forked arms upon one end of the adjusting lever N embrace these trunnions;

page_text: the adjusting lever is centered at P, and its outer arm Q is connected to
a screwed rod R, working through a threaded nut M. S is a hand wheel
on this shaft, by the turning of which one way or the other the collars K and G
are raised or lowered, and the vanes set at the angle required according to the
duty the engine is to perform. U is a collar connected by a tube V to the
boss C, and revolving with it. W is a lever centered at X, and connected
through a ring and trunnions to the collar U, in a manner similar to that in
which the forked arms of the lever N are connected to the collar K; the outer
end of the lever W is connected to the throttle valve slide to a break or other
regulator. Should the shaft A revolve at or beyond the velocity at which the
vanes are set to act, the pressure of air upon their under surfaces consequent
upon the increased velocity forces them to approach to or assume a horizontal
position, thereby raising the boss C, the tube V, the lever W, which in its
turn closes a throttle or other valve, applies a break or other regulating
The shaft A is
apparatus, and thus checks the velocity of the prime mover.
here shewn vertical, but it is evident it may be placed in any position found
convenient.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment
of the power or force exercised by a vane or vanes so applied as to assume a
position parallel or more nearly parallel to the plane of the direction of its or
their motion when caused to revolve round an axis for the purpose of govern-
ing or regulating the speed of machinery in motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Horatio Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
GEORGE HORATIO SMIT.
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