Slide Valves for the Passage of Gases or Liquids in Flues or Channels.
Year: 1886

page_text: Slide Valves for the Passage of Gases or Liquids in Flues
or Channels.
I, NORTON HENRY HUMPHRYS of 1 Belgrave Villas, Devizes Road, Salisbury, in
the County of Wilts, Gas Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF DAMPERS OR SLIDE
VALVES FOR THE PASSAGE OF GASES OR LIQUIDS IN FLUES OR CHANNELS" and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
This invention has for its object to provide an accurate means of regulating the
area of the passage through which gases or other products of combustion or
liquids are to escape or flow; such means, in the shape of dampers or slide valves,
being applicable both to the flues through which gases or smoke escape from all
kinds of furnaces, including generator or recuperator furnaces, and the necessary
draught be created to the flues or channels through which a supply of air may be
carried to the furnace, and to the channels or orifices through which liquids are
allowed to flow from one receptacle to another. The method of working the
ordinary description of dampers or valves at present in use is most inaccurate and
perfunctory and it is impossible to fix them with sufficient nicety to ascertain and
determine the exact volume of gas or liquids that is to proceed past them. By the
aid of the mechanical arrangements made in accordance with my invention, this
inaccuracy is entirely obviated, so much so that the area of the opening may be
controlled and the volume of gas or liquid that is to find its egress through such
opening may be regulated minutely and may be altered with equal accuracy at any
moment; while at the same time the mechanism by which this is effected is so
simple and compact that no clogging up or derangement of the mechanism by dust
or other foreign substances need at any time be apprehended, and the damper or

page_text: valve may be fixed in any desired position and readily secured by means of a lock
and key, so as to prevent it from being tampered with.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings, I have shewn several methods of
arranging and fitting an apparatus constructed according to my invention. Fig. 1
is a sectional elevation and Fig. 2 a plan of the damper as applied to the ground
line flue at the back of a furnace or row of furnaces in which case the adjustment
takes place from above. A is the body of the damper to which is attached the
link B, shown separately in front and side elevation in Fig. 3. The link B is
surmounted by the bar C, which is divided or gauged and has a series of perfora
tions to it, corresponding to the divisions, and has a long screw c to it with which
it is connected with the link B. The lower extremity of the bar C is shown in
front and side elevation in Fig. 4. The link B is connected with the counter-
weights G, G; passing over the rollers R, R, by means of wires, ropes, or other
suitable appliances, and the rollers R, R. themselves are fitted to a frame or stand F
which may be built into the brickwork and secured therein by means of tongues
or projections T, T. The top of the bar C is furnished with a handle H for lifting
it, and to the frame is fitted, by means of a chain I a pin or stud D which being
inserted in one of the openings of the bar C, secured that bar and consequently
places the damper or valve in any desired position. The pin and chain are shown
on an enlarged scale, in elevation and plan, in Fig. 5. The pin itself may be per-
forated, and by a padlock being applied thereto, it may be secured in such a way
that the damper or valve cannot be interfered with by any unauthorized person.
In Fig. 6 I have shown a sectional elevation of a damper arrangement analogous
to that shown in Figs. 1 to 5, and in all respects identical with it, except that the
counterweights G and guide rollers R of Fig. 1 are dispensed with, and that the
link to which the damper A is secured, and the gauge bar C are made of one piece
instead of being separate; but on the other hand the top F¹ of the frame is
separate from the body thereof and screwed on to it, and is adjustable in such a
way by means of the screw thread and washers that may be added if required, as
to admit of the position of the bar with respect to the frame being more accurately
determined and the pin D being inserted in such a manner as to give the damper or
valve any desired position. It is obvious that the counterweights and rollers shown
in Fig. 1 may also be applied to this arrangement if circumstances should make it
appear desirable.
In the arrangement shown in Fig. 7, being a sectional elevation, the damper or
valve A moves horizontally instead of moving vertically as it does in the two
preceding arrangements. This arrangement is suited for working the damper from
one side and may be applied especially to perpendicular flues. The working of the
apparatus, and the functions of its different component parts, which are denoted by
identical letters to those marked in Figs. 1 to 5, are analogous in the arrangement
Fig. 7 to what they are in the two preceding ones; but a different shape may be
given to the link B, as shown separately in front and side elevation, and the
position of the frame F being also different from that shown in Fig. 1, its con-
figuration must be varied so as to suit the altered motion of the damper or valve.
In the arrangement shown in Fig 7 the handle is attached to the link B, and the
perforated bar O is fixed instead of being moveable as in the two preceding arrange
ments. It generally happens that there would be a wall' at the back of the frame,
and the front of the frame, and if required its back as well may be covered with a
flat plate which may be secured from interference.
+
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
"
1. The construction and use or employment of dampers or valves secured to links
and guided in frameworks, over rollers and furnished with counterweights, sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth and illustrated in
Figs. 1 to 5 of the accompanying sheet of drawings.

page_text: 2. The arrangement of a graduated or gauged bar with openings therein,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth and illustrated in
Figs. 1, 6 & 7 of the accompanying sheet of drawings.
3. The use or employment of a frame consisting of one or more pieces, shaped in
such a manner as to correspond to the different movements of the damper or valve,
as herein set forth and illustrated in Figs. 1, 6 and 7 of the accompanying sheet of
drawings.