IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE BLAST OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Oo:, Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE
BLAST OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES."—A communication from abroad by
Charles Byron Knowles and John Edward Saunders, both of Nash-
ville, Tennessee, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th February 1878.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declaro tho
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING THE BLAST OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES,” a communication, to be as
follows:-
The said Invention relates to a variable exhaust blast pipe for loco-
motive engines, the object being to control the blast by contracting or

page_text: closing at pleasure the orifice of the blast or exhaust pipe by means of a
scries or set of valves so arranged and constructed that it will by its own
action free itself from any gummy or foreign matter that may or could
form thereon.
A semicircular, oval, or beveled valve seat is placed upon the top of b
the exhaust pipe. Two valves with circular ends are arranged to work
on the said valve seat, covering or exposing at the will of the engineer
the orifices therein. These valves are centred and secured on and over
their seat by a pivot bolt at one end, and are secured, controlled, and
operated at the other end by a shaft. This shaft extends through the 1
side of the smoke box, and is journaled in a box. To the outsido end
of the said shaft is attached a lever operated by the engineer by means
of a connecting rod. The valves are grooved on their adjoining faces to
cut or scrape off any gummy or foreign mattor, and permit the escape of
any accumulation that may form or gather on the valve scat or its con- 1
nections.
The said valves are worked and controlled by a double jointed crank
arm working on a pivot or journal joint.
The aforesaid shaft is fastened in one of the circular ends of the said
valve, and acts as a journal for the end of the other. Throwing one valve 2
open by means of the shaft throws the said crank arm downward, and
the same carrics with it the crank and journal, and consequently the
other valve, thereby opening both at one time and closing by reversing.
:
'
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent 25
Office on the 25th August 1873.
"
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 30
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Hor heirs and successors, E

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lako, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
5 with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE BLAST OF LOCOMOTIVE
ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad by Charles Byron
Knowles and John Edward Saunders, both of Nashville, Tennessee,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to bo 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:→
The said Invention relates to a variable exhaust blast pipe for loco-
motive engines, the object boing to control the blast by contracting or
closing at pleasure the orifice of the blast or exhaust pipe by means of
a series or set of valves so constructed and arranged that it will by its
own action free itself from any gummy or foreign matter that may or
could form thereon.
The manner in which the said Invention is carried into effect will
more fully appear in the following description taken in connection with
Figuro 2 is a longitudinal section of the same,

page_text: Fourthly. The said Invention and its attachment being very simple,
it is easily repaired and is kept free from the accumulation of gummy
substances which collect on the valves hitherto used, making the said
valves, stic and rendering them inoperative.
•
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,―
First. The valve seat A with its semicircular, oval, or beveled face, in
combination with the blast pipes of a locomotive when constructed as
herein set forth for the purposes specified.
Second. The valve seat A and valves B, B', with grooves d and
circular ends in combination with the bolt 6, shaft E, lever I, connecting
rods and cranks, as herein set forth and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
'
Witness,
HENRY J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
•
· London.
W*. ROB². LAKE. (L.B.)