IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS FOR PREVENTING EXPLOSION THEREOF
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Orrell, John Cleminson,
and William Barraclough at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th June 1856.
We, RICHARD ORRELL, of Low Moor, in the Township of North Bierley, in
the Parish of Bradford, in the County of York, Engine Tenter, JOHN
CLEMINSON, of Low Moor, aforesaid, Engineer, and WILLIAM BARRACLOUGH,
of Low Moor, aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS FOR PREVENTING EXPLOSION
THEREOF," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in adapting to the inside of steam boilers certain
improved mechanism, in connection with a float, so contrived and arranged, as
that, when the level of the water in the boiler is either too high or too low, steam
passes from the boiler into the furnace, and, blowing open the door, gives notice
to the attendant that something is wrong, and either damping or putting out
the fire, as the case may be.
These improvements further consist in connecting a "steam gauge" with the
aforesaid water float, for the purpose of indicating the height of the water in
the boiler, in lieu of the ordinary water gauge commonly employed for that
purpose.
The construction of this gauge is similar to the ordinary glass gauge, and
inside the glass tube there is a small iron rod, commonly called a baby; the
bottom of this rod rests in a cup attached to the end of another rod, which is

page_text: coupled to the before-mentioned vibrating lever; which as it rises and falls
indicates the height of the water in the boiler in a more simple and efficient
manner than heretofore. It is also proposed by these improvements to arrange
and dispose a safety valve within the boiler, said valve having a weight
attached thereto equivalent to the desired pressure of the steam. In connection
with this valve, as also the water float, are pipes, the lower ends of which are
fixed into the top of the furnaces of the boiler. (Suppose, for example, the boiler
to be a Cornish boiler with two furnaces therein, and main openings therefrom
through the said boiler,) the upper ends of said pipes are open to the inside
of the boiler, and thus allow steam to pass from the boiler into the furnace, as
above-mentioned.
The nature of these improvements will be better understood by the following
description of the means by which they may be effected; and, first, as regards
the the construction of the mechanism connected with the water float, it is as
follows: To a casting suitably fixed to the inside of the boiler a pedestal is
fixed, and supports by its upper end the axis of a vibrating lever, to one arm
of which a stone float is connected, and to the other arm a weight to counter-
balance the aforesaid float. To the above-mentioned casting are connected
the upper ends of the pipes employed for establishing a communication between
the two furnaces, and to the upper end of each of these pipes another pipe is
screwed, in which is fitted a valve for closing the opening, at top of the afore-
said pipe, as also for covering openings made around the lower part of the
upper pipe. The upper part of each valve stalk has a slot formed therein,
through which the before-mentioned vibrating lever passes, and according as
the float either rises too high or falls too low, in like manner the lever will lift
one or other of the valves, and allow steam to pass from the boiler into the
furnace, as before mentioned. The safety valve also operates in a similar
manner when the pressure of the steam in the boiler exceeds the weight
attached to the valve. The peculiar features in these improvements consist in
so arranging and disposing the mechanism employed as that it cannot be
tampered with, that it is self-acting, and that it obviates the possibility of
explosion.