NEW AND IMPROVED SELF-ACTING GOVERNORS, APPLICABLE TO MARINE AND STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES, AND TO OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bauer, of Munich, in the Kingdom of
Bavaria, but at present residing at No. 10, Chatham Place, Blackfriars,
in the City of London, Submarine Engineer, for the Invention of "NEW
AND IMPROVED SELF-ACTING GOVERNORS, APPLICABLE TO MARINE AND STATIONARY
STEAM ENGINES, AND TO OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES."
Sealed the 15th November 1864, and dated the 19th May 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bauer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
May 1864.
I, WILLIAM BAUER, of Munich, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, but at present
residing at No. 10, Chatham Place, Blackfriars, in the City of London,
Submarine Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "NEW AND IMPROVED SELF-ACTING GOVERNORS, APPLICABLE TO MARINE AND
STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES AND TO OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," to be, as
follows:-
My Invention relates to that class of apparatus or machinery called governors,
and which are employed for regulating the speed of steam engines, or of other
motive-power engines. Now, instead of being driven direct by the engine,
and brought into action by the increase or diminution of speed above or below
its normal speed, as is the case with ordinary governors, my aforesaid self-
acting governors are entirely disengaged from and independent of the engines,

page_text: and they are actuated directly by the increase or decrease of the resistance or
of the load.
When applied to marine engines I prefer to avail myself of the variations
of the water column caused by the waves in the proximity of the paddles, or
of the screw or screws, or other propeller, and I cause the water column to
act direct on the governor. In this instance the governor consists of a vertical
tube, cylinder, or other vessel, which is connected with the water by a pipe or
pipes passing through the side of the ship in such a manner that in still water
the water outside the ship and the water in the governor tube are on the
same level. A float guided by suitable guides rests upon the water in the
tube, and a rod attached to the top of the float, and passing through a stuffing
box in the top of the tube, communicates either direct or by means of levers
or other apparatus with a throttle or other steam valve, cock, or slide for
regulating the admission or exhaust of steam to and and from the cylinder.
When the water by the action of the waves rises in the proximity of the
propeller, so that the resistance to the propeller increases, the governor float
will likewise rise in the tube, and thereby open the aforesaid valve, and
increase the power of the engine to the required degree. If on the contrary
the water level is lowered, and the propeller thereby raised partially or wholly
out of the water, the float will fall by its own weight and close the valve,
whereby the power of the engine is momentarily reduced, and a sudden
increase of the speed of the engine called racing is prevented. Instead
of the tube and float a flexible tube or bag may be employed, and the
apparatus may be fixed on the outside of a ship or vessel if preferred.
Instead of using a vertical governor tube with float as described, I also
employ a cylinder with piston placed horizontally or vertically, the piston rod
passing through one end of the cylinder, and acting upon the steam valves, and
the other end of the cylinder opening into the tube leading to the water
outside the ship.
My self-acting governors for stationary motive-power engines, and which
are equally applicable to marine engines, may be constructed as follows:-
On the end of the main shaft of the prime mover I secure a disc or bracket
provided with a boss. To this disc or bracket is secured a tube forming part
of a circle, one end of which tube is closed. On the end of the second shaft,
which is to be driven by the first, and is placed in the same axis, a similar
disc or bracket is keyed, and to this disc a round bar or piston is secured
bent to correspond with the circle formed by the tube. This piston enters
through a stuffing box into the tube. Supposing the prime mover to be set
in motion, the piston on the second shaft will be forced into the tube, till the

page_text: air in the tube is compressed to the extent corresponding to the resistance
offered by the load on the second shaft, when the piston will enter no further,
but carry round its shaft. Now, supposing a portion of the load to be taken
off the second shaft, it is evident that the compressed air in the tube will
immediately expand to an extent corresponding to the reduction of the load,
and force out the piston to a certain extent. This motion of the piston and
tube towards and away from each other whenever an alteration in the
resistance to the motive power takes place, is communicated by suitable
mechanism to the steam valve, as already described with reference to the
marine engine governor. In place of a tube and piston as described I also use
elastic bands, cords, or springs. A most sensitive governor is in this manner
obtained, and the elastic medium between the prime mover and the load has
the advantage of preventing all sudden shocks on starting the machinery.
The construction of governors as above described may be modified in a
variety of ways, without deviating from the principle on which my Invention
is based.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bauer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BAUER, of Munich, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, but at present residing at
No. 10, Chatham Place, Blackfriars, in the City of London, Submarine
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant. unto
the said William Bauer, Her special licence that I, the said
William Bauer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Bauer, 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
"SELF-ACTING GOVERNORS, APPLICABLE TO MARINE AND STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES
AND TO OTHER MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said William Bauer, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 William Bauer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement:-
My Invention relates to that class of machinery or apparatus called
governors or regulators, and which are employed for regulating the speed,
or for diminishing or increasing the power of steam engines or other motive
power engines, in proportion to the decrease or increase in the load or resist-
ance. Now, instead of being brought into action by the increase above or the
decrease below the normal speed of the engine, as is the case with ordinary
governors, my self-acting dynamometric governors are called into action
direct by the decrease or increase in the resistance or load, and without first
permitting of any notable change or variation in the speed of the engine.
My self-acting governors differ from the ordinary governors not only
in construction, but in principle. The said governors are applicable to
marine engines, and to every description of steam or other motive power
engine; also for communicating motion or power from any driving shaft to
machinery, for regulating the speed of such machinery, and for indicating
and registering the power applied in driving machinery.
When applied to marine engines, I prefer to avail myself of the variation
in the level of the water outside the ship in the immediate proximity of the
screw, paddle, or other propeller, by bringing the governor into communica-
tion with the water by a pipe or channel which opens through the side of the
ship into the water and thereby allows the water column to act direct upon the
governor.
In order that my said Invention may be clearly understood and readily
carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same, reference being
had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 represents one modification of my self-acting governor, as applied to
a marine engine with screw propeller.
a is a cylinder, connected with the water outside the ship through the tube b,
and the surface of the water in the cylinder a will therefore be. on the same

page_text: level or nearly so, as that of the water outside the ship, over the propeller z.
c is a float swimming in the water of the cylinder a, and is provided with a
rack c' gearing into the wheel d, keyed to the spindle d', which latter is sup-
ported in water-tight bearings of the chest e. Upon the spindle d', but out-
side the chest e, is keyed a second wheel f gearing into a rack, 9, the upper
end of which is connected with the lever of a valve for the admission or
exhaust of the steam, and whereby the speed or power of the engine can be
regulated. If the depth of water over the screw and in the cylinder a
increases, the float c will rise and cause the rack g to be depressed, whereby
the steam valve will be opened in proportion to the increased resistance of
the screw z in the water. If, on the other hand, the water column over the screw z
and in the cylinder becomes less, a contrary action upon the steam valve will take
place; by these means the speed of the engine is maintained uniform, and the
sudden increase of speed in the screw called "racing" is prevented.
Fig. 2 shows another modification of governor applicable to marine engines.
In this instance a flexible bag a is connected with the water outside the ship
through the pipe b. As the water rises the bag will open and assume the
shape represented by dotted lines, and in rising or sinking will raise or lower
the lever h with adjustable balance weight h¹, and thereby open or close the
steam valve i. The plug is for the purpose of shutting off the communication
between the water and the flexible bag a when desired.
Fig. 3 represents a third modification of my governors. The cylinder a
connected with the water through the pipe b is fitted with a piston c, the
rod of which acts upon the valve lever h, and through the wheel segment h¹
upon the pinion h" keyed to the valve spindle and valve i. The water rising
up the tube will move the piston c in the direction of the arrow, and
close the steam valve, and again in receding from the cylinder it will
form a partial vacuum and cause the piston to move in the contrary
direction.
Fig. 4 represents and end elevation partly in section, and Fig. 5 a side
elevation partly in section of my self-acting dynamometrical governor or
regulator, which can be applied to marine engines as well as to all other
motors for communicating motive power and for indicating the variations in
the power applied for driving a machine. This governor or regulator acts
without the use of a water column. The main shaft or driving shaft a has a
bracket arm b fixed upon it, to the end of which are cast or otherwise fixed
the two circular tubes 6' which are open at one end and closed at the other.
The shaft c, through which I will suppose a number of machines are to be
set in motion from main shaft a, is placed in a line with the axis of the main

page_text: shaft, and has likewise a bracket arm d keyed on its end, to which arm two
plungers or rams d' are fixed or cast, the axis of which plungers being in the
same plane with the axis of the tubes 6, each of the plungers d¹ enters
into its corresponding tube through an air-tight stuffing box. Supposing.
now the main shaft a being set in motion, the rams d¹ will be forced into the
tubes until the resistance offered by the compressed air in the tubes b¹ is
equal to the power required for driving the machines connected with the shaft c.
Owing to the elasticity of the compressed air, the slightest addition to or
decrease in the resistance offered by the machinery, or the stopping or setting
in motion of any single machine, will in the one case cause the air in the
tube to be still further compressed, and in the other it will allow of a cor-
responding expansion. In order to communicate these variations in the
motion of the pistons d¹ and tubes towards and away from each other to a
steam valve or other apparatus whereby the speed or power of the prime
mover is regulated, I form a scroll groove d² in the boss of the bracket arm d.
A cone pulley e running in a key groove on shaft c has a bracket f fixed to it,
provided with a stud f which reaches into the scroll groove d³.
cone pulley 9 fixed to a bracket h rests on the cone pulley e.
to an increase or decrease of the load the bracket arm d' with shaft c should
momentarily revolve faster or slower than the main shaft a with bracket
arm b, the scroll groove d² will either draw the cone pulley e towards the
bracket arm d or force it away from the same, whereby the second cone
pulley will be lowered or raised, and the steam valve will through the bracket
rod h¹ be opened or closed. The engine is by these means maintained at a
uniform speed. The graduated bar passing through guide and pointer m
indicates the amount of compression of the air in tube b¹.
A second
Now if owing
Figs. 6 & 7 represent a governor similar to the foregoing one, but made
with only one tube b¹ and one ram d¹, each of the length of nearly half a
circle. Upon the boss of the bracket arm 6 a collar i is placed which by
suitable mechanisın, such as clockwork, is caused to perform a certain number
of revolutions per hour. Upon this collar i cards or paper can be attached
for taking diagrams, the bracket f being at its end provided with a marker,
bearing upon such card or paper. The clock work is supposed to be attached
to the bracket arm b at y. The cock x, see Figs. 4 & 6, is for the purpose of
admitting or expelling the air as well as for introducing lubricating substance
for preserving the packing in the stuffing boxes. In place of working these
governors by compressed air their action may be reversed from a pushing one
into a drawing one by the use of a partial vacuum. Or in place of making
use of the compression and expansion of air, other elastic media may be

page_text: employed, such as springs or belts or cords of india-rubber by means of eccen-
trics or other equivalents. These governors combined with a clutch box may
also be generally applied with great advantage as starting apparatus for
machinery of every description, as by their action any sudden shock in the
starting of machinery is prevented.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise details of construction
described and shown in the Drawing, but what I do claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly, the actuating of governors or regulators of prime movers or other
machinery by the increase or decrease of the resistance offered by the
load or work to be overcome, after the manner substantially as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the application of the rise and fall of the water column for
actuating governors of marine engines, in the manner substantially as
described and shown in Figs. 1, 2, & 3 of Drawings.
Thirdly, the construction and application of the dynamometric self-acting
governors substantially as described and shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, & 7 of
Drawings and their equivalents.
Fourthly, the use of apparatus as described with reference to Figs. 4, 5,
6, & 7 of Drawings as starting apparatus and for transmitting motion from
one machine to another generally.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bauer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM BAUER. (L.S.)
Submarine Engineer.