IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS OF STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Walker, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS
OR REGULATORS OF STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Walker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th April 1856.
I, THOMAS WALKER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GOVERNORS OR REGULATORS OF STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES," to be
as follows:-
The improvements relate to the adaptation of the motion obtainable by the
rotation of vanes or blades (affixed at an angle to an axis similar to the blades
of screw propellers) in water or other fluid, to operate by suitable gear upon
the throttle or other supply valve of the engine, to regulate or govern the speed
of such engine.
The axis of the blades is set in motion by the engine, and when that engine
is working at ordinary speed the blades will simply rotate in the fluid, but when
its speed increases beyond a velocity determined upon, the increased rotary
motion thereby given to the blades or vanes causes them to rise in the fluid,
and the axis thereof then acts to close, or partially close, the throttle or other
supply valve, till the speed of the engine, by being reduced, allows the blades to

page_text: fall again in the fluid, thereby again opening the passage of supply. A spring
or weighted lever operates to increase the power and bring the parts back. The
internal surface of the fluid chamber is provided with ribs, to prevent the fluid
used rotating with the vanes. The axis of the vanes may be placed horizontally,
or otherwise, as well as vertically.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WALKER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Walker, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Walker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Walker, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNORS OR
REGULATORS OF STEAM AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Walker, my, executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Thomas Walker, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The improvements relate to the adaptation of the motion obtainable by the
rotation of vanes or blades (affixed at an angle to an axis similar to the blades
of screw propellers) in water or other fluid, to operate by suitable gear upon
the throttle or other supply valve of the engine, to regulate or govern the speed
of such engine.

page_text: acting upon the spindle g, with a tendency to bear it downwards. This spring
may be varied in strength to the power or speed desired to be exerted; and I
also sometimes apply a weight j on the lever arm h, capable of being shifted
for adjustment to the power or speed required. There are ribs or blades
projecting inwards from the inside of the vessel or chamber a, to prevent the
water or other fluid therein rotating with the vanes or blades b.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described,
so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be retained; but what I do
claim is, the arranging, combining, and operating parts forming apparatus for
governing or regulating steam or other motive power engines, in manner sub-
stantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES,
Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane, London.
THOS WALKER. (L.S.)