US370267A - Dam per-regulator - Google Patents

Description

N0 Mm) P LBGLERE DAMPER REGULATOR.

Patented Sept. 20, 1887.`

In ven tor:

ne Puras nmwummpw, washington nc.

UNrrn STATES FRANCIS LECLRE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

" oAMPER-REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,267, dated September 20, 188'7.

Application filed March 1S, 1887.

To aZZ'wi/om it 17mg/ concern.-

Beit known that I, FRANCIS LnoLRE, a citizen of the United States, residing at-Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and 5 State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Damper-Regnlators; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to damper-regulators; and it consists in a device whereby the sensitiveness of the damper to slight changes of steam-pressure is prevented from causing the position of the damper to be changed, and thus a more uniform supply of steam is produced accompanied by a great saving of fuel.

My invention, as will be seen, is applicable to all regulators in which a loaded diaphragm or piston is used for indicating the varying pressure of steam and for causing the motion of the damper; butit is especially well adapted for steam-generators and sectional boilerssuch as are known as the ,Baboock & WilcoX-and other boilers which have very little steam-room, and therefore are subject to sudden changes of steam-pressure,such sudden changes vhaving the effect of v'keeping the damper constantly in motion, andl thus irritating the draft and fire under the boiler to such a degree that an excessive amount of fuel is required to produce the necessary amount of steam at a nearly uniform pressure.

With my invention steam of almost uniform pressure at a fair saving of fuel is produced; and I will now proceed to give a full description of its construction and operation with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front view of mechanism of a well-known damper-regulator, partly in section and partly in outline, and of my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram of the loaded diaphragm-lever and the pendulum-weight of my invention, the inclinations of the latter being indicated and their perpendicular projections marked upon the extended line of the diaphragm-lever. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of 5o a water-valve used in the said damper-regula- SerialNo.23l,-l74. (No model.)

tor, said section being taken at a right angle to the section shown in Fig. l.

The letter A in the drawings represents a lsteam-vessel closed at the bottom and open on `ing upon said cap and supporting a loaded diaphragm-lever, C, from below, forms the connecting -link between the reciprocating diaphragm and lever. The knife-edge fulcrum c of the diaphragm-lever C is suitably hung in an ordinary superstructure, A', and the lever itself is guided in the slotted portion dof an upright stand, D, fastened to the foundation-plate X of the vessel A. j

'Iwo set-screws, d d, in-the stand D, oneat 7o the lower and one at the upper termination of the slotted portion d, serve as adjustable abutments of the diaphragm-lever C. A connecting-rod, e, transmits the motion of the lever C to a piston-valve, E,which moves in a closely- 7 5 fitting cylinder, e, provided with ports e2 e3 c". Said ports are connected with pipes F F F2, respectively, the pipe Fin the port c2 conveying supply-water under pressure, the pipe F in the port c3 conveying water to and from cylinder e and a cylinder, G, (hereinafter re` ferred 130,) and the pipe F2 in port e4 conveying waste water to the diaphragm a.

The piston-valve E is a solid cylinder provided with fiat depressions or reductions c5 c, 85 so arranged in relation to the ports e e3 ci that when at its middle elevation, as illustrated, it holds the port e closed; when at its highest elevation it, by means of itsdepression e5, furnishes communication between the ports eZ c3, and when at its lowest elevation it, by means of its depression e, furnishes communication between the ports e3 e". In the first case the supply is cut off from pipe F', in the second case the supply-water in pipe F flows into 9 pipe F', and in the third case the water is drawn from pipe F and discharged through pipe'FZ. The pipe F connects the port e3 of the cylinder 'e' with the foot portion of the cylinder G, which cylinder is provided with a icc 2 evo, 267

piston, g, loaded with weights g. The pistonrod g2 of said piston is provided with an arm, g3, and a chain, g4, the latter operating the damper H by means of a pulley, 71, or other suitable device.

A weight, h', is attached to the end of the chain g4, for the purpose of keeping it taut and enabling it to move the damper both ways.v A cord, h2, is tied to the arm g3, passed around a pulley, h3, suitably fastened to a stand, a3, which forms the top portion of the superstructure A and supports the cylinder G. The cord It extends horizontally to an arm, t, of a pendulum, I, pivoted at t" to the -lever C. This pendulum is provided with an adjustable weight, 2, fastened to it by means of a setscrew, i3, at any desirable elevation. The arm z' extends upward at a suitable angle-say from thirty'to forty-ve degrees from a vertical line-and it is provided with holes it, in any one of which the cord h2 may in turn' be fastened, as circumstances may require. When steam is at an average pressure in the boiler, the lever C is balanced between the adjustingscrews d d2, as shown, and the damper E is at rest, the valve E being in its middle posiof the boiler-furnace is the most powerful, and

is apt to create sooner or later a surplus of l steam, which will cause the lever C to rise.

In consequence of this rising of the lever C the valve E is moved toits highest position, i

thereby opening communication between the ports e e2, so that the supply-water enters the cylinder G and raises the piston g, thereby turning the damper into an inclined position and diminishing the draft area. While this is going on my invention prevents a sudden rise of the diaphragm and the completecutting off the draft by a steady increase of weight on the lever C, which is caused by the rising piston g and arm g3 pulling the cord h2 and moving the weighted pendulum I in an i11- clined position, and the higher the piston g is forced up the more inclined will be the pendulum and the greater the increase of weight on the lever C. As long as the weight thus added to the lever C does not exceed a given limit-say from one to ve pounds, or whatever may be desirable-the lever G will be so balanced between the adjustable abutting screws d d2 that the position of the valve E is not materially changed and the damper H is not moved; but when the aforesaid limit is exceeded by the still-increasing pressure of steam the lever C will be raised to its highest position, as above stated.

The sensitiveness of the described device may be suitably increased by fastening the cord h2 in a hole i* nearer the fulcrum t.

With the draft area reduced in the described manner the steam-pressure in the boiler gradually diminishes and the lever C descends un- If it stands vertically in the chimney, as shown in the drawings, the draft til the position of the valve E is reversed, whereupon the piston g will descend, thus causing the cord 71? to allow the pendulum I to 7o gradually assume a more perpendicular position and diminish the weight upon the lever-C. By this operation the lever C is prevented from going altogether down upon the abutting screw d2, unless the above-given limit of low press- 75 ure should be exceeded, aud the damper H will remain stationary until the steam-pressure falls below the said limit, when the valve E will be sufficiently lowered to open communication between the ports e3 e4. The water is now emptied from the cylinder G through the waste-pipeFz, as before stated, and the damper H is moved so as to increase the draft-area and the-steam-generating power of the boiler.

It is easily seen that by changing the position of the weight i2 on the pendulum I, or by changing the connection of the cord h2 from one hole i* to another, or by making both of said changes at once, the limitation of deviation from average pressure and the sensitiveness of the lever C to the changes in the steampressure may be adjusted to a greater or less extent, or accordingly as desired.

This device has been found to be especially well adapted for use with sectional boilers, with which it has been found to work remarkably well and with great saving of fuel. The great inconvenience experienced with other damper-regulators, arising from the improper motions of the damper and the consequent disturbed and interrupted combustion of fuel and generation of steam, is avoided.

I will state that the fastening of the cord h2 to an arm, g3, is notan essential feature of my invention, since said cord may be attached directly to the piston-rod of the piston g, or to the chain g4, or to the pulley h, in order to work in conjunction with piston g; neither is it necessary for the arm t' to form an angle with the pendulum I, as in some cases it may be more advantageous to form it in line with the pendulum.

Previous to my Vinvention the best-known damper-regulator consisted of the steam-diaphragm,diaphragm-lever, and damper-motor. It is evident that in this construction the diaphragm-lever once raised will move up until it is arrested by the abutting screw d', or when beginning to drop will continue so until arrested by the abutting screw d. Thus the slightest change of boiler pressure effects either a full opening or closing of the damper, when really a slight change of position of the damper would be the thing required to produce the desired steam-pressure, and thus the damperregulator gives at each change either too much or not enough draft, and the boilerpressure is unnecessarily changed from high to low, simply by the action of the regulator alone, or nearlyso, to the detriment of boiler and machinery.

By gradually increasing the resistance to the rising diaphragm-lever, with the aid of the moving piston g, the said lever Omay become IOO IIO

balanced and temporarily stationary at any elevation between the abutting screws d d2, and a slight change in steam-pressure willnot affect the damper-motor and damper; hence,

unlike the operation of the old damper-regulators, the operation of a damper-regulator having my invention attached to it is not simultaneous with triiiing changes of steampressure, and the motions of the damper are not so frequent and radical, giving a more uniform draft, a more regular steam development, and less anxiety to the engineer.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a damper-regulator, the combination,

with a loaded diaphragm-lever, and a dampen' motor having a valve operated by the diaphragm-lever, of a weighted pendulum fulvcrurned to the diaphragm-lever and operated by the damper-motor, substantially as and the purpose described.

2. In a damper-regulator, the combination, with a diaphragm-lever, of aweighted pendufor lum attached to the end portion of said lever, and a piston of a damper-motor connected with said pendulum, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A weighted pendulum fulcrumed to the WM. H. WOOD, SHELDON POTTER.

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