US58491A - Thomas silver - Google Patents

Description

THOMAS SILVER, O F NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN GOVERNORS FOR STEAM-ENGINES.V

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,491, dated October 2, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS SILVER, ofthe city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Governors for Steam-Engines and other motors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a f'ull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference bein-g had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of' this specication, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of a governor with my improvements in a plane parallel with its axis of rotation. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fie'. 3 is a vertical section ofthe saine in the plane indicated by the line x no in Figs. l and 2. Figs. et and 5 are views of some of the details of' the invention, which will be hereinafter explained.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

This invention relates more especially to the class of governors in which the controlling force is obtained by combined action of a tly or momentum wheel with attached speed-limiting vanes and a spring or its equivalent. One of' its objects is in the application of such a governor to a steam-engine to enable it to be more convenientlyconnected with the throttle or regulating valve by working the said valve without the sliding sleeve commonly employed upon the governor-spindle to transmit the action of' the governor to the valve; and to this end one part of my invention consists in an oscillating sleeve arranged upon the governor-spindle, so geared with the said spindle and with the momentum-wheel, and so connected with the throttle or regulating valve and ,with the spring, that the drivingpower is transmitted through the said sleeve to the momentum-wheel, and that the influences ot' the said wheel and itsl attached fans and of the spring are transmitted through the said sleeve to the valve.

In order'to adapt a governor of this class for running the engine or motor at different speeds, or for running exactly at any desired speed, it is desirable that the speed-limiting vanes shall be adjustable in such manner as to render their surfaces capable of being presented in a more or less effective manner to the resisting act-ion of the atmosphere.

The methods heretofore employed for the adjustment of such vanes have required the stoppage of the governor to enable such adjustment` to be performed. This, it will be obvious, involves much trouble, as it may be necessaryT to make several adjustments before the requisite speed is obtained.

To obviate this difficulty another part of' my invention consists in providing for the above adjustment by the connection of the vanes with a sleeve or other piece which is adjustable lengthwise upon the spindle while the governor is in motion.

' To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, I will proceed to describe y its construction and operation.

' A is the main spindle ofthe governor, fitted to rotate freely in bearings in two standards, B B', and deriving rotary motion from the engine or other motor, the speed of which is to be regulated through spur-gearing a b, or any other suitable means. To this spindle there is loosely fitted the loose independently-rotating sleeve c, which is confined longitudinally between a collar, d, and a spur-gear, c, both of which are firmly secured to the spindle A. To this sleeve is firmly secured the momentumwheel C and a small spnr-geanf, the said wheel carrying the speed-limiting vanes or fans D D.

E is the oscillating sleeve fitted loosely to the spindle A, upon which it is confined longitudinally between the spur-gear c and a collar, g, which is fast on the spindle. On the end of the sleeve E next the gear c there is a broad flange, E', and on the opposite end a flange, E2. In the flange Ethere are secured, at equal distances from and at opposite points relatively to the center of' the spindle, two pins, h h., which are parallel with. the spindle;

'and to each of these pins there are fitted loosely two spnrgears, t j, one larger than the other, and both secured rmly together.

The smaller, t' t', of these gears are of equal size, and gear with the gear e on the spindle, and the larger ones, j j, also of equal size, gear with the gear j'. Io the flange E2 there is attached on one side of the spindle A a rod,

Z, which forms the connection of' the governor with the spindle m ot' the throttle or regulating valve, and to the same flange on 4the opvalve is placed, may be arranged horizontally, vertically, or in any other position, the connections of the rod l and spring m being arranged to suit the position of the pipe and valve.

In order to render the action of the spring F on the oscillating sleeve E uniform in all degrees of tension, it is connected with the flange E2 by means of a slotted segment or sector, L, which is pivoted to the face ot' the said. ilange by'a pin, af, butv firmly secured thereto by a set-screw, b, which passes through the slot c of the said sector. The cord d', by which the springF is attached to the said sec tor, works on l[he arc of the latter, which is so arranged on the pin a', and secured by the setscrew b', that as the spring is extended, and its tension thereby increased by the oscillating motion of the sleeve E, the cord acts upon a portion of the are of the sector as much nearer to the axis of the spindleA and sleeve E as to counteract the increased tension; and as the spring is allowed to contract, and its tension thereby diminished, the cord acts upon a portion of the sector as muehfarther from the axis of the spindle and sleeve as is necessary to counteract its diminished tension, and hence the effective action ofthe spring` on the sleeve must be always uniform.

The speed-limiting vanes or fans D D are attached to the momentum-wheel C by means of pivots a a, the axes of which are parallel with the common axis of the spindle A, the object of such attachment being to enable the said vanes or fans to be adjusted in planes radial to the axis of revolution or tangential to circles of greater or less diameter concentric with the said axis, that they may meet with more or less resistance from the atmosphere in their revolution. These pivots are attached rigidly to the vanes or fans, and are fitted to turn in bearings in the wheel, and they have secured to them crank or wrist plates p p, the eccentric wrists q q of which are connected by rods r r with wrists s s, secured in the flange H' of a sleeve, H, which is tted to turn freely on the exterior of the sleeve c, hereinbefore mentioned, but which is confined longitudinally between the collar d and momentumwheel.

To the exterior of thissleeve H there is titted a sliding circumferentially-grooved collar, l, the groove t of which receives anti-friction rollers t t', attached to the forked upper end of a lever, J, which works upon a h'xed fulcrumpin, c, Fig. 1, attached to the standard B. The lower end of this leverhas applied to it a screw, K, by which the said lever may be moved on its fulcrumpin. The said lever may, however, be moved by other suitable means. I

Secured in the sliding collar l there are two pins, u u, which pass through spiral slots fw w in the sleeve H, and enter straight longitudinal slots y y in the sleeve c.

The slots w w are represented in Fig. 5, which is a longitudinal outside view of the sleeve H, and the slots y y are represented in Fig. 4, which is a longitudinal outside view of the'sleeve c.

A movement of the lever J on its fulerumpin e, effected by the screw K or other means, produces a longitudinal movement of the sliding collar I upon the sleeve H, and the pins a a, moving in the spiral slots 'w w of the sleeve H, cause the said sleeve to turn on the sleeve c, and in this movement of the 'sleeve H the wrists s s act through the rods 'r r upon the wrists to turn the pivots nu and vanes or fans D D, and set them in any direction required to vary the resistance of the atmosphere to their revolution, for the purpose of varying or adjusting the speed of the engine or motor. This operation may be eifected as well while the governor is in motion as whileit is stationary.

The operation of the governor when applied'to a steam-engine is as follows: Rotary motion being transmitted from the engine to the spindle A by the gearing a b, or other means provided for the purpose, the gear c on the said spindle transmits motion through the gears it' to the gears j j, and these latter transmit motion to the gear fand the momentum wheel and speed-limiting vanes at a higher velocity than that of the spindle; and as the gears z' t' and jj are supported by the pins h h, attached to the ilange E', it will be understood that the drivin g-power is transmitted from the spindle to the wheel and vanes through the sleeve E.

The momentum of the wheel C and resistanceoffered by the atmosphere to the vanes while the load on the engine is uniform cause the gear f, attached to the momentum wheel, to hold back the gears j j and sleeve E against the force of the spring F with such effect as to exactly connterbalance the effect of the spring on the said sleeve and keep the latter stationary in such position that the rod l holds the valve open at the requisite degree to give the requisite supply of steam to the engine; but when the load or work 011 the engine is diminished, and the slightest tendency to an increased speed is manifested, the speed of the spindle A being increased in a corresponding degree, while the momentumo'f the wheel and the resistance of the atmosphere to the vanes remains the same, the vanes and momentum wheel are held back, while the wheel c instantly carries the wheels t' i and the sleeve E forward in the direction in which the spindle and momentum-wheel rotate, which is indicated by arrows in Fig. 3, and the tenvsion of the spring F, which tends tov hold the valve wide open, is thus overcome sufficiently to make the rod l descend and reduce the opening of the valve sufficiently to preserve the proper speed of the engine; or when the load or work on. the engine is increased, and the slightest tendency to diminish speed is manifested, the pressure of the gear e upon the gears M being diminished, the spring F draws back the sleeve E and so opens the valve togive more steam to preserve the proper speed of the engine.

As the necessary action of the sleeve E is produced during a small portion of the revolution of the spindle A, which may be driven at a higher velocity than the engine-shaft, the governor is very sensitive, the controlling action of the valve being produced during a small fraction of a revolution of the engine.

To vary or adjust the proper speed of the engine, the vanes may be adjusted to meet with greater or less resistance by means of the lever J while the engine is in motion, wh reby a"`great advantage/is obtained over other fangovernors in which the engine must be's'topped before the vanes canA be adjusted.

My inventionis capable of many modifications. For instance, three lniter or bevel gears may bc substituted for the train of spur-gearing; second, the momentum-wheel and vanes may be on separate axes instead of on the main spindle A of the governor, in which case the said wheel and fans may be on another shaft and driven at a speed slower or no faster than the main spindle A third, with the same system of gearing as is represented the momentum-wheels carrying the fans may be fast on the spindle A, and the driving be done by a gear on a sleeve rotating thereon; fourth, the momentum-wheel and vanes may be driven by power distinct from that ofthe en gine or motor to be governed; fth, the vanes may be applied to operate centrifugally, and be thereby thrown out farther from the center as the speed of the engine is increased, and vice versa, and hence be made self-adjusting.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The oscillating sleeve fitted to the governor-spindle, and so geared therewith that the driving power is transmitted through it to the momentum-wheel and its attached vanes, and so connected with the spring and with the regulating-valve that the controlling influences of the wheel, vanes, and spring are transmitted through said sleeve to the valve, substantially as herein described.

2. Connecting the spring with the oscillating sleeve by means uof an eccentric segment or sector so arranged as to make the action of the spring always'uniform, or equivalent to that of a weight, substantially as herein specitied.

3. The connection of the speed limiting vanes with a sleeve or piece which is adjustable longitudinally in relation to the governorspindle, substantially as and for the purpose herein setforth.

THOMAS SILVER.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, J. W. GooMBs.

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