US1692202A - Steam-engine lubricator - Google Patents

Description

Nov.- 20, 1928.

- P. DORSEY STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATOE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 `Filed June 5, 1925 @7K2 HASH Nov. 20, 1928. 1,692,202

P. DoRsEY STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATOR Filed 'June 5, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 N Q u S QQ t: Xq N N I FQ N d Q m u.

S' AM j /y 4 f @i pj N I V" "u QQ mr? g l 1 *'T e@ fx n E w G Imm/EN TO:

.Patented Nov. 2Q, 1928.

lNifl-ED STATES PATENT FFICE.

FARMER DORSEY, F VICEIITA, KANSAS, ASSEGNOR TG THE MFEEAL BRASS MANU'- FACTURING COMZANY, OF CHCAGO, ILLNOS, .A CORPORATON OF LLINOIS.

STEAM-ENGINE LUBRICATOR.

Application led June 3, 1925.

' My invention is concerned with apparatus for the lubrication of steam engines and locomotives, and is designed to produce a. device of the class described which can be readily filled with oil without disturbing its action and without the necessity of stopping to drain out the water accumulated'in the reservoir and to be replaced by the oil.k

It is also concerned with such a device in which it can be readily filled with oil, and Without the possibility of pumping any air into the reservoir incase the supply of oil should be exhausted before the reservoir is filled.

It is finally concerned with such a device in which oil can, when desired, hepumped directly and in quantity to some part to be lubricated, suc-h as the air pump cylinder, without the necessity of its passing through the lubricator.

To illustrate my invention, 1 annex hereto two sheets of drawings, in which the same reference characters are used to c esignate identical parts in all the figures, of which,-

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2, through a portion of a lubricator having my invention applied thereto; n

Fig. 2 is a view partly in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of the lubricatorproper in section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 4 is a view in section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view showing a modification.

Referring firstl to Figs. 3 and 4, I have in these figures shown, except as hereinafter described, an old construction of a sight-feed lubricator, on which my invention is an improvement. Various forms of such sightfeed lubricators can be employed, but the one illustrated consists of a generally cylindrical reservoir 1() which is provided at one end with a valve connection 11 which may or may not be employed, and at the other end with a connection nut 12, into which the outlet end 13 of the force feed pump subsequently to be described can screw. The reservoir has eX- tending vertically through the same a plurality of preferably integral tubes 14, three being shown, and it will be understood that one or more of these tubes may be employed as desired. At the bottom of each of these tubes located sight and a nipple customaryy manner.

Serial No. 34,535.

16 adapted to be closed or regulated at its bottom by a needle valve 17, so that the rate of the feed of the oil, drop by drop, upward from the nipple 16 can be regulated in the Above the reservoir 10 is mounted a steam casing 13 which is provided with a connection 19 to the boiler, said connection 19 being provided with a valve seat 2O so that the valve 21 can co-operatev therewith to close off the boiler pressure when desired. From the bottom of the steam casing`187 there is located a passage 22 having a. valve seat 23 therein, so that the passage may be closed by the valve 24 as desired, and the passage 22 is extended down into the reservoir by the passage 25 located beyond the valve seat, and preferably formed on the back of the central tube 14. Each of the tubes 14 is provided at its upper end with an outlet, the out-let 26 of the central tube only being shown in full. Part of the outlets 27 for the outer tubes 14 are seen in Fig. 3. Each of these outlets has connected with the upper portion thereof one of the three pipes 28 eX- tending upward into the steam casing 18, and in practice it will be understood that the water of condensation from the boiler stands in the casing 18 and passes down through the passages 22 and 25 to the reservoir, displacing the oil therein to the upper portionU whence it descends under pressure through the tube 29 opening into the top of the reservoir to the horizontal passage 30 in the bottom of the reservoir casting, whence the oil can pass laterally through the ports 31 into each of the pockets 32 associated with the valves 17. The sight-feed lubricator thus far described is of a well known construct-ion, and, per se, constitutes no part of my invention, which may employ other similar sightfeed lubricators.

As a preferred form of a force feed pump, I employ that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, where it will be seen that the outlet 13 is part of a casting 33 having four projections, as it were, the projection 34 serving to enclose the barrel 35 of the pump, which has the solid piston 36 adapted to reciprocate therein through the customary stuffing boxes 37, 37. The piston is preferably manipulated by the handle 38, preferably operating as a lever of the second class, with the fulcrum 39 formed by the link 40 pivoted at its other end to the yoke 41, which embraces the projection 34 and s secured in any desired position of adjustment bv the nut 42 threadedon said pro said casing, and toward the upper end thereof, I form the annular seat 46, upon which lll is fit-ted the bottom of the tanlr 47 which contains the supply of oil 'to` be pumped into the reservoir l() when it is needed. @n the top of this 'casing 14, I forni the .valve seat 48 with which cooperates the float valve 49, which is held from displacement by the wire cage A50 secured in the nut 5l screwed on the upper end of the valve casing 44 and serving tofhold the tank 47 in place.

The third projection 52 has on its outer end the threaded portion 16, and has located in the interior thereof the customary springpressed check valve .53 operating in the customary manner. The pump barrel 35 is connected with the outlet by the port 54, seen in Fig. l, which is adapted to be Closed by the valve 55 having the stem threaded through the packing-gland structure 56 threaded intothe casting 33, as clearly shown in Fig. l, land provided with the handle 57 by which the valve can be closed when desired. rlhe projection 58 has threaded into its lower end the connection 59 by which it is secured to a pipeV 60 which may be extended tothe steam cylinder 6l of the air pump 62, and in this pipe 60, I locate the cock V63, which can be opened or closed as'may be desired.

In the reservoir l0, I screw or otherwise Secure the valve casing 65, which has the valve seat 66 formed therein and adapted to he closed by the sliding valve 67 having its inner end in the hollow bolt threaded into .the casing 65, and having the helically-coiled .expanding spring 69 located therein beneath the plunger valve 67, so that said valve will be held closed by a pressure varying with the amount that the. bolt 66 is screwed in; In case it is desired to close this valve against any possible pressure, I provide on it an annular shoulder 70, against which the end of the bolt 68 engages when it is screwed in to the limit. The outlet passage .71 may be provided with any suitable connection if it is desired to carry the water of vcondensation to some particular point instead ot `discharging it directly.

'Ihe operation of my improved device is as follows:

Assuming that Athe supply of oil inthe reservoir has been used up until the water has reached the level of the top of the tube 29,

Vthe oil to be forced out.

tinued until the reservoir is filled with oil, as

indicated by its being forced out through the .outlet 71, or as may be seen in the gauge glass which is usually employed in these devices. If it should happen that the oil in lthe tan-l; 4T is exhausted before the reservoir is filled,

"the valve 49is seated by gravity and .the suction of the pump piston, so that air cannot be pumped into :the reservoir, which would be highly objectionable, and .the resistance created to the outward movement of the pi ton 36 will indicate to lthe operator that oil supply in the tanlr 47 .is exhausted, so that he will relill it before further ope fetten. When the reservoir is lil-led,the .valves lf?, 2l

and 24- are again opened, and the automatic sight-feed lubrication will be resume l..v 'In case it is `desired to lubricate the vcyliI-ider 6:1 directly, the cock 55 is closed and the cool; 63 is opened, when the operation of ,the handle 36 Vwill pump oil directly to the cylinder 6l. Similarly, by screwing up ,the bolt 66 to close the valve 6? immovably, and closing the valves 2l, 24 and all but the desired tone .of the valves 17, oil can be forced in quantity to the cylinder connected with the valve l? that has been left open, so that in case of einergency, any cylinder can be copiously lubricated almost immediately. Y

lIn Fig. 5, I have illustrated an alternative construction to take the place of the valve 49, and prevent air being pumped into the reservoir. In this case, I omit the valve seat 48 and the cooperating ball 49, and its casi-ng'O, and modify the valve 45, lettered inthe niodiiication 45", but omitting the spring to hold it sea-ted, and by arranging it to rest by gravity upon the top ofthe retaining sleeve 72 screwed into the bottom of the check valve casing 44 lclose enough toits seat so that while the check valve 45@ is normally open, the pressure of the oil when the piston 36 is moved inward will lift it andseat` it before the spr-ing associated with the check valve 53 yields to permit Vhen the oil inthe tank 47 is exhausted, the air that would then pass below the valve 45a does not furnish a 'medium by which the valve 45L can be lifted to its seat, and the piston 86 cannot compress the air in the tank 47 suciently to overcome the resistance of the spring associated with the valve 53, so that neither oil nor air can be pumped after the oil supply falls below the valve 45a. To prevent the valve 45.a from seating'on the top of the retaining sleeve 72, and thus preventing the oil and air from passing the valve 45a' when it is down, I form one or more recesses 73 in the top of the sleeve 72.

While I have shown and described my invention as embodied in the form which I at present consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, it will be understood that it is capable of modification, and that I do not desire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claims except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

l. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containing oil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means for supplying normal oil-feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight-feed apparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, a supply tank, a force pump connected to draw its supply from the tank, connections from the discharge of the pump to the reservoir, a three-way valve casing having one end screwed into the reservoir ,and the directly opposite-end internally threaded, a hollow bolt closed at its outer end screwed into said opposite end, a valve seat located in the passage between said ends, an outlet between the valve seat and the bolt, a sliding valve adapted to co-operate with said seat and having its outer end in the hollow bolt, and a helicallycoiled expanding spring in the bolt beneath the valve, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containing oil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means for supplying normal oil-feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight-feed apparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, a supply tank, a force pump connected to draw its supply from the tank, connections from the discharge of the pump to the reservoir, means for closing said connections, a pipe leading from the discharge of the pump to deliver the oil from the force pump at a point distant from the reservoir, and a shutoff cock in said pipe.

3. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containing oil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means for supplying normal oil feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight feed apparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, a supply tank, a force pump, connections from the force pump to the reservoir including an automatic closing check valve opening when suiicient pressure is applied thereto by the force pump, and connections from the supply tank to the force pump which prevent pumping air into the reservoir when the supply of oil in the tank is exhausted, said connections comprising a passage containing a downwardly facing valve seat, a valve therein normally held away from the seat, but forced upward against it by the pressure of the oil when the pump piston is forced inward, and a supporting sleeve in the passage for the valve having a recess in its upper end for the purpose described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 27 th day of May, 1925.

FARMER DORSEY.

Images