US531849A - Electric steam-engine governor - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

' O. B. MELOTT.

ELECTRIC STEAM ENGINE GOVERNOR.

Patented Jan. 1,1895.

Rm psrzm co. mom

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER B. MELOTT, OF RONDOUT, NEXV YORK.

ELECTRIC STEAM-ENGINE GOVERNOR.

V SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,849, dated January 1, 1 895.

Application filed uly 21,1894. Serial No. 518,182. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHESTER B. MELOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rondout, in the county of Ulster and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Steam-Engine Governors, of which the following is a full, clear,.a nd exact description.

This invention relates to governors of steam engines and'consists of an electrical apparatus for governing the engine, the object of which is to produce a very sensitive governor.

My invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the fly wheel of an engine fitted with my improved apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a diagram of electric circuits which may be used in connection with the said apparatus.

A represents the main shaft of an engine upon which is journaled a fly wheel B. Upon the shaft is placed an eccentric at around which is a strap a connected with the valve rod 00' in the usual manner. The angular position of the eccentric upon the shaft determines the point at which the steam is cutoff, and so regulates the speed of the engine. The position of the eccentric is shifted by means of a yoke a to which are attached at opposite points links I), at the outer ends of which are pivoted other links I), the latter being in turn pivoted to the rim of the wheel, as shown at 6 At the hinge connecting these two links together is usually placed a weight, and such a weight is shown in the accompanying drawings at 20. Each pair of links is under the control of a coiled spring 11 The movement of the weights toward and away from the center, which is caused by the centrifugal force, serves to vary the position of the eccentric upon the shaft and thus adjust the out off.

My invention consists in supplementing the action of the weights by magnetic attraction, and I attach to each weight an electro magnet c, of the solenoid type, which is provided with a loose soft iron core 0 which stands in a position substantially tangent to the center h The attraction of the magnet causes the core to be drawn through the spool until the center of each coincides, and this movement is taken advantage of by adjusting the parts so that the head of the core must press against the rim of the wheel at the point e and force the magnet and weight toward the center of the wheel before the center of the core can coincide with the center of the magnet. If the circuit of the magnets is closed at the very moment when additional load is thrown upon the engine, the force of the magnets will act to throw the weights inward and thus shift the shaft to give the engine more steam before the centrifugal force will allow the weights to move inward. Thus the engine will be able to take up the increased load more quickly.

The arrangement for controlling an electric circuit, including the magnets, will depend upon the nature of the work which the engine has to do. If the engine is driving a dynamo-electric machine, the circuit closer for the magnets may be controlled by an electromagnetic apparatus in the main circuit of the dynamo, and this arrangement I have illustrated in Fig. 2. The magnets are placed in series in a circuit (1, shown in dotted lines, the terminals of which connect with two insulated rings (1, (1 respectively upon the shaft with the fly wheel. From these rings the circuit is continued by means of brushes 6, e, to batteryfiand thence to the armature and front stop f and f respectively of an electro-magnet g. This magnet may be placed in a shunt from the main circuit of the dynamo, as shown in the drawings, or may be in any other way connected with the main circuit. The magnet 9 simply represents an apparatus which responds to variations in the current of the main dynamo circuit; that is to say, when the current rises to a certain point the magnet g becomes energized and closes the local circuit through the magnets. The magnets then become energized and quickly force the weights toward the center of the shaft of the fly wheel and adjust the Valve with the engine. The manner of controlling the circuit of the magnets is not a material part of my invention and any method or apparatus for this purpose may be used.

I contemplate in some instances the entire elimination of the weights and substituting therefor the magnets only, in which case the magnets would not only act in the manner hereinbefore described, but would also serve as weights.

in the modification shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the magnet is fixed to the rim of the wheel and its core is connected through a spring with the arm carrying the weight. hen this arrangement is used there will be, of course, two magnets one for each weight, and the action upon the weights will be substantially the same as when the magnets are attached directly to the weights.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination with the flywheel of a steam engine and its valve regulating weights, of electro-magnets attached to said weights and adapted, by magnetic attraction to assist the movement of the weights toward and away from the center of the Wheel.

2. The combination of a steam engine fly wheel and a valve adjusting mechanism, the said mechanism being moved by magnetic attraction.

3. The combination of a steam engine fly wheel, a pair of electro-magnets mounted in the wheel to swing toward and away from its center by centrifugal force, valve mechanism connected to said magnets, the magnets being arranged so that when energized their attractive force will be exercised to move them toward or away from the center of the wheel, and an electric circuit including said electromagnets andopened and closed by an increase or decrease of the the load of the engine.

In testimony whereof I subscribe my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHESTER l MELOT". iVitnesses:

DANIEL B. STOW, WILBUR L. HALE.

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