US229821A - Engine for compressing air - Google Patents

Description

(No Model;)

B. HILL. Engine for Compressing Air.

No. 229,821. Patented July 13, 1880.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBENEZER HILL, OF SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT.

ENGINE FOR COMPRESSING AIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,821, dated July 13, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBENEZER HILL, of South N orwalk, county of Fairfield, and State of Connectlcut, have invepted new and useful Improvements in Engines for Compressing Air for Mines, Drills, 8tc., ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to certain improvements in engines for compressing air for mines, drills, 8m. and the invention consists in providinga connection or conduit fromthe discharge side of the air pump or receiver to the port side of the steam-engine, and combining with said conduit or connection a regulatingvalve, so that when the air-pressure on the discharging side of the air-pump equals the resistance of said valve sufficiently to open it the air, instead of escaping, as now permit-ted, passes into the steam-conduits and displaces its equivalent of steam in resistance. thereby acting as a throttle to the steam in i ts passage to the working-cylinder, and thus becomes an automatic governor to the engine at any required pressure to which the regulating-valve may be adjusted.

The advantages of such an arrangement or combination of devices are that a great saving of steam is effected by preventing the useless escape of the air underpressure, which represents that amount of steam pressure; and second, in engines or compressors that are notdirect-actin g or provided with cranks and flywheels, they are by this arrangement prevented from stopping, as the air escapes through the exhaust in proportion to its set or determined pressure, and thus the engine maintains its usual velocity.

- That it may be easily understood how such a result is accomplished, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which- A represents the steam-cylinder of the compressor, provided with a piston, B,valve C, and supplemental valve D, to which steam is supplied through the pipe, as at E, all in the ordi- Application filed April 8, 1880. (No model.)

which is also provided with another checkvalve, as at M, and between it and the outletvalves, at K, an escape or blow-oft cock, as at N, is attached to one branch of the cross 0, said cock N being so located for the purpose of relieving the pressure on the discharge side when it is desired to start the engine when there is considerable pressure in the receiver. From the opposite branch of the said cross 0 a pipe, as at P, leads to the steam-pipe E, which supplies steam to the engine.

At R in the pipe P is placed a valve provided with some means of being graduated, as by a lever and weight, as at S and T, as shown; or it may be done by a spring and compressionnut, or in other suitable manner, so that when said valve is set to any desired pressure it will not permit the air to escape through the pipe P until said weight or pressure is overcome, but which, as soon as done, then permits the air that would otherwiseblow off into the open air to pass through the pipe into thelive-steani space, and so displace or throttle to that extent the steam, and thus become an automatic regulator to the engine, permitting it to keep its proper velocity without the usual waste of steam or mechanical complications for such purposes.

The drawing here represents the steam-engine as provided with a supplemental valve for a direct-acting engine; but the invention will be most useful when applied to single-crank engines with tly-wheels, though it will be valuable on any kind of an air-compressor.

I therefore claim- In combination with an air-compressing engine, a return pipe or conduit and regulatingvalve, for conducting any surplus of air from the receiver into the steam-passages, as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EBENEZER HILL.

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