US2325725A - Emsergency shipeoff for stham lines and the like - Google Patents

Description

J. K. WOOD Aug. 3, 1943.

EMERGENCY SHUTOFF FOR STEAM LINES AND THE LIKE Filed June 21, 1941 wW 5 2 $1 w mw m 7 2 2 1 WW,

8 H 2 .m 31 d M Z 1M Patented Aug. 3, 1943 7 Y n BA orgies remnants! sumoFF non sir mm Lmnsi ANDKTHE LIKE: 1 I

Qsebh Kfla Wood; N w Y rk. it-iassi or to.

General Spring Corporation acorgorat on of New York 21, ri 1;Nw iawl 1; Glai r r1. (c1. lat- 139 This invention relatesrtdm ans for. ontroll n thev flow. oiedangerousifluids fromlin s, onn cted: to reservoirs at: such fluids; fu xamin ea from. steam lines comieeted icsteamboilers perated; at. substantial: pressures, and articula l to meansfor.automaticailnshutti eo t he s am or the like from, a line. that e n damaaedb shock 1 In, the operation. or nava vesse s, nder. w condition ne,-.of.-the p n irm an ers o he I ews oistean i drivenznava Nessds s the dan er from scald ng: due. t Jgeakage of; steam lines. Such breakage is ,more freguerrtlygcausedby the; dynamic. force-orshoa s. miu ed .by. the ploe i n a i e. ntox edo. sainst he side-W 9 om of the snipit an by a ire thu mnt e:

steam line, itself. i'zthe: steam fiqw,to.,a.- roke eam in e otnr mnt yt hu iiet he he e l hew-ate: onten of; t e by reas n o he. duce r s re esi us rom he. r sh; wi l sh nto. tea andr i edu ih ir team: the compartment or; region in which; the break;

occurs, with serious consegg encestgapywcrew e e s ho a qup a mn fl lifim; ea h ea s- A. genera obieqtoi t e-prese t i yeni en s o.

prov de. eeans iowsito eehitel ri shutbiesr it he amr the auseroi syfii id.. xezniei h v en-l e o r e r i. EQh:- l .d a a. a; stea l ha ha eensmiestee of h l e...

i e. he te m/lines i ieam neretesiw el.

ss ls a n the operatin e.-- ss s,noimal y su i tedtos minic or e.

risin m h rms fma maeia he ee e i elf. h Qpemtion; t newer p ant o h e l t e oundineoh yy ees et teud: Since" the s f ty a fie t yenee oihe: tfli ihb t may, d p nd-upon tssmane i r b l ty endn t t response o scoatr-ols; t:. s-'.ieii 9rtae tany means for i t net e ummatiHh tfi the t m flow to. as eemliae heii 9ip mtea the e se. Qidis urba isieei hiehhei t ime is desi uedtq n t stei ar.

To insure operation only when requiredgth e present..inventien.. pntemp a s the p y ent of an inertia member so connected to the steam main, for the protection of which it is intended, that it will partake of the ordinary movements of the main brought about by the dynamic forces to which it is ordinarily subjected but when the main is subjected to a greater than ordinary dyprfiimels. e s; of. considerable intensity; for; whieh-prpyision -is made i th ir; 0i iti a-1 ushf iwesbs gw h ei m- 9. orce. or. exanmlefrve; t mes gravi y. it; that is the maximum accelerating; force winch e steam ine. .is desi ned w thstand n; th d ec i oncerned) onmo er hewcisht i ithen; o e elat r ixto thest amma n to less an elecric i cuit. oni ol in thezonesation o the 51115: off valve r ec u e-0i heusual r u stan ially nstaneous ac on. i; mamie; OIPes; a ainst ch he. ev ee i h y eeentm ention; s in: ded to afio d; Pr tection; usz r ss he. exp osion ia ineo cr sio t s esi able hat he: mpl ed. lesit ia ircu t; mem; losed or. l i enst mi ime. to. t e; opera on.

* i ain n el .sw sh o ern n heoperati e of th er peratins meheeil m n impor an feature of the invention, therefore is means, th r ec a tek esiiiq h r: ns ri at Ulii nt DAIW E it c osed ead o oi he rc r u ht bm t h operat on. ner a. mb r,

other Wieets and; mpor n t es f... he tio il ppea irom he a owi e escrik o nd; a m. whe ns e d.- i connectioni h t e om e i x ra n ,in hic protection, serves as a guide, for the. inertia mem her to. Theinertiaimemher I0,'a s:herein shown, is a. cylindrical block'ot metal or. other suitable: material of a andweight suitable for the purposes oi the present invention.

' he n r ia; me er '05 s. Pre era ly. m 'an n rmed ate osi sn in uide ou albymea s was onnect-i to means m r ovement; with th nde ordinary conditions The illustrative means for suspending the inertia member !0 at an intermediate point in its guide housing 2 comprise shear pins i2 located in holes I4 drilled through the side walls of the guide housing 2 at spacings about the axis thereof and entering isapplied to the housin'g'2 to' cause themember' the I guide housing 2. 7 These catches 38 are pressed into recessesii in the housing when the inertia member it is in the position shown in Figure 1, but spring out over the top of the member when it moves downward in the guide housing 2, thus looking it against movement p d v 1 From the foregoing description, the operation of the device will readilylbe understood, Assume that the guide housing 2 is connected to a steam Y main or other steamline of a naval Vessel and bring about a sufilcient relative movementof the g, 7

member IE and the guide housing 2 to shear on that the dimension's'fand resistance to shearing of the pins l2 have been so determined with rethe shear pins 42. VAdvantage is taken of the" movement thus produced when 'a'dynamic' force above a predetermined amount is applied to the 7,

guide housing 2 to bring about the actuation of the danger preventing means such, for'example, as an'electrically operated shut-off valve between a steam generating boiler and the steam line upon-which theapparatus of the present inventiOn-is mounted i, M

As herein shown-the movable member l 6 of an electric switch ha'ving contact: members" [8' and 26 is so located beneath the inertia member N] that when said'membert ii-moves toward the base 6 of the guide housing 2 it will'cause the'swi'tch member it to bring its'contact 18 into engagement with the contact 23 c'arri'e'dby the base 5. The'mo-vablemember t5 of the switch is insulated asshown at-22 fr'ern'the b'ase'fi and is connected to one side of an 'ele'ctr'ic circuit which enters the housing 2 through-the insulated opening 25. 'The'other side 2801? theelectric circuit is grounded upon the guide housing 2 with which the contact 2i"! of the switch is alsoingrounded 7 connection. a

7 Movement of 't'he inertiamernber l9 downward iri'the housing'i'when sumcient dynamic force ifi to shearofi the shear pins l2, thus causes-the contact 53 to-engage-the contact 2!] and "close the electric circuit 25, 28 throughthe 'solenoid 'coil 3G to eiiect the closing of a second switch-32 in a motorfoperating circuit t iby' which a motor 35 is actuated to operate any suitable valve- As hereinabove suggested, the apparatus of the 'present'invention is particularly useful in closing shut-off valves to steam lines of naval vessels which may havebeerijinjurediby the'shock of an explosion, such as that of a torpedoor aminen The action of dynamic' forces such as'these is so nearly instantaneous that it is important that provision be madeffor insuring the maintenance of a'circuit, which has been closed as a result of such action,-for a sumcient length of timeto insure the 'actuatiohof the main valve closing mechanism. This may-teamed in various ways as, for example, by the employment of an ordinarytiltable 'mercury tube switch which wo'ulcl'remain' in its switch-closing position when tipped thereinto or; as in thecase of the illustrated circuit-closingi means; locking means may be provided for locking the inertia member if]- in its switch-closing position, In theillustrative embodiment ot the invention, simple spring catches 33 are provided, there beingfour of these shown asspaced 96 apart about the inside of said securing, means being yieldable toga force a I encountered'when said dynamic limit is passed, whereby 'said'inertiamember is movedby suchforce to operate said switch'and thereby to 'actuspect to the weight of the inertia member ii! that said inertia member will follow the .movements of theguidelhousing East said housing in turn follows the movements of the steam main, or other steam'line, to which it is attached, in

'the ordinary operation of the navel vessel, in-

cluding such movements asiare brought about by the dynamic forces-produced by the firing oi the guns of the vessel, by the impacts of heavygseas against the sides'of the vessel; etc If, new, the

vessel should strilrea-rnine :or should be hit by a torpedo, so that the steam main or other steam line would be subjected tofthe" action of 1 a} 7 dynamic force ofgreaterintensity than that 'for which the shear pins i2 have been calibrated, the resistance of the inertia member lll to move ment' with the guide housing 2 would cause theshear'pins 2 to shearoiithus bringing the con tact'member Zii into engagement with the con tact member ldby-the'relative movementof-theinertia member to and the guide housing 2,-thereby closing the circuit 24,28 through the solenoid 38 and in turn'closing the switch 32 in theeir-= cuit 34 that operates the motor 3E; The springing of the spring catches 38 into'pos'ition above the inertia memberill would 'then prevent the re-opening of the switch !8, 29 and thus insure maintenanceof the circuit 24, '23 for a sumcient time to operate the switch 32. T e What I claim as new is: 1 V An automatically protected distributing syste,

for dangerousfluids which comprises, incom- 'binatio'n with a reservoir of dangerous fluid and a'distribution pipe line extendedso as to be subject'to shock of such forceas' maycauseb'reakage of the line, an inertia' rnember, a guide forsaid- 7 member so mounted-upon the pipeline for protection of which sai d 'device is intended as to partake of the same'movements as the part of said pipe-line which is subject to destructive shock, an -elctrica1ly"operated shut-off adapted" toco-ntiol the. admission ofthe dangerous fluid to said pipe line and'positioned at a point remote from the-inertia 'membenj'an actuating vcircuitfor said shut-01f includin'g'a switch arranged to be operated b'y movement of said inertia member in'its'guide, and means for securing said inertia mmber to said, guide so that said 'memberalso partakespf the same: movements 'as sai'd pipeline-up toa predeterminedjldynamic limit, but

ate said shut-off.

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