AUTOMATIC BALANCE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES

Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. AUTOMATIC BALANCE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES.

AUTOMATIC BALANCE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES.

It is well known that in all air compressors and water pumps the pressure in cylinder of air compressors or in working barrel or cylinder of pumps is much greater at the point of opening the delivery valves than the actual pressure in the air receivers of compressors or in water column of pumps because of the difference in area between the top and bottom of delivery valves. In some air compressors a hundred and twenty-five pounds pressure to the square inch is required in the cylinder to eighty pounds in the receiver, and in some instances a hundred pounds pressure is required in the cylinder to eighty pounds pressure in the receiver or column.

The engraving shows an invention designed to remedy this defect in air compressors and pumps, to provide a device which will enable the compressors and pumps to operate with equal pressure on both sides of the delivery valve.

The invention consists of an auxiliary valve arranged outside of the cylinder, where it is not subjected to back pressure, and connected with the delivery valve by a hollow valve stem.

In the engraving, which is a sectional view, the cylinder of an air compressor is represented, on the end of which there is a ring containing delivery ports, through which the air from the cylinder is forced into a receiver or conducting pipe. This ring is provided with an inner flange or valve seat on which rests the delivery valve. These parts are similar to those seen in some of the air compressors in common use, and with this construction and arrangement one hundred pounds pressure to the square inch in the cylinder is required to open the valve against eighty pounds pressure in the receiver or in the conducting pipes.

A drum having an open end is connected with the cylinder head by inclined standards, and contains a piston connected with the valve by means of a rod that extends centrally through the cylinder head. On the outer end of this rod is screwed an adjusting nut, by means of which the piston may be adjusted. This rod is bored longitudinally, establishing communication between the compressor cylinder and the drum containing the piston.

It will be seen that the upper face of the piston is exposed so as to be subjected to atmospheric pressure only, and when the compressor is in operation a portion of the air in the compressor cylinder passes through the hollow rod into the space beneath the piston, and there exerts sufficient pressure, in combination with the pressure on the inner face of the valve, to open the valve against an equal pressure in the receiver or conducting pipes, so that when the pressure in the cylinder equals the pressure in the receivers the valve is opened and held in place until the piston in the cylinder starts on the return stroke, when the pressure under the piston is immediately relieved through the hollow rod and the main valve closes.

The space between the valve and its seat is made as shallow as possible, so that the space may be quickly filled and exhausted. The piston may be adjusted to regulate this space. This invention was recently patented by Messrs. Samuel B. Connor and Henry Dods, of Virginia City, Nevada.

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This book is part of the public domain. Various (2007). Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/21081/pg21081-images.html

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