US1211104A - Reducing-valve for automobile-torpedoes. - Google Patents

Description

W. DIETER.

REDUCKNG VALVE FOR AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20.19I6.

Patented Jan. 2, 191?.

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WILLIAM DIETER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO E. W. BLISS COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

REDUCING-VALVE FOR AUTOMOBILE-TORPEDOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

Application filed September 20, 1916. Serial No. 121,148.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM DIETER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reducing-Valves for Automobile- Torpedoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automobile torpedoes in which the air pressure from the compressed air reservoir or flask is reduced first through an initial pressure-reducing valve and then by a secondary or final pressure-reducing valve to bring it to the required pressure at which it is delivered to the turbine or other engine for propelling the torpedo.

The object of the invention is to economize by preventing waste of compressed air and to'guard against injury to the torpedo by preventing the possibility of an excessive pressure of air reaching vulnerable portions of the apparatus.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section of the torpedo, the parts being shown ina somewhat diagrammatic arrangement in order to illustrate-their. connections; Fig. 2 is avertical' transverse section-of the torpedo showing the reducing valves and heater, and their respective connections. p

The torpedo shown in Fig. 1 has inaddition to the usual air flask or compressed air reservoir A, a fuel reservoir B designed to contain alcohol or other liquid fuel, and a water reservoir C. These are constructed in a manner shown in United States Patents Nos. 1,022,486, dated April 9, 1912, and

1,125,97 9, dated January 26, 1915. The torpedo shown has primary and secondary pressure-reducing valves constructed generally after the manner of those set forth in Patent No. 1,136,660, dated April 20, 1915.

. These patents may be referred to for a more complete illustration of certain features herein shown, or whlch may be applicable in connection with the present invention.

outset may, for example, be in the neighborhood of 2800 pounds per square inch, and

which during the run of the torpedo falls to a minimum of perhaps 700 or 800 pounds) to an intermediate pressure which may approximate, for example, 600 pounds. The

- secondary valve reduces the air pressure from this intermediate pressure to the pressure at which the air is fed to the turbine or engine,-and which pressure varies according to the speed at which the torpedo is to be driven, which, as a working example, may be assumed to be 400 pounds per square inch. The air at this latter pressure passes through a duct 0? to the air heater or combustion chamber G (commonly called superheater), in which it is heated by the burning of alcohol or other liquid fuel therein, and its volume thereby increased. Commonly, also, water is sprayed into this heater which by the heat is converted into steam, which further increases thevolume of the efliuent mixture. From the heater the heated gaseous mixture passes out through a pipe 6 and is led to the engine or motor. In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the pipe 6 leads to-the nozzle 7 of the turbine (H in Fig. 1), this being a well-known construction. I 5

The alcohol or-other fuel from reservoir B passes to the heater through a tube 9 lead to flow out through the pipes g, h by admitand Well-known. The nature of the present the therebydetermine the speed at'which the.

In the example shown, air at reduced pres sure is led from duct 03 through a tube is to a valve shell-Z, and thence through tubes 70 and 70 to the respective vessels. The valve,

shell Z may contain valves of the construction set forth in Patent No. 1,022,486.

may be of the construction shown indetail in Fig. 2. The valve E comprises a tappet or valve proper m on a stem 11 carrying a piston or plunger 2? for approximately balancing the valve; this plunger moves wlth a close working fit in the cylindrical portion g of the valve shell, and passes therethrough .into the chamber 1', in which there tappet m tends to close the valve, and the eduction pressure (in duct 0) is determined by the stress of thelspring s relatlvel to the unbalanced area of the valve. he secondary valve F is of the same construction as the primary valve, except that its sprin s is made adjustable. so as to vary nal pressure fed to the motor and torpedo should be driven. For this purpose it has the usual adjusting screw t and means for determining the precise adjustment to v be given. I

So far as described the construction is old invention will now be set forth.

In order to make the-working parts of the valves E, F move freely, so that these valves shall operate with thedesired degree of accuracy, it is necessary to provide an amount of clearance between the plunger .12 and its cylinder g which permits a certainleakage of air. In the secondary valve this leakage is not serious, because the difierence between the induction and eduction pressures is moderate (in the example given being only 200 pounds) but with, the primary valve, where eduction pressures is much higher (being commonly above 2000 pounds per square I inch, the loss of air through leakage around I the-plunger amounts to aconsiderable ,waste of energy. The air loss through this leakage hasbeen found to commonly exceed five per cent. of the total weight of air stored in the air flask. v

Toavoid this waste is the primary object. of the present invention. To this end the spring chamber r, instead of being left open or vventedto the interior of the torpedo as heretofore, is closed. If no vent were given from this chamber the leakage; would quicklybuild up a pressure in this ichanibe r, which would have the efle'ct'of open ing the tappet m wider andthereby permitting a higher intermediate pressure to pass to the secondary Valve, a result which would largely defeat the advantage of using two successive pressure-reducing valves, and which, also, would be liable to-have a disastrous effect upon. other parts of the apparatus. To avoid these results the air The pressure-reducing valves E and F ample given) it results that approximately.

this pressure is caused-to exist in the chamher 1". Consequently, this pressure acting upon the exposed area of the plunger p is added to the pressure ofthe spring 8, tending to open the primary valve. This would cause the air passing the primary valveto be delivered at a correspondingly higher intermediate pressure and to avoid this result the spring sis made much weaker than-heretofore, so that the combined pressure of the spring and the back pressure of air in the chamber 1" is the same in its efiect upon the primary valve as the pressure of the spring alone in such valves as heretofore constructed. It results from this that the air leaking from the primary valve is utilized, while as heretofore.

It is of the utmost importance that-the primary reducing valve should'function normally so as tochoke down the pressure from that in the air flask to approximately the uniform pressure atwhich the air is fed to the secondary valve. The air, either at this intermediate pressure or at the final pressure to which it is' reduced by the secondary valve (and slightly above the pressure in the heater) is conducted through the tubes is, 70 10 to the alcohol and water reservoirs-B and C. These reservoirsare necessarily of somethe difference between the induction and thereby wrecking the torpedo. It is highly important to avoid all risk of the happening of such an accident. Such deranged action of the primary valve might result from a. fracture of the secondary valve, that is, the

b reaking of the valve stem connecting the tappet with the plunger, so that the air vWould-pass freely through the secondary valve. This would result in the air enterthe operation of the primary valve remains under normal conditions precisely the sameing the heater at nearly the pressure existing in the intermediate duct 0. air pressure would be conducted to the motor and would have the effect of driving the torpedo ata higher speed ;,this result would not be seriously objectionable, but another ensuing result might prove disastrous, namely, that the higher pressure in the heater, bein conducted back through duct u to the chama er r, would 'add to the pressure tending to open the primary valve, and would have the result of opening this valve wider, so that the. pressure of its discharge would be increased, This increased-pressure being in turn fed to the heater, would result in a correspondingly increased pressure in the chamber a", and this in turn would open the inlet valve still wider, resulting in a still further increased outlet pressure; thus-cumulatively the inlet valve would be opened wider and wider until it was forced wide open and nearly the full flask pressure-would I be streaming out through the valve passages and heater. This cumulative effect would occur so rapidly as to be practically instantaneous. The lncreased pressure might destroy the heater and wreck the turbine, but in any event it would shortly be communicated to the fuel and water vessels B and C and would burst one or both of these vesselsv and thereby wreck the torpedo.

To avoid these disadvantages is the object of the second part of the invention. According to this, provision is made for instantly stopping any back flow of air from the heater toward the chamber 1'; and for permitting the escape from this chamber of any pressure materially in excess of the .normal' pressure therein. The first result is attained by interposing a check valve in the duct'u. The second'result is attained by applying a safety valve or blow-ofi' in communication with the chamber 1* adapted'to discharge the pressure when it rises in saidchamber to an amount somewhat in excess of the normal (say, for example, 500 pounds as compared with'the normal 400 pounds);

In the construction shown a ball check valve '0 is interposed in the passage 10 so that in case of a back .fiow it will ,seat'agalnst a seat to and close the vessel. Normally it seats against the notched end of a plug to:

so as to afford afree flow around the ball.

The safety valve is shown as a tappet y closing a lateral port in the duct u (or otherwise communicating with the chamber 02 and pressed to its seat by a spring 2 whic reacts against a shoulder in the valve shell 4) which incloses it. This spring is constructed to have the required stress to hold 7 the valve closed until the release pressure is attained, It results from this construction that in case of a breakage or-other derangement of the secondary valve B so thatthe This increased 1 around they plunger, when this pressure reaches that at which the safety valve opens thefpressure thereupon escapes freely into the air space within the torpedo. If, for example, the safety valve is set to 500 pounds, the pressure discharged from the primary valve will rise a. corresponding amount above the normal (say 600 pounds), or,-for example, to perhaps 800 pounds, but not farther..

The construction may be varied and equivalents substituted, and any necessary changes to adapt the invention to otherconstructions of torpedoes may be made without departing from the invention.

What I claim is 1. In an automobile torpedo, the combinat1onw1th asource of compressed air and a prespressure in 1' builds up, due to leakage.

sure-reducing valve, ofmeans in connection with such valve for conducting leakage of airfrom the high pressure side of such valve to a point beyond the valve where this leakage can be utilized.

2. In an automobile torpedo, the combinationwith primary and secondary pressurereducing valves, of means in connection-with the pr mary valve for conducting leakage from the high pressure side thereof to a point beyond the secondary valve where such leakage can be utilized.

3. 'In an automatic torpedo, the combina- I tionwith a source of compressed air and primary and secondary pressure-reducing valves, and a heater beyond the secondary valve, of means for conducting leakage from v valve where such leakage can be utilized,

and means for preventing a back flow of pressure into said chamber.

5 In an automobile torpedo, the bombination with a source of compressed air and a pressure-reducing valve comprising a balancing plunger, a spring, and a spring cham- I her, of means for conducting air leaking into said chamber to a point beyond said valve where such leakage can be utilized and a relief valve for discharging excess of pressure from said chamber.

6. In an automobile torpedo, the combination with a source of compressed air and a pressure-reducing valve comprising a balancing plunger, a spring, and a spring chamber, of means for conducting air leaking into said chamber to a point beyond said signed my name in the presence of two subvalve vghere such leakage claim be ugilized, scribing Witnesses. means or preventing a bac flow 0 pressure into said chamber, and a relief valve WILLIAM DIETER' I 5 for discharging excess of pressure from said Witnesses:

chamber. RICHARD BIGGARE,

In witness whereof, I have hereunto JOHN D. MCINTYRE.

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