(165.)

The manner in which the governor regulates the supply of steam from the boiler to the cylinder, proportioning the quantity to the work to be done, and thereby sustaining a uniform motion, has been already explained (p. 125.). Since then the consumption of steam in the engine is subject to variation, owing to the various quantities of work it may have to perform, it is evident that the production of steam in the boiler should be subject to a proportional variation. For otherwise, one of two effects would ensue: the boiler would either fail to supply the engine with steam, or steam would accumulate in the boiler from being produced in too great abundance, and would escape at the safety-valve, and thus be wasted.

In order to vary the production of steam in proportion to the demands of the engine, it is necessary to stimulate or mitigate the furnace, as the evaporation is to be augmented or diminished.

The activity of the furnace must depend on the current of air which is drawn through the grate-bars, and this will depend on the magnitude of the space afforded for the passage of that current through the flues. A plate called a damper is accordingly placed with its plane at right angles to the flue, so that by raising and lowering it in the same manner as the sash of a window is raised or lowered, the space allowed for the passage of air through the flue may be regulated. This plate might be regulated by the hand, so that by raising or lowering it the draught might be increased or diminished, and a corresponding effect produced on the [Pg282] evaporation in the boiler: but the force of the fire is rendered uniformly proportional to the rate of evaporation by the following arrangement, without the intervention of the engineer. The column of water sustained in the feed-pipe (figs. 71, 72.) represents by its weight the difference between the pressure of steam within the boiler and that of the atmosphere. If the engine consumes steam faster than the boiler produces it, the steam contained in the boiler acquires a diminished pressure, and consequently the column of water in the feed-pipe will fall. If, on the other hand, the boiler produce steam faster than the engine consumes it, the accumulation of steam in the boiler will cause an increased pressure on the water it contains, and thereby increase the height of the column of water sustained in the feed-pipe. This column therefore necessarily rises and falls with every variation in the rate of evaporation in the boiler. A hollow float P is placed upon the surface of the water of this column; a chain connected with this float is carried upwards, and passed over two pulleys, after which it is carried downwards through an aperture leading to the flue which passes beside the boiler: to this chain is attached the damper. By such an arrangement it is evident that the damper will rise when the float P falls, and will fall when the float P rises, since the weight of the damper is so adjusted, that it will only balance the float P when the latter rests on the surface of the water.

Whenever the evaporation of the boiler is insufficient, it is evident from what has been stated, that the float P will fall and the damper will rise, and will afford a greater passage for air through the flue. This will stimulate the furnace, will augment its heating power, and will therefore increase the rate of evaporation in the boiler. If, on the other hand, the production of steam in the boiler be more than is requisite for the supply of the engine, the float will be raised and the damper let down, so as to contract the flue, to diminish the draught, to mitigate the fire, and therefore to check the evaporation. In this way the excess, or defect, of evaporation in the boiler is made to act upon the fire, so as to render the heat proceeding from the combustion as nearly as possible proportional to the wants of the engine. [Pg283]