DR. «»a, SZKBBBEBS'S 
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC REGULATOR, 
FOR 
DAMPERS AMD VAIa¥ESB 
SECURED BY 
LETTERS-PATENT, 
No. 100,462, No. 105,272 and No. 105,273. 
The figure represents the Apparatus applied to 1he damper of a hot air furnace, ard the 
Regulating Thermometer hanging over the mantle in the sitting room above. The 
connecting wires and a battery cup for generating the necessary current of electricity 
are also shown. The cup is shown below the damper, but it may, of 
course, bo placed in any corner or closet that is convenient. DR. G. M. STERNBERG’S 
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC REGULATOR, 
FOK 
DAMPERS AND VALVES. 
A glance at the title of this invention as it appeared in the official list 
of patents for March 1st, 187$ would give but a faint idea of its value 
fscope. 
The following are some of the more important purposes to which it is 
applicable: 
1st. The automatic regulation of the temperature of public buildings, 
hospitals, school-houses, dwelling-houses, malt-houses, drying- 
houses, &c., &c., to any point desired. 
2nd. The automatic regulation of the temperature of any liquid under- 
going the process of evaporation or distillation. 
3rd. The automatic regulation of the supply of any liquid to a reservoir 
from which there is a variable flow, so as to maintain it at a constant level, 
e. g., the h?ight of water in a steam boiler, or in a retort. 
I can give to the chemist an apparatus by which he can regulate the 
heat of the organic fl jid he is evaporating, so that the process may be 
carried on at any temperature he may desire. lie may go away for hours 
and leave his automatic regulator to control the gas stove or Bunsen 
burner by which the heat is furnished for the process, and upon his return 
he will not find that the organic matter has been burned by too much heat, for the temperature cannot exceed the point to which he has adjusted the 
regulating thermometer. 
I can give to the manufacturing chemist an apparatus by which he can 
evaporate bis extracts or .distill his volatile oils, &e., at any temperature he 
desires. 
By means of this invention, the physician in charge of a hospital may 
be enabled to say, I will have this ward kept at a temperature of GO degrees? 
and this otle at 75 degrees, lie may in a moment adjust the regulator for 
himself, secure it by lock and key if necessary, and go away with the 
assurance that no carelessness of nursds can allow the temperature to exceed 
the point he has fixed. 
A gentleman of intelligence desires to have his house kept at such 
temperature as is most conducive to the health and comfort of himself and 
family. A regulating thermometer hangs in his sitting-room or parlor, 
wires descend to the cellar, where they are connected with the apparatus 
governing the damper of the furnace, lie adjusts the wire in the tube of 
his thermometer to Go degrees, and his servants cannot waste his fuel* 
render him uncomfortable, and endanger the health of his family by heating 
his room to a higher point. 
The owner of a hot-house, of a drying-house, or other place where a fixed 
temperature is desirable, will sOon find the advantage of having a 
thermometer hanging in the house which does the regulating, rather than 
one which m ist be watched by a man, who regulates the fire, if he is not 
careless or indifferent, and who don’t, if he is. 
The construction of the Regulating Thermometer is shown in Figs. 3 and 
4. Fig. 3 is a thermometer for hanging in any room, the heat of which it 
is desiied to regulate. A platinum wire is hermetically sealed in a portion 
of the tube prolonged below the bulb. An adjustable wire slips through 
the open upper extremity of the thermometer stem, and its end is thrust 
down the tube. This wire passes between adjusting rollers, by which it is 
conveniently raised or lowered, until its end stands at any desired degree of 
the scale. By moans of binding screws, the wires B and D have electric 
connection with the wires E and F, which pass to the furnace or heating 
appara'U'', wherever it may be, and are there connected with the apparatus 
by which the valve or damper is operated. A battery cup of any kind is 
interposed in the circuit at any convenient locality. lia.3 
Fig. 4 
As soon’as the heat of the room in which the thermometer hangs, causes 
the mercury to rise in its tube and meet the point of the adjustable wire, an 
electric circuit is completed, the current passing through the helix of a 
temporary magnet, causes its armature to be attracted, moving a lever by 
which the valve or damper is closed. This closing of the damper causes 
the heat of the room to be diminished and the mercury to fall below the 
point of the wire in the thermometer tube. The electric circuit being thus 
broken, a spring draws the armature from the electro-magnet, and opens 
the damper. The damper or valve is thus regulated so as to keep the 
mercury in the thermometer tube oscillating at the point of the wire, and 
the temperature of the room is kept at very nearly a constant point. 
Figure 4 represents a thermometer especially constructed for immersion 
in any liquid which it is desired to keep at a fixed temperature. In this 
thermometer both wires are hermetically sealed in their places, the upper 
one being so adjusted that the mercury in the thermometer tube shall 
reach its extremity when subjected to the temperature to which the thermometer is designed to regulate any gas or liquid in which it may be 
immersed. 
When the pressure of steam is to be regulated, the steam gauge acts as 
a regulator, the electric circuit being made or broken by its needle, which 
dips in a cup of mercury, adjusted at the proper point. The mechanical 
apparatus may either govern the supply of air allowed the furnace, by 
being attached to its damper, or it may govern a valve by which steam is 
allowed to escape from the boiler. 
The height of a liquid in a reservoir is regulated by a regulating float 
upon its surface, by which the circuit is made or broken. When the liquid 
rises in the slightest degree above the point desired, the float establishes an 
electric circuit, and a valve in the supply pipe is closed by a lever attached 
to the armature of a temporary magnet, thus preventing any further flow 
into the receptacle. When the level of the liquid falls in the least below 
the point desired, the float hilling with it breaks the circuit, and a spring 
opens the valve in the supply pipe. 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED FROM WELL-KNOWN 
SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL MEN. 
New York, April 13, 1870. 
Dr. G. Sternberg, 
Dear Sir—The theory of your Automatic Electro-Magnetic Regulator is sound, 
and if reduced to sue'essful practice, cannot fail to bo valuable The regulative 
function of electricity over mechanical movements has not hitherto had the attention 
it deserves. Very respectfully, 
E. L. VO LYMANS. 
Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, April 15, 1S70. 
Deaf Sir—Having seen your Electro-M ignetie Regulator, for Dampers and Valves, 
in practical operation at your residence and office I have been much pleased with its 
simplicity and accuracy of operation. As a regulator of heat, whether in the 
laboratory, factory dwelling house, or any other place, I am confident that it ivill 
justify all you claim in your circular, and le'ters patent. 
Yours respectfully, 
B. F. MUDGE, 
Prof. Kat. sciences. 
Chief Engineer's Office, Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Co. 
St Louis, May 3, 1870. 
Dear Sir—I have examined your circular with photographs, explaining your 
Electro-Magnetic Regulator, for controlling the temperature ot lurnaces, &c. It is very ingenious, and not too complex to prevent general use. . . . Isee no reason 
why the plan, as explained, may not be made entirely practicable.. 
JAS. B. EADS. 
State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Ks., May 15, 1870. 
Surg. G. M. Sternberg, U. S. A. 
My Dear Doctor—I have received your printed account of the Electro-Magnetic 
Regulator, for Dampers and Valves, patented by yourself. I believe it will accom- 
plish all you claim for it. I can state this with some degree of positive knowledge, 
as I have been an eye-witness to its application. . . . 
J. W. DAVIDSON, 
Bvt. Maj. Gen. TJ. S. A., Prof. Mil. Science and Civil Eng. 
. . . I shall give an account of it next Monday at our Academy of Sciences. . . 
EXNO S A UN D MRS, 
Manufacturing Chemist, St. Louis, Mo. 
. . . I have decided to call the attention of the Academy of Sciences to it at the 
next meeting, in May. 
JOHN RAUCH, M.D., 
Chicago, HI. 
Fort Riley, Kansas, May 7, 18 ‘0. 
Dr. G. M. Sternberg, 
Dear Sir— . . . I cannot withhold my hearty endorsement of' your great 
invention, the El°ctro-Magnetic Regulator. It has been my privilege to see it in 
ope>ation, and I am fully convinced that it tan be m do applicable to all the purposes 
named in your circular. If used ouly as an automatical regulator of heat in hospitals 
and private dwellings, its worth to the world would be immense; but when you 
have it in common use in factories, school-houses and churches, its value in a 
sanitary point of view will be above all price. 
CHAS. REYNOLDS, 
Post Chaplain, U. S. A. 
. . . It is obvious that this principle may be extended to a great variety of 
apparatus and operations In tlie industrial arts. In fact its possible and useful 
applications are almost beyond enumeration. 
In distilling, especially in fractional distillation, in oil refineries, in green houses, 
hospitals, school-rooms, churches, in the drying of substances at fixed temperatures, 
in breweries, and malt houses, &c., &c., its use would change uncertainty to precision■ 
and render easy what are noio oftentimes some of the most difficult and critical of 
industrial operations. 
In a sanitary point of view, its general adoption as a regulator of temperature 
in dwellings and public buildings seems very desirable. 
We have personally inspected the operation of this ingenious instrument in the 
operation of heating liquids for pharmaceutical purposes, and can vouch that in this 
respect it is all tho inventor claims for it. We see no reason why it should not 
perform just as satisfactorily in regulating the heat of rooms and in other 
operations. 
From the “Scientific American” of Aug. 27, 1S70. t m m i m v m m t m m 
Desires to make arrangements with parties who are in a 
position to Manufacture and Introduce this valuable Inven- 
tion in its various important applications. 
Manufacturers of Heating Apparatus, Steam Boiler 
Manufacturers, Distillers, Manufacturing Chemists, <£r., are 
respectfully invited to investigate the merits of this invention 
as applied to their several branches of business. 
I am now prepared to furnish Chemists an apparatus, to 
be applied to a Bunsen burner or a gas stove, for regulating 
the temperature of any liquid undergoing evaporation or 
distillation, at the following moderate prices : 
Regulating Thermometers - - $2 to $5 each. 
Valve, Operated by Electro-Magnet 15 
Battery Cup (Daniels’) - - - 1 75 
Gas Stoves 1 25 to 
Bunsen Burners .... 2 50 and 3 50. 
ADDRESS: 
OR* G* M* ST£RNB£RGt 
Room No. 1,24 Floor. 
1)53 Bmmhvnv. 
NEAR 23 ? STR EET. * 
/ .-O