Pumping device and containers fitted therewith

Abstract: A reciprocating actuator is axially connected to drive a reciprocating pump. An exhaust tube (52), open to the outside, passes through a piston (21) of the reciprocating actuator and into an inner hole (62) axially disposed in a working rod that connects an actuator piston (21) of the reciprocating actuator to the reciprocating pump. A valve mechanism (31) communicates a chamber (26) above the actuator piston (21) with the inner hole (62) during upward motion of the piston (21), whereby actuator fluid above the piston (21) is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust tube (52). The resulting axial exhausting of the actuating fluid permits inserting a large portion of the device into a drum for pumping of liquid. The invention permits use of a two-stage rod system, which is capable of obtaining high pumping pressure. The inner hole (62) is communicated with a space whose volume changes when the working rod makes a vertical movement. Different piston sizes can be used in the reciprocating actuator and the reciprocating pump, whereby higher or lower pump pressure is attainable.

Description: The present invention relates to a reciprocating pumping device particularly suited for insertion into a drum or other similar container. As shown in the specification and the drawings of U.S. Patent No. 3,094,938, a pumping device is disclosed having a reciprocating pump below a reciprocating actuator driven by a pressurised working fluid. The diameter of an actuator piston in the reciprocating actuator is identical to the diameter of a pump piston in the reciprocating pump. It may be convenient to use a pump piston which moves vertically in a pump cylinder below a working rod of the reciprocating actuator with a pump rod having a smaller diameter than the working rod in between, since then there is no need to modify the structure of the reciprocating actuator. This construction has a problem in finding a way to vent the enclosed space in which the working rod of the reciprocating actuator moves up and down. Especially in the case where the reciprocating pump is inserted into a drum so that only a small portion of the pumping device protrudes from the drum, the space in which the working rod moves vertically (hereinafter called the movement space) is also inside the drum. Therefore, simply boring a hole in the cylinder is not effective to vent the enclosed space surrounding the movement space. Since the above problem has not yet been solved, a conventional pump calls for the entire body of the reciprocating actuator and the reciprocating pump to project outside the drum, as shown in the specification and the drawings of said U.S. Patent No. 3,094,938. In addition, this problem makes it impossible to employ a two-stage rod system to increase the pump output pressure. The reader will find further guidance to the nature of the prior art and the problems addressed by the present invention in FR-A-1,288,221, with reference to which claim 1 is characterised. Accordingly, the present invention provides a reciprocating pumping device as defined in claim 1. The actuator fluid above the actuator piston is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust tube and the exhaust means in the top of the cylinder thus permitting insertion of a large portion of the device into a drum. The invention permits use of a two stage rod system which is capable of obtaining high pumping pressure. Different actuator and pumping piston sizes make higher or lower pump pressures attainable. The movement space is vented through the exhaust tube. An embodiment of a reciprocating pumping device constructed in accordance with the present invention, will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the reciprocating pumping device. Referring to the drawing, a reciprocating pump, driven by pressurised working fluid such as, for example, air, includes a reciprocating actuator 11 with a working cylinder 13 screwed airtight in an upper portion of a body 12. A head cover 15 is screwed airtight on an upper end of working cylinder 13. A packing 14 seals the junction of head cover and the upper end of working cylinder 13. A working rod 17 passes through body 12, with packing 16 sealing against leakage therebetween. Working rod 17 is vertically movable in body 12. A lower cylinder portion 21a of a working piston 21 is screwed into an upper portion of working rod 17 to form an integral part thereof. Working piston 21, of a single-rod type, is positioned inside working cylinder 13, with a slidable packing 22 fitted around working piston 21 dividing the inside space of working cylinder 13, to form an upper working fluid chamber 26 and a lower working fluid chamber 27. Working piston 21 includes a directional control valve mechanism 31 to switch, at an end of reciprocating movement, supply and discharge of working fluid to and from working fluid chambers 26 and 27 at both sides of working piston 21. Directional control valve mechanism 31 includes a working fluid exhaust hole 32 and a working fluid ventilation hole bored through working piston 21. serving as the working fluid exhaust hole and ventilation hole 33 are bored through working piston 21. An upper valve plate 35 and a lower valve plate 36 are held in place on opposite sides of working piston 21 by a connector 34 movably inserted in ventilation hole 33. Upper valve plate 35 has a seat 37 for closing exhaust hole 32. Lower valve plate 36 has a seat 38 for closing ventilation hole 33. A spring 41 is retained in the upper end of working cylinder 13 by packing 14. Upper valve plate 35 is actuated by the pushing force of spring 41 during an end portion of an upward stroke of working piston 21. A spring 42 and a washer 43 are fitted around the upper end of working rod 17. Lower valve plate 36 is actuated by the pushing force of spring 42 during an end portion of a downward stroke of working piston 21. An exhaust pipe 52 passes through head cover 15, into working cylinder 13 and extending almost to the lower end of working cylinder 13. An O ring 51 seals between exhaust pipe 52 and head cover 15. A flange 53 at an upper end of exhaust pipe 52 is sandwiched by a pair of washers 54 and held in place by force exerted by a spring 56 between flange 53 and a cap 55 screwed onto head cover 15. A mouth of cap 55 is open at the bottom to serve as an exhaust port 57. Exhaust pipe 52 passes axially through working piston 21, with a packing 61 sealing against leakage therepast. A lower end of exhaust pipe 52 extends into an inner hole 62 bored along the center axis of working rod 17. Inner hole 62 is connected to a working rod vertical movement space, as will be explained herein after, through a passage hole 63 in the axial direction and a plurality of passage holes 64 in the radial direction of working rod 17. Exhaust hole 32 of directional control valve mechanism 31 is also connected to exhaust pipe 52 through a gap 66 between the perimeter of exhaust pipe 52 and an inner surface of working piston 21. Body 12 includes an air intake port 71 connected to lower working fluid chamber 27 through a gap 72 between body 12 and working rod 17, and a plurality of holes 73 bored in washer 43. Body 12 is also includes a lower tapped hole 74 and a pumped substance output port 75. In use, the portion of reciprocating actuator 11 above body 12 projects from the top of a drum D. An upper end opening of a pump connecting tube 76 having the smaller diameter (hereinafter called small diameter tube 76) is tightly screwed into lower tapped hole 74 of body 12 to prevent leakage of a liquid pumped substance. A pump connecting tube 77 having a larger diameter (hereinafter called large diameter tube 77) is concentrically positioned around small diameter tube 76. An upper end of large diameter tube 77 is fitted liquid-tight in tapped hole 74 of body 12. An upper portion of an adapter 78 is fitted liquid-tight to a lower end opening of small diameter tube 76. A larger diameter portion of adapter 78 is fitted liquid-tight in an end opening of large diameter tube 77. A space between the upper end openings of small diameter tube 76 and large diameter tube 77 is left open so that a cylindrical substance elevation passage 80 between these tubes is connected to the aforementioned pumped substance output port 75. Similarly, a space between the lower end openings of small diameter tube 76 and large diameter tube is left open to communicate cylindrical substance elevation passage 80 to a pumped substance passage hole 79 bored in adapter 78. A reciprocating pump 81 has a pump rod 83 connected by a pin 82 to the lower end of working rod 17. The diameter of pump rod 83 is smaller than the diameter of working rod 17. Pump rod 83 is slidably fitted through a packing 84 and a bush 85 in adapter 78. Gap 86 between bush 85 and pump rod 83 is wide enough to allow a pumped substance to move therethrough into a substance passage hole 87 bored in bush 85 and pumped substance passage hole 79 in adapter 78 to connect pumped substance from a region surrounding pump rod to pumped substance elevation passage 80. A pump cylinder 88 whose diameter is smaller than that of the working cylinder 13, is screwed liquid-tight into the lower part of adapter 78. A pump piston 89, which has a smaller diameter than that of the working cylinder 13, and moves up and down inside pump cylinder 88 is provided at the bottom of pump rod 83. The space above pump piston 89 is always connected, through gap 86 inside bush 85, substance passage holes 87 and 79 and cylindrical pumped substance elevation passage 80, to pumped substance output port 75 at the lower part of reciprocating actuator 11. Pump piston 89 is attached by a nut 92 on small diameter portion 93 at a lower end of pump rod 83. A packing 90 fitted about the perimeter of pump piston 89 prevents leakage therepast while permitting axial reciprocating motion of pump piston 89 and pump rod 83. A gap, wide enough to allow pumped substance to move therethrough, is disposed around an outside of plate valve 91 and around an inner side of pump piston 89. A gap 94 around an inner side of pump piston 89 has a groove portion 96 formed in an axial direction to catch a step 95 of pump rod 83. Gap 94 remains open upward because of groove portion 96, even when step 95 of pump rod 83 pushes pump piston 89 downward during the downward movement of pump rod 83. An adapter 98, having a substance intake port 97 therein, is screwed into a lower part of pump cylinder 88. Adapter 98 includes a substance intake hole 99. A plate valve 101 around a screw shank portion 100, protruding above substance intake hole 99, is movable in the axial direction. A nut 102 on screw shank portion 100 secures plate valve 101 in place. A gap between the outer edge of plate valve 101 and the inner surface of pump cylinder 88 is wide enough to allow pumped substance to move therepast. A working rod vertical movement space 65 inside tube 76 is always vented in the radial direction through passage hole 64 direction, passage hole 63 in the axial direction and inner hole 62, all three of which are bored in working rod 17, and exhaust pipe 52. When the upper end of exhaust hole 32 of reciprocating actuator 11 is closed by seat 37 of valve plate 35, the upper and the lower ends of ventilation hole 33 are opened, thereby supplying pressurized air from air intake port 71 to the lower working chamber 27 through gap 72, etc. In addition, pressurized air is fed to upper working quid chamber 26 through ventilation hole 33, whereby virtually the same atmospheric pressure is applied to the upper and lower surfaces of piston 21. However, the upper and lower areas of working piston 21 to which the pressure is respectively applied are different. That is, the areas of the upper side (the side opposite to the rod) and the lower side (the rod side), are not identical As a consequence, since the lower pressure receiving area of working piston 21 is smaller than the upper pressure receiving area by the cross section of working rod 17, working piston 21 is pushed downward. When the lower spring 42 contacts lower valve plate 36, and is compressed sufficiently so that its spring force reaches a predetermined value at the end of the downward stroke of working piston 21, upper valve plate 35 and lower valve plate 36 move upward relative to the downward movement of working piston 21. Upper valve plate 35 is moved out of sealing contact with seat 37 at the upper end of exhaust hole 32. At the same time the lower end of ventilation hole 33 is sealed by seat 38. As a result, pressurized air from air intake port 71 entering lower working fluid chamber 27 works only upon the lower surface of working piston 21, thereby reversing the motion of working piston 21 and driving it upward. During the upward movement, air in upper working fluid chamber 26 is exhausted to the outside through exhaust hole 32, which has been opened as explained above, gap 66, exhaust pipe 52 and exhaust port 57 in cap 55. At the end of the upward stroke of working piston 21, valve plate 35 contacts upper spring 41. Resilient reaction of spring 41 pushes upper valve 35 and lower valve plate 36 downward relative to the upward motion of working piston 21. Exhaust hole 32 is closed by seat 37. Seat 38 is unseated from ventilation hole 33. Consequently, in the process described above, the direction of motion of working piston 21 is reversed from the upward direction to the downward direction. Thus, pump rod 83 of reciprocating pump 81 repeats its alternate upward and downward vertical movement by the automatic switching at the ends of upward and downward strokes of reciprocating actuator 11. When pump rod 83 moves upward, gap 94 around the inside of pump piston 89 and groove portion 96 is tightly closed by plate valve 91 on nut 92. Therefore, substance contained in the portion of the cylinder above pump piston 89 is conveyed by pressure to pumped substance output port 75 through substance passage hole 87 of bush 85, pumped substance passage hole 79 of adapter 78 and cylindrical pumped substance elevation passage 80. During the upward movement of pump rod 83, substance in drum D is sucked through substance intake port 99 into the space under pump piston 89 through the gap around the outer side of floating plate valve 101. As pump piston 89 is pushed down when pump rod 83 moves downward, substance intake port 99 is closed by plate valve 101. Therefore, substance in pump cylinder 88 above plate valve 101 is moved to a position above pump piston 89 through the gap around the outer side of plate valve 91, gap 94 around the inner side of piston 89 and groove portion 96. An amount of substance equal to the volume of the portion of pump rod 83 which has advanced into pump cylinder 88 is conveyed by pressure out of pump cylinder 88 to pumped substance output port 75 through pump substance elevation passage 80, and the remainder of the path discussed above. Since the present invention employs a two-stage rod system consisting of working rod 17 and small diameter pump rod 83 connected together, it is possible, without changing the diameter of working rod 17, i. e. without altering the structure of reciprocating actuator 11, to change the diameter of the pump piston 89 in reciprocating pump 81 to obtain higher or lower pump output pressure. One skilled in the art will recognize that the output pressure is in inverse proportion to the ratio between the pressure-receiving areas of working piston 21 and pump piston 89. The following explains the flow of air in working rod vertical movement space 65 during vertical movement of working rod 17 of reciprocating actuator 11. When working rod 17 moves downward, the volume of space 65 decreases. As a result, air in space 65 passes through passage holes 64 and 63 and inner hole 62 of working rod 17 and exhaust pipe 52 and is exhausted from the upper end of reciprocating actuator 11 to the outside. When working rod 17 moves upward, air is sucked into working rod vertical movent space 65 in the reverse sequence, and smooth operation of reciprocating actuator 11 is thus ensured. According to the present invention, since the enclosed space in which the working rod of a reciprocating actuator moves vertically is connected to the outside above the reciprocating actuator through passage holes bored in the working rod and a working fluid discharge pipe, it is possible to insert the entire body of a reciprocating pump below the reciprocating actuator into a drum can, thereby reducing the length of the portion of the reciprocating actuator that protrudes from the top of the drum. The above also permits employment of a two-stage rod system, thereby enabling a difference in the pressure-receiving areas of the working piston and the pump piston, and thus changing the pump output pressure. A summary of a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be given thus: a reciprocating actuator is axially connected to drive a reciprocating pump. An exhaust tube, open to the outside, passes through a piston of the reciprocating actuator and into an inner hole axially disposed in a working rod that connects an actuator piston of the reciprocating actuator to the reciprocating pump. A valve mechanism communicates a chamber above the actuator piston with the inner hole during upward motion of the piston, whereby actuator fluid above the piston is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust tube. The resulting axial exhausting of the actuating fluid permits inserting a large portion of the device into a drum for pumping of liquid. The invention permits use of a two-stage rod system, which is capable of obtaining high pumping pressure. The inner hole is communicated with a space whose volume changes when the working rod makes a vertical movement. Different piston sizes can be used in the reciprocating actuator and the reciprocating pump, whereby higher or lower pump pressure is attainable.

Claims: A reciprocating pumping device comprising: a reciprocating actuator (11) drivable by a pressurised working fluid; a reciprocating pump (81); means connecting said reciprocating actuator (11) and said reciprocating pump (81) so that the reciprocating actuator (11) drives the reciprocating pump (81), and including a working rod (17) connecting an actuator piston (31) to a pump rod (83) of the reciprocating pump (81), a pump piston being connected to the pump rod (83); a working cylinder (13) in which the actuator piston (21) reciprocates; a pumped substance output port (75); means for permitting a substance pumped from the reciprocating pump (81) to pass to the pumped substance output port (75), the means including a pumped substance elevating passage (80) communicating between the reciprocating pump (81) and the pumped substance output port (75); and valve means (31) in the working piston (31) for valving the working fluid into and from an upper working chamber (26); Characterised in that the pump piston (89) has a diameter different to that of the actuator piston (21); and in that an exhaust tube (52); extends substantially the entire length of the actuator cylinder (13) from an exhaust means at the top end, fits through the centre of the actuator piston (21); and is co-axially disposed in an inner hole (62) in the working rod (17); said valve means (31) acting during upward travel of the actuator piston (21) to communicate the upper working chamber (26) with an inner hole (62) in communication with the exhaust tube (52) whereby working fluid passes from the upper working fluid chamber (26) to the exhaust tube (52) so that the actuator working fluid is exhausted through the exhaust means via the exhaust tube (52). A device according to claim 1, wherein the pumped substance elevating passage (80) is an annular passage defined between a small diameter tube (76) and a large diameter tube (77). A device according to claim 2, wherein upper and lower ends of the tubes (76, 77) are sealed to prevent fluid communication between them. A device according to claim 1, wherein the actuator piston (21) divides the working cylinder (13) in the actuator (11) into the upper working chamber (26) and a lower working chamber (27); and wherein the exhaust tube (52) is open at its upper end. A device according to claim 4, wherein the valve means (31) includes: a gap (66) between an outer surface of the exhaust tube (52) and an inner surface of the inner hole (62) to permit the working fluid to pass to the inner hole (62); an exhaust hole (32) in the actuating piston (21) communicating the upper working chamber (26) with the gap (66); and means for opening the exhaust hole (32) in the actuating piston (21), thereby permitting the actuating fluid to flow from the upper working chamber (26) to the gap (66), and hence through the exhaust tube (52). A device according to claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the actuating fluid is air. A device according to claim 1, wherein the reciprocating actuator (11) and the reciprocating pump (81) are co-axially connected; and means is provided for admitting the working fluid to the actuator (11). A device according to claim 2, wherein each tube (76, 77) comprises a part of the connecting means. A device according to claim 2 or claim 8, wherein: the working rod (17) is received for reciprocation in the inner tube (76); and through passage holes (63, 64) are provided to communicate between the exterior surface of the working rod (17), within the inner tube (76) and the exhaust tube (52), to ventilate the interior of the inner tube (76). A drum or similar container fitted with a pumping device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the entire pumping device body is located with the interior of the drum or container.

Inventors: SAITA SEIJI C O KABUSHIKI KAIS, SAITA, SEIJI, C/O KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAMADA CORP.
Applicants: YAMADA CORP, KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAMADA CORPORATION
Application year: 1991
Main classification: F04B9
IPC codes: F16N13, F01L21, F04B9, B67D7