Patent GB-190719341-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Methods of Raising or Forcing Liquids and in Apparatus therefor
Inventor: HUMPHREY HERBERT ALFRED
Filed: 1907-08-28
Granted: 1908-08-27
Abstract: 19,341. Humphrey, H. A. Aug. 28. Direct explosive-gas pressure apparatus.-Relates to the employment of two or more combustion chambers in the method of raising or forcing liquids described in Specifications No. 20,736, A.D. 1906, and Nos. 18,594 and 18,595, A.D. 1907, in which the momentum of the inward flow of the expelled liquid serves to compress the combustible c h a r g e. When two chambers are employed, each inward flow compresses the charge in one chamber and expels the waste gases from the others, these effects occurring in the chambers alternately so that a charge is exploded in one or other of the chambers after each inward flow. As shown in Fig. 1, the combustion chambers 1, 2 communicate with the delivery pipe 4 extending to a place of higher level or pressure, and, on explosion and expansion of a charge in the chamber 2, liquid is expelled from this chamber .along the pipe 4, followed at a certain point of the expansion by liquid from the chamber 1, whereby a fresh charge is drawn into this chamber. On the return flow of the liquid, the waste gases in the chamber 2 are expelled and the charge in the chamber 1 is then compressed ready for the next explosion, the cycle being repeated with the functions of the chambers interchanged. The expelled liquid induces an inflow of fresh liquid into the delivery pipe through ron-return valves 32 provided on one or more supply pipes. The admission valves 5, 6 and exhaust valves 7, 8 may be controlled from the water-supply valve 32, or by plates arranged in the pipes or chambers so as to be deflected by the flow of liquid, or by a combination of these means, so that the admission valve in the chamber in which the exploded gases are expanding, and the exhaust valve in the other chamber, cannot open during the outward flow of liquid. Some of the arrangements described in the Specifications referred to above may be employed: for example the admission of the scavenging-air, the provision of a valve for closing communication between the chamber and the supply and delivery pipes alternately, the control of the valves by dashpots &c., the use of a cushioning-medium, and the application of air vessels. The admission valve on each chamber may be arranged to control the exhaust valve on the other. Additional valves 9,10 may be fitted to prevent the liquid from wetting the sparking-plugs 30, 29, and the seatings of these valves and those of the valves 7, 8 are carried down in the chambers to leave a cushioning space and avoid shock when the liquid rises and closes the valves by impact. A link 53 of the valve-gear operates a switch to place the ignition plugs in circuit as required, the device for effecting the ignition when the compression is at a maximum being suitably of the type described in Specification No. 2509, A.D. 1907, [Abridgment Class Electricity, Regulating &c.]. A switch for effecting ignition alternately in the chambers is constructed with two pairs of spring contact-pieces 67, 68 and 69, 70, Figs. 3 and 4, and a conducting- tongue 66 carried by an arm 63, which is oscillated on a pin 71 by projections on the valve-gear of the combustion chambers engaging arms 64, 65, alternately, so as to insert the tongue between one or other of the pairs of contact-pieces. Relief valves may be fitted on the chambers to avoid excessive cushioning pressure, these valves in some cases being arranged as non-return valves in pipes connecting the chambers. In one modification, a double-seated piston-valve may be arranged in the top of each chamber to control the admission valve of the other chamber so as to prevent it from opening until the end of the explosion stroke in the first chamber. One of the combustion chambers may be arranged centrally within the other, as shown in Fig. 6, and the water-supply pipe controlled by the valve 32 may be arranged on the same side as, or on the opposite side to, the delivery. Fig. 12 shows the combustion chambers 1, 2 provided with separate supply ducts 3<a>, 3b from a common supply pipe 3, and separate outlet ducts 4<a>, 4<b> passing to a common delivery pipe 4, each of the outlet ducts when liquid is expelled having an inductive effect on the other so as to develop a suction in the corresponding chamber more rapidly. The arrangement of the separate ducts may be such that the forces set up in the apparatus are balanced. When the supply liquid is drawn from a lower level through a pipe 144, Fig. 14, a valve 133 is provided to cut off communication between the chamber and the supply tank 31 and the delivery pipe 4 alternately, and an adjustablycontrolled spring valve 143 is provided to admit air and so produce a more gradual acceleration of the flow of liquid up the supply pipe 144. When three combustion chambers are employed, each return of the expelled liquid compresses a fresh charge in one chamber, the products of combustion, or most of them, in the previously-fired chamber, and a small elastic cushion, which may consist of waste products, in the third chamber. The expansion of the compressed gases in the two latter chambers assists the explosion in the charged chamber to expel the liquid, and a charge is drawn into the third chamber, the cycle being then repeated. When four chambers are employed, the products of combustion may be retained in each chamber through two compressions, but it is preferable to work the chambers as two pairs of twochamber apparatus.