Patent GB-423580-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to hydraulic rams
IPC: F04F7/02
Filed: 1933-05-01
Abstract: 423,580. Hydraulic rams. GRANDMANGE, H. C. M. S., Rue du Docteur Theodore Willette, Tananarive, Madagascar. May 1, 1933, No. 12664. Void [Abridged as open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, June 6, 1934]. [Class 102 (ii)] Water enters the hydraulic ram through a passage 1, Fig. 1, and passes through a battery of release valves 2 to the outlet passage 3 ; when the valves 2 close, pressure valves 4 open and water rises into a reservoir 6. The release valves 2 may be operated by an external source of power or automatically by the water pressure. The inlet and outlet passages are streamlined and of reinforced concrete, the valves and seatings being of metal. A modified form, Fig. 3, may be used for raising water from a lower level 17. Batteries comprising a number of rams may be used for land irrigation and drainage, for supplying water to urban districts, and for utilizing the rise and fall of the tides. The valves are metal plates with spindles mounted in a cast iron or steel seating, Fig. 8, provided with transverse bars 25, shaped in section as shown. The plates may be reinforced, and the outlet valves are normally held open and the pressure valves closed by springs. Pulleys keyed on the valve spindles are interconnected in pairs by metal bands to synchronize the valve movements. A sleeve 31, Fig. 18, fixed on one spindle has lugs 30 which abut against stops 29 to limit the valve movements. To the sleeve is connected one end of a spring 34 the other end of which is fixed, this arrangement storing up energy due to the pressure of water on the valves at the time of closing. In a modification, a flywheel is connected by a spring to the spindle for the same purpose. These controls for the valves are positioned in a compartment outside the ram body and kept free from water by a small pump actuated by the valve spindle. The valve plates may be pivoted near their centre line so that the pressure acts differentially. In a modification the release valves are profiled in section as shown in Fig. 21, the cross pieces 43 of the valve seating also being profiled. Each valve spindle carries a cam, rollers being kept in contact with these by springs to ensure sudden opening and closing of the valves. The valve spindles are connected together, and may be connected by springs to flywheels as before. In a further modification, the valves are profiled as shown in Fig. 25, and their rotations synchronized by gear wheels on the spindles. A device is provided for accelerating the opening and closing movements but its action is not clear. The valves may be in the form of gates 62, 63, Fig. 34, mounted on opposite sides of a seating 64 and operated by an electric motor. The valve may be in the form of a plate 70, Fig. 38, having segmental openings and rotatably mounted in a valve seating, the parts 67, 68 of which have corresponding openings. The plate 70 is automatically rotated, the members 67, 68 and 70 being profiled as shown ; the rotation is started by injecting water under pressure through a tube 72. In a further modification, Fig. 30, the pressure valves comprise plates 74 moved vertically to cover and uncover openings 75.