IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY PUMPS AND ENGINES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO ROTARY FANS OR BLOWERS, AND TO THE TRANSMISSION OF MOTION OR POWER
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Harris at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 16th October 1876.
JOHN HARRIS, of Montreal, in the Dominion of Canada, but at present of Kilburn,
in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY PUMPS AND ENGINES,
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO ROTARY FANS OR BLOWERS, AND TO
THE TRANSMISSION OF MOTION OR POWER."
My Invention relates to an improved arrangement of apparatus intended more
particularly to be employed as a rotary pump or engine, but which is also available
as a fan or blower, and for the transmission of motion or power by hydraulic or
pneumatic agency.
The apparatus consists essentially of a circular continuous chamber within which
revolves a wheel or hollow drum mounted upon a central axle. Upon the periphery
of the drum or upon the flange of the wheel are fixed vanes or blades, the number
of which may be varied as required. If the engine is used as a prime mover or to
transmit power, these blades are put in motion and caused to circulate by water or
other fluid passing and flowing through the chamber, whereby the revolution of the
drum or wheel is obtained, but if the engine be used as a pump, motion is imparted
to the blades by means of the wheel or the radial arms of the drum to which
they are attached, and by which they are connected with the central part of the
engine.
The interior side of the circumferential chamber nearest the centre of the engine
forms a circle, but the exterior side thereof deviates from a circle, and com-
mencing at a certain part of the chamber gradually increases in depth until a
maximum depth is formed which exceeds the minimum area of the chamber by an
amount equal to the area of a pipe, which enters the chamber at that point
tangentially to its circle and forms the outlet pipe or discharge, by which the fluid
escapes or is propelled from the engine. The breadth of the chamber between the
two sides is likewise not uniform, but commencing at a certain point gradually
increases laterally until a maximum is reached equal in area to that part of the
chamber at which the depth is greatest, and which exceeds the minimum area of
the chamber by an amount equal to the area of the supply pipe, which enters the
chamber at that point tangentially to its circle, but in the opposite direction to the
entry of the discharge pipe. That part of the chamber which intervenes between
the place where the outlet pipe leaves and the place where the inlet pipe enters, is
Price 2,71

page_text: uniformly of its minimum area, and the distance thus intervening between the
discharge and supply may be varied within certain limits according to circumstances,
but it is essential that some portion of the chamber having the minimum area only
should thus intervene.
The engine when used with water as a prime mover operates in the following
manner: The whole of the chamber being filled with water a further supply
entering from the inlet pipe will flow around through that part of the chamber
between the inlet and outlet pipes. Now the motion and momentum of the water
thus entering and flowing through the chamber will be imparted to the water
already contained in the chamber, and hence will be imparted to the vanes or blades
which are fixed on the periphery of the central part of the engine, whereby such
central part of the engine will be caused to revolve. The operation of the engine
when used as a pump is reversed, the vanes or blades being caused to revolve by
giving motion to the central part of the engine; these impart their motion to the
whole of the water in the circumferential chamber. Now the water occupying that
part of the chamber which has the greatest depth is more in volume than can pass
through the more contracted part of the chamber between the discharge or receiving
main and the supply or suction pipe, consequently a portion of the water is forcibly
ejected into the discharge, and this effect takes place continuously so long as the
engine remains in motion. On the other hand as the vane or blade enters that part
of the chamber where its breadth is greatest, and at which the supply pipe enters
and drives the water before it, the water from the more contracted part being less in
volume than is required to fill that part a partial vacuum is generated, into which
the water from the supply is accordingly impelled, this effect being continuous
the operation of the pump causes a constant propulsion and flow of the water or
other fluid.
The operation of the engine when used as an air blower is substantially the same
as that last described.
This apparatus when used as a pump or air blower possesses the advantage over
other forms of rotary pumps and blowers now in use, that it may be driven with
a very much less velocity of revolution, and at the same time is more effective and
economical than the others.
When the engine is used as a prime mover the blades or vanes are by preference
perforated, or constructed in the form of skeleton paddles, so as to allow the water
to flow through them and more readily acquire the necessary momentum, but when
used as a pump the blades or vanes are made solid without perforations.
If desired in lieu of making the exterior part of the chamber of a gradually
decreasing curve circumferentially, that part may be circular, and the chamber be
made of a gradually increasing and decreasing width, the inlet and outlet then
entering on the two opposite sides respectively, or that portion of the chamber
through which the fluid is caused to flow in its passage from the inlet pipe to the
outlet pipe may be made of a uniform but greater area than that of the vanes or
blades, whilst the area of the remaining portion of the chamber which is also
uniform is equal to that of the vanes or blades, a similar result being obtained by
either of these variations in the construction.
Any suitable number of these apparatus may be employed in combination mounted
on the same shaft or axle or otherwise, the discharge from one forming the supply
to the other throughout the series, whereby increased power and efficiency are
obtained.