IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF RAISING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE CONSTRUC CONTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Forester Mushet, of Cheltenham, in
the County of Gloucester, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF RAISING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE CONSTRUC-
Scaled the 26th January 1875, and dated the 31st July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said Robert Forester
Mushot at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st July 1874.
I, ROBERT FORESTER MUSHET, of Cheltenham, in the County of
5 Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF RAISING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to
-

page_text: and which cannot, theoretically, as is well known, raise a column of
water to a height of more than thirty-three feet, and which, practically,
by reason of atmospheric depression, of friction, and of other incidents
connected with the employment of the necessary mechanism, can
only raise a column of water to a considerably less height.
To the lower end of the barrel of an ordinary suction pump is attached
a suction or feed pipe, the united lengths of which barrel and pipe must
not together exceed the height to which in ordinary practice a suction
pump will raise a column of water. The lower end of the suction pipe
passes into a covered reservoir or chamber of any convenient and suit-
able form, and extends nearly to the bottom of the same. A second
length of suction or feed pipe is inscrted through the bottom of the
reservoir or chamber, and passes upwards to within a short distance of the
top thereof. A similar arrangement of pipes and reservoirs or chambers
is continued until the well, sump, tank, or other source of water is
reached. When the pipes and reservoirs or chambers are all fixed, the
end of the lowest length of suction pipe is passed into the well, sump,
tank, or other source of water, until the said pipe dips well beneath the
surface of the latter.
The reservoirs or chambers are respectively supplied with water,
cither by setting the pump in action in the ordinary manner, or by any
other convenient means, as will be well understood by persons conversant
with analogous processes and arrangements.
It will be found that the water can only rise in the reservoirs or
chambers respectively as high as the upper ends of the lengths of the
suction pipe which pass upwards into the respective reservoirs or
chambers, and that a stratum of air will remain between the upper ond
of cach length of suction pipe and the top of the reservoir or chamber
into which it passes upwards.
In order to replaco auy waste of air from the reservoirs or chambers
which may result from a portion thereof becoming mixed with the water
in the reservoirs or chambers and carried up when the pump is in
action, a sufficient supply is introduced into the upper part of each
reservoir or chamber, but by preference into that part of the lowest
reservoir or chamber of the sories by means of a tap or any other suit-
able appliance or contrivanco which will permit the quantity of air so
admitted to be regulated to the extent which in practice is found to bo

page_text: most beneficial. The pump is then set in action in the ordinary and
well-known way in which suction pumps are operated, and the water is
raised from the source of supply in which the lowest end of the suction
pipe is immersed, and passing upwards through the reservoirs or
chambers is discharged from the spout or outlet of the pump barrel.
A check valve or valves placed in the suction pipe or the sections
thereof for the purpose of sustaining the column or columns of
water in the same during the down stroke, renders or render the
discharge of water from the pump more uniform than it otherwise
would be.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Robert Forester Mushet in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Robert
FORESTER MUSHET, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and. successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Forester Mushet, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Forester Mushet, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Forester Mushet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "INFROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF RAISING WATER AND OTHER
FLUIDS, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF Apparatus for THAT
FURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Forester Mushet, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Forester Mushet, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in certain improvements whereby water
and other fluids can be raised from a greater depth than has hitherto :
been considered practicable when only an ordinary suction pump is
employed, and which cannot, theoretically, as is well known, raise a
column of water to a height of more than thirty-three feet, and which,
practically, by reason of atmospheric depression, of friction, and of
other incidents connected with the employment of the necessary 1
mechanism, can only raise a column of water to a considerably less
height.
To the lower end of the barrel of an ordinary suction pump is
attached a suction or feed pipe, the united lengths of which barrel and
suction or feed pipe must not exceed the height to which in ordinary 2
practice a suction pump will raise a column of water. The lower end
of the suction pipe passes into a covered reservoir or chamber of any
convenient and suitable form, and extends nearly to the bottom of the
same. A second length of suction or feed pipe is inserted through the
bottom of the reservoir or chamber, and passes upwards to within a 2
short distance of the top thereof. A similar arrangement of pipes and
reservoirs or chambers is continued until the well, sump, tank, or
other source of water or other fluid is reached. When the pipes and
reservoirs or chambers are all fixed, the end of the lowest length of
suction pipo is passed into the well, sump, tank, or other source of 3
water or other fluid, until the said pipe dips well beneath the surface
thereof.
The reservoirs or chambers arc respectively supplied with water or
other fluid, either by setting the pump in action in the ordinary manner,
or by any other convenient means, as will be well understood by persons 3
conversant with analogous processes and arrangements.

page_text: It will be found that the water can only rise in the reservoirs or
chambers respectively as high as the upper ends of the lengths of the
suction pipe which pass into the respective reservoirs or chambers, and
that a stratum of air will remain between the upper end of cach
length of suction pipe and the top of the reservoir or chamber into which
it passes upwards.
In order to replace any waste of air from the reservoirs or chambers
which may result from a portion thereof becoming mixed with the
water or other fluid in the reservoirs or chambers, and being carried up
when the pump is in action, a sufficient supply of air is introduced into
the upper part of each reservoir or chamber, but by preference into
that part of the lowest reservoir or chamber of the series by means of
a tap or any other suitable appliance, a contrivance which will permit
the quantity of air so admitted to be regulated to the extent which in
practice is found to be most beneficial. The pump is then set in action
in the ordinary and well-known way in which suction pumps are
operated or worked, and the water or other fluid is raised from the
source of supply in which the lowest end of the suction pipe is
immersed, and passing upwards through the reservoirs or chambers is
discharged from the spout or outlet of the pump barrel.
As a modification of my said Invention, but coming entirely within
the principles thereof, the said reservoirs or chambers may be dispensed
with, and the air simply admitted into the suction pipe by means of
one or more small holes or apertures made in the lower part of the
suction pipe above the surface of the water.
When it is necessarry to admit the air into the suction pipo at any
point below the surface of the water, the requisite quantity of air may
be forced by means of an air or force pump into the suction pipe
beneath the surface of the water through a small pipe which is arranged
to pass down through the water and to communicate with the suction
pipe, either through the side of the latter or through the lower end
thereof.
I prefer to place the air hole or holes in the suction pipe near the
surface of the water or other fluid, that is to say, within a few feet of
such surface, as the effective action of the pump is lessened if the air
hole or holes is or are placed far above the surface of the water or other
fluid.

page_text: The size of the air holes may be varied according to the size of the
suction pipe, but it is found advantageous in practice to employ
several air holes of small diameter instead of fewer and larger air
holes.
For a suction pipe of three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which is
employed to raise water or other fluid to a perpendicular height of fifty
or sixty feet, I find that one air hole about one thirty-second part of an
inch in diameter made in the lower part of the suction pipe, from one
to two feet above the surface of the water or other fluid, answers very
well, but such distance may be varied.
A check valve or valves may be placed in the suction pipe or in the
sections thereof for the purpose of sustaining the column or columns
of water or other fluid in the same during the down stroke, for the
purpose of rendering the discharge of the water or other fluid from the
pump more uniform than it otherwise would be; but it must be
distinctly understood that I do not claim such valve or valves as consti-
tuting part of my present Invention.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to bo performed, I would
observe in conclusion, that what I consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as constituting my said Invention is, the combination
and arrangement of parts and mechanism involving the admission of
air into the suction pipe of a suction pump, substantially as and for
the purposes hercin-before described and set forth, or any mere modifi-
cation thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Forester Mushet, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy five
Witness,
ROBERT FORESTER MUSÍET. (L.S.)
LISOWNA MARY MUSHET,
Cheltenham.