Improvements in Apparatus for Supplying Oil and other Liquids under a Constant Head or Pressure.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application. 18 h Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Jan., 1892-Accepted, 6th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE GAS MOTOREN FABRIK DEUTZ, of Köln-
Deutz, Germany, Manufacturers.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Supplying Oil and other Liquids
under a Constant Head or Pressure.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
This invention has for its object to control the discharge of oil or other liquids
from a reservoir in such a manner that it shall always take place under a practically
constant head in order that a perfectly uniform supply of liquid may always be
insured.
Such an arrangement is more particularly of importance in the direct supply of
petroleum or other oil from a reservoir to an oil motor engine, as if, with such an
arrangement, the head increases or decreases owing to the filling or emptying of the
tank, the quantity of oil supplied to the engine varies in a corresponding manner
and consequently no uniform composition of the combustible charges for the
cylinder can be obtained.
According to the present invention, the reservoir is so constructed as to be closed
against entrance of air, except as hereinafter described and for this purpose it is by
preference provided with a supply tube reaching from an open funnel mouth at the
top of the reservoir down to near the bottom of the same, so that while oil can be
introduced freely through the said tube, no air can enter the reservoir through it.
the lower orifice being immersed in liquid, while at the same time the evaporation
of the volatile oil is prevented. At the lower end of the reservoir is a branch
discharge passage, the end of which can be closed by a screw plug, and which opens
into a small chamber. At the bottom of this chamber is the discharge pipe for
leading off the oil or other liquid to wherever required, while at the top the
chamber communicates with a closed glass vessel through a pipe leading up right
through the vessel and communicating at top with the air space in the upper end of
the closed reservoir. Within the vessel the pipe has two lateral openings, one near
the bottom, through which oil can flow into and from the vessel from and to the
before mentioned chamber, while the second opening is at a certain distance higher
up. Lastly, a second pipe leads from a point within the said vessel, slightly above
the last named opening, to the atmosphere, its upper end being by preference made
to open into a recess or cup formed at the top of the reservoir.
The action of the apparatus is as follows. Assuming the reservoir to be charged
with oil, then, on starting, a cock on the before mentioned dischage pipe of the
small chamber is closed, while the screw plug of the discharge passage of the
reservoir is opened. Oil will then flow from the reservoir up into the glass vessel,
while the outer air will enter through the air inlet pipe of the vessel, through the
upper side opening of the first described pipe of this vessel, and up into the top of
the reservoir. This will continue until the oil has risen to such a height in the
glass vessel as just to cover the said upper side opening.
The air supply to the reservoir being now cut off, the discharge of oil from it
will be stopped, and the oil will remain at the said level in the glass vessel. The
cock on the discharge pipe of the apparatus is now opened to such an extent that
the discharge of oil through it from the chamber is less than the quantity that can
enter the chamber from the reservoir, assuming this not to have its air supply cus
off' in the manner above described.

page_text: This supply being however for the moment cut off, the result of the discharge
will be that a portion of the oil in the glass vessel will be discharged until its level
has sunk so as to uncover the air hole, whereupon air will again pass into the upper
end of the reservoir and consequently a discharge of oil will take place therefrom
into the chamber, and as this discharge is greater than that through the discharge
pipe, a portion of the oil will pass up into the glass vessel until the air hole of the
pipe is again covered, thereby stopping the discharge from the reservoir again.
The above described operation is then repeated, and so on, the oil level in the
glass vessel continually fluctuating from just above the air hole to just below it, so
that, the discharge through the discharge pipe will always be subject to the
practically constant head in the glass vessel, no matter what the level of the liquid
in the reservoir may be, unless this level is allowed to sink to a level below the air
hole of the glass vessel.
An indication of this would be given by the fact that the level in the glass vessel
remains below the air hole. The discharge passage of the reservoir is now closed
by the screw plug, and the reservoir is filled up again, the air in the upper part
being discharged first through the communicating pipe and its air hole into the
glass vessel, and thence through the air pipe.
Dated this 18th day of April 1891.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Supplying Oil and other Liquids
under a Constant Head or Pressure.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention has for its object to control the discharge of oil or other liquids
from a reservoir in such a manner that it shall always take place under a practically
constant head, in order that a perfectly uniform supply of liquid may always be
insured.
Such an arrangement is more particularly of importance in the direct supply of
petroleum or other oil from a reservoir to an oil motor engine, as if, with such an
arrangement, the head increases or decreases owing to the filling or emptying of
the tank, the quantity of oil supplied to the engine varies in a corresponding
manner and consequently no uniform composition of the combustible charges for
the cylinder can be obtained.
According to the present invention the above mentioned discharge under a
practically constant head is obtained notwithstanding considerable variations in the
level of the liquid in the main reservoir, by means of an arrangement which I will
describe with reference to the accompanying drawing, which represents a vertical
section of the apparatus.
This apparatus, which serves at the same time to protect volatile oils against
evaporation and ignition, and which can be replenished at any time without stopping
the action, consists of a closed reservoir A, which is filled through a funnel T.
The filling tube R passes down to near the bottom of the reservoir so as to close
the contents thereof against the atmosphere by means of the small quantity of oil
contained in the tube R. C is a closed glass vessel, the lower part of which
communicates with the lower part of the reservoir through a small opening and
the oil regulating device r, while the upper part of the vessel communicates through
an opening a and the air pipe D with the air space at the top of the reservoir A.

page_text: The small pipe E connects the air space of the vessel C with the open air, but its
upper end is curved over the recessed top of the reservoir.
A pipe leads the oil or other liquid from the tank A and vessel C to the oil
motor engine or other apparatus where it is to be used.
For the correct action of the apparatus it is assumed that the discharge from the
pipe is regulated so that it shall always be less than the quantity than can flow
in the same time through the plug valver from the reservoir, as otherwise the liquid
could of course not rise into the vessel C.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-
Assuming the reservoir A to be filled with liquid as shewn, then, on opening the
valve r, liquid will pass from A both down through the supply pipe and up into
the vessel C through the hole b, while at the same time a proportionate quantity of
air will pass from the upper part of the vessel C through hole a and pipe D into
the upper part of the reservoir. This will continue until the liquid level has risen
in C so as to cover the opening a, when, as no more air can pass through pipe D
into the reservoir, no more liquid will flow from the saine, and the liquid level in C
will remain at the point indicated by the arrow g.
The liquid will now flow off from the vessel C to the supply pipe (the pipe E
allowing the outer air to enter the same) and consequently the level will sink until
the hole a is partially uncovered again, whereupon as air can again pass into the
top of A, liquid will flow from the same, again partly flowing off through pipe and
partly rising up into C. Consequently the level will again rise until the hole a is
covered and the discharge from A is again stopped, and so on, the liquid level
continually rising and falling in C to the very small extent measured by the distance
from the summit of the hole a to slightly below such summit, that is to say,
practically the level will remain constant, and as it is this constant head in the
vessel C that determines the rate of flow from the pipe, the discharge will always
be practically uniform, quite irrespective of the quantity of liquid in the reservoir,
which may vary from full down to a level corresponding to the level in C.
As soon as the level has sunk to the last named point, this will be indicated by
the fact that the level in C will no longer rise so as to cover the hole a but will
continue to fall. As soon as this is observed, the valve r is closed, so as to keep
the hole a open, and the reservoir is charged with liquid again through the funnel T,
the air being expelled therefrom through pipe Ď hole a and pipe E into the
atmosphere. The reservoir being charged, the valve is opened again, and the
discharge continues as before.
The fact that the reservoir is full will be shewn by the liquid flowing down pipe D
and through hole a into the vessel C, and should this not be observed, then it will
flow up pipe E and escape into the recess at the top of the reservoir.
Although the above described apparatus is more particularly intended for the
supply of oil to petroleum inotor engines, yet it is equally applicable for effecting a
constant supply of liquid for other purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what 1
claim is-
under a constant head or
with a closed vessel such
1. In apparatus for supplying oil and other liquids
pressure, the combination of a closed reservoir such as
as C and a discharge pipe f, these parts being made to communicate with each
other through valve or plug r and a pipe D with hole a connecting the upper part
of the reservoir with the upper part of the vessel C, the hole a being closed against
the ingress of air into the reservoir and consequently preventing the flow of liquid
from the latter to the vessel C, as soon as the liquid level rises herein so as to close
the said hole, substantially as described.
2. In combination with the apparatus referred to in the preceding claim, the use
of a filling funnel T and pipe R reaching down to near the bottom of the reservoir,

page_text: for the purpose of enabling the reservoir to be filled without interrupting the action
of the apparatus, substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of January 1892.
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.