IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, FORCING, AND MOVING FLUIDS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR RAISING, FORCING, AND MOVING FLUIDS"-A communication from
abroad by Louis Coignard, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris,
France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
26th May 1863.
on the
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, FORCING, AND MOVING FLUIDS," communicated to me
from abroad by Louis Coignard, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, France,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to centrifugal pumps and aquamotors, that is
machines in which a wheel, drum, vessel, or revolving apparatus, herein-after,
to avoid repetition, called "drum or wheel," rotates in a fixed casing, fluid
being drawn up into such drum or wheel, and after travelling through it being
expelled by centrifugal force.
The Invention is based on the following law of mechanics:-"That forces
are to each other as the velocities they communicate to the same moving body
in the same interval of time," and on the following deduction, "that when
[Price Sd.]

page_text: fluid travels through a centrifugal wheel or drum, from an inlet at the centre
or axis, to an outlet at the circumference, the power required to impart and
maintain the centrifugal action of a given volume of such fluid, to be delivered
in a given time, is proportional to the mean velocity with which the fluid
travels through such wheel or drum," whence it follows that the velocity of
centrifugal travel is a factor of the resistance to be overcome, and this factor
can be regulated or controlled at pleasure, because the velocity may be
retarded in various ways, one way being to enclose the drum or wheel in a
casing or close receiver, having outlets, whereof the sectional area has such a
ratio to the sectional area of the channels through the wheel or drum that the
velocity of the fluid's motion to the circumference may be retarded as required;
the outlets from the wheel or drum should be comparatively very small, and
of much less sectional area than the mean sectional area of the channels
through the wheel or drum. For these purposes apparatus is so arranged
and combined that fluid, (1), shall travel slowly through the drum or wheel;
(2), shall, when at the periphery, exert equal pressure in all directions on the
sides of the outlets through which it escapes, or tends to escape; (3), shall
be prevented from returning from the wheel or drum into the suction passages
or inlets; and, (4), shall acquire its rotary motion with little disturbance.
The drum or wheel is also prevented from wasting power on the surrounding
body of fluid. The drum or wheel should have a casing fitting close round it,
and it may be cylindrical, conical, or of other form, but the form recommended
is spherical or ellipsoidal.
.
The following arrangement is preferred for carrying the Invention into
effects A spherical or ellipsoidal drum, wheel, or vessel revolves on a vertical
axis within a fixed casing. which fits close round it. but without friction
between the fixed and moveable surfaces. The fluid enters the drum or wheel
at the poles or ends, through which the axis passes, and escapes through a
narrow annular, circular, or circumferential slot formed in its periphery; the
plane of this slot is at right angles to the axis of rotation; this slot leads into
a corresponding slot in the casing; whence the fluid issues into a close receiver
or annular pipes. The annular slots are packed or fitted with leather or other
flexible lips, bands, washers, or rings. The outlets may, however, be at some
other part of the circumference; they may be formed by an arrangement of
spiral or excentric curved vanes, as shewn in the Drawing. Spiral deflecting
guide plates are fitted in the suction ways, to communicate to the fluid the
direction of the vane's motion. The boss of the drum or wheel may be
extended into the suction pipes, and one or more of the vanes may be pro-
longed and carried spirally round the axis, or the ends of the drum may be

page_text: packed with washers, each washer having four (or more or less) oblong or oval
slots, whereof each is respectively cut in a transverse direction to the cor*
responding slot of the washer next over it. Pins are passed through these
slots, and the washers are controlled by springs. The vanes may be of such
form that the commencement of their convex surfaces shall be tangential to
the circumference of the boss, and the end of their concave surface to that of
the wheel or drum.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that I, the said Michael
Henry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said, Michael Henry, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR RAISING, FORCING, AND MOVING FLUIDS," communicated to me from
abroad by Louis Coignard, of 33. Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Michael Henry, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner. the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Michael Henry, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement

page_text: thereof as communicated to me, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to centrifugal pumps and aquamotors, that is to say,
to machines in which a wheel, drum, vessel, or apparatus rotating in a fixed
casing is employed, and in which centrifugal action is exerted on fluid which
is drawn up into it, travels through it, and is expelled from it. I herein-after
call the rotating vessel or apparatus the "wheel or drum," whatever be its
form or configuration, and I call the passages in which the fluid travels through
it the "fluid channels."
The present Invention principally relates to improvements on certain aqua-
motors and pumps for which I obtained a Patent dated Sixth February, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and numbered 316, and which, as well
as the present Invention, is based on the following law of mechanics:-That
. motive forces are to each other as the velocities they communicate to the same
moveable body in the same interval of time; and the improvements chiefly
consist in applying this principle by arranging and combining apparatus in such
; manner that water shall be caused to move very slowly through the wheel or
drum from the axis (at which it is admitted) to the periphery (from which it
is discharged); whatever its volume and velocity. For this purpose the delivery
,outlet or outlets through which the fluid is discharged from the wheel or drum
are formed of very small sectional area in proportion to the capacity of the
wheel or drum, or, in other words, their sectional area is formed much smaller
than the mean sectional area of the fluid channels. An improved aquamotor or
pump is constructed according to this Invention by causing a wheel or drum
to revolve within a fixed casing, which fits closely round it but without actual
contact. The fluid enters the drum or wheel at the ends, and escapes through
a narrow, annular or circumferential slot formed in its periphery, and leading
, through a corresponding slot in the casing into annular pipes or other receiver.
The form of wheel or drum recommended in most cases is spherical or ellip-
.soidal (a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipsis round its minor axis),
but it may be conical or of other.external form.
An apparatus constructed according to this Invention is represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 shew a horizontal pump, and Figures 4, 5, and 6, a
vertical pump.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section on the line f, f, of
Figure 2, Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 side view; Figure 4, vertical
section on line g, g, of Figure 5, Figure 5 is a plan, Figure 6 side view.
A is the wheel or drum, consisting of a vessel (here shown as spherical),
mounted on an axis H, and revolving in a fixed spherical casing B, which fits

page_text: closely round the drum but does not come into frictional contact therewith.
Fluid channels are formed in the drum by means of vanes, which are fitted to
a boss on the axis H and lead to the periphery of the drum. G" is a suction
pipe, which divides into branch pipes G, G', which enter the drum A through
openings formed in the ends or poles of the casing and drum. D, D, is a
narrow slot or opening formed in the drum A, and extending round it; this
opening leads into an opening of corresponding shape formed opposite it in the
casing B (see view on enlarged scale, Figure 9); these openings (which are in
a plane at right angles to the axis H) communicate with a close receiver E,
which extends round the casing B. and may be of any desirable form, but it is
preferably a circular tube or torus. This receiver E communicates with
pipes F. The water is drawn into the drum through the pipe G", G, G', and
after passing through the fluid channels formed by the vanes is discharged
through the slot D, D, into the receiver E, and thence through the pipes F to
any desired point. The sectional area of the slot D is regulated according to
the capacity of the drum; for example, in a drum A, of 12 inches diameter
with a lift 60 feet, the opening D may be ½ inch deep. I is the general
framework. When the drum is cylindrical or of other form than spherical,
the outlet is formed on similar principles, and either in the circumference, as
in Figures and 4, or elsewhere at the end of the fluid channels.
For high
velocities and large quantities of water an ellipsoidal drum is preferred.
When the apparatus is to form a suction pump and discharge into the open
air, or when it is to form a force pump and discharge into an air vessel, a
drum of the form of a truncated cone or of straight or curved radiating pipes
is preferred, the water being ejected from the receiver in the ordinary manner
by pressure of air through pipes having their ends submerged in the water at
the bottom of the air vessel; and in these pumps a tight joint may be obtained
at the junction of the suction pipe by fitting a packing. Figure 10 and 11, and
herein-after described, in a box or socket T. formed at the end of the suction
pipe, into which extends the end of the axis II, which is made hollow, so that
the water is drawn in through it, and it has a stay across it carrying a pivot
which turns in a step in the suction pipe. Pumps so arranged I call hydro-
pneumatic.
A reduced area of outlet may be obtained as in Figure 7 (section), in
which a, b, d, c, are the months of the fluid channels formed by portions of
vanes a, b, and c, d, whereof the portions a, b, are evolvents of a very small
circumference, and c, d, are arcs; these portions, a, b, c, d, are at the ends of
the larger or main portions, a. e, e, of the vanes, which take a wider curve,
and are evolvents of a larger circle, or they may be merely arcs of a circle or

page_text: sections of a spiral. A spherical or ellipsoidal form of drum is preferred for
lift and force pumps, in which the drum revolves in water, as these forms can
be turned true, so that the drum and casing may fit each other closely, which
is important.
In the pumps constructed according to this Invention all parts of the
drum's delivery outlet are equidistant from the axis, in order that the water
may exert equal and uniform pressure thereon, for which purpose also it is
brought to the delivery outlet faster than it can be discharged therefrom, the
outlet being of such small area as compared with the area of the drum.
The water discharged is prevented from returning along the sides of the
casing to the suction pipe by the casing, which fits closely round the drum, or
by using packing; and to prevent power being wasted on the surrounding
water the drum works closely in its casing, and just sufficient passage is left
for the water to reach the receiver E. The water may be caused to acquire a
rotary motion without disturbance by using vanes of the form shewn in
Figure 8, and by admitting the water at the axis; for this reason, and also
to obtain a reduced area of inlet, the suction pipe is divided into branches.
To reduce the shock of the vanes against the water when admitted into the
drum the vanes are recessed, as shown at c, c', Figures 1 and 4, and a small
recess ² is also formed in the vanes near the opening D, to keep the passage
through that opening clear. The water, or each particle thereof, pursues a
spiral path as it travels through the drum, owing to the two motions commu-
nicated to it, namely, its rotary and its centrifugal motion, wherefore a spiral
vane may be used, its spiral curving in a direction opposite to that of the
drum's rotation, or making a complete revolution from the boss to the periphery,
or the arc form of vane, Figure 8, may be adopted, the convex surface of the
vane starting tangential to the boss, as at a, and its concave surface terminating
at b, tangential to the slot or delivery opening D. The form of vanes, however,
does not materially affect the work of the machine, as the water travels slowly
between them. Any number of vanes may be used in spherical and elliptical
drums; two are sufficient for a spherical drum of six inches diameter. Although
the drum works so closely in its casing that the water cannot carry extra-
neous bodies between them nor return to the suction pipe, yet as additional
precaution the edges of the inlet and outlet may be fitted with leather or
other flexible rings, flanges, or lips 2, Figure 9, which I call flexible fittings
or packing, and which when forced back by the water close the space
between the casing and drum, or a metallic packing, herein-after described
may be used.
The pumps are worked by a steam engine or other motor
through a pulley J on an axis K, whence motion is transmitted by spur

page_text: gear L, as in Figures 1, 2, and 3, or bevel gear L, as in Figures 4, 5,
and 6, to an axis M, carrying a pulley N, which drives a pulley O on the
axis. The peculiarity of this gearing consists in the use of a wood or cast-
iron pulley P between and in contact with the pulleys N and O, which
prevents the axes M and H from being dragged together when the strap is
tightened, and connects and strengthens the gearing, and assists in trans-
mitting motion. Qis the axis of the pulley P. The axis H may be steadied
by guides g, g, one of which g¹ forms a step for it in Figure 4; i, k, Figure 4,
is a threaded rod set by a nut for adjusting the axis H;. it passes through a
gland, and its end k bears against a steel ball on which the axis turns.
R is an improved metallic packing, shewn in section, Figs. 1, 4, 10, which
may be fitted in the suction pipe where the axis H enters; it consists of
metal rings or washers R (four generally suffice), ground true, and drilled
through to fit round the shaft H. In each ring are four oblong or oval
slot holes equidistant from each other and from the centre; their longer sides
are straight and parallel. The four slots of each ring are cut in the same or
parallel directions; against each ring a steel or brass spring we presses, one to
each. ring, so as to push it in the direction m, m', of the slot's length, that is,
towards the axis H, so that each ring fits close round half thereof, and when
the rings are arranged one over the other (round the axis), so that the slots of
each lie transverse or obliquely to those of the ring next over it, as at m, m',
Fig. 11, a sufficiently tight packing will be obtained. T, Figures 10 and 11, is
a stuffing box in which the rings R are fitted, and to the bottom of which are
secured four pins or studs t, which pass through the slots, and about fit them
breadthwise, so as to prevent the rings R from turning with the axis H; and S is
a gland screwed down on the rings so as to keep them in place, both pins and
gland allowing them their necessary play in the longitudinal direction of their
slots. Figure 11 is a plan of the box T. shewing one ring with its pins t and
the respective positions of the four springs . When the axis is horizontal
its bearings may be so arranged that it may be adjusted in the drum without
removing the latter from its casing. For this purpose a bearing U, Figures 1,
12, 13, is used, formed of three conical pieces held together by a wedge o, with
two parallel and one bevelled side, and sliding in a groove or mortice in the
box T. The axis may thus be adjusted by adjusting the conical pieces in their
grooves in the box T¹ by nuts and screws working between lugs in each such
piece. This bearing may be applied when the axis is vertical, and it is then
fitted in the gland S instead of in a box T', and the end of the axis opposite
the pulley O may have a shoulder cast on it, and be adjusted by a pointed
guide, such end and arrangements being enclosed in a stanch cover formed

page_text: of a cylinder V bolted to a bell-shaped piece X, so that either V or X may be
removed separately, the piece V being bolted to the box T', and containing a
nut to work the set screw of the axis.
To prime the pump, water is injected at the top Y or by the force pipe; if
air be expelled through Y, and is kept in the pump by a foot valve at the
lower part of the suction pipe to prevent it from stopping work in case of air
being drawn into the suction pipe a reservoir W, Figure 6, supplied with
water by the force pipe Z, may be used, its lower part holding sufficient water
for priming this may be effected in various ways, as, for example, if the
pump be vertical by a pipe p. Figures 4 and 6. leading from the reservoir to
the top Y. Where this pipe p enters the reservoir W is a drop valve q, jointed
at its upper end so as to close by its own weight; and r, shown in dotted
lines, Figure 5, is a pipe which leads from the reservoir W to a part s at or
below its level in the force pipe, whereby if the pump cease work its rotation
is stopped or retarded till water passes from W into the drum through the
pipe r, and expels the air, which will pass into the pipe p, lift the valve q, and
escape through the reservoir W; or for a horizontal pump, its rotation need
not be stopped, as the pipe p may be connected with the suction pipe at any
point Y, Figure 2, so that if the pump cease work for want of water, the
valve would open and supply it.
Figure 14 shows another (but self-acting) arrangement for this object, in
which a valve scat a is fixed in a cylinder b, attached to the suction pipe i at c;
d is the valve capable of working up and down, and guided by a rod f, having
a cylinder or piston e at its lower end, which works in a cylinder g, having at
top a channel or opening leading outside the valve box through a passage g};
the piston e only extends to just below the channel g, so that it opens it when
the valve is depressed; the pipe g¹ is connected with the basin W by a pipe h,
hence if air be drawn up through the suction pipe, the valve d would drop on
its seat, and the piston c would open the channel g, and admit water from the
reservoir W through the pipe g¹ into the suction pipe, whence it would rise to
the drum, and expel the air until the pump tends to discharge more water
than the pipe g' supplies, when the atmospheric pressure would raise the
valve d and stem f, and cause its piston e to close the channel g, and shut off
the flow of water from W to the suction pipe i.
I have described two arrangements for obtaining a comparatively small
outlet, namely, by a narrow circumferential slot, as in Figures 1 and 4, and
by approaching vanes, as in Figure 7 but I do not restrict myself to these
two arrangements, as others might be used (without departing from my
Invention) for carrying into effect this object or method, which con-

page_text: stitutes an essential feature of construction according to these improvements,
namely, forming the drum or wheel with a delivery outlet or outlets, whereof
the sectional area is very small comparatively to the capacity of the drum or
wheel, and therefore much smaller than the mean sectional area of the fluid
channels leading to such outlet or outlets.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the improved aquamotor or pump, in which a wheel, drum, or appa-
ratus rotates in a closely fitting casing, and is arranged with vanes and with
comparatively small delivery opening or openings, substantially as described.
Second, the improved hydro-pneumatic pump herein-before described, in
respect of the arrangement and combination of parts of which the same consists.
Third, the general arrangement and combination of apparatus herein-before
described.
Fourth, the improved spiral or evolvent vanes formed with recesses, as
herein-before described.
Fifth, the application and arrangement of flexible fittings and metallic
packing, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME.
M. HENKY. (L.S.)