CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN 'MACHINERY FOR PUMPING AND FORCING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of. the Office for Patents,
66," Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN 'MACHINERY FOR PUMPING AND
FORCING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS." A communication from George
Denison, of the United States of America.
Sealed the 21st October 1856, and dated the 12th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th May 1856.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PUMPING AND
FORCING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, to be as follows:--
This Invention relates to a novel mode of constructing rotary pumps, in which
an elastic tube is employed, and is so acted upon by a roller, rollers, or other
mechanical means of producing pressure on its exterior, as to be alternately
collapsed, and allowed to recover itself or expand. By its recovery from the
pressure the tube has a vacuum. created within it, into which the water or
other fluid is drawn, and by the subsequent pressure on its exterior the water or
fluid is expelled from the exit aperture at the opposite end of the elastic tube

page_text: Pumps acting on this principle are susceptible of various modifications. It
will be sufficient, however, for the illustration of the Invention, to describe
that form of pump which is practically most advantageous and convenient,
and afterwards to refer briefly to some modifications.
The improved pump consists of a single coil of flexible tube arranged within
a stationary circular frame, a central shaft carrying a roller, which is caused
by power applied to the shaft, which is mounted within the frame, and made
to revolve and carry the roller around and against the interior of the coil of
flexible tube and press the said tube against the interior of the frame, thus
causing every part of the tube to be in turn collapsed by the roller, and to recover
its form after the roller passes over it, by which means a vacuum is produced
behind the roller, while the pressure of the roller propels the water which is
before it, and forces it out of the exit end of the coil of flexible tube, which
consists of a piece of vulcanized india-rubber hose of cylindrical form, and it
should be made of such quality as to possess the greatest and most permanent
elasticity, so that it may resist the pressure of the atmosphere when a vacuum
is formed within it. This piece of hose is arranged to form a complete coil
within the circular frame, which is of cast iron or other metal, and a sufficient
length is left at one extremity of the coil to enter the well or other source
from whence the water or other fluid is to be drawn, or to connect with some
other pipe leading to the said source, and a sufficient length is left at the
other extremity of the coil to convey the water or fluid to where it is to be
discharged. To secure the tube firmly and closely round the interior of the
circular frame, the said frame is made in two parts, which are bolted together
by bolts, and the tube is cast or otherwise formed with a lip, which runs
nearly all around the coil, and is received and clamped between the two parts
of the frame. Each part of the frame is cast with the half of a. pedestal, by
which the pump is fastened to a suitable foundation, and with each half of
this pedestal is cast one of two posts, which contain the bearings for the
central shaft which carries the pressure roller. The roller which flattens the
flexible tube is provided with journals, which are mounted in boxes fitted to
slide radially to and from the shaft in two puppet heads, which are connected
together by a brace, and fitted loosely to the main central shaft. These
journal boxes are provided with lugs, which receive two male screws, that rest
upon the peripheries of two spiral cams, which are secured firmly to the
central shaft. These cams are furnished with projections, which stand up
above the most prominent part of their spiral peripheries, for the purpose of
bearing against the lugs of the journal boxes of the rollers. By giving rotary
motion to the central shaft, the screws of the lugs are caused by the revolution

page_text: of the cams to move out to the most prominent part of the spiral peripheries
of the cams, and by that means the journal boxes are moved out far enough
for the roller to compress the tube against the cylindrical interior of the frame
and cause its collapse. The degree of compression of the tube may be
varied by the screws of the lugs. The driving of the roller by means of cams,
as described, affords great facility for relieving the tube of the pressure of the
roller, and for letting the water out of the tube after the pump has ceased to
act. For the purpose of securing uniformity in the resistance to the revo-
lution of the roller, that part of the flexible tube where the coil terminates
nearest to the inlet end of the tube is made in the form of a truncated cone,
so that the roller, coming round again to encounter the resistance of the other
end of the coil, will at the same instant of time at this end have the full spring of
the thick part of the tube behind it, but a greatly reduced spring before it.
To ensure, however, the closing of the tube at this point, a lift is placed under
it, which compensates for the diminution of thickness. Instead of using
a complete coil of tube or hose, a tube or tubes may be arranged in the form
of one or more arcs or segments of circles. In this case a sufficient number
of rollers must be employed to ensure the pressure of two rollers at the same
time on each arc or segment, so that before one roller leaves the arc or
segment at one end and allows it to open, another comes into operation on it
at the other end and closes it, the two parts thus performing the same function
as is performed by the single roller when it passes over and closes the two ends
of the coil. Instead of arranging the tube or hose in a coil or segment, it
may be laid straight upon and secured to a plane surface. Several rollers may
be attached to an endless chain or band, which shall carry their axes in guides
parallel with and sufficiently near to the plane to secure a proper pressure.
Another modification of the Invention is to attach a coil or segments of
hose to a circular plane disc, and traverse them with conical rollers, the axes
of which should diverge from a central rotating socket at an inclination to the
plane of the disc, while the sides in contact with the hose should be parallel
with the plane.
Again, an apparatus somewhat similar to this last described
may be made by attaching the tube to an outside or inside conical surface,
and traversing the same by conical rollers.
The material which is perhaps better suited than any other for the elastic
tube or hose is vulcanized india-rubber, but the Invention is not limited to the
use of this material, as there may be other materials which might serve the
purpose. The tube or hose has been herein-before described as of cylindrical
form, but its form may be varied, and a prism or semi-cylinder may be used.
Again, a metallic trough may be employed with a sheet of india-rubber

page_text: stretched over it, thus employing the tensile elasticity instead of the resistance
to compression of the rubber.
The Invention may be applied to the pumping of ships, to fire engines, to
the construction of air pumps, and condensors for air and vapor; and to raising
and moving substances of partial fluidity, such as molasses and syrups of sugar;
during the process of manufacture. It may also be applied to the cleaning of
privies, using for this latter purpose such an arrangement of cocks! &c., that
after pumping out the contents of the privy, by reversing the motion, the pump
and its pipes and even the privy may be rinsed or washed out with water!
It may further be applied to the purpose of stomach pumps and apparatus for
injections.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said: William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year' of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PUMPING AND FORCING WATER
OTHER FLUIDS," being a communication from George Denison, of the United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention',
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the samié to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, .that I, the said William, Edward Newton, 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, reference. being had to, the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
This Invention, of "Certain Improvements, in Machinery for Pumping and
Forcing Water and other Fluids," relates to a novel mode of constructing rotary
pumps, in which an elastic tube is employed, and is so acted upon by a roller,.
rollers, or other mechanical means of producing pressure on its exterior as to.
be alternately collapsed and allowed to recover itself or. expand. By its.
recovery, from the pressure the tube has a vacuum created within. it, into:
which the water or other fluid is drawn, and by the subsequent pressure on its.
exterior the water or fluid is expelled from the exit aperture at the opposite
end.oftlic elastic tube. Pumps acting on this principle are susceptible of
various modifications. It will be sufficient, however, for the illustration of the:
principle upon which the Invention is based, to describe that form of pump.
which is practically most advantageous and convenient, and afterwards to refer
briefly to some modifications.
Similar letters of
I.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a side view of a pump,
embracing all the features of the Invention, having part of the framing and.
one of the bearings of its shaft cut away to expose some of the working parts;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken in a line passing through the,.
axis of the pump; Fig. 3, is a top view of the same. Figures 4, 5, and 6.
are detail views, which will be herein-after described.
reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
The improved pump represented in the Drawing consists of a single coil of
flexible tube A, arranged within a stationary circular frame, B, and having.
arranged within it a central shaft C carrying a roller D, which is by power
applied to the shaft made to revolve and carry the roller around and against.
the interior of the coil of flexible tube, and press the said tube against the
interior of the frame B, thus causing every part of the tube to be in turn
collapsed by the roller, and to recover its form after the roller passes over it,.
by which means a vacuum is produced behind the roller, while the pressure
of the roller propels the water which is before it, and forces it out of the exit
end of the coil of flexible tube. This tube is seen at A, and consists of
a piece of vulcanized india-rubber hose of cylindrical form, and it should be.
made of such quality as to possess the greatest and most permanent elasticity,
so that it may resist the pressure of the atmosphere when a vacuum is formed
within it.
As a general rule, it should have its greatest thickness equal to

page_text: about one half its calibre. This piece of hose is arranged to form a complete
coil within the circular frame B, which is of cast iron or other metal, and
a sufficient length is left at one extremity a of the coil to enter the well or
other source from whence the water or other fluid is to be drawn, or to
connect with some other pipe leading to the said source, and a sufficient
length is left at the other extremity of the coil to convey the water or fluid
to where it is to be discharged. To secure the tube A firmly and closely
round the interior of the circular frame B, the said frame is made in two parts,
which are bolted together by bolts f. f. (Figures 1 and 3), and the tube is cast
or otherwise formed with a lip c, which runs nearly all around the coil, and is
received and clamped between the two parts of the frame. Each part of the
frame is cast with the half of a pedestal E, by which the pump is fastened to
a suitable foundation, and with each half of this pedestal is cast one of two:
posts F, F, which contain the bearings for the central shaft C, which carries
the pressure roller D.. The roller D is made of cast iron or other metal
or hard material, of cylindrical form, and of a length sufficient to flatten
both diameters of the tube at the point where the ends of the coil cross
each other, which is the point where the section, Fig. 2, is taken. The
roller D, which flattens the flexible tube A, is provided with journals d, d,
which are mounted in journal boxes I, I, fitted to slide radially to and from
the shaft in two puppet heads G, G, which are connected together by a brace H
(Fig. 3), and fitted loosely to the main central shaft C. These journal boxes I, I,
are provided with lugs i, i, which project beyond the outside of the puppet
heals, and contain female screws to receive two male screws J, J, which stand
radially to the shaft, and rest upon the peripheries of two spiral cams K, K,
which are secured firmly to the central shaft, as seen in Figures 1 and 3, and
in the detached view, Fig. 4. These cams K are furnished with projections e, e,
(Figures 1 and 3), which stand up above the most prominent part of their
spiral peripheries, for the purpose of bearing against the lugs i, i, of the journal
boxes of the rollers, and making the cams serve as drivers to the loose puppet
heads and rollers. By giving rotary motion to the central shaft in the direc-
tion of the arrow, shown in Fig. 1, the screws of the lugs are caused by the
revolution of the cams K to move out to the most prominent part of the spiral
peripheries of the cams close to the drivers e, e, and by that means the journal
boxes I, I, are moved out far enough for the roller D to compress the tube
against the cylindrical interior of the frame B and cause its collapse, as shewn
in Fig. 2. The degree of compression of the tube may be varied by the
screws J, J, of the lugs. The driving of the roller by means of the cams K, K,
as described, affords great facility for relieving the tube of the pressure of the

page_text: roller, and for letting the water out of the tube after the pump has ceased to
act; to do which, it is only necessary to give the shaft C part of a revolution:
in the reverse direction, in doing which, the friction between the roller D and
the tube A prevents the roller from revolving with the shaft, and the promi-
nent portion e of the cams moving away from the screws J, J, remove the
pressure from the roller, and allow it to move towards the shaft, thus allowing
the tube to open itself or expand, as shown in Fig. 4, which represents the
roller opposite the same part of the tube as in Fig. 1, but exhibits the cam as.
having made nearly a revolution backwards. When the pump is desired to
operate again, the roller is forced out again against the tube by the first
revolution of the shaft in the direction of the arrow, shewn in Fig. 1.
For the purpose of securing uniformity in the resistance to the revolution of
the roller, that part of the flexible tube A where the coil terminates nearest to
the inlet end of the tube is made in the form of a truncated cone, as shown at
h, h, in Figures 5 and 6, tapering to a less thickness, so that the roller D,
coming round again to encounter the resistance of the other end of the coil,
will at the same instant of time at this end have the full, spring of the thick
part of the tube behind it, but a greatly reduced spring before it... To insure,
however, the closing of the tube at this point, a lift is placed under it, as:
shewn at in Fig, 6, which compensates for the diminution of thickness. Fig. 5
shows the section of the conical part of the tube straightened out; and Fig. 6
shows the same part of the tube in the form it assumes when it is bent into
helical form and has the lift placed under it.
·
Instead of using a complete coil of tube or hose, a tube or tubes may be
arranged in the form of one or more arcs or segments of circles. In this case:
a sufficient number of rollers must be employed, to ensure the pressure of two
rollers at the same time on each arc or segment, so that before one roller
leaves the arc or segment at one end and allows it to open, another comes into.
operation on it at the other end and closes it; the two parts thus performing
the same function as is performed by the single roller when it passes over and
closes the two ends of the coil, viz', that of preventing an unobstructed com-
munication at any time taking place between the inlet and discharge ends of
the tube, which function is the same as what is performed in most rotary pumps
by what is termed the "abutment" or "stop."
Instead of arranging the tube or hose in a coil or segment, it may be laid.
straight upon and secured to a plane surface, and several rollers may be
attached to an endless chain or band, which shall carry their axes in guides
parallel with and sufficiently near to the plane to secure a proper pressure,

page_text: always taking care that the forward roller shall not cease. to press until its.
successor shall have closed the tube.
Another modification of the Invention is to attach a coil or segment of hose
to a circular plane disc; and traverse them with conical rollers, the axes of
which should diverge from a central rotating socket at an' inclination to the
plane of the disc, while the sides in contact with the hose should be parallel
with the plane. Again, an apparatus, somewhat similar to this last described,
may be made by attaching the tube to an outside or inside conical surface, and
traversing the same by conical rollers.
In the above modifications of the Invention, that portion of: the tube where
the roller leaves it is made of the conical form shown in Fig. 5, for the purpose.
of equalizing the resistance. The material which is perhaps better suited
than any other for the elastic tube or hose is vulcanized "india-rubber, but the:
Invention is not limited to the use of this material; as there may be other.
materials which might serve the purpose.
before described as of cylindrical form,
prism or semi-cylinder may be used.
The tube or hose has been herein-
but its form may be varied, and a
Again; a metallic trough may be
employed with a sheet of india-rubber stretched over it, thus employing the
tensile elasticity instead of the resistance to cómpression of the rubber:
The Invention may be applied to the pumping of ships, to fire engines; to
the construction of air pumps and condensors for air and vapor; and to.raising:
and moving substances of partial fluidity, such as molasses and syrups.of.sugar,
during the process of manufacture. It may also be applied to the cleaning of
privies, using for this latter purpose such an arrangement of cocks, &c., that
after pumping out the contents of the privy, the pump and its' pipes, and even
the privy, may, by reversing the motion, bé rinsed or washed' out with water..
It may further be applied to the purpose of stomach pumps and apparatus for
injections.
:
Having thus described the nature and particulars of this Invention of
"Certain Improvements in Machinery for Pumping and Forcing Water
and other Fluids," as communicated to me by my foreign' correspondent; I
desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the pre-
cise details herein described, as such may be varied or modified without
departing from the principle of action thereof; but that which I claim as new,"
and therefore desire to secure by Letters Patent; as aforesaid, is,-.
First, the employment for pumping or forcing water and other fluids of 'an
elastic tube, so acted upon externally by the pressure of rollers, or their equiva
lents, as to be alternately collapsed or closed and allowed to recover itself; and

page_text: thus alternately to form a vacuum in the tube into which the water or fluid
is drawn, and expel the water or fluid from the tube, substantially as herein
described.
Second, the mode of equalizing the resistance of the tube, by a truncated
cone or a gradually diminishing thickness at that part where the roller or
rollers, or their equivalent, leave the tube, in combination with a lift below or
at the back, as herein specified.
Third, relieving the tube from the pressure of the roller, or its equivalent, by
means of cams and sliding journal boxes or bearings, substantially, as herein
described.
Fourth, the mode of attaching the tube to the circular framing B, by forming
the latter in two parts, and providing a lip or bead c on the former, substan-
tially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)