IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS IN MINES." USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS IN MINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Grafton Jones, of 53, Cumming Street,
Pentonville, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS IN MINES."
USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS IN MINES."
Sealed the 13th October 1864, and dated the 16th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Grafton Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1864.
I, JAMES GRAFTON JONES, of 53, Cumming Street, Pentonville, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS IN MINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery used in getting
coals and other minerals in mines. Various arrangements of machinery
worked by engines actuated by compressed air have been employed or designed
to be employed in the getting of coals and other minerals in mines. The
supply of compressed air has been generally obtained by air pumps worked
by steam engines external of the mines, and conveyed by pipes into the
mines to the engines. In practice, in some mines it has been found very
inconvenient and costly to convey compressed air by pipes, particularly where
the pipes are liable to be injured by the falling in or slipping of the parts of
the mines through which such pipes have to be conducted.

page_text: Now my Invention consists in combining and arranging machinery in such
manner as to employ the water descending in a mine to give motion to the
piston plunger or moving part of a hydraulic engine, and by it to actuate an
air pump situated in the mine near the place where the engine and machinery
worked by compressed air are situated. By these means not only is
advantage taken of the power to be derived from the water descending in
a mine, but the steam power heretofore employed in condensing the air is
dispensed with; the system of pipes is also considerably simplified.
In carrying out this Invention, the manner in which the power of a
hydraulic engine placed in a mine may be applied to work an air pump may
be greatly varied, but it is preferred that the piston or plunger of the
hydraulic cylinder should be connected directly with the piston of the air
pump. The air from the air pump is conducted to a receiver, and from it the
air is led to the engine or engines worked thereby. In some cases it may be
desirable to employ more than one hydraulic cylinder, to one air pump; the
water, after having actuated the hydraulic cylinder, passes to the suction pipe
of the pumping engine, and is pumped up out of the mine, as heretofore.. In
many mines the water thus employed will not have to be pumped from a
greater depth than at present.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Grafton Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GRAFTON JONES,. of 53, Cumming Street, Pentonville, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto
me, the said James Grafton Jones, Her special licence that I, the said
James Grafton Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Grafton Jones, 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 Inven-

page_text: tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN GETTING COALS AND OTHER
MINERALS IN MINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Grafton Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, 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 James Grafton Jones, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery used in getting
coals and other minerals in mines. Various arrangements of machinery
worked by engines actuated by compressed air have been employed or designed
to be employed in the getting of coals and other minerals in mines. The
supply of compressed air has been generally obtained by air pumps worked
by steam engines external of the mines, and conveyed by pipes into the mines
to the engines. In practice, in some mines it has been found very incon-
venient and costly to convey compressed air by pipes, particularly where the
pipes are liable to be injured by the falling in or slipping of the parts of the
mines through which such pipes have to be conducted.
Now my Invention consists in combining and arranging machinery in such
manner as to employ the water descending in a mine to give motion to the
piston plunger or moving part of a hydraulic engine, and by it to actuate an
air pump situated in the mine near the place where the engine and machinery
worked by compressed air are situated. By these means not only is advantago
taken of the power to be derived from the wat.r descending in a mine, but the
steam power heretofore employed in condensing the air is dispensed with; the
system of pipes is also considerably simplified..
In carrying out this Invention, the manner in which, the power of a
hydraulic engine placed in a mine may be applied to work
an air pump may
be greatly varied, but it is preferred that the piston or plunger of the hydraulic
cylinder should be connected directly with the piston of the air pump. The
air from the air pump is conducted to a receiver, and from it the air is led
to the engine or engines worked thereby. In some cases it, may be desirable
to employ more than one bydraulic cylinder to one air pump. The water
after having actuated the hydraulic cylinder passes to the suction pipe of the
pumping engine, and is pumped up out of the mine as heretofore. In many

page_text: mines the water thus employed will not have to be pumped from a greater
depth than at present.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of machinery combined according to my
Invention; Figure 2 shows a plan thereof; Figure 3 shows a longitudinal
section; and Figure 4 shows a plan in section. In each of these Figures the
same letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts.
a, a, is the hydraulic engine within which the piston 6 works, the piston
rod c of which works through stuffing boxes in both end covers of the
cylinder.
The construction and arrangement of hydraulic engine shown in the
Drawings is that preferred by me, but its construction may be varied, and to
itself separately I make no claim. The piston rod c of the hydraulic cylinder
is connected to the piston e of the air pump d, so as to give direct motion
thereto, but where other forms of hydraulic engines are used, or even where
similar hydraulic engines to the one shown are used, the piston of the
hydraulic engine may be arranged to give motion to the piston of the air-
pump by other arrangements.
I wish it to be understood that my Invention does not consist in any
peculiarity in the construction of the hydraulic engines used or in the air-
pumps employed therewith, but in arranging or combining hydraulic engines
and air pumps in a mine in such manner as to take advantage of, and to
employ the power which may be derived by water descending into a miné
from any source so as to work coal, stone, or other mineral getting engines
actuated by compressed air, and thus dispense with much of the system of pipeś
'heretofore necessary when condensing the requisite air by engine power out
of the mine, and causing the condensed air thus obtained to pass into the
mine and through its workings by pipes to the engines employed in getting
the minerals therein. The air pump d is contained in a water cistern f
which is kept constantly supplied with water from the air vessel g by a pipe h.
The condensed air from the air pump passes from the valve boxes i, i, by a
branch pipe to the engines worked thereby. The arrangement of valves
preferred is that shewn in the Drawing, consisting simply of lift spindle
valves, the outer edges of which when closed rest on a ring of elastic packing
in grooves around the openings through the valve seats; these elastic
packings are composed of vulcanized india-rubber. There are also elastic

page_text: packings above the valves to reduce the shock of the valves when they come
to the end of their upward motions; other arrangements of valves may, how-
ever be used if preferred. k is the water-supply pipe to the hydraulic engine
which is connected with the air cylinder or vessel, from which by a branch k¹
it passes to the supply pipe k², which has at each of its ends a three-way cock
with
passages into the hydraulic cylinder, as shewn. The three-way cocks
are changed by means of the piston of the air pump coming against the short
rods 1, 2, which pass through stuffing boxes in the air pump covers. These
rods give motion to short levers m, m, which are connected together by means
of the connecting rod n, and such connecting rod n is connected to the arms or
handles on the spindles or plugs of the three-way cocks, as shown. The
arrows indicate the direction of action at present supposed to be going on,
and such direction of action will be changed when the piston of the air pump
comes to the end of its stroke; as far as may be it is desirable to take
advantage of the water as it descends from the upper strata into the mine
into a well, from which it is pumped out of the mine, for which purpose the
water so descending should be collected, and caused to pass through a pipe to
the hydraulic engine, and thence to the well, but in some cases it may be
found desirable, where there is an excess of pumping power, to allow part of
the water raised to descend again, and so aid in working the bydraulic engine
or engines in a mine.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Grafton Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. GRAFTON JONES. (L.S.)