IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER AND PUMPING APPARATUS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ilastic, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC
MOTIVE-POWER AND PUMPING APPARATUS.”
Sealed the 6th March 1877, and dated the 11th September 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hastie at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th September 1876
JOHN HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfiew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER AND PUMPING APPARATUS."
This Invention has principally for its object the economising of the water used in
hydraulic motive-power and pumping apparatus, and is applicable with special
advantage in cases wherein the resistance is variable, or in cases wherein it is
desirable that the apparatus should be adjustable relatively to the resistance.
A water driven engine as hitherto constructed, with a cylinder and piston for
example, has to be made at least large enough for the maximum power intended to
be developed by it; whilst on less than the maximum power with a given speed
being required from it at any time the cylinder has still to be filled at each single
stroke, and thus more water has to be used than is really required for the diminished
power.
Опе
The first part of the Invention consists in avoiding the waste referred to by
arranging the parts to which the piston is connected so that the length of the
piston's stroke can be adjusted to suit the power required at any time
arrangement for this purpose is in connection with a rotating crank shaft, and is
such as to admit of the length of stroke being adjusted whilst the engine is in motion.
The crank shaft is made tubular, and on the end of an internal shaft there is fixed
a pinion which gears with teeth on a sector, centered on a pin on the crank disc on
the end of the shaft. The crank pin to which the piston rod or connecting rod is
jointed is fixed on the sector, and is adjusted further from or nearer to the centre of
the disc by turning the pinion shaft relatively to the crank shaft At a convenient
part, the crank shaft is slotted and the pinion shaft is grooved to receive a key fixed
to a loose external clutch ring, and the slot and groove being made, one helical and
the other longitudinal, a longitudinal movement of the clutch ring effected by a
hand lever produces the relative movement between the crank shaft and the pinion
Price 18.1

page_text: shaft required for adjusting the crank pin. The clutch ring may be rendered auto-
matically adjustable from the resistance by making a pinion by which the power is
given off from the crank shaft loose on that shaft and formed with inclined or
helical surfaces bearing on counterpart surfaces formed on the clutch ring. A spring
is arranged to press the clutch ring towards the pinion and the spring will be com-
pressed, and the clutch ring correspondingly moved in proportion to the resistance
to be overcome.
If preferred, the crank pin may be made adjustable by means of a radial screw
spindle on the crank disc to be turned by a hand wheel or key when the engine is
not in motion, or by means of bevil gearing; or the crank pin may be made
adjustable in any other equivalent manner. A similar alteration of the length of
stroke of a piston or ram may be obtained in the cases of some kinds of hydraulic
hoists and other hydraulic apparatus when the piston or ram is connected to a lever
or toothed wheel turning partly round; by arranging the pin on the lever or wheel
so as to be adjustable to or from the centre of the lever or wheel.
The Invention is advantageously applicable to the pumps used with hydrostatic
presses, the cranks working the pumps being adjusted nearer to the centre, and
reducing the length of stroke whilst correspondingly increasing the force as the
pressure in the press cylinder increases. In this application the adjustment may be
automatically effected by means of the increasing pressure of the water or other
liquid, such liquid acting in a small cylinder on a ram connected to the clutch or
other detail through which the adjustment is effected.,
Hydraulic motive-power apparatus may be made to record the quantity of water
used and so dispense with separate water meters, by connecting the pision or ram,
to a set of counting wheels, the first wheel being acted on by a rack, and being
arranged with a ratchet wheel to turn in one direction only. Counting wheels so
arranged will turn to extents corresponding to the lengths of stroke and not to a
certain extent for each stroke, and will record correctly, notwithstanding variations
in the length of stroke.
Another improvement comprised in the present Invention is applicable to hoisting
apparatus when heavy weights have to be lowered in connection therewith, and
consists in arranging a cistern in connection with the apparatus to receive the water
used when hoisting, and in causing the descending weights to work the apparatus
like a pump, and force water back into the main or into an elevated cistern or an
accumulator to be used over again in hoisting. Such action will have the effect of
retarding, and so regulating or braking the descent of the heavy weights and the
improvement will be most conveniently and advantageously carried out when the
apparatus is provided with appliances for adjusting the length of stroke as horcin-
before described, the degree of retardation being in that case easily adjusted and
varied to suit different circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said John Hastie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th March 1877.
JOHN HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC MOTIVE-POWER AND PUMPING APPARATUS."
My said Invention has principally for its object the economising of the water
used in hydraulic motive-power and pumping apparatus, and is applicable with
special advantage in cases wherein the resistance is variable, or in cases wherein it
is desirable that the apparatus should be adjustable relatively to the resistance.
A water driven engine, as hitherto constructed, with a cylinder and piston for
example, has to be made at least large enough for the maximum power intended
to be developed by it; whilst on less than the maximum power, with a given speed

page_text: being required from it at any time, the cylinder has still to be filled at each single
stroke, and thus more water has to be used than is really required for the
diminished power.
The first part of my Invention consists in avoiding the waste referred to by
arranging the parts to which the piston is connected so that the length of the
piston's stroke can be adjusted to suit the power at any time. A similar alteration
of the length of stroke of a piston or ram may be obtained in the cases of some
kinds of hydraulic hoists and othor hydraulic apparatus.
My Invention is advantageously applicable to the pumps used with hydrostatic
presses, the cranks working the pumps being adjusted nearer to the centre and
reducing the length of stroke whilst correspondingly increasing the force as tho
pressure in the press cylinder increases; or the length of stroke may be made
variable or adjustable in other equivalent ways.
Hydraulic motive-power apparatus is by my Invention made to record the
quantity of water used, and so dispense with separate water meters.
Another improvement comprised in my Invention is applicable to hoisting
apparatus when heavy weights have to be lowered in connection therewith, and
consists in arrangemonts for utilising the descent of the weights in forcing water
to a height or into an accumulator so as to be usable over again in hoisting.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append seven sheets of explanatory
Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing various modifications of
apparatus contrived for carrying out my improvements. In these Drawings the
same reference numerals are used for marking the same or like parts wherever they
are repeated
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, represent one arrangement for
carrying out the first part of my Invention, which arrangement is in connection
with a rotating crank shaft 1, shown in side elevation, and partly sectioned in
Figure 2, and is such as to admit of the length of stroko of the piston connected to
and driving such crank shaft being adjusted whilst the engine is in motion. The
crank shaft 1 is made tubular, and has fixed on it a disc 2, such as is commonly
employed for carrying a crank pin On the end of an internal shaft 3 there is
fixed a pinion 4, which gears with teeth on a sector 5, centered on a pin on the
crank disc 2. The crank pin 6, to which the piston rod or connecting rod (not
shown in the Drawing) is jointed in the ordinary way, is fixed on the sector 5, and
is adjusted further from or nearer to the centre of the disc 2 by turning the pinion 4,
and its shaft 3 relatively to the crank shaft 1. At a convenient part the crank
shaft 1 is slotted, and the pinion shaft 3 is grooved to receive a key fixed to a loose
external clutch ring 7, and the slot and groove being made, one helical and the
other longitudinal, a longitudinal movement of the clutch ring 7 effected by a
forked hand lever (not shown) produces the relative movement between the crank I
and the pinion shaft 3 required for adjusting the crank pin 6. In Figure 1 the
crank pin 6 is shown as adjusted at some distance out from the centre, but it is
shown as adjusted at the centre, in Figure 3, which is a similar view.
In a second modification, shown in sectional side elevation in Figure 4, tho
clutch ring 7 is rendered antomatically adjustable by the action of the resistanco
by making a pulley 8 (or it migh be a pinion), by which the power is given off
from the crank shaft I, loose on that shaft, and having its boss 9 forined with
inclined or helical surfaces bearing on counterpart surfaces formed on the clutch
ring 7. A spring 10 is arranged to press the clutch ring 7 towards the pulley or
pinion boss 9, and the spring 10 will be compressed, and the clutch ring corre-
spondingly moved in proportion to the resistance to be overcome.
A third modification, which is shown in Figures 5, 6, 7, on Sheet 2 of tho
Drawings, also comprises an automatic adjusting arrangement Figure 5 is a face
view of the crank disc 2, and Figures 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views, as at
right angles to each other. The crank pin 6 is fixed to a block or plate 11, fitted
to slide in guides across the face of the crank disc 2, and this block has fixed to its

page_text: ends pieces 12, formed with internal points to bear on a heart-shaped cam 13, fixed
on the internal shaft 3. The tubular crank shaft 1 has fixed on it a disc 14, and
on this disc 14 there are formed or fixed cases 16 for helical springs 10, to which
are connected chains 17, jointed to lugs on the internal shaft 3. The power is
transmitted from a pulley 15 on this internal shaft 3, and an increase of resistance
causes a compression of the springs 10 and a turning of the tubular crank shaft 1,
relativoly to the internal shaft 3 in such a way that the heart cam 13 shifts the
block 11, so as to move the crank pin 6 further from the centre, and vice versa.
In a fourth modification shown in face view in Figure 8, and in section in
Figure 9, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, the crank pin G is made adjustable upon the
crank disc 2 by means of a radial screw spindle 18, fitted so as to be turned by
means of a key (or it might be a small hand wheel) when the engine in not in
motion. The crank pin might also be made adjustable by bevil gearing or in any
other equivalent manner.
In a fifth modification shown in sectional plan in Figure 10, and in vertical
soction in Figure 11, the length of stroke is made variable and adjustable by hand
by means of a link 19, like an ordinary valve motion link, interposed between the
piston rod 20 of the cylinder and the crank shaft 1; the crank on this shaft 1, and
which in this example is not adjustable, has jointed on it an ordinary connecting
rod 21, the other end of which is jointed to a slotted link 19, which has on its slot
a slide block traversed by a cross head pin 22, held by the forked outer end of the
piston rod 20; the slotted link 19 is centered on a pin 23, held in the lower onds of
two rods 24, centered on the crank shaft i; and these rods 24 are connected by a
cross bar 25, which is adjustable up or down by a screw spindle indicated by dotted
lines in Figure 11, and operated on through bevil wheels by a horizontal spindle
which can be turned by a hand key; the length of stroke is lessened by raising the
fulcrum pin 23, and vice versa.
The sixth modification of apparatus shown in the Drawings, and of which
Figure 12, on Sheet 4, is a sectional elevation, is for working a hoist with a variable
length of stroke of the hydraulic ram 26, which is the prime mover. The ram
cylinder 27 is placed between a pair of fixed triangular frames 28, and is centered
on an axle fixed at the bottom ends of the frames, the axle being made hollow for
the ingress and egress of the water. The ram 26 is jointed to a pair of blocks 29,
fitted into slots in a double lever pieco 30, which is formed with a toothed sector
31 gearing with a pinion 32 on the shaft of the barrel or pulley, 33, which operates
on the hoisting chain or rope. A screw shaft 34, having a handwheel 35 on one
end and held in a bearing capable of turning on the fulcrum pin of the lever piece
30, 31, is tapped through the middle of the cross pin of the blocks 29, and by
turning this shaft 34 the point of connection of the ram 20 with the lever piece
30, 31, is adjusted or screwed nearer to or further from the fulcrum, and a smaller
or greater stroke of the ram moves the lever piece through its entiro range
accordingly.
In the seventh modification, which is shown in plan in Figure 13, and in longi-
tudinal vertical section in Figure 14 on Sheet 5 of the Drawings, an arrangement
is adopted with which the length of stroke of a ram 20, working a hoist or similar
apparatus is automatically variable in accordance with the load or resistance. The
ram 26 acts on the hoisting chains or ropes by means of a pair of pulleys 36, the
chains or ropes being led from what are ordinarily fixed studs or points of attach-
ment to the tops of the pulleys 30, then round them, and from their lower parts to
pulleys 37, on a fixed pin or spindle, from which latter pulleys they proceed up-
wards. Instead of the chains or ropes being fixed at their ends as hitherto, they
are connected or attached to a cross head 38, on a ram 39, working in a small
cylinder 40, and a strain proportional to the load is communicated by the chains or
ropes to this ram 39. In connection with the cylinder 40 there is a small three-
way stop-cook or valve 41, which when in the position shown in Figure 14, admits
water to the cylinder 40 from the source supplying the large cylinder 27; there is
also in connection with the cylindor 40 a small plunger 42, working in a tube or

page_text: small cylinder, and loaded by a spring 43; and the rod of the plunger 42 is con-
nected by a cross head and pair of rods to a forked lever 44 (Figures 13) fixed on
the plug of the stop-cock 41; the parts are proportioned so that when the load to
be hoisted is not great enough to act on the small ram 39, and the ends of the
chains or ropes are therefore practically fixed, the main ram moves through only a
part of its possible stroke in operating to the necessary extent on the chains or
ropes; but with a greater load the ram 39 causes the water in the cylinder 40, and
which water cannot get backwards because of a check valve in the inlet pipe to
press up the spring loaded plunger 42, and eventually through it to turn the valve
41 so as to open an outlet from the cylinder. The ram 39 then moves into the
cylinder 40, and by paying off the chains or ropes, allows the main ram 26 to make
a longer stroke, and so develop an increased power corresponding to the increased
load to be overcome. The reverse action takes place when the load diminishes,
after having been great enough to act on the ram 39.
The eighth modification of apparatus shown in the accompanying Drawings
consists of a pair of pumps, such as are used for working hydrostatic presses, but
constructed with one form of automatic apparatus for varying the stroke according
to my Invention. It is shown in Figures 15, 16, and 17 on Sheet 6, these Figures
being respectively a plan and two sectional elevations. The pump plunger rods 46
are worked by eccentrics 47, each of which is jointed on a pin 48 fixed to a crank
or short arm 49 keyed on the driving shaft 50. Each eccentric 47 is slotted where
the shaft 50 passes through it, the slot being large enough to allow the eccentric
to swing on its pin 48 to a limited extent, the centre of the eccentric being moved
nearer to or further from the centre of the shaft 50 by such swinging movement
One side of the slot in the eccentric is formed with.internal teeth, which gear with
pinion teeth on the end of a tubular shaft 51 upon the driving shaft 50. The
driving shaft 50 is grooved and the tubular shaft 51 is slotted, one helically and the
other longitudinally, and a key passed through the slot into the groove is held by
an external clutch ring or sleeve 52, so that by moving this ring 52 along the
tubular shaft 51 is turned relatively to the driving shaft 50, and by the action of
the pinion teeth at its ends shifts the eccentrics 47 transversely Two diametrically
opposite studs on a ring lying loosely in a groove in the clutch ring 52 are entered.
into inclined slots in the opposite sides of a forked piece 53, to the bottom of which
is attached a plunger 54 entering through a stuffing box into a cylinder in com-
munication with the pipe, by which the water or other liquid passes from the
pumps to the press cylinder. The upper ends of the fork arms of the piece 53 have
a horizontal bar 55 fixed to them, and the middle of this bar is pressed downwards
by a powerfull spring 56 When the apparatus is left to itself the action of the
spring 56 by forcing down the piece 53 and acting by the inclined slots on the
clutch ring 52 causes the eccentrics 47 to be set at their greatest throw, but as the
pressure produced by the pumping action gradually increases its action on the
plunger 54 causes it to raise the piece 53, and thereby bring about the shifting of
the eccentrics 47 so as to have less throw, and thus reduce the stroke of the pumps.
As the pressure gradually increases the shifting of the eccentrics inwards will be.
gradual, and a nearly uniform speed of the driving shaft will be maintained, whilst
the increasing resistance will be compensated for by the diminution of the
stroke-
In a ninth modification of apparatus shown in sectional side elevation in
Figure 18 and in sectional end elevation in Figure 19 on Sheet 7 of the Drawings
a pair of pumps are arranged so as to have an automatically variable stroke through
the agency of a pair of slotted links 19 disposed as in the fifth modification herein-
before described, but with the parts acting reversely, the revolving crank shaft 50
being the driver instead of the driven shaft (1) of the earlier modification, whilst
pump plungers take the place of the piston rod (20). The two slotted links 19
are centered upon and adjusted by one bar or spindle 23, which is connected by a
link 58 to one arm 59 of a bell-crank lever, the other arm 60 thereof being con-

page_text: nected to a plunger 54 acted on by the pumped liquid and by a spring 56, as in the
eighth modification, and so as to bring about the same results.
In carrying out the part of my Invention relating to the recording of the quantity
of water used by hydraulic motive-power apparatus I simply connect the piston rod
or ram to a set of ordinary meter counting wheels, the first wheel being acted on
by a rack moving with or proportionally with the piston or ram, and being fitted
with a ratchet wheel and catch to act on its spindle or on another wheel only when
moving in one direction. Counting wheels so arranged will turn to extents
corresponding to the lengths of stroke actually accomplished, and not to a certain
invariable extent for each stroke, and will record correctly notwithstanding variations
in the length of stroke.
In carrying out the part of my Invention relating to the utilisation of the descent
of heavy weights by hoists I connect the barrels or pulleys controlling the descent
of the chaius or ropes of the hoists so as directly or through gearing to work pumps
or to work as a pump or pumps the apparatus used in elevating the hoist, and
thereby force water back or into the main or into an elevated cistern or an accumu-
lator to be used subsequently in elevating or otherwise. Such action will have the
effect of retarding and so regulating or braking the descent of the heavy weights;
and this improvement will be most conveniently and advantageously carried out
when the apparatus is provided with appliances of the kind herein-before described
for adjusting the length of stroke of the parts then acting as pumps, the degree of
retardation being in that case easily adjusted and varied to suit different circum-
stances.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the horein-before in part.
recited Letters Patent is,-
1 The arranging of hydraulic motive-power apparatus operating by means of
reciprocating pistons or rams, so that the length of stroke can be changed or
adjusted, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-before
described.
2. The making of hydraulic motive-power apparatus operating by means of
reciprocating pistons or rams automatically adjustable as regards longth of stroke,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes horein-before described.
3 The making of hydraulic pumping apparatus automatically adjustable as
regards length of stroke, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before described
4. The providing of hydraulic motive-power apparatus with recording gear,
arranged and operating substantially in the manner herein-before described.
5. The arranging of hoisting apparatus so as to utilise the descent of heavy
weights by pumping water to a height or into an accumulator, thereby also con-
trolling or braking the descent, substantially in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hastie, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN HASTIE. (L.S.)