IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED WATER AND AIR PRESSURE MOTORS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Julius Boult of the firm of W. P. Thompson &
Boult Agents for Foreign Patent Solicitors of 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex and 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster
Engineer for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED WATER AND
AIR PRESSURE MOTORS "-A communication to him from abroad by Anton
Botta Naval Architect of Trieste in the Austrian Empire.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Julius Boult at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st October 1882.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of the firm of W P. Thompson & Boult Agents for
Foreign Patent Solicitors of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex and
6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster Engineer
"IMPROVEMENTS
"
IN COMBINED WATER AND AIR PRESSURE MOTORS A communication to me from
abroad by Anton Botta Naval Architect of Trieste in the Austrian Empire.
In this invention the movement of the machine is produced by compressed air
acting upon a column of water.
The body of water passes by the arrangement of valves once in front and then at
the back of a piston and thereby imparts to the latter a to-and-fro-motion. This
piston is by a crank rod connected with the driving shaft upon which there are
wheels which actuate pumps by reason of the peculiar construction of their teeth
and in connection with lifting gear; the said pumps receive the water flowing
away from the piston and return the same to the body or column of water first
herein mentioned upon which acts the compressed air. In the present instance a
system consisting of three pumps is assumed to be used but their number may be
increased or diminished according to whether the body of water to be used is
large or small.
A pressure cylinder has in its upper part a bell. From the interior of the bell a
pipe leads to an air pump. This pipe is surrounded by another pipe communicating
with the interior.
When working, the outer tube is filled with water and prevents the escape of

page_text: any compressed air. The cylinder has also a short connecting pipe leading to a
hand force pump. From the lower part of the cylinder extend two short tubes
whereof the first is connected with pumps and the second with a horizontally
placed reservoir. The pressure cylinder having by means of the hand pump been
filled with water up to a proper level the compressed air remains in the bell and
drives the column of water to a horizontal reservoir. Thence it passes into two
upright reservoirs and placed at the side of the horizontal one which may be of
any convenient shape but always have one flat side. In these reservoirs there are
four quadrangular apertures or ports through which the water passes to piston
cylinders.
4
In the piston cylinders move two pistons which are guided by piston rods in
stuffing boxes; the two piston rods are coupled by a yoke bar or link and
connection between them and the main shaft is effected by a crank rod.
The inlet and outlet tuhes are closed by plates having quadrangular ports.
These ports correspond with those of the upright reservoirs and between these are
placed redulating valves hereinafter more fully described.
=
Upon the upper cylinder is mounted a support for the levers of regulating valves
such support being in the form of a column or the like.
Two or more piston cylinders may be used according to the power required.
Their piston rods are in all cases connected.
To receive the outflowing water I.provide two reservoirs which have their bases
placed upon a quadrangular channel and are thus connected with one another.
These two waste water reservoirs are placed at a much higher level than the
suction pipes of the pumps for the purpose of conducting the water in the square
channel to the pumps by its own weight.
The pumps draw water from that which communicates with the cylinder and
drive it through a pipe with valves.
-The pumps-say-three.combine.in. one tube and supply through the same jointly
but not simultaneously the pressure cylinder. In the pump plunger there is also a
small air hole which is regulated by hand when the machine is started. The
movement of the pump plunger is effected as shown by levers.
The regulating valves which as already mentioned are placed between the
4 connections consist of two plates with ports. In these plates rods are guided
which receive doors and whose movement is in opposite directions effected by
lever-transmission.—Above the two plates there is a third plate to which one half
of a door is attached whilst the second half of the door is movable in the same
imanner as the door valves just mentioned. This third plate serves for regulating
the quantity of water which is to be permitted to pass through and may be sot by
hand or otherwise. The door sections are provided with rollers.
The motion of the valves (doors) is derived from the main shaft and produced
by excentrics a pair of the excentrics are arranged within one frame these frames
have noses or cams standing opposite to one another and thus standing vertically
alternately close the valves entirely and open the same sufficiently.
transmission of this motion is effected in the usual way by the interposition of
levers.
The
The movement of the pump plungers is effected as follows. The plunger rods
are cach attached to a lever which is rigidly fixed at one end, whilst its other end
is jointed to a rod which extends into a fork. Round the ends of the forks are
mounted two vertical parallelograms (having the shape of two tuning forks fitted
end to end) their ends work in parallel guides, wheels keyed to the main shaft
rotate within the parallelograms which have shoulders at their two sides.
Upon the toothed wheels there are twelve teeth screwed one half to one side the
-other half to the other side.
These teeth are so placed in groups of three that when one set is operating the
other three run idle and furthermore in such a manner that first a set on one side
. comes into action and then a set of the other so as to raise the pump plunger so
that cach revolution of the wheel of the cylinder.

page_text: The arrangement of the teeth and of the corresponding shoulders or projections
in the parallelograms is such that one pump is at rest whilst another is in its
upstroke and the third at its down stroke.
The water passes from the piston cylinders to the two waste water reservoirs
and still retains, from the pressure of the pistons a considerable excess of power
which is employed for exerting pressure upon the pump plungers by means of the
following device,
Shoulders are provided on the gear frames of the toothed wheels on the main
shaft which carry at their upper end a piston rod with piston this piston works in
a cylinder which at the top is divided into two arms one is connected with the
waste water reservoirs and conducts the water propelled by the pistons in the
piston cylinder to the piston connected with the gear-frame, thus utilizing its forco
for depressing the franie.
When the gear frame has been raised by the toothed wheel, the piston connected
therewith moves upward, drives the water which is now spent, to the collecting pipe
at the bottom of the waste water reservoirs whence the pumps are fed. To cause
the water to circulate properly valves are provided, which by means of levers
always close the one tube at the proper time and open the other.
The following arrangement serves for transmitting the movement of the machine
to another shaft. In a bearing rests a lever which is attached to the machine
Upon this lever a fork is jointed the two legs of which are toothed at their ends.
Upon the shaft which is to be driven a toothed wheel is keyed into which gears
first one side of the fork, pressing towards the right whilst the other side after-
wards tends to lift the same thus causing it to move in the same direction.
A machine may also be conveniently driven off the main shaft if the toothed
wheel is keyed thereon the motion being transmitted in the manner above.
described to the lever a crank rod being attached to the free end of the latter.
The reversing of the fork is effected by a sliding cross bar both ends of which
run in bearings and which is operated by a handle. This motion can be produced
by other means also, as required by the machine in question.
When starting the machine it is desirable on the one hand to pump air into the
pressure cylinder together with the water, whilst when the water flows off the air
which is objectionable, has to be removed as much as possible
For this purpose yet another pump arrangement is connected on the one hand
with the pipe surrounding the pipe communicating with the pressure cylinder and
by a conducting pipe with the waste water reservoirs.
In these two conducting pipes are inserted cocks which allow either suction or
compression to be exerted in the cylinders.

page_text: to G.-Thence it passes into two reservoirs H and J (placed at the side) which
may be of any convenient shape but always have one flat side. In these reservoirs
there are 4 quadrangular apertures h and i through which the water passes to the
piston cylinders K K' (Figure 21) the exterior shape of these cylinders is shown in
elevation in Figure 1.
and
In the cylinders KK¹ move the two pistons LL' which are guided by piston
rods working in stuffing boxes; the two piston rods are coupled by
connection between them and the main shaft M is effected by the crank rod d.
The inlet and outlet tubes are closed by plates having quadrangular ports kk
and kk. These ports correspond with those of H and J and between these are
placed redulating valves hereinafter more fully described.
Upon the upper cylinder K is mounted at K' a support for the levers of the
regulating valves such support being in the form of a column N
The drawing supposes only two cylinders K and K¹ but a greater number thereof
could be used, according to the power required in the engine to be constructed.
Their piston rods are in such case likewise connected.
Figure 20 shows the front elevation of the piston cylinders K and K¹ which I
have just described with their inlet and outlet ports k and k². Upon the still
unoccupied openings k and k¹ (opposite therefore to J and H) other regulating valves
are placed and then two more reservoirs O and P which receive the outflowing
water. These two reservoirs have their bases placed upon a quadrangular channel Ŏ
and are thus connected with one another.
As will appear from Figure 20 and P are placed at a much higher level than
the suction pipes of the pumps this is done for the purpose of conducting the
water applied to the pumps in the channel Q to the pumps by its own gravity.
The pumps themselves (Figure 6) draw water from a and drive it through the
enlarged pipe R through valves r whose number may also vary to A.
g"
The three pumps S here represented (Figure 1) combine in one tube S and supply
through the same jointly but not simultaneously as will presently appear the
pressure cylinder A. In the pump plunger there is also a small air hole 3¹ which
is regulated by hand when the machine is started. The movement of the pump
plunger is effected as shown in Figure 2 by levers.
The regulating valves which as already mentioned are placed between the 4
connections (Figure 17) consists of two plates T and U with ports t and u. In
these plates rods T' and Us are guided which receive doors t¹ and u¹ and whose
movement in opposite directions is effected by lever-transmission, so that they close
when moving in the direction of the arrows (see Figure 12) Above the plates T
there is a third plate V to which one half of the door is attached whilst the second
half of the same is movable in the same manner as the door valves just mentioned.
This plate V serves for regulating the quantity of water which is to be permitted
to pass through the plates T and U-and may be set by hand or otherwise.. The
door-sections are provided with rollers (Figure 14) and they are thus caused to
slide with great facility.
:
Figures 8-11 shew the driving gear for the regulating valves just described.
Upon the cylinder K there is the support N for the levers W W1 W2 W³ connected
with the rods T' and U'.
The motion is derived from the main shaft M and is produced the excentrics xx³
and yy a pair of the excentrics (here xx¹ and yy') are within one frame a¹ and b
these frames have noses or cams standing opposite to one another and thus standing
vertically alternately close entirely and open the same sufficiently. The trans-
mission of this motion is effected in the usual way by the interposition of
levers g¹¹¹³
The movement of the pump plunger is effected as follows. The plunger rods m³
are attached to a lever n' (Figure 2) which is rigidly fixed at one end whilst
its other end is jointly to a rod O' which extends into a fork p'q'p³ q³. Round
the ends of the forks are mounted two vertical parallelograms (having the shape
of two tuning forks fitted end to end)- their ends work-in parallel guides the
.

page_text: wheels Z there are twelve teeth C² screwed one half to one side the other half to
the other side.
These teeth are so placed in groups of three that when one set is opening the
other three run idle and furthermore in such a manner that first a set on one side
comes into action and then a set of the other. In the position shown in the
drawing the piston has to be depressed and the teeth C² gear with the projection a²
after these have passed the teeth of next set shown in dotted lines became
operative and by the shoulders 62 raise the pump plunger so that for each revolution
of the wheel the piston is twice raised and lowered.
The arrangement of the teeth and of the corresponding shoulders or projections
in the parallelograms is such that the pumps never act simultaneously but always
one after the other as a whole therefore continuously so that one pump is at rest
whilst another is in its upstroke and the third at its down stroke.
The water passes from the piston cylinders K K' to the two reservoirs O and P
and still retains, from the pressure of the piston L L' a considerable excess of
power which is employed for exerting pressure upon the pump plunger S by means
of the following device, a part of the work being thereby removed from the crank
rod d. To this end shoulders A* are provided on the gear-frames of the toothed
wheels L which carry at their upper end a piston rod a³ with piston at this piston
works in a cylinder B2 which at the top is divided into two arms C². C³. The
tube C³ is connected with the reservoir O or P and conducts the water propelled
by the piston L L to the piston a thus utilising its force for depressing the
frame and consequently the piston S. When the frame is raised by the
toothed wheel Z the piston a' moves upward, drives the water which is now spent
to the collecting pipe q whence the pumps S are fed. To cause the water to
circulate properly in the tubes C and C³ they are closed by a valve D³ which
by means of levers always close the one tube at the proper time and open the
other. The operation of these valves is of course in accordance with the movement
of the frames already described and is produced-by-well known mechanical means.
The momentum of motion of the toothed wheel Z must coincide with the down-
stroke of the piston at and thereby the power of the water acting directly upon
the pistons L L' and that of the water propelled thereby which acts upon piston a
are combined and the sum of these powers acts upon pump plunger S.
The arrangement shown in Figure 24, serves for transmitting the movement of
the machine to another shaft. In the bearing E is supported a lever F+ serves for
transmitting the motion of the machine to another shaft. In a bearing E* rests a
lever F* which is attached to the machine in the manner indicated by dotted lines
in Figure 23. Upon this lever a fork G is jointed the two legs of which are
toothed at their ends. Upon the shaft H' which is to be driven a toothed wheel P
is keyed into which gears first one side of the fork pressing towards the right
whilst the other side afterwards tends to lift the same thus causing it to move in
the same direction.
A machine may also be conveniently driven off the main shaft if the toothed
wheel J is keyed upon M the motion being transmitted in the manner above
described to the lever F a crank rod being attached to the free end of the latter.
The reversing of the fork G' is effected by a sliding crossbar K* both ends of
which run in bearings Land which is operated by a handle M'. This motion
of M₁ can be produced by other means also as required by the machine in
question.
When starting the machine it is desirable on the one hand to pump air into the
cylinder A together with the water whilst when the water flows off the air which
is objectionable has to be removed as much as possible.
For this purpose yet another pump arrangement D is connected with the main
shaft by an excentric this is connected on the one hand by the pipe a with A and
by a connecting pipe p³ with the reservoirs O and P.
In these two conducting pipes are inserted cocks d³ ³ which allow either suction
or compression to be exerted in the cylinders

page_text: must
This motor is based upon the difference of superficial area of the bases of
the pistons of the force pump and the sum of the bases of the two pressure
pistons. The area of the bases of each piston S' of the compressure pump
not exceed 3/5 of the total area of the two pressure pistons L L. If a more rapid
movement of the feed and discharge valves is to be obtained than the period of rest
of the doors t' and u¹ above described whilst the pistons L L' are moving, is
diminished when the machine works in the ordinary way the period of rest is
7/8 of the piston stroke and this may be increased to 11/12 or 15/16 two or four
valves being to this end placed in each of the reservoirs H and J and also O and P
in no case however is it to be forgotten that the total area of the 4, 6, or 8 valves
upon the vessels H J must be equal to the total area of the pistons L L'.
Having now described the invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I wish it to be understood that I Claim :-
In motors acting by compressed water and air:
First The construction of the pressure cylinder A with a bell B in its interior
and the double pipes a b.
Second-The employment of regulating valves consisting of the plates T and U
with the slide rods T' and U with their "door" parts t and u¹ and the fixed
valve with the plate V.
Third: The piston cylinders K and K' with their coupled pistons and the crank
rod d.
Fourth-The mechanism of motion of the pump piston consisting of the lovor u'
the rod o' with the two fork-arms p¹ q¹ p² q³.`
Fifth The actuating parallelogram ¹ with its shoulders a².
Sixth-The construction of the toothed wheel Z teeth C³ arranged in alternating
sets.
Seventh-The providing of a pressure cylinder B² on the frame
which receives
a piston at upon which the water ejected by the piston L L' exerts pressure.
Eighth The connection of the reservoirs 0 and P by the tubes C³ with the
above mentioned cylinder B' and their connection by C² with the collecting
pipe Q.
Ninth: The valves D³ required for producing the flow of water to and from a'.
Tenth The transmitting mechanism (Figure 24) consisting of fork G' with its
two toothed arms and their reversing gear consisting of the guide rod K4 the
bearings L' and the lever M'.
Eleventh The general construction of mechanisms as shown in the drawings
and as described.
In witness whereof I the said Alfred Julius Boult have hereunto set my
hand and seal this third day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
ALFRED J. DOULI (LS.)