Improvements in Pumps.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 9th July, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 25th Apr., 1893-Accepted, 9th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAI
Improvements in Pumps.
I, HENRY ALBERT FLEUSS, of Harvey Cottage, Laleham Road, Staines, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
It has before been proposed to construct pumps without any suction valve-the
piston being made solid and at one end of its stroke made to move past suction
inlets formed through the side of the cylinder-whilst at the other end of the
cylinder were the delivery valves.
I construct a pump in the same way without any suction valve-I place the
cylinder vertically with the delivery valve at the top and a suction inlet at such a
distance from the bottom that not only shall the piston at the end of the down
stroke pass below the inlet but also a quantity of liquid by which I arrange that
the piston shall always be covered. In place also of using a solid piston I make
the piston with a passage through it fitted with a valve opening upwards. The
piston rod may be carried out either through the top or bottom end cover of the
cylinder. If through the top I preferably make it to pass through the centre of a
hat leather or as it is sometimes called a cup leather which not only makes a tight.
joint around the rod but also serves as a delivery valve as described in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me No. 2408 in the year 1886. If the
piston rod is arranged to work upwards I make it to work through an inverted
hat leather or other stuffing box which is always covered with liquid so that no air
may pass in through it. I also in all cases provide that the piston valve and the
delivery valve shall be always covered with liquid.
This I do in the following manner.
.
Above the top of the cylinder I form a chamber to hold a certain amount of
liquid to cover the outlet valve or valves. At the end of the up stroke of the
piston I cause a projection from the piston or its rod to come against the underside
of the outlet valve or a sleeve below it so as to lift the valve and hold it open,
consequently on the down stroke the valve will be kept open for a time and such
an amount of liquid from the upper reservoir allowed to pass into the cylinder for
the first portion of the down stroke as shall ensure there not only being always &
certain amount of liquid above the piston but also ensure that there shall be enough
liquid above the piston that at the end of the up stroke some of this liquid shall
be driven upwards through the delivery valve and all air previously in the cylinder
above the liquid thereby expelled.
When using the pump as an air pump for pumping dry air or gases the liquid I
prefer to employ is oil as described in a former Patent granted to me No. 24088
but when the pump is used say for pumping water together with air or vapour say
for example as in the air pump of a steam engine no oil would be required the
water would then serve instead of the oil.
The lower end of the cylinder I close with an end cover coned upwards-the
piston at the end of its down stroke when it has passed beyond the suction opening
comes down to this conical end and is correspondingly coned to fit to it-the passage
through the piston leads from the top of this cone. Any air or liquid there may be
in the lower part of the cylinder below the suction inlet when the piston descends.
passes up through the piston valve the air passing to the top of the cone and being
swept out past the valve by the liquid below it. I also cause the piston valve to
be positively lifted at the end of the down stroke so that for a short time after the
commencement of the up stroke the valve remains open and some liquid passes

page_text: back to the bottom of the cylinder-ready to be used at the end of the next down
stroke for sweeping all air which..is then below the piston up through the piston
valve. The under side of the upper end cover of the cylinder is also similarly
coned so that on the up stroke of the piston the air compressed in the cylinder is
léd to the central delivery valve--and the liquid above the piston is able to sweep
out the last trace of air from the cylinder at the end of the stroke-in this way
also less oil or liquid will pass back into the cylinder at the commencement of the
piston's down stroke.
In order that no oil or liquid may be 'drawn back into any vessel in which a
vacuum has been produced by the working of the pump if the pump be left for
some length of time without being worked and the valves do not fit perfectly liquid
tight I form an enlargement in the suction pipe of sufficient size to contain any
quantity of liquid which is likely to so leak past the valves and so stop it from
passing to the vacuous vessel. Preferably I make the suction inlet to the cylinder
to open into an annular chamber by which the lower part of the cylinder is
surrounded whilst the suction pipe is led away from the top of this annular
chamber.
Dated thie 9th day of Tule 1902
HENRY A. FLEUSS.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pumps.
I, HENRY ALBERT FLEUSS, of Harvey Cottage, Laleham Road, Staines, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It has before been proposed to construct pumps used for pumping air or vapours
without any suction valve-the piston being made solid and at one end of its
stroke made to move past suction inlets formed through the side of the cylinder-
whilst at the other end of the cylinder were the delivery valves.
The
I construct a pump in the same way without any suction valve but I place the
cylinder vertically with the delivery valve at the top and a suction inlet at such a
distance from the bottom that not only shall the piston at the end of the down
stroke pass below the inlet but also a quantity of liquid by which I arrange that
the piston shall always be covered. In place also of using a solid piston make
the piston with a passage through it fitted with a valve opening upwards.
piston rod may be carried out either through the top or bottom end cover of the
cylinder. If through the top I preferably make it to pass through the centre of a
hat leather or as it is sometimes called a cup leather which not only makes a tight
joint around the rod but also serves as a delivery valve as described in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me No. 2408 in the year 1886. If the
piston rod is arranged to work upwards I make it to work through an inverted hat
leather or other stuffing box which is always covered with liquid so that no air may
pass in through it. I also in all cases provide that the piston valve and the delivery
valve shall be always covered with liquid.
This I do in the following manner :-
Above the top of the cylinder I form a chamber to hold a certain amount of
liquid to cover the outlet valve or valves. At the end of the up stroke of the piston
I cause a projection from the piston or its rod to come against the underside of the
outlet valve or a sleeve below it so as to lift the valve and hold it open,, conse-
quently on the down stroke the valve will be kept open for a time and such, an.
amount of liquid from the upper reservoir allowed to pass into the cylinder for the
first portion of the down stroke as shall ensure there not only being always a certain
amount of liquid above the piston but also ensure that there shall be enough liquid
above the piston that at the end of the up stroke some of this liquid' shall be'driven

page_text: upwards through the delivery valve and all air previously in the cylinder above the
liquid thereby expelled.
When using the pump as an air pump for pumping dry air or gases the liquid I
prefer to employ is oil as described in a former Patent granted to me No. 24088*
but when the pump is used say for pumping water together with air or vapour say
for example as in the air pump of a steam engine no oil would be required the water
would then serve instead of the oil.
The lower end of the cylinder I close with an end cover-the piston at the end of
its down stroke when it has passed beyond the suction opening comes down to this
end. Any air or liquid there may be in the lower part of the cylinder below the
suction inlet when the piston descends passes up through the piston valve.
The under side of the upper end cover of the cylinder I make coned so that on
the up stroke of the piston the air compressed in the cylinder is led to the central
delivery valve-and the liquid above the piston is able to sweep out the last trace
of air from the cylinder at the end of the stroke-in this way also less oil or
liquid will pass back into the cylinder at the commencement of the piston's down
stroke.
In order that no oil or liquid may be drawn back into any vessel in which a
vacuum has been produced by the working of the pump if the pump be left for
some length of time without being worked and the valves do not fit perfectly liquid
tight I form an enlargement in the suction pipe of sufficient size to contain any
quantity of liquid which is likely to so leak past the valves and so stop it from
passing to the vacuous vessel. Preferably I make the suction inlet to the cylinder
to open into an annular chamber by which the lower part of the cylinder is
surrounded whilst the suction pipe is led away from the top of this annular
chamber.
The drawing annexed is a vertical section of a pump constructed according to my
invention.
A is the cylinder set vertically. Ba chamber surrounding the upper part of the
cylinder above the inlet ports. C an inlet to this chamber to which the suction
pipe is to be attached.
Dare the inlet ports to the cylinder A. E is the piston
fitted with a valve E¹ opening upwards.
The piston might if preferred be a solid one I however prefer to employ one with
a valve in it as above described. E' is the piston rod which in the construction
shown is made to pass up through the top end cover. F F is the outlet valve
surrounding the rod just above the top end cover.
In the construction shewn the outlet valve is in two parts-the lower portion is
a valve seat F forming a sleeve around the piston rod the upper portion is a hat
leather which rests upon and closes the passages through the valve seat F.
Near the end of the up stroke the piston strikes against and lifts the sleeve F for
the purpose above explained.. G is a cylinder for containing liquid above the top
of the cylinder A. At the lower part of the cylinder G is a ring G' which serves
as a stop for projections F' on a metal ring F which rests on the hat leather valve
to come against and so limit the extent to which the hat leather can be lifted by
the up stroke of the piston valve as described in my former Patent. In the upper
part of the cylinder G is another ring G* and disc G as shewn to prevent splashing
of liquid when the pump is at work. The top of the cylinder is also closed by a
cover G. The piston rod passes out through a tube G which descends from the
centre of this cover. Gare small holes in the cover G' for the escape of air.
H is a small pipe extending from the lower end of the cylinder A to the upper part
of the interior of the chamber B-it serves to prevent a vacuum being formed
below the piston at the commencement of the upstroke when first beginning to
work the pump. If a solid piston is used it also serves to allow any liquid which
may leak down into the lower part of the cylinder to pass away from it.
If the pump is to be used for compressing in place of exhausting air the small
boles G in the cover G³ would be closed and a tube led away at the side from the
top of the cylinder G to the vessel in which the compressed air is to be stored.

page_text: The vessel G would also be made strong enough to bear the pressure to which it
would be subjected. The tube G would also be prolonged to bring its lower end
below the level of the liquid in the bottom of the cylinder G and be fitted at this
end with a hat leather or other packing to embrace the piston rod.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination of a vertical pump cylinder with delivery valve at top and
suction inlet at some distance from the bottom a piston working within the cylinder,
a chamber for containing liquid above the top of the cylinder, a projection from the
top of the piston or its rod to come against and hold open the outlet valve at the
end of the up stroke and beginning of the down stroke so that the piston is always
kept covered with liquid.
2. The combination of a vertical pump cylinder with delivery valve at top and
suction inlet at some distance from the bottom-a piston fitted with a valve opening
upwards and which on the down stroke is made to travel to some distance below
the suction inlet and a chamber for containing liquid above the top of the
cylinder.
3. The combination of a vertical pump cylinder with delivery valve at top and
suction inlet at some distance from the bottom-a piston fitted with a valve opening
upwards and which on the down stroke is made to travel to some distance below
the suction inlet a chamber for containing liquid above the top of the cylinder
and a projection from the top of the piston or its rod to come against and hold
open the outlet valve at the end of the up stroke and beginning of the down
stroke.
4. The combination of a vertical pump cylinder with delivery valve at top and
suction inlet at some distance from the bottom-a piston which on down stroke is
made to travel to some distance below the suction inlet-a chamber for containing
liquid above the top of the cylinder-means for maintaining a constant supply of
liquid above the top of the piston and a pipe passing from the bottom of the
cylinder to some point in the suction passage where liquid will not enter it.
5. The combination of a vertical pump cylinder with delivery valve at top
opening into a chamber for containing liquid an enlarged chamber communicating
at the bottom with the suction ports of the cylinder and a suction pipe passing off
from the top of the chamber substantially as described.
6. The combination of the vertical pump cylinder the top and cover coned
upwards on the under side the delivery valve surrounding the piston rod at the top
of the cone and the chamber for containing liquid above the top of the cylinder
substantially as described.
7. The construction of pumps substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the drawing annexed.
Dated thin th 1
1000