CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUMPS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Grainicher, of Zofingen, in Switzerland, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUMPS,
PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES.".
A communication from Henry Tongue, in Natchez, Mississippi.
Sealed the 11th July 1855, and dated the 9th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Grainicher at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1855.
I, SAMUEL GRAINICHER, of Zofingen, in Switzerland, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF PUMPS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES,"
to be as follows:-
The improvements which have been communicated to me consist in a
peculiar construction of packing for pistons and partitions, applicable to air
and water pumps, and to steam engines of the kind generally called semi-
rotatory. This packing is composed of pieces of metal, the section of which
is triangular, or nearly so, and it is secured upon the edges of the piston or
partition, which are bevelled off in a corresponding degree by means of set
screws passing through slots in the packing. When air, water, or steam is

page_text: admitted, the packing will be pressed by it between the piston and the side
& ends of the cylinder, or between the partition and the central part of the
piston and the ends of the cylinder, and thus form an air, water, or steam
tight fit; and as soon as the pressure is removed, the slots in the packing will
allow it to recede to a trifling extent, and thereby reduce the friction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Grainicher in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
GRAINICHER, of Zofingen, in Switzerland, send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Grainicher, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Grainicher,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Grainicher, 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 IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUMPS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES," (a communication from Henry Tongue, in
Natchez, Mississippi,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Grainicher, 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 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 Samuel Grainicher, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to he
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
The improvements which have been communicated to me consist in a
peculiar construction of packings for pistons and partitions, applicable to air
and water pumps, and to steam engines generally called "semi-rotatory."

page_text: In order that the Invention which has been communicated to me may be
more clearly understood, I will proceed to describe the same, reference being
had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a section through the cylinder and valve box of a semi-rotatory
pump or steam engine, and Fig. 2 another section of the same through the
line x, y. A represents the cylinder; B, the piston; C, the piston barrel,
supported on both sides in suitable bearings (not shewn in the Drawing) by
means of the shaft D. The partition E, which is fixed to the cylinder at F by
the screws G, divides the space between the two surfaces of the piston B into
two parts, one of them being in communication with the passage through
which the air, water, or steam enters, and the other with that through which
the air, water, or steam escapes. In order to insure a tight fit between the
piston B and the side A' and ends A² of the cylinder, and between the par-
tition E and the piston barrel C, the packings H (those belonging to the
piston being represented in detail at Figs. 3 & 4,) are fixed to them by
means of set screws H'. It will be perceived that these packings are of a
triangular section, or nearly so, and that the ends of the piston B and the end
of the partition E nearest to the piston barrel are respectively tapered off, form-
ing inclined planes a, a, so that on the piston pressing against the air or water,
or the steam pressing against the piston and the partition, the packings H will
be pressed against the side and ends of the cylinder and against the piston
barrel respectively, the holes through which the set screws H¹ pass being
slightly elongated (see Figs. 3 & 4), and thus allowing the packings a little
play. In case of the apparatus above described being used as a steam engine,
the steam may be supposed to be admitted into the cylinder A through the
port I, when, by the pressure which it will exert upon the face 1 of the piston
B, the latter will be moved in the direction of the arrow 2 until the face 8
thereof arrives within a suitable distance of the face 4 of the partition E, after
having expelled the steam which had been previously acting upon the face 3
of the piston through the port 1'. The shaft D is provided with a crank K
(indicated by a dotted line in Fig. 1), which, by means of a connecting rod and
another crank, communicates motion to a fly wheel, from whence an excentric
actuates the slide valve L in the ordinary way. The crank K and the fly
wheel crank are placed in such relative positions and are so proportioned, that
on the face 3 of the piston arriving within a suitable distance of the face 4
of the partition E, the fly wheel crank turns over the centre, thus causing the
slide valve L to close the port I, and to admit the steam through the port I'
upon the face 3 of the piston B, whereupon the piston B will be compelled to

page_text: move in the direction of the arrow 5 until the face 1 approaches the face 6 of
the partition E, and so on alternately. When the apparatus is to be used as
an air or water pump, the piston B has to be set in motion by means of a
steam engine or other motive power, and the passages through which the air
or water is admitted into or expelled from the cylinder, as well as the valve,
may be modified to suit the purpose for which they are intended.
What I claim as the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters
Patent is, the peculiar construction of the packings marked H, as described
with reference to Figs. 1 & 2 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and as
represented in detail at Figs. 3 & 4, in combination with the inclined planes
x, x, owing to which the packings are pressed against the side and ends of the
cylinder and against the piston barrel either by the action of the air or water,
or by the pressure of the steam contained within the cylinder, according as
the apparatus may be used as a pump or as a steam engine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Grainicher, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
SAMUEL GRAINICHER. (L.s.)
SAMUEL GRAINICHER. (L.s.)