Iк- PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER LOW LEVELS."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Porter Maddison, of Thornhill Collieries,
near Dewsbury, in the County of York, for the Invention of "Iк-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER FROM
MINES AND OTHER LOW LEVELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Porter Maddi-
son at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th June 1872.
I, WILLIAM PORTER MADDISON, of Thornhill Collieries, near Dews-
bury in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING
WATER FROM MINES' AND OTHER LOW LEVELS," to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the means of and
apparatus for raising or elevating water from mines and other low levels,
the object being to dispense with the ordinary pumps by raising water
by the direct application of compressed air.

page_text: In order to effect this purpose I construct a main open tank into
which the water is received from the sump by means of an inlet tube,
with sluice valve for shutting off the supply. Within the main tank
que or more vertical cylinders or compressors are fixed into which the
water from the main tank is conducted. by an inlet with a clack scat
and valve to prevent non-return. A communication is then made from
the tank cylinders or compressors by a horizontal outlet pipe to a vertical
main passing up the shaft of the mine.
Any number of cylinders or compressors may be used, it only being
necessary to unite them by separate outlets to the main.
Above cach compressor I arrange an air chest with slide by means
of which compressed air is admitted into the compressor and in like
manner to all the compressors through pipes or junction tubes with
flanges bolted, riveted, or screwed to the covers of the cylinders or com-
pressors. Each compressor has a separate clack valve for the non-return
of the water when once received from the open tank.
Each air chest is provided with a spindle or piston rod passing through
a stuffing box, and worked by a small engine driven by compressed air
or other known means.
An inlet and exhaust are provided for each compressor and conse- 2
quently when the cylinders are filled or nearly filled with water and the
machinery is set in motion, the compressed air rushes into the cylinders
and acting on the surface of the water forces it through the eduction
tubes direct to the vertical main, whence it escapes by any convenient
outlet.
When the cylinders or compressors are thus emptied of their contents,
the compressed air is permitted to discharge itself by separate exhausts
after which the cylinders will become refilled with water by the self-
acting clack valves. Of course the pressure of the air will depend on
the height to which the water is required to be raised, and the size of
the cylinders and other portions of the apparatus will vary according to
the bulk or quantity of water to be removed.
So also, where the elevation is very great and the pressure of air is
required to be excessively high, I elevate the water to a certain level into
another similar series of apparatus, and thence to the ultimate elevation 3
required by similar means, thus avoiding unnecessary strain on the
primary or lower system described. In this method it is obvious that

page_text: no shock can occur as in ordinary machinery for pumping, by the whole
column of water being lifted and allowed to come to rest suddenly upon
clacks in eduction tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Porter Maddison in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PORTER MADDISON, of Thornhill Collieries, near Dewsbury, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of Junc, in the
year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her licirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Porter Maddison, Her special
licence that I, the said William Porter Maddison, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Porter
Maddison, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING. WATER FROM
MINES AND OTHER LOW LEVELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Porter Maddison, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 William Porter Maddison, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings:-
The Invention has for its object the raising water by the direct
application of compressed air and dispensing with ordinary pumps.

page_text: In order to effect this purpose I construct a main open tank into
which the water is received from the "sump" by means of an inlet
pipe with sluice valve for shutting off supply, or I take my supply into
cylinders or compressors direct from the " sump," conducting it by an
inlet with a clack seat and valve to prevent return, thus dispensing {
with the open tank. Within the main tank or otherwise one or more
cylinders or compressors of any convenient shape are fixed, into which
the water from the main tank or sump " is conducted by an inlet with
a clack seat and valve to prevent return. A communication is then
made from the tank cylinders or compressors by a horizontal outlet pipe 1
to a vertical main passing up the shaft or otherwise.
Any number of cylinders or compressors may be used, it only being
necessary to unite them by separate outlets to the main.
Above each compressor I arrange an air chest with slide, by means of
which compressed air is admitted into the compressor and in like manner 1
to all the compressors through pipes or junction tubes with flanges
bolted, rivetted, or screwed to the covers of the cylinders or compressors.
Each compressor has a separate clack valve to prevent the return of the
water when once received from the open tank or "sump.”
This arrangement may be made self-acting by means of floats and 2
valves connecting each cylinder or compressor with a second or a third
cylinder acting alternately upon each other. The float in one causing a
valve to be opened for the inlet and outlet of compressed air into and
out of a second, and the float in the second cylinder operating upon a
third in like manner, or each air chest or slide may be provided with 2
spindle or piston rod passing through a stuffing box and worked by a
small engine or apparatus driven by compressed air or other means.
Or, as in the case of levels or mines where a limited amount of water
has to be discharged, the cylinder or compressor may be immersed in
water in a "sump" made for the purpose or otherwise, and fitted with 8
inlet and outlet pipes and valves for water and compressed air, and
worked either by hand or by float and self-acting arrangement previously
described.
An inlet and exhaust are provided for each compressor, and con-
sequently when these are filled or nearly filled with water and the 3
pumps set in motion, the compressed air rushes into the cylinders and
acting on the surface of the water forces it through the eduction pipes
direct to the vertical main, whence it escapes by any convenient outlet

page_text: and is discharged at the higher level. When the cylinders or com-
pressors are thus emptied of their contents the compressed air is per-
mitted to discharge itself by separate exhausts, after which the cylinders
will become refilled with water by the self-acting clack valves.
The accompanying Drawings represent an apparatus which illustrates
somewhat in detail the manner in which the Invention is to be
performed.
Figure 1 is a plan view, and Figures 2 and 3 clevations as seen from
different sides or directions. The compressors referred to are shewn in
section in the Figures 2 and 3.
"
•
"
The illustration given supposes two cylinders or compressors placed
in a side "sump or chamber A adjoining a main "sump" or well or pit
shaft B, the water passing direct from the latter through inlet pipes
into the compressors. The pumps for forcing in air are not shewn, but
may be of any approved description. The arrows in Figures 1 and 2
denote the directions of the air and water currents; E, E, are the com-
to
pressors; K, K, water inlet pipes to same with clack valves K*,
prevent return; D, D, water outlet pipes from same with clack valves D*,
and communicating with the rising main F situate above the "sump
and within the pit shaft B; F*, a holding up clack valve on the rising
main; H is the air inlet pipe (from pumps or pressure engine of any
description), with branches to the compressors, having "three way"
valves M, M, thereon for regulating the admission and discharge of air.
These valves may be worked in any convenient manner, but are shewn
as controlled by the rising and falling action of floats L within the
compressors and by balance weights N, the floats and weights being
connected with rods, levers, and chains, or wires passing over pulleys
Q, Q; I, I, are the air exhaust or outlet pipes. One compressor E is
marked "full," as signifying fully charged with water, and the other is
marked " empty," as signifying the reverse, and the position of the rods,
levers, and chains above referred to correspond with these conditions.
As water is forced (by the air pressure) out of the full compressor the
float therein will sink, and as water enters and rises within the empty
compressor the float therein will rise, and thus if the compressed air
supply be amply maintained the apparatus will in other respects be self-
acting and a constant upward stream will be established in the rising
main coming alternately from the two compressors respectively.
The air pressure required will depend upon the height to which the
water is required to be raised, and the size of the compressors and other

page_text: portions of the apparatus will vary according to the bulk or quantity of
water to be raised.
So also, where the clevation is very great and the pressure of air is
required to be excessively high, I can clevate the water to a certain
level into another similar series of apparatus, and thence to the ultimate
elevation required, thus avoiding unnecessary strain upon the primary or
lower system described.
By this method it is obvious that no shock can occur from the whole
column of water being lifted and allowed to come to rest suddenly upon
clacks in eduction tubes, as is not unfrequently the case with pumping
machinery such as is ordinarily in use.
The exhaust air from the compressors can be made available if needful
for refilling them with water from the "sump," thus enabling me to fix
the cylinders or compressors on a higher level than the "sump," or the
exhaust air may be applied to any other desired use.
'
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I claim "the means of
and apparatus for raising water from mines and other low levels,"
substantially as hercin described and as represented in the Drawings, or
by any other similar mechanical equivalent, by means of which water shall
be raised to a higher level by the direct application of compressed air.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Porter Maddison, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
tren
Witness,
Tuo. R. MADDISON,
Thornhill,
Nr. Dewsbury.
W. PORTER MADDISON. (L.S.)