AN IMPROVED CON- STRUCTION OF ELASTIC PACKING, MORE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ROTATORY ENGINES AND PUMPS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ronald Martin, of Deptford, in the
County of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CON-
STRUCTION OF ELASTIC PACKING, MORE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ROTATORY
ENGINES AND PUMPS."
Sealed the 28th November 1873, and dated the 30th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ronald Martin
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th May 1873.
I, JAMES RONALD MARTIN, of Deptford, in the County of Kent,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELASTIC PACKING, MORE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO
ROTATORY ENGINES AND PUMPS," to be as follows:-
:-
The Invention relates more particularly to that class of packing which
is employed where frictional contact takes place between a rotatory
piston and the interior of a fixed cylinder in which such piston rotates,
whether employed as a moter actuated by steam or water for transmitting
motion, or driven as a pump for raising water or other fluids, or for ven-
tilation or other purposes.

page_text: The improvement consists in forming or constructing the piston or
block rotating within the interior of the fixed cylinder with one or more
recesses at those points where frictional contact takes place, and where a
steam or water-tight sliding joint has to be maintained. Into each recess
sliding packing pieces, composed of metal, are inserted, the lower edge
of which beds upon an elastic medium, which may be composed of india-
rubber or metallic springs, so disposed in the bottom of such recess that
they will exert a pressure against the length of metal bearing upon
them in a direction that will cause the opposite edge or surface of such
packing piece of metal, during the time the piston or block (into which
it is or they are inserted) is revolving, to bear uniformly, and with a
steam or water-tight frictional pressure, against the interior of the fixed
cylinder, and at the same time prevent any disarrangement or uneven
wearing of such frictional surface by reason of inequalities, grit, or
extraneous matters presenting themselves between the yielding packing
of the piston and the cylinder in which it rotates during the time the
engine or pump is in action.
It will be evident that this form of packing may be used with
advantage in sliding rectilinear motions when pressure of steam or water
takes place, and when these compartments or spaces on each side of the
packing have to be kept free and independent of each other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Ronald Martin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RONALD MARTIN, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Ronald Martin, Her special licence
that I, the said James Ronald Martin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Ronald Martin, my

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF ELASTIC PACKING, MORE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ROTATORY
ENGINES AND PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Ronald Martin, 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 James Ronald Martin, 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, that is to
say :-
The Invention relates more particularly to that class of packing which
is employed as a yielding medium at the point where the frictional
contact takes place between the surfaces of a rotatory or revolving piston
and the interior of the fixed cylinder in which such piston rotates,
whether employed as a moter actuated by steam or water for trans-
mitting power, or whether driven as a pump for raising water or other
fluids, or for ventilation, or other purposes.
The improvements consist in providing the piston or block rotating
within the interior of the fixed cylinder with one or more recesses,
grooves, or slots at those points where frictional contact between the
plates and the interior of the cylinder takes place, and where a steam or
water-tight sliding joint has to be maintained. Into each recess sliding
packing pieces, composed of metal, are inserted, the lower edge of which
beds upon an elastic medium, which may be composed of india-rubber or
metallic springs, so disposed that they will exert a pressure against the
length or strip of metal bearing upon them in a direction that will cause
the opposite edge or surface of such packing piece of metal, during the
time the piston or block (into which it is or they are inserted) is

page_text: revolving, to bear uniformly, and with a steam-tight or water-tight
frictional pressure against the interior of the fixed cylinder, and at the
same time prevent any disarrangement or uneven wearing of such
frictional surface by reason of inequalities, grit, or extraneous matters
presenting themselves between the yielding packing of the piston and
the cylinder in which it rotates during the time the engine or pump
is
in action.
It will be evident that this form of packing may be used with
advantage in sliding rectilinear motion where pressure of steam or water
takes place, and where the compartments or spaces on each side of the
packing have to be kept free and independent from each other.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained
in detail, I have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings made upon a
scale of about full size, similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts on all the Figures alike.
Fig. 1 represents a transverse vertical section, and Fig. 2 a longi-
tudinal section of a rotatory pump, to which is applied the yielding
water-tight packing, the subject of this Invention; Fig. 3 represents in
front elevation one of the packing pieces in part section; Fig. 4 repre-
sents an end elevation of the same; and Fig. 5, a similar end elevation,
in which the packing or frictional contact with the interior of the
cylinder is composed of leather or material of a similar nature; and
Fig. 6, a view of the yielding packing as applied to the ends of the
pieces.
In these Figures a is the outer fixed casing or cylinder of the pump; b,
the revolving piston; and c, the central driving shaft or axis, all being
old and well-known parts of the rotatory pump; d, d, d, are the sliding
blocks or packing strips inserted into slots, recesses, or holes formed for
their reception in the piston block b. These packing pieces are provided
for maintaining a water or air tight sliding joint between their surfaces
of contact and the interior of the cylinder in which they move'; and in
order that such packing shall be capable of maintaining its pressure
uniformly against the interior surface of the cylinder in a manner that
will enable it to compensate for wear, and also yield when passing over
extraneous matter, it is constructed according to the arrangement shewn
in Figs. 3 and 4, in which d is the packing strip or block of metal, near
the ends of the under side of which holes or recesses e, e, are bored to

page_text: about two-thirds its depth. Into these holes helical springs e¹, e¹, or
other material of a yielding nature are placed, which form a bed or
yielding foundation for the stems i, i, of the yielding packing piece d³, d¹,
the extent of yield or movement allowed to such packing piece being
regulated by the transverse pin i, i. These packing strips or blocks d
when in their places in the slots or recesses of the piston b, as seen in
Fig. 1, assume a position that divides into air or water tight compart-
ments the annular space ƒ of the cylinder a, in which the piston b
rotates. The packing pieces d¹, d', are placed so as to bear
upon the
boss a¹ of the cylinder. The yielding pressure of such packing pieces
forces the opposite surfaces of the blocks d into yielding water-tight
contact with the interior of the cylinder a.
Although I have shewn as an example one arrangement of the
practical application to rotatory pumps of the improved yielding packing
it will be readily understood that other modifications of the same may
be made to suit the various purposes for which such packing may be
employed, therefore what I claim is, the novel adaptation to rotating
pistons of the improved construction and arrangement of yielding
packing, whether employed for pumping fluid or air, or actuated by
steam or air for transmitting power, to be used in the manner and for
the purpose as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in
the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ronald Martin, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.
Witness,
ALEX. C. M. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
J. R. MARTIN. (L.S.)