AN IMPROVED METHOD OF RAISING HOT WATER FROM A LOWER TO AN UPPER LEVEL POR BATHS, MANUFAC- TORIES, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SUMMERS the younger, of New Bond Street, in the Parish of Saint George,
Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, Ironmonger, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of November, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Summers the younger, His especial licence, that I, the said William
Summers the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Suminers the younger, my executors, administra-
tors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
RAISING HOT WATER FROM A LOWER TO AN UPPER LEVEL POR BATHS, MANUFAC-
TORIES, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William Summers the younger, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference
being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Summers the younger, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described
in the following explanation thereof (that is to say):-
"For carrying into effect my above-mentioned improvement, I place a
boiler or caldron, made perfectly water-tight, in a situation below the level of
that of the vessel intended to be afterwards filled therefrom with hot water.
This boiler or caldron is to be provided with a fire-grate, fixed beneath it, or
can be attached to a distinct stove, and a supply of cold water must be con-
veyed to such boiler from a cistern or other reservoir for the purpose of being
there heated. I elevate the water (after it is rendered sufficiently hot) either
by application of the natural principle and property, which invariably impels
water to seek the same level as that of its source or head, or by means of the
engine commonly denominated a forcing pump. I generally adopt the former
mode in preference to the use of the forcing pump, because the latter is
attended with a greater degree of expence and trouble. In order to raise the
fluid by its own unaided action, the cistern or reservoir must be situated higher
than the vessel to be filled with heated water, and such reservoir may be
supplied by some one or other of the methods now in frequent use for raising
cold water. It may be useful to observe that this convenience is already in
many instances furnished by the several waterworks companies, who supply for
their employers cisterns placed on the tops of manufactories and dwelling
houses. From the reservoir so clevated, let a metal or earthen pipe descend
to the boiler, and let a similar pipe be conducted thence to the point where
warm water is required, which must (as before stated) be below the level of
the cistern. The cold water is then received through the descent pipe into the
caldron. It becomes speedily heated therein to a boiling pitch, or any less
degree, and will re-ascend through the other pipe till it reach the same level
with the reservoir, or find a previous aperture at which to discharge itself.
The warm water may therefore be drawn off at any part of the extent of the
ascent pipe below the level of the reservoir, by inserting in that part a common
cock. As soon as the boiler is filled with water to be heated, and before the
fluid be permitted to rise through the ascent pipe, the cold water pipe must
be stopped. This may be effected either by a stop-cock placed anywhere in
the pipe in which the cold water descends, or by a common ball-cock. In
the latter case a smaller cistern should be attached to the side of the reservoir,
into which the water should be received, in the first instance through the cock
before it pass into the descent pipe, and in which the ball of the cock will
freely operate. This smaller cistern, or (where it is not used) the reservoir

page_text: itself, must be open on the top (as must also the ascending or hot water pipe),
in order to permit the escape of the steam; when it is not considered practicable
or expedient to adopt the method of elevating warm water last described, the
forcing pump should be employed. In this case I connect the boiler by means
of a branch pipe, with what is called the raising pipe of the pump, and by a
cock I stop such raising pipe just above the spot at which the branch pipe of
the boiler is inserted into it. The boiler is then filled from the reservoir and
heated, and a volume of cold water being by the action of the pump forced
into the boiler, the hot water is displaced and driven to the same height in the
ascent pipe to which that engine would have operated without the addition of
my apparatus."
In witness whereof, I, the said William Summers the younger, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirteen.