C Apparatus for Elevating Grain and like Materials by Injector Action.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Nov., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 20th Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Sept., 1888
RESERVE C
Apparatus for Elevating Grain and like Materials by Injector
Action.
I, AUGUSTE NOSBAUME of 21 Rue de la grande Ourse Antwerp in the Kingdom of
Belgium Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:—―
My invention relates to apparatus for elevating grain and like materials by
injector action as I will describe referring- to-the. accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively front and back views
of the air compressing and regulating apparatus. Figs. 4 and 5 represent, the latter
partly in section, the elevating tube and its injectors.
Steam, admitted by a pipe N, by injector action draws in air by the mouth O and
forces it down the conical tube I and pipe J past a check valve into and through water
contained in a vessel Q. The steam condenses and the air, separated from it, passes
under pressure into the air reservoir L, at the bottom S of which such water as
may have been carried over collects to be run off from time to time by opening a stop
cock 7.
Water can be run off from the vessel Q by a three way cock W or can be
forced in by an injector V worked by compressed air supplied by the pipe F. Above
the air reservoir L is a valve arrangement for regulating pressure. It consists of a
cylinder fitted with a piston P which in order to ensure tightness may have admitted
on it water from a funnel G by a cock A¹. The piston P divides the cylinder into
two compartments, an upper compartment A to which compressed air can be admitted
from L by pipe H on turning to one position a three way cock R (connected by
unions E) or from which air can be discharged by turning the cock R to another
position, so that the attendant can regulate as required the pressure in A which is
indicated on a pressure gauge M. The piston P is attached to the stem of a valve D
fitted in the bottom M' of the cylinder B and stopped from descending beyond a certain
distance by a shoulder H¹. The valve D is opened or closed by the movement of the
piston P according as the pressure in A is greater or less than that in B and thus the
pressure in B is kept practically the same as that in A.

page_text: From the compartiment B a flexible pipe H leads to an injector nozzle Z situated
at the bottom of the conical tube y which is connected by a union g to the elevator
pipe d. The jet of compressed air issuing from Z causes grain or like material to
enter by the openings a a and to ascend the pipe. A second injector may be
arranged in the pipe at e supplied by an air pipe H", this injector tube being con-
nected to the elevator pipe d and f by unions h and g. In Figs. 2 and 3 the air
compressing and regulating apparatus is shewn in duplicate. One may be used to
work the lower injector at y and the other to work the upper injector at e.
Dated this 24th day of November 1887.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Elevating Grain and like Materials by Injector
Action.
I, AUGUSTE NOSBAUME, of 21 Rue de la grande Ourse, Antwerp, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to apparatus for elevating grain and like materials by the
injector-action of an air blast produced by a jet of steam.
The apparatus consists essentially of the following three principal parts: firstly, a
part whereby air pressure is produced and stored up by the action of a steam jet;
secondly a part operating as a regulator of such air pressure and thirdly, the part
wherein the air pressure produced is utilised for elevating the grain or other material.
I will proceed to describe the construction and operation of the apparatus with
reference to the drawings accompanying my provisional specification filed on the
24th November 1887 in which Fig. 1 shews a vertical section of one arrangement,
Fig. 2 a front view of the same, Fig. 3 a back view, Fig. 4 an elevation of the
suction part of the elevator and Fig. 5 a vertical section thereof, and to the accom-
panying drawings in which Figs. 6 to 10 shew modified constructions of the said
apparatus.
In the arrangement shewn at Figs. 1 to 5 Q is a closed receptacle partly filled with
water, into which passes a bent pipe J the inner end of which is closed by a check
valve for preventing the escape of water or air pressure through the same, while its
outer open end O is widened out so as to form an injector inlet, and contains the
nozzle N of the steam pipe, which nozzle is directed downward into the restricted
part 1 of the pipe J, so that the entering steam is made to draw in air through
the inlet O and to propel the same in the known manner through pipe J into the
receptacle Q, the steam being at the same time condensed by passing through the
water. In the upper part of this vessel is a restricted outlet through which
the air under pressure can escape into an air reservoir L surrounding the vessel Q.
This air reservoir is formed with a recess at S in which any water carried along
with the air from Q can collect and from which it can be withdrawn from time to
time by means of a suitable cock. With the bottom of the vessel Q is connected a
suitable injector apparatus V having a threeway cock W by means of which, when'
turned into one position, the receptacle Q can be emptied of its charge of water,
while when turned into another position it allows water to be forced into the receptacle
by the injector V, which is for this purpose supplied with air pressure from the
reservoir by means of a pipe F.
Figure 6 shows a vertical section of a simplified construction of the above
described apparatus in which the water for condensing the steam blast is contained
in the lower part of the air reservoir itself, instead of in a separate receptacle. For

page_text: this purpose the injector I' is so arranged that steam, air, and water are propelled
thereby through a pipe J. and ebeck valve r into the lower compartment B₁ of the
reservoir L the steam being however condensed in the pipe J. itself so that only air
and water issue into B' through the valve r.
This arrangement is rendered possible by the construction of the injector, which
consists of two conical nozzles b. 61 fitting one within the other, steam being admitted
through the inner one 6 while air is admitted through the outer one b¹, this being
made to extend beyond b and to communicate at S with the outer air so that the jet
of steam passing through 6 draws in a jet of air through 6. A water supply pipe S¹
communicates with the casingh surrounding the nozzles, so that the cold water drawn
in continuously by means of the injector action will effect' the condensation of the
steam as it passes together with the same into the tube J before reaching the
valve r. The reservoir is provided with a glass guage W₁ for indicating the water level,
which can be regulated by withdrawing water through the cock H or by the
application of any suitable known automatic. arrangement for discharging water.
In this arrangement a partition B, with central opening is applied, or in lieu
thereof a perforated partition for allowing. the upward passage of the air while
retaining the water, although this is not absolutely necessary.
The above described air reservoirs are provided with a pressure guage M. and the air
under pressure can either be taken directly therefrom for elevating the grain or other
material or it may first be made to pass through a pressure regulator.
Figures 7 and 8 shew respectively a sectional side elevation and an end elevation
of another modification of the air compressing apparatus, in which the air reservoir L
is divided into two compartments by a tubular condenser C. This is formed by
two sheet metal partitions fixed in the reservoir at a certain distance from each
other so as to form a chamber through which pass a number of vertical tubes t
and which is filled with cold water.
The tubes t establish a communication between the compartments of the air reservoir.
On top of the upper compartment is placed a reservoir of cold water L' which
serves on the one hand for feeding the condenser C through connecting pipes t
and on the other hand for supplying the condensing water to the bottom compart-
ment of L through a pipe t2. The pipes are provided with regulating cocks r
and the pipe t is connected to a suitable pump P¹ by which the water is forced
into Lagainst the air pressure there existing.
Discharge cocks and are provided at suitable parts of the condenser C and
lower compartment of the air reservoir. The water level in the latter is indicated by
a glass guage N. and the air pressure by a pressure guage M.
A convenient number of injectors I are fixed at the front end of the reservoir; four
are shewn upon the drawing, each of these being connected by a pipe E and regulating
valve O with a common steam supply pipe at top, while branches E' with regulating
cocks O¹ admit the air supply.
The injector extends into the water space of the reservoir, where it has a check-
valve S. R³ is the pressure regulating apparatus which will be presently described.
In the above described apparatus the steam passing in through the injector I. is
condensed in the cold water in the bottom compartment of the reservoir, this water
being always maintained at any desired temperature by regulating the feed of the
pump P and the discharge through the cocks 2. Any steam that is not entirely
condensed in the lower compartment will become condensed in passing up through
the tubest of the condenser, so that only dry air passes into the upper compartment
of L and thence to the pressure regulator R³, which is shown to an enlarged scale at
Figures 9 and 10. This consists of a cylinder containing a piston P, by which it is
divided into two compartments A. B. The piston works freely in the cylinder and
its rod, extending downwards, is connected to a valve D; which closes upwards
against a seating M¹, while its downward motion is limited by the shoulder H. The
compartment A communicates with the air reservoir L through a pipe H and three-
way cock R which is connected to the pipe by means of the screw-union E. The
cock also establishes a communication between the compartment A and the atmosphere.

page_text: The compartiment A also has a cock R' by which it may be made to communicate.
with a funnel G, and lastly it is provided with a pressure gauge M for indicating the
air pressure therein.
The compartment B has on each side a cock R" (Fig. 10) to which a flexible
hose His connected by a screw union E¹. The hose H pass to the elevating
apparatus.
The lower end of the compartment B is closed by a cover M" having the valve
seat M' of the valve D, which serves to either establish or cut off the communication
between the compartment B and the air reservoir L. For the purpose of forming a
perfectly air tight joint between the piston and the cylinder, a small quantity of water
is admitted on to the top of the latter by the funnel G.
The operation of this regulator is as follows :-As soon as sufficient air pressure has
been produced in the reservoir, the cock R is opened until the air pressure has risen
in the compartment A to the degree at which the elevating apparatus is required to
operate, after which the cock R is closed and cock R" is opened, thereby allowing the
air contained in compartment B to escape and consequently causing the piston P to
sink under the greater pressure in A.
By this downward motion of P the valve D will be moved away from its seat,
allowing the air pressure to pass from the reservoir L into the compartment B, whence
it issues through the cocks R" into the hose H" which leads it to the elevating
apparatus. By the rise of pressure in B the piston P will be again raised and will
thereby partially close the valve D until, by the restricted inlet for the air pressure, the
pressure in B will just equal that in A, when, the piston P being in equilibrio, the valve
will be held stationary, in that position. Thus the air pressure at which the elevating
apparatus is made to work will be determined by the pressure maintained in the
compartment A which is indicated by the pressure gauge.
The hose pipes H" are connected to injector apparatus consisting of nozzles Z
within a coned tube y connected at its upper end to the elevating tube d. The
injector has openings at a a and terminates in a tube at bottom, through which the
grain or other material is drawn in. If it is required to raise the grain to a
considerable height, an auxiliary injector nozzle e is provided in the upper part of the
tube d which nozzle is also connected by a hose H₁ to the compartment B.
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 construction of apparatus for compressing air for raising grain and other
material by injector action wherein air is forced under pressure by a steam injector 1
into a receptacle Q containing water which condenses the steam entering with the air,
while the air under pressure passes into a surrounding air reservoir L, the condensing
water being discharged when required by a three way cock W which also serves to
admit fresh condensing water forced in by an injector V. worked by the compressed
air substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 of the accompanying
drawings.
2. The modified construction of air compressing apparatus herein described with
reference to Figure 6 wherein the condensing water is drawn directly into the
injector I¹ that supplies the compressed air to the reservoir L, the injector being for
this purpose constructed of two concentric nozzles 6 6 respectively for steam and air
enclosed by a casing into which the water is drawn, so that the three fluids pass
simultaneously into the pipe J in which the steam is condensed so that only air and
water pass through the valve r into the reservoir.
3. The modified construction of air compressing apparatus herein described with
reference to Figures 7 and 8 wherein the compressed air reservoir L is divided into
an upper and a lower compartment by a tubular surface condenser C and carries a
water reservoir L' which supplies both the water for the interior of the surface
condenser C by pipes and the condensing water in the lower compartment of the air
reservoir by the pipe 2 and the pump P, the entering steam being entirely condensed

page_text: on its passage through the said water and through the tubes of the surface condenser C,
to that only dry air enters the upper compartment of L.
4. The construction of apparatus for regulating the air pressure passing from the
air reservoir to the elevating apparatus consisting of a cylindrical vessel divided by a
piston P into two compartments A and B of which the compartment A is in
communication with the air reservoir by a cock R. while the compartment B
communicates directly therewith by a valve D, so that any desired degree of pressure
can be admitted to A. whereby the air pressure passing from L to B through valve D
and thence to the elevating apparatus can be regulated.
5. The construction of elevator for raising grain and other granular material by
injector action, consisting of the elevating tube d with lower injector y and upper
auxiliary injector e operating in combination with an injector air compressing
apparatus substantially as herein described.
ABEL & IMRAY.