IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES PARTLY APPLICABLE TO PUMPS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Cottam, of Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC
PRESSES PARTLY APPLICABLE TO PUMPS."
Sealed the 28th August 1866, and dated the 1st March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Cottam at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st March 1866.
I, EDWARD COTTAM, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC PRESSES PARTLY APPLICABLE TO PUMPS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the combination of one or more supplementary
hydraulic speed rams of comparatively small diameter with one, two, or
more hydraulic rams of greater diameter. The supplementary rams may
either be made to work inside the larger rams, or they may be fitted out-
side the larger rams, and be central thereto or otherwise. The action is
that speed is first gained from the small speed ram or rams, and then
followed by power from the larger power ram or rams, the object being to
obtain speed at the early part of the stroke.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I prefer to fit inside a
hydraulic cylinder a hydraulic ram, which is constructed hollow, closed at
the top and open at the bottom. This hollow ram forms an inner speed
cylinder, and I carry up from the bottom of the outer cylinder a pipe open

page_text: at the top and extending into the inner cylinder or ram, and forming as it
were a fixed inner ram. The hollow ram carries the ram head. The pipe
before mentioned is in communication with a force pump, which forces
water into the hollow ram. The outer cylinder is also in communication
by another pipe with a force pump; this last-named pipe also communicates
with a water cistern, the communication being fitted with a valve. The
operation is as follows:-Water is first admitted into the hollow ram by
means of its central pipe, the communication of the pipe of the outer
cylinder with the force pump being closed. The pressure against the top
of the inside of the hollow ram quickly forces it up together with the ram
head, and as it ascends the outer cylinder is supplied with water from the
cistern before referred to. When the ram has ascended as far as the
pressure will conveniently carry it the communication of the outer power
cylinder with its force pump is opened to force water into this cylinder, in
order that by acting against the lower end of the ram or inner cylinder it
may drive it to the top of its stroke. Instead of fitting a supplementary
ram inside a larger ram I fit say two supplementary speed rams in separate
cylinders outside, and on opposite sides of a larger power ram and cylinder,
or 1 fit say one supplementary speed ram in a separate cylinder, which is
between and central to two or more larger power rams and cylinders; or I
attach to the bottom of a larger power ram a smaller speed ram or rod,
which works in a hydraulic cylinder below and central to the larger cylinder
in which the power ram works, the action in each case being the same as
herein-before described.
The improvement before described of employing a small ram inside a
larger ram is also applicable to pumps, that is to say, the plunger of the
larger or outer pump is made hollow and forms the cylinder of the inner
pump, the piston of which is stationary and has a passage for fluid formed
through it.
My Invention also consists in the employment in hydraulic presses
in
combination with a travelling rail at the head of the press of apparatus for
carrying away, the pressed cotton or other material. This apparatus consists
of a carriage which runs on the rail, and has depending therefrom chains
which may be connected to what I term a false follower, that is, a follower
which is placed between the follower proper and the material to be pressed,
and is carried up towards the head of the press by the follower proper.
When the cotton or other material has been sufficiently compressed, doors at
the side of the press are opened, the chains are applied to the false follower,
and the cotton or other material is removed by the carriage to any required

page_text: position to be completed as a bale or otherwise. The carriage acts as a
false head to the press..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Cottam in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
COTTAM, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Cottam, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Cottam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Cottam, 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 HYDRAULIC PRESSES PARTLY
APPLICABLE TO PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Cottam, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Cottam, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the combination of a central supplementary
hydraulic speed cylinder of comparatively small diameter with a hydraulic
cylinder of greater diameter. The action is that speed is first gained from
the small speed cylinder, and then followed by power from the larger power
cylinder, the object being to obtain speed at the early part of the stroke..

page_text: In carrying out this part of my Invention I fit inside a hydraulic cylinder
a hydraulic ram, which is constructed hollow, closed at the top and open
at the bottom. This hollow ram forms an inner speed cylinder, and I
carry up from the bottom of the outer cylinder a pipe, open at the top and
extending into the inner cylinder or ram, and forming as it were a fixed
inner ram.
The hollow ram carries the ram head or follower. The pipe
before mentioned is in communication with a force pump, which forces
water into the hollow ram. The outer cylinder is also in communication
with a force pump; this cylinder also communicates with a water cistern,
the communication being fitted with a valve.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section of a
hydraulic press constructed according to this part of my Invention.
A is a hydraulic cylinder, and B a hydraulic ram fitted therein; this ram
is constructed hollow, and is closed at the top and open at the bottom. It
forms an inner speed cylinder, and I carry up from the bottom of the outer
cylinder A a pipe D, open at the top and extending into the inner cylinder
B; I term this pipe D a fixed inner ram. The hollow ram B carries the
ram head or follower. The pipe D is in communication by pipes E and F
with a force pump. The outer cylinder A is also in communication by a
hole G with the pipe F and force pump. C is a pipe which communicates
with a water cistern, the communication being fitted with a valve. H
is a weighted valve acting as hereafter described. The operation is as
follows: Water is first admitted under pressure into the hollow ram B by
means of its central pipe D, the communication of the hole G of the
outer cylinder with the pump being closed by the valve H. The pressure
within the hollow ram B quickly forces it up together with the ram head,
and as it ascends the outer cylinder A is supplied with water by the pipe
C from the cistern before referred to. When the ram has ascended so far
that the ram head or follower in its work meets with sufficient resistance
the pressure of the water from the force pump raises the valve H and
admits the water through the hole G into the outer cylinder; the press
then acts at its full power and at the ordinary speed; when the valve H
rises as above mentioned it is retained by a catch until the press is dis-
charged.
The improvement before described of employing a small ram or
cylinder inside a large ram or cylinder is also applicable to pumps, that
is to say, the plunger of the larger or outer pump is made hollow and
forms the cylinder of the inner pump, the piston of which is stationary
and has a passage for fluid formed through it.

page_text: Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 a section through the line x, x, of
Figure 2 of a pump constructed in this manner. a is the larger or outer
pump; 6 is its plunger, which is made hollow so as to form the cylinder of
the inner pump; c is the piston of the cylinder b; this piston is stationary,
and has a passage d formed through it, which communicates by a pipe e
with the suction pipe leading to the source from which the fluid is to be
drawn ; g is an elbow pipe communicating between the outer cylinder a
and the pipef. The hollow plunger b is actuated by a crank or otherwise.
The action is as follows:-As the plunger 6 makes a stroke so as to draw
fluid into the cylinder a it becomes itself filled with the flued through the
passage d in the piston c; in the back stroke of the plunger the fluid, both`
in the cylinder a and in the hollow plunger b, is driven into the force
pipe h; but when the whole force is required to act upon the small pump,
the larger pump a may be thrown out of action by means of a valve; the
water drawn into the pump a then runs to waste.
My Invention also consists in the employment in hydraulic presses in
combination with a travelling rail at the head of the press of apparatus for
carrying away the pressed cotton or other material. This apparatus consists
of a carriage which runs on the rail, and has depending therefrom chains,
which may be connected to what I term a false follower, that is, a follower
which is placed between the follower proper and the material to be pressed,
and is carried up towards the head of the press by the follower proper.
When the cotton or other material has been sufficiently compressed doors
at the side of the press are opened, the chains are applied to the false
follower, and the cotton or other material is removed by the carriage to
any required position, to be completed as a bale or otherwise. .The
carriage acts as a false head to the press. In some cases I fix the chains
to the follower, hereafter described, instead of to the carriage. This
part of my Invention will be understood on reference to Figures
4, 5, and 6, Figure 4 being a front elevation, Figure 5 an end elevation,
and Figure 6 a partial plan. I, I, are the boxes into which the material,
say cotton, is fed from the upper floor J through hoppers K ; these boxes
are mounted on wheels as usual to enable them to be run above the ram
head or follower L. M, M, is a travelling rail at the head of the press;
upon this rail I fit carriages N, N, from which depend dogs O, O, to which
double hooks P are hinged. Q, Q, are false followers, having chains R
fixed thereto, and being formed on the under side with recesses to receive
one portion of the hooks P. One of these false followers Q is placed
between the follower proper and the material to be pressed in each box I,

page_text: and is carried up towards the head of the press by the follower proper.
When the cotton has been sufficiently compressed doors S at the side of
the press are opened; one portion of the hooks P is engaged into the
corresponding recesses on the under side of the follower, and the ends of
the chains R, R, are connected to the other portion of the hooks P, as
seen to the left of Figure 4, where the carriage N is shown as containing
a supply of cotton. The carriage is then moved along the rail M to any
required position, the cotton is completed as a bale or otherwise, and the
portion of the hooks P which is engaged under the follower Q being
released the follower falls into the position shown to the right of Figure 4,
and is carried by the carriage N along the rail M to one of the boxes I,
and the same operations are repeated. Sometimes I dispense with one of
the dogs O, and carry one or more chains R from the follower to the
carriage N, so that when the dog is disengaged the follower falls into a
vertical position, being suspended by the chain or chains.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the combination in hydraulic presses of a central supplementary
hydraulic speed cylinder of comparatively small diameter with a hydraulic
cylinder of greater diameter, substantially as herein-before described, and
represented in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings.
Second, constructing pumps in which the plunger of a larger or outer
pump is made hollow, and forms the cylinder of an inner pump, the piston
of which is stationary and has a passage for fluid formed through it, sub-
stantially as herein-before described, and represented in Figures 2 and 3 of
the accompanying Drawings.
Third, the employment in hydraulic presses in combination with a
travelling rail at the head of the press of apparatus arranged and acting
substantially as herein-before described, and represented in Figures 4, 5,
and 6 of the accompanying Drawings, for carrying away the pressed cotton
or other material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Cottam, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
EDWARD COTTAM. (L.S.)