IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING OR EXHAUSTING ATMOSPHERIC AIR OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Henry Tuck, of Pall Mall, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR CONDENSING OR EXHAUSTING ATMOSPHERIC AIR OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS."
_ A communication.
Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 13th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Henry Tuck at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1855.
I, JOSEPH HENRY TUCK, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING OR EXHAUSTING ATMOSPHERIC AIR OR OTHER ELASTIC
FLUIDS," (being a communication from abroad,) to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the adaptation and arrangement of mechanism by
means of which the air or other fluid may be condensed or exhausted through
the intervention of a column of water or other practically inelastic fluid, the
surface of which is made to act as a piston upon such air or other fluid in
order to expel the same from the apparatus, the water or other practically
inelastic fluid at the same time covering the valves intended to be closed, and
preventing the air or other fluid from passing into those parts of the apparatus
from which it may not be readily discharged. The water or other practically
inelastic fluid is continually supplied to the apparatus in such a manner as to

page_text: compensate for the expulsion of the same with the air or other fluid and to
maintain the required level of the water.
The apparatus for the purpose consists of a vessel with a partition in it
through a stuffing box, in which a kind of cylinder piston is worked (or a
piston may be worked within an open cylinder fixed in the partition), so as to
impel the water on either side of the partition alternately, and cause it to expel
the air through the valves as required.
The requisite supply and circulation of water through the apparatus are
maintained by the working of two small auxiliary pumps, which are so adapted
to each other, as by their different capacities in action to cause an excess of
supply over the consumption and exit of water sufficient to compensate for
the quantity required to work the apparatus and to supply the losses from
evaporation and leakage; also to prevent any inconvenient degree of heat
in the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Henry Tuck in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HENRY TUCK, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Henry Tuck, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Henry
Tuck, my excentors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Henry Tuck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agrec 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING OR EXHAUSTING ATMOSPHERIC AIR OR OTHER
ELASTIC FLUIDS," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be

page_text: 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 Joseph Henry Tuck, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Condensing or Exhausting
Atmospheric Air or other Elastic Fluids" cousists in the adaptation and arrange-
ment of mechanism by means of which the air or other fluid may be condensed
or exhausted through the intervention of a column or body of water or other
practically inelastic fluid, the surface of which is made to act as a piston upon
such air or other fluid in order to expel the same from the apparatus, the
water or other practically inelastic fluid at the same time covering the valves
intended to be closed, and preventing the air or other fluid from passing into
those parts of the apparatus from which it may not be readily discharged.
The water or other practically inelastic fluid is continually supplied to the
apparatus in such a manner as to compensate for the expulsion of the same
with the air or other fluid and to maintain the required level of the water.
The apparatus for the purpose consists of a vessel with a partition in it
through a stuffing box, in which a kind of cylinder piston is worked (or a piston
may be worked within an open cylinder fixed in the partition), so as to impel
the water on either side of the partition alternately, and cause it to expel the
air through the valves as required. The requisite supply and circulation of
water through the apparatus are maintained by the working of two small
auxiliary pumps, which are so adapted to each other, as by their different
capacities in action to cause an excess of supply over the consumption and exit
of water sufficient to compensate for the quantity required to work the appa-
ratus, and to supply the losses from evaporation and leakage; also to prevent
any inconvenient degree of heat in the apparatus.
In order, however, that the Invention may be fully understoood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid
of the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section,
and Fig. 2 a transverse vertical section, of the apparatus above referred to;
Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view of the two auxiliary pumps detached; and
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of one of those pumps. In all these several Figures
the same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A is a vessel or general receptacle for the water or other practically inelastic

page_text: fluid. This vessel is divided into two portions by a partition B through a
stuffing box C, in which the cylinder piston D is worked by means of the rod E
from a steam engine or other prime mover. It may be found useful in some
cases to substitute for the cylinder piston D, working through the packed par-
tition, a cylinder fixed in the partition and having a packed piston or plunger
working in it. F and F are the two entrance valves for the air, one of which,
as Fx (Fig. 1) is always closed during the action of the cylinder piston or
plunger, while the other is open. The valves are in communication with the
pipe G, through which the air is supplied to the apparatus. H and H* are the
two exit or discharge valves for the air, one of which, as H (Fig. 1) is always
closed during the action of the cylinder piston or plunger, while the other is
open. These valves communicate between the vessel A and the chamber I,
from which the water or other practically inelastic fluid is discharged from the
pipe K as required. The apparatus when required to be used is filled with
water or some other practically inelastic fluid up to about the levels a, y,
(Fig. 1,) supposing the cylinder piston or plunger D to be in the position shewn
in the Drawing. L and M. are two small auxiliary pumps, which communicate
with the vessel A, by means of the apertures or passages N. N*, for the pump
L; and 0, 0, for the pump M. These pumps are intended to change the
water or other practically inelastic fluid used in the apparatus, in order to
prevent an inconvenient degree of heat in the case of condensation, or an
inconvenient degree of cold in the case of rarefaction of the air or other
elastic fluid required to be either condensed or rarefied. The pumps L and
M are shewn in the Drawing as adapted and applied to the lower part of the
vessel A, but, if preferred, they may be applied one on each side of the same.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Water or some other practically
inelastic fluid is supplied to the vessel A through the pipe G and valves F, F*,
which are both opened by the pressure of the water as it passes down the pipe.
The supply of water is continued until the spaces left in the two compartments
of the vessel A underneath the valves II, II, are about equal to the volume
generated by the plunger D in a single stroke. In the Drawing the plunger is
represented as near the end of the stroke. On the termination of the stroke,
the fluid at the surface y will have passed through the exit valve H*, driving
before it the air or other elastic fluid, which is thus made to pass into the
chamber I, whence it is discharged by the pipe K. On the same stroke of the
plunger D the level of the water or other practically inelastic fluid will become
lowered to a point a little below a, the air or other clastic fluid at the same
time entering the vacant space thereby created through the pipe K and valve
F, which latter it opens by its pressure. On the return stroke of the plunger,

page_text: the water or other practically inelastic fluid is raised, so as to close the entrance
valve F, and, driving the air or other elastic fluid before it, to open the exit
valve H, the air being thus made to pass into the chamber I, whence it is
discharged by the pipe K. In this manner, by the reciprocating action of the
plunger D, the air is alternately received into the apparatus and discharged as
required. By an arrangement, herein-after described, at each stroke of the
plunger a small quantity of the liquid is forced through the exit valve II or H*
respectively into the chamber I, the surplus of which liquid runs off' by the
delivery pipe K; by this means the level of liquid in the chamber I is always
kept to the level of the bottom of the delivery pipe K, and the exit valves H
and H are always covered by the liquid while they are closed.
The action of the small auxiliary pumps L and M is as follows:-While the
plunger D of the apparatus is on its forward stroke, that is to say, while it is
moving in the direction indicated by the arrow, the piston or plunger of the
auxiliary pump L is moved in a contrary direction, and forces the volume of
water or other practically inelastic fluid used in the pump due to its stroke
through the valve P and aperture and passage N into the vessel A. On the
backward stroke of the plunger D, the pressure on the piston or plunger of
the auxiliary pump L would be independent of the pressure above the exit
valves H and H* in the chamber I; at the same time the piston or plunger
of the auxiliary pump M is moving in a direction opposite to that of the pump
L, and the slide valve Q being opeu, it abstracts a volume of liquid due to its
stroke through the aperture or passage O from the vessel A. The pressure on
the piston or plunger of this pump M is also independent of the pressure above
the exit valves E and H. The auxiliary pumps L and M are so arranged
respectively, that on each stroke the volume of liquid supplied by the pump L
is slightly larger than that abstracted by the pump M, the surplus passing out
at each stroke by the delivery pipe K. This extra amount of supply of the
liquid is only intended to compensate for the losses arising from evaporation
and leakage, and to keep the valves Hand H* constantly covered with the
liquid as required.
It is obvious, that in using the above-described apparatus for exhausting or
rarefying atmospheric or other elastic fluids, it is only necessary to adapt thereto
the external connections for drawing and expelling such air or fluids.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be perforined, I would remark that the details above
described may be varied without departing from the essential feature of the
Invention as described; but I claim, under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,-

page_text: First, the use of a piston or plunger submerged in water or other practically
inclastic fluid, the motion of which piston or plunger is transferred through the
fluid to its surface, which is thereby made to act as a piston for the purpose of
condensing or exhausting atmospheric air or other clastic fluid, as described.
Secondly, the use of the small auxiliary pumps for the purpose of changing
the liquid used in the body of the apparatus as required, in order to prevent
inconvenient degree of heating or refrigerating of the apparatus, such
change of liquid being effected on the backward stroke of the larger piston or
plunger of the apparatus, as described.
any
And, lastly, the general arrangement and combination of the parts designed
to produce the above-described results.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
50, Chancery Lane,
Patent Agent.
JOSEPH HENRY TUCK. (L.S.)