IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAND GARDEN ENGINES AND HYDROPULTS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert William Page at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd December
1867.
I, ROBERT WILLIAM PAGE, of Park Walk, Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAND GARDEN ENGINES AND HYDROPULTS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of garden engine for pumping
and forcing water for use by hand, the engine being also useful as a hydropult
for extinguishing fire and for other purposes. It consists of a cylinder of
brass or other suitable metal provided at one end with a stuffing box, through
which a piston rod or plunger is made to work, actuated by the right hand of
the operator; the other end of the cylinder is fitted to an air globe or vessel,
to the opposite side of which an outlet pipe is fixed by a screw or otherwise
in order to cause the water to flow as a jet or stream. The piston rod has an
inverted cone of metal fixed thereon near the globe, and the extremity of the
rod is provided with a fixed metallic perforated disc or plate fitting the bore of
the cylinder. Between the cone and disc the cup leather is placed on the rod
loosely; it fits cylinder, but its base is perforated with an orifice larger than
the diameter of the piston rod, to which a suitable handle is attached. At the
side of the cylinder and close to the handle a short metal branch or nozzle is
fixed containing a conical inlet valve set in a corresponding seat; the base of
this conical valve is provided with a done or a semicircular plate of metal

page_text: placed at right angles or vertically or across the centre of the base of the
conical valve which fits or partly fits into a hemispherical recess in the branch
when the valve rises from its seat. The narrow end of the valve is furnished
with a triangular guide or sliding rod working in the circular bore of the
branch for the sake of steadiness, and an india-rubber or other tube of suitable
length is joined to the branch, and the other end is furnished with an inverted
cup covered with wire gauze, which cup is to be inserted in a cistern or other
vessel if the engine is to be used in a greenhouse or hothouse, or in a vessel
of water if to be used in a garden or other situation, the gauze preventing the
entrance of any foreign substances which might interfere with the action of
the valves or piston. The air globe or vessel is provided interiorly with a
short flexible tube communicating with the outlet jet pipe or rose; this tube
is weighted at the end so as always to fall to the bottom of the reservoir or
globe in order that it shall always be beneath the level of the water.
Now the action of the engine is as follows:-The inlet tube being immersed
in water, the cylinder is to be held in the left hand of the operator and the
piston rod is to be drawn backwards and forwards by the back action. The
perforated plate is brought to bear upon the cup leather, causing the leather
to leave or rise from the inverted conical metal piece on the piston rod, the
cup being thus brought down to the bottom of the cylinder. When the
forward motion of the piston rod is given the conical piece rises into the orifice
of the cup and closes it in an air-tight manner, so that in its ascent it forms
a vacuum, and thereby causes a rush of water from the inlet tube, which
causes the conical valve to move from its seat; the cylinder thus at the first
upward stroke becomes partly filled with water, the next down stroke opens
the cup leather & closes the conical valve; the next up-stroke draws a
farther supply of water, and so on until the air chamber becomes sufficiently full
to cause the air to be so compressed as to force the water in a continuous and
uniform jet through the outlet jet pipe or rose. By these means, and with a
small and light engine which can be easily held in and worked by the hands
of the operator, a continuous flow or jet of water can be thrown to a distance
of thirty feet or more and in every required direction. On the cylinder a
cap is fixed containing a small screw, on to which a rose is screwed, and thus
the rose may be substituted for the jet pipe, or vice versa, both rose and jet
pipe being always on the same engine. I also propose to apply to the jet
pipe a spreader for the purpose of throwing a sheet of water instead of a jet.
Spreaders have before been used for this purpose, but they have been
regulated by pressure of the finger on a lever against the action of a spring
resting on the jet pipe; but the novelty of my spreader consists in the

page_text: application of a thumbscrew to an arm under the spreader, such screw acting
against the under surface of the jet pipe, so that the angle of the spreader
may be adjusted and maintained by a few turns either way of the screw.
Pumps in connection with air vessels have before been used for garden
engines and bydropults, but the novelty of my Invention consists in the
arrangement & combination of parts, and of the improvement in the piston rod
in connection with the cup leather.