AN IMPROVEMENT IN PUMPS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DANIEL
CHAMBERS, of Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn, Water-closet Manufacturer, and
JOSEPH HALL, of Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, Plumber, both in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of June, in the sixth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Daniel Chambers and Joseph Hall, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said Daniel Chambers and Joseph Hall,
our exors, admňors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Daniel
Chambers and Joseph Hall, our exors, admors, 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, our
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PUMPS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that we, the said Daniel Chambers and Joseph Hall,
or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a pump having our improvement
applied thereto; Figure 2 is an end view; Figure 3 is a section of Figure 1,
shewing the internal arrangement of valves and piston; and Figure 4 shews a
plan and section of a solid yet flexible piston on a larger scale. In each of these
Figures the same letters of reference are used to indicate similar parts, a, a,
being the chamber or vessel in which the piston works; b is the piston, which
is constructed of leather or other suitable material. When made of leather,
it is to be stretched over a block of the figure to which it is desired (that is to
say) it is to be cupped or sunk in the middle, leaving the outer edges and
centre flat, as is clearly shewn in Figure 4. And we would remark that, in
some instances, we have made the pistons of leather covered with caoutchouc,
which protects the leather from the action of the water or other fluid. And the
way in which we have accomplished the making of such flexible pistons is as
follows: Having sunk the middle or centre of the leather part of the piston
we have covered the same on both sides by cutting thin sheets of caoutchouc
or india-rubber (which may be readily purchased) to suit the leather, allowing
for the edges of the india-rubber to overlap at the joints. These pieces of
india-rubber are stuck or cemented to the leather (or it may be other flexible
yet sufficiently strong material) by means of india-rubber or caoutchouc cement,
which is a material in very common use for for such purposes, and may readily
be purchased, but we make no claim to such process of constructing the pistons
or confine ourselves thereto. c is the piston rod, which has a circular plate d
formed on the end, which is affixed to the flexible piston, as is clearly shewn
in the Drawing; c is a curcular ring, affixed to the plate d by screws, as is
shewn. The flexible substance of which the piston is constituted, lying
between the ring e and the plate d, and producing a water-tight joint, the piston
rod passing through the centre of the flexible piston, as is clearly shewn at
Figure 4. The flexible piston is affixed in the vessel or chamber a, a, by
means of the projecting ring or surface f formed around that chamber, and by

page_text: the ring g, the outer edge or circumference of the flexible piston lying between
the rings f and g, and by means of screws the rings ƒ and g are drawn tightly
towards each other, pressing the outer circumference of the flexible piston
between the two rings, and thus forming an air and water-tight joint. These
means being the best we are acquainted with for affixing the piston to the
piston rod, and for affixing it in the chamber or vessel a, a; we do not,
however, confine ourselves thereto. This flexible piston, it will be seen, has
no opening or passage for the water to pass from one side to the other, but
simply acts as a solid plunger, the water on one side being forced out of the
chamber a whilst water is flowing into the chamber a on the other side of
the piston, as will readily be understood on examining the Drawing. is the
induction valve on one side of the piston; and m is the eduction valve to the
same side of the piston, hence any water which comes through the valve / will
be forced out of the valve m by the working of the piston; h is the induction
valve, and i the eduction valve for the other side of the flexible piston, and the
water which comes through the valve h is forced out at the valve i. The
valves and i open into the air chamber affixed at the top of the pump, as is
shewn. The piston rod is, according to the arrangement shewn in the Drawing,
worked by a crank receiving motion from a handle k through the intervention
of cog wheels, as is shewn in the Drawing.
Now it will be evident that our Invention does not relate to the particular
combinations of mechanical instruments shewn in the Drawing, nor is it
confined thereto, as the same may be varied to the particular purpose for
which the pump (having our improvement) is to be applied; and we would
have it understood, that we are aware that the use of flexible pistons to
pumps is not a new Invention, as they have been publicly known and in use
for many years; in such cases, however, the flexible pistons have had openings
with valves for the passage of the water through the piston from one side
thereof to the other. We do not, therefore, claim the application of flexible
pistons to pumps generally, but we do confine our Invention to the application
of unperforated flexible pistons to pumps, that is, flexible pistons which have
no openings or valves for the passage of water or other fluid from one side
of the pistons to the other, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Chambers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-six.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Daniel Chambers came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.