IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Hewitt, of Morley Park Works, near
Belper, in the County of Derby, Underground Mineral Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS."
Sealed the 4th January 1856, and dated the 24th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Hewitt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
July 1855.
I, THOMAS HEWITT, of Morley Park Works, near Belper, in the County of
Derby, Underground Mineral Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS" to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to remedy the inconveniences experienced in
sinking shafts where water is found in such quantities as to render the use of
pumps indispensable. According to one arrangement, a telescope pipe is
introduced underneath the clack. This has been found of great use, but can
only be employed where the water is found in small quantities, on account of
its admitting air underneath the clack at the slide gland, thus causing much
delay in the sinking. This is what is called a slide lift. When a fresh length
of pipe has to be put on, the slide gland is then not less than nineteen feet
below the bucket, and this accounts for its causing the extra labour in the
sinking, it being necessary to clay the slide gland to prevent it from
getting air.

page_text: Another arrangement is also used during sinking, called a running lift.
The pipes are put on at the top, and the whole column of pipes sinks with the
bottom of the shaft. When a nine-feet pipe is put on, the delivery of water
must take place at least 14 feet above the place where the water passes off.
This fourteen feet column of water is conducted down to the lower level by a
water bag made of leather, and at times this bag accidentally drags out of the
mouth of the level, and the water pours upon the men at the bottom of the
shaft. A great improvement was effected in the running lifts by suspending
the column of pumps by large screws attached to wood rods, pressed together
with clamps, the screws being run out as the pumps are required to be lowered.
This lift can be used only when the pumping beam is at least fourteen feet
above the delivery place. Sometimes the running lifts are used without
the screws, but this causes more danger to the sinkers at the bottom of the
shaft. The inconveniences incidental to these arrangements are obviated by
my Invention, which consists in applying a slide or telescope pipe at the top
of the column of pumps or anywhere above the clack. It may also be taken
lower down towards the working barrel if thought desirable, and in this case
it will be requisite to have the inside diameter of the slide equal to that of the
common pipes to allow the bucket to pass through. According to my plan,
the pipes can always be put on in the day-time, whereas in the old slide and
running lifts the pipes must be put on as soon as the sinking has been lowered
9 feet, or the length of a pipe.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Hewitt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HEWITT, of Morley Park Works, near Belper, in the County of Derby,
Underground Mineral Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth 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, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Hewitt, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Hewitt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Hewitt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Hewitt, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Hewitt, 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 -
The object of my Invention is to remedy the inconveniences experienced
in sinking shafts and foundations for mason work for dockyards, &c. where
water is found in such quantities as to render the use of pumps indispensable.
According to one arrangement that has heretofore been adopted in some cases,
a telescope pipe is introduced underneath the clack at the slide gland, thus
causing much delay in the sinking, in consequence of the bucket being neces-
sarily twenty-nine feet above the bottom. This is what is called an old
slide lift. When with this arrangement a fresh length of pipe has to be put
on, the slide gland is then not less than nineteen feet below the bucket, if
working five feet stroke and the bucket is working at the bottom end of the
barrel, and this accounts for its causing the extra labor in the sinking, it
being necessary to clay the slide gland to prevent the air from entering
through it.
Another arrangement is also used during sinking, called a running lift. In
this arrangement, the pipes are put on at the top, and the whole column of
pipes sinks with the bottom of the shaft. When a nine feet pipe is put
on, the delivery of the water must take place at least twelve or fourteen
feet above the place where the water passes off. The twelve or fourteen feet
column of water is conducted down to the lower level by a water bag made of
leather, and at times this bag accidentally drags out of the mouth of the level,
and the water pours upon the men at the bottom of the shaft. A great
improvement was effected in the running lift by suspending the column of
pump pipes by large screws attached to wood rods, pressed together with

page_text: clamps, the screws being run out as the pumps are required to be lowered.
This lift can be used only when the pumping beam is at least eighteen feet
Sometimes
above the delivering place, unless match or short pipes are used.
the running lifts are used without the screws, but this causes more danger to
the sinkers at the bottom of the shaft.
The inconveniences incidental to these arrangements are obviated by my
Invention, which consists in applying a slide or telescope pipe at the top of
the column of pump pipes, or anywhere above the clack. It may, for instance,
be taken down towards the working barrel, if thought desirable. In this case
it will be requisite to have the inside diameter of the slide equal to that of
the common pipes of the pump to allow the bucket to pass through, unless a
bucket door piece be put on at the bottom end of the slide. According to
my plan the pipes can always be put on in the day-time, and from one to two
In the old slide and running lifts,
pipes can be put on at the same time.
the pipes must be put on as soon as the sinking has been lowered nine
feet, or the length of a pipe, unless match pipes are used, and this doubles
the labor.
In order that the improvements which constitute my Invention may be fully
understood, I have annexed hereunto Drawings, not only of a pump, to which
these improvements are applied, but also of others, in which the slide lift and
the running lift are respectively fitted.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of one lift, the slide working below the
clack. A is the beam which works the pump rod; B is the working barrel;
C is the clack piece; D, D', are common pump pipes; E is the smaller pipe,
which slides into the bottom pipe D' through a gland at F; G is the brick-
work of the shaft; and H is a pair of stays which supports the pump.
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the upper portion of a pump in which
the running lift is employed, and the pump is suspended by screws, as herein-
before mentioned. A, is the beam which works the pump rod; B. B₁, are
common pump pipes; C₁, C₁, are the screws by which the column of pipes is
suspended; D, D₁, are the wood rods to which the screws C₁, C. are attached;
E, E, are the clamps which press the rods together; F, is the brickwork of
the shaft; G, is a pair of stays which supports the pump; and F. H₁, are nuts,
by means of which and the screws C₁, C, the pump is raised and lowered as
required. In this Figure the pump barrel, the clack, and the lower portions
of the pump pipes are omitted.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of the upper portions of a pump to which
my improvements are applied. In the arrangement shewn the telescope pipe

page_text: is applied at the top of the column of pump pipes. A is the beam which
works the pump rod; B., B., are common pump pipes; C, is the small pipe
which slides into the upper of the pipes B, B.; D, is a stuffing box; and E.,
a gland, through which the small pipe C₂ works; F, is the brickwork of the
shaft; and G, is a pair of stays which supports the pump. In this Figure
also the pump barrel, the clack, and the lower portions of the pump pipes are
omitted.
Figure 4 shews precisely the same arrangement as Figure 3, but in Figure 4
the telescope pipe C, is more extended than in Figure 3, in consequence of
the shaft being supposed to have been sunk lower than when the parts of the
pump occupied the relative positions shewn in Figure 3. The same letters
are employed to indicate the same parts in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 5 shews the arrangement I adopt when the telescope pipe is placed
lower down than in Figures 3 and 4. In this case, as I have herein-before
remarked, the internal diameter of the inner pipe must be equal to that of the
common pipes of the pumps to allow the bucket to pass through, and the
pipes in which this inner pipe works must therefore be greater in diameter
than the common pipes, unless a bucket door-piece be put in at the bottom
end of the slide, as I have before stated. a is the inner pipe; b, b, are the
pipes in which it works; c is the gland; and d, the stuffing box; e is a short
tapering or matching piece of pipe, the lower end of which is of the same size
as the common pipes. This piece c is used to connect the pipes b, b, with the
common pipes at any point, or with the working barrel, if desirable. Similar
pieces to this are used whenever it is necessary in carrying out my Invention
to connect pipes of different diameters. The inner pipe a, shewn in this
arrangement, may be made eighteen or twenty feet in length, or even longer
if required. Figure 6 is a more complete view of a pump fitted with the
modification shewn in Figure 5, the same letters being employed to indicate
the same parts in both Figures. In Figure 6 the working barrel f and the
clack piece g are shown. Instead of the small telescope pipe descending into
larger, as in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, it may be fitted so as to ascend into the
larger, or, which is the same thing, the larger pipe may descend over the
smaller one. This arrangement is shewn in Figure 7; in which, a, is the inner
pipe; b₁, the outer pipe; c₁, the gland; d, the stuffing box; ₁, the brickwork
of the shaft; and f₁, the wood stays which support the pumps. The gland
and the stuffing box d, are of course inverted, as shewn.
a
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,―

page_text: First, the application of a slide or telescopic pipe at the top of a column of
punip pipes, or anywhere above the clack.
Second, the several arrangements for carrying my Invention into effect
which are herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hewitt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
THOMAS HEWITT. (L.S.)