IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC ENGINES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jean Marie Landmann at the Office
of the Commissioners. of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th April
1862.
I, JEAN MARIE LANDMANN, Incumbent of the Parish of St. Croix, in the
Town of Algiers, and Colony of Algeria, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My improved hydraulic machine is composed of a pipe with two branches,
by which the water is made to-rise from a given depth to any desired 'height
by means of a piston raised by a lever. The short branch, which I term the
reception pipe or pump barrel, is placed completely under water. In the
interior of this pipe moves a piston provided with a valve opening downwards.
This piston, with its valve, is screwed to an iron column, intended to act as
counterpoise to the column of water to be raised, and for this reason I term
this piston (which forms one body with its column) the poise or ponderator.
This column is, however, always of less diameter than the piston, so that the
water from the well may penetrate into the space between the column and the
side of the pipe, and thence by the valve into the interior of the pump barrel.
The poise piston is tied by a cord or chain to a lever, by which it is set in
motion. The long branch of the ascension pipe has a valve opening upwards;
this pipe is usually narrower than the reception pipe. To force the water
from the well to rise in the ascension pipe, and then to the desired height, I
permit the poise piston to descend the pipe, then the valve closes, and all the
water in the path of the poise is driven into the ascension pipe, of which it
lifts the valve. I then raise my poise, and the valve, pressed by the column

page_text: of water which is above it closes; at the same time the other opens, and the
water precipitates itself into the reception pipe. I again lower the poise,
which pushes before it all the water beneath it and that which is above the
valve, and so on at each descent of the poise until the column of water in the
ascension pipe equilibrizes the weight of the "poise." But if it be required
to raise a powerful column of water from a great depth, then instead of the
ordinary lever I use the winch or crank, but in this case, instead of making my
poise travel from sixteen to twenty inches, I make it rise and fall several yards.
This machine has but one poise or ponderator, on the principle of the Roman
balance or steelyards, but I can also construct my machine with two poises or
ponderators on the principle of the ordinary scale beam. In this latter case
most of the parts of the apparatus will be doubled; thus there will be two
reception pipes, two poises, each provided with its pistons and valve, two
levers or two arms of a balance beam, but there will be but one ascension
pipe, the lower part of which will be more widened, and provided with two
valves, which will lift by turns to give passage to the water which is to rise
in the ascension pipe while the corresponding piston descends, and shut by
their weight when it begins to rise again. Each of the two poises or ponde-
rators equipoises the column of water which is to be raised. To work the
beam or balance I destroy the equilibrium by bringing more strength or
weight alternately on the end of the arms of the balance; according to this
construction it would require two men to work the double poise hydraulic
machine, but one man will suffice if the poises are made to differ slightly in
strength.