IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF STEAM PUMPS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PUMPS, BLAST ENGINES, EXHAUSTERS, AND OTHER MACHINES; ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC LIFTS, AND THE MODE OF WORKING: THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Holman, of No. 10, Laurence Pountney
Lane, in the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of
." IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF STEAM PUMPS,
PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PUMPS,
BLAST ENGINES, EXHAUSTERS, AND OTHER MACHINES; ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC LIFTS, AND THE MODE OF WORKING: THE SAME."
Sealed the 25th September 1868, and dated the 27th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Holman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 27th March 1868.
I, STEPHEN HOLMAN, of No. 10, Laurence Pountney Lane, in the City:
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION. OF STEAM PUMPS,
PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PUMPS, BLAST
ENGINES, EXHAUSTERS, AND OTHER MACHINES; ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC
LIFTS, AND THE MODE OF WORKING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a novel construction and combination:
of steam engine and pump cylinders, by means of which a very simple,.

page_text: cheap, and efficient steam pump is produced. The steam pump consists
of a cylinder having a central division either cast or inserted therein;
a hole is made in the central division through which a parallel con-
necting piece passes, and to which two pistons are fitted, which two
pistons work in the cylinder one on either side of the central division;
the two pistons are operated by means of steam acting alternately on
their outer surfaces nearest the cylinder ends, and close to the central
division two passages are formed, and a valve chamber is constructed or
attached in close proximity thereto, the valves of which are operated by
the inner surfaces of the pistons alternately, by which means a constant
ingress and egress of water or other fluids will be effected. The engine
and pump under this combination render a separate pump barrel
unnecessary, and dispense with the ordinary piston rod and stuffing
boxes. The proportionate areas of the pumping surfaces to the steam
surfaces of the pistons may be increased or diminished at pleasure by
making the connecting piece between the pistons larger or smaller, so
that any desired cubical quantity of fluid may be discharged by any
given number of strokes of tlie pistons; it is also important to note that
the discharging areas of the pistons being equal the quantity of fluid
ejected may be calculated with mathematical precision.
i
This Invention relates, secondly, to a novel method of operating the
steam slide valve. In order to effect the necessary movement of the
slide valve at each traverse or each half stroke of the engine, I construct
each cylinder cover with a cavity or chamber, each having a passage
communicating with the piston ends of the slide valve. Through the
inner side of the chamber I make one or more holes opening into the
ends of the cylinder; in these holes movable plugs or plungers are fitted
with their ends protruding any determined distance into the cylinder.
After the plugs are put in their places I place over them a piece of india-
rubber or other suitable material, and having secured the rubber between
two flanges, or by any other .convenient method, I either fill or partly
fill the chambers in the covers with water or other fluid; when either
piston which is acted upon by the steam forces the other piston towards
the end of the cylinder, such piston so forced will come in contact with
the movable. plug or plugs and force it on them into the chamber in
the cover, and thereby displace a sufficient, quantity of water, or so
compress an elastic material or fluid as to move the slide valve and
reverse the stroke of the pistons; by the repetition of this process at

page_text: each end of the stroke a reciprocating action will be effected without
any external mechanism whatever. If the plugs in the cylinder covers
and the piston. ends of the slide valve are made steam or water tight
they may be made to act direct on the fluid in the chamber and thereby
dispense with the india-rubber, which is merely used to avoid the
necessity of making the plugs and piston ends of the slide valve
perfectly. steam or water tight, or an intermediate lever may be used
instead of water..
The method of operating the slide valve described in the Specification
of an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to: William Clark,
of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent
Agent, being a communication from abroad by Adam Scott Cameron, of
the City of New York, United States of America, scaled the 17th day
of July 1866, and dated the 22nd of March 1866, No. 853, may be used
instead of the arrangement for operating the slide valve herein specified.
This Invention relates; thirdly, to a novel construction of buffer
valves, seats, and stops, which are designed with a view to obtain an
increase of speed, and thereby to increase the relative duty of steam
pumps and other pumps. I effect this important object in the following
manner, namely, I make round disc-shaped valves of metal or other
suitable material with a hole through a central boss to work on a guide
rod; I place on the guide rod immediately above and embracing the
boss of the valve a tubular. buffer or stop of india-rubber or other
suitable material (the dimensions of which are quite arbitrary); the said
buffer is contracted at the extreme end above the valve so as to embrace
the guide rod; suitable stops are provided so that when the pump lifts
tlie valve the buffer (or buffers, as the case may be,) becomes compressed
and prevents too great a rise of the valve, and also causes the valve to
close quickly at the reverse of stroke; the further use of the tubular
buffer is to prevent the escape of water or other fluid past the valve.
between the boss and guide rod, and to dispense with the usual central:
seating and the cross pieces and gratings, which in the various dise
and spindle valves hitherto used greatly obstruct the free passage of
the fluid. I also make buffer rings or seats for valves of india-rubber:
or other suitable material. I prefer to make the buffer rings of the-
material known as junction rubber, which permits any portion of the
section of the rings to be made to any desirable degree of hardness,
whilst the other portion may be soft and flexible; by making one portion

page_text: hard an uniform shape and stiffness of ring is obtained, and the rings
can be more firmly held in their places with comparatively little
liability to distortion. In order to facilitate the removal or exchange
of the rings whenever nécessary or desirable, I construct metal seat
holders, which are made of a suitable shape to receive the buffer ring
and I secure each buffer ring in its position by means of a serewed metal
ring or any other convenient method of fastening; this arrangement
gives great facility to remove any one ring and to substitute it by
another at a very small cost. By using the tubular buffers and buffer
rings and valves, steam pumps and other pumps will perform much
greater duty with comparatively little noise and a great saving of wear
and tear, moreover the damage to foundations, buildings, and machinery
will be materially prevented. These buffer valves may be used either
singly, as already described, or they may be used in a compound form
by placing them in tiers, in which case it will only be necessary for the
tubular buffer to embrace the boss of the upper valve of cach tier, or
they may be arranged in any determined number on any given area of
pump valve surface or valve chamber.
This Invention relates, fourthly, to a novel method of constructing,
arranging, and working hydraulic lifts by the direct action of water
transmitted by the steam pump before described. I place two or more
ordinary hydraulic cylinders and rams in any required position, either side
by side or at a distance from each other or above each other, I connect
the cylinders by means of a communicating pipe, in which I place
suitable stop-cocks or valves; I then fill the cylinders with water and
force in sufficient water to raise one ram with its platten to the height
at which it is determined to raise the goods, or from which it is deter-
mined to lower the goods; when the lifts are required to be used for
raising goods the engine or pump draws the water from one cylinder
having its ram run out, which is assumed to be without a load, and
forces it into the other cylinder which has a load on the table or platten,
and thus raise it to the height required. By simply shifting the position
of the valves the water will be forced in the direction of the other
cylinder, and by the repetition of this operation each lift will be raised
with its load alternately, but when the apparatus is used for lowering
goods only the use of the pump may be dispensed with entirely during
such operation, a single stop-cock being all that will be needed to effect
the alternate descent of the loaded tables or plattens. It will be obvious

page_text: that by turning the stop-cock so as to shut off the communication from
one cylinder to another until the upper table is loaded and then opening
it, the loaded table will descend and raise the empty table at the same
operation; this alternate stopping of the communication and loading of
the upraised platform will give ready facility for lowering goods without
the aid of the engine or other machinery. The lifts constructed and
arranged as herein described may also be operated by other means of
applying motive power."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Holman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
HOLMAN, of No. 10, Laurence Pountney Lane, in the City of London,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Holmán, Her special licence
that I, the said Stephen Holman, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Holman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF STEAM PUMPS; ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC LIFTS, AND THE MODE OF WORKING THE SAME, PARTS OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PUMPS, BLAST ENGINES, EXHAUSTERS,
AND OTHER MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the.
said Stephen Holman, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under , or their, or one of their hands and seals,,
should particularly 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
.Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, "that 'I, the said Stephen Holman, do hereby
declare the nature of said 'Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, '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):-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a novel construction of steam engine
& pump cylinders by means of which a very simple, cheap, and efficient
steam pump is produced. The steam pump consists of a cylinder having
a central division either cast or inserted therein; a hole is made in the
central division through which a parallel connecting picce passes, and
to which two pistons are fitted, which two pistons work in the cylinder,
one on either side of the central division; the two pistons are operated
by means of steam acting álternately on their outer surfaces nearest
the cylinder ends, and close to the central division two passages are
formed, and a valve chamber is constructed or attached in close proximity
thereto, the valves of which are operated by the inner surfaces of the
pistons alternately, by which means a constant ingress and egress of
water or other fluids will be effected. The engine and pump under this
combination renders a seperate pump barrel unnecessary, and dispenses
with the ordinary piston rod & stuffing boxes. The proportionate
areas of the pumping surfaces to the steam surfaces of the pistons may
be increased or diminished at pleasure by making the connecting piece
between the pistons larger or smaller, so that any desired cubical
quantity of fluid may be discharged by any given number of strokes
of the pistons; it is also important to note that the discharging areas of
the pistons being equal the quantity of fluid ejected may be calculated
with mathematical precision.
This Invention relates, secondly, to a novel method of operating the
steam slide valve. In order to effect the necessary movement of the
slide valve at each traverse (of the pistons) or cach half stroke of
the engine, I construct each cylinder cover with a cavity or chamber,
cach having a passage communicating with the piston ends of the slide
valve. Through the inner side of the chamber I make one or more holes
opening into the ends of the cylinder; in these holes moveable plugs
or plungers are fitted with their ends protruding any determined distance

page_text: into the cylinder. After the plugs are put in their places I place over
them a piece of india-rubber or other suitable material, and having
secured the rubber between two flanges, or by any other convenient
method, I either fill or partly fill the chambers in the covers with water
or other fluid; when either piston which is acted upon by the steam
forces the other piston towards the end of the cylinder such piston so
forced will come in contact with the moveable plug or plugs and force.
it or them into the chamber in the cover, and thereby displace a
sufficient quantity of water, or so compress an elastic material or fluid
as to move the slide valve and reverse the stroke of the pistons; by
the repetition of this process at each end of the stroke a reciprocating.
action will be effected without any external mechanism whatever. If
the plugs in the cylinder covers and the piston ends of the slide valve,
are made steam or water tight they may be made to act direct on the
fluid in the chamber, and thereby dispense with the the india-rubber,.
which is merely used to avoid the necessity of making the plugs and.
piston ends of the slide valve perfectly steam or water-tight, or an inter-
mediate lever may be used.
:
The method of operating the slide valve described in the Specification
of an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to William
Clark, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, being a communication from abroad by Adam Scott
Cameron, of the City of New York, United States of America, scaled
the 17th day of July 1866, and dated the 22nd of March 1866, No. 853,
may be used instead of the arrangement for operating the slide valve
herein specified.
This Invention relates, thirdly, to a novel construction of buffer valves,
seats, and stops, which are designed with a view to obtain an increase
of speed, and thereby to increase the relative duty of steam pumps and
other pumps. I effect this important object in the following manner,
namely, I make round disc-shaped valves of metal or other suitable.
material with a hole through a central boss to work on a guide rod; I
place on the guide rod immediately above and embracing the boss of
the valve a tubular buffer or stop of india-rubber or other suitable
material (the dimensions of which are quite arbitrary); the said buffer
is contracted at the extreme end above the valve, so as to embrace the
guide rod; suitable stops are provided, so that when the pump lifts
the valve the buffer (or buffers, as the case may be) becomes compressed,

page_text: and prevents too great a rise of the valve, and also causes the valve
to close quickly at the reverse of stroke; the further use of the tubular
buffer is to prevent the escape of water or other fluid past the valve
between the boss and guide rod, and to dispense with the the usual central
Beating and the cress pieces and gratings which in the various disc and
spindle valves hitherto used greatly obstruct the free passage of the
fluid. I also make buffer rings or seats for valves of india-rubber or
other suitable material. I prefer to make the buffer rings of the
material known as junction rubber, which permits any portion of the
section of the rings to be made to any desirable degree of hardness,
whilst the portion may be soft and flexible; by making one portion
hard an uniform shape and stiffness of ring is obtained, and the rings
can be more firmly held in their places with comparatively little liability
to distortion. In order to facilitate the removal or exchange of the rings
whenever necessary or desirable I construct metal seat holders, which
are made of a suitable shape to receive the buffer ring, and I secure
each buffer in its position by means of a screwed metal ring or other
convenient method of fastening; this arrangement gives great facility
to remove any one ring and to substitute it by another. at a very small
cost. By using the tubular buffers and buffer rings and valves steam
pumps and other pumps will perform much greater duty with com-
paratively little noise, and a great saving of wear and tear; moreover,
the damage to foundations, buildings, and machinery will be materially
prevented. These buffer valves may be used either singly, as already
described, or they may be used in a compound form by placing them in
tiers, in which case it will only be necessary for the tubular buffer to
embrace the boss of the upper valve of each tier, or they may be
arranged in any determined number on any given area of pump valve
surface or valve chamber.
This Invention relates, fourthly, to a novel method of constructing
and arranging and working hydraulic lifts by the direct action of water
transmitted by the steam pump before described. I place two or more
ordinary hydraulic cylinders and rams in any required position, either
side by side, or at a distance from each other, or above each other.
I connect the cylinders by means of a communicating pipe, in which
I place suitable stop-cocks or valves; I then fill the cylinders with water,
and force in sufficient water to raise one ram with its platten to the
height at which it is determined to raise the goods, or from which it

page_text: t
is determined to lower the goods. When the lifts are required to bo
used for raising goods the engine or pump draws the water from one
cylinder having its ram run out, which is assumed to be without a load,
and forces it into the other cylinder which has a load on the table or
platten, and thus raise it to the height required. By simply shifting
the position of the valves the water will be forced in the direction of
the other cylinder, and by the repetition of this operation each lift will
be raised with its load alternately, but when the apparatus is used for
lowering goods only the use of the pump may be dispensed with entirely
during such operation, a single stop-cock being all that will be needed
to effect the altornate descent of the loaded tables or plattens. It will
be obvious that by turning the stop-cock so as to shut off the com-
munication from one cylinder to another until the upper table is loaded
and then opening it, the loaded table will descend and raise the empty
table at the same operation; this alternate stopping of the com-
munication and loading the upraised platform will give ready facility
for lowering goods without the aid of the engine or other machinery.
In order that this Invention may be fully understood I will now
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fig. 1 represents a plan of the combined steam and pump cylinders
as described in the first part of this Invention. A, A, is the cylinder,
having a central division B; C is a connecting piece, to which are
secured two pistons D, D; E, E, are levers to operate the steam slide
valve G. (See also Fig. 2. The same letters apply to the same parts
in clevation.) F, F, are passages or openings communicating with
pump valves H, which are suction valves, and pump valves R, which
are delivery valves (shewn in elevation in Fig. 3); I is a cover or door
for ready access to pump valves.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When steam is admitted to
the cylinder in space K the pistons will be forced in the direction
of arrow a until the piston nearest the cover L comes in contact with
and moves the lever E in the said cover L sufficiently to operate the
stcam slide valve G (see Fig. 2), and thus cause steam to be admitted
to the cylinder space M and to be exhausted from space K; the
pistons will then be forced in the direction of arrow b until the piston
nearest the cover N comes in contact with the lever E in the said
cover N and moves the slide valve sufficiently to, cause steam to be
exhausted from space M and again admitted into space K; the

page_text: repetition of this operation will keep up a continuous reciprocating
action of the pistons, the inner sides of which are made to operate four
pump valves, by which means a continuous discharge of water is
maintained; when the pistons are forced in the direction of arrow-b
the water or other fluid will be drawn into space O' through passage F 1,
and forced out from space P through passage F2; on the other hand,
when the pistons are forced in the direction of arrow a the water will
be admitted into space P and discharged from space O. H, H, are
two suction valves, which are operated by pistons D, D; alternately
(R, R, in Fig. 3 represents corresponding delivery valves); S (in
Fig. 3) shews the inlet to and T the outlet for the water or other
fluid from the steam pump.
Fig. 4 represents a sufficient portion of the steam cylinder- to
illustrate the method of operating the slide valve as described, in the
second part of this. Invention. A is the cylinder; D, the piston; G,
the slide valve with its end extended into chamber V; U, a moveable
plug W, a disc of india-rubber. It will be obvious when piston D.
comes in contact with and forces plug U against the rubber disc W that
this operation will compress the fluid in chamber V and exert a
pressure on the end of slide valve G, thus causing it to move
sufficiently to reverse the traverse of the piston in the ordinary way.
;
Fig. 2 represents an elevation of the slide valve arrangement partly
described in relation to Fig. 1. It is in this illustration applied to an
ordinary steam engine cylinder. The arrangement and' operation of the
slide valve is intended to be the same in Figures 1 and 2. The valve
shewn in the Drawing is a hollow piston valve (the ordinary flat valve
can be also adapted to be acted upon by the levers in a similar way); in
its present position steam will be admitted to space K through port X,
and the piston will be forced in the direction of arrow a until it
reaches lever E 2 (each lever is made to bear at its back, and pins 5
are merely placed in elongated holes to keep the levers in position);
when the piston actuates lever E2 it will so move the slide valve as to
close steam port X and open steam port Y; by this operation steam will
then be admitted to space M and exhausted through the slide valve from
space K, making its escape at arrows 4, this port being always open
to take away the steam alternately from spaces K and M through ports
6 and 7; two pins or studs are secured in the ends of the slide valve,
having springs Z thereon; the object and use of the springs are simply

page_text: to carry the valve over what may be termed a dead point; for instance,
if the engine is working at a very slow speed the steam ports X and Y
will be closed by the slide valve covering both ports; in order to
move the valve a little further the spring which yields to the resistance
of steam on the end of the slide valve before it moves, now destroys
the equilibrium established by the entire cut off of the steam by
expanding to its former length, and sufficiently shifts the valve to
admit steam through the nearest port to it; and the steam immediately
completes the stroke of the valve by acting on the end thus exposed
to its pressure; this process being repeated at each end of the cylinder
a reciprocating action will be obtained without any rotary or extraneous
gearing. The cocks 8 and 9 are for the purpose of admitting steam
direct into the cylinder to start the pistons independently of the slide
valve.
Fig. 3 represents a sectional elevation of a valve box of a double-
action pump fitted with buffers, scatings, and stops, as described in the
third part of this Invention; the new features will be more readily
understood by the full-size illustration, Fig. 5. A is a fixed guide rod;
B, the metal disc or valve; C, the buffer seating; D, the seat holder;
E, the screwed ring to keep the buffer seat in position; F, the tubular
buffer to prevent too great a rise of valve, also to prevent leakage
around the guide rod; G, a flexible disc on the back of valve to be
used in very large pumps when it is desirable to increase. the area of
discharge through the valve by an areal as well as a circumferential
delivery. It will be readily seen that the tubular buffer prevents any
leakage around the guide rod, rendering a central scating unnecessary,
and removes therefore all the ordinary obstructions from the area of
the valve opening.
The fourth part of this Invention will be sufficiently understood
from the description without reference to Drawings.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be carried into effect, what I claim is,-
Firstly. The combination and arrangement of steam pump herein
represented and described, having two pistons, the outer side of each
being acted upon by steam, causing the inner side of each to act as
a pump, or any mere modification or adaptation thereof, such as for
water engines or water meters, or blast engines or exhausters.

page_text: Secondly. I claim the construction and arrangement of the steam.
slide valve and the methods. of operating, the same herein represented.
and described, or any mere modification thereof..
Thirdly. I claim the construction and arrangement of buffer valves,.
seatings, and stops as herein represented and described, or any, mere t
modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Holman,, have hereunto,
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, Onc
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
STEPHEN HOLMAN. (L.S.)