AN ELIPTIC VALVE PUMP Box
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ASPINWALL, Esquire, of Bishopgate Church Yard, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth
day of July, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Aspinwall, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
Aspinwall, my exors, adññors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during
the term of years herein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention communicated to
me by a certain Forcigner residing abroad, of "AN ELIPTIC VALVE PUMP Box;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Thomas Aspinwall, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then

page_text: the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Aspinwall, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A.
Fig. 1 represents the Eliptic Valve Pump Box, with its valves open. A, the
staple with three legs, the lower extremities of which pass thro' the leather
I, N, and thence thro' holes bored in the centre division of the box W, at the
bottom of which they are secured by the nutts a, a, a. S, a thin plate of metal
to receive the square heads of the screws which pass thro' it, and the leather I,
into a thick plate of metal, similar to the plate P on the leather of the
opposite valve N. P, a thick plate of metal forming the clapper, and attached
to the leather N by screws from the under side, such as described at letter S.
I, a piece of thick sole-leather- forming one valve, falling on the edge of the
box L, and projecting a little beyond it on all sides. N, the same piece of
leather forming the opposite valve. W, the centre division of the pump
box I, I, to which the piece of leather forming the valves is secured in the
middle by the staple, as described at A, & which thus move as from a hinge,
which is substituted when the valves are made of metal. a, a, a, the nuts, as
before described. LL, the metal punp. box or circular rim alluded to in the
Specification. Fig. 2 represents an upper view of the pump box, as it is cast
with the centre division. Fig. 4, an under view of the same.. Fig. 3, an
upper view of the piece of leather which forms the two valves, showing, the
points of the screws by which the thick plates of metal, or clappers are held to
the leather, as also the holes thro' which the legs, of the staple, pass into the
centre division of the pump box. Fig. 5, an under view of the same valves,
showing the square heads of the screws and the thin metallic plates which
receive them. Fig. 7 represents the staple. Fig. 6 represents a section of
a pump chamber fitted with the Eliptic Valve Pump Box, showing how the
friction is diminished by the box being made smaller than the bore of the
chamber, the projecting edge of the leather valves being found quite sufficient
to answer all the purposes of the sweep leather, when properly cut, to fit the
bore of the chamber.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents the staple and valves, as in Drawing A, but with the
inclined plate G, mentioned in the Specification,.serving the purpose of the
circular rim L, L. Fig. 1, Drawing A. Fig. 2 represents, the valves, shod with
oblong pieces of metal, which shape. I prefer, tho' various, other shapes will
answer the purpose. a,, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,, are the pieces of metal above
alluded to; I prefer soft copper., c, c, c, c, c, c, c, shows the manner of attaching
the copper or other metal to the leather with little metallic tongues or rivetts.
When the leather is shod with metal, it is, necessary that the edge of the valve
should be turned up so that the metal may come in contact with the pump
chamber.
My communication doth consist in an eliptic valve pump box,, bucket,, or
suction valve, the valves of which are made of leather, metal, old hat,, or any
other suitable substance or substances, or combination, of such substances, but
I prefer leather shod with metal, as represented in the Drawings. These
valves form an angle less than 90 degrees with the staple (I think the best
angle to be adopted is that of 45 degrees), the valves so made, as herein-before
described, serving the double purpose of valve and sweep leather, which valve,
to prevent its pressing too hard against the sides of the pump chamber, when
pressed against them by a superincumbent weight of fluid of any kind as a
support under it, of any form suitable to the form of a box, which may be
square, round, or any other shape, provided the pump chamber correspond
with such form; but I prefer a round box, bucket, or suction valve, with
semicircular valves to correspond, and a circular rim underneath to support
the valves when they arive at a certain point of depressure, as herein-before
described, and as represented by the Drawing A, Fig. 1. L, L, the eliptic
valve pump box, bucket, or suction valve, may be made of wood, metal,
leather, or such combinations of such and the like substances as may be
deemed most expedient by the manufacturer, but I prefer such as are repre-
sented in the Drawings. The support also herein-before described may be
given in a variety of ways, but my communication doth in part entirely
consist in such support, and not particularly in the mode or manner of giving
the same, which may be done by a circular and eliptic formed rim of metal or
any other substance, as in the Drawing A, or by two narrow inclined planes of
metal, or of any like substance whatever, rising to meet each valve in a
direction across the diameters, as in the Drawing B, Fig. 1, G; but I prefer
the circular rim in the Drawing A. Various attempts have been made to
make the leather or other substance hercin-before described serve the two

page_text: purposes of valve and sweep leather, which have not, however, succeeded; but
this particular herein-before mentioned method of effecting the same, together
with my other herein-before mentioned improvements, being found to succeed,
I am desirous to maintain this my exclusive right and privilege.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Aspinwall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
VANDELL.
THOMAS (L.S.) ASPINWALL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Thomas Aspinwall 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 January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.