CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN PUMPS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Meguerditch Houssepian, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Merchant, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PUMPS."-A communication from abroad by Dikran Oumedian,
of Constantinople, Turkey.
Sealed the 17th October 1865, and dated the 20th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Meguerditch Houssepian
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1865.
I, MEGUERDITCH HOUSSEPIAN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
5 Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS," a communication to me from abroad by Dikran
Oumedian, of Constantinople, Turkey, to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of obtaining the suction required
in pumps without friction by means of the rise and fall of an inverted bell or
cylinder in an annular cylindrical space containing mercury.
The novel arrangement and construction of apparatus constituting the
pump consists of an annular space formed by two hollow vertically fixed
cylinders surrounding each other, in which a column of mercury is contained,
and into which is lowered and placed the open end of an inverted bell or
hollow cylinder, which is caused to rise and fall by being attached to the
working connecting rod of the pump; the inner fixed cylinder is closed at the

page_text: top by a valve, as also is the inverted bell or hollow cylinder, the action of
which when being raised causes the mercury on its outer surface in the
annular space to be depressed by the atmosphere, and to rise in the annular
space formed between the inner fixed cylinder and tho inverted cylinder,
thereby (through the medium of the air and water-tight joint so formed)
producing a vacuum in the interior of the inverted and inner fixed cylinder,
which being in connection with the suction pipe of the well fills with liquid,
so that when the inverted bell or cylinder descends or falls, the valve imme-
diately closes on the top of the inner fixed cylinder, and the water is ejected
through the valve in the cover of the inverted bell or cylinder into the outer
fixed cylinder, from which it is finally discharged through an outlet in the
same in one continuous stream.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Meguerditch Houssepian in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MEGUERDITCH
HOUSSEPIAN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, seud
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Meguerditch Houssepian, Her special license that I, the said Meguerditch
Houssepian, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Meguerditch Houssepian, 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 law-
fully 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS," being a communication to
me from abroad by Dickran Oumedian, of Constantinople, Turkey, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Meguerditch Houssepian, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 samo was to bo
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Fatent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Meguerditch Houssepian, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of obtaining the suction required
in pumps without friction by means of the rise and fall of an inverted bell or
cylinder in an annular cylindrical space containing mercury.
The novel arrangement and construction of apparatus constituting the
pump consists of an annular space formed by two hollow vertically fixed
cylinders surrounding each other, in which a column of mercury is contained,
and into which is lowered and placed the open end of an inverted bell or
hollow cylinder, which is caused to rise and fall by being attached to the
working connecting rod of the pump; the inner fixed cylinder is closed at the
top by a valve, as also is the inverted bell or hollow cylinder, the action of
which when being raised causes the mercury on its outer surface in the
annular space to be depressed by the atmosphere, and to rise in the annular
space formed between the inner fixed cylinder and the inverted cylinder,
thereby (through the medium of the air and water-tight joint so formed)
producing a vacuum in the interior of the inverted and inner fixed cylinders,
which being in connection with the suction pipe of the well fills with liquid, so
that when the inverted bell or cylinder descends or falls, the valve immediately
closes on the top of the inner fixed cylinder, and the water is ejected through
the valve in the cover of the inverted bell or cylinder into the outer fixed
cylinder, from which it is finally discharged through an outlet in the same in
one continuous stream.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, similar letters of
reference being marked upon corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of the improved pump, in which a and b
are two fixed cylinders constructed and arranged to form between the inner
surface of the cylinder a and the outer surface of the cylinder 6 an annular
space c, the width or capacity of which shall admit and allow free action to
the intermediate inverted hollow cylindrical piston d, a constant and perfectly
air-tight sliding frictionless joint being given to the same by means of the
mercury e, shewn in green, contained within the annular space c; the chamber
f in the upper portion of the internal fixed cylinder b contains the valve g,
which opens during the rise of the cylindrical piston d. To the top of the

page_text: fixed internal cylinder 6 the pipe or tube his secured, and is supplied upon its
outer surface with the diaphragm or platform i, which supports the inverted
hollow cup or dome k; this dome completely surrounds and covers the
upper portion of the pipe h, the space between its inner surface and the
pipe h forming the passage or course for the water during the depression or
down stroke of the cylindrical piston d, at which time the water in passing
from the tube strikes against the roof of the dome k, and is caused to enter
by the passage or course ; the interior of the hollow piston d (the top of
which is supplied with a valve or plug m) from whence it is expelled (during
the downward stroke of the same) into the outer cylinder a through the
valve m, the outer cylinder acting as a reserve for the water, allows the same
so long as the pump is in action to flow continuously from the exit pipe n.
The hollow cylindrical piston may be actuated, as shewn, by the connecting
rod and lever, or handle p, or any other suitable mechanical contrivance. The
atmospheric pressure acting upon the water sustained by the mercury in the
outer fixed cylinder a is equalized by the pressure of water acting upon tho
mercury in the interior of the hollow piston, the effect of which causes tho
mercury to rise and fall with each stroke of the hollow piston in such a
manner that the lower extremity or mouth of the same is constantly embedded
and surrounded by the mercury in the annular space.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the general construction, combination, and arrange-
ment of the apparatus for pumping liquids, as herein-before described, set
forth, and fully illustrated in Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Meguerditch Houssepian, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
M. HOUSSEPIAN. (L.S.)