AN IMPROVED ROTARY PUMP, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A BLOWER AND MOTOR
Year: 1877

page_text: A com-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th December 1877.
munication from abroad by Thomas Wilbraham, James Wilbraham, and John
William Wilbraham, all of the City and County of Philadelphia, State of
Pennsylvania, United States of America.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVED ROTARY PUMP, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A BLOWER AND
MOTOR." [A communication from abroad by Thomas Wilbraham James Wilbraham
and John William Wilbraham, all of the City and County of Philadelphia, State
of Pennsylvania, United States of America.]
The object of this Invention is to furnish a rotary pump, blower, or motor, which
shall be effective in operation, simple in construction, and comparatively inexpensive
in manufacture.
The Invention consists in a single grooved cylinder having the corners or edges
of its grooves rounded off in combination with packing strips attached to the base
of pump case, and with vane drum, in the combination of a water-tight wheel case
and bearings with the pump case for enclosing the gear wheels and the journals
water-tight, and in the bushings and bearings having a passage between their walls
connected with a hole through the upper side of the bearings, and a hole through
the lower side of the bushings, for oiling the journals when under a water pressure,
as herein-after described.
The following is a detailed description of the Invention. At the middle lower
part of a pump case, provided with inlet and outlet openings, is placed a cylinder,
the opposite sides of which have grooves formed in them for the passage of the
wings or vanes of a drum placed in the middle upper part of the said pump case.
The grooves do not extend to the centre of the said cylinder, and the corners or
edges of said grooves are rounded or bevelled, so that the vanes can pass in and
out freely, and so that the convex surface of the said cylinder at one side of the
said grooves may come in contact with the convex surface of the drum before the
vane has passed out at the other side of the said grooves to adapt the pump to be
operated with a single grooved cylinder. To the base of the pump case are attached

page_text: two packing strips to bear against the convex surface of the grooved cylinder to
prevent any back flow of the water, which strips are so placed that one or the other
may always be in contact with said convex surfaces. The journals of the vane drum
and grooved cylinder are geared together by toothed wheels, so that the said drum
and cylinder must always revolve with equal velocity, and may be thus kept always
in gear with each other. The journal of the vane drum is made to project, and to
it is applied the power for driving the pump. The gear wheels are enclosed within
a water-tight case, which is provided with a single stuffing box through which the
journal of the vane drum projects to receive the driving power. The bearings of
the drum and cylinder are cast solid with the heads of the drum and wheel cases,
or may be cast with flanges and bolted water-tight to said heads.
The former construction is preferred as being less expensive and troublesome in
manufacture. The journals of the vane drum and grooved cylinder revolve in
bushings placed in the bearings.
In the outer surface of the bushings or in the inner surface of the bearings are
formed ring grooves to serve as a passage way and reservoir for oil, which is poured
in through a hole or oil cup in the upper side of the bearings.
In the lower side of the bushings are formed one or more holes through which
the oil passes or is drawn to the said journals, which journals rest upon the inner
orifices of said holes, and thus prevent the water from passing into the passages.
This construction enables the journals to be oiled when under a water pressure.
By making the wheel case and the bearings water-tight, and providing a means
for oiling the journals when under a water pressure, there will be only one stuffing
box to be made fitted and kept packed, which greatly lessens the cost of manu-
facture and the running expense of the pump. The bushings are kept from turning
in the bearings by lugs formed upon their outer ends, and which enter notches in
the outer ends of the said bearings.