IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE POWER MACHINERY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR RAISING AND FORCING WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES FITTED WITH PISTONS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Whitehead, of Calverley, near Leeds, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE POWER
MACHINERY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR RAISING AND FORCING WATER AND
OTHER LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO
STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES FITTED WITH PISTONS."
Sealed the 10th November 1863, and dated the 16th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Whitehead at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
May 1863.
I, JAMES WHITEHEAD, of Calverley, near Leeds, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE
POWER MACHINERY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR RAISING AND FORCING WATER AND
OTHER LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO
STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES FITTED WITH PISTONS," to be as follows:-
In ordinary hydraulic machinery stuffing boxes are used packed with hemp
or cupped leathers, and frequently copper collars are employed. Now, the
object and intention of this Invention is to dispense with the necessity for
employing stuffing boxes in hydraulic machines, steam engines, and other
machines working with pistons, and thereby to avoid friction at such parts. I
propose to effect this by the following means:-The pistons, plungers, or rams
I form less in diameter than the bore of the cylinders in which it works, and
to the bottom of each ram I affix a piece or pieces of leather as a tube of
semicircular form inside its lower or outer edge. Inside this tube and on

page_text: a rod screwed into the bottom of said piston or ram I place loosely a
spherical or conical shaped piece of metal, which when pressed against by the
water forces the edge of the leather outwards, and causes same to fit the
cylinder water-tight. I propose to form the said cylinders of a solid square
piece of metal bored out at its centre and open at top (having no stuffing box)
to receive the rams; said cylinders are fitted in an oblong cistern containing
water; two or more small pumps fitted with suitable valves are also fitted in
said cistern, and said pumps are worked by cranks or excentrics mounted on a
shaft for injecting water into the square cylinders aforesaid, for lifting the
rams and imparting motion to a long lever, an antifriction roller being adapted
to the head of the ranis upon which said lever rests. The short end of this
lever has its fulcrum on a strong pin fixed in a standard, and the longer end of
said lever is connected to the pump rod leading down the shaft of the mine,
pit, or other place from which the water is to be raised; or the power may be
transmitted by pullies and bands, or spur or bevil gearing, to the machinery to
be driven.
In adapting the piston above described to the cylinders of steam engines, I
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WHITEHEAD, of Calverley, near Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Whitehead, Her special licence that I, the said James Whitehead,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Whitehead, 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 MOTIVE POWER
MACHINERY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR RAISING AND FORCING WATER AND OTHER
LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO STEAM

page_text: ENGINES AND OTHER MACHINES FITTED WITH PISTONS, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Whitehead, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Whitehead, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:-
In ordinary hydraulic machinery stuffing boxes are used packed with hemp
or cupped leathers, and frequently copper collars are employed. Now the
object and intention of this Invention is to dispense with the necessity for
employing stuffing boxes in bydraulic machines, steam engines, and other
machines working with pistons, and thereby to avoid or reduce friction at such
parts. I propose to effect this by the following means:-The piston, plunger,
or ram I form less in diameter than the bore of the cylinder in which it works,
and to the bottom of each ram I affix a piece or pieces of leather as a tube of
semicircular form inside its lower or outer edge. Inside this tube, and on a
rod screwed into the bottom of said piston or ram, I place loosely a spherical
or conical shaped piece of metal, which when pressed against by the water forces
the edge of the leather outwards and causes same to fit the cylinder water-tight.
propose to form the said cylinder of a solid square piece of metal bored out
at its centre and open at top (having no stuffing box) to receive the rams;
said cylinders are fitted in an oblong cistern containing water; two or more
small pumps, fitted with suitable valves, are also fitted in said cistern, and
said pumps are worked by cranks or excentrics mounted on a shaft for
injecting water into the square cylinders aforesaid for lifting the rams and
imparting motion to a long lever, an antifriction roller being adapted to the
head of the rams upon which said lever rests. This lever has its fulcrum on a
strong pin fixed in a standard, and the end-of said lever is connected to the
pump rod leading down the shaft of the mine, pit, or other place from which
the water is to be raised; or the power may be transmitted by pullies and
bands, or spur or bevil gearing, to the machinery to be driven.
I
In adapting the piston above described to the cylinders of steam engines I
propose to use a band of steel or other suitable metal instead of leather.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the

page_text: same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheets of
Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters
of reference marked thereon respectively as follows.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
At Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved motive power
machinery; Fig. 2, a top plan view thereof; Figure 3, an end elevation at A,
Figure 1; Figure 4 is a vertical section through the line C, D, at Figure 2;
Figuro 5 is a back elevation of certain parts of the machinery; Figures 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 represent detached parts (drawn to an enlarged scale)
herein-after particularly described and referred to at Sheet 2. At each of the
foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding
parts, in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of said Figures
and Sheets of Drawings respectively.
A is a cast-iron cistern and base plate; B, B', castings secured to A by
long bolts a, a, and nuts b, b; C, a short axle working in bearings c, c, said
axle is fixed in a vibrating lever D, the extremities whereof are connected to
the weight which it is desired to raise; for example, pump rods for raising
water, or said lever may be connected with toothed gearing for driving
machinery; E, E', are cast-iron cylinders fitting into the cistern A; G, G, are
rams fitting loosely in the cylinders E, E', which should be bored cylindrical;
the bottoms of the rams G are fitted each with a packing, hereafter described
and represented at Figure 6 of Sheet 2 of the Drawings. The heads of the
rams G are formed rectangular, and carry each a roller d; e, e, are guide
flanges cast on the castings B, B', for preserving the rams G in a vertical
direction as they are raised and lowered; H is the main driving shaft of the
machine, working in bearings f, f, this shaft is formed with two cranks g, g, to
which are connected the plungers h, h, one of which is represented detached
at Figure 7 of Sheet 2 drawn to an enlarged scale; 1 is a casting bored out
cylindrically at i, i, to receive the plungers h above mentioned; this casting is
fixed to the cistern A by screws at k, k, Figures 7 and 8. The casting I has
channels L, L, formed therein, as represented by the dotted lines at Figure 7;
these channels are fitted with valves at 1, 2, 3, 4; the valves 1, 2, are suction
valves communicating directly with the water in the cistern A, an opening
being formed at m., Figure 8, for that purpose; K is a valve box, shewn more
clearly in section at Figures 9 and 10 of Sheet 2, drawn to an enlarged scale;
this valve box has pipes 22, n, connected thereto and to the cylinders E, E', for
conducting water thereinto from the pump barrels i, i, along the pipe o; p is
another pipe leading from the valve box K into a receiver L', of the con-

page_text: struction herein-after described. The vessel L' is connected to an ordinary
pressure gauge by a pipe at q, Figure 9, Sheet 2, for ascertaining the working
pressure of the machine; r is a discharge pipe for the passage of water from
the cylinders E, E¹, after the rams G have been forced to their full height to
allow said rams to descend by gravitation. The valve box K is securely fixed
by bolts and nuts s to the casting B, as exhibited at Figure 9 of Sheet 2,
where t marks a spindle, the inner end whereof is formed square and fits into
a hole in the valve M, represented at Figures 11 and 12 of Sheet 2. Figure 11
shews the inside of said valve, and Figure 12 the outside thereof; the valve M
fits close against the face of the part K' of the valve box K, and said face has
two holes 5, 6, drilled therein, as at Figure 10 of Sheet 2, communicating
with pipes u, u, by channels × shewn by dotted lines at that Figure; the
part 7 of K is bored larger than the diameter of the spindle t, so as to form a
channel for the passage and discharge of the water from the cylinders E, E',
along the pipes u at the proper time.
It will be seen upon referring to Figure 11 of Sheet 2 that the valve M has
recessed channels formed therein at *, for the purpose of establishing a
communication between one or other of the cylinders and the pipes u, u; for
example, suppose the valve M. to be in the position represented at Figure 10
of Sheet 2, the hole 5 being uncovered the water will pass from the pumps
into the cylinder E, thereby raising the ram G thereof and lever D, and when
said ram has moved to, the desired height the valve M will be moved partly
round by the pinion N fixed on the shaft H, imparting motion to the toothed
wheel O, to which is connected an excentric and rod P connected to a crank
W fixed on the valve spindle t, as at Figure 5 of Sheet 2; by these means the
valve M will cover the hole 5 in the valve box and uncover the hole 6, the
effect of which is to allow the water to pass from the cylinder E through the
passage in the valve M, along the passage 7 of K', and out by the discharge
piper into the cistern A, thus allowing the ram G to descend; during this
time the water will be passing by the uncovered hole 6 into the other
cylinder E', thereby raising the ram G thereof and imparting motion to the
lever D, and so on at every second revolution of the crank shaft H. It will be
obvious that by increasing the diameter of the wheel O the length of the
strokes of the rams will be increased, and the cranks will make more strokes,
and the valve M be longer in changing its position, the movements of the
several parts in all cases being in proportion to the length of the strokes of
the rams. The action of the pumps is as follows:-As the plungers move
upwards the valve 1 rises, and the water passes from the cistern A into one or
other of the barrels of said pumps according to the position of the plungers h;

page_text: the down stroke of the plunger closes the suction valve 1 and forces the water
past the valve 3, up the pipe o, into the valve box K, and one or other of the
cylinders E, E', as the case may be.
nuts z.
I
I now proceed to describe the construction of the receiver L exhibited at
Figure 9 of Sheet 2, where L' marks a metal cylinder fitted with a water-
tight piston Q and rod a, said rod working through a hole in the plate y;
R is a strong helical spring adjusted to resist the desired pressure by the
8 is a hole into which a pipe 7 is fixed, connected by its other end to
an ordinary pressure gauge. The vessel L³ is screwed into a casting S, bolted
to the framing B; this casting has passages 9, 10, 11, 12, formed therein;
9 is a passage for connecting the pipe p with the receiver L' by the passages
10, 11; and 12 is a passage fitted with a valve T, the stem 13 whereof works
through a stuffing box, and said valve is kept down by a lever U, weighted to
the desired pressure, as at Figure 1 of Sheet 1. W is a pipe for carrying off
the water from the receiver when the valve T is lifted.
I now proceed to describe the mode, represented at Figure 13 of Sheet 2, of
packing the pistons of steam engines and other machines working with
pistons. X marks a portion of a piston rod, the lower part of which is fitted
with a screw nut 15; Y are conical discs or bevilled plates of metal, each
having a hole through the centre thereof for passing same over the lower part
of the piston rod; Z is a steel ring turned true inside and outside; this ring is
divided at 16, and the horizontal edges are fitted close to each other; a piston
thus packed when placed within a cylinder of an engine or pump barrel, the
nut 15 is tightened up so as to expand the ring Z, and when the piston is
enclosed within the cylinder the steam or water pressing alternately against
the plates Y will expand the ring Z to its utermost, and thus form a cheap,
efficient, and durable packing. If necessary the space at a' may be filled with
vulcanized india-rubber or other soft material. For hydraulic and cold water
pumps leather or vulcanized india-rubber may be used, as at Figure 6 of
Sheet 2, and for hot water the metal' packing lastly described. In each case
the same principle of construction is employed, namely, the wedging out of
the packing by the pressure upon the conical bevilled plates Y.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "Improvements in Motive Machinery, especially adapted for
Raising and Forcing Water and other Liquids or Fluids, Parts of said Improve-
ments being applicable to Steam Engines and other Machines fitted with Pistons,"
together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I hereby declare my
Invention to consist in, and I clain, the improved motive power machinery

page_text: above described, and represented by the Drawings, as a new mechanical com-
bination, and especially I claim the mode of packing the pistons, plungers, and
rams, represented more particularly at Figures 6 and 13 of Sheet 2 of the
Drawings, employed in hydraulic machinery, steam engines, and other machines
fitted with pistons as above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Whitehead, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness to the mark of the
said James Whitehead,
THOMAS GRAY,
JAMES (L.s.) WHITEHEAD.
his x mark.
Culverley, Yorkshire.