IMPROVEMENTS IN SYRINGES AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR THROWING WATER FOR WATERING PLANTS AND SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Burnet Robins, of No. 19, Richmond
Terrace, Shepherd's Bush, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SYRINGES AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR
THROWING WATER FOR WATERING PLANTS AND SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 5th April 1870, and dated the 19th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Burnet Robins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th October 1869.
I, WILLIAM BURNET ROBINS, of No. 19, Richmond Terrace, Shepherd's
Bush, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SYRINGES AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR
THROWING WATER FOR WATERING PLANTS AND SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its objects improvements in syringes and other
apparatus for throwing water for watering plants and similar purposes.

page_text: In constructing a hand syringe or pump where a piston working in a
cylinder is employed, and where the delivery is through a hollow piston
rod, in order that the apparatus may work freely and with little friction
I pack both the piston and stuffing box very loosely, and I lead back
any water which may pass the piston into the suction pipe by à return
tube passing along underneath the barrel. At the upper end where the
waste water enters the waste pipe is a floating valve, which opens to let
the waste water pass, and then closes to prevent air passing into the
suction pipe. Where the waste pipe enters the suction there is also a
valve to prevent water entering the waste pipe from the suction. Thus
a syringe or hand pump is made which works with scarcely any friction,
and yet without any external leakage of water.
In some cases I modify the arrangement by substituting a solid piston
rod for the hollow rod, and providing an outlet from the barrel at the
suction end, such outlet leading the water past a valve into an air vessel,
which I prefer to arrange in the space between the barrel and the waste
pipe. The delivery pipe is connected with the lower part of the air
vessel, and has a jet or rose at its end. I employ in some cases a com-
bined rose and jet. The jet tube or nozzle passes through the rose into
the delivery pipe, and there has slits formed in its sides by which the
water passes to it from the delivery pipe. On the jet tube an outer tube
is mounted, and is able to slide; it can be so placed as to cover the slits
in the jet tube when the rose delivery is required. The outer tube also
has a disc upon it faced with leather, which when this tube is set for the
jet delivery covers the holes of the rose, and so prevents the escape of
water through them. Sometimes I introduce into the mouth of a nozzle
for delivering a jet of water a spiral, which is free to revolve, and in doing
so it breaks the jet into a spray, and distributes it in the way which is
required in watering plants.
In order that syringes or hand pumps may not be deranged by
screwing out the gland of the stuffing box and so disarranging the
packing I turn a groove in the gland above its screw, and I turn over
the upper end of the stuffing box into this groove. The groove is
sufficiently wide to allow the gland to be moveable to the extent
requisite for tightening the packing. This arrangement is especially
applicable to syringes or hand pumps acting with plungers in place of
pistons.

page_text: In some cases I combine a syringe or hand pump with a watering pot
in such manner that the barrel of the syringe or pump forms the handle
of the pot. The supply of water is drawn from the pot, and a waste pipe.
is provided, as already described, draining back into the pot. The pot
is also provided with a spout for distributing the water without force.
when this method of distribution is preferable.
En syringes consisting of a barrel with a piston working therein,. and.
a rose at the end of the barrel through which the water is both sucked.
in and forced out, I provide at the upper end of the barrel a vessel to
receive any water which may leak past the piston in the delivering stroke,
and return it on to the piston during the suction, so that it may pass the
piston again back into the barrel. I usually employ a close reservoir or
air vessel for this purpose, so that as the water accumulates in it so will
the pressure of air tending to force it back into the barrel increase. This
pressure aids the delivering stroke of the syringe. The reservoir may be
provided with a stop-cock, so that it may be opened and closed at will.
I also provide the syringe with a handle at the stuffing box end of the
barrel, such handle being mounted on a stud at right angles to the
barrel, on which stud it is able to turn freely. In order to connect the
hand pumps or syringes with the source of supply a flexible pipe is
employed; when this is long I carry it upon a reel on wheels or on a
fixed frame. I make the flexible pipe in two lengths, which are both
wound in the same direction on the reel, so that they can be wound up
and unwound simultaneously. The axes of the reel is hollow, and the
water passes through it in passing from one section of the flexible pipe
to the other. In some cases. I provide the reel with a spring to make it
self-winding.
In order to be able readily to couple to the short flexible suction hose.
of a hand pump or syringe a further length of pipe when required I
provide the ordinary strainer at the end of the suction pipe with a.
cylindrical rim or flange with a screw thread cut in it internally, and
the additional length of pipe I provide with a nozzle to screw within the
flange on the strainer. Or in place of screwing these parts together, I in
some cases simply butt them together with a packing between, and draw
up the parts and compress the packing by means of two rings encircling
the parts, and screwing together as in what is known as the union joint.
Where the suction pipe is long I place upon it near to the hand pump

page_text: or syringe a flexible vessel, by preference of india-rubber, which collapses
whilst the barrel of the apparatus is filling, and so eases the suction and
expands with the water entering it from the suction pipe during the
delivering stroke. In this way a more uniform flow through the suction
pipe is maintained.
For the purpose of extinguishing fire, and also for other purposes, I
sometimes provide these hand pumps or syringes with a flexible supply
vessel, which adapts itself with a water-tight joint to the instrument.
The reservoirs may be kept constantly full, and the whole may be carried
to the place required without risk of upsetting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Burnet Robins in the Great Seal Patent
Qffice on the 19th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, F, WILLIAM
BURNET ROBINS, of No. 19, Richmond Terrace, Shepherd's Bush, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Burnet Robins, Her special
licence that I, the said William Burnet Robins, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Burnet Robins,
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 SYRINGES AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR THROWING WATER FOR
WATERING PLANTS AND SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Burnet Robins, 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 same was to be

page_text: 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 William Burnet Robins, 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 thorcof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its objects improvements in syringes and other
apparatus for throwing water for watering plants and similar purposes.
In constructing a hand syringe or pump where a piston working in a
cylinder is employed, and where the delivery is through a hollow piston
rod, in order that the apparatus may work freely and with little friction
I pack both the piston and stuffing box very loosely, and I lead back
any water which may pass the piston into the suction pipe by a return
tube passing along underneath the barrel. At the upper end where the
waste water enters the waste pipe is a floating valve, which opens to let
the waste water pass, and then closes to prevent air passing into the
suction pipe. Where the waste pipe enters the suction there is also a
valve to prevent water entering the waste pipe from the suction. Thus
a syringe or hand pump is made which works with scarcely any friction,
and yet without any external leakage of water.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings shows in section a hand pump or
syringe thus constructed. a, a, is the barrel, having fixed to it at one end
a piece b, to which the suction pipe is attached, and at the other the
stuffing box e; d is a hollow piston rod passing through the stuffing box,
and having at its inner end a loosely packed piston e; d¹ is a handle on
the rod d for working the instrument; fis a ball suction valve within the
piece b; and g is a ball delivery valve within the hollow piston rodd; his
a rose on the outer end of the hollow piston rod through which the water
is delivered; i is an orifice for the free passage of air into and from the
barrel beyond the piston; k is an outlet from the barrel for any water
leaking past the piston. Over the mouth of the outlet k is arranged the
valve, which is of cork encircled with metal rings, and which floats
and allows the water to pass it when nearly immersed, but otherwise it
closes the outlet k; m is a pipe leading back the water escaping by tho
outlet k to the suction; n is a ball valve to prevent the passage of water

page_text: through the pipe m in a contrary direction; is a spare jet. In place
of using two valves f and n the valve n may be made. to serve. as the.
suction valve, and the valve f may be dispensed with. In this case the
suction pipe is connected immediately beneath the valve n, which is
made of a larger size. Figure 1 shows a portion of a longitudinal
section of a hand pump or syringe thus constructed.
In some cases I modify the arrangement by substituting a solid piston.
rod for the hollow rod, and providing an outlet from the barrel at the
suction end, such outlet leading the water past a valve into an air vessel,
which I prefer to arrange in the space between the barrel and the waste
pipe. The delivery pipe is connected with the lower part of the air
vessel, and has a jet or rose at its end.
Figure. 2 is a section of a hand pump or syringe of this construction.
a is the barrel, with the piston 6 within it, worked by means of a solid
piston rod with a handle, as is shown; c is a pipe descending from the
barrel, it has the suction valve d fitted at its lower end, and beyond the
valve is a nozzle to which the suction pipe is attached; e is the delivery
valve fitted to, an outlet passage at the side of the pipe c. By this
passage the water delivered by the pump enters the air vessel f, and
from thence by a pipe 9 descending nearly to the bottom of the air.
vessel it is conducted to the rose h, from which it issues, in a shower;
i is the apparatus for draining back the water which passes the piston,,
as already described. I employ in some cases, a combined rose and jet.
The jet tube or nozzle passes through the rose into the delivery pipe,
and by a suitable simple arrangement of valves the water is allowed to
escape either by the jet or rose, the other for the time being closed.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4.a front view of a combined
jet and rose constructed according to my Invention. a, a, is a mouth
piece adapted to the end of the delivery pipe of the pump or syringe ;.
b is a rose which screws on to the piece a; it is suitably perforated, as is
shewn, and the jet c passes through the centre of it. The jet has a
screw thread upon it, and there is a corresponding thread in the hole in,
the rose through which it passes, so that by turning the jet it can be
traversed a distance in or out. At the inner end of the jet there is a
hollow cone c¹, and when the jet is at one end of its traverse this conc
fits closely as a valve into the conical seat b¹ on the rose, and then the
water is compelled to escape through the jet, its passage to the fine

page_text: perforations of the rose being shut off. When, however, the jet is at
the other end of its traverse the interior of the cone c¹ comes in contact
with the plug a¹ carried by the piece a on a perforated bridge plate a*.
The plug a' acting as a valve closes the cone c³, and then the water is
compelled to escape through the perforations of the rose, as it cannot
enter the jet c.
In order that syringes or hand pumps may not be deranged by
screwing out the gland of the stuffing box and so disarranging the
packing I turn a groove in the gland above its screw, and I turn over
the upper end of the stuffing box into this groove. The groove is
sufficiently wide to allow the gland to be moveable to the extent
requisite for tightening the packing. This arrangement is especially
applicable to syringes or hand pumps acting with plungers in place of
pistons.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a stuffing box thus arranged. a is
the groove turned in the gland, and 6 is the lip on the upper end of the
stuffing box, which is burnished or rubbed over into it after the stuffing
box has been packed and the gland has been put into its place. In
order to connect the hand pumps or syringes with the source of supply a
flexible pipe is employed. When this is long I carry it upon a reel on
wheels or on a fixed frame. I make the flexible pipe in two lengths,
which are both wound in the same direction on the reel, so that they
can be wound up and unwound simultaneously. The axis of the reel is
hollow, and the water passes through it in passing from one section of
the flexible pipe to the other.
Fig. 6 is a front view of a hose reel thus constructed.
a, a, is a bed
plate with standards a', a', upon it carrying the hollow axis b; c is a
drum or reel mounted on this axis; c', c¹, are nozzles or screw unions on
the axis of the drum or reel for the attachment of two equal lengths of
hose or flexible pipe; d, d, are handles upon the axis for winding up the
hose or pipe upon the drum or reel. Where the suction pipe is long I
place upon it near to the hand pump or syringe a flexible vessel, by
preference of india-rubber, which collapses whilst the barrel of the
apparatus is filling, and so eases the suction, and expands with the water
entering it from the suction pipe during the delivering stroke. In this
way a more uniform flow through the suction pipe is maintained.

page_text: Fig. 7 is a section of this apparatus. a, a, is a metal perforated pipe
surrounded by the vulcanised india-rubber ball b; c and c¹ are screw
attachments for the suction pipe and for a short length of flexible pipe
leading to the pump. The form of the flexible vessel 6 may be varied,
but a globular form is preferred.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burnet Robins, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM BURNET ROBINS. (L.S.)