CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES, AND IN MACHINERY CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WYLAM, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
five, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succesors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Wylam, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Wylam, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Wylam, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES, AND IN MACHINERY CONNECTED
THEREWITH;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I,
the said William Wylam, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under
my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wylam, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the two Sheets of Drawings marked No. I. and No. II. hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
+
Whereas hydraulic presses, as at present constructed and worked, are
suitable only for producing high pressures at a slow rate of speed, and with
considerable intervals of time between each charge and that next succeeding it
(the pumps. requiring to be stopped for a time at every descent of the piston or
follower), and are wholely inapplicable to mechanical operations requiring a
quick succession of strokes or impulses, and as well strokes and impulses of a
small or moderate as of a high power.
Now, the nature of my said Invention consists in constructing and working
hydraulic presses and machinery connected therewith in such an improved
manner that the presses can be worked unintermittingly at great rates of speed,
and at both high and low pressures. And the manner in which the said
Invention is performed is represented in the said Drawings hereunto annexed,
and in the following description thereof.
pumps
Figure 1, Sheet No. I., is a plan of one of a set of six hydraulic presses
placed in a row side by side; Figure 2, a plan of a triple set of which
communicate with a reservoir or accumulator of power, shewn in plan in
Figure 3 (instead of communicating as usual directly with the press or presses),
and from which reservoir the power is supplied to the press or presses; Figure 4
is a sectional elevation of the press on the line a, b, of the plan Figure 1;
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of the pumps on the line c, d, of the plan
Figure 2; and Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of the reservoir on the line e, f,
of the plan Figure 3. The whole of these Figures are on a scale of one-
A is the
eighth the actual size of a press pumps and reservoir now in use.
framework of the press, which is mounted as usual on a strong foundation of
stone or brickwork; B' is the cylinder, and B2 the piston or follower; C, the
pipe for the inlet of the water under the piston; D is a valvular governor for
regulating the admission and escape of the water to and from the press, and
which is of the peculiar construction separately represented in Sheet No. II.,
and herein-after particularly described; E is the reservoir, which consists of a
wrought-iron air-tight vessel, which rises considerably above the level of the

page_text: press, and is of a capacity many times greater than that of the cylinder of the
press, and of a strength more than sufficient to resist any pressure to which
the press itself is required to be subjected; F is a pipe by which the reservoir E
communicates with the valvular governor D; G', G2, G3, are the three pumps
before mentioned (connected with and worked by a steam engine or any other
convenient first mover), from which water is forced up from the cistern H,
through the pipe I into the reservoir E; q, q, q, are air, cocks attached to the
suction pipes of the pumps below the lower valves; K is a return pipe, which
conveys the water employed in producing each stroke of the piston back into the
cistern H from the valvular governor D. The reservoir E is made of larger
capacity than either the press cylinder B', or the supply cistern H, because it
is intended to hold not only all the water which can be pumped into it from H,
but all the air which was contained in it originally, and which is forced by
the water up to the top of it in a highly compressed state, and also any air
which may be injected into the reservoir by the pumps, under the circum-
stances to be herein-after explained. A reservoir bearing the proportion to
the press cylinder B, and supply cistern H, which E is represented to do in
the Drawings, would contain water enough for about forty-two single press
charges, or six charges for each set of six presses, and three pumps (as re-
presented in the Drawings) would suffice to enable the reservoir to keep these
presses constantly at work. The Figures on Sheet No. II. represent the valvular
governor D as of nearly the full size; Figure 7 is a plan, and Figure 8 a
sectional elevation of it; Figure 7 being on the line g, h, of Figure 8, and
Figure 8 on the line k, l, of Figure 7. All the parts are represented as in the
position they assume when the pumps are in the act of injecting. L is a box
divided into two vertical chambers M', M, and one horizontal chamber M³,
common to both the others. In the chamber M' there is a port R' which
gives admission to the water from the reservoir E, through the pipe F; and in
the chamber M2 there is another port R2, communicating with the pipe C,
which conveys the water to the cylinder of the press; T is a third port in the
chamber M³, which opens into the return or discharge pipe K; N', N³, are two
plain stemmed piston valves, which work freely up and down in the chambers
M', M2, through leather collars and stuffing boxes S, S, and open and close the
different ports according to the different positions they are made to assume.
O is a double-ended hand lever, which is connected to the tops of the stems
of the two piston valves, and turns on a pin or fulcrum supported by the
standards P, P, by the movement of which lever to-and-fro, the piston valves
are alternately raised and lowered. The chamber M2, which contains the port T
leading to the return or discharge pipe K, is of larger capacity than the
'

page_text: chamber M', and the piston valve N3, which works in it, is of a correspondingly
larger size than the valve N¹ of the chamber M', and these larger dimensions
are given to the chamber M2 and the piston valve N in order the better to
facilitate the discharge of the water. But by enlarging the stem of the lesser
piston valve N¹, at the bottom end from m to n, as shewn in the Drawing
Figure 8, and thus increasing the surface exposed to the pressure of the
injected water, a perfect balance is established between the two piston valves.
In fact, so complete is the equipoise between the two piston valves when they
are thus constructed (that is to say, when they are constructed according to the
relative proportions represented in the Drawing Figure 8), that the lever is
turned by hand with the greatest ease equally to the one side or the other.
The chamber M2 and piston valve N2 are moreover made considerably longer
than the chamber N₁ and piston valve N', and the difference in length is so
adjusted that the piston valve N2 shall quite close the eduction port T before
the piston valve N¹ can rise so high as to throw open the induction port R¹.
Again, the piston valves are bevelled off at their lower extremities, as shewn in
the Drawings, and these ends fit into seats w¹, w², made to fit them exactly in
the chambers M', M. By these combined means the whole water which
enters the valvular governor is constantly either being forced into the press
cylinder, or being discharged back into the supply cistern, and but little, if any,
of it runs to waste.
The mode of working the press and the machinery connected therewith is as
follows: The safety valve V of the pumps (which acts of course equally as a
safety valve to the reservoir communicating with the pumps) first loaded
according to any degree of pressure desired to be transmitted to the press, and the
pumps then set to work. When the whole of the water in the supply cistern
I has been pumped into the reservoir, the air cocks q, q, q, attached to the suction
pipes, are opened, and the pumps continued to be worked, and air instead of
water thereby thrown into the reservoir until the safety valve begins to rise, which
is an evidence of the reservoir being in a fully charged state. The water in-
duction port is then opened by means of the double-ended lever O, on which the
water is impelled with great force and rapidity up against the piston or follower
of the press, owing partly to the elastic force of the air in the top of the reser-
voir acting on the water, and partly to the gravitation of the water itself (the
reservoir rising above the level of the cylinder of the press). The instant the
piston has performed its stroke the lever O is reversed and the eduction port
Toponed, and as soon as the first charge of water has passed away, the induc-
tion port is re-opened for a second charge, and so on, through any number of
charges and discharges. The pumps in the meanwhile continue working unin-

page_text: térmittingly, returning the water. back to the reservoir as fast as it comes from
the press, and injecting along with it a portion of air, more or less, which makes
up for any absorption of the air by the water in the reservoir, and thus keeps
the reservoir in a state of constant efficiency. When the air seems from the
action of the press to be injected in excess, it is only necessary to close, more
or less, the air cocks q, q, q. Each press must of course have a separate
valvular governor, and separate sets of induction and eduction pipes; and a
separate person to work it; but the number of presses which may be worked
on this system by one set of pumps and one reservoir is only limited by the
respective capacities of the pumps and reservoir.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed six presses are supposed to be worked
by three pumps and one reservoir, but I merely give these as relative numbers
which are found convenient in practice, and do not restrict myself to the same.
Instead also of distributing the power furnished by the reservoir over a number
of presses, it may, if preferred, be concentrated on one. The lever O, too,
may be worked with any degree of rapidity desired, so that either a great
pressure sustained through a considerable length of time, or a smaller pressure
sustained during a shorter space is equally attainable.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my improve-
ments in hydraulic presses, and in machinery connected therewith, is,
First, the charging of the presses (not, as usual, directly from the pumps),
but from a separate reservoir, kept constantly filled partly with water and partly
with air, and with the air in a state of more or less compression, all by the
means and in manner before described, whereby they can be worked at great
rates of speed, and at both high and low pressures.
Second, the employing of the pumps to force water and air into a reservoir,
interposed, as aforesaid, between the pumps and the presses, whereby the
former are enabled to be worked unintermittingly.
And, third, the valvular governor marked D in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and before described, in the combination of peculiarly formed and
adjusted parts of which the same consists, whereby the whole of the water
admitted into this governor is constantly either being forced into the press
cylinder, or being discharged back into the supply cistern, and but little if
any, of it is allowed to run to waste.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
dow of Ontahan One thousand night hundred and fonts fistn
WILLIAM (L.S.) WYLAM.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid William Wylam came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her 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.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.