IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING SHIPS' PUMPS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Blank, of Carlton, in the County of Notting-
ham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING SHIPS'
PUMPS."
Sealed the 25th July 1865, and dated the 3rd February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Blank at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
February 1865.
I, MATTHEW BLANK, of Carlton, in the County of Nottingham, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WORKING SHIPS' PUMPS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to work the pumps with greater ease and
facility than heretofore, and also to work them from the upper deck so as to
obviate the necessity of going below. To this end I transmit the power to
the pump from the capstan by means of endless chains, racks, bands, or shaft-
ing and cog wheels, instead of working them by hand with cranks and levers
in the ordinary manner. By this means I obtain greatly increased power, as
the men can work the capstan with less expenditure of labour and more effect
than when working in the ordinary manner. In the ordinary arrangement
the men work with a leverage of 16 inches, but in the improved arrangement

page_text: there is an extreme leverage of 14 feet, and an average leverage of 8 feet.
The pump in the event of fire on board the ship can be worked from the
main deck capstan, and all the hatches can be battened down on the lower
and main decks. The cost of alteration or original fixing of the gear for
working the pumps would be trifling in comparison to the cost of fitting up
the working gear according to the present method.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Blank in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
BLANK, of Carlton, in the County of Nottingham, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One 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 Matthew Blank, Her special licence that I, the said Matthew
Blank, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Matthew Blank, 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
WORKING SHIPS' PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Matthew Blank, 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 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.
..).
T
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Blank, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The object of my Invention of "Improvements in Working Ships' Pumps "
is to work the pumps with greater ease and facility than heretofore, and also

page_text: to work them from the upper deck or decks so as to obviate the necessity of
going below for this purpose as is now the case. To this end I transmit. the
power to the pumps from the capstan by means of endless chains, racks,
bands, or by shafting and cog wheels, instead of working them by hand with
cranks or levers in the ordinary manner. By this means I obtain greatly
increased power, as the men can work the capstan with less expenditure of
labour and more effect than when turning cranks in the ordinary manner.
In the crank arrangement the men work with a leverage of 16 inches, but
when working with the capstan in accordance with the principle of my Inven-
tion there is an extreme leverage of 14½ feet, and an average leverage of 8
feet. In the event of fire on board ship the pumps can be worked from the
upper deck capstan alone, and all the hatches can be battened down on the
lower and main decks so as to prevent air from obtaining access to the fire
to support combustion. The cost of alteration or original fixing of the gear as
shewn in the Drawing for working the pumps would be trifling in comparison
to the cost of fitting up the working gear according to the present method.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn two arrangements whereby the
object of the Invention may be conveniently effected. I do not, however,
intend to confine myself to the precise arrangements or kinds of gearing shewn
in the Drawing, as these details must necessarily be varied to suit different
cases.
b
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section taken through the upper, lower, and
main decks of a ship, and shewing the pumps a, which are placed on the lower
deck or in the hold, and are driven by means of endless chains 6 passed round
the chain wheel c on the spindle of the capstans d, d, one of which is on the
main deck and the other on the upper deck of the vessel. Fig. 2 is a
sectional plan view of the same. The chain 6 passes from the capstan round
and drives a stud wheel e, on the boss of which is secured a toothed wheel f,
which drives a pinion 9 on the vertical shaft g¹. At the lower end of this
vertical shaft g' is a bevil wheel h, which gears into and drives a bevil pinion i
on the axle ', which actuates the plunger or piston of the pump a. It will
now be seen that in order to work the pump it will only be necessary to apply
power by means of the levers d³ to the capstans d, and thus actuate the driving
gear. Fig. 3 is an elevation, and Fig. 4 a plan view of an arrangement of
gearing for working the pumps without the intervention of an endless chain as
in the other arrangement. In this instance a spur wheel; is mounted on the
capstan d, and by gearing direct into the pinion 9 on the vertical shaft o'
drives the plunger or piston of the pump by means of the bevil gearing h and i
as in the former instance.

page_text: Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Working Ships
Pumps," and having explained, the manner of carrying the same into effect; I
claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, actuating
ships' pumps by means of suitable gearing connected with capstan's on the upper
deck or decks, so that the pumps placed on the lower deck or decks may be
worked as herein set forth without the necessity of going below for the
purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Blank, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 26th day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
MATTHEW BLANK. (L.S.)