IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIFT PUMPS FOR MINES AND SEWAGE AND OTHER WORKS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Isaac Tipping at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
June 1874.
I, ISAAC TIPPING, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIFT PUMPS FOR MINES
AND SEWAGE AND OTHER WORKS," to be as follows :—
"
This Invention consists in dispensing with the present solid "spear
or pump rod usually constructed of timber and jointed with bars and
bolts, also with the usual spear and pump bucket, and with the present
continuation upwards of the pump barrel commonly called the "well"
(which is usually of the same diameter as the pump or thereabouts), and
in substituting therefor a pipe pump rod up which the liquid is dis-
charged. The lower end of the rod is enlarged to form a plunger bucket

page_text: of the diameter of pump required. The plunger is of sufficient length
for the whole stroke, and it slides through a stuffing box on the end of
the pump barrel, consequently there is no packing in the plunger bucket,
which latter does not come in contact with the inside of the pump
barrel, and cannot therefore be jammed by foreign matter getting
between it and the pump barrel, neither can any liquid escape back
from the plunger bucket unless the valves are in bad condition, whereas
in existing lifting pumps the bucket packing is the source of excessive
inconvenience, loss of time, and expense.
The final discharge of the liquid takes place at the top of the rod, or
at any intermediate convenient place by means of a branch on the rod
to which a spout may be attached of sufficient length to deliver the
liquid clear of the shaft or well in such wise that no spray will fall back
again. When the pipe rod is attached to the end of a lever or engine
beam it will have a radial motion which the stuffing box gland of the
pump will be constructed to permit, but in cases where the rod is too
short to permit of a radial motion, then connecting side rods may be
used to sling the rod, or the rod may be lifted by a rope passing over a
pulley.
When it is desired to use a stationary exit spout the upper portion of :
pipe will discharge itself into a larger enveloping pipe fitted at bottom
with a stuffing box, and having the spout or delivery pipe attached
thereto. It is important that the plunger rod shall make its descending
stroke by the force of gravity only, and by that force deliver the liquid
through the spout and not as usual during the up stroke; so much of the
weight of the rod as is not required to force out the liquid should be
counterbalanced to the advantage of the lifting power. During the
down stroke the rod must drag with it the lifting machinery in order
that the rod may be always in tension, and never in compression even
from its own head weight, otherwise it will have a tendency to buckle.
To guard against this risk there should be stout timber guides placed at
distances of about twenty yards apart, and those portions of the rod
which pass through the guides should be clothed with timber sufficiently
large to enclose the joints in the rod. The timber may be secured to the
rods by iron straps and bolts. The joints of the rod will be made with
recessed and corresponding projecting flanges, compressing between
them india-rubber rings or washers or other suitable material. The bolt

page_text: holes in each flange will be of a depth equal to about the bore of the
pipe in order that the metal surrounding the holes may form brackets
to strengthen the flanges of the pipes.
The barrel of the pump will be provided with a door by which access
may be had to all the valves.