IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING SHIPS' AND OTHER SIMILAR PUMPS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Roberts, of Millwall, Engincer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING SHIPS' AND OTHER SIMILAR
PUMPS."
Sealed the 21st July 1857, and dated the 22nd January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Roberts at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd January 1857.
I, WILLIAM ROBERTS, of Millwall, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING SHIPS' AND OTHER SIMILAR
PUMPS," to be as follows:-
In fitting ships' pumps it is necessary so to arrange them that the suction
pipe of the pump can easily be put in connection with any one of several pipes
leading to different parts of the ship, and for this purpose what is called a
suction plate is ordinarily used. This consists of a plate through which the
ends of the different pipes pass, the suction pipe of the pump passing through
the centre of the plate and the other pipes being arranged in a circle round it.
On the end of the suction pipe of the pump an elbow is screwed, and the other
end of this elbow is capable of being screwed on to the end of either of the
pipes arranged round it.
Now, my Invention consists in placing a hollow conical plug at the end
of the suction pipe of the pump; this plug turns in a suitable socket like

page_text: an ordinary cock, and in the sides of the socket are a series of slits, each
communicating with one of the pipes with which the suction pipe is to
be connected. In the side of the hollow plug is. a single slit, which, by
turning the plug, can be brought opposite to either of the slits in the socket,
and thus communication is made between the suction pipe of the pump and
either of the pipes in connection with the slits in the socket. In this way
I am enabled to change the connections of the pump with much greater facility
than heretofore; and also by placing the slit in the plug between two of the
slits in the socket I am enabled to connect together the pipes communicating
with such slits in the socket, and I can cause the pipes so connected together
to work as a syphon. Heretofore, also, the suction plate has been made
separate from the pump, but I prefer to cast it on and make it part of the bed
plate of the pump.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Roberts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I WILLIAM
ROBERTS, of Millwall, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Roberts, Her special licence that I, the said William
Roberts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Roberts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
ARRANGING SHIPS AND OTHER SIMILAR PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Roberts, 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 Inven-
tion, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Roberts, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
In fitting ships' pumps it is necessary so to arrange them that the suction
pipe of the pump can easily be put in connection with any one of several pipes
leading to different parts of the ship, and for this purpose what is called a
suction plate is ordinarily used. This consists of a plate through which the
ends of the different pipes pass, the suction pipe of the pump passing through
the centre of the plate and the other pipes being arranged in a circle round it.
On the end of the suction pipe of the pump an elbow is screwed, and the other
end of this elbow is capable of being screwed on to the end of either of the
pipes arranged round it.
Now, my Invention consists in placing a hollow conical plug at the end of
the suction pipe of the pump; this plug turns in a suitable socket like an
ordinary cock, and in the sides of the socket are a series of slits, each com-
municating with one of the pipes with which the suction pipe is to be
connected. In the side of the hollow plug is a single slit, which, by turning
the plug, can be brought opposite to either of the slits in the socket, and thus
communication is made between the suction pipe of the pump and either of
the pipes in connection with the slits in the socket. In this way I am enabled
to change the connections of the pump with much greater facility than here-
tofore, and also by placing the slit in the plug between two of the slits in the
socket I am enabled to connect together the pipes communicating, with such
slits in the socket, and I can cause the pipes so connected together to work
as a syphon. Heretofore, also, the suction plate has been made separate
from the pump, but I prefer to cast it on and make it part of the bed plate of
the pump.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section, of a
suction plate made as part of the bed plate of a pump, and in other respects
arranged according to my Invention. The section, Figure 2, is taken at the
line A, B, Figure 1, and the section Figure 1 at the line C, D, Figure 2.
a, a, is part of the bed plate of a pump, which may be of any ordinary con-
struction, but I have shewn it arranged according to a plan for which a former

page_text: Patent has been granted to me. a' is the suction passage, formed in the bed
plate and terminating in the hollow conical plug 6; this plug rests in a ground
seat in the suction plate, and is kept in its place by the stem c, which at one
end is screwed into the bottom of the suction passage, and its other end passes
through the top of the plug and receives the screw nuts c', c. The head of
the plug 6 is made of a square or hexagonal form to receive a spanner, by
which it is turned to the position required. Through the suction plate the
pipes d, d, leading to different parts of the ship project, and they terminate in
slits or passages in the seat of the conical plug b; and this plug has an opening
through it, and when the plug is turned, bring its opening to correspond
with the slit passage of one of the pipes d, d, that pipe is brought into con-
nection with the pump, and when the pump is worked the suction takes place
through it. If the opening in the plug is made partly to cover the slits or
passages of two pipes, those two pipes are brought into connection, and if the
lower ends of the pipes are immersed in water, and if the water in which the
end of one pipe is immersed is at a different level to that in which the end
of the other pipe is immersed, the pipes may be made to work as a syphon by
withdrawing the air from the pipes by a few strokes of the pump.
Figure 3 is a vertical section, and Fig. 4 is a plan, of a suction plate
arranged according to my Invention, but made separate from the bed plate of
the pump.
a is the suction pipe or passage; bis the conical plug; c is the screw to
hold the plug in its seat; and d, d, are the pipes leading to the several parts
of the ship, as before.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Roberts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JAMES G. JONES.
WM ROBERTS. (L.S.)