IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Bow, of Port Dundas, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Coal Master, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PUMPS."
Sealed the 31st May 1859, and dated the 14th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Bow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
14th December 1858.
I, EBENEZER BOw, of Port Dundas, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Coal Master, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PUMPS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of constructing the pistons of
lift pumps and the valves of lift and force pumps. In one modification, the
improved piston consists of a skeleton frame, which is, by preference, formed
without a circumferential flange or ring, and which has hinged to it two
semicircular valves: These valves are composed of metal plates, having fixed
on them, by preference on their top sides, pieces of a flexible material, such
as leather or vulcanised caoutchouc, which project beyond the edges of the
plates, and when pressed out flat, occupy a rather greater area than that of
the transverse section of the pump barrel, so as to form a kind of "cup packing"
when placed in the pump.
When the piston descends, the valves open up towards the pump rod, and
when the piston is lifted, the valves close against the sides of the barrel, their

page_text: "packing answering at once as both valve packing and piston packing.
The improved valves are constructed according to one modification, like the
piston valves just described, that is to say, they consist, in each case, of a
couple of semicircular plates hinged to a bridge piece, and having fixed to
them pieces of a flexible material, such as leather or vulcanised caoutchouc to
act as packing, this packing being pressed (when the valves are closed) against
a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical seating. The pistons and valves may be
modified in various ways, but the essential feature of the Invention is the use
of a kind of "cup-packing," which, in the piston, acts against the barrel
surface in such a way as to dispense with a separate piston packing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ebenezer Bow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EBENEZER
Bow, of Port Dundas, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Coal Master,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Ebenezer Bow, Her special licence that I, the said
Ebenezer Bow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I,. the said Ebenezer Bow, my executors, administrators, or 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 PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Ebenezer Bow, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ebenezer Bow, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved mode of constructing the pistons
of lift pumps, and the stationary valves of lift and force pumps. In one-
modification, the improved piston consists of a skeleton frame, which is, by
preference, formed without a circumferential flange or ring, and which has
hinged to it two semicircular valves. These valves are composed of metal
plates, having fixed on them, by preference on their top sides, pieces of a
flexible material, such as leather or vulcanised caoutchouc, which project
beyond the edges of the plates, and, when pressed out flat, occupy a rather
greater area than that of the transverse section of the pump barrel, so as to
form a kind of "cup packing" when placed in the pump. When the piston
descends, the valves open up towards the pump rod, and when the piston is
lifted, the valves close against the sides of the barrel, their "packing" answering
at once as both valve packing and piston packing. The improved valves are
constructed, according to one modification, like the piston valves just described,
that is to say, they consist, in each case, of a couple of semicircular plates
hinged to a bridge piece, and having fixed, to them pieces of a flexible material,
such as leather or vulcanised caoutchouc to act as packing, this packing being
pressed when the valves are closed against a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical
seating.
The pistons and valves may be modified. in various ways, but the essential
feature of the Invention is the use of a kind of "cup packing," which, in the
piston, acts against the barrel surface in such a way as to dispense with a
separate piston packing.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, I have delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings.
hereunto appended, and shall now proceed to describe, certain examples or
modifications of my improved pump apparatus, premising that the same-
reference letters mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a vertical or longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a horizontal or
transverse section of a pump barrel with one modification respectively of my.
improved lift piston or bucket and foot valve, the sections being taken in each
Figure, according to the red line in the other Figure. In this example, the
body of the piston or bucket is a skeleton frame A without a circumferential
flange, its form being best indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2. This
frame or body A is fixed on the pump rod B by means of keys, the upper one
of which also serves to fix the valves C. These valves consist of a single dise

page_text: of vulcanised caoutchouc, strengthened by semicircular metal plates D on their
under sides, the caoutchouc disc being moulded with a turned-up lip at the
edge, to enable it. to act against the side of the pump barrel E, as a cup
packing. The valve plates D, as also the skeleton frame A, are made so as to
all but touch the sides of the pump barrel. The manner in which the valves
C open is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, the caoutchouc disc itself
forming the hinges; the foot valves are in this instance made exactly like
the bucket valves. The skeleton frame a rests upon the step formed by a
slight contraction of the suction pipe F, and it is made an easy fit, so as to
adjust itself in its seating. If preferred, it may be fitted into a conical or
other seating. The valves c of vulcanised caoutchouc, strengthened by metal
plates d, close against the sides of the bottom of the pump barrel E.
Figure 3 is a vertical or longitudinal section, and Figure 4 is a horizontal or
transverse section, of a pump barrel, with a second modification of my improved
lift piston or bucket. In this modification, the turned-up lip of the caoutchouc
valves C is separated or detached from the actual valves; in other words, the
actual valves C are made to barely touch the sides of the barrel E, whilst a
detached ring G, of such a material as vulcanised caoutchouc, is introduced, to
complete the packing. When the bucket is drawn up, this ring G is forced
down upon the valves C, and effectually packs them as if of the same piece
with them, whilst on the bucket descending, it becomes separated from the
valves, and allows them to open more freely than in the first modification. To
prevent the ring G from becoming separated from the valves further than is
necessary, a metal guard ring His fixed on the pump rod B at a suitable
distance above the valves C; this guard ring may be made to nearly fill the
barrel E, so as to act as a guide. In this example a modified form of bucket
body A is used, being provided with a circumferential ring, which nearly or
easily fills the barrel E. The parts of the frame upon which the valve plates
D rest when the valves C are closed, are recessed to receive the plates flush
with the top surface of the frame, so that the edges of the caoutchouc valves C
bear when closed upon the top edge of the eircumferential ring of the
frame A. In this example, the foot valves are the same as those in Figure 1,
but represented as turned a quarter round.
Figure 5 is a vertical or longitudinal section, and Figure 6 is a horizontal
or transverse section, of a pump barrel with a third modification of my
improved lift piston or bucket. In this example a perforated metal disc A
answers as the bucket body, and the caoutchouc valves C are without
strengthening plates, the disc A supporting them sufficiently; in other
respects the bucket or piston is like that represented in Figures 3 and 4,

page_text: already described; the frame of the foot valves is represented as resting in a
conical seating.
The parts herein-before described as composed of vulcanised caoutchouc, or
some of them, may be made of leather, or of other material or compound
possessing like qualities.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state
that I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein-before described
or delineated, and that I do not claim to have invented every separate detail
herein-before described and delineated; but that what I believe to the novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the constructing of pump buckets or pistons with valves contrived to
close against the sides of the barrel, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the constructing of the stationary valves of lift and force pumps,
so as to close against cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical surfaces, substantially as
herein-before described..
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Bow, have bereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, S Enoch Square, Glasgow.
E. BOW. (L.S.)