PNEUMATIC AND HYDRAULIC MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Taylor, of Birkenhead, Engineer, for the
Invention of "PNEUMATIC AND HYDRAULIC MACHINES."
Sealed the 28th January 1859, and dated the 4th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Taylor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th August 1858. .
I, JAMES TAYLOR, of Birkenhead, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "PNEUMATIC AND HYDRAULIC MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the application of air or water as a motive power
for working certain machines employed for raising, lowering, and transporting
or otherwise moving. weights or giving motion to bodies, and consists in
constructing a crab, winch, capstan, windlass, hoist, crane, traveller, or such
like machine for raising, lowering, hauling, transporting, or otherwise moving
weights with gearing, and applying either one or more oscillating or stationary
cylinders, which being directly connected therewith and contained within or
forming part of the same machine; and which cylinders being fitted with
pistons and the usual apparatus, similar to steam engines, for transmitting the
motive power employed and converting the alternate or reciprocating action
into a continuous circular motion. Instead of using steam which is not
applicable for certain purposes and in certain situations, I either employ
compressed air which has been pumped into a receiver and compressed to the

page_text: requisite extent or degree by any convenient or suitable means, and such
receiver and pumping apparatus may be erected in any convenient position
away from the machine or machinery to be actuated, or I employ water,
which is delivered to the cylinders or motive power engine under suitable
pressure produced by the working of pumps, either immediate and direct, or
by the pressure produced by the gradual pumping in or accumulation of water
into a loaded receiver, or by the pressure due to the gravitating effect of a
column of water connected with the receiving side of the cylinder or cylinders
of the engine, and from which the fluid, after performing its duty, escapes.
I employ any of the well-known means for supplying or transmitting the
force or power requisite for working the engines connected with any of the
machines before referred to, and such source of power may be placed in any
convenient position away from or close to the engine and machine to be set in
motion; and where compressed air, or air under pressure, is employed, a
receiver or reservoir is placed interveningly or intermediately between the
pumping engine or source of power and the engine and machine to be set in
action, by which means uniformity of motion is thereby insured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TAYLOR, of Birkenhead, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, 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 James Taylor, Her special licence that I, the said James Taylor,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Taylor, 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 "PNEUMATIC AND
HYDRAULIC MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention; and in

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Taylor, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and the accompanying Drawings:-
This Invention relates to the application of air or water as a motive power
for working certain machines employed for raising, lowering, and transporting,
or otherwise moving weights; and consists in constructing a crab, winch,
capstan, windlass, hoist, cranc, traveller, or such like machine for raising,
lowering, hauling, transporting, or otherwise moving weights with gearing,
and applying either one or more oscillating or stationary cylinder, which being
directly connected therewith, and contained within, or forming part of the
same machine, and which cylinders are fitted with pistons and the usual
apparatus, similar to steam engines for transmitting the motive power
employed, and converting the alternate or reciprocating action into a con-
tinuous circular motion.
Instead of using steam, which is not applicable for certain purposes and
in certain situations, I employ compressed air, which has been pumped into a
receiver and compressed to the requisite extent or degree by any convenient
or suitable means, and such receiver and pumping apparatus may be erected
in any convenient position away from the machine or machinery to be
actuated; or, I employ water, which is delivered to the cylinders or motive
power engine under suitable pressure, produced by the working of pumps
either immediate and direct or by the pressure produced by the gradual
pumping in or accumulation of water into a loaded receiver, or by the pressure
due to the gravitating effect of a column of water connected with the re-
ceiving side of the cylinder or cylinders of the engine, and from which the
fluid, after performing its duty, escapes.
I employ any of the well-known means for supplying or transmitting the
force or power requisite for working the engines connected with any of the
machines before referred to, and such source of power may be placed in any
convenient position away from or close to the engine and machine to be set
5 in motion; and where compressed air or air under pressure is employed, a
receiver or reservoir is placed interveningly or intermediately between the
pumping engine or source of power and the engine and machine to be set in
action; by which means uniformity of motion is thereby insured.
When machines constructed according to my Invention are employed for

page_text: raising heavy weights to a distance less than that through which the same
weight has afterwards to be lowered, or through which it must fall, as, for
instance, in shipping heavy goods in bulk or in waggons, or in raising blocks
of stone from off the ground or platform to a sufficient height to admit of
their being carried forward and moved into any required position, either for
being shipped or placed in situ, as in the formation of works of construction,
and under various other circumstances, I take advantage of the fall of the
same weight to restore the pressure, or to make good wholly or in part the
amount of force or power previously expended. This I effect either by dis-
connecting the motive power engine from the supply of air or water, or by so
reversing the action of the machinery and the piston or pumps as to be able
to force back into the receiver air or water, as the case may be, against the
working column or pressure previously employed to give motion to the
machinery for raising or otherwise moving the weight. Thus, the load or
weight instead of falling from the height, to which it had first been raised, by
the pressure of air or water acting on the motive power engine, without
producing any useful effect, may be taken advantage of to replace the power
previously expended; and at the same time the arrangement described permits
of the speed of fall or descent being regulated or readily controlled, as if with a
brake, by means of the extent to which the passage for the air or the water is
closed or opened for its escape to the receiver or reservoir, either through the
pipe previously used as a supply pipe, or by means of a special pipe for the
purpose.
When fixed machinery according to my Invention is employed, I connect
and work the same by means of pipes or tubes in the ordinary way; but if the
engine or machine is for locomotive or travelling purposes, then I employ a
flexible pipe or tube, either wound around a suitable drum, which is mounted
on a hollow axle or shaft, or the flexible tube may be so suspended or arranged.
as to admit of the free travelling, or the motion back and forth of the
machine.
For performing very many of the operations connected with the execution
of public works, and-for-raising-and-lowering-or otherwise moving heavy_
weights or bodies, goods, or materials, and for giving motion to machines, or
performing work in situations where, from the severity of the climate or from
any other cause, hydraulic power is not available, I employ machinery con
structed according to my Invention, and work the same by means of
compressed air, or air contained in a reservoir, from which it is delivered
under pressure; or where I can do so with advantage and economy, I employ
water instead of air, as for working coal hoists and tips, and travellers; and

page_text: such like machines and apparatus employed in warehouses and on wharves,
and for other river side purposes, and in performing under water operations of
various kinds in positions where the working of such machinery will be
unaffected by frost; and I also prefer to employ water instead of air where it
is necessary to employ a considerable pressure per square inch, and where a
small size of engine is more convenient, other circumstances permitting.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and some of the
for which it is intended to be employed, I now proceed to illustrate some of
the methods of applying the same in practise under various circumstances.
purposes
In the accompanying Sheets of Drawings I have shewn several views of
machines constructed according to my Invention, Figs. 1 and 2; Sheet 1,
being views of a pneumatic pumping apparatus, suited either for supplying air
direct to a distant machine, or for charging an air vessel or receiver; Figs. 3,
4, & 5, Sheets 2 and 3, being views of a travelling machine, intended to be
worked by the pressure of air supplied from a distant source, and which
travelling machine is kept supplied whilst changing its position, and whilst
working or rotating, whether the machine be stationery or advancing.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan, of a double-acting horizontal
air pump worked by steam, the steam cylinder being placed between the two
pumps, which are worked direct from the piston rod of the steam engine.
A is the sole plate or frame, upon which is mounted the steam cylinder. B
and the air pumps C, C, the double crank shaft D, D, upon which is keyed
the fly wheel E, and the various other parts and fittings in connection there-
with, as hereafter described by the aid of letters of reference; the sanie
description of letters being employed to represent like or corresponding parts
in each of the Figs. 1 and 2.
For the better describing of the novel contrivances in connection with the
pumps, I have numbered one pump No. 1 and the other No. 2, and I have in
the side elevation shewn Nos. 1 & 2 in section, and I have also removed
part of the sole plate, base plate, or foundation, the better to shew the self-
acting arrangement of valves and apparatus by which the pressure of air in
the receiver, or the pressure supplied direct to a distant machine, may be
regulated or governed, as the pumps are caused to cease action upon the
pressure attaining the maximum to which it is regulated or pre-arranged.
Now, supposing I wish to maintain the pressure in the receiver ranging
from 40 to 80 pounds on the square inch, so soon as the pressure acts upon
the ram a, a, say, at 40 pounds, it descends and moves the levers b, b, causing
the valves c, c, to be kept open, thus preventing the pump No. 2 from acting,
by keeping the ingress or suction valves c, c, continually open. When, with

page_text: the steam piston made equal to double the area of the pump No. 1, I am
enabled with 40 pounds of steam to press up to 80 pounds in the receiver,
and until the pressure recedes below 40 lbs. only one pump will act; but,
should the pressure fall below 40 lbs., then the weight on the lever d causes
the ram to ascend, and allow the ingress valves to play, and double the-
quantity of air will be thrown into the receiver when the two pumps are at
work. I do not confine myself to doing the work with one pair of pumps or
two pairs, as circumstances may require a combination of several. Instead of
arranging the engine and pumps horizontally, and working the pumps in the
manner shewn direct from the piston rod, I prefer for some purposes to erect
them and to construct them to work vertically; but they may be arranged or
disposed in any other manner to suit the situation or the purpose for which
they are intended.
The construction and arrangement of the pumps and apparatus connected
therewith, and the steam cylinder and apparatus connected therewith, employed
for working the pumps, are shewn with so much clearness in Figs. 1 & 2,
Sheet 1, as to render it unnecessary to give any further detailed explanation
of the parts thereof, except to describe the working of the apparatus, which I
now proceed to do.
In Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 1, I have, by preference, shewn a side elevation and
plan of a pneumatic apparatus for charging an air vessel or reservoir, and which
may also be used for working direct without the intervention of an air vessel,
a travelling or other machine or apparatus situated at a distance therefrom.
This apparatus is worked by steam, although any other power may be applied
instead thereof. The steam entering the cylinder B through the steam pipe F
acts upon the piston I, and by means of the ordinary slide valve, or its
equivalent, contained within the steam chest G, the piston travels alternately
from one-end to the other of the cylinder. The through piston rod H, H, is
at each end connected with the air pump bucket or piston I, I, of the air
pump cylinder C, C, which are moved back and forth, and at each stroke draw
in air through the ingress valves c, c, before described, and express or discharge
-the-air-through the discharge valves shewn at the top of the pumps, and by
means of the pipes K, K, K, K, and the main pipe L into the receiver. The
admission of steam is regulated to the cylinder by means of a throttle valve M,
in the ordinary way, and the slide valve or its equivalent is actuated by means
of a rod N, connected at one end with the valve spanner O, and at the other
working upon the stud or pin of a crank arm P, projecting from the crank
shaft D. The weight W on the lever d is intended to regulate the extent of
uressure.

page_text: In Sheets 2 & 3, Fig. 1 is an end elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, and Figure 3 a
side elevation of a travelling machine constructed according to my Invention,
suited for being worked or set in motion by compressed air from a reservoir
or air vessel, or direct from pumps fixed at any convenient distance from the
tramway or traveller, staging, or scaffold upon which the machine, Figs. 1;
2, & 3 travels and performs its functions. The apparatus or traveller shewn
in these Figures is designed or intended more particularly for performing the
various duties required of such an engine or apparatus in and about the con-
struction of harbour works, in bridge building, and in various other description
of works of construction, where heavy pieces of material, portions of the work,
or other heavy bodies have to be raised, moved, and lowered into position.
A, A, are the rails upon which the wheels B, B, &c. of the travelling
machine work; four grooved or double flanged wheels are mounted upon two
axles C, C', both of which may be hollow, but the axle C has fitted upon one
end of it a drum, having a spiral groove formed therein of a size suitable to
receive a coil of flexible pipe or tubing, which at its inner end is connected
with the hollow axle, whilst the other or outer end is connected to the air
vessel or reservoir, or direct to the air pump. Thus when the traveller is close
to the source of power, the grooved drum D is filled with the flexible pipe or
tube, and the compressed air forced into or through it passes along the hollow
axle C¹ to the cylinders by means of the pipe E, the communication between
the cylinders and the supply pipe E being regulated by the stop-cock F, the
supply pipe beyond the stop-cock being connected to the cylinders in any
convenient manner. The pressure being communicated to the pistons of the
cylinders, which are shewn as fitted with a single trunk, altho' any other form or
arrangement of cylinder and piston may be adopted, the connecting rods give
motion to the shaft H, which may run at any convenient speed, but which in
the accompanying Drawings are designed for and intended to work at a speed
of about 105 revolutions pr. minute or thereabouts, as being the most suitable
for the purpose for which the said machine is intended.
The shaft being caused to revolve, the traveller may be caused to move
backward or forward by means of a "laying rope or "ground rope," or by
hauling on or winding a chain running in the direction of the track; or it
may give motion to the bearing wheels supporting the traveller running upon
the rails. Upon the shaft E is shewn a mitre wheel I, keyed firmly thereto,
and two short shafts K & K', working at right angles to the shaft H; each
carry upon their inner end a mitre wheel (L, L'), which, however run loose
upon their respective shafts, although they are constantly in gear with the
mitre wheel I. Each of the shafts K & K is fitted with a feather, upon

page_text: which slides a clutch M & M¹, by which the direction of motion of the
gearing, and the speed of the gearing, and consequently the power or ability
of the machine to raise weights or perform other work is regulated, as when
one clutch is in gear the other clutch is out of gear, thus when the clutch M
is in gear as shewn upon the plan Fig. 2, the shaft K is set in motion at a
speed corresponding with the shaft H, (when mitre wheels are employed,) and
upon the shaft K is fitted a pinion of any suitable diameter for the purpose
of transmitting motion to the spur wheel, both of which are shewn as dotted
in on plan Fig. 2, and in side elevation Fig. 3. The spur wheel gearing
into the pinion on the shaft K is shewn as fitted upon a shaft N, working at
right angles to the shaft H, as seen in plan Fig. 2, and in side elevation
Fig. 3; upon the other end of the same shaft N is fitted a spur wheel which
gears into a pinion on the shaft K, the clutch of which M¹ is shewn on the
plan as out of gear; upon the same shaft (N) a break wheel or drum is
fitted, the break strap of which is acted upon by the hand wheel (or brake
screw wheel), shewn in Figs. 1, 2, & 3.
Motion is thus communicated by means of either of the sets of gearing,
according to the power or speed required to be exerted upon the barrel, either
through the shaft K or K¹ and the gearing respectively belonging to them;
thus the long barrell O, which extends from end to end of the traveller frame,
within which it is supported on suitable bearings, may be rotated either in
one direction or the other, by motion being communicated through the shaft
Kor K and the shaft N, by which the speed is determined. The direction
of the rotation of the gearing is governed by a hand reversing lever, as shewn
in Fig. 3, it being connected with and acting upon the link motion of each
slide valve; these slide valves being moved or caused to travel by the eccen-
trics a, a, a, a, shewn in Fig. 2, the link motion being shewn at b, b,
Fig. 3; the reversing lever c, and its connecting bar d, with the spanners é, e,
being fitted thereupon, shewn in Figs. 1 & 2, are connected by means of
rods with the links (dotted in at Fig. 3).
in upon
The various speed wheels, which are intended for giving rotary motion to
the barrel, or otherwise-giving-motion-to-the machine,_are_shewn as dotted
the several Figs. in Sheets 2 & 3, for the purpose of avoiding com-
plication of the details of the travelling machine, which might otherwise occur,
if each of the wheels and pinions were fully lined in; and the relative speeds
of the different shafts and the barrel, and the proportions of the wheels and
pinions, are figured in upon the Drawing, for a machine of the dimensions,
and for the purpose for which the machine shewn in Figs. 1, 2, & 3, is
intended.

page_text: Having described my Invention as applied to the purpose. shewn in the
Drawing, Figs. 1, 2, & 3, Sheets 2 & 3, hereunto annexed, I wish it to
be understood that the construction of machine illustrated by the said Figs.
in Sheets 2 & 3 may be adapted to the substitution of air for water as a
motive power, and that, whether air or water be employed, I take advantage
of the gravitating effect due to the body which had previously been raised,
having to fall through a greater distance than that through which it was pre-
viously raised, for the purpose of restoreing wholly or in part. the motive power
expended in raising or moving the same or other weights or bodies operated:
upon by the same or other machines, the air or water being pumped back
through suitable pipes or tubes; and where water is employed, it may be
drawn from the nearest source, and forced back in manner similar to that
just described.
Although I have described in Sheet 1 an arrangement of apparatus
suited for pumping air into a receiver or air vessel, and also applicable for
acting directly upon fixed or moveable engines or machines erected or worked
or employed at a distance from the source of power, I employ a similar
arrangement suitably modified for working by the pressure of water instead of
air, and instead of employing the power of steam to work the pumps, any
other power which from local circumstances may be more economical may
be substituted therefore.
In like manner I may substitute the pressure of water for the pressure of air
employed in travelling or portable machines, either of the description shewed
in Figs. 1, 2, & 3, Sheets 2 and 3, or in any other form of travelling or
stationary machine constructed and worked according to my Invention,
employed for any other purposes herein-before described.
Having now described my Invention, and illustrated its application to some
of the purposes for which it is intended, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim is,-
First, the construction and arrangement of machinery as herein described,
for communicating power to distant engines, inachines, or apparatus, by which
they are set in motion, and made available for performing the various works
or functions herein-before set forth.
Secondly, the novel contrivance and arrangement herein described, for in
certain cases restoring wholly or in part the power previously expended in
raising or moving a load, by taking advantage of the gravitating effect or fall
of the same load or weight through a greater distance than that through
which it was previously raised or moved, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the novel contrivance or self-acting apparatus applied to pumps as

page_text: shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 1, applied to the pump C, No. 2, by which
the pump is automatically thrown out of work after the receiver or air vessel
is charged to the requisite pressure..
: In witness whereof, I, the said James Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of February, One thousand eight hun-
dred and fifty-nine.
JAMES TAYLOR. (L.S.)