SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO A FIRE ENGINE
Year: 1793

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BRAMAH, of Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Engine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of April, in the thirty-third year of
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Bramah, His especial
licence, that I, the said Joseph Bramah, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO A FIRE ENGINE," originally invented
by me, (and for which, as also for some improvements thereof, I obtained
His Majesty's several Letters Patent, bearing date respectively in the twenty-
fifth and thirtieth years of his reign); in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Bramah, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and scal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Bramah, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the
plan or Drawings hereunto annexed, and in the description following, that is
to say:
Fig. 1 represents a cylindrical vessel made of wood, and may be of greater
or less dimensions, according to the intended size of the engine.
These

page_text: Drawings are to a scale of of an inch to the foot, and sufficient for an engino
of the largest common size. This vessel is composed of staves, heads, and iron
hoops, the same as any other piece of cooper's work made for holding liquor.
The hoops differ from those of a common vessel, being made to tighten with a
scrow, as at B in hoop A, as the vessel, being cylindrical, cannot be hooped
with driving hoops, as in tho usual manner. C, C, are two slits, through
which the lovers pass, 'which receive the handles of the engine. See sections.
At D is a man-hole sufliciently large to admit a man into the inside of the vessel
occasionally, if required; this hole is shut up when the vessel is full of water by
a bung, composed of the same piece which is cut out of it by being cut beveling
outwards as at D. Fig. 2, and having nailed round its edge some leather or
other soft material for rendering the junction water-tight. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3
are the side and end sections, showing the true construction of the vessel
Fig. 1, and also how the patent pump or hydraulic parts are fixed and
connected therewith, and how the engine is to be filled with water and
worked, likewise a description of the carriage on which the engine is conveyed,
and how mounted thereon, N.B.-The same letters of reference are used to
the same parts in both sections. E, E, Fig. 2, shows the two heads of the
vessel, which are grooved into the sides of the cylinder at proper distances
from each end, so as to leave room at one end for the reception of the patent
pump and one of the handle levers, and at the other end room for the lever
only. Between the heads E, E, is a space, which forms the interior of the
vessel, or a reservoir F, capacious enough to hold in this large engine five
hogsheads of water, ale measure. G shows the patent engine pump, with onc
end of its axis passing through the head E in the centre of the cylinder; it is
fastened and made water-tight by being scrowed down to the head E, all round
one of its flaunches, with a leather between tho flaunch, and the head with the
screws h, h, &c. His an iron spindle, which is connected with the axis of the
pump at L at one end, and the other end passes through a stuffing box at K,
fixed in the head E, which causes it to be water-tight. In the space M the
handle lover is joined to the spindle by being drove up to a square, or other-
wise the spindle II is continued on to the exterior head N, and has a pivot which
falls into the bush O. This handle lever moves in the slit C, which being of
a proper length, provents the handle from being moved too far in either
direction. The other handle lever is joined to the axis of the pump in the
usual way, and works, as represented, at the pump end of the cylinder at R;
P shews the handle of engine discontinued at Q, that it may not interfere with
the other parts. S is a sliding cock, which opens and shuts tlic forcing arm
that communicates for the purpose of filling the reservoir by the pumping of

page_text: Z is a box fixed
a, a, a, are three
the circle of the
These blocks are
the engine from her own suction. T is the suction cock, one arm of which
communicates with the reservoir at U, and the other arm externally at V,
where there is a screw to receive the suction pipe W. X is the handle of the
cock, which, being turned one way, opens a communication to the reservoir,
and when turned the reverse way opens a communication to the suction pipe
W, so that the engine will work either by a supply from the reservoir F, or
by a supply from the suction pipe W, in the usual way. N, N, are the two
external ends or heads which cap in all the works of the engine, and in which
the brass bushes or bearings 0, 0, are fixed for the support of the axis of the
engine and spindle H. Y is the forcing arm, passing through the head N,
on the outside of which is a screw for the reception of the hose pipe, as usual
in other engines. There is also a brass cap, see chains v, v, which screws on
to this part when the reservoir is filled through the cock S.
on the upper side of the cylinder A, made with a lid, for the purpose of con-
taining the hose pipes and various other implements belonging to the engine.
There is a partition at b, b, for the security of the air vessel.
blocks, hollowed out on the upper side so as to exactly fit
cylinder A, as appears at a in the end section, Fig. 3.
firmly fixed to the cylinder with iron bolts, &c. When the machine is thus
prepared, it is mounted on a carriage with four wheels, as in the section,
Fig. 2, which is drawn by the same scale as the parts already described, and
is so plainly delineated as to require no description in words. The only
particular to be attended to in making this carriage is the height of the wheels,
so that the centre of the cylinder and the axis of the engine O, O, may remain
in height proper for the handles which work the engine. In all other respects
the form and manner of making the carriage may be varied without interfering
with the merits of the engine. The carriage may be made similar to that of a
coach, caravan, or common waggon, and with equal effect with respect to the
utility of the engine. Fig. 4 represents a perforated boss or nose to the
branch of the engine, made of copper or other proper metal, for the purpose of
occasionally spreading or dispersing the jet of water in many directions at the
same time. Fig. 5 is the side view of the boss or nose Fig. 4, shewing that the
under side of it is not perforated, no discharge of water downward being necessary,
on account of the immediate descent of that which is thrown upwards; by this a
waste of water is prevented. The holes perforated in this boss or nose must be
of larger dimensions than those in the cullendar of the suction pipe W, to pre-
vent the boss from choaking with what passes through the engine when the water
is dirty. About of an inch diameter will be in general a proper size for
a large engine. This boss or nose is meant to be used in such cases as will

page_text: admit of a near approach to the part where the fire is first begun, or at any
other period when deemed useful; at other times the engine is used with the
usual nose pipe. Fig. 6, a square, in which is displayed in perspective, both
individually and collectively, all the parts which compose the pump or hydrau-
lic part of the engine in its most perfect state, with all the improvements that
have been progressively made since the first Patent was obtained, and which is
inserted here only to shew the principle of the whole machine, without
reference to the former Specification. A, Fig. 6, is the cylinder in which the
act of pumping is performed, having a flaunch at each end, to which is screwed
the two caps or end heads of the cylinder. B is the axis, which is armed with
two wings or fans, in cach of which is a valve for the admission of the water
through them. All round the external edge of these wings is screwed a
narrow plate, under which is leather, to render the wings or fans which move
against the interior surface of the cylinder waterproof. C is a partition, the
lower edge of which is joined to the cylinder, and the upper edge is made so
as to exactly fit the circle of the axis, the half of which axis is always below
the thickness of the wings or fans, as appear in the collective Drawing F, at a.
In the upper edge of the partition C is a groove, as at b; when the axis is
fixed in its place, this groove b is filled with junk or some other soft materials,
so as to press on the axis, and cause it to move water-tight. This partition C
divides the lower part of the cylinder next the suction into two compartments,
in which, on each side the partition C, is cut in the cylinder an aperture
which opens to the suction pipe G. These apertures are opened and shut by
two valves, as represented in Drawing Fat D, D; and d represents the valves
D, D. E is a wedge, which, passing through the staples or loops c, c, in the
partition C, fastens the valves. F, the collective Drawing, shews the disposi
tion of all the interior parts when put together. K represents a circular
plate, one of which fits into a rabbit in each end of the cylinder A, through
which plate the axis B passes in a stuffing box, as at L, and causes it to move
water-tight. In each plate there is a slit, as at M, that, receiving each end of
the partition C, makes it strong; and when the cap N is screwed down to the
flaunch at each end of the cylinder, with a leather between it and the plate K,
the whole is inclosed entirely waterproof. O is the nutt of the stufling box
L, which, being screwed down upon the stufling in the box L, completes the
whole.
In witness whereof, J, the said Joseph Bramal, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of May, One thousand seven hundred
JOSEPH BRAMAH. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixteenth day of May,
in the year above written, the aforesaid Joseph Bramah came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of Mar in the moon show suitton