IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PUMPING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE AIR PUMPS OF STEAM Dune
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Goodfellow, of Hyde, in the County of
Chester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PUMPING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE AIR PUMPS OF STEAM
Dune"
Sealed the 20th July 1855, and dated the 21st February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Goodfellow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st February 1855.
I, BENJAMIN GOODFELLOW, of Hyde, in the County of Chester, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PUMPING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE AIR
PUMPS OF STEAM ENGINES AND TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in dispensing either wholly or in part with the
valves usually required in pumping machinery. When my improvements are
used for pumping water into a steam boiler, I connect to the piston rod of an
ordinary steam cylinder a second piston, somewhat less in diameter than that
against which the steam acts. This second piston works in a cylinder fur-
nished with a slide valve and ports, which are in connection with the pipe that

page_text: supplies the water and with the boiler. When the piston in the steam cylinder
is at work, the pumping piston draws water from the supply pipe, and at the
same time forces water into the boiler, and when the piston is at the end of its
stroke, the valve of the water cylinder by reversing the ports allows a fresh
supply of water to be drawn into the cylinder, and that in the cylinder to be
forced into the boiler at the return stroke. The valves of the steam and water
cylinders are connected so as to act simultaneously, and they are adjusted so as
to allow the stroke to be reversed at any point without the aid of a crank.
When my improvements are applied to the air pump of a steam engine, the
foot valves, delivery doors, and valves or flaps in the air pump buckets are
dispensed with; consequently condensing engines may be made to work at a
greater velocity than heretofore. The above-described machinery for pumping
can be worked at a greater velocity (without increasing the wear and tear)
than the reciprocating pumps of the ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Goodfellow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
GOODFELLOW, of Hyde, in the County of Chester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Benjamin Goodfellow, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin Good-
fellow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Goodfellow, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PUMPING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE AIR PUMPS
OF STEAM ENGINES, AND TO OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Benjamin Goodfellow, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be

page_text: 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 Benjamin Goodfellow, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following Specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings (that is to say):-
-
The nature of my said Invention consists, first, in the application of a slide
valve to the pumping cylinder or barrel of machines for pumping, whereby the
valves usually required are wholly or in part dispensed with; also in the mode
of working such slide valve.
And, secondly, in dispensing with the foot and delivery valves, and the valves
in the air pump buckets of condensing steam engines, and in substituting in
their stead a slide valve and a double-acting piston.
I have in the said Drawings given Figures for shewing how my improve-
ments may be constructed; similar parts in each of the views being marked
with similar letters of reference.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my improvements in
machinery for pumping water into steam boilers; Figure 2 is a plan view of
the same, in which the lids and the valves are removed from the valve boxes.
a is a steam cylinder furnished with a piston b, piston rod c, valve box d,
valve e, and steam ports f, of the usual construction. To the piston rod c is
attached a cross head g, in which is also fixed the end of the piston rod h.
This piston rod passes through the stuffing box of the pumping cylinder or
barrel i, which may be lined with brass, as shewn in Figure 1. To the piston
rod h is fixed the piston j, which acts as a ram to displace the water in the
cylinder i. This cylinder is furnished with a valve box k, slide valve l, and
ports m, in the same way as the steam cylinder; the principal difference
between the two being that the ports of the pumping cylinder are larger than
those of the steam cylinder. The water is supplied to the pumping cylinder by
the pipe ', see Figure 2, and is conveyed to the boiler through the off-pipe 2².
The requisite motion is given to the slide valves e and
manner: A trunnion projects on each side of the cross
trunnions fit in slots in the lever n, whose fulcrum is at o.
of the lever n is a radial slot n', through which passes a stud in one end of the
rods p; the other ends of which are jointed to the lever q, and to this lever
the rod of the slide valve e is connected by links. The rod of the slide valve l
is connected by the links to a stud passing through the radial slot n³ in the
in the following
head 9, and these
At the upper end

page_text: lever n. The valves are thus connected so as to act simultaneously, and by
making the slots n³ and n² shorter or longer, the stroke of the valves may be
lengthened or shortened, and reversed at any point without the aid of a crank.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The various parts being shewn in the
positions they occupy when the pistons are at or near the left-hand ends of
the cylinders; the water is now supposed to be flowing from the cylinder i
through the right-hand port m and valve box k into the off pipe, and the
supply of water from the pipe ¹ is filling the cylinder i through the valve and
left-hand port m. When the pistons 6 and j are moving towards the right-
hand end of the cylinders, the radial slots n³ and n³ allow the lever n to travel
about half its distance before it begins to act on the slide valves e and 2.
During the other half of the stroke of the pistons the slide valves are moved,
so that by the time the pistons arrive at the end of the cylinders the steam and
water ports are both reversed. The pressure of the steam on the reverse side
of the piston 6 then forces back both the pistons to the left-hand end of the
cylinders, or to the point from whence they started. The valves are then
reversed, as above described, and these operations continue as long as steam is
supplied. From the foregoing description it is evident that every stroke of the
piston in the steam cylinder causes the pumping piston to draw water into the
pumping cylinder, and to force the water that was in the pumping cylinder
into the off pipe, and from thence into the boiler. By prolonging either of the
piston rods through one of the ends of the cylinders a or i, a connecting rod
and crank may be applied to the said prolongation of the piston rod; by this
means the length of the stroke of the pistons would be governed by the crank,
and a fly wheel might be applied if desirable.
On Sheet 2, Figure 3 is an elevation, partly in section, of part of an ordinary
condensing steam engine, to which my improvements are applied; Figure 4 is
a plan of the same.
A is part of the foundation plate; B, the crank shaft; C, the air pump
cylinder, the piston D of which is made without the clacks or valves used' in
ordinary air pumps. This piston has metallic or other packings, and is attached
to the air pump rod E, which is connected above to the beam of the engine.
On the crank shaft B is fixed an excentric F, for working the air pump slide
valve G, by means of the valve rod H, levers I and I', and connecting rod J.
When the engine is at work every up stroke of the piston in the steam cylinder
produces a corresponding stroke in the air pump piston D, during which the
steam, air, and water in the upper part of the air pump cylinder are forced into
the hot well through the port M, valve box, and off pipe L', and the upper end
of the steam cylinder is in communication with the condenser and with the

page_text: lower part of the air pump cylinder, into which the condensing or injection
water is drawn through the pipe L, valve G, and port K. When the piston D
arrives at the top of the air pump cylinder the slide valve G is raised, so as
gradually to open the communication between the port K and the hot well, and
to admit the steam below the piston of the steam cylinder through the pipe L,
valve G, and port M, to the upper side of the piston D. By this means the
steam, air, and water below the piston D are forced into the hot well during
the down stroke of the said piston, and the injection water acts on the steam
escaping from below the piston in the steam cylinder into the upper part of the
air pump cylinder. The air pump is thus made double acting, and consequently
it only requires to be half the area of a single acting air pump; the valves in
the air pump piston and the foot and delivery valves are dispensed with, and the
engine may be worked at a much greater velocity than when the air pump is
constructed in the usual manner. The dotted lines in Figure 3 represent the
mode of adapting the ordinary weigh shaft for working the slide valve G. X is
the weigh shaft, to which are fixed the levers Y, connected to the valve rod H
by links Z. I wish to remark here that the machinery shewn on Sheet 1 for
pumping water into steam boilers is also applicable for pumping or raising
water for other purposes.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim
connecting the pumping piston to the piston rod of the steam cylinder, nor do I
claim a double acting air pump, as I am aware that both of these have before
been used or attempted; but what I do claim is,―
First, the application of a slide valve to open and close the passages to and
from the
pump barrel or cylinder of machinery for pumping, and the improved
mode of working such valves.
Secondly, the application of a slide valve to the air pumps of steam engines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Goodfellow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
B. GOODFELLOW. (L.B.)