A NEW COMBINATION OF MECHANICAL POWERS, WHEREBY THE WEIGHT AND MUSCULAR FORCE OP MEN MAY BE EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE MACHINERY FOR RAISING WATER OR OTHER PURPOSES, IN A MORE ADVANTAGEOUS MANNER THAN HAS BEEN HITHERTO PRACTISED
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALPHONSO
DOXAT, of Bishopsgate Street, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
did, by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-seventh day of January, in the first year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said Alphonso Doxat, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Alphonso Doxat, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, and
vend, an Invention of "A NEW COMBINATION OF MECHANICAL POWERS, WHEREBY THE
WEIGHT AND MUSCULAR FORCE OP MEN MAY BE EMPLOYED TO ACTUATE MACHINERY FOR
RAISING WATER OR OTHER PURPOSES, IN A MORE ADVANTAGEOUS MANNER THAN HAS
BEEN HITHERTO PRACTISED," within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and the Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to me, the said
Alphonso Doxat, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should in our dis-
cretion seem meet; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Alphonso Doxat, should not particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages

page_text: whatsoever thereby granted should utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the said recited Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alphonso Doxat, have executed this instrument, by which I do declare that the
nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are particularly described and ascertained, in and by the annexed sheet
of Drawings or Plans, and the following description thereof (viz³) :-
:-
The said combination of mechanical powers, whereby the weight and mus-
cular force of men may be employed to actuate machinery for raising water (or
any other purposes requiring a moving power) consists in a new and advantageous
arrangement of levers, pulley, or apparatus, by means of which a man may
exert his muscular strength, and also the weight or gravity of his body, at the
same time and in such manner that the various positions of the body during
the action upon the machine are less laborious and fatiguing than the means
usually adopted in employing the strength of men as a moving power to
actuate machinery in general. I will describe a machine upon the new con-
struction, as applied to the raising of water by a lifting or sucking pump from
a deep well, and refer to the annexed sheet of Drawings in order to render the
description more clear and intelligible.
Fig. 1 on the Drawing represents a side elevation of the whole machine,
erected in a situation to raise water from a well. Fig. 2 a front view of the
same. Fig. 3 shews an horizontal plan of part of the machine, to explain
the form of the lever upon which the labourer places himself to work the
machine, and which for distinction I will denominate the seat lever, because
the labourer sits down upon a board or seat A, at the extremity of the lever,
and descends by his weight to produce the effect upon the machine, and raise
the column of water from the well.
Fig. 4 shews another horizontal plan, taken on a level below the former,
to explain the form and situation of the lower or foot lever B, upon which the
labourer places his feet in raising his body up to bear upon the seat; the lever
B is connected with the seat lever by chains or cords n, n, passing over pulleys
C, C, Fig. 1 and 2, in such manner that when the seat lever is depressed it draws
or raises up the foot lever, and when the foot lever is borne upon or depressed
by the labourer's fect in the act of raising himself up to renew the effort upon
the seat A, it draws up the seat lever and its attached weight, seen at W,
Fig. 1, into a situation to descend with the weight of the labourer's body, in
addition to the weight W fixed upon the lever. The ground framing of the
machine is composed of a stout timber d, d, having a picce e, e, mortised

page_text: 9, 9, are
into the middle of it at right angles, and strengthened by diagonal braces
ff, Fig. 3 and 4. 9, 9, represents two perpendicular timbers, which are
mortised at their lower extremities into the ground sill d, d, and connected
together at the top by a cross piece h, h, Fig. 1 and 2. The timbers
supported sideways by diagonal braces i, i, rising from the timbers d, d. The
uprights ġ, g, serve to guide the seat and foot levers A and B, and also to
support the axis of the pulleys C, C. k represents an upright timber which is
mortised at bottom into the sill e, e, and secured at its top by the piece m,
Fig. 1, which projects at right angles from the cross piece h, h, in the same
manner as described for the ground framing. The top frame is strengthened
by diagonal braces p, seen edgways in Fig. 1. The upright is farther
secured by a diagonal brace q, and serves as a support for the centres of motion
of the foor lever at b, the seat lever at a, and also the pump or brake lever D.
The seat lever is attached to the pump lever by a connecting rod E, which is
jointed at each end to the two levers, so that the seat lever in descending
draws down the long end of the pump lever, and raises the short end, to which
the pump rod F is attached. G shews the pump being of the ordinary con-
struction, and descending in the well H to any required depth. The water
is delivered through the spout I. The machine is represented in the Drawing
in a position when the labourer has raised himself up by the force of his thighs
and arms until the seat lever has arrived at the top of its course, and plunged
down the pump bucket at the same tinie that the foot lever has been lowered
down by the cords n, n, passing over the pulleys C, C, ready to commence an
effective stroke of the pump.
The manner of working the machine is as follows:-Suppose the two levers
A and B to be in the positions represented by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. viz., the
seat lever at the bottom of its course, and the foot lever drawn up or suspended
by the cords n, n, in which case the pump rod F, with its bucket, is at the top of
its stroke. The labourer places himself upon the seat A, with his knees drawn.
up, so that his feet rest upon the board at the extremity of the foot lever B:
He then extends his arms, and takes hold of a cross piece of wood K, which
is attached to the cords n, n, and guided in grooved pieces L, L, fixed to the
uprights g, g, so as to slide up and down along with the foot lever. In this
situation the labourer is prepared to act upon the machine; he raises his body
into a perpendicular position by the muscular force of his arms from the cross
piece K, at the same time that he exerts the action of his thighs, with his
feet placed upon the foot lever at B, which descends and draws up the seat
lever A and weight W by the cords n, n, as seen by the position in the Fig. 1.
When the labourer is nearly in an erect posture he sits down upon the seat A,

page_text: and descends along with it to the bottom of its course, drawing up the pump
rod F and column of water, with a power equal to the weight of the labourer's
body, in addition to the attached weight W upon the seat lever, at the same
time allowing the foot lever B to rise up freely, and also the cross piece K
attached to the cords n, n, into the dotted position, Fig. 1, when the same
action is repeated. By this arrangement it is found that a man can exert a
greater power in proportion to the fatigue occasioned than could be effected
by the usual methods, such as turning a winch, moving a lever with the
arms, &c., &c. The weight W is made to slide at pleasure and fix upon
the lever farther from or nearer to the centre of motion a, in order to adjust
the machine to the weight of the labourer intended to work at it. The machine
may be varied in many ways without deviating from the original principle of
action, viz., that of elevating and depressing a seat or lever by the weight and
force of men. For instance, the seat and foot levers might be suppressed, and
the seat and foot boards made to slide in perpendicular grooves formed in the
uprights of the framing, as 9, 9, in which case the pump brake D, connecting
rod E, &c., could be dispensed with, and the pump worked by a cord or chain
passing round a wheel fixed upon the axis of the pulleys C, C, and attached
either directly to the pump rod, or by passing over pulleys to convey it to the
situation of the well and pnnip, as circumstances might require. In other
situations the top of the pump might be placed near to the ground, and the
brake or lever D extended in length, so as to have the seat fixed at its
extremity, with the labourer's feet upon the ground, having handles fixed firmly
against the framing of the machine, to hold by in raising himself up, and straps
or other contrivance passing over his shoulders, to enable him to carry up the
weight W, which in that case would be fixed upon the brake lever, so as to
slide in the manner before described for the seat lever. By this last-mentioned
arrangement the pulleys C, C, seat lever A, foot lever B, and connecting rod E,
would be removed, and only the simple brake lever, with a seat and fixed
handles, would be employed. Nevertheless I should recommend the use of
the moving foot board, described in the Drawing, as possessing some advantage
over the simpler method. The form and proportions of the various parts of
the machine might be varied, as also the materials of which the same might
be made, according to the discretion of the workmen.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alphonso Doxat, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
ALPHONSO DOXAT. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of July, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fourth, the said
Alphonso Doxat came before our said Lord the King in his Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of July, One thousand cight hundred and
twenty-one.