A NEW OR IMPROVED PORTABLE HYDRANT
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Henry Greathead, of No. 8, Victoria Chambers,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED PORTABLE HYDRANT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Henry Greathead
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th October 1880.
JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD, of No. 8, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex. "A NEW OR IMPROVED PORTABLE HYDRANT."
In the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and M. D. Martindale on
the 21st November 1878, No. 4728, was described apparatus whereby a jet of high
pressure water is applied to render a low pressure main available for supplying &
fire hydrant. My present Invention relates to a modification of such apparatus so
as to form a portable hydrant applicable in cases where there is no low pressure
main, but where there is a supply of water as in a dock or at a wharf. For this
purpose I provide a pipe having three nozzles. One of these is fitted to receive a
hose or suction pipe, and which may have a foot valve, another of the nozzles is
fitted to be connected to the nozzle of a high pressure main, and the third is fitted
to receive an ordinary fire hose. Within the pipe the high pressure branch
terminates in an injector nozzle with suitable guide tubes, as described in the
Specification above referred to. The high pressure branch being connected to the
high pressure main, and the suction pipe or hose being immersed in the water of
the dock or other locality where the apparatus is applied, the high pressure jet
draws water up to the suction pipe and causes a discharge through the fire hose of a
jet suitable for extinction of fire or like purposes. The apparatus being of
moderate size and weight can be carried to the spot where it is required to act, or
it, along with the suction and delivery hose, may be mounted on wlieels for facility
of transport.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Henry Greathead in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th April 1881.
JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD, of No. 8, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex. "A NEW OR IMPROVED PORTABLE HYDRANT."
In the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and M. D. Martindale on
the 21st November 1878, No. 4728, was described apparatus whereby a jet of high
pressure water is applied to render a low pressure main available for supplying a
fire hydrant. My present Invention relates to a modification of such apparatus so
as to form a portable hydrant applicable in cases where there is no low pressure
main, but where there is a supply of water as in a dock or at a wharf. For this
purpose I provide a pipe having three nozzles. One of those is fitted to receive a
hose or suction pipe, which may have a foot valve, another of the nozzles is fitted
to be connected to the nozzle of a high pressure main, and the third is fitted to
receive an ordinary fire hose. Within the pipe the high pressure branch
terminates in an injector nozzle with suitable guide tubes, as described in the
Specification above referred to. The high pressure branch being connected to the
bigh pressure main, and the suction pipe or hose being immersed in the water of
the dock or other locality where the apparatus is applied, the high pressure jet
draws water up the suction pipe and causes a discharge through the fire hose of a
jet suitable for extinction of fire and other purposes. The apparatus being of
moderate size and weight can be carried to the spot where it is required to act, or
it, along with the suction and delivery hose, may be mounted on wheels for facility
of transport.
"
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a side view of a hydrant
according to my Invention in position to draw water from a dock or other open
supply; Fig. 2 is a plan partly in section shewing the injector part of the
apparatus; Fig. 3 is a plan of carriage for the hydrant and hose; and Fig. 4 is an
elevation of the carriage in position for the use of the hydrant. A is the suction
hose pipe, which is preferably provided with a strainer A. The suction pipe A is
connected to one nozzle of the injector pipe B, either at the side, as shewn in Figs.
1 and 2, or at the end, as in Figs. 3 and 4. Another nozzle of the injector pipe at
the end in Figs. 1 and 2, and at the side in Figs. 3 and 4, is connected to the valve C
of the high pressure main D, and the end nozzle of the injector pipe at E is con-
nected to the fire hose. The carriage shewn in Figs. and 4 has on its axle a
reel F for carrying the fire hose in the usual way, and at one side of the reel,
within the wheels, space is provided to accommodate the hydrant, and the suction
hose which can be wound up on itself, as indicated by the dotted lines a. When
the carriage is moved to its position for using the hydrant it is tilted into the
attitude shewn in Fig. 4 so as to rest on legs G; the suction pipe is then unwound
and let down into the water, the hydrant is connected to the high pressure main,
and has the fire hose attached to it. For convenience of connecting the hydrant to
the high pressure main I provide jointed pipes H, which can be packed together,
as shewn in Figs. 3 and 4, on the carriage. On opening the high pressure valve
water is drawn up the suction pipe A, and discharged through the hose, as above
described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general claim to an
injector hydrant such as is described in the Specification No. 4728, of 1878, above
referred to; but I claim,-
The herein described combination of an injector hydrant with a flexible suction

page_text: hose so as to form a portable hydrant applicable in cases where there is a supply
of high pressure and of open water.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Henry Greathead, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
T TT
ADDITITAT
J. H. GREATHEAD. (L.S.)