CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPS OF VARIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS FOR RAISING AND CONVEYING WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS, AND ALSO METHODS OF APPLYING A CERTAIN PRINCIPLE OR CERTAIN PRINCI- PLES TO SHIPS' PUMPS, AND FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WITTY, of the Parish of Sculcoates, in the County of York, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Sixteenth day of October, in the first year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Witty, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority that I, the said Richard Witty,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
PUMPS OF VARIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS FOR RAISING AND CONVEYING WATER AND OTHER
LIQUIDS, AND ALSO METHODS OF APPLYING A CERTAIN PRINCIPLE OR CERTAIN PRINCI-
PLES TO SHIPS' PUMPS, AND FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Richard Witty, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain 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

page_text: date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and
all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Witty, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof, (that is to say):-
Instead of letting the water or liquid escape from a common pump at the
usual place of delivery, I cause it to descend again in a siphon pipe to the
lowest level at which it can conveniently be delivered, and as this descent is
considerable in ships, breweries, &c., a considerable saving of labour is effected
in working pumps by a descending column of water or liquid counterbalancing
as much in length of the rising column in the pump as the height which it
descends in the siphon pipe, to the place where it can be delivered. It is
usual on board ships to deliver the water from the pumps upon the deck, but
I convey it from the pump in a siphon pipe which delivers it at the water line,
and consequently when the pump is working, the siphon draws, all the water
out of, the pump nearly, as low as the level of the water in which the ship
swims, so that the men who work the pump are relieved of the weight of all
that part of the rising column from the water line to the usual place of delivery.
I am aware that other plans for delivering the water at the water line have
been carried into effect, but they were such as proved inconvenient by the
pipes passing through the cargo, &c., and the object of this improvement is to
obviate these inconveniences, and to make it useful in breweries; distilleries, &c..
I also apply the power of men to work ships' pumps and other pumps, and to
machinery for various useful purposes in manner following:-I construct
a seat which I call a vibrating chair, the back feet of which turn upon a
centre as a centre of motion. A man being seated in this chair with his feet
resting on a foot board, his knees bent upwards, and. his hands hold of a rod
connected to a bent lever, to which a. pump rod (or crank and connecting rod
for working machinery) may be connected, exerts his strength to great
advantage by working with the extensors of his legs while bringing them
nearer to an horizontal line and bending his knees upwards alternately, and at
the same time exerting the muscles of his arms and shoulders in working to
and fro the rod connected with the bent lever. Thus a man's motion is much
facilitated by the centre of gravity of his body vibrating on an artificial centre,
and by which motion he alternately comes into the most advantageous position

page_text: for applying his greatest force. In some situations the vibrating chair may
be suspended below the centre of motion, and the man made to swing like a
pendulum, but it seems more generally applicable to useful purposes when the
center of gravity of a man's body is placed above the centre of motion. The
position in which men are placed when rowing has some time ago been applied
to pumping with very good effect, and I consider my method of causing them to
move on artificial centres, by placing them in vibrating chairs, an improvement
of that plan. To ships' pumps I apply an indicator; it consists of a hollow
ball of copper, or other float, swimming on the water in the pump well,
from which float proceeds a rod or line upwards on the outside of the
pump, and comes through upon deck, where there is an index to shew at
all times the depth of water in the pump well. From the same rod or line
under the deck, in the most convenient situation, there is another flexible
line conveyed over pullies to the master's cabin, where a corresponding
index is placed to point out the depth of water in the ship. And in order
that my
said Inventions. may be more fully understood, I have annexed certain
Drawings:
-:
Figure 1 is a section of a ship, shewing also the sections of the pumps and
the manner of applying the siphon. No. I is a common pump, bored down
wide enough to admit the working barrel below the level of the water in which
the ship swims when loaded. At A is the common low box or valve, and at
B the bucket or spear box. The spear is made in two rods C, C, which
admit one leg of the siphon pipe D to slip down between them a few inches
below E. Thus the pipe D, D, D, proceeding from E up the pump on the
deck and down the side of the ship to which it is secured, forms a siphon, and
draws the water out of the pump as low as E and delivers it at F the water
line, where it is recurved or turned up a little to keep the siphon full of water
after pumping if required. The upper part of the pump has a slit cut down
from G to H, wide enough to allow the angle of the pipe to slide in, and after
the pipe is in its place a piece of wood is fitted into this slit and made tight to
the pump and round the pipe by cauking, so that the bore of the pump is.
continued above the angle or bend of the siphon pipe sufficiently tight to hold
water up to G. The pump being put to work in the usual manner the water
will rise to G above the bend of the siphon, and will by its pressure clear the
pipe of air; after which the siphon begins to run and lowers the water in the
pump to E, where it will remain all the time the pump is worked; a small
cock is fixed at X to let air into the siphon after pumping. This will prevent
the water ever returning up the pipe from the sea.. Attached to No. 2 is the
indicator; I, the copper ball or float; a, a, the rod up the outside of the

page_text: pump to the index above deck at K. b, b, is a flexible line going over pullies
to the master's cabin, where a similar index is placed. No. 2 is the other
pump, the same as No. 1, except that the siphon pipe goes below the deck
and down the inside of the ship, being put through the ship's side and made
tight at the water line. This is to shew a different mode of fixing. The siphon
pipe No. 1 going above deck is more readily removed, being screwed together
with union joints L, L, similar to the joints used for the hose of fire engines,
but No. 2 is put together with common flanges T, T, T, that part of the pipe
under the deck and down the inside of the ship being more permanently fixed.
Figure 2 is my vibrating chair turning upon a centre of motion at M; at the
back of this apparatus there is a strong bar of iron or wood rising about one
foot above the head of the man seated therein. A rope or rod is connected to
lever at O. To the other end
°
this bar at N, and is also connected to a bent
of the bent lever is hung to a pump rod at P. The man has his hands hold of
a cross handle affixed to a rod, which is also connected to the bent lever at Q,
so that he can, by throwing himself back in the chair, apply the force of the
extensors of his legs, his feet resting on a footboard at R, and raise the pump
rod, while his hands having hold of the rod at S keep him steady in his seat,
and enable him to thrust back the bent lever O, P, more readily to fetch
another stroke of the pump.
Although I conceive the explanation here given sufficient to enable a
mechanic to understand and execute these Inventions, I will add that I make
the siphon pipe nearly half the diameter of the pump barrel. It may be
applied to forcing, lifting, chain pumps, &c., and instead of going down the
inside of the pump as in the Figures, it may be joined to and go on the outside
of the pump to produce the same effect, observing that the leg in which the
water rises must never exceed thirty feet in length. I do also state that when
I apply the principle or principles of the vibrating chair to produce rotary
motion, a common connecting rod and crank are used, and when applied to
produce a reciprocating motion a connecting rod will be sufficient. The
strength of the materials and lengths of the different parts must vary to suit
situation and the work to be performed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Witty, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
RICH (L.S.) WITTY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid Richard Witty came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
5 above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-one.