Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 16th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 16th Mar., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1887.
We, GEORGE WANLESS Engineer and FENWICK DARLING Colliery Manager both
of Eldon in the County of Durham do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to
be as follows:-
"
Our Invention relates to the buckets used in ordinary lift pumps and is especially
applicable to such pumps when used in Collieries and mines being cheaply and simply
made, is more durable and has less tendency to "slip or to get out of order or to
flute or otherwise injure the working barrel of the pumping apparatus than pumps
of the construction usually employed for this purpose. Our Invention may also be
applied to liquid or fluid pumps employed for other purposes whether for forcing or
lifting, or to the air pump buckets of condensing engines. Pump buckets such as
those usually employed in Collieries consist of a metallic piston which forms the seat
to the pump valves and contains the water ways or valve ports, this piston is packed
with a plaited gasket or ring of leather secured to the circumference of the piston by
an iron hoop of less width than the leather packing when the pump is lifting water
the pressure received on the leather ring spreads it out over the iron ring and presses it
into contact with the working barrel the piston being tapered to accommodate this
arrangement. As a substitute to this arrangement gutta percha packing rings are
sometimes fitted into recesses provided round the piston. The water ways or valve
ports are controlled by leather discs or flaps or clack valves which open and close by
the pressure of the water. Buckets constructed in this manner have a great tendency
to "slip" owing to the imperfect action and rapid deterioration of the leather or
gutta percha packings and also to the action of the flap or clack valves which do not
readily open or close without great pressure, they also require constant attention and
frequent renewals accompanied with great inconvenience in stopping the pumping
apparatus and great expense. The object of our invention is to reduce the tendency
to "slip" thereby increasing the efficiency of the pump and by dispensing with leather
or gutta percha for packing rings or valves to reduce the liability of the pump to get
out of order and to render it much more durable.

page_text: In constructing a pump bucket according to our invention so as to be applicable for
use in the lifting pumps employed in mines or Collieries or for other purposes we
connect the bucket to a spindle passing centrally through the bucket lid or valve
cover which is constructed to slide up and down on it as a guide in the operation of
opening and closing the water ways of the bucket, this spindle passes centrally
through the bucket which is secured to it in a fixed position in any suitable manner,
the bucket being provided with a centre piece for the reception of the spindle. By
providing a shoulder on the spindle such as would be caused by a difference of
diameter the position of the bucket may be fixed, the smaller part of the spindle being
that which fits or screws into the centre piece of the bucket which is secured tight
up to this shoulder by means of a cross piece and check nut screwed onto the spindle
which extends through the bucket. In order to dispense with the leather or gutta
percha packing rings hitherto used we construct the buckets in two parts in a manner
similar to the piston of a steam engine so that metallic packing rings may be inserted
into a circumferential recess provided round the bucket these packing rings may be
arranged in any manner so as to obtain a water tight fit between the working barrel
and the bucket as for instance the packing rings may enclose a junk ring which
springs them out to a water tight contact with the working barrel, the packing rings
being arranged to break joint with the junk ring and with each other. In order to
make the bucket lid or valve cover sensitive in its operation of closing and opening
the water ways or valve ports of the buckets with each change of the pump stroke we
prefer to construct the valve cover on what is known as the double mitred or double
seated principle one seat corresponding to the outer rim of the bucket casing and the
other to an inner rim or seating formed by a cup shaped extension from the valve
centre piece, corresponding to this arrangement we provide an annular passage
through the valve cover around the centre piece or ring which fits the valve spindle
and within the inner valve seating so that the pressure of water on the valve cover
is reduced to an extent corresponding to the area of this annular opening with the
result that the valve cover encounters less resistance from the water in closing and
the amount of "slip" is reduced for the same reason the valve cover lifts more readily
than when it formed one complete cover from the outer rim to the spindle. In order
to force the valve cover down on to its seat quickly so as to efficiently intercept the
slip" of water at the commencement of the lifting stroke of the pump we arrange
a series of india rubber collars between metallic washers around the valve spindle
exerting from a shoulder or other surface of resistance an elastic pressure upon the
valve cover, or as a substitute for this arrangement a valve cover may be pressed
"home" by a spiral spring or other equivalent arrangement. The valve seats or
mitres are made preferably of white metal which gives a softer beat and better
resistance to the cutting action of the water than cast iron mitres or valve seats. It
is obvious that the above form of bucket can be used as the plunger of a forcing pump
or for other liquids or fluids.
"
Dated 16th June 1886

page_text: both
We, GEORGE WANLESS, Engineer, and FENWICK DARLING, Colliery Manager,
of Eldon, in the County of Durhamn, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
whether
Our Invention relates to an improved combination of parts in the buckets of
ordinary lift pumps which improvements are especially economical and effective when
applied to the buckets of pumps employed in mines and collieries or for the like
purposes, and is applicable to the buckets of liquid or fluid pumps generally,
used for forcing or lifting, or to the air pump buckets of condensing engines; buckets
so constructed being cheaply and simply made, are more durable, and have less
tendency to "slip" or get out of order, or to flute or otherwise injure the working
barrel of the pumping apparatus than pumps, as ordinarily constructed for this
purpose.
The object of our invention is to obviate the defects in pump buckets formed of a
combination of parts, some of which parts are composed of metal and others of leather
or gutta-percha such as those usually employed in mines and collieries in which the
metallic bucket shell, which forms the seat of the pump valves and contains the water
ways or valve ports, is packed with a plaited jacket or ring of leather or gutta-percha
secured to the circumference of the bucket shell by an iron hoop or otherwise, the
jacket or bucket leather being wide relatively to the thickness of the bucket hoop or
otherwise wrapped round it in such a manner as to project above the top of the bucket
hoop so that when the pump is lifting water the projecting ridge of leather bends out
over the iron hoop until it is pressed into contact with the sides of the working barrel.
Buckets of this kind allow large quantities of water to slip owing to the imperfect or
sluggish action of the leather jacket in effecting a water tight contact with the working
barrel, added to which the deterioration of the leather or gutta-percha packing quickly
renders such buckets totally ineffective until again renewed; the tendency of buckets
to "slip" is also partly due to the flap or clack valves which as ordinarily constructed
present a full surface to the water in the working barrel and encounter so much
resistance as not to readily open or close the water ways with each change of the
stroke of the pump bucket, added to which the valve cover seats or mitres are soon
destroyed owing to the scouring action of the water; such pump buckets consequently
require frequent renewals and constant attention involving great inconvenience and
expense where the pumping is required to be continuous.
In carrying out our invention to remedy the above mentioned defects we construct
the bucket shell or casing in two separate parts combined together to admit the
metallic packing rings which we substitute for the leather or guttapercha jacket, and
by substituting for the present slow acting valve covers or leather flaps, double seated
or double mitred valve covers with the surface reduced by an annular space forming
a passage through it and acting in combination with a spring fitting round the spindle

page_text: or "sword" of the pump bucket, we make the action of the valve covers more
sensitive, wo also render the valve cover faces or mitres more durable by making
them of white metal.
And in order that our invention may be fully understood we will now proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates in
vertical sectional view a pump bucket constructed according to our invention, in
which a is the bucket spindle or "sword" passing centrally througli and sustaining
the bucket, and e¹ are the upper and lower separate parts into which the bucket is
divided so as to enclose an external circumferential recess between them for the
admission of the packing rings, the upper part slips on the spindle a against a
shoulder whilst the lower part c¹ screws up against the underside of part b provided
on the spindle such as would by formed by a difference of diameter, the position of
the bucket is fixed by the centre piece of the upper part coming in contact with
the said shoulder when moved up into position by screwing up the lower part c', the
cross bar d is of any suitable form and is also screwed onto the spindle so as to act
as a support and check nut combined to the lower part e, the nut e being screwed
on below the cross bar d so as to form a second support and check nut as illustrated
in the drawing, this arrangement is a very reliable method of securing the pump
bucket compactly together and of retaining it in its proper position on the spindle or
"sword." By means of the flanges 13 of the upper part 6, and 3 of the lower part c¹
of the bucket shell a circumferential recess is formed outside the bucket shell for the
reception of the metallic packing rings which we substitute for the leather or gutta-
percha jacket; the packing rings, instead of being sprung open to insert them into
the recess between the flanges 63 c³, are slipped into position before the two parts b
and care closed together thereby avoiding all risk of injury due to springing them
over the larger diameter of the flanges into the smaller diameter of the recess for
which they are intended.
The metallic packing rings may be of any suitable design and arrangement for
obtaining a water tight fit between the working barrel and the pump bucket, as for
instance, packing rings may enclose a junk ring which springs them out to a water
tight contact with the working barrel, the packing rings being arranged to brake
joint with the junk ring and with each other, but, as in this and equivalent arrange-
ments the access of water to the back of the junk ring is liable to expand the packing
rings unequally against the working barrel, we prefer to construct the packing rings
in one thickness divided circumferentially into sections such as ", f, f, which are
interlocked together and between the flanges b³ ³, we effect this by providing on each
flange be, a fillet or tongue g', running wholly or intermittently round the bucket
shell, and on the top and bottom sections f¹ of the packing rings we provide
corresponding tongues or projections 2 to fit within the fillets or tongues g on the
bucket-shell the sections 1, 2, 3, 4, are interlocked into each other in any suitable
manner such as by the circumferential ridges and grooves as clearly illustrated in
section in the accompanying drawing. The advantage of this novel method of fitting
in the packing rings is that an equal wearing surface is presented corresponding to
the full depth of the packing, which can only expand as a whole, and is limited in
the extent to which it can expand by the tongues or projections on the packing
coming in contact with the tongues or projections on the bucket shell. The
circumferential sections 1, 2, 3, 4, are preferably arranged to break joint and are
retained in their intended relative positions with reference to the said joints by any
suitable means such as a projection in one section fitting into a corresponding recess
in the adjoining section so as to prevent any one section from moving round the
bucket shell independently of the other sections.
In order to make the operation of the valve cover sufficiently sensitive we
construct it on the double mitred or double seated principle, an outer seat corre-
sponding to the outer ring of the bucket shell and an inner seat corresponding to an
inner rim or seating formed by the cup shaped extension & from the centre piece b²
of the upper part of the bucket. The seats are formed of white metal where the
surfaces come in contact as this gives a soft beat and satisfactorily withstands the

page_text: cutting action of the water. The valve cover instead of presenting a full surface to
the resistance of the water in the working barrel, is made with an annular passage
corresponding to the cup shaped extension, which reduces the area exposed to the
resistance of the water and makes the valve inore sensitive; in order to still further
improve the action of the valve so as to close onto its seat quickly and to efficiently
intercept the slip" through the water ways at the commencement of the lifting
stroke of the pump, we apply a spring to the valve cover h, this may either be an
ordinary spiral spring enveloping the bucket spindle or "sword" and re-acting from
a shoulder or its equivalent provided thereon, or a series of elastic rings altornating
between metallic washers or distance rings may be provided for this purpose in the
manner shown.
It is of course obvious that the above described improvements which constitute our
invention are applicable to lifting or forcing pumps generally, or the buckets of the
air pumps of condensing engines.
Having now completely described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and how the same can be carried into practical effect, we declare that what we
claim is
Firstly Improvements in pump buckets by .constructing the bucket shell or
casing in two parts substantially as and for the purpose as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Secondly In the construction of pump buckets the employment and mode of
fitting in metallic packing rings to interlock within the recess provided for their
reception and within each other substantially as described, and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing.
Thirdly The general arrangement and combination of parts constituting a pump
bucket as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.