IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC MACHINERY
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Singleton Hill, of Ryde, in the Parish of
Newchurch, in the Isle of Wight, in the County of Southampton, Miller,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC MACHINERY.
for the Invention of "
IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC MACHINERY.
Sealed the 7th December 1858, and dated the 2nd August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Singleton Hill
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd August 1858.
I, GEORGE SINGLETON HILL, of Ryde, in the Parish of Newchurch, in the
Isle of Wight, in the County of Southampton, Miller, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC MA-
CHINERY," to be as follows:-
It is based on the principle that atmospheric air will sustain a column of
water varying from twenty-eight to thirty-two feet in heighth, according to
its pressure, as indicated by the barometer.
The machinery to consist of a water wheel of about twenty-eight feet in
diameter, a cistern of about three feet in depth to be made underneath it, a
tank not less than three or four feet in depth to be fixed above the water
wheel, in such a position that the bottom of the tank shall be level with the
top of the water wheel. This tank to have an aperture at the bottom, to b
fitted with a sliding hatch to open parallel with the buckets of the water wheel,
for the water to flow through, there will then be fitted to this tank as many

page_text: pumps as are intended to be used according to the power required for pumping
the water from the cistern below into the tank above, and which are to be
worked by the water wheel. The machinery being thus constructed, and the
cistern and the tank being filled with water, it is set in motion by opening the
aperture at the bottom of the tank, when the water will rush through into
the buckets of the wheel with considerable force, and thus give it a continual
motion. The pumps being worked by the water wheel, will bring into the
tank about five, times the quantity of water required for working themselves,
which can be made available for driving any machinery required. The cistern
and tank being once filled, can be worked for any length of time, as the water
after being emptied from the wheel into the cistern, will be pumped into the
tank, to be used over and over again. The speed can be regulated by the
slide at the bottom of the tank, and if more water should be brought up than
should be required to be used it could be returned into the cistern by being
allowed to run over the tank into the cistern through a tube fitted there for
the purpose. The machinery can be made of any power required, by increasing
the number of pumps and the capacity of the buckets in the water wheel for
receiving the water, but the diameter of the wheel must not exceed twenty-
eight feet, unless a breastshot wheel is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Singleton Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SINGLETON HILL, of Ryde, in the Parish of Newchurch, in the Isle of Wight,
in the County of Southampton, Miller; send greeting. --
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did-for-Herself, Her-heirs-and-successors, give_and_grant_unto
me, the said George Singleton Hill, Her special license that I, the said
George Singleton Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Singleton Hill, my executors, administrators,
or 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 lawfuliy might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of. Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC MACHINERY,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Singleton Hill, 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 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 George Singleton Hill, 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 statement, reference being bad to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention is based on the principle that atmospheric air will sustain
a column of water varying from twenty-eight to thirty-two feet in height,
according to its pressure as indicated by the barometer.
The machinery which I propose to employ in carrying out my Invention
consists of a water wheel of about twenty-eight feet in diameter, a cistern or
well to be made underneath it, and a tank not less than three or four feet in
depth to be fixed above the water wheel.. This tank is formed. with an
aperture at the bottom, fitted with a sliding hatch or sluice, to open parallel
with the buckets of the water wheel for the water to flow through. There
are to be fitted to this tank as many pumps as are requisite, according to the
power required for the purpose of pumping the water from the cistern or well
below into the tank above, which pumps are to be driven by gearing from
the water wheel. The machinery being thus constructed, and the cistern and
tank being filled with water, it is set in motion by opening the aperture at the
bottom of the tank, when the water will rush through into the buckets of the
wheel with considerable force or bead pressure due to the column of water
(of, say four feet,) in that tank, and thus give it a continual motion. The
pumps being worked by the water wheel, will actually raise more water than
will be required for working the wheel, which surplus may be made available
for driving any machinery required. The cistern and take being once filled,
can be worked for any length of time, as the water, after being emptied from
the wheel into the cistern, will be pumped into the tank, to be used over and
over again. The speed can be regulated by the slide or sluice at the bottom
of the tank, and when more water is brought up than is required to be used,
it can be returned into the cistern through a tube fitted there for the purpose.
The machinery can be made of any power required by increasing the number
of pumps and the capacity of buckets in the water. wheel for receiving the

page_text: water, but the diameter of the wheel should not exceed twenty-eight feet,
excepting in the case of a breastshot wheel.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now'
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall.
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a sectional elevation of my hydro-.
pneumatic machine, and Figure 2 is a corresponding sectional elevation,
taken at right angles, or edgewise to Figure 1. A is an ordinary overshot
water wheel, working in suitable bearings in the pillow blocks B, B, let into
the sustaining walls C, C, of a mill or factory, between which walls is placed
the water wheel. The direct supply of water to the wheel is obtained from,
the tank D, a sliding valve or sluice E being fitted for that purpose at the
lowest part of the tank, with a view of utilizing, as far as possible, the head
pressure of the column of water in the tank, which will generally be about
five feet in height. By this means the issuing body of water acts upon the
buckets of the water wheel with a percussive force as well as by gravity,.
thereby greatly increasing the power of the wheel in proportion to the amount
of water required for driving it. F is a spout, which directs a supply of water
into the tank D, the spout being kept supplied so long as the wheel rotates by
the three lift pumps G worked from a crank shaft H driven by gearing from
the water wheel. The suction pipes I descend into the cistern or well K
formed beneath the wheel, where the water employed in turning the wheel
collects, and is elevated by the pumps G to the top of the wheel again. The
gearing for transmitting the power of the wheel to the mill or manufactory,
and for driving the supplying pumps, consists of a large spur segment wheel
L bolted to the arms of the water wheel, and gearing into a spur pinion M
-fast-on-the-short intermediate_shaft N, which also carries a spur wheel O:
This latter wheel gears into a pinion P on the shaft Q which carries a bevel
wheel R gearing into a corresponding wheel S on the vertical or mill shaft T.
The pumps are driven from this shaft by a bevil wheel U gearing into a
pinion W on the shaft X, which is fitted with a driving pulley Y.
A long
driving belt Z passed over the pulley Y and over a corresponding pulley a on
the pump crank shaft, transmits motion thereto. b is a fly wheel keyed on
to the crank shaft.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to

page_text: describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my said Invention; nor do I claim
any of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus and parts of
apparatus are respectively composed as being separately or apart from the use
or application of such elements to form the combination containing such
apparatus and parts of apparatus respectively as being any part of my said
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is, the general combination and arrangement of apparatus and parts
of apparatus constituting a hydro-pneumatic motive engine, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Singleton Hill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEORGE SINGLETON HILL. (L.S.)