IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING WATER PROM MINES AND OTHER DEEP PLACES, OR FROM A LOWER LEVEL TO A HIGHER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO RAISING LIQUIDS GENERALLY, AND TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ADCOCK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS, Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Adcock, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Adcock, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Henry Adcock, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully night
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING WATER
PROM MINES AND OTHER DEEP PLACES, OR FROM A LOWER LEVEL TO A HIGHER, WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO RAISING LIQUIDS GENERALLY, AND TO OTHER
PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Henry Adcock, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Adcock, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner

page_text: in which the same may be performed and carried into effect, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, refer-
ence being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon, that is to say:―
By the present modes of raising water from mines and other deep places by
pumps and pump rods, and other mechanical contrivances, the water is raised
through a series of pipes in a compact or solid state. In other words, if the
depth through which the water is raised. by one pump or one lift be one
hundred feet, then the pipes extending that depth will be full of water, and
the whole column of water in those pipes will be lifted at one and the same
time. A column of water, one hundred feet deep, presses with a force of about
forty-five pounds on each square inch of its base. Hence, if the diameter of
the pump bucket or plunger be twelve inches, and its area as a consequence
a hundred and thirteen inches, the weight of water to be lifted by the pump or
other mechanical contrivance, at each stroke, will be about five thousand and
eighty-five pounds, British avoirdupois weight; in a deep mine, therefore, contain-
ing ten such columns or lifts of water below one another, and acted on at the
same time by the same pump rod extending down the shaft or pit of the mine,.
the weight of water to be raised is very great, being fifty thousand eight
hundred and fifty pounds. Hence, to lift 'such weight of water, and to over-
come the friction of the water in the pipes, together with the vis inertiæ to put
such columns of water in motion, and to support its own weight, the
pump rod
.must be made of great strength; and the steam engine, water wheel, or other
.prime mover by which the effect is produced, must be of large size and great
power. By consequence of this vis inertiæ, the friction and the great weight
to be put in motion, and, when steam engines are employed, the alternate
action or reciprocation of the great lever or beam of the engine, the number of
feet of effective strokes made per minute is comparatively small, being
generally, in deep mines, from about fifty to eighty feet. To explain this more
fully: the whole mass of water in the ten columns being raised at one and the
same time, and therefore equal in weight to one column of water of the same
diameter, and a thousand feet in depth, may be considered as being lifted in
the mass through a distance of fifty, or from that to eighty feet in a minute.
Whereas, by my "Improvements in Raising Water from Mines and other
Deep Places, or from a Lower Level to a Higher, which Improvements are
applicable to Raising Liquids generally, and to other Purposes," I do not raise
water or other liquids in the mass; nor do I find it necessary to exert a
pressure at one and the same time of forty-five pounds per square inch, as
herein-before stated, when the height to which the water must be raised is one

page_text: hundred feet; nor do I raise water by pumps and pump rods, but in the
manner now to be described, that is to say:
a
By the aid of a steam engine, water wheel, or other prime mover, I give
motion to a fan or fanner (such as is used very commonly by foundrymen,
engineers, millwrights, and others, to force a current of air into cupolas and
other kinds of furnaces), or to the piston of a blowing cylinder (such as is
used by ironmasters and makers of iron to force a current of air into blast
furnaces for the reduction of ores); and by aid of such fan or fanner, or
blowing cylinder, I condense atmospheric air that it may have a tendency to
escape into the atmosphere, when liberated from its confinement, with a velocity
due to its pressure. When atmospheric air is condensed to a quarter of a
pound pressure per square inch beyond the atmospheric pressure, and is
liberated from its confinement, it moves, or has a tendency so to do, at the rate
of one hundred and seventy-three feet in each second of time; at half a pound
pressure per square inch, the speed due to the pressure is two hundred and
forty-five feet per second; at three quarters of a pound, two hundred and
ninety-six feet; at one pound, three hundred and forty feet; at a pound and
quarter, three hundred and seventy-five feet; at a pound and a half, four hundred
and ten feet; at a pound and three quarters, four hundred and thirty-six feet;
at two pounds, four hundred and sixty-seven feet; at three pounds, five hun-
dred and fifty-five feet; at four pounds, six hundred and twenty-four feet; and
at other pressures with other velocities or rates of speed, as may be known by
reference to or consulting the treatises that have been published on the science
of pneumatics. Now, instead of raising water in the mass, as herein-before
described, by pumps and pump rods and other mechanical contrivances, I
avail myself of the mechanical effects to be obtained from the velocities of the
air as due to the pressures herein before made known, or to any other pressures
that circumstances connected with mines in different localities may prove to be
desirable. I cause the water which must be raised from the mine, or from
a lower level to a higher, to be dispersed and carried up in drops, like drops of
rain; but the velocity of these drops upward, in consequence of the velocity
of the air as due to its pressure as above described, is far greater than the
descending velocities of rain; for drops of rain, when not receiving an impulse
from winds, can only descend through the atmosphere with a speed of about
eight feet in a second, when the diameter of each sphere or drop of rain is the
hundredth part of an inch. When the diameter of the drop is the sixteenth part of
an inch, the greatest, descending velocity through the atmosphere is about seven-
teen fect in a second. And the velocities in a second, through the atmosphere,
for drops of rain of other diameters, may be thus stated for drops of rain an

page_text: "eighth of an inch diameter, twenty-four feet; for drops three sixteenths of an
inch diameter, thirty feet; and for drops a quarter of an inch diameter, thirty-
four feet per second. Whereas the velocity of the air, when allowed to escape
from a pipe upwards, at one pound pressure per square inch beyond the
atmosphere, and without making any deductions for the friction against
the sides of the pipe, is about three hundred and forty feet in a second. But
it should be stated, when the air is commingled with the water that must be
carried up by it from a mine, or from a lower level to a higher, its motion
to a certain extent is retarded. The velocity of the drops of water, however,
upward, by this mode or by these modes of raising water from mines and other
deep places, is far greater than the velocities at which rain usually descends,
as herein-before has been described.
In the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, Fig. I., Fig. II., Fig. III.,
represent three different kinds of apparatus for carrying my aforesaid Invention
into effect, and in each Figure the same letters of reference denote contrivances
to accomplish similar objects.
The three kinds of apparatus delineated in the Sheet of Drawings are shewn.
in section. a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, represent a pipe, made of zinc, iron, or other
material, to convey air from the fan or fanner, or blowing cylinder, aforesaid,
down the shaft or pit of the nine, or to any other depth from which water or
other liquid must be raised. b, b, b, b, b, b, another pipe, somewhat larger
than the other, to convey the air aforesaid, and the water which is carried up
by it from the mine or other depth, in drops, to the surface of the earth,.
or to the adit or to any required height or place of discharge. [, C, C, C, a
chamber or reservoir, from which the water or other liquid must be raised.
D, metal, stone, or wood, to serve as supports. By the rapid revolution of the
fan or fanner, or the upward and downward motion of the piston in the blow-
ing cylinder, by the steam engine, water wheel, or other prime mover, imparting
motion to it as aforesaid, atmospheric air of the requisite amount of pressure is
made to flow down the pipe a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a; and where the pipe turns
upwards in the chamber or reservoir C, C, E, C, aforesaid, it comes in contact
with the water or other liquid, disperses it into drops, and forces it up the
pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, and delivers it at the top. In Fig. I. a series of
apertures is represented near the bottom part of the pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, it is
through these apertures that water or other liquid flows into the pipe in a series
of jets, and is dispersed and carried up the pipe by the ascending stream of air.
In Fig. II. and Fig. III. the pipes b, b, b, b, b, b, terminate in chambers
compounded in shape of a cone and cylinder, and the cylindrical part of each
chamber, near the bottom, is perforated with a series of apertures, through

page_text: which the water or other liquid flows from the 'reservoir or chamber t, 't, t, f,
into it; the water ascends above the termination of the air pipe a, a'; it is there
met by the ascending current or stream of air; it is dispersed into drops, and
carried up by it in the manner herein-before described. In mines and other
deep places, where the water may accumulate and rise to some height in the
pit or shaft, from the stoppage, either by accident or otherwise, of the steam
engine, water wheel, or other prime mover, or from other causes, I introduce a
stopcock, or other contrivance adapted to the purpose, to regulate or exclude
the admission of water into. the pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, through the apertures
herein described, such apertures being in connection with, and receiving their
supply of water from, a pipe to which such stopcock is applied. I secure to this
stopcock or other contrivance a rod, of wood or metal,' sufficiently long to be
above the surface of any water that may accumulate in the shaft or pit, and of
sufficient strength to enable the workmen to open and shut the aperture of the
stopcock or other contrivance by it. It is essentially necessary that this
should be attended to, or otherwise the water or other liquid may accumulate
to such a height in the pipes a, a, b, b, as may prevent the passage of the
condensed air from the pipe a, a, into the pipe b, b, and thereby stop the
action of the apparatus. For a similar reason, the water or other liquid
should never be allowed to stand at a higher level above the bottom of the
pipe a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, than the pressure of the condensed air can displace.
To effect this, the reservoir t, t, t, t, must be so proportioned to the lower
part of the pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, that whatever number of inches the water or
other liquid may descend by the pressure of the air in the one, it will ascend to
an equal number of inches in the other, as in the two limbs of a syphon or bent
guage; and further, to guard against the interruption of the process by the accu-
mulation of water in the mine, and by an imperfect state of the stopcock allowing
water to accumulate in the lower parts of the pipes a, a, b, b, I connect with
the lower part of such pipes a small pump, to be worked by the hand of a
workman, and rising to the required height in the mine, that any water which
may have so accumulated, to the interruption of the process, may be with-
drawn..
In other modes of applying my Invention in practice, I'cause the water or
other liquid to flow into the apparatus in any given time, in direct proportion
to the quantity that can be carried up by it in that time, which may be effected
by duly proportioning the sizes of the apertures or perforations, or by the'
adoption of regulating stopcocks; and in other modes I cause the air-to be
dispersed and distributed under a large surface of water, in a confined reser-

page_text: voir or chamber, that it may take up the water by adhesion, in the same
manner that water is taken up in the formation of steam, excepting that in the
one case the water is taken up by the air, in the other by caloric. The water
and air commixed is then allowed to accumulate above the surface of the solid
water confined within the reservoir or chamber aforesaid, assimilating in its
object to a boiler for the generation of steam, until it attains the same pressure
per square inch, as the air contained in the pipe a, a. It is then allowed to
flow through a pipe which extends above the surface of the water or other
liquid in such chamber, into the chamber at the lower part of the
pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, which it meets with, disperses into drops, and carries
up, a further quantity of water in the manner herein-before described. The
weight of water in the pipe b, b, at any one time must be less than the
pressure given out by the ascending current of air. At the top of the pipe b, b,
I cause the air and water to be received in a dome or other appropriate
chamber, that the greatest portion of the water may be collected together
again in a body, and thence be allowed to flow freely away. The air and such
portion of the water still retained by it is also allowed to escape. The fan or
fanner, or blowing cylinder, as the one or the other be employed, may be
made to receive air from the open atmosphere, or it may be made to receive
it from the depths of the mine by means of pipes extending to the required
distance. By this mode of operation pure atmospheric air will descend. the pit
or shaft of the mine by its gravity, to occupy the space from which the impure
air has been withdrawn, and thus the ventilation of the mine or other place
may be either wholly or partially effected.
In other modes of raising water by my improvements as aforesaid, I produce
and maintain, by any of the mechanical means adapted to the end, a partial
vacuum in 'the pipe b, b, b, b, b, b, and instead of having a pipe a, a, a, a,
a, a, a, a, extending to the surface of the earth, allow air to flow from the
mine into it through other pipes arranged for that purpose, so that, by the
difference of pressure between the air in the mine in and that in the pipe b, b,
the water may be carried up in drops in the manner herein-before described.
The Drawings are made on a scale a quarter of an inch to the foot; and
the weights and measures throughout are such as are in common use in
England.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be performed and carried into effect, I wish it to be
understood that the velocities of the air, as due to given pressures, and the
descending velocities of drops of rain through the atmosphere, as herein