AN IMPROVED HYDRAULIC MOTIVE POWER MACHINE
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard William Attwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1873.
I, RICHARD WILLIAM ATTWOOD, of 85, Gracechurch Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED HYDRAULIC MOTIVE POWER MACHINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing and operating hydraulic
motive power machines in the following manner:-My improved
machine is composed of four principal parts, namely, a turbine, two
columns of water, one an ascending and the other a descending column,
and an apparatus for exhausting the air from the passage or channel by
which the water ascends the aforesaid ascending column.
The following is an example of the manner of arranging and com-
hining together the several parts of my improved hydraulic machinc.

page_text: Upon a suitable foundation I mount a turbine wheel of the most
approved construction, at the centre of which I erect and support an
upright pipe or pipes of about 28 feet high. Near the periphery of the
aforesaid turbine I erect another upright pipe or pipes about 28 feet
high, suitably held in position. The bottom end of this pipe or pipes is
open, and dips into a reservoir containing water, and also for receiving
the water which passes out of the openings about the periphery of the
said turbine. The upright pipe at the centre of the turbine is for the
descending, column of water, and the other upright pipe contiguous
thereto for the ascending column of water. The upper end of the
ascending pipe I fit with a truly bored cylinder or air pump, and bucket
fitted accurately therein; or I employ any other suitable arrangement
for exhausting the air from and thus forming a vacuum in the pipes of
the ascending column. If an air pump be employed I impart motion
thereto in the first instance by means of a crank worked by hand.
The bottom of the aforesaid air pump barrel I place just above the level
of the top of the pipe of the descending column; this column is com-
municated with by a bent pipe leading from the pipe of the ascending
column at a point just below the bottom of the barrel of the air pump
or exhaust chamber. I also impart rotatory motion to the aforesaid air
pump by a spur or bevil wheel on the axis of the turbine, and a spur or
bevil pinion on an upright spindle or shaft gearing into the former wheel,
and I connect the upper end of this spindle or shaft with the crank shaft
of the air pump in accordance with the length of stroke which the air
pump is required to make.
The operations of an hydraulic motive power machine of the above-
mentioned improved construction is as follows:-Upon a vacuum being *
formed in the ascending pipe the pressure of the atmosphere upon the
surface of the water contained in the reservoir will cause the water to
rise up the ascending column and pass into the pipe of the descending
column, and impart rotatory motion to the turbine on the well-known
principle, and at the same time work the air pump for exhausting the
air from the ascending column of water, so as to maintain a continuous
flow or passage of water up and down the ascending and descending
columns, and thus produce continuous rotatory motion of the turbine,
which motion may be transmitted by wheels, bands, and pulleis, suitably
arranged according to the purpose for which such power is required.

page_text: The water that proceeds from the turbine enters the reservoir, and thus
the same water is used over and over again. And in proportion to the
diameter of the turbine a considerable excess of power beyond that
required to work the air pump, or exhaust may be obtained, thereby
constituting an improved hydraulic motive power machine.