CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RAISING OF WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER DEEP PLACES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting, I, the
said Henry Adcock, of Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninth day of December, in the seventh year of His reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Adcock, my exors, admors, and asssigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said
Henry Adcock, my exors, admors, and assigns, and 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 thereafter 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, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RAISING OF WATER FROM MINES AND
OTHER DEEP PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent there 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,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
immediately after the said in part recited Letters Patent, reference being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Adcock, do hereby declare 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed and by the
following description thereof, that is to say :-
In the Sheet of Drawings aforesaid, and in that part thereof marked Figure 1,
an air pipe a, a, a, a, and a water pipe B, B, B, B, are represented as extend-
ing down the shaft of a mine; the mine is supposed to be 400 feet deep. The
sides of the shaft are not shewn, nor is it necessary to the explanation of my
said Invention that they should be. Four cylindrical chambers 1, 2, 3, 4, are
also represented. The upper part of each chamber is connected with a branch
pipe d, united to or part of the air pipe a aforesaid. In the angle of such
branch pipe at d is shewn a three-way cock or valve, for which purpose the
branch pipe aforesaid and the pipe to which it is united at the upper part of
the chamber are shewn in section. These pipes and the three-way cock are
shewn on a larger scale than the air pipe to which they are united. But the
diameter of pipes should be the same as the air pipe;. they have been enlarged
that the parts may be distinctly seen. The lower part of each of the chambers
1, 2, 3, 4, is united by an elbow pipe 5 to the water pipe B, just above the
bottom valve. These valves are commonly called clacks or butterfly valves;
they are not shewn, inasmuch as the pipes are not in section, nor is it neces-
sary for the explanation of my said Invention that they should be, for such
clacks or valves are well known and understood. The doors of the bottom
clacks are marked 8, 10, 12, 14, and of the upper clacks 9, 11, 18, 15. The
three-way cock in the angle of each branch pipe d' aforesaid is fastened to a
small lever h, Figure 10, which has a rod projecting from it. This rod is
struck at the required times for the movement of the three-way cock by
tapets n, n, on a rod or plug tree f, f, which rod or plug tree is moved
upwards and downwards for that purpose by the steam engine, water wheel, or
other power at the top of the shaft. This movement of the three-way cock by
a plug tree and tapets is common to some kinds of high-pressure non-con-
densing steam engines, and therefore requires no further explanation. The
motion thus produced of the three-way cocks is such, that passages are
alternately opened and closed from the air pipe to the chambers 1, 2, 8, 4, and
from the chambers 1, 2, 3, 4, to the atmosphere through the pipes e, e, e, e.
At chambers 1 and 3 the passage is open to the atmosphere, and not to the
air pipe, as exhibited in chambers 2 and 4, for at chambers 2 and 4 the
passage is open through the three-way cock from the air pipe to each of those
chambers, and the passage to the atmosphere is closed by the solid part of the

page_text: cock. By the next movement of the plug tree the openings or passages become
reversed; at the bottom of the shaft a pit is dug a few feet in depth below the
sump hole or dam of water, and a cylindrical or other shaped chamber is put
into it. This chamber is not shewn in the Sheet of Drawings; it is open at
the top, and is large enough to admit the lowest chamber 4 of the series of
pipes, its adjoining water pipe B, bend pipe m, and vertical pipe k, and still leave
sufficient room for the workmen to get to the clacks to shift or pack them.
The upper part of the vertical pipe k terminates in the sump hole or dam s,
and is furnished with a rose or perforated head piece. Hence as chamber 4
is below the sump hole, water will flow from the sump hole by its gravity down
the vertical pipe k, through the bend pipe m, through the bottom clack 8, and
thus fill the chamber. While the water is filling the chamber, as thus
described, the aperture of the three-way cock is arranged as at d, chamber 3.
The air therefore contained in chamber 4 flows into the atmosphere as the
water enters that chamber to occupy its space.
In the Sheet of Drawings
aforesaid z represents supports, one beneath the bend pipe m, two beneath the
sump
hole 3,
and one beneath the collar launder H. From the collar launder
the water flows freely away. The action of these chambers may be thus
described. At the top of the shaft a steam engine, water wheel, or other power
is employed to condense atmospheric air to the required density. The density
is in direct proportion to the height which the water has to be lifted. Thus,
if the space be 100 feet and the friction of the pipes be not considered, the air
must be condensed, so as to possess an available pressure of 45 lbs. per square
inch; if the space be twice that, or 200 feet, the pressure must be 90 lbs. To obtain
the first-mentioned pressure, the atmospheric air must be condensed 4 times or
be reduced to one-fourth the space it naturally occupies, from which deducting
one condensation for the atmospheric pressure, there remains three of them
effective, equal to 45 lbs. on the square inch or thereabouts, and to obtain an
effective pressure of 90 pounds the air must be condensed to one-seventh of
its original capacity, from which deducting one for the atmosphere, as before,
the condensation is in the proportion of 6 to 1, yielding an effective pressure
of 90 lbs. But the friction agaiust the sides of the pipes renders it necessary
that the air should be condensed until it yields a pressure of 48 or 50 or more
pounds on the square inch according to the pressure or head necessary to
overcome that friction.
In the Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1, the parts are so proportioned that the
lift or distance from the flange p of one chamber to the hemisphere or top of
the chamber next above it is 100 feet. But in Figure 1, thirty-two feet only
are shewn. With the same diameters, therefore, the chambers should be rather

page_text: more than three times their present distances apart. The same remarks are
applicable to Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure 5; indeed the cham-
bers of the last three would be rather more, for the height of each chamber is
not so great as in Figure 1 and Figure 2. In condensing the air, and work-
ing it on the plans exhibited in Figure 1 and Figure 2, I employ one, two, or
more condensing cylinders, and force the air from such cylinder or cylinders
into a cylinder of the same capacity as the chambers from which the water is
expelled at any one and the same time, or rather the capacity is the same as
the body of water to be discharged; for I prefer that the surface of the water
in each chamber shall not descend below the level of the flange p, nor ascend
higher than the termination of the cylindrical part of the chamber, that is, not
into the hemispherical top. The cylinders aforesaid are of course furnished
with pistons in the usual manner, and I prefer them double-acting, in other
words, that the air shall be condensed alternately at the top and bottom of the
pistons, and be forced from the condensing cylinder or cylinders to the top. and
bottom alternately of the piston in the cylinder herein-before described. In
connection with the passages that lead to the opposite sides of the piston of
such cylinder, there is a three-way cock or valve to open those passages
alternately to the air pipe a. In the air pipe, and on that side of the piston
open to it, the air is maintained at such density as is capable of discharging
water from two of the chambers at the same time, notwithstanding the head
or pressure of water above them. The distance from chamber to chamber
being 100 feet, this pressure is equal to 48 or 50 pounds per square inch, as
herein-before stated. Water flowing from the sump hole S through the pipes m
and k, and clack 8, enters chamber 4 and fills it. While this chamber receives
the water the aperture of the three-way cock is arranged, as at d, chamber 3;
hence the air within the chamber escapes into atmosphere. I will now suppose
chamber 4 to be full of water, and motion to be given to the three-way cock
by the plug tree and tapets to reverse the passages. A passage is thus opened
from the air pipe d to chamber 4, as seen at the angle of the branch pipe at d,
by which arrangement the condensed air presses on the surface of the water
within the chamber, and forces it thence through the clacks 9 and 10 into
chamber 3; chamber 8 is thus filled with water, chamber 4 with condensed
air. The three-way cocks again change the direction of the passages; by
such change the condensed air in chamber 4 flows through the pipe e into the
atmosphere, and at the same time water flows from the sump hole into that
chamber to refill it. At the same time, also, or while these operations are
going on, condensed air flows from the air pipe a into chamber 3 to expel the
water thence through the clacks 11 and 12 into chamber 2, when the three-

page_text: way cocks are again reversed; by this last movement of the three-way cocks
the openings or passages are placed in such position that the first operation is
again repeated, and in addition thereto, while the condensed air discharging
water from chamber 4 into chambers 3, it is discharging the water from
chamber 2 into chamber 1; and while chambers 8 and 1 are thus receiving
water, the air within them escapes into the amosphere through the pipes e, e.
The three-way cock now again changes chambers; 3 and 1 are open to the air
pipe, and chambers 4 and 2 to the atmosphere; hence chamber 4 is receiving
water from the sump hole, chamber 3 is discharging water into chamber 2,
and chamber 1 into the collar launder, whence it flows freely away. Thus it
appears that chambers 4 and 2 and chambers 3 and 1 act together alternately;
and as the capacity of the air cylinder is only equal to the capacity of any two
chambers between the flangs p, p, and the commencement of the hemisphere
at the top of each, the water above the flanges only can be discharged, that
is, providing the air is condensed to and maintained at its proper density; and
that it may not exceed that density or pressure, the cylinder may be furnished
with a weighted valve on the principle of the safety valves of steam engines.
In Figure 2 of the Sheet of Drawings many of the parts correspond with
Figure 1, and are marked by the same figures and letters of reference. The
essential difference between the plan shewn in Figure 1 and that in Figure 2
may be thus described:-In Figure 1 there is one chamber to each lift. In
Figure 2 there are two chambers to each lift, and two sets of clacks or
valves; there are also two air pipes. The air pipe a, a, a, a, may be called
the downcast air pipe; the air pipe k, k, k, k, the up-cast air pipe. By
this arrangement the condensed air, instead of flowing into the atmosphere,
as herein-before described, after it has expelled the water from the re-
spective chambers, is, by the motion of a five-way cock x, Figure 2,
discharged with a gradually decreasing pressure into the upcast air pipe k.
At the top of the shaft the upcast air pipe terminates in a junction pipe,
which, by the motion of a two-way cock or valve, conducts a portion of
the condensed air contained in such upcast air pipe, and the chambers open
to it into a condensing cylinder. The condensing cylinder and the piston
working in it, and the junction pipe, and the two-way cock or valve, are
constructed in the manner common to steam engines (all of which are well
known and understood). In the plan exhibited in Figure 1, the condensed
air, after it has expelled the water from the chambers, escapes into the
atmosphere. The condensing cylinder or cylinders therefore, at the top of
the shaft belonging to such plan or arrangement receive or take in the air
to be condensed from the atmosphere; consequently it is at the atmospheric

page_text: pressure, and acts on the piston against which it comes in contact, and on the
side or surface which is not condensing, with the force due to that pressure or
density. In the plan exhibited at Figure 2, the cylinder in connection with
the up-cast air pipe, instead of receiving air from the atmosphere, receives it
from the up-cast air pipe as aforesaid. Hence the pressure of the air acts
with a greater force on the then non-condensing surface of the piston, aiding
the power of the steam-engine, water-wheel, or other prime mover; and when
the piston, on its return, reacts on the air, it has, in consequence of the air
being already condensed to a certain extent, to condense it a less number of
times. By this arrangement a less sized condensing cylinder is sufficient for
the purpose, and a less power is required to effect the condensation. The five-
way cock x, Figure 2, is shewn on a larger scale in Figure 11 and Figure 12,
and the manner of producing its motion in Figure 13. The same Figures and
letters of reference denote the same parts. In Figure 11 the chamber is
marked 4. From its hemispherical top proceeds a pipe, which is partly hidden
from the flange upwards by the valve box of the five-way cock, and the four
pipes q, r, s, t, which proceed from it. The valve box and five-way cock are
delineated by three concentric circles. The outward circle represents the out-
side of the valve-box. The next circle to it, the five-way cock, seated in and
against the inside of the valve box, and the smallest circle represents an orifice,
which, at the back, is open to the pipe at the top of the chamber. This orifice,
therefore, always maintains an open passage from the five-way cock to the
chamber. It is shewn longitudinally at o, Figure 12; the red line denoting
the place from which the section is drawn, as exhibited in Figure 11. The
five-way cock consists simply of a conical piece of metal, with an orifice or
opening of an elbow shape, as shewn at o or v, Figure 12. The orifice at the
end of the five-way cock is always open to its chamber, as herein-before stated,
and its other termination on the side of the metal or cone alternately to the pipes
q, r, s, t, Figure 11. To whichever pipe, therefore, such orifice is open, such
pipe is open to the chamber; also pipe 9 represents the pipe in connection with
the downcast air pipe a. Figure 2, pipe r, that which leads to the upcast air pipe
in the same Figure, and pipes s and t are open to the atmosphere. Hence the
four motions (herein-after to be described) of the five-way cock) open passages
alternately from the chamber to the down-cast air pipe, the up-cast air pipe,
the atmosphere, the atmosphere. The motion of the five-way cock is produced
in the following manner:-A plug tree or rod, made of wood or metal, is con-
nected with or receives motion from the steam engine or other prime mover at
the top of the shaft. This rod or plug tree extends down the shaft aforesaid
sufficiently far to operate on the lowest range of five-way cocks, or those con-

page_text: nected with the lowest chambers. It moves upwards and downwards. At
each set of chambers two pieces of wood or metal 20, 21, Figure 13, are
fastened to it at right angles, to receive and firmly secure and hold a frame or
cradle 22. To this frame or cradle there are four leaves or teeth, two to each
vertical side of the frame, as exhibited in the Drawing. These teeth, by the
movement of the plug-tree and frame or cradle, come in contact with and
impart motion to cylindrical pieces or bolts of metal, united to and projecting
from the circular piece of metal marked w, the other view of which, and of the
bolts aforesaid, are shewn by the same letters of reference in Figure 12. The
teeth aforesaid on the opposite sides of the frame are not on the same
horizontal line, or opposite to each other, and there are eight bolts on the
circular piece of metal, arranged four on each side of it, as exhibited in
Figure 12. These bolts are arranged in couples, as may be seen in Figure 13,
where the finished circles represent the bolts on the upper surface of the metal,
or on the surface which is there exhibited, and the dotted circles, the bolts on
the surface beneath the same, and which, being beneath, cannot be seen; hence
the circles are dotted. The motion is as follows:-The plug tree and frame or
cradle, Figure 18, are represented as having finished, very nearly, the down-
ward stroke. Just as it is thus finished the stroke, the tooth 6 comes in con-
tact with and moves one of the bolts, so as to make the circular piece of metal
describe an eighth part of a revolution. If, therefore, the orifice of the five-
way cock, just prior to this, is open, so as to admit condensed air from the
down-cast air pipe a, Figure 2, through the pipe q, Figure 11, into the
chamber; the motion of the five-way cock, as above stated, will close the
passage, by bringing the orifice of the five-way cock against the solid metal of
the valve box between pipes 9 and r; and whilst the circular piece of metal is
thus in motion, the frame, which imparts that motion, of course descends, and the
dotted bolt on the opposite side of the metal ascends until at arrives at the
place where the bolt next above it now is, or rather in a line corresponding
with that bolt. Almost immediately afterwards the motion of the plug tree is
reversed and it ascends. Hence the tooth 7 comes in contact with and moves
such bolt, until it is in a line with the place now occupied by the bolt y. By
this movement the orifice of the five-way cock opens a passage from the
chamber to the pipe r, through which the condensed air in that chamber can
expand into the upcast air pipe and into the condensing cylinder. The orifice
thus continues open until the plug tree and frame have ascended to nearly the
full height of the stroke, when the tooth 9 passes above the circular piece of
metal, and the tooth 8 strikes the bolt b, which then is at d, and moves it into
a line with the position y, thus closing the orifice by bringing it in contact with

page_text: the solid metal of the valve box, between the pipes r and s; and thus, in a
similar manner the orifice of the five-way cock opens a passage to the atmo-
sphere, and again to the atmosphere to complete the revolution of the valve.
By the Sheet of Drawings, Figure 2 and Figure 12, it will be seen that
there are two five-way cocks to each set of chambers, that is, one to each
chamber, and that those chambers by the arrangements and motions of the
valves can receive condensed air from the down-cast air pipe through the pipes
25, 26, and when it is no longer required, expend a portion of the air so
received into the upcast air pipe through the pipe 27, and that the air still
remaining in the chambers flows subsequently by the movements of the five-
way cocks into the atmosphere. It should be stated, however, that I arrange
in practice the chambers and five-way cocks as exhibited in Figure 12. In
Figure 2 they are arranged differently, and without regard to the explanation
of the manner by which they receive motion; Figure 2 is intended to convey
the general principle. In Figure 14 is exhibited a ground plan as I arrange the
chambers and principal pipes in practice to economise room in the shaft whereby
I can do with a less sized shaft than is commonly adopted to raise the same weight
of water. B, the water pipe; a, the down cast air pipe; k, the up-cast air pipe ;
and 1 and 2 the two chambers arranged in a recess on the side of the shaft.
In Figure 1 and Figure 2 the chambers at the bottom of the shafts are placed
too low, the valve box should be a little higher than the surface of the water
in the sump hole. The horse trees and other supports for the pipes and
chambers being the same as in common use, are not shewn in the Drawings.
The alternate motions of the chambers may be thus described :-In Figure 2
chambers 4 and 2 receive compressed air from the downcast air pipe, and
discharge water into chambers 8 and 1, which expels the air still remaining
in those chambers into the atmosphere. Although appearing to open from the
chambers into the chambers the five-way cock in front is open to the atmo-
sphere, for the entrance through the pipe to the top of each chamber is at the
back of the valve, as herein-before stated. While the above operations are
going on, chamber 5 and 7 permit the condensed air remaining in them to
expend into the atmosphere. The five-way cock now receives motion and
changes the direction of the passages; chambers 4 and 2 expand the com-
pressed air into the upcast air pipe, and cylinder chamber 3 and 1 receive air
and expel water into chamber 7 and the collar launder, and chambers 5 and 7
and 6 and 8 are open to the atmosphere, chamber 5 receiving at the same time
water from the sump hole. The five-way cock again changes the passages;
chambers 4 and 2 expand the remainder of the compressed air within them
into the atmosphere; chambers 3 and 1 expand their fully compressed air into

page_text: the upcast air pipe, chambers 5 and 7 receive compressed air and discharge
water into chambers 6 and 8, from which the air at atmospheric pressure is
expelled into the atmosphere. And, finally, the five-way cock again changes
the passage, completing its revolution; chambers 4 and 2 receive water, the
first from the sump hole, the last-mentioned from chamber 6, and the air at
atmospheric pressure remaining in them is expelled into the atmosphere;
chambers 3 and 1 expand into the atmosphere, the condensed air remaining in
them; chambers 5 and 7 expand the dense air within them into the upcast
air pipe; and chambers 6 and 8 receive condensed air from the downcast air
It should,
pipe, and force water into chamber 2 and the collar launder.
however, be stated that although air condensed to certain extent (equal to
about one half of its original force) is conveyed through the upcast air pipe
to the condensing cylinder, yet, as some portion of the condensed air is lost by
its expansion into the atmosphere, by the next change of the five-way cock,
another condensing cylinder must be employed at the top of the shaft in addi-
tion to the above to supply the deficiency; such cylinder must receive or take
in its supply of air from the atmosphere.
In Figure 3 is represented another and what I consider better mode of raising
water by condensed air, instead of employing pumps and pump trees, as is now
common. A working cylinder L is united to or connected with two other
cylinders m and n, one at the top and one at the bottom of the cylinder, and
consequently above and beneath the piston. The working cylinder is bored
and finished in the usual manner, that the piston may work within it; but the
other two cylinders m and n are plain castings. In the cylinders m and n,
aforesaid, there are two pipes c and d for the conveyance of air to and from
such cylinders, in the manner herein-after described. These pipes extend
nearly to the top of their respective cylinders, and proceed downwards nearly
to the bottom of the shaft, as is delineated in the Drawing. When the piston
is at its greatest height, as shewn in Figure 3, water displaced by it from the
working cylinder extends to within a few inches of the orifice of the air pipe c,
and when the piston is at its lowest range the water now seen within the
cylinder extends to a similar height towards the top of the air pipe d. This
arrangement of water in the cylinders is to prevent the escape of air through
junctions of the air pipes with the cylinders m and n, and from the one side of
the piston to the other. The piston is represented, as herein-before stated, at
the highest range of its stroke, and water extends beneath it to a certain
height in the cylinder n; when it is at the lowest part of its stroke, water rests
above the piston on the bottom of the cylinder m to the same height. Hence
from the peculiar mode of working herein-after to be described, the capacity

page_text: of the working parts of the cylinders L, m, n, are respectively equal to the
capacity of the air pipes added to twice the capacities of the chambers, either
on the right or left of the water pipe B. In this mode of raising water air
valves are not employed in the shaft nor in connection with the junction of the
cylinders and air pipes, and there is not a plug tree to impart motion; and in
the plan now delineated the whole of the chambers on one side of the water
pipe B are worked during the upward stroke of the piston, and those on the
other side of the water pipe during the downward stroke; and, as when steam
engines are employed, the beam is not encumbered by weighty pump rods and
the friction of a series of pumps, and as a double acting steam engine can be
applied of much less size and weight than a single acting steam engine, and
as air can flow freely through pipes properly proportioned, the piston can
make as many strokes per given sized engine as is common in factories.
Hence, to discharge a given quantity of water in a given time, the water pipes
may be nearly of half the dimensions usually employed. For example, in
Figure 3, the water pipe 6 inches bore is calculated to discharge as much
water, under all the circumstances of the case, as is usually discharged by a 12
inch pipe. The scale from Figure 3 to Figure 7 inclusive, is a quarter of an
inch to the foot. The pipes in those Figures are proportioned for the same
discharge. At a few yards above the bottom of the shaft there is a series of
cylinders 30, 31, and 32, arranged on the same plan as those at the top of the
shaft. The only difference is that they are proportioned to the capacity of the
water to be discharged from one chamber only, and the piston rod is repre-
sented as passing through a stuffing box at the bottom of the cylinder into a
cylinder belonging to a pump, where it is fastened to a piston. This pump
may be regarded as the suction lift of the mine, but it acts both as a suction
pump and a forcing pump, raising water from the sump hole into its
working barrel by the atmospheric pressure, and forcing it thence alter-
nately into the two chambers of the next lift. The action of the pump
will be readily understood by an inspection of the Drawing. On the rod,
midway between the two pistons, there is a projecting piece of iron, to
strike, if necessary, against springs or buffers, to prevent the pistons from
taking too long a stroke. The piston of the upper series of cylinders 81
and 32 and 30 receives motion from the pressure of the condensed air from
the air pipes acting on the surface of the water alternately in the cylinders
31, 82.
The pressure acts with a force of 90 pounds, we will assume,
per square inch in one cylinder, against a pressure of 45 pounds, or there-
abouts in the other, yielding an available pressure of 45 pounds, and the
motion is imparted to the piston of the pump, which acts with the same force,

page_text: minus the friction. The action of the parts exhibited in Figure 3 may be
thus explained:-A small condensing cylinder, impelled by a steam engine or
other motive power, forces air into the cylinder n, and the air pipe in connec
tion with it, until its density or pressure is equal to 45 pounds per square inch.
As the condensed air enters the cylinder it presses on the surface of the water
within the same, and forces it downwards, thus raising the piston in the
cylinder L to the highest part of its stroke. The capacities of the cylinders
m, n, for the reception of air a sufficient distance below the upper edge of the
air pipes to the surface of the water is respectively equal to twice the capaci-
ties of the chambers with which each cylinder is in connection, added to the
capacity of the air pipe. Hence, if the piston be forced down so as to expel
three-fourths of the air from the cylinder into the air pipe, by the time it
reaches three-fourths of the distance the air will be condensed to 90 pounds
per square inch, and during the remainder of the stroke the condensed air will
enter the chambers connected by the air pipe with that cylinder, and expel the
water thence to the lift above them on the opposite side of the water pipe.
The condensing cylinder is next applied to force air into the cylinder m and
its air pipe, and continues so to do until the density is at 45 pounds, as herein-
before described. It then may only occasionally be employed to condense air
into the cylinders, to supply any deficiency that may arise from leakage or
other cause. The piston in the cylinder L being moved upwards and down-
wards by a steam engine or other power, causes the air in the cylinders m, n,
to expand and condense alternately to the density of 45 pounds and 90 pounds
per square inch. And thus, by the downward stroke of the piston and the
action of the pump, herein-before described and shewn, at the bottom of the
shaft, water is expelled from the chambers on the right-hand side of the water
pipe into the lifts or chambers next above them on the left. By the upward
motion of the piston water is similarly discharged from the chambers on the
left-hand side of the water pipe into the lifts next above them on the right,
and water is always flowing into the collar launder alternately from the upper-
most chambers. When the piston is at the highest part of its stroke, and is
about to descend, the condensed air exerts a force on its upper surface of 90
pounds per square inch. On the opposite side of the piston the pressure is
only 45 pounds. Hence, there is an available pressure of 45 pounds per
square inch in aid of the prime mover. There is similarly an available pres-
sure of 45 pounds in aid of the prime mover when the piston is ascending.
The piston, therefore, by wheel work can readily be made to travel through
three-fourths of its stroke in a third of the time usually allotted to the entire
stroke, and the remaining fourth of its stroke while the air is forcing water

page_text: from the chambers can be accomplished in the remaining two-thirds of the
time. This motion is produced by the wheels 21, 21, Figure 4, two of them
being fixed on a continuation of the fly wheel shaft of the steam engine or
other power, and two of them on the crank axes by which the piston is moved.
The proportions of the wheels are as 2 to 1. The wheels are shewn in a side
view, Figure 15. The large driving wheel D on the fly wheel shaft, as afore-
said, has two teeth on the opposite sides of the circle. These teeth come in
contact with two teeth on the small wheel of the crank axis, by which means
the two teeth of the large wheel move the two teeth of the small, and the
teeth are so adjusted that the distances passed over by their circumferences are
as 1 to 3, in other words, the large wheel moves through one-third of its semi-
circumference or stroke, while the small wheel moves through two-thirds of its
stroke, and as the connecting rods are united to the cranks on that axis, the
cranks move through two-thirds of the semi-circumference also, and the piston,
which receives motion from them, through three-fourths of its stroke, as
required. The small wheel on the fly wheel axis now comes in contact with
the large wheel on the crank axis, and the remaining fourth of the stroke of
the piston is accomplished in the required two-thirds of the time. In
Figure 5 and Figure 6 another mode is exhibited by which water may be
raised from mines and other deep places, without air valves and plug-tree
tapets. The shaft 40, 40, 40, Figure 6, rotates with twice the speed of
the fly wheel axis. On this shaft there are two wheels which give motion
to the two wheels on the crank axis of the large cylinder Q. These wheels
are proportioned as 1 to 1; consequently the speed of the upper shaft
and cranks upon it is three times greater than that of the fly wheel axis.
Hence, the piston of the large cylinder moves with that speed, and completes
its stroke in a third of the time of the piston of the steam engine. When it
has completed its stroke, it is held by catches on the principle of the hand
geering of steam engines, either at the highest or lowest part of the stroke, and
the wheels x, x, having teeth only a third of their circumference, continue their
rotations until it is time for the piston to make another stroke. The catches
are then liberated, and the teeth of the wheels come in contact with those of
the small wheels as before, and thus make another stroke. The large cylinder
by its size, and by its taking its stroke so rapidly, quickly reduces the density
of the air in the chambers. It is also aided to a certain extent by a small
cylinder T, the piston of which moves through a part of its stroke, and thereby
allows a portion of the air from the chambers to enter its cylinder. By the
movement of the large piston in one-third of the time devoted to the stroke of
the steam piston, the air in the two sets of chambers alternately is reduced from

page_text: 90 pounds pressure per square inch to less than 45. But while the air on one
side of the large piston is thus expanding from 90 pounds to 45, on the opposite
side it is condensing with the same speed from 45 to 90. The pressures there-
fore, minus the friction, are equal. During the remaining two-thirds of the
stroke of the steam piston, the piston in the small cylinder y forces air into the
chambers at 90 pounds pressure per square inch, and thus expels the water in
the manner herein-before described. The wheels on the crank axis of the small
cylinder y to those on the driving shaft are as 2 to 1. Hence the speed of the
piston in the cylinder is the same as that of the piston of the steam engine.
Figure 8 represents a mode of introducing one valve moved by a rotating
shaft, extending down the shaft of the mine instead of the four clacks seen in
Figure 3 and Figure 5. The valve is conical, and the interior of the cone is
divided into compartments at top and bottom. The bottom compartment is
open to the pipe below the chambers, the upper compartment to that above;
and in each compartment of the external metal of the cone, there is an orifice,
so that as the valve makes half a revolution at the beginning of each upward
and downward stroke of the piston of the air cylinder, the two compartments
are opened alternately to the two chambers. To the upper part of the valve
is fastened a rod, not seen in the Drawings, which passes through a stuffing
box, and on which is the wheel, that receives motion at the required times from
the rotating shaft.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as
my Invention any part of the said combinations and contrivances in a separate
condition, nor in a state of combination when not used to effect the object of*
my Invention; nor do I confine myself to the precise arrangement and disposi-
tion of the contrivances and combinations herein described; but avail myself of
such other combinations and contrivances as are in mechanics equivalent thereto.
But I do hereby declare that my Invention of "Certain Improvements in the
raising of water from mines and other deep places," consists in the application
and employment of condensed atmospheric air as herein stated, by combining
the various mechanical apparatus and means herein described, when they are
combined and applied to the raising of water from mines and other deep places,
and by adapting such other combinations and mechanical contrivances as are
in mechanics equivalent thereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Adcock, do hereby set my hand
and seal, the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
HENRY (L.s.) ADCOCK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid Henry Adcock 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 above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Ninth day of Tune :-
T
Inrolled the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-seven.