An Improved Centrifugal Pump.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th July, 1898-Accepted, 4th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Centrifugal Pump.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the firm of H. B. Barlow and Gillett, 17 St. Ann's
Square, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Registered Patent Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, which has been communicated to me by the
Jennings Pump Proprietary, Limited, of 395, Collins Street, Melbourne, in the Colony
of Victoria, Australia, Engineers, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to provide a centrifugal pump which will be especially
suitable for raising water, sand, tailings, auriferous earth or the like, such as is required
in certain hydraulic sluicing systems of mining.
A further object in devising this invention has been to increase the durability and
efficiency of centrifugal pumps.
Hitherto little or no provision has been made for replacing those parts which are
most liable to wear and the efficiency of centrifugal pumps has been very low,
consequently the cost of raising large quantities of material such as is required in
hydraulic sluicing operations has been so high that in the majority of cases profitable
results cannot be obtained.
One of the defects in centrifugal pumps as hitherto constructed has been that the
runners have been made hollow and have been closed in both at back and front and
they have been mounted centrally in their casings with a space all round between the
periphery of the runner and the inside of the casing, the effect being that a considerable
quantity of material was not expelled from the pump at each revolution but was
repeatedly carried. round, and, as a result, the energy expended in this way was
wasted.
Another effect is that after a time a space is worn between the runner and the sides
of the casing or the inside liners as the case may be so that the material to be raised
is liable to pass through these spaces into the vacuum behind the runner thus still
further impairing the efficiency of the pump.
The improvements which have been devised in order to remedy these and other
defects as well as to improve the efficiency of the pump generally will be readily
understood on reference to the accompanying drawings wherein,―
Figure 1 is a vertical central section of a centrifugal pump constructed according
to this invention whilst,-
Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof on line 2-2 Figure 1.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in both figures.
A represents the easing of this improved centrifugal pump. It is made of a width
sufficient to contain the blades B of the runner together with certain adjustable liner
plates hereinafter described and its contour is in the form of a parabola as illustrated
in Figure 1. The spindle C of the runner is mounted in suitable bearings D E so
that the periphery of the runner comes close up to the nose piece N that is to the
part of the casing which is next the delivery opening F. In other words said runner
is not mounted centrally within the casing but eccentrically, the inlet opening G

page_text: being correspondingly arranged, so that it is opposite the centre of the runner and is
therefore eccentric as regards the casing.
In order to maintain a sufficiently tight joint between the sides of the casing A
and the sides of the blades B liners H H are fitted between them as illustrated in
Figure 2 and said liners are arranged so that they can be adjusted nearer to the
sides of said blades as they become worn. This adjustment may be conveniently
effected by set screws hand holts h¹ said bolts being slacked back slightly and the set
screws tightened up whenever it is required to adjust said runners.
The liners H H₁ are preferably made in two parts with the central portion circular
and secured by bolts so that it could be moved round into a different position as it
became worn in any particular part thus bringing a fresh surface into wear and
materially increasing its life.
Upon the back of the runner a thin liner I may be secured so that the material
passing into the pump will not meet a stationary surface immediately upon its entrance
but will be whirled round and will come in contact with a surface travelling in the
same direction and therefore the amount of wear will be reduced below what it
otherwise would be.
This plate is however only a liner and may be dispensed with. When used it is
merely intended for the purpose just described and not for closing in the back of
the runner.
No such plates are used on the front of the runners that is said fronts are left
entirely open and it has been found in practice that such solid open runners are not
only lighter but work more satisfactorily than the closed in hollow box runners.
The blades B are carried upon arms B₁ which are keyed or otherwise secured upon
the spindle C and said arms and blades are curved rearwardly to a gradually
increasing extent as they near the periphery so that the wearing effect of the
material will be evenly distributed over the surface of the blade and at the same time
the material being acted upon will be thrown outwards as it is carried round towards
the delivery port, and thus a centrifugal (in contradistinction to centripetal) action is
assured.
The periphery of the casing is fitted with a liner which may be made in sections
for convenience of application and which takes up the wear caused by the material
passing round inside the pump, thus saving the casing which does not require to be
renewed so often and in order to reduce the wear on this liner the casing is made of
such a shape as illustrated in Figure i that a space is provided a short distance
from the nose piece N of the delivery port F (as indicated at K in Figure 1) which
space by being filled with material serves as a kind of cushion and being slightly
beyond the reach of the blades B remains in a more quiescent state and consequently
does not so injuriously affect the liner which by this simple means is made to last
much longer, and, moreover, the risk of pieces of iron becoming jambed is materially
reduced.
The delivery pipe of this improved centrifugal pump is made of larger diameter
than the inlet pipe as illustrated and to still further reduce the friction of the
material passing up this pipe an air injector L is inserted just above the delivery
port. This injector may be constructed as illustrated in Figure 1 and be operated
by means of a jet of steam or it may consist merely of a pipe leading from a com-
pressed air storage reservoir or other source of compressed air the effect of which
mingling with the material being raised will lessen the friction against the sides of
the pipe, and, moreover, by aerating such material the load against the pump will
be considerably reduced.
The nose piece N is made removable and is bolted in position so that it extends
partly round the inside of the casing and partly along the delivery port of the pump
this construction being much better than casting it solid with the casing.
To prevent grit passing into the bearings they are made with chambers M into
which water under pressure is fed through a pipe m or otherwise from any con-
venient source of supply.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The herein described centrifugal pump consisting of the various parts con-
structed arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. A centrifugal pump in which the runner is mounted eccentrically within a
casing made of such a shape that the periphery of said runner is close to nose piece
(that is to the part of the casing next the delivery port) a space (such as K) being
provided between the runner and the casing a short distance from said nose piece
substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
3. In a centrifugal pump an adjustable liner (such as H or H¹) between the face
of the runner and the sides of the casing substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. In a centrifugal pump a runner having a liner (such as I) secured upon its
rearward face, substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained
and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. In a centrifugal pump a runner having each of its arms or blades made with
its forward surface of gradually increasing rearward curve towards the periphery
substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as illus-
trated in the accompanying drawings.
6. In a centrifugal pump a runner made solid and entirely open on its front, or
inlet side substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. In a centrifugal pump an open runner made with arms (such as B¹) fitted
with removable blades (such as B) substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
8. In a centrifugal pump an air injector inserted in the uptake above the delivery
port of the pump substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained
and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
9. In a centrifugal pump a liner (such as H or H¹) having the central portion
mnade circular and secured by bolts or otherwise so that said central portion can be
moved round into a different position as it becomes worn substantially as and for the
purposes herein described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
10. In a centrifugal pump a nose piece (such as N) made separate from and
removably connected to the casing of the pump substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this Sixth day of July One thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
Agents for Applicant, 17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
Agents for Applicant, 17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.