IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MERCURIAL AIR PUMPS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, F.C.S., of
54, Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MERCURIAL
AIR PUMPS."-A communication from abroad by Alexandre Aguado,
Marquis Las-Marismas, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
Scaled the 5th December 1874, and dated the 30th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Primerose
Howard Vaughan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 30th June 1874.
I, EDWARD PRIMEROSE HOWARD VAUGHAN, F.C.S., of 54, Chancery
Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF MERCURIAL AIR PUMPS," being a communication to me from abroad
by Alexandre Aguado, Marquis of Las-Marismas, of Paris, in the
Republic of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of that
class of air pumps in which the vacuum is obtained by the alternate

page_text: admission and withdrawal of mercury to and from recipients in com-
munication with the capacity to be exhausted.
The accompanying Drawing represents one of the smaller types of
this improved apparatus mounted on a vertical frame of suitable
dimensions.
a, a¹, are two globular vessels in glass, each capable of containing, say,
two quarts of mercury. 6, 61, are glass tubes of, say, forty-four inches
in length, the lower ends of which, sealed in the necks of these vessels,
open at a short distance from the bottom thereof. At a height of thirty-
one and a half inches each of these tubes is provided with a bulb c, c¹,
of about two inches in diameter, and they are bent over from this point
into a glass cylinder d containing a gradual guage e, similar to that of
the ordinary air pump. The communication between the cylinder d and
the plate of the apparatus is effected by the tube g. 1, h¹, are capillary
tubes, the upper ends of which communicate with the vessels a, a¹, in
which they are hermetically sealed beside the lower ends of the
tubes b, b. The opposite extremities of these capillary tubes h, h¹, are
immersed in a reservoir of mercury i provided with a goose neck j, to
which is fitted a small air tube x, allowing the excess of mercury to pass
into the recipient k.
At the lower orifices of the globes a, a¹, are sealed the glass tubes 1, 1,
terminated by caoutchouc pipes m, m³, to form the communication
between these globes and the corresponding cast-iron reservoirs n, n¹.
These reservoirs, which are of equal weight, are suspended to a cord o,
which passes over the pulley p mounted at the top of the frame of the
apparatus. is a capillary tube communicating with a small reservoir y
drawn to a point at the lower end, and fitted at the top with a tube u of
about thirty-one and a half inches long. This tube is immersed to a
certain depth in the mercury of the reservoir provided with a
caoutchouc pipe w, which allows the level of the mercury to be raised
or lowered at will, so as to open or close as required the orifice of the
tube u.
8, 8', are two short tubes, one of which is adapted to the
recipient v, and the other to the recipient i; the first (s) for the collection
of the gascous products experiments, and the other (s¹) for the
admission of gases to be operated upon.
To work the apparatus arranged as above the recipient n being run
up to its highest point (where it is stopped by the rings q, q',) the

page_text: mercury contained therein passes by the tubes m, l, into the globe a,
which it fills, closing the tube and forcing the air by the capillary
tube through the mercury of the reservoir i. The recipient n being
then drawn down its companion n¹ runs up to the same point, its
mercury passes into the globe a¹, expels the air therefrom by the tube h¹,
while the contents of the globe a return by the tubes l, m, to the
recipient n, from which they had been taken; and this alternato
displacement of the two recipients is continued until the desired vacuum
is obtained in the capacity r, the return of the air expelled through
the capillary tubes h, h¹, being intercepted by the mercury of the
reservoir i.
It is unnecessary to observe that the lowest point of the recipients n, n¹,
should be at more than thirty inches below the bottom of the
globes a, a¹.
For readmission of air to the receiver v the flexible tube w is lowered
aufficiently to disonance the money from the orifice of the tubo
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
PRIMEROSE HOWARD VAUGHAN, F.C.S., of 54, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
Her special licence that I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,

page_text: from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term thercin
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF MERCURIAL AIR PUMPS," a communication to him from abroad
by Alexandre Aguado, Marquis of Las-Marismas, of Paris, in the
Republic of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 Edward Primerose Howard
Vaughan, do hereby declare the nature of the 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 had
to the annexed Drawings, and to the figure and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of that
class of air pumps in which the vacuum is obtained by the alternate
admission and withdrawal of mercury to and from recipients in com-
munication with the capacity to be exhausted.
The accompanying Drawing represents one of the smaller types of
this improved apparatus mounted on a vertical frame of suitable
dimensions.
a, a¹, are two globular vessels in glass, cach capable of containing, say, two
quarts of mercury. b, b¹, are glass tubes of, say, fourty-four inches inches
in length, the lower ends of which, sealed in the necks of these vessels,
open at a short distance from the bottom thereof. At a height of thirty-
one and a half inches each of these tubes is provided with a bulb c, c¹,
of about two inches in diameter, and they are bent over from this point
into a glass cylinder d containing a graduated guage e, similar to that of
the ordinary air pump. The communication between the cylinder d and
the plate of the apparatus is effected by the tube g. h, h², are capillary
tubes, the upper ends of which communicate with the vessels a, a', in

page_text: which they are hermetically sealed beside the lower ends of the
tubes b, b'. The opposite extremities of these capillary tubes h, h¹, aro
immersed in a reservoir of mercury i provided with a goose neck j, to
which is fitted a small air tube x, allowing the excess of mercury to pass
into the recipient k.
At the lower orifices of the globes a, a¹, are sealed the glass tubes 1, 1',
terminated by caoutchouc pipes m, m³, to form the communication
between these globes and the corresponding cast-iron reservoirs n, n¹.
These reservoirs, which are of equal weight, are suspended to a cord o,
which passes over the pulley p mounted at the top of the frame of the
apparatus. is a capillary tube communicating with a small reservoir y
drawn to a point at the lower end, and fitted at the top with a tube u of
about thirty-one and a half inches long. This tube is immersed to a
certain depth in the mercury of the reservoir provided with a
caoutchouc pipe w, which allows the level of the mercury to be raised
or lowered at will, so as to open or close. as required the orifice of the
tube .
s, s¹, are two short tubes, one of which is adapted to the
recipient v, and the other to the recipient i; the first (s) for the collection
of the gaseous products of experiments, and the other (s¹) for the
admission of gases to be operated upon.
To work the apparatus arranged as above the recipient n being run
up to its highest point (where it is stopped by the rings q, q',) the
mercury contained therein passes by the tubes m, l, into the globe a,
which it fills, closing the tube and forcing the air by the capillary
tube through the mercury of the reservoir i. The recipient n being
then drawn down its companion n¹ runs up to the same point, its
mercury passes into the globe a¹, expels the air therefrom by the tube h¹
while the contents of the globe a return by the tubes l, m, to the
recipient n, from which they had been taken; and this alternate
displacement of the two recipients is continued until the desired vacuum
is obtained in the capacity ", the return of the air expelled through
the capillary tubes h, h¹, being intercepted by the mercury of the
reservoir i

page_text: For readmission of air to the receiver the flexible air tube wis
lowered sufficiently to disengage the mercury from the orifice of the
tube u in the reservoir v.
The form, dimensions, materials, and general details of the apparatus
may be varied according to its intended application.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner of carrying it into effect, I declare that I claim
and desire to protect by Letters Patent, the improvements in the
construction of double-acting mercurial air pumps, substantially as
herein specified and shewn in the Figures of the accompanying
Drawing.
·
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Primerose Howard
Vaughan, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.