IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR PUMPING QR FOR MEASURING FLUIDS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry James Hogg King, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR PUMPING
QR FOR MEASURING FLUIDS.”
Sealed the 24th December 1872, and dated the 2nd July 1872:
· PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry James Hogg King
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd July 1872.
I, HENRY JAMES HOGG KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR
PUMPING OR FOR MEASURING FLUIDS," to be as follows, that is to say:
-
This Invention has for its objects to simplify and improve the con-
struction of motive-power apparatus of the kind having pistons recipro-
cating in cylinders, and the improved apparatus is also applicable with
certain modifications or additions for pumping or for measuring fluids.
OT

page_text: In all the modifications comprised in the Invention, the distributing
valves for admitting steam or other motive fluid to the different parts are
contained within the cylinder and do not require external gearing for
working them. What is known as a differential piston is used having
the effective area of one side about double that of the other. The motive
fluid has constant access by a side pipe to the smaller area, which will
generally be the under side, and when it is lifting the piston upwards the
upper and larger area is in communication with the exhaust through
the piston and through a tubular rod. There are one or more ports
through the piston having valves which when the piston is rising are
kept closed by the pressure up against the under side. These valves are
connected by stems passing through the piston ports to a cross piece
above, which encounters the top of the cylinder on the piston; nearly
completing its upward stroke and causes the opening of the valves. At
the same time another valve on the cross piece closes the exhaust outlet
in the top of the piston. In consequence of this change of the valves
the motive fluid passes through the piston to its upper side, and causes
the piston to descend, and when the piston reaches the bottom of its
stroke the valves become reversed by coming in contact with the bottom
of the cylinder or with stops, and the piston rises again.
In one modification the difference in the effective piston area is
obtained by attaching a trunk or comparatively large piston rod to one
side of the piston, such rod passing out through a stuffing box, and being
used as, or having directly attached to it, the plunger or rod of a pump,
and in this form the arrangement (with the ordinary pump details)
constitutes a very simple and efficient steam pump. Or instead of the
pump details being of the ordinary kind they may consist of suitably
proportioned duplicates of the steam or motive-power details, being
placed in the same line but reversed in position. In this arrangement
no stuffing boxes or outside working parts are required as the pump
barrel or cylinder may be attached directly to the steam cylinder.
A single valve piece may be substituted for the set of valves herein-
before referred to, such valve piece being cylindrical and working in a
cylindrical cavity made for it in the piston, by preference centrally.
The valve piece is made with lateral ports arranged so as to form a
communication between the upper and under sides of the piston when in
its lowest position relatively to the piston, and so as to put the upper

page_text: side in communication with the exhaust port in the piston when in its
highest position.
The piston is sometimes elongated and formed with an exhaust space
at one side, which is always in communication with an exhaust port so
situated in the side of the cylinder as "never to be uncovered by the
piston.
The inlet port may also be in a situation never uncovered by the
piston, and the steam have ingress to the cylinder through a passage or
passages in the piston. This arrangement will admit of a cut off valve
being applied, such valve being adjustable outside a series of ports in the
cylinder, placed so that the port of the piston passes them in succession,
thus more or less steam will be admitted at each stroke in proportion as
more or fewer of these ports are uncovered by the adjustable valve.
-
When using an elongated piston the areas may be equal or nearly so
on both sides, and arrangements may be made to admit separate supplies
of steam to each side alternately. In this modification the piston is
made hollow and is continually full of fresh steam entering it by a side
port never uncovered to either end of the cylinder. There is a side
opening close to each end of the hollow piston, and as the piston
approaches each end of its stroke the opening at one end gets over a port
in the cylinder side, by which port a portion of steam passes to the acting
space outside of the piston so as to produce the return stroke.
instead of the steam getting from within the piston to the acting spaces
by ports in the cylinder side, there may be a sliding valve piece in the
piston like what is herein-before described, and answering the same
purpose. A. duplex valve in the piston worked by the steam provides.
for the continuance of the exhaust throughout the stroke.
Or
For measuring fluids any of the modifications with differential pistons
may be used. A valve is added to the exhaust passage and has a light
spring applied to it to give it a tendency to close; and this valve
prevents the piston from sticking in any position, and also the passage of
any unmeasured water or other fluid. The apparatus applied as a meter
in this way requires no stuffing box or similar appliance; and the piston
or pistons may be made tight with little or no friction by what is known
as rolling packing. The strokes of the piston may be made to act on the
counting or recording mechanism by means of a rod passing through åˆ
hole in the cover, the hole being closed and the projecting part of the

page_text: rɔd covered by a short tube of rubber protected by a wire coiled closely
round it outside in a manner not to prevent its elongation.
A comparatively very small cylinder is made capable of furnishinga very
accurate record of the passage of a very large quantity of water or other
fluid by fitting a proportional valve in connection therewith. This valve
is a double beat or equilibrium valve of any convenient kind, connected
to a diaphragm of a flexible material such as vulcanised rubber, fixed
across a chamber formed with a large outlet from one side of the
diaphragm, and a small one for the other. The part of the chamber with
the large outlet receives the fluid through the equilibrium valve, and the
other part receives it through the measuring cylinder or meter, the latter
being supplied by a small branch from the main supply pipe. With this
arrangement the equilibrium valve will be continually adjusted by the
diaphragm so as to equalise the pressures on both sides of the diaphragm,
in other words the pressure of the liquid passing off by both outlets will
be kept uniform, and the discharge will therefore be always proportional
to the effective orifices. Thus the record of what passes through the
cylinder or meter has to be increased in the proportion in which the
discharge by both orifices is larger than that by the smaller one in order
to represent the total discharge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the 'conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry James Hogg King in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
JAMES HOGG KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, 2
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry James Hogg King, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry James Hogg King, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry James Hogg King, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein 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
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR PUMPING OR FOR MEASURING
FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
James Hogg King, my executors or administrators, 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
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months nex
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry James Hogg King, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for its objects to simplify and improve the
construction of motive-power apparatus of the kind having pistons
reciprocating in cylinders, and the improved apparatus is also applicable,
with certain modifications or additions, for pumping or for measuring
fluids.
In all the modifications comprised in my Invention, the distributing
valves for causing the steam or other motive fluid to act in the different
parts are contained within the cylinder, and do not require external
gearing for working them. What is known as a differential piston is
used in most of the modifications, such piston having the effective area
of one side about double that of the other, and the motive fluid has
constant access by a side pipe to the smaller effective area, and when it
is acting on that area the other and larger area is in communication with
the exhaust through the piston and through a tubular rod or trunk.
The reverse stroke is obtained by the admission of the fluid through the
piston to the larger area, the exhaust outlet from that area being then
closed.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing

page_text: various modifications of my improved apparatus. In these Drawingз
the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
=
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is a vertical longitudinal section
of one modification of my improved apparatus as arranged for obtaining
motive power by means of steam or water. In a cylinder consisting of
two parts 1, 2, of different diameters there is a piston 3 which acts
differentially in consequence of a part of its under side being counter-
balanced by a smaller piston 4 connected to it by a tubular rod 5 and
working in the smaller part 2 of the cylinder. The motive fluid enters
by a side opening 6, by which it has constant access to the space
beneath the main piston 3 and between it and the smaller-piston 4.
There are (one or more) ports 7 through the piston 3, having valves-8,
which when the piston is rising are kept closed by the pressure up against
the under side of the piston, as shown in the Figure. These valves 8
are connected by stems 9 passing through the piston ports 7 to a cross
piece 10 above, which encounters the top of the cylinder on the piston
nearly completing its upward stroke, and then causes the opening of the
valves 8. The piston 3 is shown at that point of its upward stroke when
the valves 8 are about to open. The cross piece 10 has fixed or formed
on it a valve 11, which when the valves 8 open closes an exhaust port 12
communicating through the tubular rod 5 and lower cylinder space 2
with an outlet 13. In consequence of this change of the valves the
motive fluid passes through the piston 3 to its upper side, and causes it
to descend; and when the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke the
valves 8 become reversed by coming in contact with stops or with the
bottom of the larger part 1 of the cylinder, whereupon the piston rises
again.
•
In one modification the difference in the effective piston area is
obtained, as shown in Figure 2, by attaching a trunk or comparatively
large piston rod 14 to one side of the piston 3, such rod passing out
through a stuffing box 15, and being used as or having directly attached
to it the plunger or rod of a pump; and in this form the arrangement
(with the ordinary pump details) constitutes a very simple and efficient
steam pump; or instead of the pump details being of the ordinary kind
they may consist of suitably proportioned duplicates or modifications of
the steam or motive-power details, being placed in the same line but
reversed in position.
In this arrangement, an example of which is

page_text: shown in longitudinal section in Figure 3, no stuffing boxes or outside
working parts are required, as the pump barrel or cylinder 21, 22, may
be attached directly to the steam cylinder 1, 2. The reference numerals
applied to the pump details in the Drawings differ by 20. from those
marking the corresponding motive-power details. An annular valve 28
is used for closing a circle of holes formed through the pump piston 23,
and is connected to the cross piece 30 by rods 29 passing through two of
the holes.
In the motive-power details shown in Figure 3 the valves 8 and 11
are made with cylindrical enlargements, which enter cylindrical recesses
formed for them in the piston 3, and the area of the single valve 11 is
made about equal to that of both the valves 8. With this construction
the full opening and closing of the valves is rendered more certain..
In some cases it may be desirable to adopt the construction shown in
section in Figure 4. - In this modification the exhaust valve 11 is
extended in a tubular form into the exhaust passage 5, and allows the
exhaust into it when it is so far moved out as to uncover side openings 16
near its end. The valve 11 is formed with an enlargement 17, which
acts as an annular piston in a cylindrical cell formed for it in the piston 3
and its trunk or rod 5.
In the closed position in which the valve 11 is shown the steam has
access by a small passage 18 in the trunk 5, and a passage in the annular
piston 17 to the inner end of that piston, and by acting thereon counter-
balances or partly counterbalances the pressure tending to keep the
valve 11 shut, the other end of the annular piston 17 being exposed to
the exhaust by an opening 19 which is then uncovered.
In a similar way, as will be understood on considering Figure 4, the
steam acts on the other end of the annular piston 17 when the valves 8
are closed; so that in either case little or no pressure has to be over-
come in shifting the valves.
Figure 5 is an end elevation, corresponding to Figure 3, as with the
steam cylinder end cover removed, and shows blocks 20 formed on the
piston 3 to partly fill up the space and thereby avoid certain small losses
of steam that would otherwise take place. Between the ends of the
cylinders 2 and 22, Figure. 3, there is interposed a piece 41, with holes
closed by screw plugs 42 to give convenient access for connecting

page_text: When using an elongated piston the areas may in some cases be
equal or nearly so on both sides, as shown in Figures 7 and 8, which are
vertical sections as at right angles to each other, Figure 9 being a corra-
sponding horizontal or cross section. In this modification separate
supplies of steam are admitted to each side of the piston 3 alternately,
the piston being hollow and continually full of fresh steam, entering it
through a slot 49 from a side port 6 in the cylinder, such side port 6 never
being uncovered to either end of the cylinder. There is a side opening
53 close to each end of the hollow piston 8, and as the piston approaches
each end of its stroke the opening 53 at one end gets over a port 54 in
the cylinder side, by which port 54 a portion of steam passes to the
acting space outside the piston so as to produce the return stroke. Or,
instead of the steam getting from within the piston to the acting spaces
by ports (54) in the cylinder side, there may be a sliding valve piece (43)
in the piston, like what is herein-before described, and answering the
same purpose. When the piston 3 is at one end of the stroke, the
steam exhausts from the other end by exhaust ports 55, a face view of
which is given in Figure 10, these ports being at the middle of the
cylinder's length and partly uncovered by the piston. A duplex valve 56
in the piston and worked by the steam, provides for the continuance of
the exhaust throughout the stroke, by admitting the steam from the
exhausting end into a passage 57, always in communication with some
of the exhaust ports 55.
For measuring fluids, any of the modifications with differential pistons
may be used, a valve being added in the exhaust passage with a light
spring applied to it to give it a tendency to close. I, however, prefer to
use as a water meter the modification shown in vertical section in
Figure 11, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, and in transverse section in
Figure 12, the latter section being as at the line A-A, in Figure 11.
The parts correspond to those shown in Figure 1, but are inverted in
position, and rolling packing rings 58 of vulcanized rubber are applied
to the pistons 3, 4. The valve 11 for closing the exhaust 12 through
the main piston 3 from the under side thereof, is fitted with a movable
piston 59 and valve 60 fast on a spindle 61, which act so as to alter
the effective relative pressures acting in opposite directions on the cross
piece 10 at the ends of the opposite strokes in a manner to render the
movements of the meter positive and certain under all the varying
conditions to which it may be subjected. Thus in the position in which

page_text: the parts are shown, the piston 3 having nearly reached the lower end
of its stroke, there is a pressure towards the exhaust opening 12 upon
both the annular part of the valve 11 and the piston part 59, and the
aggregate area of these ports being made greater than that of the
valves 8, the valves must continue to shift, although the outlet by the
opening 12 is cut off until the valves 8 become sufficiently open to admit
the water to the under side of the piston 3. On the piston 3 approaching
the upper end of its stroke, the spindle 61 encounters an adjustable
stop 62, which causes the bottom valve 60 to open, whereupon the
pressure on the piston 59 being met by the resistance of the stop 62,
there is only a pressure upwards corresponding to the annular part of
the valve 11 to operate against the pressure downwards on the valves 11,
and the aggregate area of the latter then preponderating they will
continue to move downwards in the piston until the exhaust outlet 12
becomes opened. An annular stop 63, which is put in in two halves, is
introduced to limit the movement of the piston 59, and a packing ring 64
is applied in the opening 12 to prevent leakage whilst the valves are
changing. The strokes of the piston are made to act on the counting
or recording mechanism, supposed to be in the box 65, but not shown,
by means of a rod 66 passing through a hole in the end of the cylinder,
the hole being closed and the internally projecting part of the rod 66
covered by a tube 67 of vulcanized rubber. A spring 68 is applied to
the rod to balance the internal pressure of the water on the cross
sectional area of the rod.
A comparatively very small cylinder (1, 2,) or meter of any sufficiently
accurate kind is by another part of my present Invention made capable
of furnishing a very accurate record of the passage of a large quantity
of water or other fluid by fitting in connection with it an improved
proportional valve, such as is shown in vertical- section in Figure 13, on
Sheet 2 of the Drawings. This valve is a double beat or equilibrium
valve 69 (which may be of any convenient kind) connected by a rod 70
to a diaphragm 71 of a flexible material, such as vulcanised rubber;
fixed across a chamber 72, 73, formed with a large outlet 74 from one
side of the diaphragm, and a small one 75 from the other. The part 72
of the chamber with the large outlet 74 receives the fluid through the
equilibrium valve or valves 69, and the other part 73 receives it through
the measuring cylinder or meter by an inlet 76, which is connected to
the discharge outlet of the meter. The meter is supplied by a small

page_text: branch 77 from the main supply pipe or inlet 78. With this arrange-
ment, the equilibrium valves 69 will be continually adjusted by the
diaphragm 71, so as to equalise the pressures on both sides of it, in other
words the pressure of the fluid passing off by both outlets 74, 75, will be
kept uniform, and the discharge will therefore be always proportional
to the effective orifices 74, 75. Thus the record of what passes through
the meter has to be increased in the proportion in which the joint
discharge by both orifices 74, 75, is larger than that by the smaller one
in order to represent the total discharge. In the arrangement of equi-
librium valves shown, the fluid enters between two valves 69, and a part
passes directly by the lower valve into the chamber 72, whilst the other
part passing by the upper valve reaches it by side passages 79. A per-
forated rigid diaphragm 80 is fitted above the flexible one 71, to prevent
the latter from being improperly acted on by currents.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for
obtaining motive power for pumping or for measuring fluids, substan-
tially in any of the improved modes herein described and delineated.
2. The constructing of motive-power pumping or measuring apparatus
with differential pistons having self-acting valves through them, sub-
stantially such as are herein described and delineated.
°
3. The constructing of proportional valve apparatus for fluid meters,
substantially in the improved manner herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry James Hogg King, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-