IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS OR PUMPING ENGINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, both
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Card Manufacturers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS OR PUMPING
ENGINES."
Sealed the 9th April 1875, and dated the 17th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ashwortli
and Elijah Ashworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th October 1874.
We, GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, both of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Card Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS OR
PUMPING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates principally to the class of direct acting steam
pumps having rams or plungers which work in glands or stuffing boxes,
and has for its object to render such pumps double acting and thereby to
increase their practical effect. To this end we form the part in which
the ram works with two ram chambers, each of which is provided with
suitable inlet and outlet valves and passages, and we fit each chamber
with a stuffing box, and we cause the said ram to work in both stuffing

page_text: boxes, so that when moving in one direction the said ram forces fluid out
of one ram chamber, and when moving in the opposite direction the said
ram forces fluid out of the other ram chamber.
In the arrangement which we consider to be most suitable the two
ram chambers are formed in one casting, and the gland recesses of both
ram chambers are bored with one adjustment of the casting and boring
bar.
The open end of the ram chamber which is nearest to the
steam cylinder is recessed and faced, and is provided with a cover which
is formed and fitted with a gland in which works the rod which serves
to connect the ram with the steam piston or with the frame or other 1
part which is connected with the said steam piston.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, both of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Card Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
.successors, give and grant unto us, the said George Ashworth and
Elijah Ashworth, Her special license, that we, the said George Ashworth,
and Elijah Ashworth, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
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 "Iм- {
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS OR PUMPING ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what 3

page_text: 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 we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, 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 (and accompanying
Drawings), that is to say :—
Our Invention relates principally to the class of direct acting steam
pumps having rams or plungers which work in glands or stuffing boxes,
and has for its object to render such pumps double acting and thereby
to increase their practical effect. To this end we form the part in which
the ram works with two ram chambers, each of which is provided with
suitable inlet and outlet valves and passages, and we fit each chamber
with a stuffing box, and we cause the said ram to work in both stuffing
boxes so that when moving in one direction the said ram forces fluid out
of one ram chamber, and when moving in the opposite direction the said
ram forces fluid out of the other ram chamber.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we have
appended hereunto a Sheet of Drawings made to a scale of about two
inches to the foot and marked with letters of reference, corresponding
marks indicating the same parts in the two Figures.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings Fig. 1 represents a front
elevation partly in section, and Fig. 2, a side elevation of a steam pump
constructed in accordance with our Invention. In the said Figures a is
a steam cylinder which is mounted upon the cast-iron columns b, b, and
imparts motion to the pump rod c and to the crank shaft d'in the usual
manner. On the said pump rod is fixed a double-acting ram e which
works in two ram chambers ƒ and g which are cast together in one piece
with the two columns b, b, being attached thereto by the shells of the
passages h, h, and also by the connecting fins i, i. The chambers aro
bored out to receive the glands j, j, and this boring we effect with one
adjustment of the boring bar or tool, or of the casting being bored. The
glands being suitably bored and turned to fit within the bored recesses
in the said chambers and placed in position in the said recesses are truly
in line one with another, having a common axis. The ram is inserted
in its place through an opening in the upper end of the chamber f, and
the said opening is closed by means of a removable cover or bonnet K,

page_text: in which is formed and fitted a gland or stuffing box in which the pump
rod c works. An opening may be formed in the bottom of the chamber g
for convenience when boring, if preferred, such opening being sub-
sequently closed by means of a cover or cap. The ram e is fitted to
slide to and fro in the said glands and alternately to draw fluid into and
to eject fluid from the two chambers. Each chamber is provided with
suction and eduction valves and m, and communicates with the said
valves by means of a pipe or passage formed in the casting. The
suction valves receive fluid from a chamber n formed within the
foundation plate o, the eduction valves discharging through the pipes p, p, 1
into the delivery pipe p¹. Valves of descriptions other than those repre-
sented may be employed if preferred. The columns b, b, are arranged
to act as air vessels to equalise the flow of fluid as is usual.
Having now fully described and indicated the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which we carry the same into practical
effect, we would in conclusion have it to be understood that we claim
the combination of parts arranged and acting substantially as set forth
and indicated herein-before and by the accompanying Drawings, an
important feature in our Invention being the combination in one casting
of the two ram chambers and the pump framing.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
Signed and sealed by the said
George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentees,
3, Princess Street,
Albert Square,
Manchester.
GEORGE ASHWORTH. (L.S.)
ELIJAH ASHWORTH. (L.S.)