IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AND EXHAUSTING AIR
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edmund Edwards at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1879. A communication from
abroad by Edouard Reyer, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria.
EDMUND EDWARDS, of the Firm of Edwards and Company, Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 40, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AND EXHAUSTING AIR." [A communi-
cation from abroad by Edouard Reyer, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria.]
This Invention relates to an improved arrangement of apparatus to be used for
the purpose either of compressing or exhausting air.
Two closed vessels of any suitable material of sufficient strength, preferably iron,
and of any convenient shape, are arranged side by side, and are connected to a water
supply under pressure in the manner hereinafter described, so that when one of the
vessels is filling with water the other is being emptied, and vice versa. For this.
purpose four regulating cocks or valves are arranged in the space or wall between
the two vessels.
One of these cocks for the discharge of the water is arranged at or near the
bottoms of the vessels, so that its discharge opening can be connected with either
vessel as desired. Near the upper part of the vessels a second cock or valve is
arranged so that water under pressure can be admitted through it to either vessel in
turn, and the two cocks are connected together so that when one communicates
with one vessel the other communicates with the other vessel, and vice versa.
A third cock or valve is also fitted near the top of the vessel for the admission of
air and a fourth cock or valve for the discharge of air, and they are arranged so
that the vessel into which water under pressure is entering in the way already
described is in communication with the fourth cock through which air is compressed
and discharged as the vessel fills, whilst the other vessel from which the water is
being discharged is in communication with the third cock through which air is drawn
as the vessel becomes emptied.
When this double operation is completed the position of the cocks or valves is
altered, so that the relative action in the two vessels is reversed, that which has
been filled being then emptied and that which has been emptied being filled. The
amount of pressure of the air which is compressed and discharged through the
fourth cock as described will depend upon the height of the column of water which
is admitted through the second column, and the amount of rarifaction or exhaustion
which can be caused in the air drawn in through the third cock will depend upon
the length of a pipe which descends from the cock to a cistern or tank below. A

page_text: In order to render the action of the exhausting and compressing apparatus
described more continuous one or more air vessels are provided.
-The several cocks_or_valves_described may be actuated at the proper times as
required either _by_hand_or_by-an attendant, who steps alternately upon a foot
plate or lever connected to them, or by self acting mechanism set in operation by the..
apparatus itself, for-instance-by-one or more floats rising and falling as the level of
he water in the vessels rises and falls, and by means of pressure guages the air
pressure and water level in the vessels can at any time be ascertained. The
pparatus as described may be used for exhausting or forcing air for different
purposes; for instance, for heating, impregnation, filtration, or for use as a motive
Dower.