A GRAVI- TATING EXPRESSING FOUNTAIN FOR RAISING AND CONVEYING WATER OR ANY. OTHER FLUID
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAN
SHALDERS, of the City of Norwich, Leather Cutter, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of April last past, did give and grant
unto me, the said William Shalders, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His
especial licence, full power and authority, that I, the said William Shalders,
my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A GRAVI-
TATING EXPRESSING FOUNTAIN FOR RAISING AND CONVEYING WATER OR ANY.
OTHER FLUID;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Shalders, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Shalders, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect,
is fully described and ascertained by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description, reference being thereunto had, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, as follows, that is to say :-

page_text: My said Invention consists of an apparatus adapted to raise and convey
water or any other fluid for any purpose, and which said apparatus I denominate
a gravitating expressing fountain. The following description will explain its
mode of action, so that persons conversant with works of a similar nature may
be enabled to put the Invention in practice.
Fig. 1 upon the Drawing represent two of the said apparatus combined
forming a double-acting fountain, being constructed in such manner as to raise
or force up a constant stream of water or other fluid. It will only be
requisite to describe one of the apparatus, the other being exactly of similar
construction, and having the same letters of reference marked upon corre-
sponding parts thereof in small characters, as will appear evident from
inspection of Fig. 2. A represents a circular vessel, composed of wood or
other suitable material, which I denominate the fountain. The diameter of
the upper part of this vessel I usually make about 15 inches, that of the
bottom about 13 inches, and its depth or height about 2 feet in the inside,
but the dimensions are not material, as they would in a great degree depend
upon the nature of the operation to be performed, and the situation where the
apparatus was to be employed. The vessel A has a bottom securely fixed at
the lower part thereof, but is open at the top. B represents another
circular and somewhat conical-shaped vessel, composed of wood or other
suitable material, which I denominate the expresser. This vessel is about
12 inches in diameter at the top, and nine inches at the bottom, being adapted
to move up and down within the vessel A. The expresser is about 2 feet deep
on the outside, and is closed air-tight by having a top and bottom securely
fixed into it, by which it is rendered buoyant when immersed in a fluid, but
should the weight of the expresser in any case be too great for the fluid to
buoy up, it can be balanced or otherwise counteracted. The vessels A and B
are united together by a conical tube or hoop, formed of leather or other
sufficiently pliable and water-tight material, -as-shewn at C, Fig. 2. It is
also represented by the detached Figures 3, 4, and 5 upon the Drawing, as
will be berein-after explained. The part C I call the connector, since it
serves to connect the vessels A and B together, by its upper edge being drawn
over and securely fixed by binding, hooping, or otherwise, at about the middle
(in height) of the expresser B, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2, whilst its
lowermost edge is secured in any convenient manner to the upper part or
mouth of the fountain A, so that no fluid will be allowed to escape at those
parts where the connecter is secured to the vessels A and B. In this state the
apparatus will appear as represented by the Fig. 2, but in order to prevent
the pressure of the water when the apparatus is in use from bagging or forcing

page_text: out the sides of the connector, I provide a broad hoop or ring, as seen at D,
Fig. 1, of sufficient depth to enclose the connecter C, and this hoop I place
over the top of the fountain A, so as to rest with its lower edge upon a rim or
projection, marked in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper part of the hoop D being of
such dimensions as to admit of a free motion of the vessel B up and down
within it. The lower part of the fountain A is provided with a tube or pipe E,
furnished with a suitable valve or valves opening inwards to allow the free
ingress of fluid to the fountain; it is also provided with another tube or pipe
F, which is furnished with a valve or valves opening outwards, so as to suffer
the fluid to rise in the exit or forcing pipe G, but prevent its return into the.
fountain. The operation of the said gravitating expressing fountain would
be as follows: Suppose the apparatus to be constructed double, as repre-
sented in Fig. 1, and the rods H, h, which were firmly fixed to the tops of
the expressers B, b, to be connected with the opposite extremities of a lever or
other suitable machinery, so that when the expresser B was forced down it
would suffer the expresser b to rise, and vice versa. The whole apparatus is to
be placed in a well or reservoir of water or other fluid which is desired to be
raised, at such a depth beneath the surface that the water by its gravity may
flow down the pipe or tube E, and through the valve or valves into the.fountain
A, so as to rise therein and buoy up the expresser B, extending the connecter
C into the position represented by Fig. 2, where the hoop D is supposed to be
removed in order to shew the connecter more clearly. Now if the rod Hof
the expresser B be forced down by an adequate mechanical power, it will
displace the fluid from the fountain A, which, not being allowed to escape
through the valve E, will be forced through the pipe and valve F up the
exit pipe G. During this action the expresser b is supposed to be rising by
the gravity of the water entering through the pipe and vale e into the
fountain a, and as soon as the expresser has arrived to the extent of its courso
the rod h is to be depressed, so as to force the water through the pipe and
valve f, and up the exit pipe G; thus a continued action may be kept up, and
a constant stream of water caused to issue from the orifice of the exit pipe G.
In the Fig. 2 the pipe of supply E is supposed to bring the water from a
distance, the source being situated at a sufficient elevation to cause the water
to enter the fountain A and buoy up the expresser B. This Figure shews also
the manner in which the connecter would bag out if the hoop or stay D was
not employed. In this arrangement it would not be necessary to place the
fountain under water, as described with reference to Fig. 1.
I will describe the plan which I have adopted of forming the connecter, and
which I find to answer the purpose very well. Fig. 3 upon the Drawing shews

page_text: the form in which the piece of leather or other material is cut out, and Fig. 4
shews the same when it has been dressed on a block or mould into a proper
shape for a connecter without any seam; but for raising fluid to great eleva-
tions, where on thickness of leather would not be capable of resisting the
necessary pressure, I form the connecter out of one or more arch-shaped pieces
of leather, joined together and turned into a scroll or spiral, as represented by
Fig. 5 upon the Drawing, and secure the joining by a tresle seam, sewed with
thongs of leather or other suitable material.
The form and dimensions of the various parts of the said apparatus or
gravitating expressing fountain may be varied according to the discretion of
the persons employed in constructing the same, and the materials of which the
same may be made will admit of being varied, to adapt it to the peculiar
situation where it is to be employed, still producing the desired effect, as
herein-before described and set forth; and where the supply cannot without
difficulty be obtained by gravitation it may be obtained by rarefaction, and the
apparatus will then be an expressing fountain only.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Shalders, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty five