a Method, of drawing water out of mines, wells, pits and other places
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SEIDLER, of Crawford Street, Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Charles Seidler, in consequence of a communica-
tion made to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad, am in possession of an
Invention of a Method, of drawing water out of mines, wells, pits and
other places;" and whereas His present most Excellent Majesty King George
the Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of December, in the seventh
year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Seidler, His especial licence that I, the said
Charles Seidler, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Seidler, my exors, admors, or assigns should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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, the said
Invention of "A METHOD OF DRAWING WATER OUT OF MINES, WELLS, PITS,
AND OTHER PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said Charles Seidler, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Seidler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to con-
sist in conveying power, which I do with very little loss from one given point to
another, without the aid of rods or beams, by forcing air from the said one
point to the other through small pipes, which may be bent in any direction to
suit the curvature of the shaft or windings of the passages, if a mine, or to suit
the irregularity of any other situation, however distant the two points may be
asunder, and causing such air so forced as aforesaid, either to act directly on
the water to be drawn, raised or pumped, or on machinery for that purpose.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles Seidler, do
hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be performed, by
the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :--
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the said Invention applied to one of the purposes before
mentioned, namely, that of drawing water out of a mine; a, a, a, a, represent one
side of the shaft of a mine; B is the top of the mine, and C the water at the
bottom of the mine; D is a cylinder, and P a piston working in it; E and F
are two air valves; G and H are two small copper pipes, one leading from the
top, and the other from the side of the cylinder D, and thence to the bottom of
the mine, where they enter or open into different chambers in the tank K, K, K,
which is immersed in the water, and filled through the valves a and e; this
tank may be made of cast iron, and must be air-tight, and is divided into two
chambers M and N by the middle division S, with a passage for water
marked I and J, leading from each chamber; the pipe G, it will be seen, leads
into the chamber marked M, and the pipe H into the chamber marked N. It
will be observed that each of these chambers is furnished with two valves
L, L, is
those in M are marked a and c, and those in N are marked e and r.
a large copper or leaden water pipe, made in such manner at the lower end
as to cover the two valves o and r, and leading to the top of the mine, where
it delivers the water drawn out of the mine as at W; the yellow circle, marked
Z, is to represent a two-way cock, and by its action connects that part of the
pipe H, which is marked X, either with G or H, at pleasure..
Having now described the various parts of this Figure, I will proceed to describe
their action and the effect produced thereby. The piston is here represented at
the end of the down stroke, which down stroke has only the effect of filling the

page_text: the
upper part of the cylinder with atmospheric air or air at the atmospheric pres-
sure only, as will be only hereàfter explained. If the cock Z be turned in the
position here shewn, the upper part of the pipe H which is marked X will be in
communication with the lower part of the same pipe, and if the piston P be
raised the air which is above it in the cylinder will be forced through the valve F
into the pipe at X, and thence down the pipe H into the chamber N of the
tank K, where it will act on the surface of the water in the chamber N, and
drive a portion of it up the passage I, through the valve 7, into the large water
pipe L, which I call the delivery pipe, and through which the water will be
forced by degrees to the top of the mine, as at W. In the mean time atmo-
spheric air will find its way into the cylinder through the valve V to fill
up
vacuum. On the next down stroke of the piston the air, which has been
compressed into the pipe at X, will of course close the valve F, and the atmo-
spheric air, which was in the lower part of the cylinder, changes its place
and passes to the upper part of it through the valve E; when by a repetition
of the strokes of the piston for a certain number of times the water has been
nearly all forced out of the chamber N, the cock Z must be turned in the
direction of the dotted lines which will close the communication between X
and H, and will open a communication between X and G; the effect therefore
of the next up stroke of the piston will be to force a quantity of compressed
air through X and G upon the surface of the water in the chamber M, which
will in like manner, as before described, be forced up the passage J through
the valve c into the delivery pipe L; while the compressed air in the chamber N
will rush back through the pipe II into the cylinder, entering at the side of the
cylinder and passing both up and down, and thus allows the chamber N again
to fill with water after a certain number of strokes of the piston have suf-
.ficiently exhausted the chamber. It is evident that the number of strokes of
the piston, required to force the required quantity of water out of the chambers
in the tank, must depend on the relative sizes of the cylinder D and chambers
M and N, as also on the cubic contents of the pipes G and H, and the per-
pendicular height of the column of water to be raised; and when this is
ascertained the cock Z may be either turned by hand or by machinery exactly
at the given number of strokes. It will be seen by this arrangement that
the same air that is drawn out of one chamber is forced into the other alter-
nately, so that it is anticipated no loss will occur; but if any air should escape
it will be supplied by means of the valve V, which prevents any vacuum when
the engine is first put in motion,
It will be well here to remark that as neither the passage of the air nor the
water will be materially impeded by the bending of the tubes. This method of

page_text: drawing, pumping, or raising water is peculiarly applicable to mines, since the
power, which is given by piston and cylinder at the top of the mine, may be
transferred through the most crooked shafts and winding passages to any part
of the mine where water is collected, without altering the situation of the piston
and cylinder, which may of course be moved by a steam engine or any other
adequate power.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1, and the same letters are used to
denote similar parts, so that it requires no farther explanation.
Figure 3 shews another modification of the said method and is used for
transferring power from the engine at the top of the mine to any situation in
the mine where it may not be desirable to act directly on the water, as in the
former Figure; but where it may be preferable to work another piston, which
other piston may either be employed to force the water up a delivery pipe, or
may be applied to give motion to any other machinery for that purpose. In
this Figure A represents an air-tight cast-iron cylinder with the piston P
moving in it. By the arrangement of the four valves a, e, r and c it will be seen
that when the piston is worked up and down by any power at the top of the
mine a constant stream of air will be forced down the pipe B; the lower end
of this pipe opens into the bottom part of the cylinder C, which it will be
seen is open at the top and is placed at some convenient spot at any distance
down the shaft of the mine. The air forced into the cylinder C, of course lifts
the piston R, and by the time it gets to the full extent of the upward stroke,
the slot movement Q, which is attached to the piston rod J, acts upon the two-
way cock Z, and let's the condensed air escape out of the cylinder by the side
vent X, while the stream of air coming down the pipe B is cut off, and this
allows the piston R to fall by its own weight; as soon as the piston has fallen
nearly to the bottom of the cylinder the slot movement Q turns the cock Z to
its first position again, and the air being admitted again under the piston R
the up stroke is repeated; thus then the motion of the piston rod J is obtained,
and this motion may either be applied as here shewn to draw off the water at S,
or it may be applied to various other sorts of machinery for that purpose; it is
only necessary to add that L, in this Figure, is the delivery pipe through which,
whether straight or curved, horizontal or perpendicular in parts, the water
may be forced to the top of the mine from any required spot, however deep or
distant from the shaft.
Now whereas I do not claim any particular manner of working the air pumps
or air apparatus used to force the air into the pipes marked G, H,and B, in the
Drawing, for this may be done by steam, water, horses, or any such known
power; but whereas I claim as the said Invention the method of applying air,

page_text: forced through pipes as aforesaid, to act directly upon water in manner shewn
in the Drawing by Figures 1 and 2, for the purpose of drawing, raising, or
pumping water out of mines, wells, pits, and other places, and also the mode
of applying air so forced through pipes as aforesaid to act upon a piston in
manner shewn at Figure 3, for the purpose of raising water or of giving
motion to any machinery for drawing, raising, or pumping water out of mines,
wells, pits, and other places; and such said Invention being to the best of
my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within that part
of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; I
do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without
reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Seidler, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-seven.