IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AIR OR GASES TO BE APPLIED TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Townsend Coughin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1864.
I, THOMAS TOWNSEND COUGHIN, of Crucifix Lane, Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AIR OR GASES TO BE APPLIED TO
VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved apparatus by means of which atmo-.
spheric air or gases may be compressed in volume to a far greater degree than
has yet been accomplished by other means, such highly-compressed air or.
gas being applicable to various useful purposes, for instance, to the dis-
charging of projectiles from guns and ordnance, to the propulsion of carriages,
or to the lighting of railway trains by means of compressed gas.
I propose to effect the object of the Invention upon the principle of com-
pressing air or gas by a succession of pumps and receivers, the first pump
receiving a supply of air from the atmosphere and forcing the same into a.
receiver, whence it is conveyed to a second pump already compressed; the
second pump is then brought to bear upon the compressed air, which is then

page_text: forced into a second receiver, and so on to a third or further series, and
ultimately into a chamber or receiver of any kind or form according to the
purpose for which it is required.
I propose to make the diameter of the first pump larger than the second,
and the second larger than the third, in order to compensate as far as
possible the power required to actuate each according as the air or gases are
more and more highly compressed in each. The pumps are to be set on a
suitable foundation, above which, on standards, a shaft and fly wheel are sup-
ported to be turned by hand or steam power; on the shaft an excentric or
crank is keyed, in order to work the plunger of the first pump. The shaft is
also provided with a cog wheel or pinion, on each side of which is a shaft and
toothed wheel gearing with the central pinion, in order to actuate by similar
excentrics the other two plungers of the pumps. If more pumps are required
they may be connected by similar gearing. The toothed wheel actuating the
third pump should have a greater number of teeth than the second, in order
that it may travel at a slower rate to operate upon the densely-compressed
atmosphere or gas; underneath or at the side of each pump is its receiver
connected by suitable tubes and valves, the whole series of pumps and
receivers being thus in communication.
The first pump may be of the ordinary kind for compressing air, but the
second and further series are to be surrounded or encased in a cylinder or
jacket, into which the compressed air is caused to enter and remain confined
ready to rush into the second pump when its plunger is raised, and so also
with regard to the third or further series.
To apply such highly-compressed air to guns and ordnance the ordinary
arrangements may be adopted as used in the common air-gun; a globe or
other receiver may be screwed underneath the breech of the gun, and the pro-
jectile being inserted a discharge may be effected by a powerful lock-spring
depressing for an instant the valve of the reservoir.
By this Invention air may be made to equal in power the force exerted by
an explosion of gunpowder, and consequently may be made to supply its place
with innumerable obvious advantages, since an almost unlimited extent of
pressure per square inch may be attained, a desideratum which has never yet
been accomplished.
For presses where easy and gradual pressure is required, each pump is to
work into a small receiver furnished with safety valves to denote the pressure
at which each pump is working, and by supplying the second pump with air
or gas which has been compressed to a great extent by the first pump, a
much greater pressure can be obtained in the second pump and receiver; so

page_text: that by supplying one pump from the other in this way, and by having suffi-
cient pumps and receivers of proportionate area to each other, and arranging
the stroke and speed of each pump, the pressure can be increased to any
extent, providing the pumps and receivers are of sufficient strength.