CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PISTONS OR BUCKETS FOR PUMPS
Year: 1827

page_text: WHITE, of Southampton, in the County of Hants, Engineer, send greeting.
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 First day of February, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-
six, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John White, His especial licence
that I, the said John White, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John White, my exors, adiñors, 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, and also
in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PISTONS OR BUCKETS FOR
PUMPS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said John White, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited 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
John White, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-.
In the said Drawing A, Figs. 1 and 3 are vertical sections of part of a
square pump barrel, and Fig. 2 a plan of the same, which may be made of
wood, cast iron, brass, or any other fit and proper material. B, the metal rod
of the piston or bucket. C, C, two metal flaps or valves jointed to the metal
piece D at E, E, where two semi-cylindrical grooves are formed to receive the
cylindrical parts F, F, shewn by. dotted. lines in Figs. 1 and 3, in Fig. 4, end-
ways, and in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, lengthways, as united with flaps C, C, at their
lower edges, and they are prevented from rising or quitting their places in the
said grooves by the square metal block G, shewn endways in Fig. 7, which is
retained in it's place by the piston rod.B-passing through a hole in its centre,
and which said piston rod has a shoulder at H which presses upon the block
G and holds it down. This combination is best.seen in Fig. 8. A screw upon
the piston rod B also passes through a screwed hole in the piece D, and this
binds all those parts together, and it may be further secured when necessary
by means of the screwed nut. I; shewn separately in Fig. 9. I either cause
the metal flaps. C, C, to be fitted so accurately to the sides of the pump
barrel as to do without leathering, and as shewin in Figs. 6 and 8,
when the lifts are not too great; or I add leathers or other flexible sub-
stances to the ends of the flaps to render them more water-tight, as shewn
at J, J, in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and at J in Figs. 5 and 10. J, in Fig. 11,
is a side view of one of these leathers, and J, Fig. 12, is an edge view of it.
I secure these leathers to the ends of the flaps partly by means of angular or
dovetailed projections and gaps formed upon them, and as shewn in the various
Figures, and partly by nails or pins driven through the leathers into holes
provided in the ends, of the flaps to receive them. In order to prevent. the
escape of the water or other fluid between the inner.edges of the leathers or
other flexible substances and the ends of the piece D, I round the ends of
the leathers or other flexible substances into the shapes of arcs of circles,
which are produced from the centres. of motion of the flaps, and provide
circular recesses to fit them accurately in the ends of the piece D, and as
shewn in Figs. 1, 3, 13, and 14. In order to regulate and limit the opening
of the flaps B, B, in the pump barrel, and prevent friction in. the upward
motion of the piston while working the pump, I have provided a screw or pin
K in each flap, which screws or pins abut against_two ears L, L, made on the
piece D, and projecting from it on each side, and the heads of which said
screws or pins are calculated so as to wear equally with the sides of the flaps
or valves against the pump barrel, by which means a self-adjustment is
constantly taking place, and preserving the piston or bucket in a perfect state

page_text: for use.
Fig. 15 represents the under side of the picce D, and Fig. 16 a side
view of it. Fig. 17 shews part of the piston rod B separately. Fig. 1
represents the flaps or valves C, C, as open in the ascending motion of the
piston or bucket, their tops just fitting against the two sides of the pump
barrel A, but being prevented from rubbing forcibly against them, so as to
produce an unnecessary degree of friction, by means of the screws or pins K, K,
in them resting against the two ears or stops L, L, and preventing the flaps
from opening too wide. Fig. 3 represents the flaps. C, C, in the collapsed
state, occasioned by the descending motion of the piston or bucket, and shews
a waterway equal to one half the area of the pump barrel. The ends of the
flaps or valves C, C, shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10, are, as before mentioned,
male water-tight by the addition of a thick piece of, sole, leather J or other
flexible material being affixed upon them in the manner already described, and
as more fully seen in the plan Fig. 2. This, however, as before stated, is only
necessary in deep lifts. In many cases no leathers are required, and of course
as there is no occasion for the circular recesses in the ends of the block D,
which were provided to receive them, so they are made without them, and as
shewn in Fig. 8, the ends of the block D and those of the flaps C, C, forming
one continued plane, fitting the other two sides of the pump barrel, and
rendering them sufficiently water-tight. In case of pumping hot liquors where
leather or other flexible materials would be subject to injury, I can substitute
metallic plates instead thereof jointed to the ends of the flaps. I do not mean
or intend hereby to claim as my Invention any of the various parts of which
my said pistons or buckets are composed, which may already have been known
or in use; but I do hereby claim as my Invention, and the objects of this my
said Patent, the formation of pistons or buckets for pumps, with flaps or valves
fitted so as to act against or parallel with the sides of a square pump barrel,
and the means of supporting the flaps so as to remove that friction which
commonly exists in pumps, and to afford the means of continual self-adjust-
ment by the peculiar construction of the several parts, and thus making the
water or other fluids the agents for preserving the pumps in good order, and
thereby also superseding the employment of netallic springs, or the other
means usually resorted to, and rendering these pistons or buckets more simple
and durable than those commonly employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John White, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid John White came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.