IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PASSAGES FOR FLUIDS
Year: 1886

page_text: We, JAMES COMPTON MERRYWEATHER of Greenwich Road S.E. in the County
of Kent, Engineer, and CHRISTOPHER JOHN WALLACE JAKEMAN, of Greenwich
Road, S.E. in the county of Kent Engineer do hereby declare the nature of our
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PASSAGES FOR FLUIDS
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of passages for
fluids; it specially relates to cases in which it is required to combine two, three,
four or more streams into one, the object being to avoid loss of power consequent
on the concussion of the streams at the point of union. The invention is applicable
to all cases in which liquids are conveyed under pressure, and is particularly
adapted for use in the delivery pipes to fountains and from fire engines and
hydrants, where it is of the greatest importance the stream should be compact and
not broken up by any opposing forces within itself before its delivery from the
nozzle. The construction also corrects any spiral motion that may have been
imparted to the stream during its passage through the hose or other pipes.
To effect the results stated we construct the portion of the pipe where the
junction of the streams occurs in such a manner that the direction of each confluent
stream is gradually & easily changed by a suitably curved pipe into one receiving
pipe the area of which is equal to the sum of the areas of the converging pipes.
In some cases when it is desirable to increase the velocity of the stream (as in
"siamesing," i.e. connecting two or more lines of hose from a fire engine or fire
engines into one) we gradually diminish the area of the receiving pipe to a smaller
area for the purpose of attaching a single line of hose or a directing pipe.
For use with fire engines or hydranta the arrangement may be made in one piece
with a directing jet pipe or may be made separately for the attachment of hose as
required.
In some cases, in order to reduce the length of the apparatus we introduce a
diaphragm or diaphragms parallel to the axis of the combined streams in order to
keep the entering streams separated until they have nearly or quite taken the
direction desired for the combined streams.

page_text: Referring to the drawing annexed, Figs. 1 & 2 show two forms of our improve-
ments, in which A A are two passages conveying the fluid into the receiving
passage B, the diaphragm C being introduced for the purpose of causing the
confluent streams to travel in a parallel direction and gradually blend, thus avoiding
all concussion & consequent disturbance in the resulting stream. Fig. 3 shows one
form of our invention by which 3 streams may be united in a similar manner to
that described above. Fig. 4 shows the application of our invention to a directing
pipe for use with a fire engine or hydrant; in this form an arrangement is provided
for attaching the hose at A. A and the diaphragm C is provided as above described.
The directing pipe is gradually reduced in area for the purpose of accelerating
the velocity of the stream, and terminates with a nozzle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our, said
invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is
1. The use & application of a device as described to unite two or more pipes
used for conveying fluid in such a manner that the resulting stream may not be
disturbed or broken up by influences within itself.
2. The combination of metal plates placed longitudinally as described so that
the various confluent streams may be brought to travel at the same velocity & in
the same direction before they unite.