AN IMPROVED VALVE FOR MACHINES FOR RAISING WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, NICHOLAS
HARVEY, of Hayle, in the County of Cornwall, and WILLIAM WEST, of Saint
Blazeys, in the same county, Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twelfth day of June, in the Second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Nicholas Harvey and
William West, Her especial licence that we, the said Nicholas Harvey and
William West, our exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Nicholas Harvey and William West, our exŏrs, adñiors, and 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 within all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, our Invention of "AN IMPROVED VALVE FOR MACHINES FOR RAISING
WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging us, the said Nicholas Harvey and William West, by an instru-
ment in writing under our respective hands and seals, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two months next and immediately after the date
of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that our improved valves resembles in appearance a
valve known by the name of the "double-beat valve," used in certain steam
engines. Our improvement consists in making the same self-acting, so that it
can work without the aid of machinery for opening and shutting it, and thereby
is applicable to machines.for.raising water.and other liquids....In our improved
valves the area of the upper part of the seat on which the top of the valve beats
is made less than the area of the lower part of the seat on which the bottom of
the valve beats, the valve being of course made to correspond, and the difference
in area between the two must be such that when the valve is used in the place
of the lower valve in a pump through which the water passes into the pump
barrel, the pressure of the atmosphere upon the under side of the valve
(brought into action by creating a partial vacuum upon the upper side of the
valve, when motion is given to the piston bucket or plunger pole of the pump,)
shall be sufficient to overcome the weight of the valve, and cause it to rise, and
when the valve is used in the place of the upper valve through which the
water is forced out of the pump barrel, or when used in lieu of the valves upon
the pump bucket, the difference in area must be such that the pressure upon
the under side of the valve (caused by the motion of the piston bucket or
plunger pole forcing the liquid through it) shall be sufficient to overcome the
weight of the valve, and cause it to rise. The opening in the top will be less
than the opening in the bottom of the valve; and the surface of the ring upon
the top of the valve, which will be equal to the difference between the areas of
the two openings, must be made proportionate to the weight of the valve itself:
The action will be more fully understood by reference to the Drawings and
explanations thereof herein-after given.
The advantages to be obtained by the use of our improved valve are,
First, that as the area of the valve exposed to the pressure of the column of
water or action of the piston upon its return stroke is considerably less than in
the ordinary circular hanging or butterfly valves, the blow, and consequent
vibration, caused by the shutting of the valves, is considerably diminished, and
less costly foundations are therefore required.
Second, the loss of water upon the shutting down of the valve is considerably
ḍiminished. Our improved valve may be used for the upper and lower valves
of all varieties of pumps.
.
In order to explain more clearly the construction and action of our improved
valve, we will now refer to and describe the Drawings representing plans,
elevations, and sections of it. The same letters of reference are marked upon
all the Figures.

page_text: The
Figure 1 is an elevation of the valve and its seat, the valve being shut;
Figure 2, a top view thereof, the valve being open or shut; Fig. 3, a vertical
section through the valve and seat, the valve being shut; Figure 4, a vertical
section through the valve and seat, the valve being open; Figure 5, an eleva-
tion.;. Figure 6, a plan; and Figure 7, a vertical section of the valve detached
from its seat.; Figure. 8, an elevation; Figure 9, a plan, and Figure 10, a
vertical section, of the seat; and Figure 11, a horizontal section of the ribs
through the line a, b, in Figure 10, and plan of the bottom or lower beat.
c, c, c, c, the seat made of cast iron or other metal, upon which the valve d, d,
works. The valve may be made of cast or wrought iron, gun metal, brass,
copper, or other metal, according to the size, the quality of the water, or other
circumstances. The rings e, e, e, e, are faced, that is, are turned true, and when
shut fit.accurately to the beats f,f,f, f, upon the seat c, c, c, c. ff, is the
lower beat, and f, f, is the upper
beat. In Figure 7, e, e, is the top
opening of the valve, and e, e, is the bottom opening of the valve.
beats. may- either be formed by a raised ridge cast or wrought upon the
seat, and faced or turned true, or by introducing into circular grooves cast in
the seat a ring of wooden wedges or of soft metal; the top surface in either
case to be faced or turned true to receive the valve: we prefer wood or soft
metal. .9, 9, represents a circular groove cast or wrought on the under side of
the seat, into which leather is introduced, so as to prevent leakage when the
seat is bolted down in its place; h, h, is a cylinder, cast upon the seat, and
turned true, so as to form a guide for the valve to work upon, and to keep it
in its right place; i, i, is a metallic feather attached to the cylinder, and pro-
jecting into a groove formed in the valve, to prevent any circular motion in the
valve; and k, k, is a cap bolted upon the cylinder, to prevent the valve rising
beyond a given height, or being displaced The dotted lines 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
Figure 4, represent the direction which the water takes when the valve is
opened; m, m, represents the surface of the valve that is exposed to the
pressure of the atmosphere or force created by the motion of the piston, and
which, when proportioned as herein-before described, by making the difference
in area between the space enclosed by the rings circumscribing the top and
bottom openings of the valve sufficiently great to allow the force applied to
overcome the weight of the valve, will cause it to rise.
Having now described our improved valve, and in doing so having also
described certain contrivances and constructions which we do not claim as our
improvements, but the description of which was necessary to elucidate our
improvement, we hereby declare that we claim as our improvement that part
of the contrivance only which makes the valve self-acting, by making the area

page_text: of the top opening of the valve less than the bottom, and making the seat to
correspond thereto, which areas must be varied according to the size and
weight of the valve, and must be proportioned thereto.
In witness whereof; we, the said Nicholas Harvey and William West,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventh day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.