Year: 1886

page_text: I, WILLIAM ANDERSON of 3 Whitehall Place in the City of Westminster
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my improved ram I employ cork packed in a suitable container to store up
the energy of the stream which by the action of the ram is suddenly arrested and
to impart it to the column of water to be raised. The cork in its container takes
the place of air in an air vessel as heretofore employed.
This improvement enables me to dispense with the small air admission valve
known as the "snifting" valve; a part which often gives trouble in ratus of the
ordinary construction.
The general appearance of the cork spring ram and its arrangement and mode of
working resembles that of the ordinary hydraulic ram.
The inlet pipe is laid in the usual way from the supply reservoir into the body
of the ram.
This body terminates in a vertical bend ending in a chamber closed
by means of a cover in which is fitted the outer valve opening inwards.
The shape of the chamber in which this valve is contained is such that the area
round the outside edge of the valve is one half that through it for any length
of stroke.
At the origin of the vertical bend is a branch fitted with the inner valve
opening outwards. This delivery valve may be of any ordinary form but I prefer
a ring valve which gives a large area of opening with a moderate lift. The valve
is secured into its seat by means of a guard and a set screw fitted into the cover of
the valve box.
From above the inner valve issues a lateral branch which communicates with a
vessel which is packed full of cork the interspaces being filled with the water the
ram is intended to raise. To prevent the cork from getting out of the vessel
I introduce a fine grating in the branch leading into the vessel. Above the inner
valve I also make provision for putting a pad of cork which under certain con-
ditions I find advantageous to soften the blow on the body and inlet pipe of the
ram. A branch pipe leads from the chamber above the valve and is connected to
the rising main.
The advantages I claim for the use of cork are, that it avoids all trouble
connected with keeping up a proper supply of air in the vessel without which a
ram will not work, that it enables the sniff valve to be suppressed, that the ram

page_text: will work submerged when using any kind of water and that it will work with
greater certainty under extreme circumstances.
For the purpose of raising clean water by means of a supply of dirty water,
I use the following modification-Instead of the water from the body of the ram
being forced direct through the valve it acts upon a piston packed with double
leathers working water tight in a cylinder-The piston is pressed on by a spring-
The chamber above the cylinder is fitted with two valves opening in the same
direction From under the lower valve is a communication by means of a suction
pipe with the reservoir of clean water which is to be raised while the upper valve
opens into the passage which communicates through a fine grating with the cork
vessel and by a branch with the rising main.
The ram works in the following manner-The shock of the water in the body of
the ram and the recoil cause the piston to work up and down making a very
short quick stroke-The piston then acts as a common force pump causing the
water to rise through the valves.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant,
I WILLIAM ANDERSON of 3 Whitehall Place in the City of Westminster
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
In my improved ram I employ cork packed in a suitable container to store up
the energy of the stream developed by the action of the ram and to impart it
steadily to the column of water to be raised. The cork in its container takes the
place of air in an air vessel as heretofore employed.
This improvement enables me to dispense with the small air admission valve
known as the "snifting" valve; a part which often gives trouble in rams of the
ordinary construction.
The general appearance of the cork spring ram and its arrangement and mode of
working resembles that of the ordinary hydraulic ram.
The inlet pipe is laid in the usual way from the supply reservoir into the body
of the ram.
This body terminates in a vertical bend ending in a chamber closed
by means of a cover in which is fitted the outer valve opening inwards.

page_text: conveniently be given to it. I is a piece resting on the valve seat which it holds
down to its place by a pressure screw J passing through the cover K-L is a
passage connecting the chamber L' containing the valve G with the vessel M which
is filled with fragments of cork. The vessel M is secured at the end of the
channel L with a liquid tight joint at N. O is a piece of cork contained in the
valve chamber and P is a rising pipe connecting the apparatus with the cistern
which it is intended to supply-thus in this water ram the concussion from the
sudden closing of the valve E is softened by the elasticity of the cork at M and
at O, and not by the elasticity of air contained in an air vessel as heretofore. This
water ram has no snifting valve, the substitution of cork for air in the receiving
vessel rendering this unnecessary, and this ram is not liable to become inefficient
from the snifting valve becoming choked which is a common cause of failure with
water rams of the ordinary construction.
In the ram shown by Figure 4 and the figures following the parts A B C D
and E are substantially as already described, but the valve G in the branch F is
replaced by a piston T working within a cylindrical lining U and the piston T is
pressed constantly downwards towards the position which it occupies in Figure 4 by
the coiled spring V-on the closing of the valve E by the stream which works the
water ram (and which in this case is supposed to consist of water which is more or
less impure) the piston T is forced upwards, thereby compressing the spring V and
when the stream of water comes to rest and recoils the spring V again returns the
piston to the position in which it is represented in the figure-the chamber above
the piston T in which the spring V is contained communicates with another
chamber W in which two valves X and Y are contained, and the passage
connecting the two chambers enters between the valves X and Y-Z is a pipe
which supplies the pure water which the water ram is required to raise into an
elevated cistern. When the piston T moves upwards, as already described, the
chamber above it and the valve chamber W being full of pure water, a portion of
this is expelled past the valve Y and thence by the pipe P to the cistern-the
shock in this case, as before, which results from the sudden closing of the valve E
is absorbed by the elasticity of the cork in the vessel M which is immediately above
the valve Y and in direct connection with the pipe P as the drawing indicates.
When the piston T again descends in consequence of the pressure of the spring V
upon it, the valve Y closes and the valve X rises from its seat and admits pure
water from the pipe Z into the chamber W between the valves X and Y.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. Water rams substantially as described and shown by the annexed drawings.
2. Water rams in which the shock resulting from the closing of the main valve
is imparted to fragments of cork and is so softened and absorbed and which
operate without the aid of air enclosed in an air vessel and which do not require a
snifting valve.