IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE OR FIXED PUMPS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Cowan, of the Kent Iron Works,
Greenwich, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE OR FIXED PUMPS."
Sealed the 6th March 1868, and.dated the 18th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William Cowan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th September 1862.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM COWAN, of the Kent Iron Works, Greenwich, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE OR FIXED PUMPS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved method in the construction of force
and other pumps by means of the introduction of four pistons or valves with
a double-barrelled pump. The apparatus consists of two barrels parallel to
each other, each having a double action within itself. On the piston or valve
rod in one barrel the valve acts so as to draw the water or other liquid in,
the suckers being placed on the upper side of one piston, and at the lower
side of the other piston; these suckers are composed of leather or other
flexible material; the suckers in the other barrel are placed on the inner side
of each piston so as to force outwards, there being an orifice in each barrel
about the centre so that the former draws in or the latter forces out, the

page_text: object being to put an equal strain on the two valve rods, and on the latter
rod is fixed an air vessel. They may be used as fire or garden engines, feed
or other pumps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas William Cowan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WILLIAM COWAN, of the Kent Iron Works, Greenwich, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas William Cowan, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
William Cowan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas William Cowan, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE OR FIXED PUMPS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas William Cowan,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas William Cowan, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention relates to an improved method of constructing force and
other pumps by means of the introduction of four pistons or valves with a
double-barrelled pump. The apparatus consists of two barrels parallel to
each other, each having a double action within itself. On the piston or valve

page_text: and 6, which at the same time draw in the water, the valves cand c* closing
by the water pressing them against the faces of the pistons. It will be seen
that by this arrangement two valves are forcing the water out, and the other
two drawing it in, and thus a constant stream of water will be obtained,
whilst the quantity delivered from a given sized bore will be increased, and at
the same time the strain on the pump rods will be equalized.
Having now described my Invention and the manner in which the same
is carried into practice, I wish it understood that what I claim and desire
secured to me by the before in part recited Letters Patent is, the con-
struction, general arrangement, and use of a pump formed and acting after
the manner as shewn and described in this Specification, and more fully illus.
trated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas William Cowan, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS WILLIAM COWAN. (L.B.)