IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND FORCING FLUIDS, AND FOR CLEANING SUCTION STRAINERS BY STEAM
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th March 1870.-A communication from abroad by Alexander
Friedmann, of 47, Praterstrasse, Vienna, in the Empire of Austria.
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 172, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING
AND FORCING FLUIDS, AND FOR CLEANING SUCTION STRAINERS BY STEAM," to be
as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are to cleanse or clear by a jet of steam
the suction strainers of pumps generally, and to make the ejectors or
steam pumps invented by the said Alexander Friedmann (and Patented
as a communication from him by George Tomlinson Bousfield on the
25th day of February 1868, No. 634) more adapted for their application
in steam ships as well as bilge pumps, and to replace the circulation
pumps in use for surface condensers.
The present improvements are as follows:—
1. I do not apply any suction valve to the said ejectors, so that the
discharging pipe after having stopped the pump remains quite empty.
On the contrary, I apply to the discharging pipe a valve or throttle-
valve to be shut by a handle or lever when necessary. When the ejector
.1

page_text: is in action and the said valve or throttle-valve is shut, the steam
rushing out of the steam nozzle cannot further follow its former course,
and is compelled to discharge with all its power through the suction
pipe and through the suction strainer, cleaning the same in this manner
from all cinders, coal dust, and other materials to be found on the
bottom of the ship, and which might obstruct the said strainer. This
same method of cleaning the suction strainer by steam may also be
applied very advantageously to ordinary bilge pumps and other pumps
in steam ships, and for this purpose I provide the suction pipe of each
pump with a valve or cock to be shut from the outside, and I lead into
the said suction pipe below the cock or valve a large steam pipe also
provided with a cock to be opened or shut as required. Now for cleaning
the suction strainer the valve or cock in the suction pipe is shut, and
the cock of the steam pipe is opened, then the steam fills the suction
pipe and is discharged through the holes of the suction strainer which
thus becomes entirely cleaned, after some seconds the valve in the
suction pipe is opened again and the steam then discharging through
the valves of the pump will also clean all its pipes, afterwards the steam
cock is shut and the pump being perfectly cleared will act efficiently.
This same method is also advantageous for all ejectors and pumps intended
to lift very dirty and impure water, such as generally found, for instance,
at foundations.
2nd. I also apply the patented ejectors before referred to as circulation
pumps for surface condensers, and to facilitate their effect I do not
arrange the pipe as is usually done to take the water from the sides of
the ship, the quick moving of the ship being always an impediment to
the entrance and the discharge of the water, but on the contrary I make
the velocity of the ship useful, and for this purpose I lead the water
supply pipe forwards in the direction of the ships motion and the
discharge pipe (if intended to have its discharge below the water
level) in the opposite direction or backwards. The velocity of the ship
will thus be almost sufficient to make the water enter from the fore part
into the condenser with a velocity enough to overcome all the resistances,
friction, and contractions of the same, and to discharge out of the
discharge valve at the after part of the ship. The ejector which is
fitted behind the condenser in the after part of the ship is therefore only
intended to complete, that is to accelerate, the motion of the water
through the pipes, and the condenser which is already almost produced
by the forward motion of the ship. Behind the ejector I apply a valve

page_text: or throttle like that before mentioned, to be shut when required, and
to get the steam returned through the ejector for cleaning the strainer
of the water supply pipe.
3rd. I apply the velocity of the ship for the continuous automatic
evacuation of the water in the hold of the ship in the following manner.
I fit at the bottom of the ship a sufficiently large pipe with its opening
at the fore part of the ship, so that the forward motion of the ship
causes the water to enter the pipe with a relative velocity equal to that
of the ship. At the after end of the pipe I fit a conical discharging
nozzle having the same object as the steam nozzle of the said patented
ejectors; this nozzle with another nozzle, which is a little larger
and is conical in the opposite way to the first one, and opens into a
sufficiently large pipe which discharges at the after part of the ship.
As the ship progresses the water will enter at the fore part and stream
with great velocity through the first-mentioned nozzle, aspiring the
dead water in the bottom of the ship, and together with the same it will
enter into the receiving nozzle to be discharged at the after part of the
ship. The product resulting from the multiplication of the velocity of
the ship by the size or section of the water supply pipe and by a practical
coefficient corresponding to the friction and to the contractions of the
water represents the quantity of water thrown out of the hold by this
arrangement. Instead of a simple receiving nozzle several nozzles may
be applied, corresponding to the intermediate pipes of the said patented
ejectors, with this difference, that each intermediate nozzle can be supplied
with a special valve to aspire the water from the hold, so that according
to the quicker or slower motion of the ship the aspiration of the water
is effected either by all or by only a part of the intermediate pipes.
This arrangement not requiring steam power may also be applied very
advantageously to sailing vessels. Also in some cases and specially
for vessels which move slowly I can employ the velocity of the ship by
the before mentioned combination of pipes, to establish a certain
velocity of water in these pipes and adapt the principle of Montgolfier's
hydraulic ram or of a turbine to aspire and to throw the water out of
the hold of the ship.