A NEW APPARATUS FOR RAISING OR FORCING WATER APPLICABLE TO SHIPS, MINES, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Sinefi Dracopulo, of Cardiff, in the
County of Glamorgan, for the Invention of "A NEW APPARATUS FOR
RAISING OR FORCING WATER APPLICABLE TO SHIPS, MINES, AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 23rd February 1869, and dated the 24th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Sinefi Dracopulo
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th August 1868.
I, GEORGE SINEFI DRACOPULO, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW APPARATUS
FOR RAISING OR FORCING WATER APPLICABLE TO SHIPS, MINES, AND OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of apparatus to be used.
as a substitute for pumps for the purpose of raising or forcing water from
ships, mines, or other places whereby suction valves, cylinders, and
pistons, and other moveable parts are dispensed with, thus rendering it
impossible for the apparatus to get out of order or to be choked with

page_text: foreign substances, as is the case with ordinary pumps, especially on
board ship.
I propose to operate the apparatus by the force or agency of compressed
air derived from a force pump of any suitable construction, such air
pump being placed and fixed on the deck or cabin of a ship, or at the
surface of a mine, or in other elevated position according to the purpose
to which the apparatus is to be applied; or the air: may be compressed
in a receiver by the pump and stored up ready for use.
The apparatus consists of a metal tube closed at the top, and of any length
and diameter required, at the bottom of which a reservoir is attached
having a perforated base or a funnel-shaped perforated base, through which
the water enters into the receptacle when it is immersed in water at the
bottom of a ship's hold or elsewhere. Above this inlet of water a tube
is brought from an air pump or other machine for compressing air to a
jacket or casing surrounding the receptacle, by which means the water
is suddenly forced or expelled up the tube to the deck or other elevated
position and escapes by an exit pipe, whence it is conveyed away:
Another supply of water then rushes into the receptacle or reservoir,
and is in turn raised up the tube and carried off by the impetus or rush
of air. It follows therefore that no foreign substances can enter the
reservoir and tube, and the air pump or compressing apparatus being
secure on deck or in the cabin of a vessel or other elevated position may
be easily worked, and the water exhausted from a vessel or elsewhere
with rapidity and certainty. The top of the tube is provided with an
enlarged head above the outlet pipe, and the resistance of the air con-
tained therein tends to force the water with great power through the
exit pipe.
By the ordinary method of raising water by suction pumps it is only
possible to raise water from a depth of about thirty feet, but by this
apparatus it only depends upon the pressure of the air to determine the
height to which the water can be elevated. The tube may be cylindrical
throughout, or it may be partly in the form of an inverted cone and partly
cylindrical, or there may be a globular or oval base and then a cylindrical
combination.
The apparatus is also well adapted to fire engines where it is desired
to force water to a great elevation. In such instances the tube or pipe
should be about 6 inches in diameter; the enlarged top or cap should be

page_text: connected with the tube by an opening of about two inches in diameter,
and the outlet pipe should be of a similar size.
In raising water from mines a succession or series of apparatus would
be required, one above the other, communicating with separated reservoirs
into which the water is elevated, and whence it is again raised by a
separate apparatus, and so on successively until the surface of the mine
is reached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Sinefi Dracopulo in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SINEFI DRACOPULO, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, Her special licence
that I, the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, 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 "A NEW
APPARATUS FOR RAISING OR FORCING WATER APPLICABLE TO SHIPS, MINES,
AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, 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 a novel construction of apparatus to be used
as a substitute for pumps for the purpose of raising or forcing water from
ships, mines, or other places whereby suction valves, cylinders, and
pistons, and other moveable parts are dispensed with, thus rendering it
impossible for the apparatus to get out of order or to be choked with
foreign substances, as is the case with ordinary pumps, especially on
board ship.
I propose to operate the apparatus by the force or agency of compressed
air derived from a force pump of any suitable construction, such air
pump being placed and fixed on the deck or cabin of a ship, or at the
surface of a mine, or in any other elevated position according to the
purpose to which the apparatus is to be applied, or the air may be
compressed in a receiver by the pump and stored up ready for use.
The apparatus consists of a metal tube closed at the top, and of any
length and diameter required, at the bottom of which a reservoir is
attached having a perforated base, through which the water enters into
the receptacle when it is immersed in water at the bottom of a ship's
hold or elsewhere. Above this inlet of water a tube is brought from an
air pump or other machine for compressing air to a jacket or casing
surrounding the receptacle, by which means the water is suddenly forced
or expelled up the tube to the deck and escapes by an exit pipe, whence
it is conveyed away. Another supply of water then rushes into the
receptacle or reservoir, and is in turn raised up the tube and carried off
by the impetus or rush of air; it follows, therefore, that no foreign
substances can enter the reservoir and tube, and the air pump or com-
pressing apparatus being secure on deck or in the cabin of a vessel or
other elevated situation may be easily worked, and the water exhausted
from a vessel or elsewhere with rapidity and certainty. The top of the
tube is provided with an enlarged head above the outlet pipe, and the
resistance of the air contained therein tends to force the water with great
power through the exit pipe.
By the ordinary method of raising water by suction pumps it is only
possible to raise water from a depth of about thirty feet, but by this

page_text: apparatus it only depends upon the pressure of the air to determine the
height to which the water can be elevated.
The apparatus is also well adapted to fire engines, where it is desired
to force water to a great elevation. In such instances the tube or pipe
should be about six inches in diameter; the enlarged top or cap should
be connected with the tube by an opening of about two inches in
diameter, and the outlet pipe should be of a similar size.
In raising water from mincs a succession or series of apparatus would
be required, one above the other, communicating with separate reservoirs
into which the water is elevated, and whence it is again raised by a
separate apparatus, and so on successively until the surface of the mine
is reached.
The annexed Drawings represent in vertical section three forms of
apparatus adapted for raising water from ships or for other usc, but of
course the configuration may be altered according to circumstances. The
scale is 3 inches to the foot, and similar letters denote corresponding
parts in each Figure.
a, a, is the tube or pipe leading from the receptacle 6 to any height
required, such as to the deck of a ship or vessel, or to the surface of a
mine, by means of a series of apparatus; c is the enlarged head or ter-
mination of the tube for containing air above the exit pipe d; c is the
jacket surrounding the receptacle b, and f, f, are perforations or apertures
through which the water flows to the bottom of the receptacle, and g, g,
are perforations in the receptacle communicating with the jacket, into
which the air is forced by the pump or compressing apparatus by means
of the pipe h. It will thus be evident that each successive supply of
compressed air will throw a quantity of water forcibly up the main
tube a, and cause it to be delivered by the exit pipe d.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, I would remark in
conclusion that I do not limit myself to the precise details or shape of
the apparatus as described and shewn, nor to any particular dimensions
of the same, as they may of course be varied or modified without
departing in any way from the principles on which the Invention is
based, for example, the shape of the tube a may be varied as experience
may suggest; but what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the
herein in part recited Letters Patent are, the general arrangement and
construction of parts constituting a new apparatus for the purpose of

page_text: raising or forcing water from ships, mines, or otherwise by the power of
compressed air, substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Sinefi Dracopulo, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
THOMAS DAVIES,
Ship Broker.
G. S. DRACOPULO. (L.S.)