CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES, MACHINERY, OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, AND FORCING WATER
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITE, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the ninth year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight-hundred and forty-five,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
White, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John White, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such others as
I, the said John White, my exors, adiñors, or 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 and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES, MACHINERY, OR APPARATUS
FOR RAISING, AND FORCING WATER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said John White, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
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 in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John White, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of Certain Improve-
ments in Engines, Machinery, and Apparatus for Raising and Forcing Water,
to consist in a new and improved arrangement and construction of the water
forcing engine, commonly called a fire engine, by which the force required to
impel the water is more equally distributed among the operatives, and other
advantages secured, as will be herein-after explained, and the manner in which
the same are to be performed and carried into effect will be seen by reference
to the annexed Drawings, and the following description thereof. The annexed
Drawings are made to the scale marked thereon, and the same letter or figure
of reference indicate the same part of the apparatus in each Figure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation of one form of fire engine of my
improved arrangement or construction, and Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, represent detached parts of the same engine, which
are herein-after referred to. The fire engine here represented is designed for
factories or large works, and may be moved by hand on the two wheels, as
represented; but when at work it is kept steady by the supports G and G', the
latter of which is adjusted by means of a screw, as seen at Figure 1. In this
arrangement of my fire engine the water to be forced is placed in the tank or
reservoir (or it may be drawn or raised through a section pipe, which I have
not shewn in the Drawing), and is thence forced by a series of separate pumps
marked B, and numbered from Figures 1 to 12 in the plan, into an air vessel
A, and thence through the exit pipe c, and out of the jet P in the ordinary
manner, the pumps B being provided with the ordinary entrance and exit
valves. Each of the force pumps B are provided with a separate lever or
handle D, the vibration of which is indicated by red lines at Figure 1, and S
represents a stage for the fireman, holding the jet to stand on. By this
arrangement of a number of small force pumps B, all acting on one air vessel A,
it will be seen that each pump must do its own work, and, as half the number
of pumps are acting with their full force, while the remainders are passing
the centres, there is little or no check in the flow of the jet of water, even
without an air vessel, which is the only means of equalising the flow in ordi-
nary engines; moreover, one or any greater number of the pumps may be
started before there is force or hands enough arrived to work the whole, while
the whole, or any less number, being in operation, every man must work alike,
or be detected, which is not the case in the ordinary fire engine, besides the
greater pressure gained on each square inch of water by the decreased area of

page_text: each pump, and the great power of its handle or lever. Figure 3 is a
sectional elevation, and Figure 4 is a plan of my improved air vessel for fire
engines. The water is forced into the lower part of the vessel A in the ordi-
nary manner, and the upper part is provided with a spherical dome, pierced full
of holes, over which a covering of vulcanized caoutchouc, or india rubber, is
placed, as seen tinted red. The perforated dome and the caoutchouc are both
bolted down along with the solid dome top, as seen in the Drawing, and the
space between charged with air, compressed to about two atmospheres, or
thirty pounds on the square inch, so that the space between the caoutchouc
and the top of the vessel forms an elastic spring of air, which is further com-
pressed by the water forced into the air vessel by the various pumps. Sup-
posing, therefore, water to be forced into the vessel A, the caoutchouc at the
top of the vessel expands and compresses the air above it, which, by its
elasticity, acts, as in other air vessels, without being liable to mix with the
water and escape at the jet with the crackling noise experienced when forcing
with the ordinary air vessel, which is necessarily constantly diminishing the
utility of such vessels, as represented at A, Figure 1. Figure 6 represents a
sectional elevation of a modification of my improved air vessel, which I place
on the exit pipe or hose, near to the jet P; and Figure 5 is the coupling or
screw.by which it is connected to the pipe. This air vessel consists of an air-
tight copper cylinder, with ends, through the centre of which a perforated copper
tube is passed, and this tube is covered with another of vulcanized caoutchouc, or
india rubber, and made air-tight by the covers; and the space between the out-
side of the caoutchouc and the copper cylinder is also charged with compressed
air, as explained in the air vessel before described, so that the pressure of the
water from the exit pipe expands the caoutchouc, and further compresses the
air in the outward cylinder, without coming in contact with it, and thus act-
ing as a second elastic spring to ease any strain on the hose or pipe, and
equalize the flow of water from the jet P.
Having described one form of engine, machinery, or apparatus for raising
and forcing water, to which my improvements are applied, the application of
such improvements to other engines, machinery, or apparatus, of whatever
shape or form they may be constructed, will be readily understood by persons
conversant with work of this nature. And although I make no claim of
invention to any particular form, or to any separate or well-known parts of
the apparatus before described, yet I do claim as my Invention the adoption
and arrangement of as many small separate pumps as may be found needful
to discharge the same quantity of water that the two or more large ones usually
employed in the common fire engines do. And here I wish it to be distinctly

page_text: understood that, below five pumps in any one fire engine, I make no claim.
But I claim, further, the construction and arrangement of an air vessel or
vessels, in which the air is separted from and prevented. from mixing with the
water, as described. All which being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
new, and never before practised, I deliver this as my true and faithful
Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John White, have hereunto set my hand
: and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-six.
Enrolled the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.