IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' AND OTHER LIFT PUMPS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hays Wilson, of the Firm of John Hays
Wilson and Company, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Brass
Founders and Ships' Ironmongers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' AND OTHER LIFT PUMPS."
Sealed the 23rd May 1864, and dated the 25th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hays Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
November 1868.
I, JOHN HAYS WILSON, of the Firm of John Hays Wilson and Company,
of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Brass Founders and Ships' Iron-
mongers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' AND OTHER LIFT PUMPS," to be as follows, (that is to
say) :-
This Invention has for its object certain improvements applicable to ships'
and other lift pumps, and which improvements are peculiarly applicable to
pumps constructed according to the Invention of the applicant and for which
he obtained Her most Gracious Majesty's Letters Patent bearing date 19th
of September 1861, and numbered 2842.

page_text: To construct a pump according to this Invention two parallel vertical
cylinders are used with a lower chamber, by preference cast in one piece,
and which are attached to the head of the suction pipe by flanges and bolts
in the usual way. One of these vertical cylinders constitutes the working
barrel in which the spear box works. The other cylinder is fitted with an
air-tight cover resting on a seat, by preference formed near the bottom of
the cylinder. The chamber immediately below the parallel cylinders, and
into which the lower ends of both cylinders open, is fitted with an horizontal
valve seating, carrying one large clack or other valve, or two clacks, or other
suitable valves, so arranged as to be below the centre of the cylinders. The
working barrel is fitted with an horizontal grating placed at the bottom of the
working barrel above the lower valve, or this grating may form the valve seat,
in which case, a vertical grating is used to divide the space between the two
cylinders and the lower valves, so as to prevent chips or other foreign matter
interfering with the action of the pump bucket, which chips or other foreign
matter can be readily removed by taking off the cover of the opposite cylinder.
The object of this arrangement, amongst others, is a ready means of obtaining
access to the lower valves without drawing the spear, which is done by taking off
the air-tight cover and putting down the hand and arm and removing the vertical
grating (when such is used) detaching the valves and drawing them up through
the non-working cylinder. When a double clack valve is used it is preferred
to form the clacks of one piece of leather or other suitable material, with one,
two, or more holes perforated therethrough, across the portion which would
form the centre joint or hinge, the valve seat being cast or otherwise fitted with
hollow vertical studs which take into the holes formed through the double clack.
The lower edge of the frame of the vertical grating is formed with short stud
pieces which take into the holes formed in the studs for holding the double clack
leather in position, and the upper edge is formed with a small lug for attaching
it to the vertical side of the non-working barrel. This vertical grating acts as
a stay to prevent the clacks rising out of their position, and through which the
water from the valve immediately below the non-working cylinder may be drawn
into the working barrel trapping chips or other foreign matter, as the lower
valve, immediately below the non-working barrel, it is preferred not to fit with
a grating according to this arrangement. Or, if preferred, the valve seat of the
non-working barrel may be formed with a semicircular vertical grating on one
side which will extend across the opening between the top of the lower
valves and the vertical division between the two cylinders, in which arrange
ment the grating and valve are kept in position by the pressure of the
air-tight cover resting on the top of the semicircular grating. The discharge

page_text: nozzle of the pump may be so arranged as to open into both cylinders, for the
purpose of allowing a body of water to lay on the top of the air-tight cover, as
well as enlarging the area to receive the water on the upstroke of the pump so
as to allow time for discharging. The pump bucket to be used in this improved
arrangement of pump may consist of any of the ordinary spear valves, but it is
preferred to use a pump bucket constructed according to the description given
in the Specification of the herein-before referred to Letters Patent; and it is
also proposed to fit these pumps with the improved air valve for admitting air
below the lower valves, to enable them to be more readily removed in the
same way as described in the Specification of Letters Patent herein-before
alluded to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hays Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HAYS WILSON, of the Firm of John Hays Wilson and Company, of Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, Brass Founders and Ships' Ironmongers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Hays Wilson, Her special licence that I, the
said John Hays Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Hays Wilson, 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 APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' AND OTHER LIFT PUMPS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Hays Wilson, 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, aud cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hays Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
This my said Invention has for its object certain improvements applicable
to ships' and other lift pumps, and which improvements are peculiarly appli-
cable to pumps constructed according to the Invention of the applicant, and
for which he obtained Her most Gracious Majesty's Letters Patent, bearing
date the Nineteenth day of September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
one, and numbered Two thousand three hundred and forty-two (2342).
To construct a pump according to this my present Invention, I use two
parallel vertical cylinders, with a lower chamber, which I prefer to cast in
one piece, and attach the head of the suction pipe by flanges and bolts in the
usual way. One of these vertical cylinders constitutes the working barrel in
which the spear box works. The other cylinder I fit with an air-tight cover,
resting on a seat by preference formed near the bottom of the cylinder. The
chamber immediately below the parallel cylinders, and into which the lower
ends of both cylinders open, I fit with an horizontal valve seating, carrying
one large clack or other valve, or two clacks or other suitable valves, so
arranged as to be below the centre of the cylinders. And I prefer in some
cases to construct the said valve seat (or seats when two or more are used), so
as to form an annular collar, or short hanging pipe, which extends a convenient
distance downwards into the chamber below, to form an air space between the
lower edge of the hanging pipe, or collar, and the top of the chamber. The
working barrel I fit with an horizontal grating placed at the bottom of the
working barrel above the lower valve; or this grating may form the valve
seat, in which case I use a vertical grating, to divide the space between the
two eylinders and the lower valves, so as to prevent chips or other foreign
matter interfering with the action of the pump bucket, which chips or other
foreign matter can be readily removed by taking off the cover of the opposite
cylinder. The object of this arrangement, amongst others, is a ready means
of obtaining access to the lower valves without drawing the spear, which is
done by taking off the air-tight cover, and putting down the hand and arm
and removing the vertical grating (when such is used), detaching the valves,
and drawing them up through the non-working cylinder. When I use a
double clack valve, I prefer to form the clacks of one piece of leather or other
suitable material, with one, two, or more holes perforated therethrough across

page_text: the portion which would form the centre joint or hinge, the valve seat being
cast or otherwise fitted with hollow vertical studs, which take into the holes
formed through the double clack; in which case I form the lower edge of the
frame of the vertical grating with short stud pieces, which take into the holes
formed in the studs for holding the double clack leather in position, and the
upper edge I form with a small lug for attaching it to the vertical side of the
non-working barrel. This vertical grating acts as a stay to prevent the clacks
rising out of their position, and through which the water from the valve
immediately below the non-working cylinder may be drawn into the working
barrel, trapping chips or other foreign matter; as the lower valve, immediately
below the non-working barrel, I prefer not to fit with a grating according to
this arrangement. Or, if preferred, the valve seat of the non-working barrel
may be formed with a semicircular vertical grating on one side, which will
extend across the opening between the top of the lower valves and the vertical
division between the two cylinders, in which arrangement the grating and
valve are kept in position by the pressure of the air-tight cover resting on the
top of the semicircular grating. The discharge nozzle of the pump may be
so arranged as to open into both cylinders, for the purpose of allowing a body
of water to lay on the top of the air-tight cover, as well as enlarging the area
to receive the water on the up-stroke of the pump, so as to allow time for
discharging. The pump bucket to be used in this improved arrangement of
pump, may consist of any of the ordinary spear valves, but I prefer to use a
pump bucket constructed according to the description given in the Specifica-
tion of the herein-before referred to Letters Patent, No. 2342, and dated
Nineteenth September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. I also
propose to fit these pumps with the improved air valve for admitting
air below the lower valve to enable them to be more readily removed, in
the same way as described in the Specification of Letters Patent herein-
before alluded to.
That this my said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood,
I have hereunto annexed Drawings, shewing sections of several modifications
of my improved lift pump. Like letters marked on the Drawings are used
to denote similar parts throughout the several Figures. The spear boxes are
omitted in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 to prevent confusion in the Figures.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of one of my improved pumps, fitted with a
grating at the bottom of the working valve, and the single clack valve imme-
diately beneath it, the seat of which forms a short pipe extending into the
chamber below the parallel cylinders, and Figure 2 is a section of a similar

page_text: pump, having a large clack valve on the top of the chamber on the head of
the suction pipe.
Figure 3 is another modification of my improved pump, fitted with two
lower clack valves, the one immediately below the spear box being fitted with
a grating, to prevent chips or other foreign matter passing into the working
barrel therethrough, and the port between the two parallel barrels being
covered by a circular grating, which springs from the seat of the non-
working valve, and partially forms the rest upon which the air-tight cover
(C) sits.
Figure 4 is another modification of my improved pump, fitted with two
lower valves and with a grating in the bottom of the working barrel.
Figure 5 sbows another arrangement of my improved pump, fitted with a
double clack of leather, or other suitable material, the port opening at the
bottom of the working barrel being protected by a grating, as well as the port
opening between the two barrels. Figure 6 is an horizontal section taken
from A to B, Figure 5. Figure 7 is a plan or top view of the double clack
valve cover seen in Figure 5. Figure 8 is a view of the grating over the
port between the two barrels in the modification seen at Figure 5.
A, working barrel of the pump; B, a second barrel, running parallel to the
working barrel; C, a loose air-tight cover, resting on a ledge near the bottom
of the barrel B; D (Figures 1, 2 and 4), are horizontal grating in the bottom
of the working barrel, to prevent chips or other foreign matter obtaining
access to the spear barrel; E (Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4) are clack valves;
F (Figures 3 and 5 are gratings on the valve openings; G (Figures 1, 3, 4
and 5) show allongated valve seat extending down into H, a chamber fitted
on the head of the suction pipe, upon which the working and non-working
barrel are constructed, and which it is preferred to cast in one piece there-
with; K (Figure 3) a semicircular grating for dividing the non-working and
working barrel, to prevent chips or other foreign matter obtaining access to the
working barrel; L (Figures 5 and 8) is a vertical grating fitted in the port
between the working and non-working barrel, to prevent the admission of
chips or other foreign matter to the working barrel, and for keeping in position
the double valve cover, a plan of which is seen at Figure 7; M, the spear rod
and pump bucket, the rod shown broken off.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and in what manner I believe the same may be best carried into
practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
precise details, relative dimensions, or proportions, berein-before described and

page_text: set forth, as it will be readily seen that the same may be considerably varied
without departing from the Invention, but what I do claim is the peculiar
arrangement and general combination of the various parts substantially in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hays Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my seal, the Twenty-third day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN HAYS (Ls.) WILSON.