IMPROVE- MENTS IN PUMPING ENGINES AND IN PUMPS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PUMPING ENGINES AND IN PUMPS."-A communication.
Sealed the 29th May 1857, and dated the 2nd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd December 1856.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of.
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUMPING ENGINES AND IN PUMPS," communicated to me
by a foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in pumping engines, and consists
principally in a peculiar arrangement and construction of pumps (including air
pumps), together with the manner of coupling the same to the engine, and the
method of operating the valves. The object is to obtain a perfect balancing of
the engines without the aid of counterweights, and to employ the double-acting
engine, whereby a higher duty, or in other words, a more economical working
is attained. By this arrangement, although but one pump is used it is made
double-acting, that is to say, to throw water both by the up and down strokes of
the piston of the engine. This is accomplished by making the foot valve operate,
as well as the bucket proper, being an arrangement known as the double-
bucket pump. Each end of the working beam operates a bucket, so that while

page_text: one bucket is ascending the other is descending through the column of water.
For this purpose the pump chamber is divided into two parts, one part being
on one side of the beam centre and the other on the opposite. These two
sections are connected by a cross pipe, one end of which branches off from the
top of that section which terminates in the well, and joins at the bottom of the
other portion, which is the delivery section. There is a bucket in each section,
for which a piston passes up through stuffing boxes in the head placed over
the top of each section, and are connected to the opposite ends of the working
beam by proper links. Hence, as the beam in working vibrates upon its
centre, the bucket in cach of the sections will be moving in opposite
directions; thus, as the bucket attached to the free end of the beam ascends
it will be lifting water, while that attached to the cylinder end of the beam
will be descending against the column of water which will then be passing
up through its open valves; on change of stroke the latter bucket will ascend
lifting the water, while the opposite bucket will descend against the column of
water in like manner, the discharge being through that bucket. Both the
upward and downward strokes of the steam piston will cause water to be
lifted and discharged.
The air pumps are constructed on the same principle, pumping from the
condenser by both strokes, and as the rods of those are on opposite sides of the
beam centre the balancing is fully carried out.
The valves are operated in a peculiar manner, viz., the combined action of a
small independent engine and of the working beam. A small steam cylinder
is placed near the centre of the beam underneath the frame; over the cylinder
is a shaft with three cranks, one of which, viz., that to which the steam piston
is connected, stands at right angles to the other. From the next crank a con-
necting rod extends to the beam above, the lower end of this having a slotted
eye, where it takes hold of the crank pin. The third crank, parallel with the
latter, is connected to and operates the rock shaft for lifting the valves of the
main cylinder. When the working beam is on a level or at the centre of its
stroke, the piston of the little engine will be at full stroke, and just ready to
take steam on the opposite side. The rod connected to the working beam now
drives on and pushes the shaft round, so that the crank of the small cylinder
passes the centre; the moment 'this takes place the piston will fly up (or down
as may be) the length of the slot in the connecting rod attached to the beam,
when it will be arrested and move on for the rest of the stroke with no greater
speed than that of the beam, the various parts being so timed as to lift and.
close the valves on the great cylinder proper for the working of the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, tho said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 PUMPING ENGINES AND IN PUMPS," (communicated to me
by a foreigner residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Richard Archibald Broomau, 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 sanie 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists principally in a peculiar arrangement and construction
of pumps, including air pumps, together with the manner of coupling the
same to the engine, and the method of operating the valves. The object is to
obtain a perfect balancing of the engines without the aid of counterweights,
and to employ the double-acting engine, whereby a higher duty, or in other
words, a more economical working is attained. By this arrangement, altho'
but one pump is us d it is made double-acting, that is to say, to throw water
both by the up and the down strokes of the piston of the engine. This is
accomplished by making the foot valve operate as well as the bucket proper,

page_text: being an arrangement known as the double-bucket pump. Each end of the
working beam operates a bucket, so that while one bucket is ascending the
other is descending through the column of water. For this purpose the pump
chamber is divided into two parts, one part being on one side of the beam
centre and the other on the opposite. These two sections are connected by a
cross pipe, one end of which branches off from the top of that section which
terminates in the well, and joins at the bottom of the other portion, which is the
delivery section. There is a bucket in each section, from which a piston passes
up through stuffing boxes in the heads placed over the top of each section, and
are connected to the opposite ends of the working beam by proper links.
Hence, as the beam in working vibrates upon its centre, the bucket in each of
the sections will be moving, but in opposite directions; thus, as the bucket
attached to the free end of the beam ascends it will be lifting water, while that
attached to the cylinder end of the beam will be descending against the column
of water which will then be passing up through its open valve; on change of
stroke the latter bucket will ascend lifting the water, while the opposito bucket
will descend against the column of water in like manner, the discharge being
through that bucket. Both the upward and downward strokes of the steam
piston will cause water to be lifted and discharged. The air pumps are con-
structed on the same principle, pumping from the condenser by both strokes,
and as the rods of those are on opposite sides of the beam centre the balancing
is fully carried out.
In Figure I. the arrangement of the engine and pumps is represented in a
side elevation, the principal pump being in section. The two divisions of this,
with the cross pipe con-
as before named, are shewn respectively at a and b,
ecting them at c. In each of the sections a and b there is a pump bucket d
ind e. The bucket d is connected to the cylinder end of the working beam by
a prolongation of the piston rod of the cylinder through its bottom and into
the pump, as shewn. The other bucket e is attached to the other end of the
beam by a piston rod, with an intermediate link f, to afford the necessary play
for the arc formed by the vibration of the beam. At g is the condenser
receiving the exhaust steam in the usual manner. The air pump is divided
also into two sections h and i, each section having a bucket, but there is no
oot valve, one valve or bucket acting as a foot valve to the other. The section
sets in the channel way that connects with the condenser g, discharging by
ho pipe h¹ into the channel in which the other section sets, viz., ; the channel
eing divided transversely into two parts by the division shewn in dotted lines:
The two sections of this pump stand also on opposite sides of the beam centre
o which they are connected by suitable connecting rods and links, as shewn.

page_text: The method of working the valves of the steam cylinder is by the combined
action of a small independent engine and of the main engine. As the pumping
engine is merely reciprocatory in its action, the Inventor has devised, a plan to
operate the valves upon the same general principles as if the engine were
rotatory, and he is thereby enabled to apply some of the approved systems of
adjustable cut-off for effecting the expansion of the steam as applied to that
latter class of engines, obviating also the necessity of using the complicated
lever apparatus as employed in the Cornish engine. By this improvement the
"rock shaft" has a given positive throw at each stroke, whereby the steam
cut-off valve may be dropped and closed at any portion of the stroke as
required, and he is also enabled to employ a governor to regulate the speed
if found, desirable. The small engine is situated under the working. beam and
near the centre column, its cylinder being shewn at o. Immediately over this,
and at a proper distance for suitable working, is the shaft o, Figuro II.; this
has three cranks upon it, one of which is centrally over the cylinder, the next
is a little to one side, and the third on the extreme end outside of, the, frame,
The last-named two cranks stand parallel to each other, and at a right angle
to the first named, p being the engine crank, p' that which is attached to the
beam, and p that which is connected to the rock shaft r, as in the Figures I.
and II. The end of the connecting rod s which couples the small engine to
the beam has a slotted eye s', where it takes hold of the crank pl. By this
arrangement, the piston in o can move no faster than the beam does at the
place where it is connected, except at the moment of passing its centre, when
the shaft o will fly so as to throw the pin of the crank p¹ from one end of the
slot to the other... At one portion of its stroke the great engine is propelling
the shaft of the small engine, and at one other portion this action is reversed,
the small engine directing its force upon the great engine. The force of the
great engine acts upon the small one when the latter is on its centres, for then,
as there is no fly wheel to carry it over, it remains stationary until one end of
the slots has come into contact with the crank pin p', when the latter, by
being carried forward, takes the engine crank p over the centre; steam being
admitted to its pistón at the same instant (by means of its eccentric and valve
in the usual way), drives the crank round until it is stopped by the pin pl
arriving at the other end of the slot. These several movements are shewn in
a detached Diagram, Figure III. The crank p is there shewn as just arrived
at half-stroke; the great engine has also just completed its stroke, as will be
seen by the position of the crank p', and it is now the. time to lift the valves
for the return stroke and close those opposite. At this moment the small
engine is no longer held, but flies on until arrested by tho crank pin of pl

page_text: of
striking against the upper end of the slot s³, as seen in the duplicate lines at s".
This sudden movement throws up the valve for steam and exhaust and closes
those for the other stroke by acting upon the rock shaft r, as clearly seen in
Figure I., (the rest of the valve gear not being shewn in consequence of being
of usual construction.) The steam may be used expansively by the application
any suitable "cut-off." The beam of the great engine now ascends, the
sinall engine pressing upon the upper end of the slot s¹ (as at s¹¹), until it has
arrived at the end of its stroke, when it remains stationary, until by the con-
tinued ascent of the beam the lower end of the slot takes hold of the crank
pin of p', when p will be pulled passed its dead centre, at which moment it
will take steam on the other side of its piston and will again start forward
until its crank is arrested as before by the slot s', and so the operation will be
continued. By making the slot's with adjustable ends, so as to lengthen or
shorten the same, the lead of the valve as well as the period of cut-off can be
varied. A nice adjustment of the lead is important, as the piston must be
arrested at the termination of its stroke by a cushion of steam. The
operation is as follows:-Steam being admitted to the great and small
cylinders the beam will be set in motion. In Figure I. the piston is represented
as on the ascending stroke, carrying with it the pump valve or bucket d in a,
which is supporting the column of water, consequently its valve is closed;
the bucket descending at the same time passes through the water which is
'being driven out by d through the discharging main; as the piston nears the
end of the stroke the valves are quickly closed, and those on the opposite side
of the piston opened (respectively for the exhaust and direct steam) by means
of the sudden movements of the cranks of the small engines, in the manner
already described. As all the great pumping engines use steam expansively,
the velocity of the piston gradually declines after the induction valve closes,
until either the stroke terminates, or the pressure and load become equalized;
of course the degree of expansion should be such as to effect the completion
of the stroke. By means of that feature in this engine by which the balancing
is effected by the water itself, the extent to which the principle of expansion
may be carried must be greater than in the Cornish engines, and hence the
economy of working must be also greater. That the engine is perfectly
balanced by this arrangement may be understood by supposing the engine
stopped, say, at half-stroke, the column of water in the main A would fall back
and close the valves in bucket e; the tendency would then be to force down
that end of the beam, the load would then be transferred to d, and the motion
checked to the extent necessary to counterbalance the opposite end of the
beam. Thus the slightest movement in either direction would be met by this

page_text: transfer of the load, and the equilibrium would be thus maintained. This
principle being extended to the air pumps, the arrangement is completed in all
its parts.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the arrangement
of a pumping engine in connection both with its air pumps and with the
working pumps, substantially in the manner set forth.
I also claim the hercin-described method of working the valves of a recipro-
cating steam engine which has no rotative motion, viz., by combining with the
said engine and with its valves a small or supplementary crank engine so
coupled with the main engine that thereby the said valves may be operated
relatively to the piston as in crank engines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.