IMPROVE- MENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC ENGINES AND HAMMERS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Miller at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th August
1871.
I, WILLIAM MILLER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HYDRO-PNEUMATIC ENGINES AND HAMMERS," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
In
This Invention, which relates to the actuating of motive power engines
and hammers by air or gas, whose pressure is rendered sufficiently
intense by the action of the apparatus herein-after described, consists
of tanks placed one above the other, the upper of which rests on beams
supported by columns which again rest upon the lower tanks.
the following description of the apparatus constituting this Invention
an upper and a lower tank only are for the sake of simplicity referred
to, but it is to be understood that several pairs or a battery of such tanks
may be combined.
In the bottom of the upper tank an opening is
flange bolted to the upper flange of the top cover
of the lower tank. On the top flange of the upper tank a bracket plate
provided, having a

page_text: rests supporting a link and wiper motion actuated by a screw and hand
wheel movement. On the top cover of the lower tank is a set of stop-
cocks or valves connected to each other by a link and wiper motion
connected to the upper link and wiper movement, so as to admit of
being opened and closed simultaneously with the valve in the bottom
of the upper tank. In the top cover of the lower tank is a set of valves
capable of floating in water or any liquid placed under the aforesaid
stop-cocks or valves and prevented from escaping through them by a
perforated valve seat in each. The last-mentioned set of valves is for
the purpose of allowing gas or air to escape, but to prevent liquid
from escaping. In the lower tank underneath the upper cover is
another set of valves connected by a set of vertical tubes and horizontal
passages to the chambers in the upper cover in which there are valves
for gas or air to escape. The second mentioned set of valves and tubes
is for allowing gas, air, water, or liquid to escape up through the upper
chamber or inlet passage for the water or liquid. When water or liquid
rises in the last-mentioned tubes it flows into the chamber in the upper
cover of the lower tank and floats the valves into their seats, thereby
stopping the liquid from escaping. Underneath the last-mentioned
set of valves there is a liquid chamber, immediately under which
chamber there is a vacuum chamber containing one or more sets of
trays holding one or more funnel-shaped tubes. The tubes in the
upper tray of each set are parallel with a clearance all round until
within a distance equal to half their diameter from the top, at this point
there may be a small hole or a number of small holes bored in the said
tubes in order to detach the liquid drops more freely. The upper and
lower trays are each provided with a valve seat. In the centre of the
trays there is a tube on which each tray of each set of trays rests, one
above the other in such a manner that a rod passing down through one
set of tubes in each set of trays could be made to pass through all other
sets of tubes. In the lower set of tubes in the lower set of trays of
each set the tubular part of the funnel is longer than the tubular part
of the funnels above. Through the centre tube a rod passes having a
shoulder on it, with a nut at the upper end for the purpose of holding
together cach set of trays. Under the vacuum chamber is a compressed
air or gas chamber, in the bottom of which there is a set of valves for
allowing the liquid to escape out of the compressed air or gas chamber
into the liquid chamber under it. On the lower end of the rod previously
mentioned which passes through the trays in the vacuum and com-

page_text: pressed air or gas chambers is a nut for holding the liquid escape
valve to the bottom of the compressed air or gas chamber. In the
bottom of the last-mentioned liquid chamber is a set of inlet valves for
admitting the liquid from the lowermost chamber. Between the inlet
chambers on the opposite sides and the compressed air and vacuum
chambers on each side is a chamber in which the liquid rises after
passing through the lower set of valves, at the same time it is prevented
from entering the compressed air or gas chamber by the set of valves
immediately above the last-mentioned set. These chambers com-
municate with the liquid chambers above the vacuum chamber and with
the chambers below the compressed air or gas chambers. On each of
the remaining two sides are a vacuum and two compressed air or gas
chambers. The outside vacuum chambers communicate with the
inside vacuum chambers. The compressed air or gas chambers on the
outside communicate with the inside compressed air or gas chamber
with ports or passages passing under the outside vacuum chambers
across and leading vertically up the outside compressed air or gas
chambers through valves in the said ports or passages, and into the
outside air or gas chambers by two ports or passages on each side above
the last-mentioned valves. The object of the last-mentioned valves is
to prevent the compressed air or gas from escaping while the liquid is
entering the lower tank. At the top of the outside ports there is a
safety valve on either side, and upon the beams on which the upper
tank rests there is a platform on which the operator stands who actuates
the link and wiper motion. The platform and tank may be removed
as soon as the lower tank is full, and the upper valve screwed down.
The outside compressed air or gas chambers are connected to the inlet
nozzles and the vacuum chambers to the exit or exhaust nozzles of the
ordinary steam or atmospheric engines and hammers at present in use.
The atmospheric engine may be arranged so that both nozzles com-
municate with the lower tank or the exit or exhaust nozzles only
communicates with the vacuum, the other nozzle being free to
communicate with the atmosphere.