Improvements in Steam Pumps.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 24th Mar., 1890-Accepted, 10th May, 1890*
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steam Pumps.
I, SANDFORD NORTHROP Secretary of The Northrop Manufacturing Company, now
residing at 6, Livery Street, Birmingham, England (communicated to me from abroad
by Dyer Cooper of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Engineer,)
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to steam pumps as herein-after described.
Working within a steam cylinder is a piston head, whose rod or stem works through
a stuffing box at one end thereof, whilst the inside of the other end of the cylinder is
sunken outwardly.
Disposed upon the top, and upon the side of the said cylinder, is a steam chest,
wherein a solid plunger, throttled or necked about its middle, is reciprocated to and
fro, by the action of introduced steam.
The junction of the throttled or necked part of the plunger with the other part,
forms shoulders, which as the plunger moves to and fro, shifts a main valve, located
in juxta position to the inlet and exhaust ports, and which said ports are alternately
opened and closed, by the shifting of the said valve.
The ends of the cylinder and steam chest are in communication by passages, closed
by check valves, which open and close against the exhaust steam, and to prevent'the
live steam from the left-hand passage passing upwards to shift the plunger from left
to right, when the right-hand passage is open. As steam enters from opening in top
of steam chest, it passes down through the right hand inlet port, and throws the piston
head to the left hand end of the cylinder, which exposes left hand passage to the
action of the live steam which has acted from right to left on the piston head, and
which said steam then passes upwards through the left hand passage as aforesaid,
raises its check valve located within it, traverses the passage to behind the left hand
side of the plunger, which is reversed in its action; and as it shifts from left to right,
moves the slide valve, and closes the right hand inlet port, and opens the left hand
inlet port to the action of the live steam, which is now directed against the left
hand side of the head of the piston within the space at the left hand side of the
cylinder head.
The direction of the steam as last indicated, throws the piston head to the right
hand end of the cylinder, whereby left hand passage is closed by the dropping of its
check valve, caused by the pressure of steam through an opening disposed between the
cylinder and steam chest.
By this last named change of position of the piston head, the right hand passage is
freed, and its check valve located within it, opened, which admits live steam in front
of the piston head, to pass through the said passage, to behind the right hand end
of the plunger, whereby the slide valve is again reversed from the position as
aforesaid.
It will be understood that the slide valve opens the passage way for live steam from
a vertical line drawn through the middle of the steam chest, to the right hand inlet
port, and the passage to the exhaust is open, until the full stroke is accomplished;
and as the piston when at the left hand end of the cylinder allows live steam to rush
up passage leading to left hand end of plunger, then the piston moves beyond the left
hand passage as aforesaid, with its valve rising, and thus allows the exhaust in the
steam chest, to flow through a secondary exhaust passage, and thence to the primary
exhaust passage as aforesaid.
Heretofore, the difficulty in steam pumps has been that a positively full stroke
could not be attained, and which is accomplished by having an exhaust open at

page_text: either end, to permit the full stroke of the piston before the said piston will
reverse.
The primary exhaust port is always open, whilst the direction of the live steam is
diverted alternately to the inlet ports, and by such diversion, the plunger, slide valve
and piston are operated.
It will be understood that the check valves are necked or contracted at their outer
ends; so that when the inlet passages leading to the ends of plungers are closed,
the outlet passages of such ends are open, by the necked part coming coincident with
the said last named passage.
Data: 10th
T1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steam Pumps.
I, SANDFORD NORTHROP Secretary of The Northrop Manufacturing Company of
North Front Street, Camden, New Jersey, United States of America and now residing
at 6 Livery Street, Birmingham, England. (communicated to me from abroad by Dyer
Cooper of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Engineer,) do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
This invention relates to steam pumps as herein-after described.
Working within a steam cylinder, is a piston hoad, whose rod or stem, works
through a stuffing box at one end thereof, whilst the inside of the other end of the
cylinder, is sunken outwardly.
Disposed upon the top, and upon the side of the said cylinder, is a steam chest,
wherein a solid plunger, throttled or necked about its middle, is reciprocated, to and
fro, by the action of introduced steam.
The junction of the throttled or necked part of the plunger, with the other part,
forms shoulders, which as the plunger moves to and fro, shifts a main valve, located
in juxtaposition to the inlet and exhaust ports; and which said ports, are alternately
opened and closed, by the shifting of the said valve.
The ends of the cylinder and steam chest, are in communication by passages,
closed by check valves, which open and close against the exhaust steam, and to
prevent the live steam from the left-hand passage, passing upwards to shift the
plunger, from left to right, when the right hand passage is open. As steam enters
from opening in top of steam chest, it passes down through the right hand inlet port,
and throws the piston head to the left-hand end of the cylinder, which exposes
left-hand passage to the action of the live steam, which has acted from right to
left on the piston head; and which said steam, then passes upwards through the
left-hand passage as aforesaid; raises its check valve located within it, traverses
the passage to behind the left hand side of the plunger, which is reversed in its
action, and as it shifts from left to right, moves the slide valve, and closes the
right-hand inlet port, and opens the left-hand inlet port to the action of the live
steam, which is now directed against the left-hand side of the head of the piston
within the space at the left-hand side of the cylinder head.
The direction of the steam as last indicated, throws the piston head to the right-hand
end of the cylinder, whereby left-hand passage is closed, by the dropping of its check-
valve, caused by the pressure of steam through an opening disposed between the
cylinder and steam chest.
By this last named change of position of the piston head, the right-hand passage is
freed, and its check valve located within it, opened, which admits live steam from in
front of the piston head, to pass through the said passage to behind the right-hand

page_text: end of the plunger, whereby the slide valve is again reversed from the position as
aforesaid.
It will be understood, that the slide valve opens the passage way for live steam from
a vertical line, drawn through the middle of the steam closet, to the right-hand inlet
port, and the passage to the exhaust is open, until the full stroke is accomplished; and
as the piston when at the left-hand end of the cylinder allows live steam to rush
up passage leading to left hand end of plunger, then the piston moves beyond the
left-hand passage as aforesaid, with its valve rising, and thus allows the exhaust
in the steam chest, to flow through a secondary exhaust passage, and thence to the
primary exhaust passage as aforesaid.
Heretofore, the difficulty in steam pumps, has been that a positively full stroke
could not be attained, and which is accomplished by having an exhaust open at either
end, to permit the full stroke of the piston before the said piston will reverse.
The primary exhaust port is always open, whilst the direction of the live steam is
diverted alternately to the inlet ports, and by such diversion, the plunger, slide valve
and piston are operated.
It will be understood, that the check valves are necked or contracted at their outer
ends, so that when the inlet passages leading to the ends of plungers are closed, the
outlet passages of such ends are open, by the necked part coming coincident with the
said last named passage.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing, represents a vertical longitudinal
sectional view of a pump or elevator, constructed and arranged according to this
invention.
Figure 2 is a vertical cross sectional view on the lines X. X of figure 1.
Figure 8 is a partial cross sectional view, showing the valve to open and close
the exhaust and supply ports, and showing the exhaust port open, whilst figure 4
is a similar view, showing the exhaust port closed, and the supply port open.
a is the steam cylinder, 6 the piston head, c the rod or stem of the pump, d the steam
chest, e a hollow stem, through which the steam is introduced to the chest ; and f,ƒ^,
a plunger, provided with a narrow neck f¹. This narrow neck on the plunger, forms
two shoulders f, f³, on the latter, which as the plunger moves to and fro, shift the
main valve g, to alternately open and close the ports hh'; i is the exhaust exit port,
ja piston check valve, shown open to live steam, and closed against the exhaust
steam (in figure 4) to permit the live steam from port k, to pass upwards to shift the
plunger f,As the steam enters from entrance opening e, it passes down through
port h', and throws the piston head to the position shown in full lines in figure 1;
this exposes opening k, to the action of the live steam, which has acted on the piston
head, which steam then passes up through opening k, raises valve j, and traverses
passage k', up behind the plunger head f*, reversing the latter, which, as it shifts, moves
valve g, so as to close port h', and open port h, to the action of the live steam against
the head of the piston in space ; this throws the piston head back to the position
shown in dotted lines in figure 1, whereby opening k is closed by the dropping of
piston valve j, caused by the pressure of steam through opening m, as shown in
figure 3. By the change of the piston head to the position shown in dotted lines in
figure 1, the opening is freed, and a piston valve similar to j, is opened, to admit
live steam from in front of the piston head, to pass through a passage k³, behind the
plunger head f, whereby the position of the plunger is again reversed from that
shown in full lines in figure 1, the valve which is a duplicate to that shown at j, in
figure 3, is closed, and thus the operation is continued.
As the parts are shown in figure 1, it will be seen, that the valve g, opens the
passage way for live steam from point e, to port h, and the passage to the exhaust is
open until the full stroke is accomplished; and as the piston in figure 1, has just the
position shown in full lines, the live steam rushes up through passage way k¹, to
reverse plunger, f^, and valve g; and as the piston moves, before the valve, j rises,
the exhaust from the steam chest, will flow through the passage i¹, to opening i.
Heretofore the difficulty in steam pumps has been that a positively full stroke could

page_text: not be attained, I'accomplish this; by having an exhaust, which opens at either end,
to permit the full stroke of the cylinder, piston, before it will reverse.
The exhaust steam opening i, is always open, while the direction of the live:steam,
is diverted to port-h or port h¹, as the plunger f; f, shifts valve g, and, as shown in
figure 4; where passage-way k, is open to live steam, the exhaust passage-way ", is
closed, and the positions are subsequently reversed to those shown in figure 3.
The parts n, n', of the cylinder and chest, are pierced by openings m, m, to permit
of, the escape of exhaust, and the entrance of live steam above the piston. valves j, j.
When the valve j, in part n', is in the position shown in figure 3, the valve j, in
part n, is in the position shown in figure 4.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
First: The middle reduced or contracted plunger f,f,, for working the slide
valve g, as set forth.
Secondly-The double valves j, and the steam and exhaust passages in connection
therewith, for working and controlling the plunger, and by it the main or slide valve,
substantially as set forth.
Thirdly-In a steam pump, the combination of a piston cylinder a, with its piston
head b, and rod c, steam chest d, with its plunger ff, provided with neck f', main
valve g, operated by the said plunger, to alternately cut off the live steam and exhaust
passages, duplicate parts n, n², provided with steam and exhaust passages k¹, m'and ?;
and duplicate valves j, to open and close the exits from the cylinder to the steam
chest, all operating, substantially as described.
Fourthly-A steam pump, the construction and arrangement of the parts, including
the inlet and outlet ports, valves, and valve passages, substantially as described and
set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of March 1889.
SANDFORD NORTHROP.
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicant.