AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL PURCHASE, APPLICABLE TO WORKING SHIPS' AND OTHER PUMPS, AND TO SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Poulson, of Monkwearmouth, in
the County of Durhain, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MECHANICAL PURCHASE, APPLICABLE TO WORKING SHIPS' AND OTHER
PUMPS, AND TO SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 31st May 1853, and dated the 2nd December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Poulson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd December 1852.
I, EBENEZER POULSON, of Monkwearmouth, in the County of
Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL PURCHASE, APPLICABLE TO WORKING SHIPS' AND
OTHER PUMPS, AND TO SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a peculiar adaptation of lever for
working ship and other pumps, and may be employed as a ine-
chanical purchase when required. The lever is T shaped, and is
suspended between fixed bearings on standards at the point where
the horizontal line crosses the vertical line, a heavy weight being

page_text: fitted to the lower extremity of the vertical shank. In working
pumps by this arrangement the rods of the plungers are fitted to
the two extremities of the horizontal portion of the lever. By
swinging or oscillating the weighted portion of the lever, the hori-
zontal portion will received a vibratory movement similar to that of
an ordinary steam engine beam. The amount of purchase will of
course be regulated by the different ratios in the lengths of the
vertical arm and the horizontal one; the vertical arm being long,
the purchase will be increased.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ebenezer Poulson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EBENEZER POULSON, of Monkwearmouth, in the County of Durham,
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-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Ebenezer Poulson, Her
special license that I, the said Ebenezer Poulson, my executors, ad-
aninistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ebenezer
Poulson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all tiines
thereafter during the terin 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 "AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL PURCHASE, APPLICABLE
TO SHIPS AND OTHER PUMPS, AND TO SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ebenezer Poulson, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, should particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same 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 Ebenezer Poulson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thercon (that is to say):
My said Invention relates to the adaptation and employment of a
pendulous lever action as a convenient and effective incans of work-
ing pumps of various kinds, as well as for giving motion to other
mechanical arrangements where manual force is applied as the
prime mover.
Figure 1, on my Sheet of Drawings, is a side external cleva-
tion of a pair of pumps, as fitted up with my pendulous lever
movement, and Figure 2, is a corresponding end view of the same
at right angles to Figure 1; Figure 3, is a side elevation of a
similar apparatus arranged for working four pumps, and Figure 4,
is an end elevation of the same. A bed plate A, forms the base of
the entire apparatus; and on this, as a foundation, the two pumps
B, are bolted down vertically. The upper contiguous edges of the
two pumps are connected together by one intermediate arched
standard C, bolted by its two legs to the cylinders at D. This
standard has a vertical double piece E, springing from the crown of
the arch, and terminating in a pair of bearings F, to carry the stud
centre shaft of the overhead working beam G, to the two ends II,
of which are jointed the upper ends of the descending pump rods I.
The stud centre of the beain or double lever G, is prolonged through
its bearing on one side J, and its outer end is squared to receive a
corresponding eye on the upper end of the pendulum rod K. This
pendulum has a heavy weight L, attached to its lower end, and it
is hung so as to work just clear of the pumps, and the base plate,
being guided in its vibrations by the curved bracket M, bolted to
the standard C. This bracket is slotted through horizontally in

page_text: the line of the segment of a circle, struck from the main centre F, of
the working beam and pendulum, and in this seginental slot is fitted
the slide block N, fast to the side of the pendulum rod. The pen-
dulum is worked by two ropes O, fastened one on each side of the
weight L, these ropes being pulled alternately by two operators,
one on each side of the centre line. In Figures 3, and 4, the pen-
duluin works between two lines or pairs of pumps. In this case
also the base plate A, carries the pumps B, of different sizes, as well
as the two vertical parallel standards C, which carry pedestal
bearings D, on their upper ends, to receive the ends of the main
centre of the overhead beam E. The two ends of this lever cach
carry a cross head F, to form four end joint studs for the four
pump rods G, descending to the pumps beneath. The pendulum
lever H, is attached to the centre of the beam E, forming a T piece
in conjunction with it, the connection being at right angles. In this
way the weight I, of the pendulum, swings freely between the pumps,
when drawn from side to side alternately by the ropes J. In both
these arrangements the uniform vibratory action of the pendulums
gives a uniform vibration to the overhead beams, so that the
buckets, plungers, or pistons of the pumps are worked with a
powerful uniform action, the amount of "purchase" or mechanical
advantage gained being in proportion to the ratio between the
respective lengths of the pendulum lever or rod and the overhead
beam; and to alter these relations at pleasure, the pendulum weight
is capable of adjustment at any height upon the rod.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do
not confine or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements
which I have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery

page_text: apparatus, or means for working pumps and combinations of a
similar class as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of pendulous levers for working
pumps as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of obtaining a mechanical purchase
by ineans of a pendulous lever as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Poulson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
EBENEZER POULSON. (L.S.)
EBENEZER POULSON. (L.S.)