AN. IMPROVED MODE AND APPARATUS, FOR WORKING THE MACHI- NERY IN FACTORIES AND SHIPS IN CONNECTION WITH THE STEAM ENGINES OR STEAM POWER NOW USED THEREIN
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Christopher Richard Norris
Palmer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th May 1853.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, CHRISTOPHER RICHARD NORRIS PALMER, of Amwell, .in the County
of Hertford, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN. IMPROVED MODE AND APPARATUS, FOR WORKING THE MACHI-
NERY IN FACTORIES AND SHIPS IN CONNECTION WITH THE STEAM ENGINES OR
STEAM POWER NOW USED THEREIN " to be as follows:-
My Invention is based on facts which I have ascertained by ex-
periments, that a pressure or displacement of liquid at one end of a
horizontal column or pipe filled with liquid, and of indefinite length
or diameter, instantaneously acts upon & displaces an equal quantity
of the liquid at the other end of the column. That the power so
applied is not diminished by its passage thro' the liquid (as it were), and
that the re-action or replacement is also instantaneous. That a column

page_text: of liquid may be raised perpendicularly froin such pipe at any distance,
and it will raise and fall a weighted piston with a velocity equal to that
of a piston ordinarily working in a steam cylinder. That the power
applied at the near end of the column or pipe may, if required, be
indefinitely magnified by enlarging the comparative superficial area of
the piston to be raised at the distant end; or velocity may be obtained
by decreasing the area of such distant piston.
My Invention consists in devising the means and contrivances
whereby I can render the above motive properties of liquids available
for practical and beneficial purposes, and save fuel and steam power in
working machinery, and enabling steam engines to be detached, and
work at a distance from the factory department.
My apparatus or contrivance is as follows:-
I take an ordinary steam engine to obtain motive power. I then
attach to or connect with it a metal cylinder, containing water, oil, or
other liquid. In this cylinder is a piston & rod, or metallic plungers,
capable of working perpendicularly. At any required distance I crect
another, which I call the factory cylinder, with piston & rod some-
what similar, and working perpendicularly; the cylinder also containing
.same liquid. I then connect the near cylinder with the factory cylinder
by an air-tight and waterproof tube or pipe, one end being inserted in
the lower part of each cylinder below the piston.
I then attach a machine or machines (somewhat similar to the force
pumps used with Bramiah's press) to the steam engine; the latter,
acting upon the lever of the pump or pumps, plunges one or more
metallic piston rods or plungers into the near cylinder, and displaces
quantity of liquid exactly equal to the quantity I require to displace
or raise in the factory cylinder.
"
The instant the steam engine thus forces down my rod or plungers
the piston & rod in the factory cylinder rises with equal power, and
the down stroke of one is completed at same instant as the up stroke of
the other. The up stroke of the plunger, and the fall or down stroke
of the factory piston rod, are also simultaneous.
I regulate the comparative arca & length of the plungers or pistons

page_text: according as I require increase of power OR speed in the factory
cylinder.
The pipe or column will be air & water tight, & made of gutta-
percha, or metallic or earthen substance, and placed horizontally above
or beneath the surface of the ground.
My principle enables the working of several pistons & cylinders in
different factorics by means of one engine, or steam power only, with
or without additional pipes or liquid columns, one down stroke of the
plungers raising several distant pistons simultaneously.
To provide the means of instantaneous communicon between the
engine drivers and the factory departments I place a small pipe of
or inch diameter (filled with liquid or clastic fluid) from one ond
of the large tube to the other, such small pipe having a telegraph
apparatus at each end thereof, constructed on the above principle (and
for which I presented a Petition for Patent on the 7th May instant),
N° 1126.
I apply my Invention to propelling ships; I save fuel by magnifying
the steam motive power, and I enable the steam engine, with its fur-
nace, funnel, and smoke, to be placed at one part of the vessel, and
the working pistons & cylinders at any other part.