Improvements in Apparatus for Exhausting or Delivering Air or other Fluid under Pressure, Especially Applicable for Use with Gas and other Motive Power Engines.
Year: 1884

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Exhausting or Delivering Air
or other Fluid under Pressure, Especially Applicable for
Use with Gas and other Motive Power Engines.
I HERBERT DAVIS of 48 Elfort Road Drayton Park, Highbury, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING OR DELIVERING AIR OR OTHER
FLUID UNDER PRESSURE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR USE WITH GAS AND OTHER
MOTIVE POWER ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of the present improvements is to provide simple and efficient
apparatus for exhausting or delivering air or it may be other fluid under pressure
which apparatus may be worked by a gas or other motive power engine without
risk of injuring the mechanism or operation of the organ or other instrument or
implement with which such air pressure or exhaust may be connected either from
over blowing or over exhausting the air.
•
The apparatus is especially designed to enable wind instruments such as organs
to be supplied with a steady ample volume of air under the influence of cheap
motors such as hot air or gas engines without risk of overblowing in the event
of such engines running or working unduly fast but it is obvious that apparatus
of this kind actuated by hand or power may be used to deliver fluids such as air
or air and gas under pressure to burners in ironing machines and for various other
purposes.
The invention consists in a series of bellows or air cylinders which under the
influence of rotation around a shaft or by means of tappets or their equivalent
operated by or mounted upon a rotating shaft are forced to expand alternately or
in succession, and close or collapse under the influence of gravitation and deliver
their contents alternately or successively into a hollow shaft or pipe by which they
may be conducted and delivered where required. In its simplest form the apparatus
consists of single acting bellows mounted radially or tangentially upon and around
a hollow axle or shaft on which are mounted pulleys for imparting rotary motion
thereto from a gas engine, electrical motor or other engine, the several blowers on
the rotating shaft opening and closing as they move round.
The ends of the hollow axle or the hollow bosses of the driving pulleys keyed
thereon are turned true and run in contact with other truly plane surfaces fixed
and held in contact with the axle or bosses by springs, air pressure, weighted levers
or their equivalent. The axle may be supported on centres carried by a suitable
frame or standard or it may be grooved at each end and rest upon roller bearings
carried by suitable standards thereby reducing the friction to a minimum.
The hollow shaft or axle is divided by a transverse partition and the bellows or
their equivalent, draw in the air required to inflate them from one side of the
partition by suitable inlet valves and deliver it on the other side of the partition
through suitable outlet valves.

page_text: The bellows might be fixed and be successively inflated by curved cam surfaces
or tappets mounted on a shaft driven by the motor or by hand gearing but in either
case the expression of the air will be automatic and almost entirely independent of
the speed of the engine which while serving to keep them properly charged or
inflated will have no influence in expediting their individual discharge. Thus
should the consumption of air diminish or cease the bellows instead of being
forcibly emptied will only remain more or less fully inflated and no strain will be
thrown upon the working parts of the organ, instrument or machine to which the
air is delivered or with which the apparatus is connected.
This invention supplies a want much felt particularly in the blowing of organs
by gas or other explosive engines hot air engines or electric motors, which from
their nature or construction cannot be governed or sufficiently regulated to prevent
overblowing and the consequent wear and tear of working parts.
The demands of an organ are constantly varying and it is most desirable to avoid-
encumbering the bellows or reservoirs which supply the pipes with wind with
any machinery however delicate for the purpose of varying the stroke or action
of the ordinary bellows or feeders.
By the use of apparatus as above described I am enabled to give a continuous
blast of air at tolerably uniform pressure which may be used direct or may supply
a reservoir.
The pressure of air delivered by the apparatus above described will depend
somewhat on the velocity at which the motor is running and the required pressure
should therefore be so calculated in connection with this velocity as at all times to
have a surplus.
But whatever the velocity may be the wear and tear of the bellows and their
appurtenances will always be in proportion to the air used.
The use of this apparatus renders unnecessary any governing devices in con-
nection with the reservoirs of the organ, as the reservoirs will be automatically
regulated by their own throttle valves as usual.
No waste valves are necessary.
The bellows or feeders of my improved apparatus may be operated by oscillatory
movements instead of by complete rotary motion.
The apparatus being provided with supply and discharge pipes affords great
facilities for drawing the air before compression from a suitable point at any
distance and thus the air may be caused to enter and leave the apparatus in proper
condition to be discharged through the pipes of an organ.
In the case of fixed bellows actuated by cams or a tappet shaft the bellows may
be of the diagonal type or they may have two sets of ribs one being inverted, in
which case they would have projecting arms adapted to be lifted by the cams except
when fully inflated or the bellows may be lifted in the middle by a lever and
connecting link.
Two or more of these bellows may be combined with what is technically known
as a "well."
In cases where attenuated air or exhaust is required the cams may be caused to
close the bellows which in opening automatically will attenuate the air and produce
a partial vacuum.
Cylinders or air chests with loose and heavy pistons working air tight within
them and fitted with suitable valves may take the place of the bellows in the
above described apparatus,

page_text: Use with Gas and other Motive Power Engines.
I HERBERT DAVIS of 48 Elfort Road Drayton Park, Highbury in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING OR DELIVERING AIR OR OTHER FLUID
UNDER PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR USE WITH GAS AND OTHER MOTIVE
POWER ENGINES and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of the present invention is to provide simple and efficient apparatus
for exhausting and delivering air, or it might be other fluid, under pressure; which
apparatus may be worked by a gas or other motive power engine without risk of
injuring the mechanisin or operation of the instrument or implement with which
such air pressure or exhaust may be connected, either from over blowing or over
exhausting the air.
The apparatus is especially designed to enable wind instruments such as organs
to be supplied with a steady and ample volume of air under the influence of cheap
motors such as hot air or gas engines, without risk of overblowing, or otherwise;
in the event of such engines running irregularly or working unduly fast.
To this end the invention consists in the combination with a pipe or hollow shaft
for conveying compressed or attenuated air, of a series of "feeders" or bellows
which are caused to open or close in succession under the influence of a gas or other
motive power engine and are free to collapse or expand under the influence of
gravitation (aided it may be by weights or springs) after being thus forcibly
opened or closed respectively, for the purpose of delivering air under pressure into
the said pipe or hollow shaft and through it to the organ; or for exhausting air by
the said pipe or hollow shaft therefrom.
In its simplest form the apparatus consists of single acting bellows mounted
radially .or tangentially upon and around a hollow axle or shaft on which are
mounted pulleys for imparting rotary motion thereto from a gas engine, electrical
motor or other engine, the several blowers on the rotating shaft opening and closing
as they move round.
The ends of the hollow axle, or the hollow bosses of the driving pulleys keyed
thereon, are turned true and run in contact with other truly plane surfaces fixed
and held in contact with the axle or bosses by springs, air pressure, weighted levers
or their equivalent. The axle may be supported on centres carried by a suitable
frame or standards, or it may be grooved at each end and rest upon roller bearings
carried by suitable standards, thereby reducing the friction to a minimum.
The hollow shaft or axle is divided by a transverse partition, and the bellows or
their equivalent draw in the air required to inflate them, from one side of the

page_text: partition by suitable inlet valves and deliver it on the other side of the partition
through suitable outlet valves.
The bellows might be fixed, and be successively inflated by curved cam surfaces
or tappets mounted on a shaft driven by the motor or by hand gearing, but in
either case the expression of the air will be automatic and almost entirely inde-
pendent of the speed of the engine, which while serving to keep them properly
charged or inflated will have no influence in expediting their individual discharge.
Thus, should the consumption of air diminish or cease, the bellows instead of being
forcibly emptied, will only remain more or less fully inflated and no strain will be
thrown upon the working parts of the organ, instrument or machine to which the
air is delivered, or with which the apparatus is connected.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings in which Fig. 1 is
an end elevation of a series of bellows mounted radially upon a hollow shaft and
arranged according to my invention; the fixed frame within which the hollow shaft
is rotated and the pipes connected therewith, being omitted for perspicuity.
•
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the apparatus complete, and Fig. 3 is
a transverse vertical section through the valves and air passages of one set of
bellows.
Figs. 4 and 5 show in end and front elevation respectively, a set of bellows
mounted tangentially upon a hollow rotating shaft, and Figs. 6 and 7 show in
side and end elevation respectively, a series of fixed bellows adapted to collapse
automatically and in succession, and to be restored to their inflated or operative
condition by the rotation of a cam shaft according to my invention.
The same letters of reference indicate like or corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A A are the bellows or feeders extending the
full length of the hollow shaft B on which they are mounted. Each bellows in
this arrangement is double acting, that is, it has two movable sides or leaves a a
one on each side of a box or chamber C which is fixed radially upon the shaft B
and is divided into two halves, 1-2, by a transverse partition c. Each side of the
bellows is connected with the two halves respectively of its box or chamber C by a
pair of valves de, one of which opens inwards and the other outwards, as clearly
shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The hollow shaft B is closed midway of its length by a
partition band each half is in communication with the corresponding halves of the
radial chambers C C by suitable apertures b¹.
It will thus be seen that on rotating the shaft B the movable sides or leaves of
each bellows will alternately move towards and from the radial chambers C, and
through the arrangement of valves, partitions and air passages above described will
co-operate, by opening and closing in succession as the shaft rotates, to draw in
air from one end, say the left hand, of the pipe B and deliver it at the other end
thereof, say the right, under a pressure dependent to some extent upon the weight
of the movable sides or leaves of each bellows.
The hollow shaft B and its bellows I mount on centres fƒ fitted within hollow
casings carried by the frame E, and these casings I connect with suitable suction
and delivery pipes F G, the connection between the ends of the rotating shaft B
and the fixed hollow casings containing the bearing centres, being rendered air-
tight by packing or other suitable and well known means.
The shaft B with its bellows is driven by a band or rope passing around the
grooved pulley H fast thereon. The direction of the air currents induced by the
apparatus when in action, is indicated by arrows in Figs. 2 and 3.
In order to reduce the influence of centrifugal action upon the bellows to a
minimum, it is desirable when employing this arrangement of rotating bellows for
automatically delivering air under pressure to an organ or other instrument, to
make the bellows of considerable size and to drive them at a comparatively slow
speed.
The two halves of each bellows are preferably coupled by link rods a' pivotted
to the movable sides-ar leaves a a, and I preferably mount four bellows on a shaft,

page_text: so that as they are rotated by the hot air or gas engine, one half of the bellows will
be drawing in air from the pipe F, and the other half of the bellows will be
delivering air under pressure into the pipe Ct..
In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown an air delivery or exhaust apparatus constructed
according to my invention, in which the bellows A. A are single acting and are
mounted tangentially upon a rotating shaft or axle B. In these figures also I have
illustrated another method of supporting the hollow rotating shaft or axle B, and
simple and efficient means for securing a practically airtight connection between
the said shaft and the fixed pipes F. G.
In this apparatus the hollow shaft or axle is of larger cross section and simpler
construction than in the apparatus represented in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and is fitted
with hollow cylindrical metal ends B¹, constituting the bosses of the pulleys H, on
which are flanges or grooves for the reception of the roller bearing or friction
wheels ff suitably mounted on the frame E.
The ends of these short pipes or cylinders B¹ are turned up in a lathe so as to
run truly and in close contact with the similarly turned ends of two adjustable
connecting pipes or cylinders F¹ G which slide airtight within the pipes F G, and
which are held in close contact with the ends B¹ of the hollow rotating axle B by
weighted bell-cranks, or their equivalent.
The axle B is divided as before by a partition midway of its length, and d d
and ee are valves communicating with the two halves respectively of the hollow
axle, the valves d d opening into the bellows A, and the valves e e opening into the
shaft B.
In this case also, as the shaft with its bellows is rotated, the bellows will open in
succession and become inflated, and in succession will collapse and expel the air
they have drawn in as the movable side or lid a falls or closes upon the fixed side
in each of the bellows; thus delivering air under pressure into the pipe G without
any risk of injury to the organ or instrument from overblowing; the bellows
simply remaining inflated if the demand for air is temporarily decreased, and the
air pressure being unaffected by an increase of speed in the notor by which it is
driven.
Instead of the rotary apparatus above described, I may use fixed bellows or
feeders, combining them with an air delivery or exhaust pipe common to all the
bellows or feeders, and with a tappet shaft or its equivalent, in such a manner that
as the said tappet shaft rotates under the influence of a motor of any suitable kind,
the bellows or feeders will be forcibly inflated in succession, and will discharge their
contents in succession under the influence of gravitation only, into the common air
trunk or pipe; the pressure of such discharge being entirely independent of any
increased speed of the motor over and above what is necessary to restore the
bellows with proper rapidity to their inflated or operative condition. Such an
arrangement is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7.
A A are the bellows of single acting type, mounted on a frame E at a suitable
distance from the ground.
B is the pipe or trunk into which the several bellows discharge their contents.
K is the tappet shaft fitted with the tappets k k k and driven through the
pulley H fast thereon.
The bellows are each provided with valves of ordinary construction so arranged
and fitted that as the movable lid or leaf a of each bellows is forced up by its
tappet, the said bellows will draw in air and become fully inflated, and so soon as
the tappet has cleared the said lid, it will begin to close under the influence of
gravitation, and expel the air previously forcibly drawn in, into the pipe B, at a
pressure dependent upon the weight of the lid or leaf a.
To reduce friction and noise the tappets are curved as shown in the drawings,
and bowles or rollers are fitted to the leaves a of the several bellows for the
tappets to bear against.
It will be obvious that by altering the position or action of the valves, air may
be exhausted from the organ or instrument with which the apparatus is connected,

page_text: and a vacuum be maintained in the pipe or trunk B common to all the bellows;
instead of air being delivered under pressure into the said pipe, or a part thereof.
From the foregoing it will be seen that an essential feature of my invention
consists in the combination with a series of bellows or feeders delivering air into,
or exhausting air from, a hollow shaft or pipe common to all the said bellows, of
means whereby the said bellows are forcibly operated to expand or collapse in
succession and thereby prepared or made ready for their next effective movement
of collapse or expansion, as the case may be; the said effective movement and con-
sequently the pressure or vacuum created by them. in the said pipe, being unaffected
by and independent of the continued action of the motive power; and maintained
solely by the influence of gravitation, aided it may be by weights or springs of any
given power.
I am aware that attempts have been made to construct air delivery or exhaust
apparatus to be driven by power, but in all previous machine driven bellows that
I am aware of, the inlet valves have been closed when the power is applied, thereby
forcing air through the outlet valves into the pipe for conveying it to the instru-
ment, whether such instrument can receive it without injury or not; whereas in
my invention the inlet valves are open and allow the air to pass freely whenever
the power is applied to the bellows, and close only when the power is not applied,
the valves of the bellows thus acting like safety valves and rendering additional
safety valves unnecessary.
Apparatus constructed and arranged to operate in the manner described above
may be used to deliver air direct to the wind chests of organs, or it may be used to
supply an air reservoir; but in any case all risk of injury to the instrument or
reservoir from overblowing is obviated by my invention, and hence such apparatus
may be driven by motors such as gas engines or hot air engines which run with
a certain amount of irregularity, without the necessity for employing automatic
belt shifting gear.
An important advantage of my invention is that the work thrown on the engine
is constant and is not increased by a cessation or diminution in the demand for air,
the bellows in this case continuing full, or emptying very slowly under the weight
of their closing lids or leaves alone; while the motor in those circumstances has
merely to restore them to their fully inflated condition so as to be in readiness
for effective action when required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. Constructing and operating air delivery or exhaust apparatus in the manner
hereinabove described with reference to the Drawings for the purpose of enabling
such apparatus to be continuously driven by gas or other motive power engines
without risk of injury to the organ or other instrument with which the apparatus
is connected, from overblowing or overexhausting the air, should the engine run
irregularly or work unduly fast.
2. The combination with an organ or other instrument operated by wind
pressure or exhaust, or requiring a supply of air for its efficient use, of air pumping
apparatus consisting of a pipe or hollow shaft such as B, a series of expanding
and collapsing air vessels having their valves arranged and fitted to operate in the
manner hereinabove described; and a rotating tappet shaft or equivalent means
for forcibly restoring the said vessels to their operative condition or position
whenever they require it, but having no power to accelerate the effective move-
ments of the said bellows, or to increase the air pressure within or upon the
said pipe or shaft notwithstanding that the apparatus be continuously worked
or it may be driven abnormally fast; the air pressure or vacuum created in the
said shaft being due to the closing or opening of the movable parts of the said
bellows under the influence of gravitation only, as set forth.

page_text: 3. In apparatus for delivering air or other fluid under pressure directly or
indirectly to an organ or other wind instrument, or for exhausting air therefrom,
the combination with a pipe or hollow shaft conveying air to or from the said
instrument, of a series of expanding and collapsing vessels connected with or
attached to the said pipe, the said vessels being actuated by the rotation of a
tappet shaft or by equivalent mechanical means, in such a manner as alternately
and in succession to forcibly draw in or expel air; and thereafter to discharge the
air thus forcibly drawn in into the pipe or shaft, or to exhaust air from the said
shaft by the movement of their lids or leaves under the influence of gravitation, as
and for the purpose above set forth.
4. In apparatus for delivering air under pressure, the combination with a
rotating shaft, of a series of air vessels or bellows each having a weighted lid
fitted with an inwardly opening valve, so that the said lid may be freely lifted
by the rotation of the shaft and the bellows be restored to its charged or effective
condition when it has discharged its contents wholly or partially, and so that the
discharge of air into the pipe takes place from each of the bellows in succession
under the influence of the weight of its lid and is not increased in any way by
the abnormally fast or irregular rotation of the said shaft.
5. The several combinations and arrangements of air delivery apparatus described
with reference to the Drawings, for the purpose set forth.