IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAND GARDEN ENGINES AND HYDRO- PULTS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert William Page at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st June 1868.
I, ROBERT WILLIAM PAGE, of Park Walk, Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAND GARDEN ENGINES AND HYDRO-
PULTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of garden engine for
pumping and forcing water for use by hand, the engine being also useful
as a hydropult for extinguishing fire and for other purposes. It consists
of a cylinder of brass or other suitable metal provided at one end with a
stuffing box through which a piston rod or plunger is made to work
actuated by the right hand of the operator; the other end of the
cylinder is fitted to an air globe or vessel, to the opposite side of which
an outlet pipe is fixed by a screw or otherwise in order to cause the water
to flow as a jet or stream. The piston rod has an inverted cone of
metal fixed thereon near the globe, and the extremity of the rod is
provided with a fixed metallic perforated disc or plate fitting the bore
of the cylinder. Between the cone and disc the cup leather is placed on

page_text: the rod loosely; it fits the cylinder, but its base is perforated with an
orifice larger than the diameter of the piston rod to which a suitable
handle is attached. At the side of the cylinder and close to the handle
a short metal branch or nozzle is fixed containing a conical inlet valve
set in a corresponding seat. The base of this conical valve is provided
with a dome or a semicircular plate of metal placed at right angles or
vertically on or across the centre of the base of the conical valve, which
fits or partly fits into a hemispherical recess in the branch when the
valve rises from its seat. The narrow end of the valve is furnished with
a triangular guide or sliding rod working in the circular bore of the
branch for the sake of steadiness, and an india-rubber or other tube of
suitable length is joined to the branch, and the other end is furnished
with an inverted cup covered with wire gauze, which cup is to be
inserted in a cistern or other vessel if the engine is to be used in a
greenhouse or hothouse, or in a vessel of water if to be used in a garden
or other situation, the gauze preventing the entrance of any foreign
substances which might interfere with the action of the valves or piston.
The air globe or vessel is provided interiorly with a short flexible tube
communicating with the outlet jet pipe or rose. This tube is weighted
at the end so as always to fall to the bottom of the reservoir or globe in
order that it shall always be beneath the level of the water.
Now the action of the engine is as follows:-The inlet tube being
immersed in water the cylinder is to be held in the left hand of the
operator, and the piston rod is to be drawn backwards and forwards by the
back action. The perforated plate is brought to bear upon the cup
leather, causing the leather to leave or rise from the inverted conical
metal piece on the piston rod, the cup being thus brought down to the
bottom of the cylinder. When the forward motion of the piston rod is
given the conical piece rises into the orifice of the cup and closes it in
an air-tight and water-tight manner, so that in its ascent it forms a
vacuum and thereby causes a rush of water from the inlet tube which
causes the conical valve to move from its seat. The cylinder thus at
the first upward stroke becomes partly filled with water, the next down
stroke opens the cup leather and closes the conical valve, the next
upstroke draws a further supply of water, and so on until the air
chamber becomes sufficiently full to cause the air to be so compressed
as to force the water in a continuous and uniform jet through the outlet
jet pipe or rose. By these means and with a small and light engine

page_text: which can be easily held in and worked by the hands of the operator a
continuous flow or jet of water can be thrown to a distance of 30 feet or
more, and in every required direction. On the cylinder a cap is fixed
containing a small screw, on to which a rose is screwed, and thus the rose
may be substituted for the jet pipe, or vice versa, both rose and jet pipe
being always on the same engine.
I also propose to apply to the jet pipe a spreader for the purpose of
throwing a sheet of water instead of a jet. Spreaders have before been
used for this purpose, but they have been regulated by pressure of the
finger on a lever against the action of a spring resting on the jet pipe,
but the novelty of my spreader consists in the application of a thumb-
screw to an arm under the spreader, such screw acting against the under
surface of the jet pipe so that the angle of the spreader may be adjusted
and maintained by a few turns either way of the screw.
Pumps in connection with air vessels have before been used for garden
engines and hydropults, but the novelty of my Invention consists in the
arrangement and combination of parts and of the improvement in the
piston rod in connection with the cup leather.