AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM- D A Trowing OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR RAISING BEER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Yates, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, and Thomas Rawlins Birch, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
D
A Trowing"
Scaled the 2nd May 1856, and dated the 16th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Yates and Thomas
Rawlins Birch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th November 1855.
We, JAMES YATES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, and THOMAS RAWLINS BIRCH, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR RAISING BEER AND OTHER LIQUIDS" to be as
follows:-
Our said Invention consists in constructing the lifting mechanism of beer
engines in the manner herein-after described, so that the hole or slot in the
counter through which the handle of the beer engine passes shall be kept
closed during the motion of the said handle, and access of dust to the interior
of the case containing the beer engine prevented. The handle or lever in our
Invention turns upon a joint underneath the counter or surface, through which
the said handle or lever passes. Instead of the handle being connected directiv

page_text: with the said joint, a circular disc is made upon the said joint as a centre, and
the upper part of the said disc passes through the slot in the counter, and the
said slot is closed by the said disc in whatever position the said disc is turned
in the said slot. The handle is attached to the upper edge of the said disc,
and the lever connected with the pump is attached to the lower edge of the
said disc. During the working of the machine the motion of the handle com-
municates a rotatory motion to the disc, and thereby works the pump, but the
slot in the counter remains closed during the said working.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Yates and Thomas Rawlins Birch in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 8th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
YATES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and THOMAS
RAWLINS BIRCH, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by 1ler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Yates and Thomas Rawlius Birch, Her special licence that
we, the said James Yates aud Thomas Rawlins Birch, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Yates and Thomas
Rawlins Birch, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term 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 In-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR RAISING BEER AND OTHER LIQUIDS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Yates and
Thomas Rawlins Birch, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their bands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
oue of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Yates and Thomas Rawlins
Birch, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists of the methods herein-after described, and repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawing, of constructing the lifting mechanism of
engines or machines used for raising or pumping up beer, spirits, and other
liquids; the object of our Invention being, that the hole or slot in the counter
or case through which the handle of the engine passes may be kept closed
during the motion of the said handle in working the engine, and access of dust
to the interior of the case containing the said engine prevented.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, Figure 2 in front elevation, and
Figure 3 in plan, one method of carrying our Invention into effect. The
handle or lever a turns upon the joint or centre b underneath the counter or
other surface, to which the plate c is attached. Instead of the handle a being
connected directly with the joint b, a circular disc d is made upon the said
joint as a centre. The upper part of the disc d passes through a slot in the
counter, and also through a slot in the plate c. The said slot in the plate c is
of such a form and size that the disc d fits or closes it, and the said disc d may
perform any motion about the axis without opening the said slot. Tho
handle a is fixed on the upper edge of the disc d, and the lever e with which
the pump is worked is fixed on the lower edge of the said disc d.
Figure 4 represents in side elevation, Figure 5 in front elevation, and
Figure 6 in plan, another method of carrying our Invention into effect. In
this modification of our Invention, instead of having the continuous disc d,
Figures 1 and 2, we use a wheel f, on the upper and lower sides of which the
handle and pump lever are respectively connected. We fix upon the plate g,
through a slot in which the wheel f works, two cheeks h, i, the said checks
having the figure of the segment of a circle, whose centre is the axis k.
Between the segmental cheeks h, i, the periphery of the wheel f works. By
working the handle, the wheel f plays between the cheeks h, i, and communi-
cates motion to the pump or engine, without making an opening in the plate
through which dust can pass. We sometimes modify the last-described
form of our Invention in the manner represented in side elevation in Figure 7,
and in plan in Figure 8; that is to say, since the working bandle does not
require to be raised past a vertical position, we connect the discs between
which the wheel works with a curved piece m, the form and situation of which
will be sufficiently understood by an inspection of the Drawing. The said
curved piece m acts as a stop to the handle, and more effectually closes up the
interior of the engine. We apply our Invention to that kind of beer or liquid
engine called a "pillar engine," in the manner illustrated in side elevation in

page_text: Figure 9, and front elevation in Figure 10, both Figures being partly in
section. n is the handle, fixed on the top of the hollow disc o; p is the piston
rod of the pump, on the top of which the cross piece q is fixed; r is the slot in
the said cross piece q; s is a roller, which engages in the slot r, which said
roller is fixed between the sides of the hollow disc o. The disc o turns in
journals or bearings t, t, on the top of the pillar u. The pillar u is surmounted
by a dome v, through a slot in which the neck of the handle works. When
the handle n is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 9, the
rollers in its circular motion traverses the slot r horizontally, and raises the
cross piece q and pump rod p vertically. The cross piece 9 as it rises occupies
q
the interior of the hollow disc o. The modification of our Invention, Figures
9 and 10, is also applicable to case and counter engines.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our
Invention, the improvement or improvements herein described, and represented
in the accompanying Drawing, in engines for raising beer and other liquids,
that is to say, transmitting the motion from the handles of the said machines to
the pumping mechanism by nieans of a wheel or disc working closely in the
opening in the counter case or pillar in which the pumping mechanism is
situated.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Yates and Thomas Rawlins
Birch, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-six
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES YATES.
(L.S.)
THOMAS RAWLINS BIRCII. (L.S.)