IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS WORKED BY WATER FOR RAISING, LIFTING, LOWERING, AND DRAWING GOODS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Allen Turner and Thomas
Townsend Coughin, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 9th January 1866.
We, WILLIAM ALLEN TURNER, of Clarges Street, Gentleman, and THOMAS
TOWNSEND COUGHIN, of Burdett Road, Limehouse, Engineer, both in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS WORKED BY WATER FOR
RAISING, LIFTING, LOWERING, AND DRAWING GOODS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to
certain improvements in machinery or apparatus
for the purpose of lifting or lowering goods from and to the different floors of
warehouses or other buildings; also for raising building materials to scaffolds;
also for drawing goods in trucks or other vehicles along a level or incline;
also for raising bodies, weights, or goods by leverage to a moderate elevation ;
the apparatus being also applicable to many other examples of raising, lifting,
lowering, or moving goods.
We propose to construct a cylinder on a suitable foundation plate, to be
bolted to the basement of the building or to any suitable position required;
the cylinder contains a piston and rod, by preference, after the manner of a
steam engine cylinder, except that no valves are required; other pistons

page_text: packen with india-rubber, leather, or any other flexible water-tight material
may be usefully applied. The under part or base of the cylinder is bored
through in order to receive a pipe in connection with the main water supply,
either of a water company's main or from any other source where a sufficient
pressure is to be obtained by reason of the elevation of such supply; this
pipe is provided with a suitable stop-cock. A similar outlet pipe and cock is
also fitted to the base of the cylinder. The top of the piston rod is provided
with a cross head, to each extremity of which a chain or rope is attached, and
the top plate of the cylinder bas fitted thereon two pullies under which the
chains or ropes pass and ascend to the hook of a pair of blocks containing
any given number of sheaves or grooved pullies in order to multiply the
height of the lift as required, because it is necessary that with one upward
or downward stroke of the piston rod the weight should be lifted or lowered
the entire distance required. Therefore, assuming the stroke of the piston
to be ten feet, and the height of the weight to be raised sixty feet, the blocks,
sheaves, and falls would be constructed to multiply the stroke of the piston six
times, and so on to any height required. Of course by this arrangement a
loss of power would ensure,
but by increasing the diameter of the cylinder we
can increase the power to an unlimited extent, the pressure of the water
being equal upon every square inch of surface exposed. The pressure obtained
from the mains varies from about 30 to 40 pounds per square inch, and taking
30 pounds as a standard, to raise a ton weight sixty feet by a stroke of 10
feet we should require an area of piston of about 470 square inches. The
piston does not descend quite to the bottom of the cylinder, in order that when.
the supply cock is turned on the whole under surface of the piston is acted
upon and subjected to the full pressure. In order to lower the goods the exit
pipe is turned on and stopped when the goods are brought down to the desired
level. It is obvious that the goods may be raised or lowered to any inter-
mediate level between the basement and top of the building by regulating the
opening, and shutting of the respective taps. Although we prefer the pipes to
be applied to the base of the cylinder they may be applied to the top, in
which case the action of the ropes and chains would be reversed. The pipes
may also be applied to the top and bottom of the cylinder in order to effect a
double action. The rope or chain continues from the blocks to a gro..ved
pulley at the top or other floor of a building, and thence to a jib of a crane
and pulley, and thence descends to a hook or other attachment to the goods
required to be moved.
The same apparatus may be applied to draw railway trucks or carriages of
any description for a limited distance, it being only necessary to arrange the

page_text: tackle in a suitable manner.
The apparatus may also be rendered portable
by placing it on a carriage and wheels, in order to be conveyed from place to
place as a substitute for a jack lift or for raising pile-driving weights; it is
also applicable to lifts in docks, warehouses, stores, and hotels, or for any
purpose where bodies are required to be moved in any direction.
As a substitute for the blocks and fall we propose in some cases to apply to
the piston rod a toothed rack geared into a pinion or toothed wheel carrying
on its axis a multiplying wheel in connection with a pulley or drum, whereby
the required increase of lift or the contrary may be obtained. The apparatus
may also be applied to raise materials from wells, shafts, tunnels or mines, or
from any position situated at a depth below that of the apparatus. The
cylinder may be fixed either horizontally or vertically, or at any angle, according
to the purpose to which the apparatus is applied.