IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AS A MOTIVE POWER, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO PISTONS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." RELATE TO AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ellicott Holmes, of Buckingham Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil and Mechanical Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AS A MOTIVE POWER, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
RELATE TO PISTONS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
RELATE TO PISTONS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th March 1872.
I, JOSEPH ELLICOTT HOLMES, of Buckingham Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil and Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
UTILIZING ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AS A MOTIVE POWER, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS RELATE TO PISTONS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
:―
The first part of my said Invention relates to apparatus for utilizing
atmospheric pressure as a motive power, and is chiefly designed to afford

page_text: a convenient means whereby power may be accumulated by the manual
force of any strong and unskilled persons, or by any other force avail-
able, and when accumulated may be applied and controlled by delicate
and skilled operators for driving sewing machines, jewellers' lathes, and
other light machines.
I construct my improved apparatus as follows:-I make or provide a
cylinder or tube of metal or other suitable material, and of the proper
diameter, to produce the required force. In this cylinder I fit a piston
which must be perfectly air tight in the said cylinder, but must move
freely endwise therein. To this piston I attach a rod which extends
through one end of the cylinder, and is provided with a rack or chain
geared with or connected to a pinion on a shaft that is provided with
means whereby it can be turned by a key or wrench to wind up or
raise the said piston from the bottom to the top of the cylinder. This
shaft is connected by a pawl and ratchet, a clutch, or other suitable con-
trivance with toothed or frictional gearing, or with pulleys and belts,
whereby the motion imparted to the shaft is communicated to other
shafts, the gearing or pulleys being so proportioned that any speed com-
municated to the first shaft is greatly accelerated in its transmission from
the same to the last shaft of the series, which is connected directly or
indirectly with the sewing machine or other machine to be driven.
The piston as before stated must be fitted perfectly air-tight in the said
cylinder, and the latter must be closed air-tight at the bottom or at one
end, the top or other end being open. Then, when the piston is raised
or drawn to the top or open end of the said cylinder, a vacuum will
be produced in the cylinder below the said piston, and the latter will be
pressed down with the full force of the atmosphere, that is to say, by
a pressure of fifteen pounds per square inch, and this force will be com-
municated through the aforesaid gearing to the machine to be driven.
And the power thus obtained will be constant or uniform throughout the
descent of the piston, and my apparatus will therefore be greatly superior
to any mechanism operated by springs, which unless they are provided
with costly and complicated contrivances for equalizing their pressure
will not produce a uniform action. I thus obtain a light, economical
and convenient motive power which is easily portable and involves, no
expenditure except the force required to raise the piston. When my
apparatus is used for a sewing machine, the cylinder may have a wide
base, and be constructed to form the stand or support of the machine.
1.01

page_text: The second part of my said Invention relates to a piston or plunger
for the above described apparatus, and which may also be advan-
tageously used for pumps and for other purposes where it is desired to
have a perfectly tight piston with the slightest possible friction.
I
I make the body of the said piston of hard india-rubber or metal, and of
a diameter slightly less than the bore of the cylinder. For small piston's
I prefer to make the head of hard india-rubber or vulcanite, and attach to
one or both edges a ring or flange of rubber slightly softer or more elastic
than that composing the said body. For the above described apparatus,
and for other purposes where pressure is exerted on one side only of the
piston, the said elastic rings will only be required on one edge, but
where there is pressure on both sides of the piston the same must be pro-
vided with two of the said elastic rings. The said rings will be expanded
by the pressure which acts on the piston, and will thereby be made to
fit the cylinder, and be pressed against it all round with just sufficient
force to make it perfectly tight without any sensible friction.
For large pistons I prefer to have a metallic head somewhat smaller
than the cylinder and recessed on one or both sides. On this head I
place rings of hard india-rubber, to which I attach the rings or flanges
of elastic rubber to form the tight surface as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ELLICOTT HOLMES, of Buckingham Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil and Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AS A MOTIVE POWER, PART OF
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO PISTONS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PUR-
POSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Ellicott Holmes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.*
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
The first part of my said Invention relates to apparatus for utilizing
atmospheric pressure as a motive power, and is chiefly designed to
afford a convenient means whereby the manual force of any person,
skilled or otherwise, may be made available for accumulating force or
power to be used by the same or other more delicate and skilled
operators for driving sewing machines, jewellers' lathes, and other light
machines.
Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of my improved piston.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
I construct my improved apparatus as follows:-I make or provide
a cylinder or tube A of metal, hard rubber, wood, or other suitable
material, and of the proper diameter and length to produce the required

page_text: ресии
piston or plunger for the above described apparatus, which piston may
also be used for pumps and for various purposes for which such pistons
are applicable, and where a perfectly tight piston with the smallest
amount of friction is desirable.
In Figure 4 I have shown a piston head a somewhat clongated to
receive or accommodate two rings 6 of the shape shown, and which for
many purposes I make of hard and soft india-rubber combined. The
base of the said rings is of hard rubber and slightly less on the outside
diameter than the cylinder, so as to move freely in the latter. This
base which is much thicker on its outer edge than on its inner edge is
blended with rubber of a softer and more elastic nature and large
enough to slightly overlap the hard rubber and fill the tube, but without
binding. The inner edge also overlaps the hard rubber, and is held to
the piston head a firmly by a ring c screwed to that edge. These rings
or valves, when the piston head is lowered, lift by the action of the air
or water beneath them and allow the air or water to pass above the
valves, while in the reverse motion of the piston, by the pressure of the
air or other matter in the cylinder, the valves are forced against the
sides of the cylinder with just so much force as will prevent any
passage of the fluid, thus producing a vacuum under the piston.
Leather rings of the shape shown will serve a good purpose, but they
must have such a shape as will allow of an outward pressure as well as
a downward pressure, and the composite valve or ring of hard and soft
india-rubber formed in the peculiar manner shown, will be found the
best for most purposes. It will be readily understood that by reversing
the position of the ring or valve compression of air would be produced,
and for double-acting pumps one ring should face the bottom and the
other the top of the cylinder.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish it understood, that I claim,-
First. The combination of the cylinder, piston, and gearing for the
production of motive power by atmospheric pressure, as herein set forth
and for the purposes specified.
Second. The piston formed and applied as herein shown and described,

page_text: whether used in an apparatus for producing motive power or for other
purposes, as hercin specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ellicott Holmes, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
toro
Witness,
W. ROBT. LAKE,
Patent Agent,
JOSEPH ELLICOTT HOLMES. (L.S.)
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.