Improvements in Tube-well Apparatus.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 26th Nov., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tube-well Apparatus.
A communication from LOUIS BAPTISTE DONKERS, of Antwerp, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Machine Builder.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers do hereby declare the nature
of this invention 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 improvements herein described is to enable deep wells to be
sunk with the assistance of a small number of operatives, and in a much shorter
time than it could be effected hitherto.
The sliding rammer or driver B, Fig. 1, is adapted to travel upon the hollow
upright A, resting in a block or bearing C, and loosely passed through a horizontal
plate a. This plate a is supported by three or more standards or supports b c d
and has a central opening e, Fig. 2, in which is formed a groove f, so that the
upright A can freely move.up and down but not turn about its longitudinal axis.
From the longitudinal section, Fig. 6, it will be seen that the lower end of the
hollow upright A screws into a recess in the upper surface of the bearing block C
which serves as an anvil to sustain the blows of the rammer B. lu the lower
surface of the block C is provided a. recess in which is fitted a plug 1. In the
sides of this plug are secured outlet pipes or nozzles pp for the discharge of the
returning flushing water. The plug is, connected by means of a screw-threaded
sleeve or coupling m m with the pipe n to be driven into the ground. The. block C
and the plug have coinciding central perforations. The boring, or sinking,
operation takes place in the following manner :-In the first place the lower pipe W
with the taper point P (Fig. 1) is driven in. The same is shown in longitudinal
section in Fig. 3, while Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate modifications thereof.
l
The lower pipe is formed as a filter or strainer.
The filter W, of which Fig. 1 shows an elevation, and Fig. 3 a section, consists
jof three pipes with perforated walls. The inner pipe is made of sheet steel or
copper and has rather large perforations of any suitable shape in section. Another
pipe is fitted on the first or innermost pipe. This second pipe is made of sheet iron
or wire-gauze with very fine meshes or perforations. The third or outer pipe,
passed over these two inner ones, is made of thick sheet steel or copper and also.
provided with comparatively large perforations.
Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified arrangement of the filtering pipe W and
also consist of three telescoping parts or pipes with this difference however that the
innermost and the intermediate pipes may here be withdrawn from the outer pipe
quite independently of the latter. The resulting advantage is, that when it is
desired to clean the fine perforations of the intermediate pipe, this pipe, along with
the innermost pipe it surrounds, may alone be withdrawn, leaving the outer pipe or
casing with the wide perforations (which cannot be easily obstructed by the earth)
standing in the ground.
Fig. 7shows a further modification, in which the outer pipe K is smooth and
unprovided with any perforations, while the inner pipe M has perforations and a
point for driving it in. Into this point, after the completion of the works, a plug
is inserted to close the pipe at the bottom. This inner pipe is driven in still
further, when the external one has already reached the deepest point of the well;
which offers the advantage; that more water can by this means be derived from the
ground.

page_text: When the first filtering pipe W or K is driven into the ground, a second pipe n
is placed thercon, being, as usual connected therewith by means of a threaded
sleeve m, similar connections being formed with one or more succeeding pipes or
pipe-sections.
In driving in pipes, the soil should from time to time be bored by auxiliary
appliances, and the earth, sand, &c. removed by flushing. These results are
advantageously accomplished by the arrangement shown in the drawings, without
the necessity of interrupting the "driving in" operation. In Fig. 3 a boring
device H is represented in the pipe W. When, by this device, the earth or rock
is loosened while the pipes are being sunk, the borer is removed and a connection is
made with a water pipe or hose, which passes through the hollow upright A, the
openings in the block C, and the plug and reaches down to the bottom of the well.
Water may then be forced in by means of a hand or other pump, and this water,
mixed with earth, sand, mud &c. rises again in the annular space in the pipes,
passes through the plug, into the lateral discharge nozzles p and thence flows into
the collectors E; from which it may be removed by means of a pump and again
utilized for raising the earth, provided the collectors are sufficiently large for the
mud and impurities to settle.
From the foregoing statements, the advantages of this arrangement will be
readily understood; they may be summed up as follows:-
1. The pipes to be sunk are reliably guided through the earth or rock.
2. While the pipes are sunk, the boring and pumping operations may be con-
ducted at the same time;
3. The connection between the guide rod or upright with a new pipe is more
readily effected than hitherto; and
4. The filtering or straining arrangement is simply and easily established in the
ground.
When the well is completed, .e. all the necessary pipes sunk, the plug M, screw-
threaded at N, is fitted in the pipe W so that the water from the well can only get
into the interior of the well pipes through the perforations in the walls of the
filtering pipes.
When in course of time, the filter W being sunk in muddy or sandy ground,
becomes clogged, the telescoping or removable arrangement of the inner filtering
pipe offers a ready means of cleaning it and thereby restoring the well to a satis-
factory condition.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is,-
1. An arrangement for sinking pipes in the construction of tube wells
characterized by the erection of a hollow post or upright for guiding the sliding
rammer or driver, and for connection with the water pipe for flushing purposes, in
combination with a block C, which transmits the power from the rammer to the
pipe to be driven in.
2. In the arrangement characterized in the preceding claim a plug such as !
which is adapted to be joined with the pipe to be sunk by means of a nut or threaded
sleeve provided with a central perforation and lateral side pipes or nozzles for
PP
conducting away the rising flush-water upper rounded surface engaging with the
corresponding recess in the block C.
3. In the apparatus characterized in the first claim the filtering or straining
arrangement consisting of (preferably) three concentric pipes fitted one within the
other and forming together the lower pipe the inner and outer of these three pipes
having large perforations and the intermediate one small perforations.
4. In the arrangements characterized by the first and third claims making the
innermost and intermediate pipes removable from the outer filtering pipe for

page_text: greater convenience in cleaning the small perforations or meshes of the inter-
mediate pipe.
The whole substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 24th day of October 1892.
ALFRED J. BOULT,
Chartered Patent Agent.