Direct Acting Steam and other Plunger Pumps.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Dec., 1894-Accepted, 2nd Feb., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Direct Acting Steam and other Plunger Pumps.
We, WILHELM VOIT, of the Eisenbahn Hotel, Fuerstenberg, on the Oder,
Germany, and WILLIAM DAVIS HOOKER, of 207 South Canal Street, Chicago,
State of Illinois, United States of America, 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:-
Our invention relates to improvements in direct acting steam and other plunger
pumps.
The object of the invention is to so improve the construction of direct acting
pumps that, firstly, the dead spaces in the steam cylinder will be reduced to a
ninimum, secondly, the steam piston will start at any point of the stroke, and
thirdly, the valve movement will be adjustable to any variation of speed. The
invention refers also to inside packed plunger pumps where the stuffing box gland
can be forced against the packing from the outside of the pump while the pump
is running.
Our invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Fig. 1 is an elevation of our improved steam pump, the steam cylinder, its
valves, valve chests, plunger, plunger stuffing box and gland, plunger bonnet,
part of pump cylinder and its accessories being shown in vertical longitudinal
section, while the valve movement and its accessories are shown in side elevation.
Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the steam cylinder on the line X-X
Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section through cushion ports and main valve on the
line Y-Y Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section of steam cylinder and steam chests with
its accessories, showing cushioning ports in steam cylinder as well as in main valve
chest.
Fig. 5 is an end view of valve movement.
Fig. 6 is a transverse horizontal section of plunger bonnet and stuffing box gland
on line Z-Z Fig. 1, showing adjusting screws and method of adjusting plunger
packing.
Fig. 7 is an end view of stuffing box gland.
Fig. 8 is a vertical elevation of plunger bonnet with stuffing box gland, showing
a modified form of adjusting plunger packing.
Fig. 9 is a transverse horizontal section thereof on line M-M Fig. 8.
o represents a steam cylinder, na piston therein, a the piston rod of the
engine and pump, and m the valve for controlling the admission of steam to,
and its exhaust from, the cylinder. This valve is contained within a suitable
chest and is itself actuated by steam which is admitted to, and exhausted from,
the opposite ends of said chest under the control of a supplemental valve k
contained in a suitable chest k¹ supplied with steam through a duct (Fig. 2).
a is a block which is secured to the piston rod a. A wrist pin a connects a
driving lever b to this block and, by the movement of the piston rod, this lever
receives an oscillating motion. c is a sleeve cast in one with, or secured to, the
end of the horizontal shaft d and forming a T head thereto. To the pump
yoke is secured a bearing e in which this horizontal shaft d is journalled. his
a lever whose lower end is loosely fulcrummed upon the shaft d and whose upper

page_text: end is pivotally connected to link i. This link is pin-jointed to the valve rod ¿¹
which enters chest k¹ through a suitable stuffing box and is connected to and
operates valve k. To shaft d is fastened a V-shaped rocker g, which has screwed
through its two upper ends adjusting screws ff, these screws being secured by
nuts in their adjusted position.
As the piston rod a moves back and forth, it carries with it the lower end
of the lever and thereby causes the shaft d to rock about its centre. Rocker
being fastened to this shaft, it will oscillate uniformly with it. As the lever h
is loose upon the shaft d, it will not be affected by the movement of said shaft
until one of the two adjusting screws ff1 comes in contact with it. When the
piston n is about to complete its stroke, say for instance, to the left, the
adjusting screw will come in contact with the lever hand throw it to the right,
which motion also shifts valve k to the right. Steam will now enter the port v
and drive the valve m to the right, thereby permitting steam to exhaust from
the right hand end and live steam to enter the left hand end of cylinder o and
thereby force the piston n to the right. The piston, as shown in Fig. 1, is now
moving to the right and when it is about to complete its stroke, the adjusting
screw will come in contact with lever hand the reverse operation of the
foregoing parts will take place.
The steam piston n is arrested at the end of its stroke by a steam cushion.
To accomplish this the steam cylinder o is lengthened at both ends beyond the
main ports p p (Fig. 1); thus, when the piston, travelling to the left for
instance, has passed port p as shown in Fig. 1, it will be arrested by compressed
exhaust steam confined in space y between the piston n and cover t. Now when
the main valve m has been reversed, by means of the valve driving gear before
described, no steam can enter space through main port p; an auxiliary or
cushion port however leads to the extreme end of steam cylinder o, and this
port is uncovered by the main valve m simultaneously with the main port p.
In the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the main port p and the auxiliary port s
are now uncovered by the main valve m, but only the auxiliary port & admits
steam to the space q. Piston n will move to the right and uncover port p, thus
admitting more steam and accelerating the motion of the engine. Now steam
escapes through port pl only under main valve into the atmosphere, port s being
covered by main valve, see Fig. 3, and when the piston has passed port p', it will
again be arrested by the steam confined in the cylinder space between the piston
and cover t. This confined steam will be compressed and gradually retard the
motion of the piston until the engine comes to a standstill. It is desirable to
regulate this retarding of the motion of the piston at the end of its stroke, or
rather produce a short pause of the piston, especially for large pumps. For this
purpose cocks uu¹ are inserted in these ports (Fig. 3) which serve to contract
the area of ports ss. This contracting of the ports ss alone, will not be sufficient
to attain the desired result under all conditions. There must also be a means of
adjusting the valve movement in such a manner that the auxiliary valve k shall
reverse just at the right point of the piston stroke. This is accomplished by the
adjusting screws ff, but instead of the adjusting screws, other elements, such as
wedges, could be used in order to attain the same result. If these adjusting screws
are moved towards each other, the auxiliary valve k will be reversed sooner and the
steam piston will make a shorter stroke, and vice versa. If the screws fƒ' are in
such a position that the auxiliary valve k will open port before the piston n has
covered port p, then it may be that piston n is not cushioned on compressed
exhaust steam, but on live steam, and in this case it would not be possible to attain
a pause of the piston at the end of its stroke. There would also be a great loss of
steam and the reversing of the motion of the engine would be too sudden.
To be able to cushion the engine on exhaust steam and also compel the piston.to
make a full stroke, or in other words cause the piston to travel as near as possible
towards both cylinder heads, the supplemental piston with its main valve m must
be reversed very abruptly in a very short space of the piston stroke. The friction

page_text: of the supplemental piston ? must therefore be reduced to a minimum. Piston
rings, which produce too much friction and may cause the supplemental piston to
stick, must therefore be avoided, especially for small sizes. In place of the piston
rings we use small cushion valves w w in the ends of supplemental piston l.
These valves can play up and down a little and are prevented from turning round
by pins z 2. When the supplemental piston / is reversed and, for instance, thrown
to the right as shown in Fig. 1, it is arrested by compressed exhaust steam confined
in space, for the cushion valve w¹, which is forced down on its seat by this
compressed exhaust steam, now covers port v' and prevents this exhaust steam from
escaping into the atmosphere. When now the auxiliary valve k is reversed, live
steam which enters port v' will lift this valve w¹, enter space and throw the
supplemental piston to the left. As these cushion valves serve also to prevent any
live steam from passing between the supplemental piston and its cylinder through
ports into the atmosphere, it is not necessary to fit this supplemental piston
tight in the cylinder in which it moves and its friction can therefore be reduced to
a minimum. For this reason if the auxiliary valve k opens port but very little,
this will be sufficient to reverse the supplemental piston, the more so as with the
opening of this port the other side of supplemental piston will be connected with
the atmosphere, see Fig. 1, and therefore the steam piston n will be capable of
starting at any point of the stroke.
For large sized steam pumps where the supplemental piston is made of a large
diameter, it can receive piston rings, for then it is possible to produce tightness of
the supplemental piston in its cylinder with very little friction. In this case the
ports in the main valve chest will be arranged in a similar manner to those in the
steam cylinder. Besides ports vv this valve chest is also provided with cushion
or auxiliary ports y y¹, see Fig. 4.
The improvements herein described can also be applied to double cylinder pumps,
and the auxiliary or cushion ports ss' as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 can be applied to
duplex pumps. The steam cylinders of these Worthington duplex pumps have four
steam ports all of the same size, two serving for the steam inlet and the other two
for the steam outlet. The main valves for such pumps are necessarily of
considerable size and the dead spaces in such steam cylinders are necessarily large.
But when cushion ports as are used, which are very small in proportion to the
main ports p p', the inain valves can be made much smaller than the Worthington
valves. The same is the case with the dead spaces.
The second part of this invention consists in a novel inside packed plunger pump
where the packing can be screwed up from the outside of pump while it is running.
The stuffing box gland A slides in the stuffing box S in the inside of pump cylinder P.
Both ends of this gland are fitted accurately into stuffing box S so that the gland
shall be guided in the stuffing box and held in true alignment with the plunger and
there will be no friction of the plunger sliding through the gland. This gland has
lugs B B which slide loosely in recesses C C cored in the sides of the stuffing box,
see Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9. The plunger bonnet D, which is secured to the end of pump.
by bolts or screws, receives the gland adjusting screws E E. The outside
parts EE of these adjusting screws are smooth and are tightened by stuffing.
boxes F F to prevent leakage around the screws. The ends E E of stems E' E
are squared and, by a wrench which fits them, the screws E F can be forced against
the packing and in this manner the packing can be adjusted or screwed up from the
outside of the pump while it is running. To pack the pump plunger, simply
remove the pump bonnet when the stuffing box gland can be readily withdrawn and
the packing inserted in the stuffing box around the pump plunger.
A modification of this construction is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Here stems E E
are smooth in their whole length and are connected with each other by a cross head
or cross bar G. Screw J, which turns in bearing H, takes hold of bar G and, by
turning the hand wheel W which is secured to screw J connected with such cross
head G, the stems E E are forced against the gland A. and the packing is thereby
tightened.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The auxiliary or cushion ports sa² in combination with cushion valves w w¹ of
a direct acting steam pump, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The arrangement of auxiliary or cushion ports in combination with
auxiliary or cushion ports y y' of a direct acting steam pump, substantially as set
forth.
3. The auxiliary or cushion ports together with cushion valves w w¹ in
combination with cocks u u¹ of a direct acting steam pump, as set forth.
4. The auxiliary or cushion ports together with auxiliary or cushion
ports y y' in combination with cocks u u³ of a direct acting steam pump, as set
forth.
5. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination with the piston rod a nnd a
lever connected thereto, of the rock shaft d having a sleeve c formed integral
therewith in which said lever fits so as to be capable of sliding end wise therein, the
valve rocker g g fastened to rock shaft d, the lever fulcrummed loosely on said
shaft, and connections between said lever and engine valve, substantially as herein
set forth.
6. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination of piston rod a, lever b, rock
shaft d, sleeve c, valve rocker 9 g, lever h, and adjusting screws ƒƒ, substantially
as set forth.
7. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination of auxiliary or cushion
ports, cushion valves w w¹, and a valve movement which can be so adjusted that
the length of the piston stroke can be regulated for the purpose, substantially as
specified.
8. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination of auxiliary or cushion
ports and auxiliary or cushion ports y y' and an adjustable valve movement,
substantially as specified.
9. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination of auxiliary or cushion
ports, cushion valves w w¹, an adjustable valve movement, and cocks u u',
substantially as set forth.
10. In direct acting steam pumps, the combination of auxiliary or cushion
ports s¹, auxiliary or cushion ports y y', an adjustable valve movement, and
cocks u u', substantially as set forth.
11. In a duplex pump, the auxiliary or cushion ports & ♪¹ as set forth.
12. In a duplex pump, the auxiliary or cushion ports
cocks u u, as set forth.
in combination with
13. In a double acting plunger pump, the combination with the plunger, the
stuffing box being arranged in the inside of pump cylinder, of a gland A having
lugs B B and adjusting screws E E arranged in plunger bonnet Ď and provided
with stuffing boxes F F, as set forth.
14. In a plunger pump, the combination with a plunger stuffing box S, of a
gland A and stems E E, stuffing boxes F F, cross head or bar G, bearing H and
screw J, as set forth.
15. In direct acting steam and other plunger pumps, the various improvements
herein described.
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