IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS AND PUMPING ENGINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, both
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS AND PUMPING ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ashworth and
Elijah Ashworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th December 1874.
We, GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, both of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS AND PUMPING
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the class of direct-acting pumps having rams
which work in glands or stuffing boxes, and has for its object to render
such pumps double acting, and thereby to increase their practical effect.
We divide the part in which the ram works into two chambers, which
are separated by means of a gland or stuffing box, each chamber being

page_text: provided with inlet and outlet valves. The said gland is entirely
enclosed when the pump is at work, and we provide means for tightening
the said gland without having to remove the cover or "bonnet" of either
of the said chambers, and without necessarily arresting the action of the
pump. This we accomplish by means of screws or bolts which pass
through from the exterior to the interior of one of the said chambers, so
that when the said screws or bolts are turned or tightened the adjustable
part of the gland is forced or drawn in the direction which will cause
the packing to be tightened or condensed. The openings through which
the said screws or bolts pass to the interior of the chamber are formed as
or provided with stuffing boxes in order to prevent the passage of air or
water through such openings.
We may employ only one screw passing into the bottom chamber or
into the chamber other than the one into which the piston or pump rod
enters, the said screw acting upon the central part of a frame or cage,
which is suitably formed as to its circumference to act as the adjustable
part of a gland.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, both of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
'cessors, give and grant unto us, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, Her special license that we, the said George Ashworth and
Elijah Ashworth, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, 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,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS AND PUMPING ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
3 Ashworth, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
3 Drawings, that is to say :—
Our Invention relates to the class of direct-acting pumps having rams
which work in glands or stuffing boxes, and has for its object to render
such pumps double acting, and thereby to increase their practical effect.
We divide the part in which the ram works into two chambers, which
are separated by means of a gland or stuffing box, each chamber being
provided with inlet and outlet valves. The said gland is entirely
enclosed when the pump is at work, and we provide means for tightening
the said gland without having to remove the cover or bonnet of either
of the said chambers, and without necessarily arresting the action of the
pump. This we accomplish by means of screws or bolts which pass
through from the exterior to the interior of one of the said chambers, 80'
that when the said screws or bolts are turned or tightened the adjustable
part of the gland is forced or drawn in the direction which will cause
the packing to be tightened or condensed. The openings through which
the said screws or bolts pass to the interior of the chamber are formed as
or provided with stuffing boxes in order to prevent the passage of air or
water through such openings. .
We may employ only one screw passing into the bottom chamber or
the chamber other than the one into which the piston or pump rod
enters, the said screw acting upon the central part of a frame or cage,
which is suitably formed as to its circumference to act as the adjustable
part of a gland,

page_text: And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
have appended hereunto a Sheet of Drawings made to a scale of about
one-fourth of the full size, and marked with letters of reference, corre-
sponding marks indicating the same parts in the various Figures.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings Fig. 1 represents a front
elevation, and Fig. 2 a side elevation of a vertical pump constructed in
accordance with our Invention; Fig. 3 represents a cross section on the
line A in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, a vertical diagonal section on the line B in
Fig. 3. In the said Figures a is a pump barrel, which is cast in one
piece with the columns c, c, being connected therewith by the shells of
the inlet and outlet passages b, b, and at other points, as will be under-
stood from an inspection of Fig. 1. The said barrel may be cast
separately, and be bolted or attached to the framing of the pump, or to
the foundation plate if preferred. As the aforesaid columns and the
form and arrangement of the steam cylinder and other parts other than
herein-after described are not novel they may be varied as may be
preferred or considered to be most suitable in any case.
To the pump
rod c is attached a cylindrical ram d, which is suitably turned and
finished to work in a stuffing box formed and contained within the
barrel a.
In the example a ring of gun metal e is bored to suit the said
ram, and is suitably turned to be driven or pushed down into the barrel
until it rests upon a projecting ledge cast in the said barrel. The said
barrel is bored down to the said ledge, and the said ledge is also bored

page_text: by means of a handle or key, if preferred. Each of the parts of the
gland is cast with a part which extends upwards, in order that the end
of one of the said screws may operate upon it. If preferred, the whole
of the said gland may be made of a depth sufficient to effect the same
object.
When a suitable quantity of packing material has been placed within
the barrel a and around the ram the two halves of the gland fare placed
within the barrel and pushed down into position. A projection or
projections on each half of the gland enters or enter a groove formed in
the side of the bore of the barrel, as seen in Fig. 5, which represents a
cross section on the line D in Fig. 4, the object being to prevent the
gland from revolving within the said barrel. The cover h having been
fixed in position the spindles k are turned in the direction which will
cause them to force down the two halves of the gland f until the
packing is compressed as much as is considered to be necessary. The
packing may be tightened at any time by turning the said spindles.
barrel.
. Fig. 7 represents a vertical longitudinal section of a horizontal pump
In this example the screw spindle k acts upon the gland
through an intermediate frame m which bears against the said gland at
two diametrically opposito points, and transmits the thrust of the said
spindle to the said points. The said intermediate frame may be made in
the form of a cage extending around the ram, and formed with apertures
for the passage of water, and the gland may or may not be cast in one
piece with the said cage. The arrangement illustrated by this Figure, or
a modification thereof, may be employed in the case of pumps having
vertical barrels, the gland, intermediate piece, or cage being forced
upwards by means of one screw spindle, or being drawn upwards by
means of two or more bolts passing through stuffing boxes into the lower
chamber.
Having now fully described and indicated the nature of our said
Invention, and methods of carrying the same into practical effect, we
would in conclusion have it to be understood that we claim,―
First. The methods of tightening the packing around the rams of
double-acting pumps by means of screw spindles or bolts extending from
the exterior to the interior of the ram chambers, substantially as herein-

page_text: Secondly. The combination and arrangement of parts, substantially as
and for the purposes set forth and indicated herein-before and by the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh 5
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
Signed and sealed by the said
George Ashworth and Elijah
Ashworth, in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentees,
3, Princess Street,
Manchester.
GEORGE ASHWORTH. (L.S.)
ELIJAH ASHWORTH.
(L.S.)