IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COM- MÚNICATING POWER TO SHIPS' PUMPS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Duke, of Dover, in the County of Kent,
Shipbuilder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COM-
MÚNICATING POWER TO SHIPS' PUMPS."
Sealed the 20th April 1858, and dated the 21st October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Duke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st October 1857.
I, ROBERT DUKE, of Dover, in the County of Kent, Shipbuilder, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
COMMUNICATING POWER TO SHIPS' PUMPS," to be as follows:-
My improvements in communicating power to ships' pumps consist in the
application of an oscillating weight, by which the application of manual
labor to working ships' pumps is materially assisted..
The pumps are mounted in pairs in the usual manner, and. worked from a
double arm or lever mounted on an oscillating shaft, the pump rods being
attached one at either end of such lever.. This shaft is mounted some feet
from the deck, and on it I fix and suspend a lever weighted at the bottom like
a pendulum. Ropes are attached to this weight or lever, and an oscillating
motion communicated. thereto by hands alternately pulling in opposite direc-
tions, or it may be pulled and let go alternately from one side only. The
oscillating motion of this weighted lever gives motion to the pump rods and
buckets, and according to the extent of such oscillation so will be the stroke
of the pumps. The oscillating weight is proportioned to the size of the
pumps.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Duke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DUKE, of Dover, in the County of Kent, Shipbuilder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Duke, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Duke, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Duke, my 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, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING POWER TO SHIPS' PUMPS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Duke, my executors or administra-
tors, 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 Robert Duke, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My improvements in communicating power to ships' pumps, consist in the
application of an oscillating weight by which the application of manual labor
to working ships' pumps is materially assisted.
The pumps are mounted in pairs in the usual manner, and worked from a
double arm or lever mounted on an oscillating shaft, the pump rods being
attached one at either end of such lever. This shaft is mounted some feet
from the deck, on it I fix and suspend a lever weighted at the bottom like a
pendulum. Ropes are attached to this weight or lever, and an oscillating
motion communicated thereto by "hands" alternately pulling in opposite direc-
tions, or it may be pulled and let go alternately in one direction only. The

page_text: buckets, and according to the extent of such oscillation so will be the stroke
of the pumps. The oscillating weight is proportioned to the size of the
pumps.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents in elevation a pair of ships' pumps, mounted and worked
according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a view of the same taken at right angles.
to Fig. 1.
The pumps a, a, together with their buckets and rods b, b, are as usual,
and act by means of a reciprocating motion as in ordinary, there being in fact
no difference in the pumps themselves. I dispose them in pairs as seen in
Fig. 1, at a suitable distance apart, so that the pump rods may depend from
either end of a beam or lever c, mounted on a fulcrum at d, which lever is of
sufficient length to impart the requisite motion to the pump buckets by its
oscillations. On the pumps I form two sockets e, e, in which I mount a
standard f, f, which bears the one end of the shaft d, d, on which the beam c
is mounted and rocks. The other end of this shaft is supported in a bearing
g affixed to the mast h of the ship, or another standard or stanchion may be
erected from the deck for that purpose. On the shaft d, I suspend an arm or
rod k, to the lower end of which I suspend a weight i, which is of size and
weight in proportion to the size of the pumps. For a pair of seven-inch
pumps I employ a body of about one hundredweight, reducing it for smaller
pumps, and increasing that weight in proportion to any increase in the size of
the pumps. This weighted rod or lever is fixed rigidly on the shaft d, as also
the lever or beam c, so that any motion of oscillation imparted to the weighted
lever is communicated to the beam c, which alternately moves to the
different positions shown dotted; this oscillating motion of the beam c imparts
by direct communication therewith the up-and-down motion to the rods b, b,
of the pumps, and consequently to the buckets or plungers of the pumps,
whereby the water is lifted and discharged as in ordinary pumps.
In order to apply the power to work the pumps, I attach two ropes p, p,
one to either side of the weight i, or it may be to some part of the lever k,
suitable eyes being provided for the purpose. These ropes are extended out in
opposite directions, and one or two "hands" may be clapped on each. It will
be readily understood, that to work the pumps the "hands "so applied have
merely to pull and slack alternately the ropes, so as to cause the weighted
lever k, to oscillate to the positions as seen in dotted lines, in order to produce
the necessary motion for working the pumps which will be communicated to
the buckets thereof as herein-before described. By this means a couple of

page_text: "hands" can work a pair of large pumps with great ease, and for a long spell
at a time, as the motion may be given to the weighted lever without much
fatigue, the oscillations of that body lightening considerably the power
required. Moreover the motion of the ship will greatly facilitate the oscilla-
tions of the weighted lever, so that but comparatively small power is required
to be applied to the pumps by hand in proportion to the amount of water
discharged by the pumps. Instead of two pumps only one may be worked
by the oscillating lever c, the conditions of weighted lever k, being the same,
or on the other hand three, four, or other number of pumps may be worked
from the same oscillating shaft d and weighted lever, as two or more beams or
levers c may be mounted on shaft d for that purpose, and all worked by
oscillations of the same weighted lever, or two or more weighted levers may
be suspended from the same shaft d for the purpose of actuating only one,
or it may be any other number of pumps.
When the pumps are not required for use, the shaft d is removed from
its bearings together with the levers c and k, the pump rods b, b, being dis-
connected, the standard f, f, is also dismounted from the sockets e, e, it being
merely fixed therein by suitable cross pins to prevent it rising, nothing will
then remain standing but the pumps.
As will be readily understood the whole may be readily mounted, and fitted
"'for use or dismounted as described.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of perform-
ing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be secured
under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the working or com-
municating power to ships' pumps, by means of or through the intervention
of an oscillating weighted lever as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Duke, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM CLARK, Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lane, London.
ROBERT DUKE. (L.S.)