IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING GASEOUS FLUIDS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING GASEOUS FLUIDS." -A
communication from abroad by Paul Eugène Geneste, junior,
Charles Georges Herscher, and Ernest Herscher, all of Paris, in
the Republic of France, Engineers.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th September 1874.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING GASEOUS
FLUIDS," a communication to me from abroad by Paul Eugène Geneste,
junior, Charles Georges Herscher, and Ernest Herscher, all of Paris, in
the Republic of France. Engineers, to be as follows:-

page_text: lifted the force valve (through which it is caused to pass, and which is
also sealed with liquid), conducts with it the excess of liquid admitted as
above described, and the quantity of which is so regulated that it will
absorb the heat evolved in the operation of compressing the air or gas,
an overflow pipe being provided above the force valve for the escape
of the surplus liquid when it exceeds a certain height above the valve, so
that a uniform level is constantly maintained.
:-
The cooling of the air or gas is effected in the following manner,
vizt. From the under side of the case of the force valve there depends
a bucket, the sides of which are composed of perforated metal or wire
gauze. The bottom of this bucket is moveable, and becomes detached
from the other portion at the time of the descent of the liquid column,
so as to offer no obstruction to thic passage of the liquid; but during the
upward motion such liquid is forced to pass in the form of spray through
the perforations or reticulations of the sides of the bucket, by which
means a large cooling surface is presented to the air or gas under com-
pression. The force valve, which consists of a cylinder surmounted by
a hood or cover, has also formed in its body a number of fine per-
forations through which the air or gas (when the valve is raised) is
projected, such air or gas being thus caused to pass in a subdivided
condition through the body of the liquid, which is constantly main-
tained above the valve. The liquid is also conducted in the form of
spray through a tube connecting two of the apparatus (when more
than one is employed), which tube may be provided with a valve
constructed in a similar manner to that lastly herein-before described,
and through which the air is caused to traversc. Double force valves
may also be employed situate one above the other, with an intervening
chamber, which communicates by a small tube with the chamber above,
the weight of the upper valve exceeding that of the lower, so that a
small quantity of the air or gas will be left between the two valves,
which air or gas will have the effect of projecting any liquid which may
have remained above the lower valve into the compressed air or gas con-
tained in the chamber above, and thus complete the cooling of the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, or 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
APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING GASEOUS FLUIDS," a communication to me from
abroad by Paul Eugène Geneste, junior, Charles Georges Herscher,
and Ernest Herscher, all of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineers, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
The said Invention relates to pumps or apparatus to be employed

page_text: When the gas to be compressed is too soluble in water other liquids
may be employed for producing the same effect.
A further special feature of the apparatus consists in a combination of
arrangements for effecting the cooling of the air simultaneously with its
compression.
In effecting this object the following means are employed, vizt. :-
First. A metallic bucket S perforated with small holes, and so con-
structed as that its bottom becomes detached on the descent of the
liquid piston, by the use of which arrangement the liquid is prevented
from returning at the moment of compression, except in the form of
spray, that is to say, by presenting a large cooling surface to the gas to
be compressed.
Second. Above the force valve G there is maintained a column of water X
of greater or less height, through which the air is caused to traverse in
the form of streamlets by reason of the peculiar construction of the
valve G, which is composed of a cylinder surmounted by a hood or
cover, and perforated all round with a number of capillary apertures.
Third. A flow of water in the form of spray in the centre of the air
passage M leading from one pump cylinder A' to the other B¹ by means
of perforations formed in the tube T.
Fourth. An arrangement of valves 1, 1, placed one above the other
(Figures 2 and 3), the upper one of. which is heavier than the other,
having the same surface, thus establishing below such upper valve a
slight pressure of air, which is sufficient to cause the water which
remains above the lower valve to rise in the tube s, which passes
through the upper valve 7. The water then arrives in contact with
the compressed air in the form of a jet, and suffices to cool it com-
pletely.
A communication is established between the cylinders A' and B¹ by
means of the passages M, N, as shewn in Figure 4.
The air or gases compressed to the required degree are collected at O,
Figure 2.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider

page_text: to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application and use to and in the compressing of gaseous
fluids of a pump or apparatus, wherein the compression is effected by
the intervention of a piston or body of water, or other liquid, sub-
stantially as herein-before described, and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings.
Second. The combination of a series of pumps or apparatus for suc-
cessively increasing the degree of compression of the gaseous fluids
when operating by the intervention of a piston or body of water, or
other liquid, substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated by
the Drawings.
Third. Supplying water or other cooling liquid to the apparatus at
each stroke of the actuating piston, or simultaneously with the intro-
duction of the gaseous fluid to be compressed, for the purpose of
absorbing the heat generated by the compression, and cooling the gaseous
fluid in its traverse whilst being compressed, substantially as herein-
before described, and illustrated by the Drawings.
Fourth. The employment of a film or body of water, or other liquid,
maintained at a constant level at the joints for the purpose of preventing
the leakage or escape of the gaseous fluid, substantially as herein-before
described, and illustrated by the Drawings.
Fifth. The combination with a force valve perforated on its periphery,
or with a compound force valve having a tube connected therewith, of
a column of water maintained above the valve, a perforated bucket
having a movable bottom, and arranged below such valve, and per-
forated pipes for dividing the current of cooling liquid, substantially as
and for the purposes herein-before described, and as illustrated by the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Third day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.