US2945447A - Hydraulic ram - Google Patents

Description

July 19, 196 TERUICHI YAMAGUCHI ET AL 2,945,447

HYDRAULIC RAM Filed Oct. a, 1956 INVENTORS HYDRAULIC RAM Teruichi Yamaguchi, Tokyo, and Isamu Miyazawa, Uedashi, Nagano-ken, Japan, assignors to Chuo Trading Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Filed Oct. 8, 1956, Ser. No. 614,469

Claims priority, application Japan Aug. 2, 1956 1 Claim. Cl. 103-17 The present invention relates to a hydraulic ram, by which lower level water is pumped up to a higher level by raising and lowering optionally of the water level at a drain hole, regulating the quantity of suction air therefrom and the periodicity of a drain valve motion, and utilizing water hammer pressure in a valve chamber produced by intercepting water flow in a penstock.

The invention employs a novel arrangement of an inverted cup-shaped cover member which is fitted with adequate clearance at an end of a U-shaped air pipe inside of a butter tank to which a lifting pipe is connected, so as to cover the air pipe concentrically, and an elastic spherical lifting valve, in which light gas such as hydrogen, etc. is enclosed, is disposed in the buffer tank.

Various objects of the present invention reside in its simple construction, freedom from troubles, low cost of manufacturing.

Another object of the invention is to maintain the water level in a buffer tank constant and to make the lifting quantity of water constant, under any conditions, as well as to prevent any dust located in the buffer tank from invading into the air pipe and blocking air holes thereon.

The present invention features in its construction an elastic spherical lifting valve, in which light gas such as hydrogen, etc. is enclosed, to make it nearly the same specific gravity as the water, as well as an inverted cupshaped cover member which is fitted with adequate clearance at one end of the U-shaped air pipe that has air holes at its other end. The U-shaped air pipe has an end inside of a butter tank to which a lifting pipe is connected, so as to cover the air pipe concentrically, setting the lower edge of the cover member to coincide with the water level in an equilibrium tank in the butter state.

The ram thus equipped is especially useful where no electric main is available.

The principle of the present invention will be explained in details as under, with the aid of the accompanying drawing. In the drawing, Fig. 1 is an embodiment of the invention, showing a general layout of the hydraulic ram, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the ram.

The water flows into valve chamber 3 through penstock 2 from the head-waters 1 and dashes against the drain valve 5 which swings around hinge 4 and closes the drain hole 6, then, with its existing pressure, opens the spherical lifting valve 7 and flows into the butter tank 8. As the valve 7 is so made that it encloses hydrogen within its spherical body and its specific gravity is nearly equal to and barely greater than water, at the moment when the pressure in the valve chamber 3 becomes slightly higher than the pressure in the buffer tank 8, the valve 7 will commence to open the inlet hole 9. After the pressure of flow-in water comes in equilibrium with the pressure in the tank 8, there begins asomeback flow of the water and when the pressure in nit States Patent 0 the tank 8 becomes higher than that of the flow-in water, the lifting valve 7 will act with adequate back flow and close the hole 9, so that the pressure in the chamber 3 will rapidly become negative owing to the back flow inertia. Then the drain valve 5 will automatically open due to the negative pressure of the chamber 3 and its own weight. Thus the water in the drain pool 10 as well as the open air will be sucked simultaneously into the chamber 3. The drain valve 5 can be adjusted by the adjusting piece 17 controlling the periodicity of opening and closing the valve to obtain the highest efficiency of the ram. Outside of the drain hole 6, there is con nected the drain pool 10.

The water in the buffer tank 8 will be lifted through a lifting pipe 12 by means of the flow-in water and the air. For the purpose of increasing the quantity of lifting water, a U-shaped air pipe 15 of small diameter is arranged in the lifting pipe 12. At the discharge end of the pipe 15, there are opened a number of small air holes 13, and at the other end inside the butter tank, there is fitted an inverted cup-shaped cover member 14 with adequate clearance to cover the pipe 15. Thus, the air entering into the buffer tank 8 will be ejected from the air holes 13 as a number of bubbles, so that the lift of the ram may be increased. According to the experiment of the inventor, the ram action will be come the more stable, the smaller the bubbles made.

The inverted cup-shaped cover member 14 is fitted at a suitable position for the purpose of preventing the dust that entered in the buffer tank 8, from invading into the air pipe 15, as well as for lifting smoothly the water that flows in impulsively. This arrangement will be explained in details as follows:

When the water level in the butter tank situated at the lower edge of cover member 14, i.e. at position M, the air pressure and water pressure in the tank are in an equilibrium state, and the floating dusts are intercepted by the lower edge of the cover member 14 and cannot flow into the air pipe 15.

When the water of the chamber 3 and the air sucked in from the discharge hole 6 flow into the tank by overcoming its internal pressure, it acts to lift the water as well as to press down the water level. But, when the pressure in the tank is higher, i.e. the water level reaches position N, the air flows into the air pipe 15 and ejects small bubbles from the air holes 13 which act as to increase the lift, until the water level is raised and reaches the lower edge of the cover member 14. Under these conditions, there is no fear that the dusts would invade into the air pipe 15, because the water level is lower than the lower edge of the cover member 14.

When the water fiowed into the butter tank by overcoming its internal pressure, is far larger in quantity compared with the suction air, i.e. the water level reaches position L, the dusts are prevented by the air pipe cover member 14 from entering into the air pipe 15, because they are floating on the surface of water, and the lifting of water is continued by the compressed air until the water level reaches position M to become a stable condition.

As aforementioned, the present invention is so contrived that an elastic spherical valve of measurable motion is used to increase its forward stroke efiiciency with Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claims. 1 Having thus descjribed the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: A water pump comprising a penstock for receiving Water at a first level and for delivering water to a drain pool, said penstock having a valve chamber at an end thereof, a drain hole in said valve chamber, a drain valve pivotally mounted in said valve chamber for closing said drain hole, said drain valve being arranged so, as to be opened by its, own weight and to be closed by flowing water in said penstock, a butter tank positioned, above said valve chamber, said valve chamber having an inlet 15 hole communicating said valve chamber with said butter tank, an elastic spherical lifting valve. disposed in said butter tank for closing said hole, said lifting valve being filled with a light-weight gas to make the specific gravity of said lifting valve to be barely greater than water, a lifting pipe extending outwardly from said bulfer tank and having a discharge level above said first level, said lifting pipe including an air pipe disposed therein and extending into said bufier tank, and a cup-shaped air pipe cover within said buifertank and overlying said air pipe; said cover having a depending portion coinciding with the water level in said buffer tank when in an equilibrium state.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 942,666 Romstaedt Dec. 7, 1909 1,148,982 l Iicl,1 olas Aug. 3, 1915 1,285,629 Crowe Nov. 26, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,186 Switzerland Jan. 26, 1900

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