US570844A - donato - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheetsr-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

- J. B. GQDON ATO.@ LIQUID SUPPLY SYSTEM.

- No. 570,844. Patented Nov. 3, 1896.

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J. B. G. DONATO. LIQUID SUPPLY SYSTEM.

No. 570,844. Patented Nov. 3, 1896.

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(No. Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet a. j

J. B. G. DONATO. LIQUID SUPPLY SYSTEM.

No. 570,844. Patented NOV. 3, 1896.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BATISTE GUSTAVE DONATO, OF OPELOUSAS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-TENTH TO CORNELIUS DONATO AND THEOPHILE S. FONTENOT,

OF SAME PLACE.

LIQUID-SUPPLY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,844, dated November 3, 1896.

Application filed August 22, 1895.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN BATISTE GUSTAVE DONATO, a citizen of the United States, residing at Opelousas, in the parish of St. Landry and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Supply Systems; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for lifting liquids of any description; and it consists in an apparatus so constructed and arranged that liquids may be lifted by exhausting the air from a reservoir without the entry of any of the liquid so raised into the said reservoir, and also whereby different kinds of liquid may be lifted by one common reservoir from which the air has been exhausted and may be delivered independently or simultaneously into one or more receptacles.

The said invention is intended especially 2 5 to cover certain improvements upon my Patent No. 536,858, granted April 2, 1895.

r The said invention also consists in certain novel features hereinafter described and claimed. 7

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same parts are indicated by the same letters throughout the several views.

Figure 1 represents diagrammatically and in elevation an apparatus adapted to lift two kinds of liquids and constructed in accord ance with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a similar view showing diagrammatically my improved system for use in hotels or facto- 0 ries where only one kind of water is to be lifted. Fig. 3 represents a section through a delivery-cock adapted for use in my apparatus; and Fig. 4 represents diagrammatically my apparatus as applied to pumping and delivering Water and then taking up again and draining off the water so delivered, and while it shows the apparatus as applied for the purposes of irrigation and drainage it will be obvious that the second step may be to lift the water higher than it is lifted by Serial No. 560,096. (No model.)

the first step and that by the simple multiplication'of parts water may be lifted to any desired height by means of a single reservoir from which the air has been exhausted.

Referring now especially to Fig. 1, A represents the air-chamber, from which the air is exhausted through the pipe (0 by means of the pump B, driven bya gearing (3, connected to the windmill O. Any other source of power for exhausting the chamber A may be adopted, such, for instance, as a hand-lever C for operating the pump B, (shown in Fig. 2,) but I prefer a windmill, because the apparatus is of such a nature that the required energy may be stored up for an indefinite period, and hence the advantages of a windmill whose energy, developed while the wind blew, could be stored up for subsequent use. This air-chamber A is preferably provided with a pressure-gage a, and may also be provided with a safety-valve a adapted to open inwardshould the external pressure become too great, but this would not be required under-ordinary conditions unless an extremely large and weak air-chamber was used or unless it was desired to lift the liquids only through a short distance, since under the best conditions the external pressure would v never be greater than fifteen pounds to the square inch. 80

Instead of exhausting the air by pumping it out it may be driven out by a jet of steam from any suitable steam supply, (not shown,) and the desired vacuum may then be produced by condensing the steam in the manner well-known in that class of pumps known as steam and vacuum pumps.

The air-chamber A is connected, by means of an exhaust-pipe D, to a plurality of suction-pipes D and D which are connected to the upper portion of any desired number of liquid-chambers E, as by means of the pipes d, which are controlled by the valves d The number of these suction-pipes D and D may be varied from one to any multiple thereof, 95 and the number of liquid-chambers may be increased or decreased, as desired. The lower orifice of the pipe d is closed by a suitable float or valve operated by a float, such as the ball (I in the wire frame (1, the said valve roe/.7

risingand closing the bottom of the pipe d when the water or other liquid in the liquid chamber reaches the desired height. The function of this float-valve will be hereinafter explained.

Atmospheric air is admitted into the liq uidchamber when it is desired to draw off a part or all of the contents thereof by means of an air-cock F, which air-cock may be mounted either on the liquid-chamber itself, as shown .in Fig. 4 at the left of the said figure, or may be connected to either of the pipes leading into the said chamber and between the said chamber and the check-valve on the pipe, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; or the arrangement for admitting air may be included in the d ra wing-off cock, as shown at H in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, where the said cock is provided with a liquid-passage h and an air-passage 7L2, the latter of which terminates at a point 7L3 at a higher level than the orifice of the liquid-passage. B y means of this construction air flows into the liquid-chamber while water flows out, and if a vessel V be placed beneath the orifice it will be filled until the level v of the liquid covers the orifice ha of the air-inlet, when the air will cease to low in and the liquid will either cease altogether from flowing out or the outflow will be greatly diminished, due to atmospheric pressure on the surface 1 and the partial vacuum in the liquid-chamber.

\Vherc cocks such as that shown in Fig. 3 are used, the air-cock F may be omitted, as will be noted with those liquid-chambers indicated by E.

The various liquid-chambers E or E are connected to the sources of liquid supply V and W by the pipes K and K. These pipes are provided with branch pipes 7& opening into the liquid-chamber, which are cont-rolled by valves 71:.

I11 Fig. 2 only one source of liquid supply is shown, while in Fig. 1 two such sources are shown, but the connections may be made to any desired number of liquid sources, and some of the liquid-chambers may be connected to two or more of the said liquid sources, while others may be connected to only one of the said sources of liquid supply. Thus in Fig. l the liquid-chamber E is connected to the two sources of Water supply, while the other three chambers are connected to one source only. In practice each chamher would be connected to each source of water supply, but the connections are shown as in Fig. 1 for the sake of clearness in the drawings.

In practice, as in a hotel, there would be at least two sources of water supply connected to each liquid-chamber, the one for hot and the other for cold water, while a third source of water supply might be provided for saltwater, and so 011.

The liquid is drawn into the pipes K or K, as the case may be, by the vacuum existing in the various liquid chambers which are connected to the exhausted air-chamber, and

at the same time air is drawn into the pipe K or K by means of the air-inlet it, placed above the float L, as described in my patent aforesaid, or through a separate air-tube M, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and t, which air-tube projects above the level of the liquid and connects with a small orifice in the pipe K or K, as the case may be. These feedwater pipes are preferably provided with strainers 71;.

In the device shown in Fig. 4 fluid is pumped from the source of liquid supply W into the liquid-chamber E, whence it is delivered by means of the pipe H controlled by the valve 71 to the field to be irrigated, from which it is drawn by means of the pipe K into the chamber E from which it is discharged by means of the pipe 11*, controlled by the valve 71.3. This liquid-chamber E is connected by the pipe D to the air-chamber A, from which the air is exhausted by means of the pump B, operated by any suitable source of power. (Not shown.)

In the apparatus shown in Fig. 4 the chamber E and the air-chamber A may be placed at any desired or convenient height, and the chamber E should preferably be no higher than the maximum lift of water required, or the chamber E maybe placed at a considerably higher level than the chamber E, and the liquid may be sucked from the lower to the higher chamber one step at a time, and so on for more than two liquid-chambers, whereby the liquid may be drawn to any desired elevation.

The operation of the device is generally similar to that described in my patent aforesaid, but the operation of the entire apparatus will be understood by describing in detail the manner of filling up and emptying,

theliquid-chambers E and E of Fig. 1. That air-chamber A having been exhausted in the usual way, suppose all the valves in the ap paratus to be closed. In order to fill the liquid-chamber E, open the valve 61 and the valve k in the pipe opening into said chamber E. The chamber E being filled with air, this air will be drawn through the pipes d, D, and D into the air-chamber A, causing a partial vacuum to occur in the chamber E. This vacuum will cause the atmospheric pressure to force water into the pipe K from the source of liquid supply V and also air through the air-inlet M. The globules of air drawn in will act like small pistons between corresponding pistons of water, the whole forming a column of alternate lengths of air and water in the pipe K, and this air and water will flow into the chamber E, the water remaining in the said chamber and the air being drawn ofi from the top thereof by means of the pipe (1. As soon as the water has risen in the chamber E to the desired height the float-valve (1 will automatically shut the pipe cl, and the influx of air and water into the chamber E will cease. At the same time the drain on the energy stored up in the air-chamber A will cease, so

that no unnecessary work will be expended after the liquid-chamber E is filled to the desired height. Now in order todraw off the water from this chamber, close the valves and d and open the cock II. Air will flow in and water will flow out through this cock, as shown in detail in Fig. 3, and when the liquid-chamber is empty it may be refilled in the manner already described. I11 the same way the chamber E maybe filled by opening the valve d and one or both of the valves k which control the passage to the pipe K and K, respectively. In this way it will be seen that the liquid-chamber E may be filled with liquid from either of the sources of water supply or with a mixture of the two liquids, as might be desired. In order to withdraw the liquid from the chamber E after it has been filled to the desired level, close all the valves connected to the said chamber, open the aircock F, and then the liquid may be readily drawn off through the cock H.

In order to avoid loss of power due to negligence in closing the air-cocks F, these cocks should preferably be so connected to the valves opening into the suction-pipe that the passage to the suction-pipe may be closed when air is admitted to the liquid-chamber, and vice versa. This function, which may be obtained in a great variety of ways, is automatically secured by the use of the draincock shown in Fig. 3.

In order to prevent the failure of the apparatus to operate due to negligence in leaving one of the valves 70 open while the corresponding liquid-chamber is open to the air, check-valves k may be provided in the waterpipes, preferably in the form of balls, as shown in Fig. 1.

Among the many advantages possessed by this system are the following:

The power offered is that due to atmospheric pressure, which is essentially constant, and if the vacuum-chamber be made air-tight this power may be stored up for an indefinite period, to be used when desired. This is of special importance in cold and also in hot climates when it is desired to keep the watersupply pipes ordinarily clear of water and yet to have the power readily available for lifting the said water when desired. The herein-described system therefore is eminently adapted for storing up energy regardless of heat or cold and absolutely without danger either to the apparatus or to the persons operating the same. Again, the supply and expenditure of energy may be very readily controlled. Thus it is possible to use a large or a small pump to exhaust the vacuumchamber and yet to obtain a steady flow of liquid whenever desired. Moreover, by pumping air only it is possible to arrive at the desired sum-total of energy by using the available force for a longer time and with less loss due to friction and other causes in exhausting the vacuum-chamber than if water or pump.

In all apparatus of the kind herein described it will only be necessary to have one vacuum-chamber and one air-pump or other means for exhausting the said vacuum-chamber. It will be obvious that the air-pipe connections to the vacuum-chamber may be run any distance and that the Water may be delivered in one place, as from a spring, and theair-pump at another place, as by a waterfall, any distance, even miles, away.

The herein-described apparatus may be readily used for bath-houses to supply hot or cold fresh or salt water or the like, all operated by one reservoir and drawing water from a fresh source, this at the will of the bather and without the constant running of pumps.

It will also be obvious that the apparatus is especially adapted for use in sugar-houses, sugar-refineries, breweries, and other manufactories Where a large number of different kinds of liquids are to be pumped from one reservoir into another.

Many of the various other advantages and uses of the herein-described apparatus will readily suggest themselves to any practical mind.

It will be obvious that many modifications of the herein-described apparatus might be other liquid were being passed through the made which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A liquid-supply system comprising an air-chamber, and means for diminishing the pressure of the air in the same, suction-pipes connected to said air-chamber, a plurality of ICO liquid-chambers connected to said suctionpipes, a float-valve in each of said liquidchambers, and adapted to shut off the suction-pipe when the level of the liquid rises to a predetermined height in the liquid-chamber, and liquid-supply pipes leading from a source of liquid supply to the said liquid-chambers,

substantially as described.

2. A liquid-supply system comprising an air-chamber, and a windmill and air-pump operated thereby for diminishing the pressure of the air in the same, a plurality of liquidchambers, suction-pipes connecting said airchamber and said liquid-chambers, a floatvalve in each of said liquid-chambers, and adapted to shut off the suction-pipe when the level of the liquid rises to a predetermined height in the liquid-chamber, and liquid-supply pipes leading from a source of liquid supply to the said liquid-chambers, substantially as described.

3. A liquid-supply system comprising an air-chamber, and means for diminishing the pressure of the air in the same, a plurality of suction-pipes connected to said air-chamber, a plurality of liquid-chambers connected to said suction-pipes, a float-valve in each of said liquid-chambers, and adapted to shut off the suction-pipe when the level of the liquid rises to a predetermined height in the liquidchamber, a plurality of liquid-supply pipes leading from a plurality of sources of liquid supply to the said liquid-chambers, and means for admitting air into and drawingliquid from each of said liquid-chambers, substantially as described.

4. A liquid-supply system comprising an air-chamber, and means for diminishing the suction-pipes connected to said air-chamber, a plurality of liquid-chambers connected to said suction-pipes, a float-valve in each of said liquid-chambers, adapted to shut 0d the having a longer liquid-passage and a shorter air-passage therein for drawing liquid from 1 said liquid chamber, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature l in presence of two Witnesses. pressure of the air in the same, a plurality of JOHN BATISTE GUSTME DONATO;

Witnesses:

G. BAILLIO, W. W. BAILEY.

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