US731889A - Automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers or the like. - Google Patents

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No. 731,889. PATENTBD JUNE 23,1903 U i H. H. GORTER. AUTOMATIC PNEUMATIC BALANCE FQR'WATER TOWERS OR THE LIKE.

- APPLICATION rninn BBPT.11,1902. no monm.

\ INVENTOR.

2o inclinationthereof. This latter force will increase from zero to a maximum l UNITED STATES citizen of the United .1 the object of my same or at any portion itself u approximately a counterbalance which will vary-in like manner.

Patented June 23, 1903.

Price.

HENRY H. GORTER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC PNEUMATIC BALANCEFOR WATER-TOWERS OR THE LIKE..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,889, dated June 28, 1903. Application filed September 11, 1902. Serial No. 122,910. (No model.)

To all whom may concern; Be it known that I,HENRY H.' G RTER, a States, residing at San Francisco, in'the county of San Francisco and State of California,have invented certain new and useful'lmprovements in Automatic Pneumatic Balances for Water-Towers or the Like,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic pneumatic balances for water-towers and the like,

improved means for counterbalancing the weight of a tower in raising or lowering the may stand.

. The especial object ofmy invention is to provide a device of thischaracter the bal anoing force of which shall automatically proto the force exerted by the weight of the tower at varying as thetower a horizontal posimoves from a vertical to tion. 7 i i It is the object ofmy invention to provide A further object is to provide onewhich shall be cheap and simple in construction and very easily adjusted for various sizes ef towers.

1 My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination, andarrangement of parts for the above ends, hereinafter fully t a side elevation showing y with my improvement.

specified and claims.

,In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a tower equipped Fig. 2 is a broken particularly pointed out in the end view of thesame. i

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the truck mounted upon wheels 2 and upon one shaft 8, operated by end of which the tower 3 is carried. Said tower is pivotally mounted, as shown at 4,

upon standards 5 upon the truck, and upon the lower end of the tower 3 is secured a segmental gear 6, engaged by a worm 7 on a a worm-wheel 9, driven- .by a water-wheel 1.0, operated by pressurewater from a receiver 11, supplied by pipes from thecity-main.

The above construction invention being to provide position of rest iu'which it approximately gle from the horizontal.

is similar to that shown in my Patent No. 645,470 and need not here be further specified. Upon said segment 6 is formed a groove 12, in which lies a cable 13, attached to said segment at a point in line with the central axis of the tower, said cable passing around a sheave 14 and being attached to the end of a piston-rod 15, passing through a stuflingbox 16 in the end of a compressed-air cylinder 17 and connected with a piston 18 in said cylinder. A pipe 19 connects with the interior of said compressed-air cylinder, and by meansof said pipe compressed air may be forced into said cylinder from a hand-pump 20. g A gage 21, mounted upon the end of the cylinder, indicates the pressure of air therein. This pressure will be maintained at a certain specific pressure for the particular tower to which the device is applied, this specific pressure depending upon the weight of the tower and the area of the piston, the pressure being such that the force exerted upon the piston when the compression of the air is at its maximum and the tower is in its lowest position will nearly balance the weight of the tower in such position. As the tower is raised by means of the water-motor the piston will be allowed to move outward, increasingthe length of the compressed-air chamber and correspondingly reducing the pressure per square inch upon the piston. The pressure upon the piston will thus bereduced at the same time that the force exerted by the weight of the tower is diminished by reason of the tower being raised to a greater an- A The length of the pressure-chamber will be when the tower has arrived at a vertical position the piston will have traveled to such a distance-thatthe air in sure, so that no force is then exerted upon the tower. It will readily be seen that should the tower swing past the vertical and point in the opposite direction from its original direction the point of attachment of the cable will swing to the opposite side of the sheave, and the pull of the cable on the tower will also be reversed in direction, thus at all times counterbalancing the weight of the tower.

so arranged thatthe compressed-air chamberis substantially at atmospheric pres- ICO Theeminimum length of the compressedv air chamber must bear such a ratio to the maximum length thereof that the pressure when the air is compressed to its maximum will be sufficient to nearly balance the tower lowest position then a pressure of eightyfour pounds gage-pressure would be a suitable pressure to give to the piston to sufficiently balance the tower in said position. This would mean an absolute pressure of ninety-eight pounds per square inch, adding the atmospheric pressure. To obtain this pressure from an absolute pressure of fourteen pounds to the square inch, which is the pressure when the cylinder is expanded to its maximum, the cylinder must be compressed to one-seventh its former length. To compress it to one-seventh its former length, it would be necessary that the piston should be brought to within six inches of the head through which the piston-rod works. It is to be understood that with this construction the work done in compressing the air is done by the tower itself in moving from the vertical to the horizontal position. The hand-pump is only necessary to take up any leakage which would occur by an apparatus standing idle for some time.

The great advantage of the above construction is. that by the use thereof a very much smaller motive power can be employed for raising the tower, since the work to be done is now only to overcome the friction and the inertia of the mass of the tower instead of having to do the work of raising the whole weight of the tower, as heretofore. This enables many parts of the apparatus to be made very much lighter, simpler, and cheaper.

I claim 1. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and the like, the combination of a compressed-air cylinder, a piston operated thereby, a piston-rod therefor,'a swinging tower operatively connected with said piston to move the same to compress the air in said cylinder by the descent ofthe tower, and means, independent of the compressedair cylinder, for elevating said tower, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and the like, the combination of a compressed-air cylinder, 2. piston operated thereby, a piston-rod therefor, a swinging tower operatively connected with said piston to move the same to compress the air in said cylinder by the descent of the tower, means, independent of said cylinder, for eleyating said tower, and a pump for forcing compressed air into said cylinder, substantially as described.

3. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and the like, the combination of a compressed-air cylinder, a piston operated thereby, a piston-rod, a swinging tower, a cable secured to said tower at a point below the pivot thereof and in the line of the axis of said tower, a sheave below the pivot of said tower, said cable passing around said sheave and being connected to the pistonrod, and means, independent of the compressed-air cylinder, for elevating said tower, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

H. H. GORTER.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, BEssIE GORFINKEL.

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