US89534A - Improvement in steam-pumps - Google Patents

Description

JOSEPH C. WIGHTMAN, 0F NEWTON, ASSIGNOR TO CHAS. HOUGHTON,

(TRUSTEE) OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS. l

|M PRovEM een' IN STEAM-Pula Ps.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. $9,534, dated April 27, 1869.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn G. WIGHTMAN, of' Newton, in the county of Middlesex` and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Steam-Pump for Raising Vater; and I do hereby declare th at the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specication, is a description ofmy invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

The prime object of my invention is the utilization of the heat developed by iires in stoves, ranges, furnaces, or other he( ting ap! paratus, in dwellings and elsewhere, by means of an apparatus operating automatically to lift and force water from wells and other sources of supply, and transfer it to elevated tanks, from which, by gravity, it will iiow through service or distributing pipes to sinks, bathtubs, water-closets, dro., located below the watenlevel maintained in the elevated tanks, without the intervention of what may be termed machinery, such as piston, rotary, or other pumps.

The apparatus in which my invention isl embodied differs from other apparatus heretofore known and used, in which heat supplies directly, through the medium of steam generated thereby, the power for raising water, (and of which Thomas Saverys apparatus, known about the year 1700, is one 'example,) in thatmy apparatus Ais automatic in its operation so long as heat is applied, and requires no manipula-tion of valves or cocks, as did Saverys, and other preceding apparatus for a similar purpose.

The drawings showin Figure 1 in sectional elevation, and in Fi g. 2 in plan-my improved water-raising apparatus, and `Some modiiications thereof.' f

Referring first to that portion of the apparatus shown at the right of the sheet of drawings, there may be seen a closed vessel, a,sur1nounted with a dome, l), the vessel a being provided with a suction-pipe, c, which reaches beneath the surface of the water to be elevated. In any convenient location in said pipe is placed a check-valve, d, and the pipe is made to extend nearly to the top of the space inclosed by the dome b. From the bottom of the vessel a is an egress-passage, in which is a check-valve, e, which permits ilow of the water from chamber a., through the pipe f, tothe elevated ltank g, which has an overlow or waste pipe, h, which returns any surplus of water to the well or cistern from which pipe c takes its supply, said tank having also a service-pipe, i, through whi'ch various lavatores and drafts, Ste., are supplied. In the top of the dome is an opening controlled by the cock j, through which opening the parts beneath can be supplied with water, when the apparat-us is first set up, and whenever afterward it is lacking from any cause, and through which, after the trst condensation of steam in vessel a, and dome b, and the supply of the vacuum therein, the air between the valve d in pipe c, and above the surface of the water in the well, which enters the apparatus with the iirst water rising from the weil, is expelled by steam iiowing from the generator.

The dome is connected, at a point as near its top as is practicable, by a pipe, k, with a generator of steam, which may be the end of the pipe Ic, enlarged, if desired, as seen at l, said end forming the generator or closed retort or boiler. In the highest part of pipe k is placed au obstruction, m, which is pierced with a.

small hole, a, so that communication between the pipe It and the dome l) and chamber a is at the highest point in the pipe. In dwellings the steamgenerator is introduced preferably into the fire-pot of the range or cooking-stove, or into any combustion-chamher where a fire is usually kept, or where one can easily be made, if occasional use of the apparatus will answer the necessities of the case.

In the drawings, the steam-generator l is shown as introduced into the irepot of an or dinary cooking-stove. This apparatus operates as follows: After it is filled with water, and the cock j closed, and heat applied to the generator l, the water contained in .the generator begins to be converted into steam, which, rising through the water in pipe k, enters the dome b through aperture n, and displaces the-water trom the dome and vessel a, causing it to How to the tank g, past valve e, through pipe f. The steam, in passing to and into the dome, enters through so small a body of water that it soon heats it to its own tem perature, andovereomes its condensing power, which it would not do, or would do with a greater expenditure of time and heat, if passed will be exhausted from the generator, which,

and the pipe it, dome b, and vessel a', will be filled' with steam. Y

Now, as no more steam is supplied, its heat is dissipated by conduction and radiation from the surfaces of a, b, and 7a, until by condensation of the Asteam therein the pressure of the atmosphere in the well causes ilow of water from the well up pipe c, and over its top and said water, then acting, as a spray-condenser, rapidly completes the vacuum within a, b, lr, and l.. The vacuum in a and b fills rapidly with water from the well, it being, of course, understood that the aperture u is within the height at which atmospheric pressure will maintain a column of water. Now, as there is also a vacuum in k and l, the water continues rising from the well to fill it, and as soon as the water reaches the hot surface of the generator l, the first portion of water is converted instantly into steam, and shoots back the superincumbent column of water in the pipe 7c. If this pipe had not therein the obstruction m, the column of water-would be forced back into the dome b, which would simply displace its equivalent volume of water and force it out of the outletpipe f, and, this emptying the I generator of water, the apparatus would cease to work. But the presence of the diaphragm or obstruction m prevents this, and the Water which is driven upward in pipe 7c is forced ragainst a solid wall, having only a small aperture, n, therein, and that at the highest point in the conduit. The steam, being lighter than water, rises through the water in pipe k, in its eifor'ts to nd an outlet, and passes lto the aperture n. At .ory about thisv time the cock j should be carefully opened to let the steam expel from the apparatus the air which entered it with thel first ilow of water from the well, which cock should be shut as soon as steam issues fromit. The steam, proceeding from the generator and holding up the water in pipe k from freely entering therein, as it works up through said water into the dome b, soon heats the water in the pipe k, the dome I), and the small surface of water therein, so "that the pressure of the steam becomes at the top of pipe k so nearly equal to the pressure Within the generator that the gravity of the column of water in v pipe 7a turns the scale, or more than makes up the difference of the pressures, and then the column of water in pipe 7c suddenly drops into the generator, and is converted into steam, which rushes through the aperture n. The vwater in the dome and chamber a is expelled, and after a time the steam is condensed as before, and the vacuum filled from the well this time, Vand thereafter, without the presence of air, and the operation of again converting water into steam, emptying the apparatus, in whole or in part, of water, and iillin g it with steam, and again condensing the steamand iillin g the vacuum with water, goes on continuously, but irregularly, unt-il such time as there is no heatapplied to the generator, when condensation takes place throughout the whole apparatus, and it fills entirely with water, ready to start automatically on application of heat again to the generator, and to continue to work automatically so long as heat is applied thereto.-

I will now describe some modifications in the arrangement of my apparatus.

A water-heating and circulating apparatus dependent on a head of water for its operation is now commonly used in dwellings, the head being obtained in some large cities and towns from the elevated source of general supply, and in other places, as in. p rivateA country residences, from an elevated tank, into which water is pumped by hand, horse-power, windmills, Snc.

What is commonly known as the boiler of I this last-named apparatus is seen at the left of the sheet of drawings, and is marked o, and is connected with a water-back or coil, p, located in or fermin g one boundary of the respace in a cooking stove or range, by means of the circulating-pipes q and r, through the former of which cool water flows from the bottom of o into p, and, when heated, then rises and flows into o through pipe fr. The boiler, or, more properly, the tank, o, receives cold water at its bottom fromthe source of supply through pipe s, and discharges hot water at its top through pipe t. Now, where this apparatus exists, and where thereis no public supply of water under pressure, it may be well to utilize it by some additions, so as t transfer it into my improved apparatus, by which it willv interchangeably performl the fimction of raising water to 'an elevated tank to supply that which is used and allowed to run to waste, and its original function of heating and circulating the Water after it is raised.

To effect this purpose the four pipes q r s t are provided with cocks u, as shown, so that when the cocks are open the tank o will perform its function as a simple heater and circulator; but when the cocks are closed the tank o will be merely 'a closed vessel, corresponding to the vessel a, to which I add pipes c, f, and k, and valves d and e, these serving the same functions as before described.

A special dome might be attached to the top of tank o, into which the end of the pipe c in tank o might enter, as in the firstde scribed example; but where such dome is not used it answers nearly as well to bend the pipe 7c, as'seen in connection with tank o, the obstruction m and aperture a therein being at the highest position in pipe k, as seen. The pipe lc, which connects with tank o, also con- 89,534 I l s nects with the regular Water-back p, the connection being made between the Water-back and thecoek whichy controls the pipe lr. When the cocks n are closed, the operation u vof the tank o, in connection with the Waterback p, and the pipes k, c, and f, and the valves e and d, will be like that of the apparatus seen at the right of the sheet of drawings, and before described, while,wl 1en the cocks nare open, circulation will be vresumed through pipes s, q,V r, and t, and .the pipes c, f, and k, and the valves e and d will be simply inoperative.

Instead of using a special generator, l, for the apparatus used solely for raisin g Water, as shown at the right of the sheet of drawings, thepipe 7c might, as shown, lead to an ordinary coil or water-back, used in connection with the ordinary Water heating and circulating apparatus, in which case cocks 'n' would be introduced into the circulating-pipes q and r, which, when closed, would cause theapparatus, connected by the pipe shown, to operate to raise water, and when open would cause it to cease such operation, and would allow` the circulation to be resumed through the pipes g and fr.

1. The apparatus, substantially as herein first described, for raising and forcing Water, substantially as set forth.

2. The construction of the main Water and steam chamber a -with a dome or supplemental chamber,b, substantially as shown and described. 3. The plug or obstruction m', when pierced with the aperture n, and arrangedin the pipe k, to operate substantially as described.

4. The arrangement of the `pipes c, f, and k,

valves e d, and cocks u with the common Water-back or coil, and its connected tank and pipes, substantially as described.

1 JOSEPH C. WIJGHTMAN. Witnesses:

FRANCIS GoULD, S: B. KIDDER.

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