USRE4373E - Improvement in systems of water-supplies for cities - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets -Sheet 1.

B..HOLLY Improvement in Systems of Water-Supply for Cities..

Reissued May 9,1871.

2S --Sh. 2 B. HOQLLY.

Improvement in Sys tems of Water-Sm ply for Cities.

r W 2 I No. L373; Rexssued May 9,1871.

mine are: u 17206 72 tor.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICEQ Blnnsrm, HOLLY, or LOOKPORT, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT m SYSTEMS 0F WATER-SUPPLIES FOR cmas.

Specification forming-part of Letters Patent No. 94,746, dated September 14, 1869 Reissue No. 4,373,

ndateilflgyg 9, 1571. y v

To all whom {it may concern:

Be it known that I, BIRDSILL I Lockport, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented a neiv and Improved System of Water-Works for Supplying Cities and Towns with Water; and I dohereby declare' that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had-to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-- Figure. 1, Sheet 1, is a perspective view illustrating my improved system for sn plying cities and towns with water. Fig. 2, heat 2, isan elevation of the pumping-engines. Fig. '3, Sheet 2, is a plan view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

The object of my invention is not only to supply cities with water for ordinary purposes,

at any desired elevation, without the use of a.

reservoir or a stand-pipe, or any other con- :rivance for calling into requisition the princiole of the hydrostatic equilibrium, but also to hrnish the means of extinguishing fires at" i'everal points at t 0 same time, if necessary, md all this'without the use of any movable angine for that purpose; To accomplish this abject 1 place one or more pumps or forcing ll iuductingmachines at some convenient )oint where the supply of water is accessible,

'rom whence, by a system of pipes, the water nay be conducted wherever it is desired, sub- -.tantially in the same manner as in ordinary :ases, the force of the pump or pumps being ubstituted for the'hydrostatic pressure due to he elevation of the source of the supply.

The machinery, must be adequate to the .mount of water to be supplied and be en;

lowed with power suflicient for allcxtraordiiary occasions. I prefer f0] this use the Holly pump, patented in the year 1855, the ame to be driven by suitable steam or water- 'ower; but I do not limit myself in this repect.

I do not pretend to have been the first to onceive the idea of furnishing water in lim- Ied quantities for ordinary use by means of force-pump; nor do I deny that a stationary ump has been employed, instead of a movc ble one, in supplying the means for the exnguishment of fires.

HOLL Y, of I My invention consists 'in conccivin g the idea of accomplishing both of these objects at once, and in devising the contrivances for giving practical effect to that main idea.

I will now proceed to describe in what these oontrivances consist, referring, for greater perspicuit to the accompanying drawings, by

understand and apply my invention practically. f I

In the accompanying drawings, A'A represent two forcing-pumps arranged at the source to supply the city.

streets and avenues of the city whichis to be supplied with water, furnishing a convenient opportunity for its distribution along the cross 0 ,0 represent the hydrants-or fire-plugs, placed at convenient distances, so that by means of hose attached to each water may be of tires.

.The pumping apparatus may be placed several mil es distant from the city; but in that case the main or mains leading therefrom must be of a size sutficient to prevent any considerable 'friction' along the internal surfaces of the mains, which would be caused by a rapid current passingjthrough a inain of small diameter. I

It must also be remembered that where there is an elbow or other change of direction in a water-pipeto be used in this connection, especially those of larger diameter, particular effects oi lateral pressure upon the pipes, when there is no countervailing pressure in the opposite direction to preserve the equilibrium. A pipe of ten inches in diameter, when under apressure of two hundred pounds to the square inch, would, in case it't-urned at right angles, exert a force of nearly eight tons, tending to force asunder the joints in each branch of the pipe, and in case it issued from a straight main at'right angles thereto it would exert a like pressure, tending to force the main from its normal position.

All this must be carefully provided for, asa

pressure of two hundred pounds to the square way or, illustration, and to enable others to from which water is to be derived with which B 'B' are water-pipes leading along the streets by means of the d istributi ng-pipes a a.-

supplied at any point for the extinglnshment care must be had to prevent the disturbinginch will be necessary to throw water to the top of a building fifty or sixty feet-in height which stands on an eminence three or four hundred feet higher than the pumping apparatns.

It is essential to the successful operation of my invention that some contrivance should be provided to prevent the pressure upon the pipes within a building from being increased beyond a certain degree by reason of the greater pressure of the water in the streetpipes, for, otherwise, where buildings stood .npon very different levels, in order that those inost elevated might be supplied at all,a very inconvenient and even dangerous degree of pressure would be'felt on the lower grounds.

' This effect would be much more manifest and intolerable in case of fires, when a greatlyaugmented amount of force would necessarll y ,be applied through the pumps 'overthat which Would he requisite at other times. Themeans "which! prefer to adopt for this purpose will be found embodied in my Letters Patent. dated September 14, 1869. Some device of that nature forms a necessary element in the combination or system which constitutes the invention for which 1 now ask a patent. These regulating devices I place at some convenient point in the pipes leading into thebuildings.

Another essential element in my system is a contrivance in the natureof a safety-valve; to prevent the disrupting cfl'ect of suddenly stopping the flow of water in pipes where the water therein is under a high degree of pressure. For this end atall'exposed points I employ a con'trivance of the nature of that described in my Letters Patent dated September 14, 1869. I

It is also important, where water is to be raised to eminences of considerable elevation, to so combine one pump with another that there shall be a pressure behind one ot'the pumps to aid in overcoming the pressure in front ofit. This may be done in the manner shown in Sheets 1 and 2 of the drawings.

. vThe pump A is intended for supplying the mains B, leading to the lower distribution, and the pump A is designed for supplying those mains B leading 'to the higha ltitude.

(Sljiown in Fig. 1.)

Eetit be supposed that the pump-A supplies the lower mains, B, which will consume about nine-,itenthjs of the waterused in the city, while on'e-'-tent'l|'will have to he raised'to the height of twoliundred and twenty-fivefeet-equal to a pressure of one hundred pounds to the square inch. Now, it it be required to raise all the wa te r two hundred and twenty-five feet,

' thigher than would be needed for the lower level-Q which would be the case it a reservoir were used-,jt would double the pumping expensesrheisides causing great strain on all the pumps when working under that pressure. In order toraise that one-tenth to the additional height of two hundred and twenty-five feet, with the same pressure on all the working parts of the pump A, I attach the suctioni' enprttepum iv to th hw -m B ofimmp A.

ltiw dl fbe seen that the power whidh supin the upper level under the same pressure as exists in those of the lower level. 'Thepower' exerted by the pump A is therefore a constant quantity. I

When a fire breaks out on either the higher or the lower level a tire-pressure communicated to the lower mains will beat once transmitted through the pump A to the mains above, and the water will rise to the same height above each ofthe two levels,respectively, at the same moment, either for the extinction of fires or for any other purpose. Th 0 upper level is thus'suppliedwithout exerting any needless pressure upon the mains in the lower level, and, as has before been observed, with a great saving of power.

In case of a fire, where an additional amount of water is expended and where that water is to be thrown to agreater elevation, an augmented force and-efficacy are to be given to the pumps. I therefore propose to render this change automatic, so far at least as to .communicate intelligence. to the engineer at the pumps that an addi'tio'naljamount of water and a higher degree of pressure arc called for.

To understand theproposed arrangementit is necessary to remember that-where water is only used for ordinary purposes no great and sudden change in the amount called for is likely to take place.

The engineer at the pumps should he furnished with a contri'vance in the nature of a barometer, which 'is'eonnected with the pipes and serves to show the degree of pressure therein. A comparatively great degree of uniformity will be observed in the amount of pressure, which, from moment to moment, will be thus indicated; but wherever afire-plugis opened, such is the inco npressibility of water, that the effect will be instantly perceivable at headquarters.

the 'purposeof giving the requisite information to the engineer, and will thus indicate to him the necessity of increasing the supply of water and also the degree of pressure.

An apparatus in the. nature of a fire-alarm operated by electricity may be employed for this purpose, which gwould connnunicate more specific and accurate intelligencein such cases,

but the contrivance above gdestribed will answer a tolerable purpose. Experience shows that the information thus communicated in case of tire is almost instantaneous through distances of several miles in extent.

In the accompanying drawings, J represents a double-ogee frame, which is strengthened by the webhin g J J and stretcher-s and adapted for supporting upon one. side of it two quar- A simple contrivance will cause. a bell to ring or a whistle to sound, for

tor-crank engines. The piston-rods of these engines are both connected to a wrist-pin on a crankplate,.c, the shaft 0 of which carries a' spur-wheel, G, and also the eccentric to which the slide-valve rods of the engines are applied.

The spur-wheel G is arranged above and engages'with a spur-wheeh F, which latter is arranged above and engages with'a pinion,-n, (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2,) which is keyed on the shaft of a rotary engine, N.

0n opposite sides of the pinion a, and keyedoil-shafts g g of the force-pumps A A, are spurwheels E E, either one or both of which can be engaged with or disengaged from the spurwheel F at pleasure by means of suitable shifting-clutches. V

It will be seen that either one orboth of thepumps can be operated at pleasure by shifting the wheels E E on the shafts g g also that the power of the rotary engine Ncan be brought into requisition at pleasure.

The suction-pipe of pump A communicates with the pumping-well, and also with the discharge-pipe of pump'A through pipes D and D", so as to take water either from said well ordischarge-pipe, and the suction-pipe of the pump A has a foot-valve, d, applied to it to prevent the escape of water from pump A when it is beingsnpplied from the pump A.

A safetyvalve, 0, is applied to the pipe D, and u. safety-valve, It, is applied to a pipe, H, which formsa commuuicationbetweenr the discharge.- pipes of the two pumps A A.

By the arrangement of street-pipes (shown in Fig. 1) I am enabled to do away with the large and expensive mains hitherto used and substitute a number of small parallel mains in their stead. Under thisarrangement the Water is taken from the pnmps'and-large mains untilit enters the pipe B. (See lower grade of pipes, Fig. 1.) Then, instead of passing on, perhaps for many miles through a single street, the water is carried ed by branch pipes L, each one of which supplies its respective street with water, and all terminating in a pipe, B

Each one of the parallel pipes is provided at its opposite ends with valves p, by closing which the water will be cut on", and repairs can bemade anywhere on that line without interfering with the current of water or any other line of pipes.

1 that the machinery which is kept in constant activity for supplyin'ga city with water to!" ordinary purposes can, almost with the rapidity of thought, be converted; into one great tire-engine, which is present in all parts of'the city at once, without requiring time or labor to be transported from one place to another, and capable of extiiiguishingffires in many placesat one and the same time.

I do not, inv this patent. lay claim to any of the separate contrivances above described; ut A What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The above-described combination ofoontrivances for, furnishing a city with wateefor ordinary purposes without the use of a reser; voir or stand-pipe or enlarged container of any? kind, and which can by an instantaneous augmentation of pressure in the mains ber'converted into an efficient apparatus forthe extingnishment of tires, substantially as above set forth.

2. The above-described method of snpplyin g a city with water, for either domestic uses or for the extiugnishment of firesthat is to say, by pnm ping the water directly into the mains, with contrivance's by which the pressure on those mains may be readily increased or diminished or preserved uniform, all at the will of the operator,.substantially in the manner above set forth and by mechanism substantially such as is shown and described.

I 3. 1n the above-described apparatus, the use of an auxiliary pump, A, in combination with a connectiugplpe, D, by which water may be raised to ditferent levels in such a way that the pressure in the mains on the higher level may be kept equal to those on the lower, substantially as described. V I V 4. The useot' a main,B, with smaller branch pipes L L running through the several streets and terminating in a larger main, B", in combination with the valves 1; p, substantially as and for the purpose above shown.

BIRDSILDHOLLY.

Witnesses:

J. O. WOODRUFF, Cass. Frsmn-n.

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