USRE5138E - Improvement in steam water-elevators - Google Patents

Description

W. E. PR'ALL.

improveme'nt in 4Steam Water-Elevators N0. 5,138. Ressued NoV.5,1872-.

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Ulvrnn fr a'rns PATENT 'Ormea WILLIAM EDGAR PItALL, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

l'vlPROVEMENT lN STEAM WATER=ELEVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,962, dated December 19, 1871,' reissue No. 5,13%, dated November 5, 1872.

To all whom it muy concern:

Be it known th at I, WILLIAM En aan PRALL, of the city of /Vashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain Improvements in Automatic Double-Acting Steam Vacuum-Pumps, of which the following is a specilication:

My invention relates to that class ot steam water-elevating engines constructed with two or more chambers or cylinders, in which the steam is made to bear directly upon the water in said chambers or cylinders to empty the same, and by its subsequent condensation to retill them. It consists rst, in combining with two chambers or cylinders of the waterelevating apparatus a yielding partition, (which may, as set forth in the Letters Patent granted to me' July 4, 1871, and reissued October 29, 1872, consist of a liexible diaphragm, or ot' a piston moying bodily, as its equivalent,) which said partition is so placed between the two chambers, in connection or communication with the interiors thereof, as that any variations or differences of pressure within thc chambersvshall cause a movement of the partition toward the chamber in which the pressure is the lowest, and in connecting the valve or v1alves governing the steam-induction ports of the apparatus with the said yielding partition thus interposed between its chambers in such manner as that when, under the iniucnce of a variation of pressure in the two chambers, the partition moves toward the chamber ci' least pressure, such movement shall close the port admitting steam to said chamber and throw open the port admitting steam to the other chamber; the object of this part of my invention being to produce an automatic movement of the valve or valves governing the admission of steam to the chambers ot' the apparatus, so that the steam shall be alternately cut off from the one and admitted to the other, leaving the one free to lill with water by means of the condensation of steam already admitted thereto, while the other is being emptied of water by the pressure of steam passing therein, and vice versa. It consists, second, in combining with the said cylinders or chambers small injection-pipes, each leading from the bottom of one cylinder to a point near the top of the adjacent cylinder, said pipes being each provided with a valve opening toward its upper end; the object of this part ot' my invention being to facilitate the condensation of steam in either cylinder by producing an injection of water therein from the opposite cylinder under steam pressure, as Well as to equalize more or less the pressure in the twocylinders.

Figure l of the accompanying dra-wing represents partly in section a double-actin g steam vacuum-pump fitted with my invention.

A A are the chambers or cylinders ot' the pump, having a common suction-pipe, l, and

discharge-pipe, C. D D are branch pipes forming a connection between the bottom ci' cach chamber and the single suction-pipe B; and E E are check-valves iitted in said branch inlet-pipes. F F are branch pipes forming a connection between the bottom of cach chamber and the discharge-pipe C; and Gr G are check-valves fitted in said bran ch outlet-pi pes. Instead of being connected directly to each. chamber, these pipes are respectively iitted each to one of the pipes D D, between its check-valve and the chamber into which it opens, so that the two pipes Dand F have a common opening in'to said chamber. II is a steam-pipe extending to a suitable boiler or steam-generator, and fitted with branch pipes 7L h, extending to and opening centrally into the top of cach chamber. J is a two-seated valve, placed at the intersection of the branch pipes lt h with the main steam-pipe H to govern the connection of said main pipe with its branches, so as that when communication with one branch is opened the supply of steam to the other shall be cut oft', and vice versa. K is a yielding partition, consisting of a tiexible diaphragm confined at its edges between au upper and a lower plate, L and L', which form a casing therefor, said plates being concaved or hollowed out on their inner sides sufficiently to permit the center cf the idexible diaphragm to move between them to an extent proportioned to the amount of play required in the movement of the steam cut-off valve J. M M are small pipes connecting, respectively, the space or compartment on one side of the diaphragm K with the lower portion of one cham- .ber or cylinder and the space or compartment on the other side of the diaphragm with the from the other.

lower' portion of the other chamber or cylinder. ,Each space thus becomes virtually a part of the interior ot' the chamber with which it is connected, and-the diaphragm, being mounted in the channel of' communication which would otherwise be open between the chambers, through the connecting-pipes M M, serves in fact as a partition between the interiors of vsaid chambers or cylinders. 'N is a rod, se-

cured centrally to the diaphragm K, and which extends thence outwardly to the steam-valve J, the connection being so made and adjusted as that when the diaphragm is forced toward either chamber the admission of steam to that chamber shall be cutoff by the corresponding movement of the valve, and the steam-port into the other chamber be thereby thrown open. P P are small pipes connecting, respectively, the lower portion of one cylinder with the upper part of the other. Each pipe is provided with a check-valve, r, opening upward to permit a How of water in one direction only, .and also with a stop-valve, s, by which it may be entirely. closed.

The operation of this apparatus is as follows: The cylinders A A being both iilled with water, an equilibrium of pressure is established upon the opposite sides ot' the diaphragm or yielding1 partition K, so that it will drop down against the lower side of its casing under the weight of its attached rod N and thus cause the valve G to uncover and open the steam-port of the cylinder A on that side 5 or it may otherwise be easilymoved in the opposite direction to effect an opening of the steam-port of the other cylinder A. In either case the movement ofthe diaphragm will serve to admit steam to one chamber and cut it oil The pressure of the steam thus admitted 'over and Yupon the surface of the water in either cylinder (the cylinder A, for example) will gradually expel the water therefrom through the discharge-pipe C, and this pressure communicated through the small pipe M to the diaphragm will keep it forced toward the other cylinder A and thus keep the steam-port of the cylinder A open. So soon, however, as the water has all been expelled from the chamber or cylinder A, the steam passing out from the latter into its discharge-pipe will be thereby so far condensed as to quickly reduce the pressure in the cylinder A below that of the water in the other cylinder A The pressure upon the diaphragm being thus instantly reversed, said diaphragm will move toward the cylinder A, cutting oft' steam therefrom, and admitting it tothe other cylinder A. At the same time the excess of pressure in cylinder A will cause a stream of water to llow therefrom into cylinder A to assist in completing the condensation of steam therein, so that while the cylinder A is being discharged the .cylinder Awill rapidly lill because of the vacuum created therein. Thus the two cylinders will be alternately lled and emptied by means, iirst, of an alternate admission of steam to the one and the other, automatically produced by the movements of the diaphragm K, under the influence of the variations of pressure in the two cylinders; and, second, by an alternatey condensation of steam in the one, and the other started by the passage of the steam into the discharge-pipe, and continued by an injection automatically produced at the proper moment through either pipe P, by means of the variations of pressure in the two cylinders.

l. The method, substantially as herein described, of operating a cut-oil' valve or valves in a steam water-elevating apparatus by means of a yielding partition interposed between the two chambers, and actuated by the di'erences of pressure in said chambers.

2. A yielding partition, mounted in a channel of communication between the chambers or cylinders of a double-acting steam waterclevating apparatus, as a medium for com municating `motion to the steam-induction valves of said chambers, vsubstantially in the manner set forth.

3. In combination with two chambers or cylinders of a double-acting steam water-elevating apparatus, and with a valve or valves governing the admission of steam thereto, a yielding partition mounted in a channel of communication between said chambers, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4t. lipes P P, combined with and connecting the cylinders or chambers A A', substantially as herein described, and provided With valves to regulate the llow of water therein, substantially as herein set forth.

. W. E. PRALL.

Witnesses:

DAVID A. BURR, WM. H. ROME.

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