MODE OF WORKING THE PISTONS OF PUMPS - United States Patent 697

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID WHITTIER, OF BELFAST, MAINE. MODE OF WORKING THE PISTONS OF
PUMPS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 697, dated April 14, 1838.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, David Whittier, of Belfast, in the county of
Waldo and State of Maine, have invented a new and Improved
Application of Power to Pumps; and I do hereby declare that the
following is a full and exact description.

The nature of my invention consists in the application of
inclined planes, inserted upon the outer circumference of a wheel
or cylinder, (which is made to revolve like the capstan of a
vessel), to the spear or piston of a pump so as to force it up
and down. To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my
invention I will proceed to describe its construction and
operation.

I construct a vertical barrel or cylinder, of wood or metal, of
any given diameter, and of sufficient width to raise and depress
the spear or piston the distance desired (see A, in the
accompanying drawing). Upon the bottom of this barrel or
cylinder, I place rollers, or small wheels, upon which it is to
revolve. Through the center of the cylinder a metallic spindle is
inserted, which is firmly placed in the floor or deck or platform
around which spindle the cylinder revolves. If this spindle be
constructed, as it may be, like that of the common ship's
capstan, the cylinder may revolve upon it, as does a ship's
capstan, in which case the wheels upon the bottom may be omitted.
Upon the outer circumference of the cylinder, I attach, firmly,
four metallic plates, B, B, alternately ascending and descending,
from the upper to the lower edge of the same, forming inclined
planes, alternately up and down and projecting out sufficiently
for the small friction wheels, C, C, attached to the spear or
piston rod, R, D, of the pump, to roll upon. Four pumps, or a
greater or less number, are then placed around said cylinder, and
so near thereto as that the friction wheels attached to the spear
or piston, shall run upon said metallic plates—I attach the
friction wheels, to the spears or pistons, by means of a short
arm or projection E E extending from the spears or pistons. I
then apply to the cylinder, power enough to put it in motion.
This may be simply the lever or capstan bar, or wind, steam, or
horse power. The friction-wheels, attached to the spears or
pistons of the pumps, running upon the ascending metallic plates,
raise the spears or pistons, until said wheels meet the lower
surface of the descending plates, (the ends of which extend a
little above the ascending plates so as to catch the wheels upon
the lower surface of the descending plates) by which the spear or
piston is forced down, when the wheels again meet the ascending
plates.

The cylinder, having the metallic plates affixed thereon may be
permanently attached to the capstan of a vessel without
inconvenience; or it may be made to ship and unship to a capstan,
at pleasure.

Instead of inclined planes upon the periphery, as above
described, grooves may be formed in the periphery of the vertical
cylinder, having the proper direction, and admitting the friction
rollers attached to the piston rod, by which means a like effect
will be produced.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters
Patent, is—

In the manner herein described of raising and depressing the
piston rods of pumps, by attaching inclined planes, or sections
of an helix to the periphery of a vertical cylinder, to operate
substantially in the manner set forth, I also claim, as a
modification of the same principle, the forming of grooves,
having the same inclination as that given to the said planes, so
as to receive the friction rollers attached to the piston rods,
and to operate them in a similar manner.

DAVID WHITTIER.

Witnesses: Albert Smith, Annie Smith.