US1077997A - Air lift-pump. - Google Patents

Description

T. PETERS.

AIR LIFT PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.7,1913.

' 1,077,997, Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

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AIR LIFT PUMP. APPLICATION FILED PEB.7,1913.

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INVENTOR 7am w ,4 rramvsr Patented Nov 11, 1913.

T. PETERS.

AIR LIFT PUMP. APPLICATION FILED rm.7,1913.

1,077,997, Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

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'rn nononn PETERS, or FERDINAND, INDIANA.

AIR LIFT-PUMP.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 1 1, 1913.

Application filed February 2, 1913. Serial No. 746,849.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Tnnononn PETERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ferdinand, in the county of Dubois and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Air Lift-Pumps, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lift pumps and has particular reference to that class of such devices wzhe'rei'n compressed air is utilized as the actuating power.

The principal object of my invention contemplates the construction of an air lift pump in which the rise and fall of the water level automatically controls the application of compressed air.

A further object resides in the construction of my pump in such manner that all air controlled mechanism will be carried within the pump structure itself, thus proriding a unitary system and entirely eliminating the necessity of employing auxiliary controlling means for the air supply.

A still further object is to construct my pump with such regard to arrangement of parts that the waste of compressed air is eliminated by providing means for effecting the continuous and uninterrupted pressure of the air within the air cylinder.

The above and additional objects are accomplished by such means as are illustrated" in. their preferred eml'iodimeut in the accompanying drawings, described in the following specification and thenmore particularly pointed out in the claims which are appended hereto and form a part of this application.

view of the same.

VVit-h reference to the drawings, wherein Ihave illustrated the preferred embodiment of my invention as it is reduced to practice, and throughout the several views of which, similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts: Figure 1 is a front elevation of the complete pump with part oi the control cylinder broken away to take. port and the discharge ports Fig. 8 is a detail view of the intake valve. Fig. '9 is a detail View of the valve used in the air exhaust and intake structure. Fig. 10 is a detached detail view in perspective illustrating the trip rollers of the valve structuie. Fig. 11 is a detail view of the trip ro Proceeding now to the description of the drawings, the preferred embodiment of my invention includes four main elements; the water cylinders l and 2, the float 3, the air chambers and .the valve mechanism arranged therein designated as an entirety by the numeral 4 and the water intake ports and discharge ports indicated in Fig. 1 by the numeral 5.

Taking up the variouselemonts in the order of their naming, the cylinders 1 and 2 are lengths of cylindrical metal casin' which may be of any desired size, althou'gi in reducing my invention to practice I have found that it is expedient to make the cylinder 1 of less diameter than the cylinder 2. These cylinders carry on their upper ends the air chambers 4 and the intake ports are secured to their lower end by means of the rods 6 which maintain the various parts in assembled position in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1 or in any other suitable manner.

The floatis a cylindrical casing somewhat similar to the cylinder 2 with the exception, however, that whereas the cylinder 2 is open at both ends, the member 3 is equipped with integral closing caps at each end, the closure member 7 being reduced atits outer portion and provided with a screw threaded bore adapted to receive the threaded end of the trip rod 8. The float 3 is equipped with the rollers 9 which are disof which is directed outwardly as in Fig.

to provide space for the reception of air pipe inlets and exhaust port to be hereinafter descr bed. The housing 4 is divided 'into the compartments 11, 12 and 1.3 by the partition walls 14, 15 and 16. The partition wall 14 is enlarged to provide the vertically arranged air pipes 18 and 19 illustrated in- Fig. 2. The wall 15 is provided with an 'ofiset portion 20 to permit of sliding movement in a vertical plane of thetrip collars being posed to maintain the float in uniform I hereinafter described. The pipes 18 andJitQ provided in the wall 15 and conunuuicate respectively with the cylinders 1 and 2boing projected through the partition plate 21 which is disposed between the housing 4 and the cylinders 1 and 2. The pipe 18 is provided with an inlet port 22 arranged on the forwardv face of the wall 14 and with an exhaust port 23 arranged on the rearward face of the said plate. The pipe 19 is provided with a similarly disposed inlet port 24 and exhaust port 25 arranged respectively on the forward and rearward faces of the wall 14. These ports are preferably metallic pipes having the communicating bores 26 indicated in Fig. 9 and are provided with the annular recesses 27 adapted to receive the valve plugs. These plugs maybe secured by the metallic straps and screws indicated at 28 of Fig. 9 or any other suitable securing means may be employed.

' The valve structure proper includes theournaled in a perforation is disposed in vertical alinement with the space between the cylinders 1 and 2. Rcarwardly of the wall 14, the spindle is equipped with the valve spindle 29 valve plugs 30 and 31 and forwardly of the wall 14 it carries the valve plugs 32 and As illustrated in Figs. 5 and- 6, these valve plugs 32 and 33 and 30 and 31 are carried on the free ends of the V shaped valve arms 34 and 35 respectively. These'arms 34 and 35 are keyed to the spindle 29 and are of such shape that only one of the valve plugs on each of the said arms will close their respective ports at the same time. They are also adapted for alternate engagement with the various ports in a manner which. will be hereinafter fully described.

As above stated the spindle 29 is journaled in the wall 15. A lever arm 36 is keyed to the spindle and is normally disposed in a horizontal plane, This member 36 is arranged in the chamber 13 and is provided with the yoke arms 37 which pivotally engage the pin 38 carried by the valve leveris further provided with the gage collar 43 which is mounted on the rod between the collar 42 and the lower endof said rod. The member 43 is circumferentially beveled as illustrated in Fig. 3, the upper face of the member being adapted for engagement with the rollers 44 and 45 on upward movement of the float and the lower face being adapted for engagement with the rollers on down ward movement of the said float. The roller members are secured to the lower end of the roller arms 46 and 47 which are pivotally mounted on the supporting arm 48, the latter member being bolted or otherwise secured to the partition wall 15. A spring 46' is disposed to normally hold the arms 46 and 4Z'With their free ends in engagement with each other A retaining roller 49 secured to the leaf spring 50 is mounted .within the chamberl3 and is disposed for yielding engagement with the free end of the lever 39.

Coming now to the description of the water intake ports and the discharge ports: This structure includes the members 51 and 52 which are provided with the downwardly extending openings 53 and 54 and are provided on their upper portions with the annular cylinder seats. Themeinbers 51 and 52 are provided with the annular grooves 57 and 58, these grooves being communieant with the discharge pipe 59 through the me-' dium of the passages 60 and 61, the upper"v portions of which are provided with valve" in a well, river or other water supply, the

water being under atmospheric pressure will spring the flap valve 64 open and will rise in the cylinders 1 and 2. As the water rises the float 3 will be carried upwardly until the member 43 engages the rollers 44 and 45, and will remain in this position until the chambers are approximately filled with water at which juncture the pressure tending to move the float 3 upwardly will be suflicient to spring the rollers 44 and 45, thus permitting the rod 8 to move upwardly and consequently allowing the collar 42 to swing the lever 39 upwardly. Immediately the arm 39 is moved upwardly, the roller 49 actuated by spring 50 moves inwardly, the spindle 29 is rotated in a clockwise direction through the action of the valve lever 36. As the spindle 29 turns, the intake port 22 of the pipe 18 will be closed by the valve plug 32 and the port 24 which is also an intake pipe will be opened. It will be ob served that prior to this juncture, all .of the valves, have been opened thus permitting the air within the cylinder to exhaust as the water level rises. Simultaneously with the opening of the port 24 and the closing of the port 22, the exhaust 31 of the pipe 19 will be closed and the exhaust 3O of the pipe 18 will be opened. At this point,

compressed air which may be supplied by an auxiliary pump or by a compressed air tank is introduced to the chamber 13 through the compressed air pipe 65. As the air rushes into the chamber 13, it will of course seek an outlet andwill therefore pass through the open intake 24 through the pipe 19 and exerting force on the water contained in thus exerted will force the water out of cylinder 1 through (the passage 60 and thence through the discharge pipe 59. As soon as the water; however, has fallen to a predetermined level inthe cylinder 2, the float 3 being no longer supported will, from its own Weight, draw the collar 41 down. against the lever arm189 and when the water has been completely exhausted from the cylinder 2, the weight of the fi'oat will be suificient todraw the lever arm back to its initial positionagainst the action of the roller 49 and the spring 50. Simultaneously with this movement, the intake 24, of the cylinder. 2 will be ciosed and the exhaust 25 for the said cylinder opened and consequently the intake 22 of the cylinder 1 will be opened and the exhaust of said cylinder closed. The atmospheric pressure on the water of the well or river again acts to raise the'watcr in the cylinder 2 and at the same time by opening the valve 22 the air pressure in the chamber 13 is transferred to the cylinder 1 forcing the water in the cyl inder through the discharge pi e 59 in the manner above described to the ow of water in the cylinder 2.

It will thus be seen that the pumping of 'the water to any level may be accomplished by the mere provision of a compressedair pump or tank and that the flow of water will be steady, and continuous.

While I have designed the valve structure herein disclosed with special reference to an air pump, it will of course be understood that this valve structure and controlling means therefor may be readily applied to any device wherein automatically controlled valve mechanism is employed.

It will, of course, be understood that the above dcscription'and accompanying drawings comprehend only the general and preferred embodiment of my invention and that various minor changes in the details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the appended claims and without sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention.

lVhat is claimed is: 1. An air lift pump including a compressed air container, pair of water cylinders having inwardly opened flap valves at their lower ends, a discharge spout communicantwith the said cylinders, a float carried within one of said cylinders and adapted for vertical movement in accordance with the rise and fall of water within said cylinder, a valve housing carried by said cylinders, said housing being divided into an exhaust chamber, a compressed air intake chamber, and a valve controlled chamber, each of said water cylinders being communicant with the said exhaust and intake chambers, a plu cylinder 2. The pressurerality of valve plugs mounted in operative relation to the exhaust and intake ports and" means carried within the housing and automatically controlled by the said float for opening: the intake port of the float cylinderand at the same time opening the exhaust port of the other cylinder and simultaucously with this operation closing the intake of the last mentioned cylinder and closing the exhaust port of the said float cylinder.

2. An air lift pump including a pair of water cylinders having inwardly opening flap valves in their lower ends, a discharge spout communicant with the said cylinders,

-means including a valve spindle rotatably mounted within the said housing, a pair of valve arms keyed to the said spindle, one of said arms being disposed in the exhaust chamber, the other of said arms being mounted within the intake cylinder, the said valve plugs being carried by the said valve arms, a pivotally mounted lever arm carried within the casing and operatively connected to the said valve spindle and means carried by the said float and adapted for engagement with the said pivotally mounted arm for automatically controlling the rotation of the valve spindle and consequent movement of the valve plugs.

3. An air lift pump including a pair-of water cylinders, a discharge spout communican't with the said cylinders and means for automatically effecting the air intake and exhaust of one cylinder in alternate relationto the air intake and exhaust of the other cylinder, said means including a plurality of valve plugs, a-rotatably mounted valve spindle, a plurality of valve arms whereon are mounted the said valve plugs, an opcratin {1 arm keyed to said valve spindle and piv otally connected to a lever'arm carried within the chamber, a pair of co-acting pivotally mounted spring controlled retaining rollers carried by said lever arm, a float mounted for vertical movement within one of the said cylinders with the rise and fall of the water within the cylinder, an upwardly projecting trip rod carried by said float, a pair of spaced lever arm engaging collars mounted on said trip rod and a roller engaging collar secured to said trip rod for preventing the upward-movement of the float beyond a fixed point until the water pressure within the float cylinder has reached a predetermined point.

4. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of water cylinders communicating with -a source of supply of water, each cylinder having an air pressure intake and an exhaust, rocking levers mounted upon a single pivot and one lever being pro;

vided with means for controlling the air takes and theother lever being provided with means for controlling the air exhausts, and a float in one cylinder for rocking said levers to alternately close air exhausts and intakes of-said cylinder, substantially as described.

5. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of water cylinders communicating with a source of supply of water and each having an air intake and exhaust, rocking levers mounted upon a single pivot and one lever having means for controlling the exhausts and the other lever having means for eontrolling the intakes, a spring con trolled arm for rocking said levers, and a float in one of said cylinders for rocking said arm, substantially as described.

1,0 near 6. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of water cylinders communieating with a source of supply of water and each provided with an air pressure intake and exhaust, means for controlling said exdownward movement of the fioat' prior to actuation of said means thereby, substantially as described.

THEODORE PETERS.

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