1840.] 



THE CIA IL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



41 



HARVEY AND WEST'S PATENT IMPROVED VALVE /o; 



MacJiitics for Raining Water and other Liquids. 



SPECIFICATION. 



Now know ye, that our iinproveii valve resembles, in appearance, 

 a valve known bv the name of the " ilouble beat valve," used in certain 

 steam engines ; our improvement consists in making the same self- 

 acting, so that it can work without the aid of machinery for opening 

 and shutting it, and tliereby is applicable to machines for raising water 

 and other liquids. 



In our improved valves the area of the u])per part of the seat, on 

 which the top of the valve beats, is made less than the area of the 

 lower part of the seat, on which the bottom of the valve beats, the 

 valve being made of course to correspond, and the difference in area 

 between the two must be such that, when the valve is used in the 

 place of the lower valve in a pump through which the water passes 

 into the pump barrel, tlie pressure of the atmos))here upon the under 

 side of the valve (brought into action by creating a partial vacuum 

 upon the upper side of the valve when motion is given to the piston, 

 bucket, or plunger-pole of the pump,! shall be sufficient to overcome 

 the weight of the valve, and cause it to rise, and when the valve is 

 used in place of the upper valve, through which the watei- is forced 

 out of the pump barrel, or when used in lien of the valves upon the 

 pump bucket, the difference in area must be such that the pressure 

 upon the under side of the valve, (caused by the motion of the piston, 

 bucket, or plunger-pole forcing the liquid through it,) shall be suffi- 

 cient to overcome the weight of the valve, and cause it to rise ; the 

 opening in the top will be less than the opening in the bottom of the 

 valve, and the surface of the ring upon the top of the valve, which 

 will be equal to the difference between the area of the two openings, 

 must be made proportionate to the weight of the valve itself, the ac- 

 tion will be more fully understood by reference to the drawings and 

 explanation thereof hereinafter given. 



The advantages to be obtained by the use of our improved valve, 

 are 1st, That as the area of the valve exposed to the pressure of the 

 column of water, or action of the piston upon its return stroke, is con- 

 siderably less than in the ordinary circular, hanging or butterfly valves, 

 the blow and consequent vibration caused by the shutting of the valves, 

 is considerably diminished, and less costly foundations are therefore 

 required. "2d. The loss of water upon the shutting down of the valve 

 is considerably diminished. Our improved valves may be used for 

 the upper and lower valves of all varieties of pumps. 



In order to explain more clearly the construction and action of our 

 improved valve, we will now refer to and describe the drawings, re- 

 presenting plans, elevations, and sections of it. The same letters of 

 reference are marked upon all the figures. 



Figure 1 is an elevation of the valve and its seat, the valve being 

 shut. Figure 2, a top view thereof, the valve being open or shut. 

 Figure 3, a vertical section through the valve and seat, the valve being 

 shut. Figure 4, a vertical section through the valve and seat, the 

 valve being open. Figure 5, an elevation. Figure ti, a plan. Figure 

 7, a vertical section of the valve detached from its seat. Figure b, an 

 elevation. Figure 9, a plan. Figure 10, a vertical section of the seat. 

 Figure 11, a horizontal section of the ribs tlirough the line a b, in fig. 

 10, and plan of the bottom or lower beat; cc c c the seat made of cast 

 iron or other metal, upon which the valve del works. The valve may 

 be made of cast or wrought iron, gun-metal, brass, copper, or other 

 metal, according to the size, the quality of the water, or other circum- 

 stances. The rings e' e' ee are faced, that is are turned true, and when 

 shut, fit accurately to the beats/'/' and //upon the seat c'ccc; 

 //is the lower beat, and/'/' is the upper beat. In fig. 7 e' e' is the 

 top opening of the valve, and ee the bottom ; the beats may either be 

 formed by a raised ridge cast, or wrought npon the seat, and faced or 

 turned true, or by introducing into circular grooves, cast in the seat, a 

 ring of wooden wedges, or of soft metal; the top surface in either 

 case to be faced or turned true, to receive the valve — we prefer wood 

 or soft metal; ^g represents a circular groove cast or wrought, on 

 the under side of the seat, into which leather is introduced, so as to 

 prevent leakage when the seat is bolted down in its place. A A is a 

 cylinder cast upon the seat and turned true, so as to form a guide for 

 the valve to work upon, and to keep it in its right place, j i is a me- 

 tallic featlier attached to the cylinder, and projecting into a groove 

 formed in the valve, to prevent any circular motion in the valve ; and 

 A: A is a cap bolted upon the cylinder to prevent the valve rising be- 

 yond a given height, or being displaced. The dotted lines / //, ///, 

 fig. 4, represent the direction that the water takes when the valve is 

 opened, m m represent the surface of tlie valve that is exposed to 

 the pressure of the atmosphere, or force created by the motion of the 

 piston, and wliich when proportioned as hereinbefore described, by 

 No. 29,--Voi., III.— February, 1840. 



making the difference in area betvi'eeu the space by the rings circum- 

 scribing the top and bottom openings of the valve, sufficiently great to 

 allow the force applied to overcome the weight of the valve, will 

 cause it to rise. 



Having now described our improved valve, and in doing so, having 

 also described certain contrivance and constructions, which we do not 

 claim as our improvement, but the description of which was necessary 

 to elucidate our improvement; we hereby declare that we claim as 

 our improvement that part of the contrivance only which makes the 

 valve self-acting, by making the area of the top opening of the valve 

 less than the bottom, and making the seat to correspond thereto, which 

 area must be varied according to tlie size and weight of the valve, 

 and must be proportioned thereto. 



IRON TIES THROUGH PARTY WALLS. 



Experiments tried at Chatham on the dth of December 1839, in res^ 

 to iron ties passing through party leal/s to form a continued bond for the 

 floors of adjacent houses. 



In the course of practical architecture taught to the junior officers 

 of the Royal Engineers of Chatham, the floors of two adjoining houses 

 are connected by ties, each consisting of a strap of iron jiassing through 

 a party wall, and bolted to the sides of two girders, in the same alline- 

 nieut, which sort of tie-bond maybe supposed to be continued throuo-h 

 the whole extent of a range of barracks, or of a row of houses, as was 

 done by Messrs. Baker in their new houses on the north side of the 

 Strand, near Exeter Hall. 



The utility of tliis sort of continued bond could scarcely be doubted, 

 but a query having often suggested itself, whether the destruction of 

 the floors of one house by fire, might not heat the iron-lies passing 

 through the party walls, on each side, so far as to endanger the floors 

 of the two adjacent houses ; Colonel Pasley directed Captain Williams 

 to try the following experiment, which must be considered conclusive. 



In the accompanying figures, w is a 9 inch brick wall, (j courses high, 

 representing a portion of a jjarty wall between two adjoining houses. 

 For tlie convenience of applying the fire, it was built upon the hearth 

 of a smith's forge. The 4 inch walU,f, were added merely to enclose 

 the fuel, and to increase its heat. These walls were built the day 

 previous to that on which the experiment was made; and as common 

 lime mortar would have required considerable time to dry, cement 



Fig. 1. Plan. 



-JM. 



C§-^ 



HH 



Fig. 2, Section. 



JjScI 



p six pigs of iron ballast, each 50 lbs. to prevent the brickwork separating 

 by the heat. Ii Hood. G. L. Ground Line. 



