Chris's Worthington Brewery Pump

[crueby]

Why were glands made in this shape on lots of pumps, there doesn't seem to be anything that would interfere with an easier to make circular gland?

Only reason I can  come up with is less material. They were usually cast to shape, so no harder to make. I usually  see round ones on very large engines. Manufacturer  habit?

[PaulR]

Only reason I can  come up with is less material.

Yeah I did think of that but maybe it is just a style thing - I notice that some here in the UK have the same shaped flange at the bottom of the air vessel.

[cnr6400]

  Packing glands look great Chris!
Did the shop elves bug you again this build to make the infamous Rand Hand Gland Stand to store these parts manually before assembly?   

[Roger B]

Another fine project to follow (try to keep up with  )      The cylinder port arrangement to allow for cushioning the pistons is a neat idea 

[crueby]

Another fine project to follow (try to keep up with  )  The cylinder port arrangement to allow for cushioning the pistons is a neat idea 

I'm not sure which manufacturer came up with the idea, I've seen it in several different manufacturer catalogs around 1900. Its pretty clever. Some of them added bleeder valves between the steam passage and the exhaust passage to further control the cushion effect on the larger pumps, especially in the ones that can run the pump dry so the piston gets less resistance all of a sudden.

[crueby]

The other two piston rod glands have been made just like the first two yesterday. Then I moved on to drilling the mounting holes for the inner caps, starting with the cylinders, held on the faceplate with the screws drilled for the outer caps. The spacing of the inner and outer cap screws are different, since the inner ones have to be slightly farther in towards the center to clear the center section pipe walls. This is how the original brewery pump was. Some other pumps, especially the marine use ones, used pillars rather than the pipe shape, I think to allow better access around the parts as well as letting them nest against other machinery/pipes when the pumps were mounted vertically on a bulkhead. Many many variations on the designs!

Then started drilling the inner end caps with clearance sized holes to match. I'll drill one extra scrap disc piece to use as a drill guide later on when I make the pump housing. I was going to do the housing end wall piece today, but found I was out of flat stock that wide and had to order some more. So, the guide piece will let me do the setup again later on.

A couple more to drill, then I can set up for putting the notches in the rim of the inner caps to let them fit into the center section pipes.

[Michael S.]

Those are really great pictures again! It's amazing how quickly the construction is progressing. I like this duplex steam pump.

I have threaded caps on the stuffing box on my steam pumps. And I wondered how they were made.
The steam cylinder and water cylinder with frame are one cast part. But the drawings show it built in several individual parts.

Michael

[cnr6400]

 

[crueby]

Hi Michael,


Great old catalog, very similar  drawings to what I have in my Worthington and Knowles catalogs. Same extra passages to cushion the piston travel, and same levers as on the Worthington. The packing glands are different,  yours look just like the ones one the Sabino engine I built. I  have never seen a diagram of the parts, that is quite interesting! All of the catalogs I have seen have a big variety in the fine details, mainly between the size pumps, the larger versions likely had the multiple pieces bolt together. Also, the ones meant for shipboard use so they could transport them into the ship in pieces.


Its also interesting that they  used the narrow glands on the steam chest where there was no room for the round ones.


Chris

[PaulR]

Its also interesting that they  used the narrow glands on the steam chest where there was no room for the round ones.

A practical reason at last! 

[Michael S.]

I don't know if this is helpful, but here's another explanation of the Worthington pump.
Photographed with a cell phone and automatically translated. The images are from the book: Pumps and Compressors by H. Haeder from 1914.
I hope Google got it right.

Michael

[crueby]

Michael,  thats a great description and  set of drawings on how it works, actually  a little better than how Worthington  presents it in thier catalogs. I didn't know  that Worthington  licensed  it to other companies,  but it makes sense given how popular they were. Worthington  bought up a bunch of other pump manufacturers  in the early 1900s, like Blake/Knowles, Deane, Laidlaw, Snow-Holley, and others. I have seen many Blake pump plans in the National  Archives in US Navy ships around 1900, same basic designs as used decades later.

[EricB]

There's something uniquely satisfying about a steam driven pump!

 

Eric

[crueby]

There's something uniquely satisfying about a steam driven pump!

 

Eric

Swish click swish click swish click...   

[crueby]

The rest of the inner caps were drilled, then back to the lathe to turn in the recess to let them fit into the bore of the center section pipes, with just a small lip to align them.

Tapped the holes for the piston rod glands and got them assembled...

Then it was time to attach the end caps to the center sections. Started by attaching one end to each pipe with some thick retaining compound, aligning the holes in line with the glands with the bottom edges of the window openings. Once those were set enough to handle, the other ends were attached. To align them, I ran a length of small rod through the holes and supported them on 1-2-3 blocks. This aligned the holes, so the plates will attach to the cylinders and the pump housing with everything in line.

I'll let everything set up, then will drill/tap through the ends of the pipes around the rims of the end caps for some small brass screws, which will be cut/filed off flush. This will give added strength, needed since the center section holds the cylinders and pump housing against the force of the piston/pump. On the original engines, these center sections were cast in one piece. Some models of the pumps had three columns rather than the pipe style section. Either design accomplished the same function.