Exercise 46: Piston for Circulating Pump.—Draw the vertical sectional elevation of the piston, &c., shown in fig. 46, also a half plan and half horizontal section through the centre. Scale 4 inches to a foot.
Pump Bucket.—The next form of piston which we illustrate is shown in fig. 47. This represents the air-pump bucket of a marine engine. The bucket is made of brass, and is provided with six india-rubber disc valves. The rod is in this case made of Muntz metal. Air-pump rods for marine engines are very often made of wrought iron cased with brass. It will be observed that there is a wide groove around the bucket, which is filled with hempen rope or gasket. This gasket forms an elastic packing which prevents leakage. This is an old-fashioned form of packing, and is now only used for pump buckets.
Exercise 47: Air-pump Bucket.—Draw the sectional elevation of the air-pump bucket shown in fig. 47. Also draw a half plan looking downwards and a half plan looking upwards. Scale 4 inches to a foot.
Fig. 47.
Fig. 48.
Ramsbottom's Packing.—The form of packing used in the air-pump bucket, fig. 47, is not suitable for steam pistons. For the latter the packing is now always metallic. The simplest form of metallic packing is that known as Ramsbottom's. This form is very largely used for locomotive pistons, and for small pistons in many kinds of engines besides. A locomotive piston for an 18-inch cylinder with Ramsbottom's packing is shown in fig. 48. The particular piston there illustrated is made of brass, and is secured to a wrought-iron piston rod by a brass nut. Two circumferential grooves of rectangular section are turned out of the piston, and into these fit two corresponding rings, which may be of brass, cast iron, or steel. In this example the rings are of cast iron. These rings are first turned a little larger in diameter than the bore of the cylinder (in this example 1⁄2 inch), and then sprung over the piston into the groves prepared for them. Their own elasticity causes the rings to press outwards on the cylinder. At the point where a ring is split a leakage of steam will take place, but with quick-running pistons this leakage is unimportant. The points where the rings are cut should be placed diametrically opposite, so as to diminish the leakage of steam.