IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBE STOPPERS
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David John Morgan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st December 1882.
DAVID JOHN MORGAN of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, Engineer,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBE STOPPERS "
My invention relates to a means for stopping the efflux of steam, water, or other
liquid, or gas, in a state of pressure, through a burst or collapsed tube, as fitted in
multitubular marine boilers or similar receptacles; and is designed to stop or plug
such collapsed or burst tubes with great ease, with special regard to the safety and
protection of the operator from the said efflux.
My apparatus consists of a tube, slightly longer and of smaller diameter than
the burst or collapsed tube, and screwed with an outside thread at each end
Upon these threads are fitted nuts, one at each end towards the the middle, and
at the back of these nuts is a thick washer of india-rubber, asbestos, or lead, or other
suitable elastic or malleable material. Another nut is fitted at the back of the
said elastic or malleable washer, and a thin metal washer is interposed, to allow the
outside nuts to slide freely upon the intervening surface.
The elastic or malleable washer may be of a V shape, the nuts on either side
being bevelled to fit into the inclined recesses; or the elastic washer may have
parallel sides, and the nuts may be shaped with perpendicular faces to suit.
When the outside nuts are screwed home on the packing, the elastic or malleable
washer is forced outwards, so as to make a steam tight joint on the inside of the
ends of the burst tube. The outside diameter of the nuts is sufficiently small to
allow of their being pushed freely into the burst tube.
I am aware that nuts, and elastic packing between, have been used for making
joints in the ends of burst or collapsed tubes, but my special improvement thereon
consists in the means whereby the operator may first make tight the joint nearest

page_text: to him, so as to protect himself from the efflux of steam or water, and may then
with ease make tight the joint farthest from him.
To enable this to be done, I provide the nut at the end farthest from the
operator with a bridge, in which a square or other cornered hole is pierced. I
provide also a stout rod or tube, longer than, and small enough to, enter the tube
of the stopper, one end of which terminates in a square or cornered key, which fits
into the hole in the bridge of the farther nut, and is thus capable of turning it
when inserted through the tube of the stopper. The other end of the key-rod
near the operator is pierced with suitable holes, into which a tommy bar can be
inserted to turn it, or it may be made square to fit a wrench.
The end of the tube of the stopper nearest to the operator is also pierced with a
hole or holes, so that it can be prevented from turning by the operator. The end
of the tube of the stopper nearest to the operator is screwed for some distance, so as
to render the stopper adjustable to different lengths of burst tube, within a range
of some inches; an extra check nut is provided at the back of the inner nut, to
fix it in the required position.
The tube of the stopper may be made in two pieces joined by a screwed socket;
so that it may be inserted into the burst tube in successive pieces, when the stoke-
hole is confined, and similarly, for the same reason, the key rod may be jointed in
the centre.
The nut nearest to the operator is preferably cast with a lug, so that it cannot
be pushed inadvertently into the burst tube.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said David John Morgan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st May 1883.
DAVID JOHN MORGAN, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, Engineer,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBE STOPPERS"
My invention relates to a means for stopping the efflux of steam, water, or other
liquid or gas in a state of pressure, through a burst or collapsed tube as fitted in
multitubular marine boilers or similar receptacles; and is designed to stop or plug
such collapsed or burst tubes with great ease, with special regard to the safety and
protection of the operator from the said efflux.
In order that my invention may be the better understood I now proceed to
describe the same in regard to the drawings hereto annexed, reference being had
to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figures 1 and 2, are longitudinal sections through my appliance.
Figure 3. is a perspective view of each end.
Figure 4. shows the main tube united in the centre by a socket.
Figure 5. is a detail of the key-rod with eye joint in the centre.
Figures 6 and 7 are details of alternative forms of bridge nuts.
Like letters refer to similar parts in the different figures.
A is the main tube, slightly longer and of smaller diameter than the burst or
collapsed tube, and screwed with an outside thread at each end.
Upon these threads are fitted nuts B and C, D and E, a pair at each end,
between which the elastic collars G G, of india rubber, asbestos, lead, or other
suitable material, are squeezed out and expanded, so as to close the ends of the
burst or collapsed tube with steam tight joints, the outside diameter of the nuts
being sufficiently small to allow of their being pushed freely into the burst tube.
These aforesaid parts of my appliance are at present known and in use; but my
improvements thereon are as follows.
First One of the said nuts B, viz:-that farthest from the operator, is made
with a bridge, pierced with a square or other cornered hole, into which the end of
a key-rod or tube H fits and keys; or the bridge of the nut may have an internal
projection, Figure 6, upon which the rod H keys like a socket spanner; or the
bridge may be pierced with a screwed hole, Figure 7, into which the rod H screws
down to a shoulder. The nut by such means can be rotated by the key rod, when
passed through the tube from the end nearest to the operator.
The mode of application is as follows:-The nuts D and E, with the enclosed
packing ring G, are adjusted and locked by the check nut F upon the end of the
tube (which is screw-threaded for some distance to allow of such adjustment) so
that the packing rings G are respectively in proper position in the ends of the
burst or collapsed tube. The nut E, which is provided with a lug so that it cannot
be thrust inadvertently too far into the tube, is first screwed up, so that the end of
the burst tube nearest to the operator is first stopped, and the efflux of steam or
water diverted to the other end away from the operator. By the insertion of the
key-rod H through the stopper tube A, and by turning the same by a wrench or
bar gripping the square head of the key-rod, or passing through a hole provided
for the purpose, the nut B can be tightened up, so as to make the farther joint
steam tight. The end of the stopper tube nearest to the operator is also pierced
with a hole or holes, so that it can be prevented from turning by the operator.
Thus the burst or collapsed tube is stopped at both ends and repaired.
Second:-I improve the action of the packing ring G, and enable a ductile or

page_text: fibrous material, such as lead or asbestos, to be successfully used, by making the
nuts B, C, D, and E, with coned wedge faces, as in Figure 2, presented to, and
pressing under the V shaped packing, so as to force it more powerfully outwards.
I may make the tube A in two pieces united by a screwed socket as in Figure 4,
and the key rod H may be linked by two eyes in the centre as in Figure 5, to suit
short stoke holes, when necessary.
When india-rubber or other packing offering considerable rubbing friction is
employed, I insert a metal washer K, Figure 1, between the packing and the
nuts B and E, so as to enable the latter to turn easily.
Having now fully described my said invention and the manner of its performance,
be it known that I do not broadly claim the expanding washer and tube, inasmuch
as such a device is known, but what. I do consider novel and desire to claim by
Letters Patent is :-
First. The combination with the known device of a washer expanding tube
stopper, of an internal rod or tube, keying on a bridged nut at the end of the tube
remote from the operator, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
Second. In such a tube stopper the alternative modification in the form of the
nuts, consisting in their construction in a coned form pressing upon a V shaped
packing, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof I the said David John Morgan have hereunto set my -hand
and seal this Twenty fourth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three.