AN HYDRAULIC SELF-ACTING VENT PEG
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes and
Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, for the Invention of
"AN HYDRAULIC SELF-ACTING VENT PEG."-A communication from abroad
by Henry Clarke, of Rouen, France.
Sealed the 11th January 1868, and dated the 18th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1867.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN HYDRAULIC SELF-ACTING VENT PEG," a communication to
me from abroad by Henry Clarke, of Rouen, France, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a small vertical cylinder open at the top and
traversed centrally its entire length by a small tube, which tube extending
downwards through the bottom of the said cylinder is made slightly taper in the
form of a common vent peg, and which taper portion is inserted in the vent,.
the said cylinder is then filled with water to about half its height, there being
perforations in the said cylinder to run off the surplus; the water will thus
surround the said interior tube to the height of the said perforations. A bottle
is then placed neck downwar Is in the water in the said cylinder, receiving the
upper portion of the said tube through its neck. Communication. is thus
established between the interior of the cask (or other vessel in which the vent

page_text: peg is inserted) and that of the said bottle, by which it will be evident that
the density of the air in the bottle will be the same as that in the cask; but
the water intervenes between the air in the bottle and the atmospheric air,
consequently the instant liquid is drawn from the cask the partial vacuum
created causes atmospheric air to pass through the water into the bottle, thus
supplying the exact quantity of air necessary to supply the place of the liquid
drawn off
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents, 123,
Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Thomas
Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A
HYDRAULIC SELF-ACTING VENT PEG," a communication to me from abroad by
Henry Clarke, of Rouen, France, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accom-

page_text: panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon
(that is to say):
This Invention consists of a small cylinder a, Fig. 1, having in its cir-
cumference a number of perforations b, and open at the top unless covered by
the cover c. The said cylinder is traversed centrally its entire length by a
small tube d, which extends downwards through the bottom of the cylinder,
and is made of a slightly taper form, as at e, similar to an ordinary vent peg.
When required to be used as a vent peg the taper part e is inserted in the
vent hole of the cask or other vessel, the cover c removed, and the cylinder filled
with water as high as the perforations 6 will allow it, the water surrounding
the interior tube d. A bottle f, Fig. 2, is now placed neck downwards in the
water in the cylinder, the bottle receiving the tube d through its neck g.
The neck of the bottle is under water, and the density of the air in the bottle
is the same as that in the cask, there being a free communication from one
to the other by means of the tube d, e. The water intervenes between the
air in the bottle and the atmospheric air, and when the liquid is being drawn
off the partial vacuum created in the cask draws the atmospheric air through
the water into the bottle, thereby supplying the exact quantity of air necessary
for the drawing off the liquid.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
E. T. HUGHES. (L.S.)