IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BORING AND TAPPING GAS 'AND WATER MAINS, AND IN FITTING SERVICE PIPES THERETO
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Upward, of the Gasworks, Brick Lane,
St. Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BORING AND TAPPING GAS 'AND WATER
MAINS, AND IN FITTING SERVICE PIPES THERETO."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Upward at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
May 1860.
I, ALFRED UPWARD, of the Gasworks, Brick Lane, St. Luke's, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BORING AND TAPPING GAS AND WATER MAINS
AND IN FITTING SERVICE PIPES THERETO," to be as follows:→→
This invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed in
boring and tapping gas and water mains, and in fitting service pipes thereto.
For this purpose I employ a bar, which at one end carries a small boring bit
of the ordinary description, the point of which when a main is to be bored and
tapped is applied to the main, the other end of the bar being at the same time
pressed on as when an ordinary drill is employed. It is convenient to use for
this purpose a set screw, passing through a cross head, carried by rods secured
to the main by clips. By means of this small boring bit, as the bar is turned
by a ratchet brace or otherwise, a small hole is drilled in the pipe. Imme-
diately above the boring bit is a cylindrical stem of the size of the bit, which
as soon as the bit enters the main passes into the hole and plugs it, so that no
gas or water can escape. Above this stem is a cutter of larger size, which

page_text: being turned by the ratchet brace and forced forward by the screw at the top
will enlarge the hole to a size sufficient to receive the tap, which also is
formed on the same bar. Before the tap, however, can be employed, the burr
left by the second cutter in breaking through has to be removed. This is done
by raising the cutter to the top of the burr; for which purpose a cylinder is
employed, having a screw thread cut within it corresponding to the thread of
the tap. The tap passes through this cylinder, and when it is desired to
remove the burr the cylinder is turned round till its lower edge is brought in
contact with the main, and until the cutter is raised to the desired height;
then by turning the bar, as before, the burr is cut away, the cylinder being
from time to time turned back, so as to lower the cutter till all the burr is
removed.
When a gas main is being bored, in order that the gas may not escape
while the burr is being removed, I make a tight joint between the lower end
of the cylinder above mentioned and the surface of the gas main by means of
grease or other material. At the upper end of the cylinder is a stuffing box
to prevent escape between the cylinder and the bar. When the burr is
removed a cylindrical part of the bar above the cutter enters the hole and
plugs it; then the ratchet brace being removed a spanner may be placed on
the bar, and the tap worked by it in the usual manner. When the tap is
removed the service pipe is screwed into the hole, and (when applying a
service pipe to a gas main) I employ in order to stop the service pipe and
prevent the passage of gas till the fittings are complete, a thin plug or wafer
of wax, or other matter readily removed by heat or a,solvent run into the
pipe when it is desired to remove the plug or wafer. By the use of the
apparatus above described, a gas main may be bored and tapped with an
inappreciable loss of gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Upward, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
UPWARD, of the Gasworks, Brick Lane, St. Luke's, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Hor

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and. grant unto
me, the said Alfred Upward, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Upward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Upward, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BORING AND TAPPING GAS AND WATER MAINS,
AND IN FITTING SERVICE PIPES THERETO," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Upward, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
.ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Upward, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what. manner, the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
> statement thereof, that is to say :-
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus, employed in
boring and tapping gas and water mains, and in fitting service pipes thereto.
For this purpose I. employ an apparatus such as is shown in the Drawings
hereunto annexed, of which Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 a vertical section,
and Figure 8 a plan. It consists of a bar a, which at one end carries a small
boring bit of the ordinary description, the point of which when a main is to
be bored and tapped is applied to the main; the other end of the bar a being
at the same time pressed on as when an ordinary, drill is employed. It is con
venient to use for this purpose a set, screw passing through a cross head
O carried by rods secured to the main by clips. By means of this small boring
bit 6, as the bar is turned by a ratchet brace applied to the square part a' of
the bar a, or otherwise, a small hole is drilled in the pipe. Immediately above
the boring bit is a cylindrical stem c of the size of the bit, which as.soon as the
bit enters the main passes into the hole and plugs it, so that no gas or water
can escape. Above this stem c is a cutter d of larger size, which being turned
by the ratchet brace and forced forward by the screw at the top a³ of the
bar a, will enlarge the hole to a size sufficient to receive the tap a³, which also
is formed on the same bar a. Before the tap, however, can be employed, the
burr left by the second cutter din breaking through has to be removed; this

page_text: is done by raising the cutter d to the top of the burr, for which purpose a
cylinder e is employed having a screw thread cut within it corresponding to
the thread of the tap a³; the tap passes through this cylinder e, and when it is
desired to remove the burr the cylinder is turned round by the handles e¹ till
the lower edge of the cylinder is brought in contact with the main, and until
the cutter d is raised by turning the bar a to the desired height; then by con-
tinuing the turning the bar a, as before, the burr is cut away, the cylinder
being from time to time turned back, so as to lower the cutter till all the
burr is removed. The lower part of the cylinder is made separate from,
though it is connected to, the upper part of the cylinder c, as is shown by
the Drawing.
When a gas main is being bored, in order that the gas may not escape
while the burr is being removed, I make a tight joint between the lower end
of the cylinder e above mentioned, and the surface of the gas main, by means
of grease or other material. At the upper end of the cylinder is a stuffing
box f¹ to prevent escape between the cylinder e and the bar a. When the burr
is removed a cylindrical part a³ of the bar above the cutter d enters the hole
and plugs it. Then the ratchet brace may be removed, and a spanner
placed on the square end a¹ of the bar a, and the tap a worked by it in the
usual manner. When the tap is removed, the service pipe is screwed into the
hole, and (when applying a service pipe to a gas main) I employ in order to
stop the service pipe and prevent the passage of gas till the fittings are
complete, a thin plug or wafer of wax, or other matter readily removed by
heat or a solvent run into the pipe. When it is desired to remove the plug or
wafer, I usually employ a conical wafer of about 7th inch thick composed of
equal portions of wax and tallow, which is warmed sufficiently to make it
plastic, and is stuck on to the end of the pipe. I remove the wafer, when
required, by heating the pipe.. By the use of an apparatus combined as above
described, a main may be bored and tapped with an inappreciable loss of gas
or water.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Upward; have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the Year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
A. UPWARD. (L.S.)