Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 9th June, 1887
Complete Left, 23rd Feb., 1888
Complete Accepted, 23rd Mar., 1888
Wo, JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON and JOSEPH HOPKINSON, of the firm of J. Hopkinson
& Co., of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
--
Our invention relates to stop-cocks which have a taper or conical plug made and
kept tight in the barrel or socket by means of packing placed in grooves or spaces in
the said barrel or socket.
Stop-cocks of this kind or class have heretofore been provided with soft or
easily compressible packing, and have been so constructed that the gland performs
two functions, that is to say, when it is screwed down, it not only tightens or
compresses the packing to prevent leakage, but forces the plug further into the barrel
or socket. In cocks constructed and packed in this manner, it is evident that, by
reason of the facility with which the packing can be compressed, the taper or conical
plug is liable to become jammed in the barrel or socket.
Our invention is designed to obviate this defect. For this purposo we so construct
our improved stop-cock that it may be kept tight by the simple endwise adjustment
of the plug and without the necessity for compressing or tightening the packing.
Moreover the packing which we use in our improved cocks, if not naturally hard
and inelastic, is artificially made so by vulcanizing or other treatment, that is to say,
we use packing which is hard and compact enough to have its bearing surface made
smooth and accurately fitted to the plug, and which will not be liable to disintegration
and removal by the passage of the steam, water or other fluid through the cock, or. by
the movement or adjustment of the plug; but it will of course be understood that we
do not use materials of such a degree of hardness as will score or otherwise injure
the plug.
The said packing may consist of hard or compressed fibrous material or of india-
rubber or gutta-percha and other substances vulcanized or otherwise treated, as
described in the specification of Letters Patent, dated June 21st 1882, No. 2948, or
of prepared asbestos, ebonite, vulcanite or mixtures or compounds of asbestos or the
like, with other suitable materials, or it may consist of lead or other metals or any
.

page_text: other material capable of use in a stop-cock in the manner, and for the purpose,
herein specified.
In our stop-cock, we form in the barrel grooves or spaces in which we place the
packing; we do not, however, provide any packing at the end of the plug between
the same and the bottom or end of the socket, therefore it will be seen that we depend
entirely upon the packing that bears on the taper portion of the plug for keeping the
same tight.
We dispense with the glands heretofore used for tightening or compressing the
packing and we employ a screw-cover or other suitable means for keeping the plug in
place and for effecting the requisite endwise adjustment thereof.
In some instances, we form on the upper end of the taper portion of the plug a
collar or flange which, when the plug is in place, rests upon the packing in the upper
annular groove or space. When the plug is not provided with this collar, we form
thereon a shoulder which should be about flush with the top of the packing, and
against which the cover will bear when screwed down. We sometimes place a ring
or washer of the packing material between the upper surface of the collar or shoulder
and the inner surface of the said cover to prevent metallic contact.
D
1
T
JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON.
JOSEPH HOPKINSON.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: We JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON, and JOSEPH HOPKINSON, of the firm of J. Hopkinson
& Co., of Huddersfield in the County of York, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to stop-cocks which have a taper or conical plug made and
kept tight in the barrel or socket by means of packing placed in grooves or spaces in
the said barrel or socket.
Stop-cocks of this kind or class have heretofore been provided with soft or easily
compressible packing and with a gland which performs two functions that is to say,
it is intended that the gland by being screwed down shall compress the packing around
or at the end of the plug, and at the same time force the plug further into the barrel
or socket, and thereby make the plug tight. It has been found, however, that with
soft packing in such cocks it is very difficult to make a taper or conical plug properly
fluid-tight without causing it to jam or bind in the barrel or socket.
Our invention comprises improvements designed to obviate this difficulty that is to
say, it affords the means for constructing packed cocks in which the plug will be fluid
tight without compression of the packing and at the same time will be capable of
being easily moved in opening and closing, and which cocks will be more durable
than packed cocks as heretofore constructed.
For this purpose, according to one of our improvements, we so construct our stop-cock
that, after the plug has been properly fitted to the packing in the grooves or cavities,
the efficiency of the packing in respect of making the cock fluid-tight will be altogether
independent of any compression or squeezing of the said packing to force the same
into contact with the plug. Such packing must consist of a substance which, if not
naturally hard and incompressible, is artificially made so by vulcanizing or other
treatment, that is to say, we use packing which is hard and compact enough to have
its bearing surface made smooth and accurately fitted to the plug, and which will not
be liable to disintegration and removal by the passage of the steam, water or other
fluid through the cock, or by the movement or adjustment of the plug, but it will of
course be understood that we do not use materials of such a degree of hardness as
will score or otherwise injure the plug.
The said packing is advantageously made of hard or compressed fibrous imaterial or
of India-rubber or gutta-percha and other substances vulcanized or otherwise treated
to harden them; asbestos, ebonite, vulcanite or mixtures or compounds of asbestos
with other suitable materials, and various other substances will serve for the manu-
facture of packing suitable for our purpose. Various methods or processes for
preparing and applying vulcanized or vulcanizable asbestos or other compounds are
described in the Specifications of the following Letters Patent, viz.: Sutherland

page_text: No. 640, Rhodes No. 11079 and Lake No. 294882, and we may use these or other
suitable processes.
In applying our said improvement to a stop-cock, we form in the barrel or socket
grooves or spaces in which we place the packing: we do not, however, provide any
packing at the end of the plug between the same and the bottom or end of the socket,
therefore it will be seen that we depend entirely upon the accurate fitting and adjust-
ment of the plug to the packing around the taper portion of the said plug for keeping
the cock fluid tight.
We do not use a gland for tightening or compressing the packing around or upon
the plug to make the same fluid tight, but we use a cover or lid or other suitable
means for keeping the plug in place in its seat and for effecting the requisite endwise
adjustment thereof to compensate for wear.
According to another of our improvements we provide convenient means for keeping
the plug in place and for its end wise adjustment without compressing, squeezing or
displacing the hard or incompressible packing. For this purpose we, in some instances,
form on the upper end of the taper portion of the plug a collar or flange which, when
the plug is in place, rests upon the packing in the upper annular groove or space.
When the plug is not provided with this collar, we form thereon a shoulder which
should be about flush with, or slightly above the top of the packing, and against which
the cover might bear when screwed down. We prefer, however, to place a ring or
washer of soft packing material between the upper surface of the collar or shoulder
and the inner surface of the said cover to prevent metallic contact and to take up
any excess of pressure which the cover or lid might exert upon the plug. In some
instances, we use a compound cover as hereinafter described.
'
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal central section of one form of our improved
stop-cock.
Figure 2 is a plan of the body or barrel of the said cock, the cover and plug being
removed.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are vertical longitudinal central sections illustrating different
modifications of our invention.
The remaining figures are hereinafter referred to.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
a is the body or barrel of the cock, b is the plug, c, c¹ are the annular grooves or
spaces and d, & the longitudinal grooves for the packing, e is the cover which may be
secured in a well known manner by means of screw-studs and nuts to keep the taper
plug upon its seat. The said cover may if desired be screw-threaded and made to fit
a corresponding female screw thread in the barrel or socket a.
The stop-cock shown in Figure 1 is a solid-bottom cock; the plug is made with
a flange or collar between which and the packing in the annular groove or space c
is placed a ring of packing formed of a core of India-rubber or the like covered
with asbestos or other suitable material. A ring g of packing is, morcover, placed
between the said flange or collar and the cover e.
In the stop-cock shown in Figure 4, the plug 6 is open at the bottom and the body
or barrel a is formed with a socket a' at the bottom thereof for connection with a pipe.
The plug is formed with a flange b' and the packing is arranged as above described
with reference to Figure 1.
Figure shows a solid-bottom stop-cock in which the plug b is made without a
flange or collar, but is formed with a shoulder between which and the cover e is
placed a ring of packing having a core of india-rubber or other elastic material.
Figure 6 shows a stop-cock the general construction of which is similar to that of
the stop-cock shown in Figure 4, but wherein the plug is made with a shoulder 62
between which and the cover e is placed a ring f of packing as above described with
reference to Figure 5.
In Figures 7 and 8 we have illustrated a very convenient manner of securing the
hard packing in place in the upper annular-groove or recess of the socket. This

page_text: h
recess has a screw-thread cut in its upper portion for the reception of a screw-threaded
metal ring which is tightly screwed down upon the packing ring. The ring / may,
if desired be secured in the said recess in any other convenient manner.
In Figure 9 we have shown the shouldered plug in combination with a compound
cover e provided with a flange e¹ which is fitted and secured to the socket to hold the
upper ring of hard packing in place, and also with a gland i which exerts no endwise
pressure upon the said hard packing but is used solely for keeping the plug properly.
to its seat.
Figure 10 shows a modification of the compound cover to adapt it to a plug with
a flange as described with reference to Figure 4.
In Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 it will be obvious that the inner face of the cover or gland
could be made to bear directly upon the shoulder or flange of the plug, we prefer,
however, not to have metal working upon metal and therefore, we insert packing
between them as shown.
If desired, other packing may be substituted for the cored packing above
referred to.
We wish it understood that we do not claim as new, or consider that our invention
covers, the exclusive right to the use of vulcanized or vulcanizable packing in the
grooves of cocks or taps, otherwise than as limited and defined in the above description,
as we are aware that the use of such packing has been fully disclosed in the Specifi-
cations of the, patents hereinabove referred to and by other publications and by user;
but it will be seen that our said improvements comprise the use of what we have
herein termed hard packing in such a manner that without compression it will keep
the plug tight; also means for facilitating the keeping of the plug properly in its scat
and adjusting it to compensate for wear; also the construction of various forms of
cocks embodying our said improvements, and we claim
The improvements in stop-cocks substantially as above set forth and for the purposes
specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.