IMPROVEMENTS IN THREE-LEGGED IRON-POTS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Cowan, C.E., of Mount Gerald, Larbert, in the
County of Stirling, North Britain, Manager to the Carron Company, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THREE-LEGGED IRON-POTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Cowan at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th January 1882.
DAVID COWAN C.E, of Mount Gerald, Larbert, in the County of Stirling, North
Britain, Manager to the Carron Company. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THREE-LEGGED
IRON POTS.".
This Invention relates to a well known kind of iron pot made with three legs
and of which large quantities are exported to foreign countries. The pots are
ordinarily made with the legs cast on, in consequence of which the pots occupy
comparatively large spaces, and the legs are very frequently broken off in transit.
The object of the present Invention is to modify the pots so that they can be
exported for reduced freights, and at the same time to diminish the risk of
breakage of the legs. For this purpose the legs are cast or otherwise formed
separately from the pots and special provision is made for properly and securely
attaching the legs when the pots reach their destinations.
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification the pots are cast
with small lugs or projections for the legs, such lugs being formed with holes and
with grooves or notches or other checks, and the legs are cast to fit upon, within,
or against the lugs, and are formed with holes and counterpart checks to engage
with those of the lugs. The legs are ultimately fixed to the lugs by small screw
bolts, the heads of which are by preference countersunk so as not to project on the
outsides of the legs. Wedges or small keys may be used instead of bolts to fix
the legs, the legs and lugs being made with suitable engaging parts.
In other modifications the three legs of a pot are cast or formed in one piece
and attached to a lug or projection by a single screw bolt or by a wedge or key.
Or the three legs may be cut out of sheet iron and be bended into form, and
afterwards be sprung so as to engage in notched lugs formed on the pot.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said David Cowan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th July
1882.
DAVID COWAN, C,E, of Mount Gerald, Larbert, in the County of Stirling,
Manager to the Carron Company. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THREE-LEGGED IRON
POTS."
My said Invention relates to a well known kind of iron pot made with three
legs, and of which large quantities are exported to foreign countries. The pots are
ordinarily made with the legs cast on, in consequence of which the pots occupy
comparatively large spaces, and the legs are very frequently broken off in transit.
The object of my present Invention is to modify the pots so that they can be
exported for reduced freights, and at the same time to diminish the risk of
breakage of the legs. For this purpose the legs are cast or otherwise formed
separately from the pots, and special provision is made for properly and securely
attaching the legs when the pots reach. their destinations.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings to
be hereinafter referred to and representing various examples of castiron pots as
provided with legs in the manner constituting my Invention.
Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying sheet of drawings are an elevation and a
vertical section of a pot of the common ellipsoidal form and figure 3, is an elevation
of one of the legs as detached. Figures, 4, and 5, are an elevation and a vertical
section of a flat-bottomed pot of the kind termed camp oven. Figures, 6 and 7,
are an elevation and a vertical section of a pot for fire often termed a fire grate.
Figures, 8, 9, and 10 are an elevation, a vertical section, and an inverted plan of
an ellipsoidal pot as fitted with a set of legs made out of sheet or wrought iron
and sprung into place so as to be held by retaining notches. In these drawings
the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated.
In carrying out my Invention according to one modification which is shown in
figures, 1, 2, and 3, the pot is cast with small lugs or projections, 11, for the attach-
ment of the legs, such lugs, 11, being formed with holes and with grooves or
rebates or notches or other checks, and the legs, 12, are cast or shaped to fit upon,
or against the lugs, 11, as shown, and are formed with holes and counterpart
checks to engage with those of the lugs. The legs, 12, are ultimately fixed to the
lugs, 11, by small screw bolts, 13, the heads of which are by preference counter-
sunk so as not to project on the outsides of the legs, whilst the nuts are placed on
the insides.
Wedges or small keys may be used instead of bolts to fix the legs, the legs and
lugs being made with suitable engaging parts; and in a simple modification shown
in figures, 4 and 5, the lugs, 11, on the pot may be of a dovetailed and wedge
form counterpart dovetailed and wedge-shaped grooves being formed on the
legs, 12. In this modification the legs are fixed by being forced tightly upon the
wedge-shaped lugs.
In other modifications the three legs are cast or formed in one piece and attached
by a single screw bolt or by a wedge or key. This is a convenient modification
for the fire pot or grate as shown in figures 6 and 7, the three legs, 14, being cast
in one piece with a disk-shaped top, 15, fitting the bottom of the pot, and secured
thereto by a single screw bolt, 16.
In the modification shown in figures 8, 9, and 10, the three legs, 17, are cut out

page_text: off a piece of sheet iron the middle part, 18, of which is bended to fit the bottom
of the pot. The leg parts, 17, are bended at right angles or nearly so to the
middle part, 18, and their sides are bended inwards to make them of channel
section for strength. Lugs, 19, cast on the bottom of the pot, are formed with
concavities to fit the tops of the legs, 17, and the sides of the lugs are notched or
undercut at the inner side. For the purpose of fixing the legs the middle part, 18,
is sprung into a more concave form so that the outer corners of its arms may get
under and engage with the notched parts of the lugs, 19, or instead of this device
the lugs, 19, may be made without notches, and the leg piece, 17, 18, may be
secured by a single bolt at the centre, in the manner shown at 16, in figure, 7.
It is of course to be understood that any of the modifications of legs and fixing
devices shown in the drawings can be applied to any of the forms of pot shown or
to any forms usually made with three legs.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is :-
The making of the legs of three-legged pots separately from the pots for the
purposes hereinbefore described and the providing of devices or means for attaching
the legs substantially such as any of those herein before described.
In witness whereof I the said David Cowan have hereunto set my hand and
seal this seventeenth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-two.
Witness.
EDMUND HUNT.
Patent Agent.
Glasgow.
DAVID COWAN. (L.S.)