IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS OR VALVES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Kennedy, of Kilmarnock, in the County of
Ayr, North Britain, Water Meter Manufacturer, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the. said Thomas Kennedy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1862.
I, THOMAS KENNEDY, of Kilmarnock, in the County. of Ayr, North Britain,
Water Meter Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS OR VALVES," to be as follows, that is to say:―
This Invention relates to improvements in taps or valves designed to secure
increased efficiency with durability, and facility for repairs.
In a modification of tap embodying the improvements a cylindrical chamber
is formed in a convenient position on the tap pipe or body, and within this
chamber there is formed a valve seat, the opening or openings of which com-
municate with the inlet end of the tap, whilst the outlet end of the tap
communicates with a convenient part of the chamber outside of the valve
seat. The closing detail consists of a kind of piston or plunger formed with a
recess, in which there is fitted a disc or piece of an elastic material, such as
vulcanised rubber, and the closing detail is pressed against the valve by means
of a screw spindle. The closing detail is connected loosely to the screw
spindle, but so that the latter can, draw it off the valve seat when the pressure
is not sufficiently great to do so on the screw spindle being drawn out. The
screw spindle works in a nut screw tapped in a.cover, screwed or otherwise

page_text: fixed to the top of the valve chamber. To prevent leakage through this cover
a rolling packing is applied to the closing detail or piston, such rolling packing
consisting of a ring of elastic material, such as vulcanised rubber. The
packing ring is retained between flanges formed on the closing detail or
piston, but these flanges are as much further apart than the thickness of the
packing ring as will permit its necessary rolling movement. The inside of
the chamber is turned smooth for the rolling packing to work upon, and if
vulcanised rubber is used, the surfaces of the tap with which that material
comes in contact are by preference tinned when such parts are formed of
brass or other metal to which vulcanised rubber tends to adhere.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Kennedy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
KENNEDY, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Water Meter
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Kennedy, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Kennedy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Kennedy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS OR VALVES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Kennedy, 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 Thomas Kennedy, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to improvements in taps or valves designed to
secure increased efficiency with durability and facility for repairs.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing three
varieties of tap or valve embodying my improvements. In the said Drawings
the same reference letters mark the same or like parts in all the Figures in
which they occur.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of
a modification of my improved tap or valve as formed with the ordinary inlet
end A, body B, and curved discharge spout C. In the upper part of the
body B there is formed a cylindrical chamber D, and within this chamber
there is 'formed a valve seat E, the opening or openings of which communicate
with the inlet end A of the tap, whilst the outlet end B of the tap com--
municates with the chamber D outside of the valve seat E, according to a
common arrangement in taps of this class. The closing detail consists of a
kind of piston or plunger F formed with a recess, in which there is fitted a
disc, plug, or piece G of an elastic material, such as vulcanised rubber. The
closing piece F, G, is pressed against or withdrawn from the valve seat E by
means of a screw spindle H, which is connected loosely to it, being bored out
to receive a central stud on the top of the closing piece F, and a groove being
formed on the stud to receive the point or side of a retaining pin fixed into
the spindle. The screw spindle H is fitted with a handle I, and works in a
nut screw tapped in a cover or cap J, screwed (or otherwise fixed) to the top
of the valve chamber D. To prevent leakage through this cover J a rolling
packing is applied to the closing detail or piston F, this packing consisting of
a ring K of elastic material, such as vulcanised rubber. The packing ring K
is retained between flanges formed at the top and bottom of the closing detail
or piston F, but these flanges are so much further-apart than the thickness of
the packing ring K as to permit of its necessary rolling movement when the
piston moves up or down. The inside of the valve chamber D is turned
smooth for the rolling packing K to work upon, and if vulcanised rubber is
used, the surfaces of the tap with which that material comes in contact are
by preference tinned when such parts are formed of brass or other metal to
which vulcanised rubber tends to adhere.
Figure 3 is an elevation, and Figure 4 is a vertical section, showing the

page_text: application of my improvements to a crane tap. The closing detail and parts
in immediate connection therewith are the same as in the modification
represented in Figures 1 and 2, and the description already given thereof
applies equally to both modifications. Instead, however, of the curved
outlet C (Figures 1 and 2), the outlet branch. L from the tap body B is
formed with a transverse socket M' to receive a hollow and slightly coned
plug N, to one end of which there is fitted the crane or curved discharge
pipe P, whilst the other end receives the usual washer and screw nut R, by
which it is fixed in the socket M. The plug N is slotted to admit the water
into it, and the socket M, is made so wide internally as to admit the water
into the plug N in any position of the crane P. In this modification the tap
is shown open, whilst in Figure 2 it is shown closed.
Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 is a horizontal section of a modification
arranged as a ball float tap. In this case the tap is placed with the spindle H
.horizontal, and the ball float lever Q, shown.partly broken away, is fixed upon
it. The discharge spout C is shown at right angles to the inlet A, and so
as to be in a downward direction. The spindle H is made with a screw
thread of comparatively coarse pitch, so that a small angular movement of the
lever Qmay sufficiently close or open the tap. It will be obvious that the
improved details may be applied in other ways besides those, described; thus
they may be embodied in a stop-cock for a continuous length of piping, or in
a tap suitable for a street well, with a balance weight or spring to cause it
to close.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, 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 the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing of taps
or valves, more particularly as regards their closing details, substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Kennedy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THO. KENNEDY.. (LS.)