IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKING FOR STUFFING RAVES AND OTHER ORTURATORS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Alphonse Dufour, of No. 18, Rue de
l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, Mechanical Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKING FOR STUFFING
RAVES AND OTHER ORTURATORS."
Sealed the 18th December 1866, and dated the 22nd June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Alphonse Dufour
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1866.
I, CHARLES ALPHONSE DUFOUR, of No. 18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKING FOR STUFFING BOXES
AND OTHER OBTUBATORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a packing composed of a number of rings of
metal arranged in the interior of the stuffing box, and pressing closely on the
piston rod so as to prevent any escapes of steam. The said rings are composed
of a mixture of tin, lead, and copper, forming a substance capable of expansion
and contraction; they may be made in sections so as to fit more closely on the
rod. This annular packing is secured or held together by the pressure thereon
of the lid of the stuffing box, consequently either the number or dimensions
of the rings would vary to suit the depth of the lid.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Alphonse Dufour in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ALPHONSE DUFOUR, of No. 18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Alphonse Dufour, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Alphonse Dufour, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles Alphonse Dufour, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKING FOR STUFFING BOXES AND
'OTHER OBTURATORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Alphonse Dufour, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Charles Alphonse Dufour, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :--
This Invention consists in substituting a number of metal rings for the
ordinary hemp packing used in stuffing boxes. The rings I make use of are
partially conical, and are made either of iron, copper, or a mixture of tin,
lead, and copper forming an antifriction substance. In placing them in
the stuffing box care must be taken that the conical ends shall meet whilst
the opposite or wide ends come in contact, that is to say, the first ring must
be put into the box wide end first, the second ring just the reverse or small
end first, so that the two small ends meet; the third ring again wide end first,
and the fourth and last (as represented in the Drawings) small end first; by this

page_text: arrangement i have two wide surfaces to expose to the top and bottom of the
stuffing box, and on which the pressure of the lid of the box is exercised
and communicated equally throughout the rings, causing the sides thereof c, c,
to press closely to the sides h, h, of the stuffing box while the wide and small
ends are also forced together, the interior surfaces adapting themselves to the
shaft in such a manner as to effectually prevent any escapes of either steam,
air, or fluid.
This will be better understood on reference to the accompanying Drawings and
following description theroof, the same letters of reference indicate like parts in
the several Figures of which Fig. 1 represents a section of a stuffing box
taken at the horizontal axis of the plan Fig. 3; it is furnished with four rings
a, a, a, a, (seen externally) forming the packing. Fig. 2 is a section at
the middle of the stuffing box and rings; it will be observed that the small
ends e, e, and the bases c, c, come together or rest one on the other; the ex-
terior circumference c of the rings fits closely against the side h of the stuffing
box, and the interior circumference m acts in a similar manner on the
shaft T.
a
After having arranged the rings in the interior of the stuffing box as above
described, the lid b is closed, the lower part of which 6' rests on the upper
most ring a, and on being screwed down presses all the rings closely together
thus effectually preventing any escapes of steam, air, or liquid. It is needless
to mention that the closer the lid is screwed the greater will be the depression
on the rings, the number of which would necessarily vary according to the
inclination or slope thereof, and the depth of the box and lid.
My system of metallic packing as herein described is applicable to machinery
of all kinds, whether fixed or movable, as well as to steam cocks and
valves.
In Figs. 1 aud 2, D, D, is the stuffing box, 6 the lid, and 6 the lower
part thereof; a, a, a, a, are four semi-conical metallic rings; e, e, e, e, are the
small ends placed together, and c, c, the bases or larger ends; m, m, the
interior circumferences of the rings, and T the shaft. Fig. 3 is a plan of the
lid of the box. Fig. 4 shows one of the rings in detail; m is the interior cir-
cumference; e, e, the small end; and c, c, the base. Fig. 5 is a plan of the interior
of one of these rings. Fig. 7 is an exterior elevation thereof. Fig. 8 is a plan
of the exterior of the same. Fig. 9 is an elevation of a smaller ring for the use
of steam cocks. Fig. 91 and 10 are exterior and interior plans of the same,
and Fig. 6 a section thereof.
Having thus described my Invention, and the mode of carrying out the
same, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the substitution

page_text: of a metallic packing composed of semi-conical rings, such as herein described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, in lieu of the ordinary packings
employed for stuffing boxes and other obturators; I claim also the peculiar
form of the rings and the mode of respectively arranging the same in the
stuffing box, and the mode of graduating the pressure by means of the lid
precisely as herein-before described and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings; reserving to myself the right of modifying the same, which may be
done without departing from my principle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Alphonse Dufour, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHARLES ALPHONSE DUFOUR. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. CLAES,
Civil Engineer,
$1, Rue d'Enghien,
Paris.