IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKINGS FOR PISTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUCH PACKINGS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eustace Wigzell and Joseph Pollit, of the Firm
of Timothy Bates and Company, of Sowerby Bridge, in the County
of York, Engineers, and William Mellor, of Sowerby Bridge, afore-
said, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC
PACKINGS FOR PISTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUCH PACKINGS."
Sealed the 28th August 1874, and dated the 4th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eustace Wigzell,
Joseph Pollit, and William Mellor at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 4th March 1874.
We, EUSTACE WIGZELL, and JOSEPH POLLIT, of the Firm of Timothy
Bates and Company, of Sowerby Bridge, in the County of York,
Engineers, and WILLIAM MELLOR, of Sowerby Bridge aforesaid,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKINGS FOR PISTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUCH PACKINGS," to be
as follows:
This Invention relates to the manufacture by improved machinery of
metallic packings for the pistons of steam engines, pistons having such
packings being commonly known as "Mather and Platt's" pistons; such

page_text: packings consist of a helical or spiral coil of metal, and we form and
construct by means and apparatus as following:-We employ a strip or
plate of steel of suitable length and width, the opposite corner at each
end of the strip is then cut away and hollowed out (for purpose here-
after described), the strip must next be cut or sawn longitudinally and
diagonally, thereby producing two pieces tapered at one end, and alike
in size and shape. These are to be welded one to each end of a
rectangular strip of steel of length according to the number and
diameter of coils required to complete the "packing," the welding being
effected by joining the central strip to the two end tapered strips at the
point or place where the latter are cut away and hollowed out, the
hollows being at opposite sides of the completed strip. The strip so
made is placed within a trough or vessel having a false bottom, and heat
is applied thereto. When sufficiently heated the strip is removed and
one of its tapered ends is attached by means of a clip to a drum mounted
on a shaft gearing, being connected therewith, for imparting rotation to
the drum over which drum a pressing roller works. The other end of
the strip is attached to a slide mounted on a gantery or framework. On
motion being given to the drum (by hand or power), the slide is drawn
by the strip towards the drum, the strip meanwhile being wound or
coiled around the drum and under the pressing roller forming the helical
or coiled "packing," which whilst being so formed has also been
tempered by passing through oil contained in a vessel placed underneath
the drum; a weight is attached by chain to the frame so as to secure the
strip being wound tightly round the drum. The ends of the strip are
now released from the clips on the drum and slide and the coil is
removed from the drum. The slide will now be moved back on its
gantery or framework by means of a rack and pinion aided by balance
weight. The clip mounted on the slide is capable of lateral adjustment
and as "set" farther from or nearer to the central line of its gantery or
framework, so will the pitch or distance between the coils be more or
less. The hollows formed in the strip as above described serve to receive
the extreme ends of the tapered portions when the coil is forced or com-
pressed together, and packings so made are more regular in form and
construction than as heretofore made.
Instead of the end of the strip being attached by clip to the drum
adjustable pressing rollers working over the periphery of the drum may
direct the strip and form the coil around the said drum.

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, EUSTACE.
WIGZELL and JOSEPH POLLIT, of the Firm of Timothy Bates and
Company, of Sowerby Bridge, in the County of York, Engineers, and
WILLIAM MELLOR, of Sowerby Bridge aforesaid, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Eustace Wigzell, Joseph
Pollit, and William Mellor, Her special licence that we, the said Eustace
Wigzell, Joseph Pollit, and William Mellor, our executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Eustace Wigzell,
Joseph Pollit, and William Mellor, our 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PACKINGS FOR
PISTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SUCH PACKINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Eustace Wigzell, Joseph Pollit, and William Mellor, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Eustace Wigzell, Joseph Pollit,
and William Mellor, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention.

page_text: say:
This Invention relates to the manufacture by improved machinery of
metallic packings for the pistons of steam engines, pistons having such
packings being commonly known as "Mather and Platt's" pistons; such
packings consist of a helical or spiral coil of metal, and such we form
and construct by means and apparatus following:-We employ a strip
⚫or plate of steel of suitable length and width; the opposite corner at cach
end of the strip is then cut away and hollowed out (for purpose here-
after described); the strip must next be cut or sawn longitudinally and
diagonally, thereby producing two pieces tapered at one end, and alike in
size and shape. These are to be welded one to each end of a rectangular
strip of steel of length according to the number and diameter of coils
required to complete "the packing," the welding being effected by
joining the central strip to the two end tapered strips at the point or
place where the latter are cut away and hollowed out, the hollows being
at opposite sides of the completed strip. The strip so made is placed
within a trough or vessel having a false bottom, and heat is applied
thereto. When sufficiently heated the strip is removed and one of its
tapered ends is attached by means of a clip to a drum mounted on a
shaft, gearing being connected therewith for imparting rotation to the
drum, over which drum a pressing roller works. The other end of the
strip is attached to a slide mounted on a gantery or framework.. On
motion being given to the drum (by hand or power), the slide is drawn
by the strip towards the drum, the strip meanwhile being wound or
coiled around the drum and under the pressing roller forming the helical
or coiled packing, which whilst being so formed has also been tempered by
passing through oil contained in a vessel placed underneath the drum;
a weight is attached by chain to the frame so as to secure the strip being
wound tightly round the drum. The ends of the strip are now released
from the clips on the drum and slide and the coil is removed from the
drum. The slide will now be moved back on its gantery or framework
by means of a rack and pinion aided by balance weight. The clip
mounted on the slide is capable of lateral adjustment, and as
"set"
further from or nearer to the central line of its gantery or framework, so
will the pitch or distance between the coil be more or less. The
hollows formed in the strip as above described serve to receive the
extreme ends of the tapered portions when the coil is forced or com-

page_text: pressed together, and packings so made are more regular in form and
construction than as heretofore made.
Instead of the end of the strip being attached by clip to the drum
adjustable pressing rollers working over the periphery of the drum may
direct the strip and form the coil around the said drum.
Instead of the end of the strip being attached by clip to the drum
adjustable pressing rollers working over the periphery of the drum may
direct the strip and form the coil around the said drum.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of our apparatus; Figure 2 an end
elevation; and Figure 3 a plan view; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are
details.
•
A, Figure 4, shews the strip of steel and the opposite corners A' of
which are cut away and hollowed as shown, the strip is also sawn or cut
longitudinally and diagonally, thereby producing two pieces exactly
alike in shape and size. These are then welded one to each end of a
rectangular strip of steel of length according to the size of coil required,
the welding being effected by joining the two tapered strips to the
rectangular strip at the point A', where the tapered strips are cut away
and hollowed out, the hollows being at the opposite sides of the com-
pleted strip. Figure 5 shews the completed strip, which is next
introduced into a trough or vessel having a false bottom, sec Figures
6 and 7, in which C is the, vessel, and D the false bottom. Heat is
then applied to the vessel with the strip therein, and when sufficiently
heated the strip is removed and one of its tapered ends is attached by
means of a clip to a drum E (see Figures 1, 2, and 3), mounted on a
shaft F, gearing G being provided for communicating rotation to the
drum. The other end of the strip is attached by clip H to a slide H',
mounted on a gantery J or framework. On motion being given to the
drum by hand or power, the slide is drawn by the strip to the drum, the
strip being wound or coiled around the drum, being pressed thereto by
the roller K forming the helical or coiled packing. Underneath the
drum a vessel containing oil may be placed so that the lower portion of
the drum are constantly immersed therein. The coil whilst being wound
round the drum is thus tempered by passing through the oil. To insure
the strip being wound tightly round the drum, a weight L is attached
thereto by cord M passing over pulleys N, as shewn. The coil is then
removed and the slide moved back to its original position by the pinion
O and rack P, the weight L facilitating such movement. The finished
coil is shewn in Figure 8, where the use of the hollowed ends will

page_text: readily seen, namely, to receive the tapered end when the coil is com-
pressed and so produce a flat surface on each side. The clip H is
capable of moving laterally on the slide H', and such lateral movement
determines the pitch or distance from one another of the coils when
wound upon the drum.
Instead of the drum and pressing roller for coiling the strip the
arrangement shewn at Figure 9 may be shewn, which consists of a pair
of nipping or squeezing rollers R for drawing the strip forward, the
requisite being given and preserved by the rollers S, S', until the
strip is sufficiently tempered by passing through the oil vessel placed
underneath as before described.
Having thus described the nature of this our said Invention and
shewn by Drawings how the same is to be performed and carried into
practical operation, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise details of the foregoing description, as the same
may be variously modified without departing from the main features
thereof, but what we claim as our Invention and believe to be new is the
manufacture of metallic packings by the use of apparatus, substantially
the same as that herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Pollit, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Eustace Wigzell and William Mellor, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.
Witness,
J. W. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax and Bradford.
JOSEPH POLLIT. (L.S.)