AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF THE TUBES IN STEAM AND WATER PRESSURE GAUGES AND OTHER TUBES OR PIPES FROM THE EFFECTS OF COLD
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Casper, of No, 101, Cannon Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF THE TUBES IN STEAM AND
WATER PRESSURE GAUGES AND OTHER TUBES OR PIPES FROM THE EFFECTS
OF COLD." A communication from abroad by Ernest Dubois, of No. 188,
Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire of France, Steam and Water
Gauge Manufacturer.
Sealed the 15th April 1868, and dated the 18th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Casper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th October 1867.
I, EDWARD CASPER, of No. 101, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "An
IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF THE TUBES IN
STEAM AND WATER PRESSURE GAUGES AND OTHER TUBES OR PIPES FROM THE
EFFECTS OF COLD," a communication, to be as follows:-
The chief object of the said Invention is to prevent injury to water and
steam pressure gauges on locomotive, marine, and other steam engines in cold

page_text: weather, during periods when such engines are not working and the water in
the said gauges becomes frozen.
The said Invention consists in filling a portion of the space within
the said tubes or pipes with some elastic or compressible body or sub-
stance which will yield sufficiently to prevent the rupture of the tubes by
the augmentation or expansion produced in the volume of the water by
the freezing of the same. I prefer to employ a small cylinder, which
may consist of a solid piece of vulcanized india-rubber, cork, or other
elastic substance, or may be made hollow and provided with elastic closed
ends. The said cylinder is made of suitable dimensions for the gauge or
other receptacle in which it is to be employed, and may be placed loosely
or independently therein. The said elastic or compressible body is not
necessarily cylindrical, but may be made of any suitable and convenient form.
As the water freezes and expands a corresponding contraction or reduction of
size takes place in the elastic body or cylinder, and the strain upon the sides
of the tube or other receptacle is entirely prevented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Casper, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
CASPER, of No. 101, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Casper, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Casper, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Edward
Casper, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF THE TUBES IN STEAM AND
WATER PRESSURE GAUGES AND OTHER TUBES OR PIPES FROM THE EFFECTS OF
COLD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Casper,

page_text: 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 Edward Casper, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The chief object of the said Invention is to prevent injury to water and
steam pressure gauges on locomotive, marine, and other steam engines in cold
weather, during periods when such engines are not working and the water in
the said gauges becomes frozen.
The said Invention consists in filling a portion of the space within the said
tubes or pipes with some elastic or compressible body or substance which will
yield sufficiently to prevent the rupture of the tubes by the augmentation or
expansion produced in the volume of the water by the freezing of the same.
In carrying my Invention into practice I prefer to employ a small cylinder,
which may consist of a solid piece of vulcanized india-rubber, cork, or other
elastic substance, or may be made hollow and provided with elastic closed ends.
or sides. The said cylinder is made of suitable dimensions for the gauge or
other receptacle in which it is to be employed, and may be placed loosely or
independently therein. The elastic or compressible body is not necessarily
cylindrical, but may be made of any suitable and convenient form. As the
water freezes and expands a corresponding contraction or reduction of size
takes place in the elastic body or cylinder, and the strain which would
otherwise be occasioned upon the sides of the tube or other receptacle is
entirely prevented. By this means all danger of accident from the bursting
of the tubes or other parts of a steam or water gauge is entirely obviated, and
the accuracy and durability of the gauge are not impaired by undue pressure
upon any of its parts.
My Invention may be advantageously applied to tubes employed in
connection with the various parts of steam engines, such as those for expelling
condensed water from the cylinder, and those connected with the pumps and
condeusers.
Water pipes or tubes for various other purposes besides those connected
with
pressure gauges and steam engines may also be protected from the effects
of severe cold by the use of my Invention. I am thus enabled to dispense

page_text: with all coverings or envelopes which have heretofore been employed for
protecting such tubes and pipes from the frost, which coverings are only
effective to a very limited extent, and which are unsightly, and in many cases
highly inconvenient. In some cases it may be found preferable to construct a
small cylinder or other vessel to contain the elastic or compressible piece, and
attach the said cylinder or vessel to some convenient joint or other part of the
pipe or tube to be protected. A number of tubes in communication with each
other or with such a vessel may thus be protected by one of the said
elastic or compressible pieces.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be conveniently and
advantageously carried into practice under various circumstances, I wish it
understood that I do not claim anything relating to the construction of steam
or water gauges, or the pipes or tubes used in or connected with the same;
nor do I limit the application of my Invention to any particular kind of gauge
or other vessel or tube for conveying or holding water for any particular
purpose, but I claim, preventing injury to the tubes of pressure gauges, and
to other tubes and vessels when water freezes in the same, by placing within
such tube or vessel an elastic or compressible body, substantially as set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Casper, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
EDWARD CASPER.
(L.D.)