IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS, COCKS, OR VALVES.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oliver Maggs, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS, COCKS, OR VALVES.”.
Sealed the 7th February 1860, and dated the 22nd August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oliver Maggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1859.
•
I, OLIVER MAGGS, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS, COCKS, OR VALVES,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in using a shell or barrel of any convenient
size, with a recess or globular chamber in or near the centre formed like two
cups, with a ring or flange round each of them for convenience of screwing
together and forming the globular chamber. A plug or ball, with a spindle
for turning the same, having a passage the required size through the centre
corresponding with the passage through the barrel, is placed between two
metal rings, having a recess or bearing for the ball spindle to revolve in freely,
and a disc or discs of india-rubber or other suitable material are placed on
one or both sides of the said rings, and their edges are placed between the
flanges of the cups, and the whole screwed together; thus the plug or ball is
enclosed in the recess or globular chamber, the india-rubber discs also having
a hole or passage corresponding in size with the passage through the barrel

page_text: and ball. By turning the spindle and ball partly round, the blank side of the
ball is brought opposite the hole or passage in the india-rubber, and the
elasticity, as well as any pressure against the india-rubber, effectually closes
the aperture, and renders it free from leakage either of air, water, gas, or
other fluid, the plug or ball forming a resisting seating for the india-rubber
under any pressure, and the india-rubber forming a flexible seating for the ball
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Oliver Maggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OLIVER
MAGGS, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight 'hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Oliver Maggs, Her special licence that I, the said Oliver Maggs,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others..as I, the said
Oliver Maggs, 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
TAPS, COCKS, OR VALVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Oliver Maggs, 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 Oliver Maggs, 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 fol-
lowing 'statement thereof, that is to say :---
These improvements consist in using a shell or barrel of any convenient
size, with a recess or globular chamber in or near the centre, formed like two

page_text: cups, with a ring or flange round each of them for convenience of screwing
together and forming the globular chamber. A. plug or ball, with a spindle
for turning the same, having a passage the required size through the centre
corresponding with the passage. through the barrel, is placed between two
metal-rings, having a recess or bearing for the ball spindle to revolve in freely,
a disc or discs of india-rubber or other suitable material are placed on.ono
or both sides of the said rings, and their edges are placed between the flanges
of the cups, and the whole screwed together; thus the plug or ball is enclosed
in the recess or globular chamber, the india-rubber discs also having a hole or
passage corresponding in size with the passage through the barrel and balļ.
By turning the spindle and ball partly round, the blank side of the ball is
brought opposite the hole or passage in the india-rubber, and the elasticity,
well as any pressure against the india-rubber, effectually closes the aperture,
and renders it free from leakage either of air, water, gas, or other fluid, the
plug or bolt forming a resisting seating for the india-rubber under any
pressure, and the india-rubber forming a flexible seating for the ball free
from wear or leakage.
as
• Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 shew different forms of taps, cocks, or valves,
constructed according to my Invention. In each of these Figures, a is the
shell or barrel formed with a recess b, which in Figures 1, 2, and 3 is of a
globular form. The shell or barrel is divided into two parts, and each part is
formed, as shewn, with a cup 6'; the cups have flanges formed around them,
by which the two parts may be connected together, and the two cups when
together form the globular chamber b; c is the plug or ball. This ball has a
passage formed through it corresponding with the passage through the barrel,
and has spindles & projecting from it, one of which is furnished with a handle,
by means of which the ball may be turned round; the spindles c³ of the ball
turn freely in circular recesses in rings d, d, one ring being on each side of
the spindle; e, e, are discs of india-rubber or other suitable material; the
edges of these discs are clamped between the rings d and the flanges of the
cups b', the flanges being drawn together by screws not shown in the Drawings.
These discs e are formed with holes through them corresponding in size with
the passage through the barrel and ball. By this means, when the ball is
turned round so that the blank sides of the ball are opposite the holes in the
discs e, the passage of water or other fluid will be stopped, and the plug or

page_text: ball will form a support for the elastic discs, so that the tap, cock, or valve
will be kept fluid-tight under any pressure. The cock shown in Figure 4
is constructed in a similar manner; but in place of the shell or barrel a being
made in two parts, connected together as above described, the shell or barrel
is provided with a cover a³, a washer a² being placed between the cover a¹ and
the shell or barrel, and in place of the edges of the discs e being clamped
between the rings d and the flanges of the cups 6, they are clamped between
the rings & and other rings f, and the rings d and f are also screwed to one
end of the barrel a. In place of employing two discs of elastic material,
as above described, one only may be employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oliver Maggs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
OLIVER MAGGS. (L.S.)
Witness,
E. S. HINDLEY.