AN IMPROVED COCK, TAP, OR VALVE FOR DRAINING OPP LIQUORS
Year: 1825

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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
RIDGWAY and WILLIAM RIDGWAY; both of Cauldron Place, in the Staffordshire
Potteries, Manufacturers of China Stone and Earthenware, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster, the
First day of November, in the sixth year of His reign, did give and grant
unto us, the said John Ridgway and William Ridgway, our exors, adñors,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege. and authority,
that we, the said John Ridgway and William Ridgway, our exors, adñors,
and assigns, or any of them, during the term of years therein expressed,
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England and Wales and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "AN IMPROVED COCK, TAP, OR VALVE
FOR DRAINING OPP LIQUORS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging us, the said John Ridgway and William Ridgway (or one
of us), by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, to particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of. Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Ridgway and William Ridgway, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, by the
following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereto
annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention of an Improved Cock, Tap, or Valve for Draining off Liquors
consists in a novel construction or form of cock, tap, or valve, and also in the
mode or modes by which the same is put together, the particulars whereof are
exhibited in the several Figures of the same shewn in the Drawing, and which
will be fully understood by the following description thereof.
Fig. 1 is an external view of that form of cock which we particularly
approve. This cock is to be made of a composition of alumina, silex, quartz,
Cornish granite, or other earths, such as are commonly employed in the
manufacture of porclain stone ware, but the composition of which we do not
claim as forming any part of our Invention. The pieces of which this cock is
constructed are first moulded as other articles of pottery are usually formed,
then turned in a lathe or otherwise cut to their desired shapes, (viz.) the long
tube a, a, is moulded and turned both within and without, having a spiral
thread cut upon its external surface for the purpose of enabling it to screw
into the tap hole of a barrel, and is also perforated with holes for the liquor to
flow through. is the socket in which the plug acts. This socket is moulded
and turned and perforated through in the manner more particularly shewn in
the longitudinal section of the complete cock at Fig. 2. c is a sort of
rectilinear piece making up the square part of the cock in which the bolt
that retains the plug is inserted. These three pieces, when formed as above
said in the clay, are to be cut and carefully fitted and joined together by some
of the same clay softened with water. When this is done the cock will
assume the appearance of Fig. 1, the joints of the pieces being represented
by dots for the sake of explanation, though not seen when the cock is complete.
The plug is represented detached at Fig. 3, and in section at Fig. 4. This
is made of the same composition as above described, and is moulded and
turned to the form shewn, there being a groove or recess cut round three
fourths of its circumference for the purpose of receiving the end of the
bolt which keeps it from being withdrawn from its socket, and the plug
is also internally bored in order to make a way for the liquor to flow
through. The cock and its plug are now to be baked or burned in a kiln,
as other articles of porcelain usually are, and when that is done the plug
and the socket of the cock are to be carefully grooved, so as to make them
fit accurately together and be perfectly air-tight. The bolt is now to

page_text: be inserted into the square part of the cock, and secured with a small
screw or otherwise, as shewn in the section Fig. 2; the end of the bolt
passing into the groove, and thereby preventing the plug" from being with-
drawn from its socket. On turning the: plug into the positition: shewn at
Fig. 2, its latteral orifice being opposite to the channel of the long tube,
the liquor will flow through from the barrel and be discharged: at the
bottom of the socket; but on turning the plug round, so that its aperture
may be in another situation, the channel will be closed and the flow of the
liquor from the barrel cease.
In cases where it may be desirable to secure the cock, and prevent
servants from drawing the liquor, we propose to adopt a lock to the bolt, as
shewn at Figs. 5 and 6. This lock is inserted into the square part of the
cock in the same way as the bolt above described, and is seen in the section
Fig. 6. There is a small square recess below the groove in the plug, into
which when the bolt of the lock shoots the plug is prevented from turning
round. This recess is so situated that the cock can only be locked and the
key withdrawn when the flow of the liquor is stopped, and the plug cannot be
turned again until the key is introduced and the bolt shot back..
We lay no claim to the particular construction of lock employed for
securing these our improved cocks, but we claim as our Invention the form of
the cock and its plug, and the manner of constructing the same, as above
described.
We also claim the introduction of the bolt acting in a groove or recess in
the plug to confine or lock the plug, as above said, or a catch or pin falling
into a recess in the plug, all of which contrivances are contemplated by us, &
are but variations of this our Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Ridgway and William Ridgway,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-five.
JN° (L.S.) RIDGWAY.
(L.S.) RIDGWAY.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stampt), by the within-
named John Ridgway and William
WM

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid John Ridgway and William
Ridgway came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
OGNITOT AA