IMPROVE MENTS IN PACKING FOR STEAM AND OTHER JOINTS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pardham Goulding, of No. 6, New
Broad Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN PACKING FOR STEAM AND OTHER JOINTS."
•
Sealed the 13th February 1872, and dated the 9th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pardham
Goulding at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th September 1871.
I, WILLIAM PARDHAM GOULDING, of No. 6, New Broad Street, in
the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING FOR STEAM AND OTHER JOINTS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in forming a packing for steam and other
joints from wood fibre reduced to a pulp by boiling in a solution of

page_text: caustic alkali or other solution capable of dissolving out from it the
silica, resin, and other impurities. The woody fibre having thus been
reduced to a pulp is made up into boards or sheets of any required
thickness, and is cut up into rings or washers of other shape and of any
desired size. Such packing rings or washers may be placed between the
flanges of steam pipes or of pipes for the conveyance of water or other
fluid, or under the man-hole lids of boilers, or as washers for steam and
other taps, or otherwise used as a packing to prevent the escape of
steam or other fluid from pipes, boilers, and other vessels. I have
found that washers thus made from wood fibre are in most cases
preferable to india-rubber or the several other materials at present in use
for these purposes. Their peculiar property of absorbing water like a
sponge causes them to swell when water or steam is applied to them, and
so causes them to effectually close and tighten the joints or apertures to
which they may be fitted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Pardham Goulding in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 8th March 1872.
1
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARDHAM GOULDING, of No. 6, New Broad Street, in the City of
London, send greeting.
...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Pardham Goulding, Her special
license that I, the said William Pardham Goulding, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Pardham Goulding, 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
"

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PACKING FOR STEAM AND
OTHER JOINTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Pardham Goulding, 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 per-
formed, 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 William Pardham Goulding, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
-:
This Invention consists in forming a packing for steam and other
joints from wood fibre reduced to a pulp by boiling in a solution of
caustic alkali or other solution capable of dissolving out from it the
silica, resin, and other impurities. The woody fibre having thus been
reduced to a pulp is made up upon sieves into boards or sheets of any
required thickness, and after being pressed between felts in the same
manner as when making cardboard is cut up into rings or washers of
other shape and of any desired size. For cutting up the boards or sheets
into rings revolving cutters may advantageously be employed, or they
may be cut up into washers of other form by chisels, punches, or other
cutters. Such packing rings or washers may be placed between the
flanges of steam pipes or of pipes for the conveyance of water, or gas, or
other fluid, or under the man-hole lids of boilers, or as washers for steam
and other taps, or otherwise used as a packing to prevent the escape of
steam, gas, or other fluid from pipes, boilers, and other vessels. I have
found that washers thus made from wood fibre are in most cases
preferable to india-rubber or the several other materials at present in
use for these purposes. Their peculiar property of absorbing water like
a sponge causes them to swell when water, steam, or other moisture is
applied to them, and so causes them to effectually close and tighten the
joints or apertures to which they may be fitted..
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim the
improved packing for steam and other joints, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pardham Goulding, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two..
W. P. GOULDING. (L.S.)