IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE JOINTS OR CONNECTIONS AND STOP-COCKS FOR WATER, GAS, AND OTHER PIPES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th April 1864.-A communication from abroad by Henry Watelet
and Charles Watelet, and Edmund de Lacotte, all of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE
JOINTS OR CONNECTIONS AND STOP-COCKS FOR WATER, GAS, AND OTHER PIPES," to
be as follows :-
This Invention relates in the first place to various novel modes of con-
necting metal or other pipes together in such a manner that the joints or
junctions may be made perfectly water and gas tight, and at the same time
admit of the expansion or contraction of the tubes or pipes caused by changes
in temperature without affecting the tightness and solidity of the joint.
To this end rings, washers, plates, or other analogous contrivances made of
india-rubber or other yielding material are placed between the flanges or ends
of two tubes that are to be connected together, and these rings or washers are
tightly pressed between the metal surfaces by causing the pipes to be drawn
together by means of screw bolts, cottars, wedges, or other equivalent means,
adapted either to lugs cast on the flanges or other convenient parts of the
pipes, or passed through the flanges thereof, or through metal rings or collars
or clamps that are placed thereon for the purpose.

page_text: Sometimes instead of placing the india-rubber rings or washers between the
ends of two adjoining tubes, a short cylinder of rubber may be made to
envelope the joint, and be pressed down thereon, so as to form a tight joint
by means of an enveloping metal or other collar, which may be screwed up
or otherwise tightened thereon. This arrangement will be found convenient
when the pipes are required to be bent out of a straight line. When it is
desirable that the gas or liquid that is to pass through the pipes should not
come in contact with the india-rubber, the joint may first be covered with a
thin ring or short cylinder of lead, and the india-rubber ring may then be
placed thereon, and over it a conical or other ring of iron. By tightening a
clamp or clamps on this ring by means of screws or wedges the india-rubber
will be compressed and the joint made perfect, and the two pipes will at the
same time be held securely together. By casting on the pipes shoulders with
inclined faces, and notches made therein to allow the clamps to pass, the pipes
may be held together securely without the use of screws, wedges, or cottars
by simply driving the clamps forward along the inclined faces of the shoulders.
In some cases I cut in the ends of the pipes V or other suitably shaped
grooves to receive a ring of soft metal, such as lead, or an alloy of tin and
lead, and by tightening up the two ends of the pipes the soft metal ring will
be squeezed between the two faces, and thus form a water or air-tight joint.
Another secure joint may be produced by cutting an external screw or
forming corrugations on the extreme ends of one of the pipes, and an
internal screw on the socket of the other, and then forcibly driving in between
the two pipes a ring of soft metal, which by filling up the corrugations in the
two pipes will form a water and air-tight joint.
As a modification of this, an external screw may be cut on the ends of both
pipes, and a ring of soft metal when placed over the corrugations may be forced
into the same by means of an enveloping collar, which may be tightened
thereon by screws or wedges. This arrangement will require a clamp or ring
to prevent the two pipes from being drawn apart. The stop-cocks which are
to be adapted to these tubes are made wedge-shape, with inclined sides, and
are raised and lowered by means of a screwed spindle or shaft, which is
adapted to their upper edges, and passes up through the cover of the box,
and is provided with a square head, whereby it may be turned. The lower
end of the screwed spindle may be made to turn in a socket at the upper end
of the conical or wedge-shape valve, or it may be fixed to the valve and made
to work in a female screw in a hollow spindle, so that by turning the latter
the male screw may be drawn up or let down on to its seat as may be required
For cocks of large superficial area it will some times, in order to ensure

page_text: steadiness of action, be found convenient to employ two spindles, which must
be geared together, so that they will be made to work in unison.
It will be found convenient occasionally, as when the pipes are only a very
short distance below the surface, to cause the wedge-shaped valve to work
horizontally. This is effected by adapting bevil gearing to the spindle of the
valve. -