IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS AND VALVES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Edwards, of No. 22, Buckingham
Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
**IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS AND VALVES."
Sealed the 14th June 1870, and dated the 5th January 1870.
•
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Edwards
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition;
on the 5th January 1870.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of No. 22, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS AND VALVES," to be as follows:-.
ي
This Invention has for its object improvements in stop valves oi'
throttle valves for stopping or cutting off the passage of fluids througli
them, and in valves for ordinary pumps used for lifting or forcing fluids.
For the purpose of making stop valves or throttle valves I employ a
chamber of suitable form made by preference of metal, earthenware, or
glass. In the interior of this chamber I form a seat upon which a valve
rests or is forced. The chamber has openings for the entrance and exit

page_text: of the fluid passing through, and where these openings are in the same
line (as when the stop valve is introduced in a line of pipe or tube) I
make the valve seat at an angle with the centre line by preference of
about forty-five degrees, and I make the edges of the valve seat at an
angle of about forty-five degrees with the centre line of the valve, so
that when the valve is introduced, it may rest upon the seat and make
a tight joint when pressed down. This valve consists of a solid disc
or plate having a groove round its edge in which a ring of some material
softer than the seat formed in the chamber is held by its own elasticity,
the groove being so shaped, as herein-after described, that its upper
edge may not injure the soft ring when it is pressed down. The ring
I make circular or nearly so in section, and by preference of india-rubber,
plain or vulcanized. At the bottom of the disc or plate I form guides
for the valve consisting of two or more feathers or plates, and in order
to make the joint tight I make the top of the valve above the groove
in which the soft ring is placed of greater diameter than that of the
centre of the ring, so that it may press down the ring without injuring
it, and I form or bend its edge over the ring so that only a part less than
half the circumference (in section) of the ring is exposed. It is not
necessary that the groove containing the ring nor the seat upon which
the ring rests should be faced, as the softness and elasticity of the ring
will be sufficient to make a perfectly tight joint.. The valve and ring
are held down upon or lifted from the seat by means of a spindle passing
through a stuffing box in a cover which closes an opening in the
chamber through which the valve is introduced. I prefer to make this
spindle with a screw at its lower end which works in a nut attached:
to the upper part of the valve described, and I prevent the valve from
turning round by means of guides in the cover or in the sides of the
chamber.. By the method described the spindle by which the valve is
raised or closed stands at an angle to the line of the pipes in which the
stop valve is fixed. If it is required that it should stand at right angles
to it (in the usual way) I make a bell crank of suitable angle inside the
chamber, one arm of which lifts, the valve and the other arm carries
the nut in which the screw upon the spindle works, or I use an
universal joint or bevil wheels outside the stuffing box by which the
spindle (to the end of which a handle can be fixed) is carried in any
required direction. The openings for the entrance and exit of the fluid
are fitted with flanges or sockets. If it is required that the opening
of the valves should be very gradual I make the lower part of the valve

page_text: below the soft ring conical or curved in section, so that the valve shall
be raised a considerable distance before the full opening for the
discharge of the fluid is given. Instead of a stuffing box I sometimes
use a ring or diaphragm closing the chamber and attached to a spindle
lifting the valve. This diaphragm is made sufficiently flexible to allow
the rise and fall of the valve as required, and sometimes instead of
opening the valves in the way described I attach the spindle to the
valve and make the screw upon the spindle work through a fixed nut
instead of through a nut attached to the valve; and in such cases where
it is desirable that the valve (whether of the kind described or of the
ordinary kind) should not turn round upon its seat when the spindle
is turned I make the spindle pass loosely through the valve, and I
form upon it a conical or other collar which fits upon a seat formed in
the valve, and upon the spindle a short distance below this seat I place
a nut or stop by which the valve is raised when the spindle is unscrewed.
In this way the valve turns with the spindle when it is screwed down
until the valve rests upon the valve seat, and it is then pressed tightly
down without turning by the pressure of the collar which revolves in
the seat formed in the valve as the spindle is further screwed down.
By this means if there is much pressure of fluid above the valve when
it is closed a part of the pressure is taken off by the raising of the collar
described from its scat in the valve when the spindle is first unscrewed,
and the valve is subsequently raised from its seat by the nut or stop
upon the spindle if the unscrewing is continued. The collar upon the
spindle forms in fact a small valve in the centre of the main valve and
is opened before the latter begins to be raised. I also apply the valves
and soft rings surrounding them as above described to lift or force pumps
as ordinarily made with buckets or plungers; I apply them for the
purposes of foot valves, bucket valves, and delivery valves, and I form
seats for them (which need not require facing) in the pumps or buckets,
and I make these seats with edges at angles of about forty-five degrees
for the soft rings in the valves to rest upon as described already in the
stop valves; and for such valves (as well as for the stop valves as
described) I sometimes make a part of the top of the valve separate and
when the soft ring has been put in its place I screw on the top part so
that the ring is firmly held in its position. For small stop valves, cocks,
or taps I use similar valves to those described, and I form the seats
either at right angles or inclined to the centre line of the cock or tap,.
and sometimes I open such valves by means of a spindle attached to

page_text: the tail of the valve and passing (with or without a soft washer) through
a hole in the cock or tap. The end of this spindle has a button or
knob attached, upon pressing which the valve is opened. It is closed
by a spring between the button and the hole, through which the spindle
passes, or by the pressure of the fluid upon it, or by a spring inside the
cock or tap.
:
my
The annexed Drawings illustrate some of the forms in which I use
Invention:
Figure 1 is a stop valve or throttle valve; A is a chamber having
openings B and C for the inlet and outlet of fluids, cither of which
may be used for one or the other purpose; D is a valve seat upon which
rests the valve E. This valve has a recess in which the ring F is held
by its own elasticity. The top of the valve above the ring F is made
of larger diametar than the ring, as shown in Figure 5, so that it presses.
down the ring without injuring it, as would be the case if the groove
were semicircular only (in section). In Figures 1, 2, and 5 the top of
the valve is also shown curved over the ring; G. is a cover to the
chamber A, and H is a spindle passing through a stuffing box I in this
cover. The lower end of this spindle is screwed and worked in a nut K,
attached to the top of the valve E, which is prevented from turning
round by the guides L (Figures 1 and 2) attached to the cover or to
the chamber, as shown in Figure 3.
In Figures 1 and 2 the spindle working the valve is shown at an angle
of forty-five degrees to the line of pipes B, C. In Figure 4 the spindle
is shown at right angles to the line B, C. The dotted lines D, E, show
a bell crank, one arm of which D is connected to the valve, and the
other arm E carries the nut in which the screw at the end of the
spindle H works. Where the inlet and outlet pipes B and C are not
in the same line the valve and seat. may be placed directly below the
cover and spindle (Figure 4), and at right angles to the spindle without
the intervention of the bell crank D, E, one of the openings B, C, being
above and the other below the valve seat.
Figure 6 shows one of the forms of valve which I adopt and have
described when it is required that the opening for the passage of the
fluid should be very gradual. Figure 5 shows a flexible diaphragm C
attached at the centre to the top of the valve D, and held down at its
circumference by the cover E; F is a lever, by means of which the valve
may be opened or closed.

page_text: Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, show the different valves as described
as I apply them to ordinary lift or force pumps, whether for foot valycs,
delivery valves, or bucket valves. In Figure 7, A is the valve as.
described, resting upon the seat B formed in the pump or bucket..
Figure 8 shows in plan the leaves C which guide the valve; Figure 9.
shows the soft ring A, forming a part of the seat, instead of the valve-
B being a ring by which A is held in its place.
Figure 10 shows the ring of a somewhat different section. Sometimes.
it may be made with the outer edge rectangular, instead of semicircular,
and with the same angle as the scat B, as shown by the dotted lines..
Figure 11 shews the upper edge B of the valve of malleable material,
and bent down over the soft ring A, after the latter has been placed in.
its position. Figure 12 shows the upper part B of the valve made..
separate and screwed down upon the lower part C, embracing the-soft...
ring A between them..
Figure 13 slows valves made according to this Invention applied to
a cock or tap. A is the valve resting upon the seat B. A spindle C is
attached to the tail of the valve A. and passes through a hole in the
cock or tap; D is a. button or knob attached to the outer end of the-
spindle C, and E is a spring by which the valve A is drawn to its seat B..
When the, button D is pressed the valve is opened and the fluid' passes
through the cock or tap..
Figures 14 and 15. show modifications of the valve. described in
Figure 9, in which. the soft ring A. is placed in a groove formed in the
valve seat instead of in the valve. The valve B. presses upon. the
outside of the ring A, and (as in all the other valves described):
the greater pressure there is upon the valve the more firmly is the soft
ring kept in. its- position without being injured by the edges of the.
groove in which it is placed..

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edmund Edwards, Her special licence that I,
the said Edmund Edwards, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edmund Edwards, my executors, admi-
nistrators; 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, uso, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN Cocks
AND VALVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edmund Edwards, 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 Edmund Edwards, 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 has for its object improvements in. stop-cocks or
valves, or throttle valves for stopping or cutting off the passage of
fluids through them, and in valves for ordinary pumps used for lifting
or forcing fluids. For the purpose of making stop valves or throttle
valves I employ a chamber of suitable form made by preference of
metal, earthenware, or glass. In the interior of this chamber, I form
a seat upon which a valve rests or is forced. The chamber has openings
for the entrance and exit of the fluid passing through, and where these
openings are in the same line (as. when, the stop valve is. introduced
into a line of pipe or tube) I usually make the valve seat, at an angle.
with the centre line by preference of about forty-five degrees. And I
make the edges of the valve seat at an angle of about forty-five degrees
with the centre line of the valve, so that when the valve is introduced
it may rest upon the seat and make a tight joint when pressed down.

page_text: This valve consists of a disc or plate having a groove round its edge in
which a ring of some material softer than the seat formed in the
chamber is held by its own clasticity, the groove being so shaped (as
herein-after described) that its upper edge may not injure the soft
ring when it is pressed down. The ring I make circular or nearly so
in section, and by preference of india-rubber, plain or vulcanized. At
the bottom of the dise or plate I if necessary form guides for the valve
consisting of two or more feathers or plates, and in order to make
the joint tight I make the top of the valve above the groove in which
the soft ring is placed of greater diameter than that of the centre of
the ring, so that it may press down the ring without injuring it, and
I form or bend its edge over the ring so that only a part less than
half the circumference (in section) of the ring is exposed. It is not
necessary that the groove containing the ring nor the seat upon which
the ring rests should be faced, as the softness and clasticity of the ring
will be sufficient to make a perfectly tight joint. The valve and ring
are held down upon or lifted from the seat by means of a spindle
passing through a stuffing box in a cover which closes an opening in
the chamber through which the valve is introduced. In the case of
stop-cocks this stuffing box is not required. I prefer to make the spindle
above mentioned with a screw (preferably left handed) at its lower
end which works in a nut attached to the upper part of the valve
described, and I prevent the valve from turning round by means of
guides in the cover, or in the sides of the chamber. By the method
described the spindle by which the valve is raised or closed stands at
an angle to the line of the pipes in which the stop valve is fixed. If
it is required that it should stand at right angles to it (in the usual
way) I make a bell erank of suitable angle inside the chamber, one
arm of which lifts the valve and the other arm carries the nut in
which the screw upon the spindle works, or I use an universal joint or
bevil wheels outside the stuffing box by which the spindle (to the end
of which a handle or wheel can be fixed) is carried in any required
direction. The openings for the entrance and exit of the fluid are fitted
with flanges or sockets or are screwed to receive pipes.
If it is re-
:
quired that the opening of the valve should be very gradual I make
the lower part of the valve below the soft ring conical or curved in
section, so that the valve shall be raised a considerable distance before
the full opening for the discharge of the fluid is given. Instead of a
stuffing box I sometimes use a ring or diaphragm closing the chamber

page_text: and attached to a spindle lifting the valve. This diaphragm is made
sufficiently. flexible to allow the rise and fall of the valve as required,
and sometimes instead of opening the valves in the way described I
attach the spindle to the valve and make the screw upon the spindle
work through a fixed nut instead of through a nut attached to the
valve; and in such cases where it is desirable that the valve (whether
of the kind described or of the ordinary kind) should not turn round
upon its seat when the spindle is turned I make the spindle pass loosely,
through the valve, and I form upon it a conical or other collar which
fits upon a seat formed in the valve, and upon the spindle a short
distance below or above this seat I place a nut or stop by, which the
valve is raised when the spindle is unscrewed. In this way the valve
turns with the spindle when it is screwed down until the valve rests
upon the valve seat, and it is then pressed tightly down without turning
by the pressure of the collar which revolves in the seat formed in
the valve as the spindle is further screwed down. By this means if
there is much pressure of fluid above the valve when it is closed a
part of the pressure. is taken off by the raising of the collar described:
from its seat in the valve when the spindle is first unscrewed, and the
valve is subsequently raised from its seat by the nut or stop upon the
spindle if the unscrewing is continued. The collar upon the spindle
forms in fact a small valve in the centre of the main valve and is opened
before the latter begins to be raised. I also apply the valves and soft
rings surrounding them as above described to lift or force pumps
as ordinarily made with buckets or plungers; I apply them for the
purposes of foot valves, bucket valves, and delivery valves, and I form
scats for them (which need not require facing) in the pumps or buckets..
and I make these seats with edges at angles of about forty-five degrees.
for the soft rings in the valves to rest upon as described already in the:
stop valves; and for such valves (as well as for the stop. valves as
described) I sometimes make a part of the top of the valve separate,
and when the soft ring has been put in its place, I screw on the top
part so that the ring is firmly held in its position. All these valves
as described are suitable for being applied to the delivery pipes from
cisterns or tanks: For small stop valves, cock, or taps I use similar
valves to those described, and I form the seats either at right angles
or inclined to the centre line of the cock, or tap, and sometimes I open
such valves by means of a spindle attached to the tail of the valve and
passing (with or without a soft washer) through a hole in the cock or

page_text: tap.
The end of this spindle has a button or knob attached, upon
pressing which the valve is opened. It is closed by a spring between
the button and the hole, through which the spindle passes, or by the
pressure of the fluid upon it, or by a spring inside the cock or tap.
For larger cocks to be driven or screwed into cisterns or tanks I use
the valve worked by a screwed spindle as first described, but. I do not
find it necessary to use a stuffing box, a handle or wheel being fixed
upon the spindle.outside the cover. The covers of the different valves
described I sometimes make curved up instead of flat so as to give
additional space for the valve to rise.
The annexed Drawings illustrate some of the forms in which I use
my. Invention..
Figure 1 is a stop valve or throttle valve; A is a chamber having
openings B and C for the inlet and outlet of fluids, either of which
may be used for one or other purpose; D is a valve seat, upon which
rests the valve E. This valve has a recess in which the ring F is
held by its own elasticity. The top of the valvė above the ring F is
made of larger diameter than the ring, so that it presses down the ring
without injuring it, as would be the case if the groove were semi-
circular only (in section); G is a cover to the chamber A; and H is a
spindle passing through a stuffing box I in this cover. The lower
end of this spindle is screwed and works in a nut K attached to the
top of the valve E, which is prevented from turning round by the guides
shown in Figures 2 and 3, or by guides attached to the cover.
In Figure 1 the spindle working the valve is shown at an angle of
forty-five degrees to the line of pipes B, C. In Figure 4 the spindle
is shown at right angles to the line B, C. The dotted lines D, E, show
a bell crank, one arm of which D is connected. to the valve, and the
other arm E carries the nut in which the screw at the end of the spindle
H works. Where the inlet and outlet pipes B and C are not in the
same line the valve and seat may be placed directly below. the cover
and spindle (Figure 4), and at right angles to the spindle without the
intervention of the bell crank D, E, one of the openings B, C, being °
above and the other below the valve seat.
'
Figure 6 shows one of the forms of valve which I adopt and have
already described when it is required that the opening for the passage
of the fluid should be very gradual. Figure 5 shows a flexible diaphragm C
attached at the centre to the top of the valve D, and held down at

page_text: its circumference by the cover E; F is a lever by means of which the
valve
may be opened or closed..
Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 show the different valves as described,
as I apply them to ordinary lift or force pumps, whether for foot valves,
delivery valves, or bucket valves, or for valves in pipes connected to
cisterns or tanks. In Figure 7, A is the valve as described, resting
upon the seat B in the pump or bucket; Figure 8 shows in plan tho
leaves C which guide the valve; Figure 9 shows the soft ring A, forming
a part of the seat, instead of the valve B being a ring by which A is
held in its place.
Figure 10 shows the ring of a somewhat different section. Sometimes
it may be made with the outer edge rectangular, instead of semicircular,
and with the same angle as the scat B, as shown by the dotted lines.
Figure 11 shows the upper edge B of the valve of malleable material,
and bent down over the soft ring: A, after the latter has been placed. in
it's position. Figure 12 shows the upper part B of the valve. made.
separate and screwed down upon the lower part C embracing the soft
ring A between them.
Figure 13 shows valves made according to this Invention applied
to a cock or tap. A is the valve resting upon the seat B. A spindle C
is attached to the tail of the valve A and passes through a hole in the
cock or tap; D is a button or knob, attached to the outer end of the
spindle C, and E is a spring by which the valve A is drawn to its scat B.
When the button is pressed the valve is opened and the fluid passes
through the cock or tap.
Figures 14 and 15 show modifications of the valve described in
Figure 9, in which the soft ring A is placed in a groove formed in the
valve seat instead of in the valve. The valve. B presses upon the
outside of the ring A and (as in all the other valves described) the
greater pressure there is upon the valve the more firmly is the soft
ring kept in its position without being injured by the edges of the
groove in which it is placed.
Figures 16 and 17 show this Invention applied to a cock to be screwed
or driven into a tank or cistern. A is the valve as already described;
B is the screwed spindle (of which I prefer to make the screw left
handed), passing through the cover C and worked by the whcel or
handle D.

page_text: Figure 18 is a plan shewing the guides A, A, which prevent the
valve from turning round with the spindle.
Figure 19 shows. the arrangement described in which a small valve
in the centre of the principal valve is opened before the latter, so as to
relieve the pressure from the principal valve before it is opened.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same I would have understood that what I claim
is, -
1. The general construction or arrangement of cocks and valves
substantially as herein described and shown by the Drawings annexed.
2. The constructing cocks and valves with a ring of clastic material.
let into a groove or recess in the valve or valve seat, such groove
embracing the clastic ring around the greater part of its circumference,
and so securely retaining the elastic ring.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Edwards, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.