MENTS IN SELF-VENTING TAPS AND IN SELF-ACTING MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PREVENTING THE ENTRANCE OF AIR INTO CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS AFTER THE REMOVAL THEREFROM OF THE TAPS OR COCKS USED TO DRAW OFF THE CONTENTS THEREOF.
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sayer Nickoll, of 176, Commercial Road East,
"IMPROVE-
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, for the Invention of
MENTS IN SELF-VENTING TAPS AND IN SELF-ACTING MEANS AND APPLIANCES
FOR PREVENTING THE ENTRANCE OF AIR INTO CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS AFTER
THE REMOVAL THEREFROM OF THE TAPS OR COCKS USED TO DRAW OFF THE
CONTENTS THEREOF.'
"
Sealed the 26th February 1878, and dated the 30th August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sayer Nickoll at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th August 1877.
JOHN SAYER NICKOLL, of 176, Commercial Road East, Member of the Royal
College of Surgeons. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-VENTING TAPS AND IN SELF-
ACTING MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PREVENTING THE ENTRANCE OF AIR INTO
CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS AFTER THE REMOVAL THEREFROM OF THE TAPS OR
COCKS USED TO DRAW OFF THE CONTENTS THEREOF."
As regards self-venting taps the Invention consists in so arranging the vent tube
or passage that it shall be inclined upwards from its outer orifice towards the
interior of the cask or other vessel, whereby such self-venting tap is caused to
act efficiently whether the said cask or other vessel be full of liquid or only
partly full.
As regards self-acting means and appliances for preventing the entrance of air
into such casks and other vessels after the removal therefrom of the taps or cocks used
to draw off the contents thereof, the Invention consists in combining with a self-
acting or self-closing valve or plug, a self-venting tap, which may be constructed
in accordance with the first part of my Invention, or in any other known and
suitable manner.
The self-closing valve or plug may be arranged and operated in various ways,
one arrangement which I have found convenient being to so adapt a valve or plug
to the inner end of a bush inserted in the tap hole of the cask or other vessel, that
on screwing the tail end of the self-venting tap into the outer end of such bush,

page_text: the said valve or plug shall be opened so as to allow the liquid to pass from the
cask or other vessel to the said tap, and the air required to allow of the drawing off
of the liquid to enter through the vent passage in the tap to the cask or other
vessel, and on unscrewing the said tap from the bush the said valve or plug shall
close up air and liquid tight into or against the inner end of the said bush.
The above-mentioned improvements render it unnecessary to use vent holes
in vessels to the tap holes of which self-closing appliances are fitted, and the
inconveniences and ill effects arising from their use in such cases are obviated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Johu Sayer Nickoll in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
February 1878.
JOHN SAYER NICKOLL, of 176, Commercial Road East, Member of the Royal
College of Surgeons. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-VENTING TAPS AND IN SELF-
ACTING MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PREVENTING THE ENTRANCE OF AIR INTO
CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS AFTER THE REMOVAL THEREFROM OF THE TAPS OR
COCKS USED TO DRAW OFF THE CONTENTS THEREOF."
As regards self-venting taps the Invention consists in so arranging the vent
tube or passage that it shall be inclined upwards from its outer orifice towards
the interior of the cask or other vessel, whereby the air is enabled to enter the
cask or vessel more freely than when such vent tube is arranged horizontally,
and the tap is thereby caused to act efficiently whether the said cask or other
vessel be full of liquid or only partly full.
This part of the Invention is illustrated in Figure 1 of the Drawings, which
shews a section of a tap in which the vent tube A is inclined upwards from its
outer orifice towards the interior of the cask or vessel as above described.
As regards self-acting means and appliances for preventing the entrance of air
into casks and other vessels after the removal therefrom of the taps or cocks used
to draw off the contents thereof, the Invention consists in combining with a self-
acting or self-closing valve or plug a self-venting tap which may be constructed
in accordance with the first part of my Invention, or in any other known and
suitable manner.
The self-closing valve or plug may be arranged and operated in various ways.
One arrangement which I have found convenient is illustrated in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5,
of the Drawing. Similar letters of reference relate to like parts in each of the
said Figures; B is a plug, the shoulder B* of which is adapted to close liquid-tight
against the inner end of the bush C, which is inserted in the tap hole of the cask
or other vessel; the plug B has a screw thread formed on it externally, which
takes into a similar screw thread formed on the interior of the bush C, so that
when the plug B is turned in one direction the shoulder B* leaves the end of the
bush C, and the liquid in the vessel is then free to flow through the holes D, D,
in the plug B to the tap, as shewn in Figure 2; when the plug B is turned in the
opposite direction the shoulder B* is pressed against the end of the bush C, closing
it after the manner of a valve so as to prevent the further withdrawal of liquid or
entrance of air (see Figure 3); and in order to effect the closing of the shoulder B*

page_text: air-tight against the end of the plug C, a washer E of leather, india-rubber, or
other suitable soft material may be interposed between the two surfaces, or they may
be ground together after the manner of ordinary valve surfaces, as may be preferred.
The tail end F of the self-venting tap G has formed on its exterior a corre-
sponding screw thread adapted to take into the screw thread in the bush C. The
end of the tap is also provided with a pin or projection H which takes into a notch
I in the projecting end of the plug B.
When it is desired to introduce the tap into the bush, the pin or projection H on
the tap G is inserted into the notch I of the bush B, and on turning the tap round
in the proper direction, the screw thread on its end takes into the screw thread in
the bush C, and at the same time the plug B is turned round by the pin or pro-
jection on the tap, and the shoulder B* leaves the inner end of the bush C, and by
the time the tap G is screwed into the bush C up to the shoulder K (which is by
preference furnished with an elastic washer L) the plug B will be thrust inwards
sufficiently to allow the holes D, D, therein to become uncovered so as to allow the
liquid to pass out and the air to enter through the vent passage A when the_tap
Gis opened. Whenever the tap G is unscrewed from the bush C, the plug B is
also screwed out thereby until its shoulder B* closes up air and liquid-tight against
the inner end of the bush C, thereby preventing either the escape of liquid or
entrance of air until the plug B is again screwed inwards.
Instead of the tap being furnished with a fin or projection, and the plug B with
a notch as in Figure 4, the plug B may be provided with an internal fin or pro-
jection as in Figure 5, and the stem of the tap with a corresponding external
groove, or instead of the plug B being turned by means of a fin or projection, the
interior of the said plug and the stem of the tap may be made square or of other
form, such that when the stem of the tap is introduced into the plug it will not
turn therein, but will cause the said plug to turn with it.
The bush C may either be screwed into the cask or vessel, as shewn in Figures 2
and 3, or be driven tightly thereinto, and secured by screws passing through a
flange as in Figure 6, or an outer bush may be driven or screwed into and secured
in the cask, as shewn, for example, at C¹ in Figure 7, and the bush C screwed into
the said outer bush; this arrangement renders it easy to remove the bush and plug
when it is desired to clean the cask or other vessel.
Figure 7 also shews a modification of the above-described arrangement in which
the plug B projects beyond the front of the bush C when the shoulder B* is
screwed up to the inner end of the bush C. The projecting part of the plug is
furnished with dovetailed or under-cut notches or recesses M, M, which receive cor-
respondingly shaped projections on the end of the tap. The object of this arrange-
ment is to prevent the withdrawal of the tap without first closing the shoulder B*
against the inner end of the bush C.
It will be understood that by reason of the dovetailed or under-cut form of the
projections on the end of the tap, and of the notches or recesses in the plug B to
receive them, the tap can only be removed sidewise; and as this can only be
accomplished when the recesses in the plug B are screwed out clear of the face of
the bush C, it follows that as the length of the plug B is such as to ensure the
shoulder B* coming against the end of the bush C as soon as the said recesses have
cleared the face of the bush C; the tap cannot be removed until the plug or valve
has closed the passage through the bush. If preferred, the dovetailed or under-cut
projections may be formed on the plug B, and the correspond notches or recesses
on the end of the tap.
When it is desired to steam or clean the cask or vessel without removing the
bush C, the plug or valve B may be screwed back by means of a suitable key,
such as that illustrated in Figure 8, provided with a shoulder P, which limits its
action so as to prevent the plug from being screwed back so far as to become
detached from the bush C.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which

page_text: the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that what
I claim as my Invention is,-
Firstly. In self-venting taps the employment of a vent tube which is inclined
upwards from the outer to the inner end of the tap, as herein-before described, and
illustrated in Figure 1 of the Drawings.
Secondly. The employment of the valve or plug B operated in the bush C by
means of the stem of the self-venting tap, the whole arranged, adapted, and applied
substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 2 to 7 of the
Drawings, and for the purposes set forth.
Thirdly. The employment of the fixed bush C adapted to receive the moveable
bush C, substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated in Figure 7 of the
Drawings, and for the purpose set forth.
Fourthly. The arrangement of dovetailed or under-cut projections and recesses
in connection with the end of the tap and with the end of the plug B, projecting
beyond the bush C, for the purpose of preventing the detachment of the tap
from the plug B before the latter is closed up tightly against the inuer end of
the bush C, substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated in Figure 7 of
the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sayer Nickoll, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.