IMPROVE- MENTS IN SOCKET AND FLANGE SPIGOT PIPES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Mathew Barker, of 12, Kennington Park
Road, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SOCKET AND FLANGE SPIGOT PIPES."
Sealed the 26th May 1868, and dated the 7th December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Mathew Barker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1867.
I, CHARLES MATHEW BARKER, of 12, Kennington Park Road, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN SOCKET AND FLANGE SPIGOT PIPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in socket and flange spigot
pipes for the conveyance of gas and water, whereby leakage at the joint and
connections is prevented, and the pipes are joined together more quickly
and economically than by the methods at present in use.
According to this Invention the pipes are cast with a male thread on the
spigot, which is also made with a flange, whilst the socket is cast with a
female thread, so that the two can be screwed tightly together, and liquid
cement, pitch, or similar materials being placed between the threads aud
surfaces and tightly compressed between such surfaces, which are so formed
as to hold the material and thereby closely seal the joints and thus prevent any
leakage. Gas and water pipes having a liability to be disturbed by traffic
passing over them, or from settlement of the earth, leakage is consequent

page_text: thereon, which by these joints is prevented as these pipes must be turned
partly round to allow of any space by which leakage can occur. For the
prevention of leakage in making connections for services these pipes have cast
on them hexagonal bands, one of such hexagonal bands being at that side of
the flange nearest the centre, others on the length of the pipe, and one at the
root of the cup or socket, the connections for the services being made through
the flat surfaces of these hexagonal bands in place of in the circular pipe
itself a better joint is effected, as the flat surfaces of the bands is to give a
seating to a cheek nut in the service pipe, and thereby secure the joint from
leakage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Mathew Barker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MATHEW BARKER, of 12, Kennington Park Lane, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Mathew Barker, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Mathew Barker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Mathew Barker, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN SOCKET AND FLANGE SPIGOT PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Mathew Barker, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Mathew Barker, do hereby declare
the nature. of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being- had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements in socket and flange
spigot pipes for the conveyance of gas and water, whereby leakage at the
joints and connections is prevented, and the pipes are joined together and also
disconnected more quickly and economically than by the methods at present
in use.
According to this Invention the pipes are cast with a male thread on the
spigot, which is also made with a flange or bevelled collar and taper end,
whilst the socket is cast with a female thread and corresponding taper cavaties,
so that the two can be screwed tightly together with liquid Portland or red
lead cements, or soft lead, pitch, or similar materials placed between the
threads and surfaces and tightly compressed between such surfaces, which
from their configuration securely hold the cement, and as the taper end of the
spigot fits the taper cavity of the socket and the bevelled collar or flange fits
the taper recess of the socket's mouth the joints are thereby closely sealed
and any leakage prevented. Gas and water pipes having a liability to be
disturbed by traffic passing over them, or from settlement of the earth, leakage
is consequent thereon, which by the joints above referred to is prevented as
these pipes must be turned partly round to allow of any space by which
leakage could occur, whilst the tensile strength of the pipe is operative against
deflection, giving rigidity to the joint and obviating the evil to which all
ordinary pipes are liable, as they by any deflection have their spigots partially
drawn from their sockets and continual leakage is resultant. For the
prevention of leakage in making connections for "services" these pipes have cast
on them flat-sided or hexagonal bands, one of which is situate at the root of
the cup or socket and the others at equal distances along the pipe, the service
connections being made through the flat surfaces of these hexagonal bands in
place of through the cylindrical surface of the pipe; a better joint is thus
effected as the flat surfaces of the hexagonal bands afford sufficient material
for a continuous thread therein, consequently giving extra strength to the
screw of the service pipe and presenting a flat seating to the check nut for
securing the service joint from leakage. In cases where a T-pipe is to be
introduced for an extension of main the same may be readily accomplished by
removing one of the 9 feet pipes and inserting in its place short lengths of
pipe say 3 feet each, on one of which the T is cast. These short pipes
are provided with deeper sockets and longer spigots for the purpose of facili-
tating the insertion of the said pipes without disturbing those originally laid.

page_text: The first of the three short pipes has two sockets, one of ordinary length, to be
attached to the pipes already laid, and the other of extra length to receive the
spigot of the next or T-piece, on the straight length of which two spigots of
extra length are cast as well as a socket on the transverse of the T, which last
socket is of the ordinary length to receive the spigot of the extension pipe ;
the third short pipe has a long socket at one end and an ordinary sized spigot
at the other end to be screwed into the socket of the old laid pipe. Now the
pipe first named being screwed on to the spigot of the old laid pipe the T pipe
is next screwed home into the long socket of the first short length of pipe,
and the spigot of the third pipe having been screwed into the socket of the
opposite pipe of the old laid main the T-piece that had been previously
screwed home in the long socket of the first pipe is unscrewed until it enters
the long socket of the third pipe and thus completes the junction of the main,
and the joints are sealed by cast-iron back nuts with flat or bevelled flanges
screwing up with cement and sealing the joints at the taper surfaces made on
the nuts and in the cavaties in the mouth of the sockets, thus coupling and
sealing both ends of the pipes newly inserted with those of the old pipes.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
Jetters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a plan of a 9 feet gas or water pipe
constructed in accordance with my Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section
of the same taken through 1, 2, in Figure 1, and shewing a service pipe
connected therewith; Figure 3 represents a mode of inserting a T-piece in a
continuous length of piping jointed according to my Invention; and Figure 4
is an enlarged detail of a T-piece showing more clearly the mode of joining
together the intermediate short lengths of pipe.
A (Figure 1) is a 9 feet pipe with an internal screwed socket B oast on one
end thereof, and a screwed spigot C cast on the opposite end, with a flange or
projecting bevelled collar D cast at the root or inner end of the screwed
spigot. The sectional form of the socket B is clearly shown on a larger scale
at B in Figure 4, which Figure also shows the shape of the screw threads in
the socket and on the spigot, a small portion of the projecting angles or the
tops" of the threads in each case being removed, as shown in the Drawings,
in order to leave cavaties for containing the liquid or other cement employed
in making the joint tight. When the spigot is screwed home the flange D, if
made with bevelled edges, as shewn at d (Figure 4), enters and fits tightly
into a corresponding bevelled recess b in the mouth of the socket B; but if the

page_text: flange D be flat faced, as shown by the dotted lines d', d, in Figure 4, then it
simply abuts against the face of the socket then made without an internal bevel,
as shown dotted at e¹, e. E, E, (Figure 1) represent the flat-sided bands, by
preference of a hexagonal form, which are cast round the pipe for making the
connections for the "services," one of such service pipes being shown at F.
The joints for the services are thus screwed through a flat surface, shown
more clearly at Figure 2, in place of through a cylindrical surface as here-
tofore, whereby a better and stronger screwed joint is obtained, whilst the flat
surface affords a better seat for the check nut G. When a T-piece is required
to be inserted I propose to employ short intermediate lengths A¹, A³, A³,
Figure (3), on one of which (shewn in enlarged scale at Figure 4) the T-branch
A on the short pipe A is cast with an internal screwed socket B herein-before
described. It will be seen on referring to the Drawings that the sockets B¹
of these intermediate lengths are longer than those of the nine feet pipes, and
that the screwed spigots C³ are so much longer than the depth of the corre-
sponding sockets as will suffice to carry the check nuts H. These check nuts,
like the flanges D before referred to, may either be flat faced or be formed
with a bevelled projecting face, as shown at h (Figure 4), which enters the
corresponding recess i in the mouth of the socket B¹ when screwed up, and
thus effectually secures and compresses the cement inside the joint and pre-
vents leakage. On inserting the T-piece A it is first screwed home, as shown
in Figure 4, into its corresponding socket in the short pipe A¹ in order to
bring its opposite extremity clear of the socket of the pipe As, which has been
in the meantime suitably adjusted. The intermediate pipe A2 is now un-
screwed again, and entering the last inserted length of pipe A³ it will have the
effect of coupling up both ends of the pipe A³ so that the threads enter when
the joints are complete about half way into their respective long sockets; the
check nuts H are then screwed up so as to fit tightly against the sockets,
when the joints will be complete, as shown in Figure 3.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the berein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The combination of screwed flange spigots and their flat or taper
sealing surfaces with internal screwed sockets and their corresponding taper
cavities for the purpose of making tight joints in gas and water pipes by
enclosing and compressing any cement, soft lead, or other equivalent material
between the junction surfaces, substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Second. The use of hexagonal or flat-sided bands cast on the pipes for the
purpose of presenting flat surfaces, which together with back or check nuts
effectually provide for screwing in service pipes without danger of leakage,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Mathew Barker, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Second day of June One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
CHA³. M. BARKER. (L.S.)