IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH JOINTS FOR STONEWARE AND EARTHEN- WARE, SEWER, OR OTHER PIPES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Donaldson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on “the
5th December 1872.
I, WILLIAM DONALDSON, of Reading, in the County of Berks, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH JOINTS FOR STONEWARE AND EARTHEN-
WARE, SEWER, OR OTHER PIPES," to be as follows:-
Sewer pipes as at present constructed are joined together by an
ordinary spigot and socket joint, an interval being left between the
outer circumference of the spigot of one pipe and the inner circum-
ference of the flange of the socket of the other for the insertion of
cement, clay, or other stopping for making the joint water-tight.
My Invention consists in constructing the pipes with a spigot at one
end and a socket at the other, the flange of which projects just sufficient
to keep the spigot of the next pipe in position. Round the spigot of
the pipe is rolled a ring of clay, the depth of which is equal to that of
the flange of the socket of the pipe (into which the spigot is to be
fixed) at such a distance from the flange as to leave an interval for an

page_text: annular stopping of cement or clay between the butt end of the socket
and the ring. The ring is put on the pipe (when the latter has been
sufficiently dried after first making) in the same way as junctions are
subsequently added. The opposite faces of the ring and of the pro-
jecting flange are serrated to give a hold to the cement or clay.
The joint is made in one of the following ways:-
First. The lower half of the socket of the pipe already in position has
sufficient neat cement plastered upon it to insure the proper bedding of
the next pipe about to be laid in position, and the cement projecting
into the inside of the pipe is cleaned off in the usual way. The upper
half of the annular space between the flange of the socket and the
circumference of the spigot is then filled in, care being taken that no
cement is left in the annular space between the butt end of the flango
and the face of the ring on the spigot, except close to the inner joint
between the spigot and the inside of the socket. When this is done the
joint is left until a sufficient number of pipes has been laid to prevent
the communication of any shock through the intervening pipes to the
pipe in question, which may be caused by the ramming home of the
spigots of the pipes being laid into the sockets of the pipes last laid, and
until the cement already put into the joint is sufficiently set to keep the
pipes fixed firmly in position, after which the joint may be completed,
either in the ordinary way with a trowel, in which case great care must
be exercised so that the annular space is filled completely, or by
buckling a girth round the joint, leaving a sufficient space however at
the upper side thereof for pouring in cement "grout." The girth is
made of a strip of canvas, to which a pair of leather straps are attached
at one end, and a pair of buckles by means of a piece of leather at the
other, and is kept well greased to prevent the cement adhering.
'The cement is first carefully gauged and made into the consistency
of thin "grout" and then poured into the joint, by. preference using a
funnel.
'
It is necessary that the first joint should be effectually stopped to
prevent the grout running into the interior of the pipe, and that the
grout should be carefully manipulated, so that there may be no lumps
in it. As the girth should not be removed until the cement has set
sufficiently to remain in position, at least ten joints should be made at
once to secure expedition & economy in the laying of the pipes.

page_text: At the commencement twenty pipes should be laid and then the first
ten joints completed, after that another ten pipes, by which time the
cement would be sufficiently set to allow of the removal of the girths
from the first ten, which should be done very carefully to avoid shaking
the joint. The second set of ten joints should then be completed and
so on.
The trench should not be filled in until the cement is thoroughly sot,
and care should be used till the earth is above the pipes, and no
"punning" done till the earth is at least a foot above the pipes.
•
Second. The inner circumference of the flange of the socket is care-
fully smeared round with sufficient clay to fill the space between the
circumference of the spigot and the inside of the flange when the pipe is
rammed home. On the butt end of the flange is placed a ring of clay
about half an inch wider than the interval between the butt end of the
flange and the ring on the spigot of the other pipe and of the same
depth as that interval, the two portions of clay are then carefully
worked together so as to form one continuous mass; the spigot is then
well pressed into the socket so as to force the clay well into the
serrations and the surplus partly into the inside of the pipe and partly
outside the joint. The clay projecting into the interior is at once
carefully wiped off, but the surplus on the exterior must not be meddled
with till about twenty pipes have been laid for the reasons above stated.
The joints of the first ten are then completed by kneading the surplus
clay all round firmly into the joints, and then another ten laid, and so
on; care should however be taken to finish each joint before the surplus
is the least dried.
To prevent the cracking of the clay the trench in dry weather should
be filled in as soon as the joints are completed with the same precautions