IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ASBESTOS PACKING' FOR PISTON AND VALVE RODS, PISTONS PIPE JOINTS AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES.”
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stebbins Fish, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ASBESTOS PACKING' FOR PISTON AND VALVE RODS,
PISTONS PIPE JOINTS AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES.”
""
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stebbins Fish
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM STEBBINS FISH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ⚫ ASBESTOS PACKING' FOR PISTON AND
VALVE RODS, PISTONS, PIPE JOINTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in the manufacture of
asbestos packing used in the stuffing boxes of piston and valve rods, for
packing pistons, as well as for making pipe joints, also man-hole door
joints, and which may be employed in other situations where such
packing is required or used, consists in triturating or teasing the raw

page_text: asbestos or amianthus in a wet or dry state by means of machinery
analogous to that employed for breaking up the materials used in paper
pulp, so that an asbestos pulp is at once obtained, or a floss or flock
capable of being made into pulp.
In order to convert the pulp into packing it may be used alone, whilst
it as well as the dry floss or flock may be combined with a solution of
gutta percha, or caoutchouc, red lead, oils, silicic acid, silicate of soda,
resinous gums, or farinacious or glutinous matter, either singly or in
admixture.
The pulp or admixture of the asbestos floss or flock with either or all
of the afore-mentioned materials may be converted into packing by
forming it into boards or sheets, and then cutting or punching it into
rings or segments to correspond with the situations wherein it is to be
used, or the said pulp may be formed into packing by moulds or
dies.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Stebbins Fish in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STEBBINS FISH, of. Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Stebbins Fish, Her special
license that I, the said William Stebbins Fish, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Stebbins Fish, my
executors, administrators, or 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, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ASBESTOS PACKING FOR PISTON AND VALVE RODS,

page_text: PISTONS, PIPE JOINTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Stebbins Fish, by an instru-
ment 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Stebbins Fish, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in the manufacture
of "asbestos packing" used in the stuffing boxes of piston and valve rods,
for packing pistons, as well as for making pipe joints, also man-hole door
joints, and which may be employed in other situations where such
packing is required or used, consists in triturating or teasing the asbestos
or amianthus in a wet or dry state. The teasing or triturating of the
asbestos or amianthus may be effected by means of machinery analagous
to that employed for breaking up esparto, rags, and other fibrous sub-
stances used in making paper pulp, such, for example, as a carding
engine or a rag engine, or by other suitable mechanism, the means em-
ployed for effecting the teasing or triturating operations forming no part
of this Invention. When so treated in the wet state, a pulp of asbestos
is obtained, and when broken up in the dry state a floss or flock of
asbestos is produced capable of being converted into pulp when admixed
with water.
In order to convert the pulp (produced in either of the modes described)
into the packing, it may be formed of pulp alone, that is to say, without
admixture with other substances, or the said pulp or dry floss or flock of
asbestos, with or without a portion of the dust, slivers, or shavings of
cork may be combined or mixed with from five to twenty-five per cent.
of the following substances, namely, with a solution of gutta percha or
caoutchouc, red lead, oils, precipitated or soluble silica, that is to say,
one or more of these substances which are capable of mixing together
may be commingled with the pulp or dry floss or flock; but it is pre-
ferred to construct the packing of the asbestos pulp without any such
admixture.

page_text: It is to be understood that when the packing is to be used in situations
where there is no motion of the parts, resinous gums, farinaceous or
glutinous matter may be mixed with it, and when a solution of gutta
percha or caoutchouc is used in the packing the packing may be vul-
canised. The pulp, either with or without admixture with the other
substances herein-before described, is converted into packing :-
First. By compressing it in or between dies or moulds of the required
shape or size, so as to produce rings, ovals, or segments thereof, or packing
in other forms, the pressure employed being sufficient to expel the water
and compact the pulp together.
Or, secondly. The pulp, mixed or not with the other materials herein-
before mentioned, is compressed, rolled, or otherwise formed into sheets
or boards from which the packing of the required shape and size is cut
or punched.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and how the same may be used or carried out in practice,
I desire to observe in conclusion that I do not claim the employment of
asbestos or amianthus as the material of which to construct packing;
but what I do consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the reduction of raw asbestos or amianthus to a floss or flock-
like condition, in order to convert the same into a pulp, and converting
the same into packing, with or without admixture with other materials, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stebbins Fish, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
WILLIAM STEBBINS FISH. (L.S.)