AN IMPROVED SELF- SEALING COVER OR LID FOR GAS AND OTHER RETORTS, MAN-HOLES, SHIPS' SIDE LIGHTS, FIRE EXTINCTEURS, VAULTS, SUGAR FILTERS, AND VESSELS FOR CONTAINING GASES, CHEMICALS, FRUITS, AND OTHER. LIQUIDS AND SUB- STANCES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Thomas Soley, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SELF-
SEALING COVER OR LID FOR GAS AND OTHER RETORTS, MAN-HOLES, SHIPS'
SIDE LIGHTS, FIRE EXTINCTEURS, VAULTS, SUGAR FILTERS, AND VESSELS FOR
CONTAINING GASES, CHEMICALS, FRUITS, AND OTHER. LIQUIDS AND SUB-
STANCES." A communication from abroad by Henry Collinson, of
Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Thomas Soley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th September 1875.
I, GEORGE THOMAS SOLEY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
SELF-SEALING COVER OR LID FOR GAS AND OTHER RETORTS, MAN-HOLES, SHIPS'
SIDE LIGHTS, FIRE EXTINCTEURS, VAULTS, SUGAR FILTERS, AND VESSELS FOR
CONTAINING GASES, CHEMICALS, FRUITS, AND OTHER LIQUIDS AND SUBSTANCES," to
be as follows :-
The object of this Invention is to provide a means of hermetically
closing without the aid of listing or packing all openings which require

page_text: to be sealed air or water-tight, such for example as the lids of gas
retorts, man-holes of steam boilers, side lights of ships, tops of chemical
fire extinguishers, vault covers, the mouths of sugar filters, or vessels
containing gases, chemicals, fruits, or other liquids and substances.
fire extinguishers, vault covers, the mouths of sugar filters, or vessels
containing gases, chemicals, fruits, or other liquids and substances.
.
The Invention consists of a cover or lid having a true flat face arranged
in such a manner that while being forced home against a flat seat it
receives a sliding and rotating motion thereon.
In carrying out this Invention I form round the opening to be closed
a true face to form a seat for the cover or lid, which has its face formed
flat and true and as smooth as possible, so that when fitted and held:
snugly against the seat an air-tight joint exists between them.
A screw passing through a cotter bar or other suitable support has its
inner end attached in any suitable manner to an eccentric head or cam
of any required dimension, which head or cam is seated in a recess in
the cover or lid, so that upon turning the screw inward it forces the
cover or lid directly against the seat, while at the same time by means
of the eccentric head it slides or shifts the cover or lid about over the
face of the seat, the eccentric moving the cover or lid about in a circular
path, so that the friction on the cover or lid causes it to rotate more or
less about its own centre, the action of the parts being such that the
cover or lid is caused to fit or grind itself closely to its seat, and in case
of there being tar or adhesive particles of any kind upon the surface of
either the cover, or lid, or the seat, they will be removed by the sliding
and rotating motion of the cover or lid, which will in every instance
-obtain-for-itself-a-smooth-clean seat.
As there is no dead point or stop to the cover or lid, should any leak
Fat-any-time-appear-it-can-at-once-be stopped without the aid of listing
by merely turning the screw. This is a great advantage-over any other
sliding cover or lid in use. The movement of the cover or lid is such
however that it rarely ever seats itself twice in the same position, the
result being that the wear of the faces of the two is rendered uniform at
all points, and the points are thus kept true and smooth. The essential
feature of the Invention is giving to the cover or lid the peculiar move-
ments described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Thomas Soley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
THOMAS SOLEY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Thomas Soley,
Her special licence that I, the said George Thomas Soley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Thomas Soley, my executors, administrators, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED SELF-SEALING COVER OR LID FOR
GAS AND OTHER RETORTS, MAN-HOLES, SHIPS' SIDE LIGHTS, FIRE EXTINCTEURS,
VAULTS, SUGAR FILTERS, AND VESSELS FOR CONTAINING GASES, CHEMICALS, FRUITS,
AND OTHER LIQUIDS AND SUBSTANCES," a communication to me from abroad by
Henry Collinson, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Thomas Soley, 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 George Thomas Soley, 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 :-
The object of this Invention is to provide a means of hermetically
closing without the aid of listing or packing all openings which require

page_text: to be sealed air or water-tight, such for example as the lids of gas
retorts, man-holes of steam boilers, side lights of ships, tops of chemical
fire extinguishers, vault covers, the mouths of sugar filters, or vessels
containing gases, chemicals, fruits, or other liquids, and substances.
The-Invention-consists of-a-cover-or-lid-having-a-true-flat-face-arranged-
in such a manner that while being forced home against a flat seat it
receives a sliding and rotating motion thereon.
In carrying out this Invention I form around the opening to be closed
a true face to form a seat for the cover or lid, which has its face formed
flat and true, and as smooth as possible, so that when fitted and held
snugly against the seat an air-tight joint exists between them.
A screw passing through a cotter bar or other suitable support has
its inner end attached in any suitable manner to an eccentric head or
cam of any required dimension, which head or cam is seated in a recess
in the cover or lid, so that upon turning the screw inward it forces the
cover or lid directly against the seat, while at the same time by means of
the eccentric head it slides or shifts the cover or lid about over the face
of the seat, the eccentric moving the cover or lid about in a circular
path, so that the friction on the cover or lid causes it to rotate more or
less about its own centre, the action of the parts being such that the cover
or lid is caused to fit or grind itself closely to its seat, and in case of
there being tar or adhesive particles of any kind upon the surface of
either the cover, or lid, or the seat, they will be removed by the sliding
and rotating motion of the cover or lid, which will in every instance
obtain for itself a smooth clean seat.
As there is no dead point or stop to the cover or lid, should any leak
at any time appear it can at once be stopped without the aid of lifting
by-merely-turning-the-screw. This is a great advantage over any other
sliding cover or lid in use. The movement of the cover or lid is such
however that it rarely ever seats itself twice in the same position, the
result being that the wear of the faces of the two is rendered uniform at
all points, and the parts are thus kept true and smooth. The essential
T
11 21
10

page_text: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cover or lid constructed according to
this Invention; Figure 2 is an end view of Figure 1, shown in section.
Figure 3 is a plan of a cover or lid according to this Invention.
Figure 4 is a plan of the eccentric movement of the cover or lid
according to this Invention.
a is the top of a retort or other opening (with a true flat face a¹), to
which this Invention may be applied; b is a screw passing through a
cotter bar c or other suitable support. The screw 6 has its inner end
attached to an eccentric head or cam d of any required dimensions. The
eccentric dis scated in a recess e in the cover or lid h, so that upon
turning the screw b by the hand wheel b¹ it forces the cover or lid h
directly against the seat a¹, while at the same time by means of the
cccentric & it slides or shifts the cover or lid / about over the face of the
seat a'. The eccentric & moves the cover or lid about in a circular
path, so that the friction on the cover or lid / causes it to rotate more
or less about its own centre, the action of the parts being such that the
cover or lid / is caused to fit or grind itself. closely to its seat, and in
case of there being tar or other adhesive particles of any kind upon the
surface of the cover or lid h, or the seat a², they will be removed by the
sliding and rotating motion of the cover or lid h, which in all cases
obtains for itself a smooth clean seat. The catch c¹ takes on to a spring
on the end of the cotter bar c, so as to put a pressure upon the lid h
while it is being turned round on the seat a² one or more times before
the cotter bar c arrives at the dead stop against the catch c¹.
The essential feature of this Invention is giving to the cover or lid h
the peculiar eccentric movements described, so as to fit or grind itself on
to the face a¹.
It is obvious that the form of the parts of this Invention is
immaterial, and that they may be varied as circumstances may require,
provided their operation remains unchanged.

page_text: into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details, dimensions, or shape of parts as shown in
the Drawings, as the same may be considerably varied without departing
from this Invention; also I do not claim the making of a tight joint
without the aid of packing by merely using two smooth metallic surfaces.
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Thomas Soley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1876.
GEORGE THOMAS SOLEY. (L.S.)