IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRAWING-OFF LIQUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Bain, of Euston Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DRAWING-OFF LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 24th January 1865, and dated the 3rd August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the, said Alexander Bain at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd August 1864.
I, ALEXANDER BAIN,. of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED:
APPARATUS FOR DRAWING-OFF LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is to avoid the necessity for acting directly
by the hand upon the handle or other means for opening the passage through
a cock or tap used in drawing off liquids. For this purpose I apply to the:
plug or other means by which the passage through a cock or tap is opened or
closed a lever or frame acted upon by spring or other pressure, with
tendency to keep the passage closed; and this lever or frame is formed to.
come under the outlet from the cock or tap, or is in position to be acted upon
by a vessel placed to receive liquid from such outlet; and the desired extent
of movement to this lever or frame may be effected by the receiving vessel
in the act of placing it in position under the outlet to receive the fluid desired..
The spring or other pressure acts to close the passage again on the removal
of the receiving vessel. By this means only the hand holding the receiving:

page_text: vessel is necessarily occupied, by which time and general convenience are
obtained; and when drawing off hot liquids from urns or other vessels the
danger of burning the tingers is rendered unnecessary.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Bain in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BAIN, of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Bain, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Bain, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexander. Bain, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRAWING-OFF LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Bain, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Alexander Bain, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of the Invention is to avoid the necessity for acting directly by
the hand upon the bandle or other means for opening the passage through
apparatus used in drawing off liquids. For this purpose I apply to the plug or
other means by which the passage through a cock or tap is opened or closed
a lever or frame acted upon by spring or other pressure with tendency to

page_text: keep the passage closed, and this lever or frame is formed to come under the
outlet from the cock or tap, or is in position to be acted upon by a vessel.
placed to receive liquid from such outlet; and the desired extent of move-
ment to this lever or frame may be effected by the receiving vessel in
the act of placing it in position under the outlet to receive the fluid desired.
The spring or other pressure acts to close the passage again on the removal
of the receiving vessel. By this means only the hand holding the receiving
vessel is necessarily occupied, by which time is saved, and general convenience
is obtained; and when drawing off hot liquids from urns or other vessels the
danger of burning the fingers is rendered unnecessary.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawing, proceed to describe means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a front view; Figure 2, a sectional front view; Figure 3, a
side view; and Figures 4 and 5, opposite side views, partly. in section, of one.
modification which I adopt in carrying out my improvements.
In this case the plug a is drawn upon with a tendency to keep it pressing
in its seat by. means of the spring b, which also acts to keep the plug a turned
in a direction to close the passage through it, for which purpose one end of
the spring 6 passes into a hole in the body of the cock or tap, and the other
end of it acts upon the plug with a tendency to draw it round, and thereby
keep the passage through it closed; c is a stop in the plug a, which by acting
upon the part d as the plug is drawn upon by the spring 6 determines the
distance of its motion; e is a lever or frame attached at its ends to the
opposite ends of the plug a and it is placed in position, so that in placing a
tumbler or cup or other receiver under the month of the cock or tap the lower
part c¹ of the lever or frame e will be pressed back, so as to cause it to turn
with the plug as on an axis, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 3, and
the passage through the plug will be brought to coincide with that through
the barrel of the tap, and liquid may flow through it. Then on withdrawing
the tumbler or other receiver the action of the spring 6 will cause the plug to
turn in its barrel, and as the lever or frame moves in following the withdrawal
of the tumbler or other receiver, the passage through the cock or tap will be
closed.
Figures 6, 7, and 8, show another modification of my improvements. In
this case the spring b is dispensed with, as may be also the stop c, and the
plug is acted upon with a tendency to turn it for closing by having applied to

page_text: it the weighted arms f, f, whilst the distance of, motion in either direction is
limited by the stops g or h formed on the plate e...
- Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, show another modification; in which
the plug a is drawn inwards, and is acted upon with a tendency to keep the
passage through it closed by a spring b, as in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, but
in this case the spout, mouth, or outlet i of the tap is formed on or as part of
the plug.a, and it also acts as the lever by which to turn the plug, so as to
admit of a passage for the flow of liquid through the cock or tap.
Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, show another modification, in which the
spout or outlet i is formed on or as part of the plug a, somewhat as in
Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, and the plug is acted upon with a tendency
to close the passage through it by having applied to it the weighted arm j.
Having thus described several modifications of cocks or taps arranged
according to my Invention, I would have it understood that I do not confine
my improvements to the precise forms or character of cocks or taps shown
and described, as they are equally applicable to other descriptions of cocks or
taps, or means for drawing-off liquids; but what I claim is the arranging
apparatus for drawing-off liquids, so that the passage through the same for
the flow of liquids may be closed by spring or other pressure, and opened by
the pressure of the vessel or other receiver acting on a lever or frame in
manner substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Bain, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
ALEX. BAIN,
(L.S.)