A METALLIC TRIMMING FOR INTERCEPTING WATER, AIR, GAS, OR STEAM ROUND PISTON RODS, OF WHATSOEVER THEY MAY BE; THE SAME MAY BE APPLIED TO THE JOINTS OF STEAM MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Michael Shanty at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 24th July 1858, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.-A communication from Edward Legris, of Paris.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
SHANTY, of 5, Meards Street, Dean Street, Soho Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A METALLIC TRIMMING
FOR INTERCEPTING WATER, AIR, GAS, OR STEAM ROUND PISTON RODS, OF WHATSOEVER
THEY MAY BE; THE SAME MAY BE APPLIED TO THE JOINTS OF STEAM MACHINES," (a
communication from Edward Legris, of Paris,) and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that I
verily believe myself to be the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Michael Shanty, do hereby declare that
the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal, fully describes
and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
(that is to say) :-
The trimming of each rod is composed of many series of five or six washers,
each of which is composed of four or five washers of lead, and the following
composed of the mixture of many metals, viz., 1 part of bismuth, 10 parts of
lead, 2 parts of pewter.

page_text: These washers of lead may vary from the sixth to the fifth of an inch in
thickness, and the thickness of those in composition, from the fifth to one
eighth of an inch.
The washers are pierced in the centre, the whole of
which is equal to the diameter of the rod to be trimmed; the greater diameter
of these plates is equal to that of the stuffing box, into which it is to enter.
These washers or washers, in order to be placed without undoing the rods, are
cut on a certain point of their surface from the centre to the circumference in a
straight line, the metals of which they are composed being of a ductile nature;
the washers are opened, in order to be placed round the rods that are to be
trimmed, where they retake their plain form by a slight pressure from the
stuffing press, tow or hemp press. These trimmings are placed with care in
the following order. When the stuffing box has been cleaned, we begin by
placing one or two lead washers, and then a washer of the composition, then
five or six washers in lead, one of composition, and so on until the stuffing
box is full of them; as fast as the washers are placed, they are fixed solidly
by the hemp or tow press, after which they are enveloped with hemp well
imbibed in oil, upon which the tow or hemp press is let down to the point
where it is to remain during the first half an hour motion of the machine;
the washers are gently and progressively made tighter, until there is no more
escape of water, steam, or gas, and progressing gently, we make them faster
every time the washer has used the trimming. When it cannot be made
tighter, on account of the use of it, a composition washer is added to it. The
most advantageous grease for the use of this trimming is composed as follows:
-Hogs grease 100, lead and silver ore 5, soap 100, water 100.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN.
The rose and grey colors indicate the cast iron; the blue indicates the iron
or steel; the deep yellow, the washers in metallic composition; the clear
yellow, the lead washers; the color sepia a, a textile washer.
The Figure A, and the longitudinal cut of the stuffing box of a steam machine.
In order to economise the washers of metallic composition, a cylinder in cast
iron B, occupies a part of the stuffing box. It rests on its inferior part on a
series of washers of metallic composition and on lead washers. The superior
part of this cylinder, which is of the form of a funnel, is furnished with a
series of washers, of metallic washers, and of lead ones; above these metallic
washers is a washer made of a textile matter, on which the stuffing press
rests.

page_text: D
on cynder B has
trimming to be squeezed round the rod by a gentle pressure. The cylinder in
to oblige the
cast iron is employed in the interior of the stuffing box, but in an economical
point of view, and consequently for deep and large stuffing boxes, in which it
5 is important to substitute the metallic composition trimming for all others.
It is to be remarked the cylinder in cast iron B does not touch the sides of the
stuffing box, nor against the rod
this, so to permit to the rod a
slight deviation without any augmentation of the rubbing or friction of the
same.
The lead or composed metallic washers may be made au decoupoir; these
washers of metallic composition or of lead may also be made in the form of a
ribbon, cut by a shears of a ribbon of various width, proportioned to the
diameter of the rod to be trimmed; their middle-sized width may be from the
10th to the twentieth part of the piston rod to be trimmed, but we repeat the
metallic washers are preferable. It will always be important that the volume
of the washers in lead never surpass triple the volume of the washers in
composition, and thus, as we have already said, the better way will always be
to fill up the stuffing box exclusively with the composed metal.
Pistons.-The Figure B is a piston composed of two boxes, the one of
which is settled upon its axis, whilst the other, commanded and fixed by a
screw or nut, can be tightened or untightened at will; exteriorly this piston
is à gorge and conical; this gorge is filled with lead washers and composition
ones placed in the order shewn in the design. The deep yellow tincture shews
the washers of composition, and the tincture clear yellow shew the washers in
lead. The form, conic of the exterior of the piston, has for its but or end to
permit a centrifugal extension of the metal under the pressure of the screws
which are to be turned, when we may suppose that the washer leaves a com-
munication between the two opposite sides of the piston.
We mention and present the form of the piston here above named as being
the most favorable for the application of the metallic trimmings, and we
propose to place these trimmings to pistons of all forms. These piston
vashers are prepared to be placed in the same manner as the washers applied
o the rods.
The observations made for the application of the metallic washers are the
ame for those that are to be put to the pistons.
In the cases in which the pistons which are of a small diameter, they may
e exteriorly formed of a sheath, the metal composed, or even to be in massive

page_text: composed metal, with a rod in iron or steel in the centre. The composition
metal may, moreover, be employed in the washers for the joints of steam
boilers, steam machines, proportioning the thickness of the washers to their
diameters.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Shanty, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
MICHAEL SHANTY. (L.S.)