IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP VALVES OR SLUICES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Goold Morony Stoney, of Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Civil Engineer, for the Inven-
A CEREA"
Scaled the 4th February 1873, and dated the 9th August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Goold Morony
Stoney at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th August 1872.
I, FRANCIS GOOLD MORONY STONEY, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP VALVES OR SLUICES," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of stop valve or
sluice, especially designed and suited for large sizes, but also advan-
tageously applicable for intermediate and small sizes. The valve or main
piece of the improved arrangement is in a cylindrical form, as is also the
aperture it is intended to close, and the bottom of the valve is slightly

page_text: coned to fit a correspondingly coned seat formed at the bottom of the
aperture. The entrance end of the pipe or passage to which the valve is
applied communicates with the interior of the chamber in which the
valve works, and when the valve is open this chamber communicates
with the discharge end through the cylindrical aperture which is formed
round it. Above the cylindrical aperture a stuffing box is formed in the
valve chamber for the valve to work through, and the valve is moved to
open or close it by means of a spindle passing, by preference, through a
stuffing box in a cover fixed down on the top of the valve chamber.
The valve itself is open through, being a simple cylindrical ring con-
nected to the spindle by arms, so that it is in equilibrium, or almost so,
and it can be opened with the greatest case, notwithstanding that the
pressure of the water or other fluid which it stops may be very
great.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
GOOLD MORONY STONEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney, Her special a
licence that I, the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Goold
Morony Stoney, 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 a
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 STOP VALVES OR SLUICES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney, my
exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or 3

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney, 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 in writing, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved construction of stop valve or
sluice, especially designed and suited for large sizes, but also advan-
tageously applicable for intermediate and small sizes. The valve or
main piece of my improved arrangement is in a cylindrical form, as is
also the aperture it is intended to close, the valve being quite open
through, and without discs to be subjected to pressure, so that it is in
equilibrium, or almost so, and it can be opened with the greatest case,
notwithstanding that the pressure of water or other fluid which it stops
may be very great.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
two modifications of my improved valves. In these Drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a horizontal section of the casing of the
valve; and Figure 2 is a vertical section of the valve and casing; whilst
Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the valve or main movable piccc 1;
and Figure 4 is a horizontal section as taken just above the top of the
central part 2 of the valve.
The casing consists of a main part 3, 4, which is flanged at each end
for attachment to the contiguous lengths of piping, and which has bolted
down on it a hood 5. The main casing 3, 4, is formed with an enlarge-
ment, which is divided into a lower chamber 6 and an upper chamber -7
by means of a curved sloping diaphragm S, and a vertical cylindrical
passage 9 is formed on and through this diaphragm, the upper orifice of

page_text: this passage being of a diameter at least equal to that of the pipes.
From the passage 9 the water has access all round the circle to the
upper casing chamber 7 when the valve 1 is open. The valve 1 is an
open cylinder connected by radial feathers to a tubular central part 2,
and its bottom edge is fitted with a coned brass ring 10 carefully turned
and finished to fit a counterpart coned seat ring 11, also by preference of
brass, and fitted in the orifice of the passage 9. The valve 1 works
through a brass ring 12 fitted in the orifice in the top of the chamber 7,
and the upper part of this ring 12 is concd to receive a counterpart concd
brass ring 13 on the valve when the latter is closed. This brass ring 13
is fitted to move on a brass faced cylindrical rebate formed round the
top of the valve 1, and when the valve is closed the pressure of the
water inside the hood 5, acting on the top of the ring 13, ensures its
bearing close down on the upper casing ring 12. With these arrange-
ments the pressure, when the valve is closed, simply tends to distend or
'enlarge the valve, and does not oppose the opening of the valve excepting
to the comparatively very slight extent corresponding to a narrow
annular area of the radial breadth subtending the coned contact surfaces
of the rings 10, 11. The part of the valve 1 between its rings 10, 13,
does not require to fit or work water-tight, but has fixed on it a series
of vertical brass strips to guide the valve through the casing ring or
bush 12.
If preferred a stuffing box may be substituted for the ring or bush 12
and its accessories for the upper part of the valve 1 to work through.
The tubular centre 2 of the valve is clongated to serve as a guide, and
works through a guide contraction in the upper part of the hood 5. This
tubular centre 2 also serves for attaching the brass nut 14 of the lifting
screw 15. Holes are, however, bored up through, as shown in Figure 4,
to allow the water to communicate with the space 16 at the top of the
hood, to prevent any pressure taking effect on the valve.
the lifting screw 15 is provided with a coned collar 17,
carefully turned and faced on both sides, and working between two
counterpart bushes 18, 19, fixed in the top of the hood 5, forms a water-
tight joint of a more convenient kind than the ordinary stuffing, which
latter, however, may be substituted in some cases, if preferred.
The head of
which, being
My improved stop valve or sluice may be conveniently adapted for
regulating the flow of water into a cistern or tank, so as, for example,
to maintain a uniform level. Figure 5 shows such an arrangement in

page_text: vertical section. The parts are inverted, and for the lifting screw (15)
there is substituted a spindle 20, which is attached to the centre 2 of the
valve 1, and passing out through a stuffing box is fixed to a float 21.
In case it may be required to shut the valve independently of the
floating action of the water in the tank, the float is connected by rods 22
to a cross frame 23, and a hand wheel scrow 24 is tapped through the
latter for closing the valve by drawing up the float 21 by the rods 22.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing
of stop valves or sluices substantially in the improved manner herein
described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Goold Morony Stoney, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Fifth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Seventy-throo
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
F. G. M. STONEY. (L.S.)