IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitwell, of the Thornaby Iron Works,
Stockton-upon-Tees, in the County of Durham, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES."
Scaled the 5th September 1871, and dated the 8th July.1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Whitwell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th July 1871.
I, THOMAS WHITWELL, of the Thornaby Iron Works, Stockton-upon-
Tees, in the County of Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES," to be as follows :-
The present Invention consists in improvements in valves for regu-
lating the passage of airs, gases, or fluids where there is danger of such
valves being injured by the action of the heat of such airs, gases, or
fluids.
Valves for such purposes have heretofore been made hollow and con-
structed with hollow spindles, so.that water, may circulate through both

page_text: the valve and the spindle. There is such a valve described in the
Specification of a Patent granted to Edward Alfred Cowper, and dated the
19th May 1857, No. 1404. These valves have not succeeded in practice
in consequence of the bottom of the valve having been made convex
upwards which caused mud to be deposited within the valve around
its periphery immediately over the portion of the face of the valve
which fitted to the valve seat.
According to my Invention I make the bottom of the valve hollow
in the contrary direction, and so remove all liability to deposit around
the periphery, and I make the valve to enter into its seat in place of
fitting against the outer edge or surface thereof as in the valves herc-
tofore usually employed. The valve may be globular, elliptical, conical,
or lens shape, or the bottom of the valve may, but less advantageously,
be made flat. The valves are made in metal, by preference cast iron, and
the form I prefer is that of the double convex lens. The valve may
be protected from the heat by a partial covering of brick or other
refractory material which is a slow conductor of heat.
Drawings No. 1 Figure 1 is a section through the valve casing, guide,
spindle, and valve; Figure 2 is an elevation showing the water connections
and arrangements for lifting and lowering the valve. R is a circular
wrought-iron casing with a fire-brick lining containing the valve B
and its seat. The upper part of this casing is closed with a metal
cover A. Rivetted to the inside of the casing is an angle iron ring C
fixed on the upper side and set perfectly level. Bolted to this ring
with a faced joint is a circular false seat D. This false seat is recessed
so as to carry the water seat E with an air-tight faced joint a, and
having a pipe cast in and fitted with tube connections and coupling's b, b.
The valve B is cast hollow, the sides being connected by means of
stays c, c, cast in one piece therewith. That part of the valve where it
rests upon the seat is faced and ground into the seat. To the valve B
is connected the spindle L, which is turned throughout its length. The
upper end of the spindle is closed by means of a plug & through which
the water tube e, e, rises; this tube is connected by a flexible coupling f
or in other convenient way to the water supply, and the tube passes down
the interior of the spindle L to the valve B, which it supplies with water.
The spindle L passes air-tight through the guide K which is bored to fit
the spindle; the use of this guide is to keep the valve B and spindle L
true to the centre of the seat E. The spindle L and valve B-are

page_text: counterbalanced by a metal weight W of proper size and connected to
them by a chain g passing over a sheave H carried by the standard G
which is bolted to the cover A. Attached to the chain 9 carrying the
counterbalance W is a rack M which is actuated by a pinion carried by
a bracket N fastened to the casing R for the purpose of raising or
lowering the valve B. The water required for protecting the valve B
is conveyed from the supply pipe O by the pipe and the flexible
connection f and the pipe e, c, to the valve, it is returned by the
annular space between the pipe e, e, and the inside of the spindle L
and thence by means of the flexible or other connection to the
pipe K, which pipe carries the water by the couplings b, b, to the pipe
cast in the interior of the seat E, from the valve seat it is returned by
the connections and m to the waste water pipe P. The valve B may
be protected from the action of high temperature by a covering of brick
or other refractory material fixed by any suitable means on the exposed
side of the valve.
Drawing No. 2 shews forms which may be given to the valves.
Figure 1 is the double convex lens shape cast hollow, which form I
prefer; Figure 2 is the hollow elliptical form; Figure 3 is in the form
of a truncated cone or conical valve cast hollow; Figure 4 is a truncated
conc inverted cast hollow; Figure 5 is a hollow spherical valve;
Figure 6 is a double truncated conical valve cast hollow.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Whitwell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WHITWELL, of the Thornaby Iron Works, Stockton-upon-Tees, in the
County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Whitwell, Her special license that
I, the said Thomas Whitwell, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: or such others as I, the said Thomas Whitwell, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Whit-
well, 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 Thomas Whitwell, 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 thereof, that is to say:―
The present Invention consists in improvements in valves for regu-
lating the passage of airs, gases, or fluids where there is danger of such
valves being injured by the action of the heat of such airs, gases, or
fluids.
Valves for such purposes have heretofore been made hollow and
constructed with hollow spindles so that water may circulate through
both the valve and the spindle. There is such a valve described in the
Specification of a Patent granted to Edward Alfred Cowper, and dated
the 19th May 1857, No. 1404. These valves have not succeeded in
practice in consequence of the bottom of the valve having been made
convex upwards, which caused mud to be deposited within the valve
around its periphery immediately over the portion of the face of the
valve which fitted to the valve seat.
According to my Invention I make the bottom of the valve hollow
in the contrary direction and so remove all liability to deposit around the
periphery, and I make the valve to enter into its scat in place of fitting
against the outer edge or surface thereof as in the valves heretofore
usually employed. The valve may be globular, elliptical, conical, or
lens shape, or the bottom of the valve may, but less advantageously, be
made flat. The valves are made in metal, by preference cast iron, and

page_text: the form I prefer is that of the double convex lens. The valve may be
protected from the heat by a partial covering of brick or other refractory
material which is a slow conductor of heat:
Sheet No. 1. Figure 1 is a section through the valve casing, guide
spindle, and valve; Figure 2 is an elevation showing the water connec-
tions and arrangements for lifting and lowering the valve. R is a circular
wrought-iron casing with a fire-brick lining containing the valve B
and its scat. The upper part of this casing is closed with a metal
cover A: Rivetted to the inside of the casing is an angle iron ring C
faced on the upper side and set perfectly level. Bolted to this ring
with a faced joint is a circular false seat D; this false seat is recessed
so as to carry the water seat E with an air-tight faced joint a and
having a pipe cast in and fitted with tube connections and couplings b, b.
The valve B is cast hollow, the sides being connected by means of
stays c, c, cast in one piece therewith, that part of the valve where it
rests upon the scat is faced and ground into the seat. To the valve B is
connected the spindle L, which is turned throughout its length. The
upper end of the spindle is closed by means of a plug d through which
the water tube e, e, rises. This tube is connected by a flexible couplingf
or in other convenient way to the water supply, and the tube passes
down the interior of the spindle L to the valve B which it supplies with
water. The spindle L passes air-tight through the guide K which is
bored to fit the spindle, the use of this guide is to keep the valve B and
spindle L true to the centre of the seat E. The spindle L and valve B
are counterbalanced by a metal weight W of proper size and connected
to them by a chain g passing over a sheave H carried by the standard G
which is bolted to the cover A. Attached to the chain ŋ carrying the
counterbalance W is a rack M, which is actuated by a pinion carried by
a bracket N fastened to the casing R for the purpose of raising or
lowering the valve B. The water required for protecting the valve B
is conveyed from the supply pipe O by the pipe and the flexible
connection and the pipe e, e, to the valve; it is returned by the
annular space between the pipe e, c, and the inside of the spindle L,
and thence by means of the flexible or other connection i to the pipe k,
which pipe carries the water by the couplings b, b, to the pipe cast in
the interior of the scat E from the valve seat, it is returned by the
connections and m to the waste water pipe P. The valve B may be
protected from the action of high temperature by a covering of brick

page_text: or other refractory material fixed by any suitable means on the exposed
side of the valve.
Sheet No. 2 shews forms which may be given to the valves. Figure 1
is the double convex lens shape cast hollow, which form I prefer;
Figure 2 is the hollow elliptical form; Figure 3 is in the form of a
truncated cone or conical valve cast hollow; Figure 4 is a truncated
cone inverted cast hollow; Figure 5 is a hollow spherical valve; Figure 6
is a double truncated conical valve cast hollow.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would remark that I am aware that
slide valves have been constructed with pipes cast in them for the
conveyance of air or water so as to keep them cool, and also that slide
valves have been cast hollow with a like intention. To such valves my
Invention is not applicable, neither do I claim what is known as a
hollow double dome-shaped valve such as is figured and described in
E. A. Cowper's Specification entitled " Improvements in Furnaces for
Heating Air and other Elastic Fluids," A.D. 1857, No. 1404. In these
last-mentioned valves any mud which the water may deposit will fall
to the circumference of the valve and will prevent the effectual cooling
of that part of the valve which should fit against the seat. What I
claim is, the construction of hollow metal valves, substantially as
described and of such form as to avoid the deposition of mud or other
foreign matter by the water and to ensure the effectual cooling of the
part of the valve which comes in contact with the seat.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Whitwell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.