A. NEW OR IMPROVED APPLIANCE FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF WATER PIPES BY FROST, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A VENT TAP FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Leonard Appleton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th February 1881.
LEONARD APPLETON, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Accountant. "A. NEW OR IMPROVED APPLIANCE FOR PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF
WATER PIPES BY FROST, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A VENT TAP FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention relates to a simple construction and arrangement of vent tap or
cock to be applied to ordinary water supply pipes and to the circulating pipes of
hot water apparatus, its object being to afford greater facility for the emptying of
such pipes at will and readily restoring them to their normal working condition
when required for use.
My improved vent tap or cock may be provided with the ordinary ground plug
having the usual passage or opening made through it, but having in addition
thereto a lateral passage or aperture made on one side thereof and communicating
directly with the main passage or thoroughfare in the plug. Through one side of
the body of the cock an aperture or passage is formed in such a position as to
communicate directly with the main passage in the plug when the cock is closed,
thereby forming, for the time being, an air vent thereto, but when the cock is open
for the flow of water through the pipe the lateral aperture in the body of the cock
will be closed, thereby preventing all possibility of any escape of water through
such aperture; the two lateral apertures or passages in the plug and body' of the
cock, respectively, at no time being permitted to coincide. By attaching my
improved cock to the highest part of a supply or circulating pipe the whole of the
pipe below can be emptied, as on closing the cock the entrance of water into such
pipe can be shut off entirely, and by the same act an air vent is provided for the
admission of air, allowing the pipe to empty itself through an ordinary tap at the
lower part or by any other channel which must of course be opened for that
purpose. When applied to the circulating pipes of hot water apparatus, the
ascending and descending pipe can be readily closed and at the same time vented
so as to allow the water therein to flow back to the boiler leaving the pipes empty,
sufficient quantity of water having been previously drawn off from the boiler to
Price 201

page_text: enable it to accomodate the discharge from the pipes. The lateral passage in the
body of the cock when the plug is closed serves under certain conditions as an
outlet for steam from the ascending circulating pipe, the escape of which will
indicate that the pipes are free and in proper and safe working order.
In applying the same construction of cock to the service pipe from the main all
supply thereto can be shut off, and when the cock is thus closed the lateral aperture
in the body thereof will then form an escape outlet for any water that may be
contained in the pipe, enabling it-to run off until the pipe has been completely
emptied. The same or similar construction of tap or cock may obviously be
employed as a vent tap for other useful purposes, such as for preventing drip in
drawing off beer, wines, spirits, or other liquids.