IM- PROVEMENTS IN VALVES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN VALVES."-A communication from abroad by Samuel Joseph
Post of Nam Vosle Cliter in the United Staton of
Sealed the 30th April 1867, and dated the 28th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
December 1866.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES," to be as follows:-
The annexed Drawing represents a longitudinal vertical section of this
improved double valve.
This Invention relates to an improvement in the construction of valves for
steam, gas, air, water, or any other fluid wherein valves, cock, faucets, gates, or
traps are employed for closing and opening passages or ways for their exclusion
or admission alternately.
This improvement consists in a pair of metal plates or discs fitted in a box
or shell in such manner as to close against seats with their outside faces when
the plates or discs are moved forward by means of a wedge introduced
between them, which opens and spreads the valve plates, and presses them

page_text: against their seats, and also open and recede from their seats when the plates
or discs are moved backward by the same means, thus acting as a double
valve which completely and positively closes a passage way on both sides when
in one position, and when in another position leaves the passage way clear of
all obstruction with an undiminished area for the direct inlet and outlet of the
full volume of steam, water, or other fluid or gas which may be conveyed to
the passage.
A represents the shell of the valve; B, the cap, through which passes a
screw C, all which parts are constructed in the ordinary way of brass or any
other suitable metal. The steam or water ways are a, a, passing in a line
through the shell at right angles to the screw C, with flat seats c, c, on the
inside of each. In a cavity in the shell A two flat valve plates or discs b, b,
are placed so as to be opposite and between the passages a, a, when operating
to close them, and resting in the middle on a projection d in the bottom of
the cavity aforesaid with recesses on cach side, which provent the edges of the
valve plates from striking and being battered when they are forced into place.
The valve plates b, b, aro fitted as male and female to each other on two or
more dowel pins, and in the inner side of the valve plates are taper recesses
g, g, which receive a taper or conical wedge / on the end of the screw C, as
seen in the Drawing, which wedge is shouldered on the upper side so as to
catch on a corresponding shoulder in the recesses 9, 9, and lift the valve
plates b, b, together from their scats in front of the steam ways a, a, in order
to open them. The valve plates b, b, are made to lie close to each other when
the wedge his raised, and to play back and forth freely between the valve
seats c, c, but when the wedge h is moved forward and bears against the sides of
the recesses 9, 9, in the inside of the valve plates it will spread them apart
and press their faces against the valve seats c, c, in such manner that steam,
gas, air, water, or other fluids cannot pass in either direction. It will be
observed that by this arrangement of the valve plates b, b, they bear directly
upon the faces of the seats c, c, and are there held rigidly by the action of the
wedge between the plates and behind them respectively, so that the resistance
is positive against pressure in the passages a, a, which are completely closed
while the wedge h remains in position, and also that when the wedge is moved
backward the pressure of the valve plates on the seats is instantly relieved,
and they are removed entirely away from the passages a, a, leaving a clear
opening directly in line between them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
5 OLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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," a communication to me from abroad by Samuel Joseph Poet, of
New York City, in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Clark, 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 William Clark, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hercunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to an improvement in the construction of valves for
steam, gas, air, water, or any other fluid wherein valves, cocks, faucets, gates,
or traps are employed for closing and opening passages or ways for their
exclusion or admission alternately.
This improvement consists in a pair of metal plates or discs fitted in a box
or shell in such manner as to close against scats with their outside faces when
the plates or discs are moved forward by means of a wedge introduced between
them which opens and spreads the valve plates, and presses them against

page_text: their seats, and also open and recede from their seats when the plates or discs
are moved backward by the same means, thus acting as a double valve, which
completely and positively closes a passage way on both sides when in one
position, and when in another position leaves the passage way clear of all
obstruction, with an undiminished area for the direct inlet and outlet of the
full volume of steam, water, or other fluid or gas, which may be conveyed to
the resseg
3333
taken in the plane of the line x, x, Figure 2; Figure 2 is a partial transverse
section taken in the plane of the line y, y, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a detached
side view of the inner side of one of these double valve plates; Figure 4 is a
similar view of the corresponding valve plate; Figure 5 is a detached outside
view of these improved double valve plates when united. Similar letters of
reference indicate like parts.
A represents the shell of the valve; B, the cap, through which passes a
screw C, all which parts are constructed in the ordinary way of brass or any
other suitable metal. The steam or water ways are a, a, passing in a line
through the shell at right angles to the screw C, with flat seats c, c, on the
inside of each. In a cavity in the shell A two flat valve plates or discs b, b,
are placed so as to be opposite, and between the passages a, a, when operating
to close them, and resting in the middle on a projection d in the bottom of the
cavity aforesaid with recesses on each side, which prevent the edges of the valve
plates from striking and being battered when they are forced into place; the
valve plates b, b, are fitted as male and female to each other on two or more dowel
pins e, e, as shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5; and in the inner side of the valve
plates are taper recesses g, g, which receive a taper or conical wedge h on the
end of the screw C, as seen in Figure 1, which wedge is shouldered on the upper
side so as to catch on a corresponding shoulder in the recesses g, g, and lift
the valve plates b, b, together from their seats in front of the steam ways, a, a,
in order to open them; the valve plates b, b, are made to lie close to each
other when the wedge his raised, and to play back and forth freely between
the valve seats c, c, but when the wedge h is moved forward and bears against
the sides of the recesses 9, 9, in the inside of the valve plates it will spread
them apart, and press their faces against the valve seats c, c, in such manner
that steam, gas, air, water, or other fluids cannot pass in either direction. It
will be observed that by this arrangement of the valve plates b, b, they bear
directly upon the faces of the seats o, o, and are there held rigidly by the

page_text: action of the wedge between the plates and behind them respectively, so that
the resistance is positive against pressure in the passages a, a, which are
completely closed, while the wedge h remains in position, and also that when
the wedge is moved backward the pressure of the valve plates on the seats is
instantly relieved, and they are removed entirely away from the passages a, a,
leaving a clear opening directly in line between them.
This Invention is not, however, confined to the particular arrangements
herein-before described, as it admits of various modifications without deviating
from the essential feature and principle of operation of this improved valve.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the sliding plates b, b,
in combination with an opening and lifting wedge h, or its equivalent, when
employed as a valve, cock, faucet, gate, or trap for steam, gas, air, water, or
other fluid, arranged and operating substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)