IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS FOR SUPPLYING WATER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Luther Young, of No. 47, Bow Lane, Cheapside,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS FOR
SUPPLYING WATER."
Sealed the 27th January 1865, and dated the 8th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Luther Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
August 1864.
I, LUTHER YOUNG, of No. 47, Bow Lane, Cheapside, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COCKS FOR SUPPLYING WATER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cocks for supplying water.
For these purposes cocks which are worked by floats, and are usually called
ballcocks, are according to the present Invention constructed in the following.
manner: Spherical valves are by preference employed, and such valves are
as occasion may require made to shut against their seats in such manner as to
open against or with the flow of water. In each case the lever to which the
float is attached is supplied by and moves on a knife edge bearing in a
similar manner to a scale beam, by which the lever is rendered less liable to
be set fast. When the spherical valve of a ballcock is intended to act against
the flow of the water the lower end of its stem is supported on the lever, at a
position intermediate of the float and the end of the lever, where it is
supported on a knife edge bearing. When the spherical valve of a ball-

page_text: cock is to open with the flow of the water the stem of the valve is connected
to the lever at a point beyond where the lever is supported on a knife edge
bearing. The stem of the valve is in some cases caused to rest on and be
supported by a knife edge bearing on the lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Luther Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUTHER
YOUNG, of No. 47, Bow Lane, Cheapside, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Luther Young, Her special licence that I, the said Luther Young, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Luther
Young, 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 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 COCKS FOR SUPPLYING
WATER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Luther Young,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Luther Young, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cocks used for supply
ing water. For these purposes cocks which are worked by floats, and are
usually called ballcocks, are according to the present Invention constructed
in the following manner :-Spherical valves are by preference employed, and

page_text: my Invention, the valve in this case being arranged so as to act or press
against the flow in closing the passage for the water.
a is the body of the cock, with a valve seat truly turned at a', and a screw
thread cut upon it at a²; b is a spherical valve fitting the seat a', and ' is a
stem formed on the valve; c is a guard for holding the spherical valve in its
place; it screws on to the body a, and has at its lower end an opening c', of
such a size that the spherical valve is not able to pass through, and its form is
such that the water can flow freely, even when the valve is in its lowest
position; d is a frame, which is secured to the body a by being clamped, as is
shown, between the body a and guard c; d¹ are two parallel rings formed on the
frame d, and they receive between them the arm e of the ball or float e¹; fis
a knife edge fixed to the arme and working in the rings d', thus the arm of the
ball, or float is mounted like the beam of a balance; d² is a slotted guide
formed on the frame d; the arm e passes through the slot, and moves up and
down in it, and is so restrained from lateral movement; & is a cup fixed on
the arm e; it receives and retains the stem b¹ of the valve. Figure 2 is a
longitudinal section of a similar but somewhat more simple arrangement. The
valve is here formed or fixed permanently on the arme of the ball or float,
and the valve seat a' is placed vertically in place of being horizontal; the
rings d for the knife edge are formed or fixed on the body in place of on a
separate frame, whilst the slotted guide d³ for the arm e is formed or fixed on

page_text: the guard c. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of an arrangement also similar
to that shown at Figure 1, but modified so that the valve may, to close the
passage, act or move with or in the direction of the flow of the water. In this
case the valve seat is not formed in the body a, but in what was before the
guard piece c, the valve seat being now at c*; the arm of the ball also is made
to project beyond its fulcrum, and the stem of the valve either rests on it, as
in Figure 1, or else may, as is shown in the Drawing, be fitted with knife
edges entering rings in the arm e of the ball or float, which is forked for the
purpose. The slotted guide d³ receives through it a prolongation or tail of
the arm e.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
mounting the lever or arm of the ball or float on a knife edge bearing, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luther Young, have bereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
LUTHER YOUNG. (L.S.)