IMPROVEMENTS IN SLUICE COCKS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY WALLER, of Vauxhall Waterworks, Upper Kennington Lane, Lambeth,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirty-first day of October, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Henry Waller, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Henry Waller,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Waller, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SLUICE COCKS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said William Henry Waller, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said
William Henry Waller, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
tho Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
In making sluice cocks as heretofore practised they are very liable to leak,
and they are quickly injured by use, owing to the defective nature of their
construction. Now, the object of my Invention is to construct the bushings or
facings more truly and harder, and at the same time so as to allow of their
being more readily applied and replaced when worn.
And the Invention also consists in making the bushings and facings with
harder working surfaces than heretofore, by producing them by chill casting,
by which the length of time that a sluice cock will last will be greatly encreased.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the method pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing represents a transverse and a longitudinal section of a sluice
cock constructed according to my Invention; and I would state that one object I
have in view in the arrangement or construction of moveable bushes and of
the bodies of cocks is, that the bushes and the bodies of cocks should all be
made to a pattern, so that the moveable bushes may fit every cock made to
that pattern, by which means when a bushing becomes defective by wear a
fresh bushing may be applied, which will be found to offer a great advantage
over the bushes fixed with screws, as heretofore in some cases practised.
a, a, a, a, is the body of the cock, the nature of which is clearly shewn in the
Drawing; b, b, b, b, are two portions of pipes to which the sluice cock is attached
by the pipes entering the sockets of the cock, and the same are to be rendered
water-tight by lead or otherwise, as usual. The body of the cock is bored out
at the points a', a², a, and the back of the bushings c, c, c, c, are truly turned
in a lathe, so as to fit the recesses formed at a', a², a³, on the interior of the
body of the cock, and such shaping of the bushing is to be done correctly to a
guage, and so are the bodies of the cocks, by which each bushing will fit any
body of a cock, and a bushing will readily be applied in a cock owing to the
parts being made to each other, and when introduced into its place the bushings
will not be required to be dressed or cut away. I prefer to make the bushes
of cast iron, though other metal may be used, and when of cast iron the
working surfaces d, d, d, d, of the bushes are chilled in the act of casting,
as is well understood, the other parts of the metal remaining soft. The
chilled surfaces are ground or faced up with emery in a lathe or otherwise,

page_text: so that they may be true, and the bushes are placed in an inclined position
within the body of the cock on either side of the plug or slide e, e, e, e..
In introducing the facings or bushes into their places, I first apply a coating
of marine glue or some other material on the backs of the bushes, and
then by forcing the plug e, e, e, e, into its place the bushes will assume
their correct positions, where they will remain secure. I would remark that
I do not confine myself to the shape of the recesses formed on the interior of
the body of the cock shewn at a', a², a³, as that may be varied, so long as the
bushes are made separate, and so as to correspond or fit in the body of the
cock, and have the working faces d, d, d, d, true. f is the screw for moving
and fixing the plug; and g is the screw nut, which is introduced into a proper
recess at the top of the plug; h, h, are projecting ribs on the interior of the
upper part of the cock, there being corresponding ribs i, i, on the outer
surface of the upper part of the plug; the ribs guide the plug in its movement
up and down. The surfaces e¹ of the plug e are chill-cast, as is well under-
stood, and are then ground with emery or otherwise to make the surfaces
correct. The red line, z, in the Drawing shews the centre of the cock, and
the two blue dotted lines shew the two positions in which the body of the
cock is held when boring or turning the surfaces a¹, a, a³, those surfaces
a', a³, a³, on one side of the plug being bored or turned when holding the body
of the cock in the position shewn by one of the blue dotted lines, the other of
those surfaces a, a, a³, on the other side of the plug being bored or turned
out when the body of the cock is held in the position indicated by the other
blue line, by which means, although the working surfaces of the bushings are
true, they will, by taking an inclined position in the cock, offer a proper space
with inclining sides for receiving the wedge-formed plug, as is shewn.
Another means of making sluice cocks according to my Invention is by
causing the surfaces (against which the plug works) when casting the body of
the cock to be chill-cast, so that those working surfaces will be more durable,
and having cast the body of a cock with the working surfaces chilled (in the
act of casting), those surfaces are to be rendered true by means of a revolving
tool with emery whilst the body of the cock is held in the manner before
described for turning or cutting-out the recesses for moveable bushes, a
revolving grinding surface being used in place of the cutting tool.
And
this mode of obtaining chill-cast fixed bushes to sluice cocks will cause the
sluice cocks to be much superior to those heretofore used, but they will not
admit fresh bushes being applied as when using movcable bushes, as herein
described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means of

page_text: performing the same with which 1 am acquainted, I would wish it to be
understood that what I claim is,―
First, the modes of preparing the bodies of sluice cocks with recesses for
receiving bushes, the planes of the surfaces a¹, a³, being inclined to the central
line of the barrel of the cock, as above described.
Secondly, I claim the mode of applying moveable bushes to cocks.
Thirdly, I claim the making of moveable bushes and also of the plugs of
sluice cocks with chilled working surfaces, as described.
And, fourthly, I claim the casting of sluice cocks with chilled surfaces
where the plug moves against.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Waller, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.