IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP-VALVES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
L
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1883. Communicated
to him from abroad by Richard Beaumont of Kankakee, Illinois, United States
of America.
"
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN STOP-VALVES [A com-
munication to him from abroad by Richard Beaumont of Kankakee, Illinois,
United States of America.]
This invention relates to improvements in sliding-gate stop valves and has for
its objects-First, to provide a construction whereby the passage way through the
valve may be made uniform and continuous with that of the adjacent pipes when
the valve is opened to its full capacity; second, to provide a connection of one or
both of the adjacent pipes with the valve, somewhat similar in effect to a "union-
joint" as will be explained; and third, to provide a removable valve-seat held in
place by a detachable bell, and readily removable from the valve for the purpose of
re-facing or other repairs.
To these ends the invention consists in the several features hereinafter set forth.
In carrying the said invention into practice I provide removable bells which for
some purposes of my invention may be either screw-threaded or adapted to receive
the spigot end of pipe section by a lead, cement or similar joint, I also provide
removable valve-seats, also valves constructed as hereinafter set forth. There is a
tubular extension of the gate provided with an aperture intended to be raised into
line with the adjacent pipes and to afford a passage continuous therewith and of
the same diameter when the valve is opened to its full capacity. A neck rises
from the top of the tube for the reception of a valve-stem and provided at its
upper end with a threaded portion or nut to fit said valve-stem.
In sliding-gate stop-valves as heretofore constructed, the opening of the passage
by raising the gate or gates gives lateral enlargement to the passage within the
valve shell. The water or other fluid passing through the gate is directed in some
degree into such lateral spaces and is thereby materially retarded in its speed.
When the valve is not required to be opened to its full capacity this effect is not
objectionable since to give the discharge required from a connected pipe, it is only

page_text: necessary to open the gate somewhat wider. But when it is desired to obtain the
fullest possible flow through a pipe it is important that the valve connected
with said pipe shall give admission or discharge to all the water the pipe is able
to carry.
According to this invention, to obviate the fault mentioned in valves as
heretofore made, and to give a smooth passage through the valve equal in size to
that of the pipe, the gate is provided with the aforesaid tubular extension having
the aperture adapted to be brought axially in line with the passage through
the shell.
The valve-case is adapted to house the said extension of the gate by being
prolonged by an extension at the bottom. A tubular neck rises to a sufficient
height, to enable the stem terminating above the upper line of the valve passage
to engage with the nut and to permit the tube to be raised into line with said
valve passage.
The valves are semi-circular on their upper edges but preferably of uniform
diameter below their centres. They are wedge-shaped in transverse section or
from front to rear, being thinner at the bottom than at their middle and upper
portion, at least upon their vertical edges, and they extend laterally to engage with
wedge-shaped projections cast on the inner surfaces of the central valve chamber
for the purpose of spreading the valves against their seats when lowered. In this
respect, the valves do not materially differ from the ordinary construction of loose or
spreading valves. Said valves are also carried by the ordinary device or projection
upon the nut of the valve stem, which projections are, in this case, located at
a suitable point on the nut-tube. The valves therefore work in all respects in the
usual manner to rise and fall and to bear outward against their seats when lowered.
The novel feature in the gate consists in the addition of the tubular part adapted
to be brought in to line with the valve passage to give uniformity and continuity
of said passage through the valve when opened to its full capacity. The effect of
this feature of construction is obviously to preserve a smooth passage for the
stream through the valve and to thereby prevent the retardation of the stream
which occurs in valves of ordinary construction in consequence of the presence of
lateral recesses produced in the valve chamber when the valve is opened.
"
The tubular part may be a short section of pipe, either cast or wrought and having
the nut-tube affixed thereto, or it may be a special casting of a piece with said
tube. Said tubular part is of the proper width to rise freely between the opposite
wedge-lugs in the sides of the valve case, and said lugs may serve as guides to
direct the tubular part laterally to place in line with the pipe passage.
The tube
may be arrested at the proper height by contact of the valves at their top with
the inner end of the valve case or by contact of the end of the stem, with the
bottom of the tube, or by other stop or stops for this purpose.
The removable seats consist each of a metal ring provided with an annular
external flange fitted to set into a corresponding recess in the external face of the
valve-case. Said seats are held in position by exterior flanged bells which overlie
the seat rings and are bolted to the side of the case.
The seats being applied from the exterior and held by the simple device of an
outer removable bell, are, obviously, more readily detached from the case for the
purpose of repair than they would be if screw-threaded into the shell as they have
heretofore been secured. The said bells, whether threaded to fit the pipe or
joined thereto by lead, cement, or other form of joint, are readily detachable from
the valve shell by the removal of bolts thereby permitting the valve to be taken
out of the pipe-line without disturbing any other joints than the flanged joints
just mentioned.
When the said bell is threaded, it operates as a "union" coupling for the valve
and adjacent pipe, being adapted to be first run upon the pipe far enough to
admit the valve freely and then run back against the valve as tightly as may be
desired. In this case the bolt holes in the flange and valve should be equally

page_text: spaced so that the flange will connect with the shell at a tenth, eighth, sixth,
or greater turn as may be provided. Suitable packing will be inserted beneath
the bell flanges.
The valve if "single-gate" or if the seat be otherwise applied, may have one of
its bells cast rigid with the shell in which case the opposite movable bell should be
made longer and threaded to run back on the contiguous pipe set far enough away
to admit the shell and rigidly attached bell.