IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS, TAPS, AND VALVES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents, No. 4,
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS, TAPS, AND VALVES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Johann Gottfried Bernhard Friedrich
Stumpf, residing at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 24th January 1865, and dated the 27th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
July 1864.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN Cocks, TAPS, AND VALVES," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Johann Gottfried Bernhard Friedrich
Stumpf, resident at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of cocks,
taps, and valves, whereby they are rendered more durable than any others
hitherto in use, and whereby the water pipes are prevented from bursting in
frosty weather. The cock, tap, and valve, are formed of a curved pipe having
a female thread at the upper end to screw it on to the water pipe; at its
lower end this pipe has a male thread to receive a screw nut continued to a
taper opening for the exit of the water.
Inside and at the lower part of the internal thread of the screw nut a per-
forated plate or disc with a thread on its periphery is fixed, and a vertical stud
or pin is formed on its centre, such pin extending upwards slightly into the

page_text: curved pipe, and an india-rubber or gutta percha ball valve is placed in such
curved pipe, and raised from its bed or lowered by the elevation or fall of the
pin by turning the screw nut. This is effected by a small hand wheel sur-
rounding and attached to the nut. Several ball valves may be placed in the
curved pipe, one above the other, so that when the lowest one is worn out, it
may be withdrawn, and the next one brought into play. The ordinary taps
being hermetically closed, the water flows therefrom only as far as the external
pressure of the atmosphere permits, and when the branch pipes dip to the
main pipes, the water will remain in them, so that the water becomes frozen
and the pipes burst, but by this Invention no vacuum can occur in the pipes
when the water flows; the balls are raised by the pressure of the air, and
all the pipes are exhausted in whatever position the branch pipes may be
placed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent; filed
by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, 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 Alexander Prince, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Prince, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alexander Prince, 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 " "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COCKS, TAPS, AND VALVES," a communication to me from abroad by
Johann Gottfried Bernhard Friedrich Stumpf, resident at Berlin, in the
Kingdom of Prussia, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alexander Prince, 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

page_text: 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 Alexander Prince, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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:-
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings represents an elevation of the improved
tap, and Fig. 2 is a section.
A screw b, is fixed to the button a, this screw is fitted into the nut c, which
is supplied with suitable guides to prevent any rotation. Under the nut c is
a packing d, the same is attached to the nut c by means of a screw cut on the
piston e; f is a ball of india-rubber or other material. If the knob a is
turned the screw b is moved likewise; the nut rises and the piston fixed to
it presses back the ball; now the water will flow off behind the piston and
through the nozzle A. If the screw is turned back again the piston almost
closes, the passage of the water is reduced, the ball then moves to the seat
and closes the cock. If this cock is applied at conduits for houses it is not
necessary to shut up the main cock in case of a repair being required to a
screw, nut, or packing. This part of the cock is simply screwed out and the
closing is still perfectly effected by the ball.
The opening is here closed by the pressure of the water itself. To let off
the water from the conduit in winter, stop cocks are applied which have a
side opening, or a three-way cock may be used. In closing the cock the
water in the pipes flows off through the side opening. It is clear that every
time a cock of the feed pipe must be opened to allow air to enter into the
same and to let the water off completely.
This is very frequently not the case, and the consequence of it is that, on
account of the vacuum in the upper space preventing the water from flowing
off completely, the lower part of the conduit freezes.
In witness whereof, I, the Alexander Prince, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
ALEX. PRINCE. (L.S.)