IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM AND OTHER VALVES OR Cocks
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lambert, of Short Street, New Cut, and Obed'
Wakefield, of Union Place, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, for the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lambert and
Obed Wakefield at the Office of the Commssioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th February 1860.
We, THOMAS LAMBERT, of Short Street, New Cut, and OBED WAKEFIELD, of
Union Place, Lambeth, both in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM AND OTHER VALVES OR
Cocks," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam and other valves or
cocks. When valves or cocks are employed in applying steam for heating and
other purposes, and also when supplying water and other fluids, it is desirable
that the persons attending to the cocks or valves should have a ready means
of ascertaining the extent to which the valve or cock is opened, and also
when it is closed. Now, if the construction of the valve or cock is such that
in order to open or close the passage through the same it is necessary to
cause the spindle of the said valve or cock to make more than one complete
revolution this information cannot readily be obtained by inspecting the
position of the spindle.
According to this Invention a pointed and graduated scale are applied to
the valve or cock, in such manner that when the spindle of the valve or cock

page_text: is moved to open or close the passage, the pointer, or it may be the graduated
scale, shall be moved so as to indicate the position of the parts of the valve or
cock. In order that the divisions on the graduated scale may not require to
be very minute, the pointer is caused to be moved through a greater distance
than the valve of the valve or cock, and it is preferred that the movement of
the valve and of the pointer should be by means of screws on the spindle or
stem of the valve, the screw for moving the pointer being arranged to move
the pointer through a greater space than that through which the valve is
moved by its screw, but in place of the pointer being moved by a screw, a
spiral or incline may be used and moved by the rotation of the spindle of the
valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Lambert and Obed Wakefield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
LAMBERT, of Short Street, New Cut, and ОBED WAKEFIELD, of Union Place,
Lambeth, both in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Lambert and Obed Wakefield, Her special licence that we,
the said Thomas Lambert and Obed Wakefield, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Lambert and Obed
Wakefield, our 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 STEAM AND
OTHER VALVES OR Cocks," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Thomas Lambert and Obed Wakefield, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Lambert, on behalf of myself
and the said Obed Wakefield, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:-
.
This Invention has for its object improvements in steam and other. valves or
cocks. When valves or cocks are employed in applying steam for heating
and other purposes, and also when supplying water and other fluids, it is
desirable that the persons attending to the cocks or valves should have a ready
means of ascertaining the extent to which the valve or cock is open, and also
when it is closed. Now, if the construction of the valve or cock is such that
in order to open or close the passage through the same it is necessary to
cause the spindle of the said valve or cock to make more than one completo
revolution this information cannot readily be obtained by inspecting the
position of the spindle.
According to this Invention a pointer and graduated scale are applied to
the valve or cock in such manner that when the spindle of the valve or cock
is moved to open or close the passage, the pointer (or it may be the graduated
scale) shall be moved so as to indicate the position of the parts of the valve
or cock. In order that the divisions on the graduated scale may not require
to be very minute, the pointer is caused to be moved through a greater distance
than the valve of the valve or cock. And it is preferred that the movement
of the valve and of the pointer should be by means of screws on the spindle
or stem of the valve, the screw for moving the pointer being arranged to move
the pointer through a greater space than that through which the valve is
moved by its screw, but in place of the pointer being moved by a screw, a
spiral or incline may be used and moved by the rotation of the spindle of the
valve.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 is a transverse section of a valve or
cock, combined with apparatus for indicating the extent to which the passage
is open, arranged in the manner we prefer in carrying our Invention into
effect.
a is the case of the valve, it has screw couplings at the ends for connecting
it with the supply and service pipes; b is a piece screwed into an aperture at
the top of the case; the valve stem c passes through it, and towards the
lower end thereof a screw thread is cut, which works with a corresponding
thread cut within the piece b, so that by turning the stem c, by means of the
small hand wheel d, at the top the valve e at the other end of the stem
can be raised or lowered, so as to cause it to recede from or approach its seat

page_text: in the partition f, which separates the supply from the service passage. At
the top of the piece g, a stuffing box is applied to prevent the escape of fluid
around the stem of the valve; h is a scale affixed to the case a; the manner
in which it is formed and graduated is clearly shewn in the Drawing; i is
another screw thread formed or fixed on the stem e; this screw, it will be
remarked, is of much more rapid pitch than the screw thread which actuates
the valve; j is a nut working on the thread i, and having a pointer k fixed to
it, which, when the stem c is turned, traverses along the graduated scale h,
and thus at all times indicates the position of the valve e. The scale h may
be so graduated as to shew the distance of the valve from its seat, or the area
of the passage left open by it, as may be preferred.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lambert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS LAMBERT. (L.S.)