IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP LUBRICATING PACKING FOR THE STUFFING BOXES OF STEAM ENGINE PISTON RODS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR JOINTS REQUIRING TO BE STEAM, ATE, OR WATER TIGHT
Year: 1873

page_text: 14
LETTERS PATENT to Jesse Kirkman, of Chorley, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP LUBRICATING PACKING FOR THE STUFFING BOXES OF STEAM ENGINE PISTON
RODS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR JOINTS REQUIRING TO BE STEAM, ATE, OR
WATER TIGHT.”
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31.
Sealed the 16th January 1874, and dated the 6th August 1873.
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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jesse Kirkman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th August 1878.
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SAM .
I, JESSE KIRKMAN, of Chorley, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING PACKING FOR THE STUFFING BOXES OF STEAM
ENGINE PISTON RODS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR JOINTS REQUIRING TO BE STEAM,
AIR, OR WATER TIGHT," to be as follows:-

page_text: My Invention relates to the manufacture of an improved packing for
the piston and valve rods of steam and other engines, pump rods, and
other similar parts of machinery which require to be made steam, air, or
water-tight while working freely in or through the said packing..
!
In manufacturing my improved packing I proceed as follows:-I
employ a round bar, tube, or mandril of tin, wood, or other suitable
material, and of any required diameter, which has collars or shoulders at
its ends to confine the packing; one or both of the said collars being loose
to permit the removal of the packing when finished. Upon this
mandril I wind or coil a cord of twisted cotton or other suitable fibrous
material which has previously been saturated or covered with a solution
of a compound of india-rubber by passing it through a bath of the same,
or by applying the said compound with a brush, or in any suitable
manner. The saturation with this solution may be effected before or
after the fibres are twisted to form the cord, or instead of using this
solution of india-rubber I may use other suitable glutinous or adhesive
substances in the form of a solution or paste. I prefer that the mandril
should be placed in a machine or apparatus whereby it may be caused
to revolve, and by its revolution the cord is wound on the said mandril.
After the cord has thus been coiled upon the mandril I coil or wind over
the same, cotton, yarn, or other suitable twisted or untwisted fibre which
is also saturated or covered with the aforesaid india-rubber solution or
compound either by passing it through a bath of the same or by applying
the said solution or compound with a brush, or in any other suitable
manner. When the coil of yarn or other fibre has attained the required
thickness I remove any inequalities which may appear on its surface by
continuing the rotation of the mandril and subjecting the yarn to the
action of a rubbing tool, and then applying a small quantity of dry
powder to the same. The packing thus made forms a tube whose
internal portion or core is composed of cord, and its external portion of
yarn or other soft fibrous material; but if I desire to make the packing
more hard or solid than usual I apply outside the first layer or core of
cord a small or thin layer or coil of yarn, and then another thickness of
cord, and finish with an external coil of yarn as above described; and if
desired instead of making the packing of alternate layers of cord and
yarn or soft fibre, I may make it entirely of the latter. The said
packing thus manufactured into a tube may be cut into portions or

page_text: sections of any required length either before or after removing it from.
the mandril. The sides of the pieces or sections out from the tube are
preferably furnished with a small quantity of the aforesaid solution to
prevent the detachment of any loose portion of the fibres.
In some cases I vulcanize my improved packing to render it more
capable of withstanding the action of superheated steam. The vul-
canization is preferably effected before the packing is removed from the
mandril, and it may be finished by applying the rubbing tool as above
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jesse Kirkman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JESSE
KIRKMAN, of Chorley, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jesse Kirkman, Her special licence
that I, the said Jesse Kirkman, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Jesse Kirkman, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING PACKING FOR THE STUFFING BOXES OF STEAM
ENGES PISTON RODS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR JOINTS REQUIRING TO BE STEAM,
AIR, OR WATER TIGHT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Jesse Kirkman, 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,

page_text: fastenings I start the said machine, thereby giving to the mandril a rotary
motion, and coil upon it one layer of twisted vegetable or mineral fibrous
material or cord composed of one or more strands, the cord having been
previously covered on the outside with a solution of india-rubber or india-
rubber compound, or other like substance. I also-cover the said layer of
cord with a coat of the same solution or compound after coiling it on the
mandril; and this cord if coiled after the solution on it has become dry
may be moistened either before or while being coiled on the mandril by
passing over it cotton, wool, or waste saturated in naphtha. After the
cord is coiled on the mandril and the cord is covered with the said
compound I take the said mandril out of the machine and place it over
a chest or vessel containing steam, or otherwise dry it. After drying
the cord and the compound on the mandril I again place the same in
the revolving machine, and giving the mandril a rotary motion, as before,
I coil upon the said mandril, covered with the cord and compound as
described, yarn or twisted fibrous material, saturated, impregnated, or
covered with the said solution or compound by passing the yarn through
a bath containing the same; I then take the mandril with the yarn
coiled upon it out of the machine and repeat the drying operation as
often as required.
After applying the last coil of yarn or other twisted fibrous material
to the mandril, I cover the whole with the above described solution or
compound made of such a consistency as to freely permeate the fibres,
and I finish the coil by pressing a tool against it to improve its
appearance and give it a uniform thickness; it then forms a tube or
cylinder equal in length to the distance between the collars of the
mandril, I then remove the mandril with the packing from the said
machine and dry the packing as above described; then I again place it
in the same or a similar machine, and by a suitable tool mark the coiled
tube with divisions at any required distance apart; I then take the-said
tube from the mandril and cut it into rings, as marked, by placing a
segment of a circle of wood inside the coil and cutting it with a knife,
or I place the tube on a wooden mandril and cut it in a machine with a
suitable tool, in which case I need not mark it as above described.
If the edges of the packing rings when cut should be rough I finish
them by applying to them a little of the said compound and cover or

page_text: rub them with tale or soapstone or other unctious mineral substance or
compound in powder; and I also cover or rub with the talc or soapstone
those rings which do not require finishing with the compound.
In applying these rings to the packing of a stuffing box I cut the
said rings either diagonally or straight through them, and place them in
the stuffing box in such a manner that they "break joint" with each
other. This packing may be compressed or tightened, as required, by
the usual gland and tightening screws.
I have found that outside india-rubber hose pipe varnish well mixed
or ground with an equal weight of talc, soapstone, or other unctious 1
mineral lubricant with a sufficient quantity of naphtha added to reduce
the whole to a compound of a proper consistency will answer well in
practising my Invention, but various compounds of india-rubber in
solution may be used; I may also use a solution of ordinary glue or
glutinous animal matter in the manufacture of this improved packing, 1
but in using these latter substances the coiling of the yarn or fibrous
material must be completed at one operation, and the coil must be
removed from the mandril before drying.

page_text: coiling and uniting the various substances composing the said packing,
as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jesse Kirkman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
WM. ROB. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
JESSE KIRKMAN. (L.S.)