CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING THE JOINTS OF PIPES AND TUBES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Perceval Moses Parsons, of Duke Street, Adelphi, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING THE JOINTS OF PIPES AND TUBES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Perceval Moses Parsons
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th October 1855.
I, PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS, of Duke Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING THE JOINTS OF PIPES
AND TUBES" to be as follows:-
To connect and secure the joints of pipes and tubes, I employ a socket
having an internal circular recess or chamber, or otherwise so constructed that
conjointly with the ends of the pipes it will enclose an annular space or
chamber round the joint. The socket is provided with a small aperture com-
municating with the annular space or chamber from without; through this
aperture I pass a cord, band, or strip of suitable packing, and attach its end
by a loop, knot, or other suitable fastening to one or both of the ends of the
pipes brought together within the socket. I now cause the socket to rotate
on the pipes, or vice versa, and with it wind or coil the packing round the

page_text: joint, and thereby cause it at the same time to pass or be drawn into the
annular chamber through the aperture in the socket: This operation I continue
until the packing being thus wound round and drawn in through the aperture
in the socket fills, and is sufficiently compressed in the annular chamber to
secure or make tight the joint.
In some cases the socket may be attached to or form part of one of the
pipes, or it may be composed of two or more separate parts, suitably held
together, and one of its parts only may be made to rotate. It may also in
some cases be provided with two or more apertures for the introduction of the
packing.
The packing may be composed of any suitable material, such as spun yarn,
rope, hempen, leather, gutta percha, india-rubber, or other cord, or of strips or
bands of the same materials, or of cloth, canvass, metal, &c., and the annular
chamber or internal form of the socket and the aperture in it must be modi-
fied to suit the kind of packing intended to be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Perceval Moses Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Offico
on the 8th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PERCEVAL
MOSES PARSONS, of Duke Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Perceval Moses Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said Perceval
Moses Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Perceval Moses Parsons, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONNECTING AND SECURING THE JOINTS OF PIPES AND
TUBES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Perceval Moses
Parsons, 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

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Perceval Moses Parsons, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
To connect and secure the joints of pipes and tubes, I employ a socket
having an internal circular recess or chamber, or otherwise so constructed
that conjointly with the ends of the pipes it will enclose an annular space or
chamber round the joint. The socket is provided with a small aperture com-
municating with the annular space or chamber from without; through this
aperture I pass a cord, band, or strip of suitable packing, and attach its end
by a loop, knot, or other suitable fastening to one or both of the ends of the
pipes brought together within the socket. I now cause the socket to rotate
on the pipes, or vice versa, and with it wind or coil the packing round the
joint, and thereby cause it at the same time to pass or be drawn into the
annular chamber through the aperture in the socket. This operation I con-
tinue until the packing being thus wound round and drawn in through the
aperture in the socket fills, and is sufficiently compressed in the annular
chamber to secure or make tight the joint.
In some cases the socket may be attached to or form part of one of the
pipes, or it may be composed of two or more separate parts, suitably held
together, and one of its parts only may be made to rotate. It may also in
some cases be provided with two or more apertures for the introduction of the
packing. The packing may be composed of any suitable material, such as
spun yarn, rope, hempen, leather, gutta percha, india-rubber, or other cord, or
of strips or bands of the same materials, or of cloth, canvas, metal, &c., and
the annular chamber or internal form of the socket and the aperture in it must
be modified to suit the kind of packing intended to be used.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to
describe various methods of performing the same, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, Figure 2 a cross section (on the line
A, A, Figure 1), of a pipe joint constructed according to my Invention.
The socket s has an internal circular recess, and an aperture d commu-
nicating with it externally; a strand of spun yarn p is passed through the
aperture d, and its end tied in a knot k. The ends of the two pipes a and b
to be joined being then brought together within the socket, and the knot k at

page_text: the end of the spun yarn fixed in a small notch made in the ends of the pipes
for its reception, the socket s is made to rotate in the direction indicated by
the arrows, by which the spun yarn or packing will be wound round the
pipes, and at the same time drawn in through the aperture d. This operation
is continued until the spun yarn fills, and is sufficiently compressed in the
annular chamber c to make the joint tight.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 4 a cross section, (that of the
pipe being taken on the line A, B, C, and that of the socket on the line A, B, D,
Figure 3,) of another arrangement. In this the socket s has a double recess,
and the ends of the pipes a and b have corresponding grooves, so that the
annular chambers c, c, are formed partly in the socket and partly in the pipes.
I would here observe that in this arrangement the pipes may be made plain
cylinders, as in the foregoing one, and the recesses made entirely in the socket;
or the recesses may be made entirely in the pipes, and the socket made a plain
cylinder.
The sockets has two apertures d, d; the spun yarn p is passed in through
one and out through the other, leaving a loop inside the socket. A small
longitudinal groove, shown by the dotted line at c, is made in the middle
portion of the socket, between the two apertures, for the loop of spun yarn to
lic in, which it is made to do by tightening the two ends outside, and when in
this position the socket is passed over the end of one of the pipes; the end of
the other is then brought to it, and the socket slipped back to its proper posi-
tion, so as to embrace both pipes, and the spun yarn being loosened, the socket
is turned gently round until the loop is opposite to and catches into the longi-
tudinal groove made in the ends of the pipes, as represented in the Drawing;
the loop being thus secured, the socket is turned round in the direction indi-
cated by the arrows, by which the spun yarn is wound round and drawn into
the annular chamber simultaneously through the apertures d, d. This operation
is continued as before until sufficient packing is drawn in to make good the
joint. In this arrangement the ends of the pipes are halved into each other for
the purpose of preventing one from turning without the other, but they may be
made to butt square, in which case it will be necessary to provide means to
hold both pipes while the socket is being turned.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal section (on the line B, B, Figure 6), and Figure 6
an end view of another arrangement. In this the sockets forms part of the
pipe a, and is provided with a cap e, which in conjunction with the end of
the pipe b completes the enclosure of the annular chamber c. The cap e is
capable of rotating, and is provided with lugs 1, which embrace the flange on
the socket, and with apertures d, d, for the introduction of the packing.

page_text: To make the joint, the cap e is first slid sideways on to its place in front of
the socket, the lugs 7 embracing its flanges f. The strands of spun yarn aro
then threaded through the apertures d, d, and knots made in their ends; the
spigot end of the pipe which is provided with small notches for the reception
of the knots at the ends of the spun yarn is then thrust through the cap e into
the sockets, and the ends of the spun yarn are jambed between it and the
socket, and thereby secured; the cape is then made to rotate, which causes
the strands of spun yarn to be wound round and drawn into the annular
chamber c through the apertures d, d, and this is continued until sufficient
spun yarn is drawn in to make good the joint.
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section (on the line C, C, Figure 8), and Figure 8
is an end view of another arrangement. In this the socket s is separate from
the pipes, and is provided with two revolving caps e, e, which together with the
pipes complete the enclosure of the annular chambers c, c. In constructing
this socket, it is proposed, first, to cast the caps e, e, and then place them in a
suitable mould, and cast the other part of the socket s in them. By covering
the parts of the caps in contact with the socket with a thin coating of loam or
blackwash before casting, sufficient play will be secured to enable the caps to
turn with freedom. To make the joint, the spun yarn is first threaded through
the apertures d, d, and lies in a longitudinal groove g; the socket is then passed
on to one of the pipes a, b, their two ends are then brought together, and the
socket slipped back to the position shewn in the Drawing, so as to embrace
both pipes; the cape is then turned round in one direction and the cap n in
the other, by which the spun yarn will be wound round and drawn into the
annular chambers c, c, through the apertures d, d. It is not absolutely neces-
sary that the caps should be turned in opposite directions, but by doing so the
force applied to one is equalized by that applied to the other, and there is,
therefore, no occasion to hold the pipes or the socket when the caps are being
turned. This arrangement also dispences with the necessity of providing
notches in the ends of the pipes to hold the ends of the spun yarn, as the
groove g in the socket is all that is required, so that the pipes are simply plain
cylinders with square ends.
Figure 9 is a longitudinal section (on the line D, D, Figure 10), and
Figure 10 an end view of another arrangement. In this the sockets is one with
the pipe a; and to make the joint, the strands of spun yarn are first threaded
through the aperture d, d, and knots k made on their ends; the spigot end of
the pipe b (provided with notches for the reception of the knots at the ends
of the spun yarn) is then thrust into the socket, and the ends of the spun yarn
secured in the notches; the pipe a with the socket s is then turned round in the

page_text: direction indicated by the arrow, which will cause the spun yarn to be wound
.round and drawn into the annular chamber c through the apertures d, d, and
this operation is continued until the joint is made good, as before.
In a series of pipes laid with this modification of joint it is desirable that
,they should be made to turn in opposite directions alternately, for as the whole
length of pipe would require to be turned to tighten up one of the joints if they
were all made to turn one way, the tighting up of one joint would loossen the
one at the other end of the same pipe, but the reverse would be the case if the
arrangement recommended be adopted.
The foregoing are the principal arrangements that will be found useful
in practice in carrying out the Invention, but these admit of considerable
variation and modification; thus, in the arrangement shown in Figures 5 and 6,
the cap may be cast on to the socket, or the socket cast into it, as described
in the arrangement shewn at Figures 7 and 8; and in the arrangement shown
at Figures 7 and 8, the socket instead of being cast into the caps or the caps
cast on to it, the caps may be made to fit on to the socket, in the manner
described in Figures 5 and 6; or instead of either of the above methods, the
,caps may be made in two or more parts, and held together by bolts, screws,
rivets, key, or other suitable fastening. The apertures through which the
packing is introduced may her be made through the body of the metal of
the cap or socket, as shown which method I prefer,) or they may be made by
a recess in the edge of the socket or cap against the pipe; in either case they
should be in an oblique direction, or otherwise so made as to present an
inclined or rounded and smooth surface at the part which impinges against
the packing as it is drawn in, so as not to fray or tear the fibres. It is also
desirable that the part of the socket or cap which rubs against the packing
when it is in the annular chamber should either be cast on a chill to render
it smooth, or if cast on sand or loam should have its roughness removed, which
may be done by roughly chucking it in a lathe and grinding it with a piece of
grindstone, as when an elastic packing is used it is not necessary that the
surface should be perfectly true so as it is sufficiently smooth, not to cause too
much friction between it and the packing.
In all the above arrangements I have described spun yarn as being employed
for the packing to make the joints, because I find it to answer the purpose
perfectly; before it is used it should be saturated with tallow, tar, creasote, or
a mixture of tallow and white lead, about two or three parts of the former to
one of the latter, or any other suitable substance to act as an unguent and
preservative. Besides spun yarn, any other of the substances herein-before
named will answer the purpose, the selection of which must be left to the

page_text: discretion of the engineer, and the circumstances under which it is to be
employed. If it is desired to use a metallic packing, those arrangements in
which part of the socket is made to revolve, such as represented in Figures 5
and 6, 7 and 8, will be found most suitable, and it will be desirable to turn
and bore those parts of the pipes and sockets which enclose the packing, and
to prepare it in strips of a rectangular section, and the apertures in the cap or
socket of a section to correspond. Any metal or alloy of a soft and sufficiently
tenacious nature, such as copper, soft brass, zinc, &c., may be employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the method of per-
forming the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not lay claim to
revolving sockets generally, nor do I confine myself to the precise details
described and shewn, as these may be varied considerably; but I declare that
I claim as my Invention, the methods herein-before described of connecting
and securing the joints of pipes and tubes by means of a socket in one or more
parts, enclosing an annular chamber or chambers, into which suitable packing
is drawn through an aperture or apertures as it is wound round by imparting
a rotatory motion to the socket or part thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Perceval Moses Parsons, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
T. M. PARSONS. (L.S.)
P.