IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINTS FOR CASTIRON PIPES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Page, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINTS FOR
CASTIRON PIPES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Page at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th September 1880.
JOHN PAGE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINTS FOR CASTIRON PIPES."
This Invention has for its object the making of the joints of castiron pipes in a
more simple, convenient, and reliable manner than heretofore, and it consists
principally in forming such joints by means of rings of lead cast or shaped apart
from the pipes, and capable of being applied with great facility and without
delaying the operation of laying the pipes.
In carrying out the Invention the spigot of each pipe is formed with a taper
such as is used in turned-and-bored joints, and the faucet is formed with a shallow
groove round the inside of its mouth, such groove being a little deeper at its inner
part so as to be dovetailed in section. The lead ring is shaped like a hoop of
tapering thickness, its outside being cylindrical and its inside slightly conical.
When making a joint the lead ring is placed in the faucet with its thicker edge
innermost, and the spigot of the next pipe length is entered and then driven home
as practised with turned-and-bored joints. The lead ring is expanded by the
spigot so as to fill the dovetailed groove in the faucet, and then forms a perfectly
tight joint. The surface of the groove in the faucet may be made with a series of
slight depressions, or preferably of a plain conical form.
Instead of making the lead ring with its outer surface cylindrical the outer
surface may be made of a conical or other shape fitting or nearly fitting the groove
in the faucet, the ring being cut through at one point to admit of its being got
into its place. Also, instead of shaping the lead ring by casting, it may be shaped
by rolling or by bending a bar rolled or otherwise made of suitable section. By a
further modification the lead ring may be made of parallel or equal thickness
instead of being tapered, the spigot boing in this case by preference formed with a
slightly projecting shoulder, against which the outer edge of the lead ring bears.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Page in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March
1881.
JOHN PAGE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINTS FOR CASTIRON PIPES."
My said Invention has for its object the making of the joints of castiron pipes
in a more simple, convenient, expeditions, and reliable manner than heretofore, and
it consists essentially in making the joint between two lengths of castiron pipes by
means of a ring of lead placed in the faucet or socket of one pipe length prior to
the insertion of the spigot of the other pipe length, the lead ring being of a shape
to be forced into a form completely and tightly filling the joint space provided for
it by the action of the spigot, which is of a tapered form, like that used in turned-
and-bored joints.
On the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings, Figure 1 is a section of
-the lead joint ring, and Figure 2 is a section showing the improved joint as formed
between the spigot end of one pipe length and the faucet end of another pipe length;
Figures 3 and 4 are sections showing slight modifications which may be adopted
when extra-security-is-considered-desirable..
-In-carrying out my Invention the joint surfaces of the spigot and faucet-may-be-
such as are obtainable by the ordinary moulding-and-casting-operations, or they
may be shaped by turning and boring after the pipes have been cast. The joint
surface of the spigot S is made slightly conical or tapered, as shown, and the faucet F
is formed with a shallow groove Ğ round the inside of its mouth, such groove G
being by preference slightly deeper at its inner part so as to be slightly dovetailed
in section. The lead ring L is shaped like a hook of tapering thickness, its outside
being cylindrical and its inside conical; it is by preference of the shape shown in
Figure 1 before the joint is made. When making a joint the lead ring L is placed
in the groove G of the faucet F with its thicker edge innermost, and the spigot S
of the next pipe length is entered and then driven home as practised with turned-
and-bored joints. The lead ring L becomes expanded by the wedging action of
the spigot so as to completely fill the groove G in the faucet, and then assumes the
shape shown in Figure 2, and forms a perfectly tight joint. Internal pressure
acting on the lead ring L. can obviously only tend to make it tighter by forcing
the lead towards the narrower part of the annular space containing it. The surface
of the groove G may in many cases be made very nearly or quite cylindrical, the
ordinary roughness of castiron surfaces giving sufficient hold upon the lead ring;
or instead of the surface of the groove G being of a plain slightly conical form it
may be cylindrical with a number of slight depressions. In cases in which a very
great internal pressure has to be provided for a shoulder or projecting ring R may
be formed on the spigot S, as shown in Figure 3. When the shoulder R is adopted
the joint surface of the spigot may be made nearly or quite cylindrical. Or instead
of the spigot being formed with a rectangular shoulder (R), it may be formed, as
shown in Figure 4, with a part T-T of its surface of a less acute conical form than
the part nearer the extreme end.
It is an important advantage of my Invention that the lead rings L may be
prepared beforehand and quite apart from the pipes, thereby avoiding not only the
delays but also the imperfections occurring in making lead joints in the ordinary
way by casting the lead in its place in the joint when the pipes are being laid. The
lead rings L may be shaped by casting or by rolling, or by bending a bar rolled
or otherwise made of a suitable section. When the lead rings L are made entire
they must be made cylindrical or otherwise, small enough to admit of their being
entered into the faucet grooves G; they may however be made externally of a

page_text: form fitting the grooves G, even when these grooves are dovetailed, such rings
being cut through at one part to admit of their being got into the grooves.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The joint for castiron pipes formed by placing a ring of lead in a groove in
the mouth of the faucet, and subsequently forcing in the spigot, substantially in the
manner herein before described.
2. The lead rings for forming the joints of castiron pipes, such rings being formed
apart and subsequently applied to the pipes substantially in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Page, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN PAGE. (L.S.)