CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SLUICE COCKS FOR WATERWORKS, AND WHICH IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF COCKS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAK, GAS, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1837

page_text: TOPHAM'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OVID
TOPHAM, of Whitecross Street, in the Parish of St. Luke's, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer and Millwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of October, in the first year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ovid
Topham, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Ovid Topham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Ovid Tophamı, my exccutors, adññiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SLUICE COCKS FOR
WATERWORKS, AND WHICH IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF COCKS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
STEAK, GAS, AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patents is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Ovid Topham, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ovid Topham, do hereby declare, that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of certain Improvements in the Construction of Sluice Cocks
for Waterworks, and which Improved Construction of Cocks is also applicable
to Steam, Gas, and other Purposes, applies more particularly to that description
of sluice cocks or valves which are usually placed under ground in the street
mains or service pipes of water and gas works, in which situation the metal
composing the same is liable to injury by corrosion or the chemical action of
different earthy matters in contact therewith, but which effect is more
particularly injurious as regards the wrought-iron screw bolts and nuts, and
the metallic packing used in securing the various junctions of the parts
composing the casing or body of the said sluice cocks or valves, in consequence
of which frequent leakage takes place. The object of my Invention is to
obviate such evil by making or manufacturing such sluice cocks and valves
without the usual side or vertical joints or junctions, by which means their
necessary screw bolts, nuts, and metallic packing are dispensed with, and
consists in forming or casting the main body or casing of such sluice cocks or
valves in one continuous piece of metal, having only one opening or aperture
at the upper part for the convenience of fitting up and applying the slide of
the valve, which aperture is afterwards closed with the necessary cap-piece or
cover fitted in the usual manner, through which the shaft or spindle connected
with the screw rack and pinion, or other mechanical contrivance used for
raising or lowering the slide of the cock or valve, is passed; and as such cap-
piece is not usually covered with earth, its joints or junctions and packings are
not so liable to injury as those at the side of the ordinary sluice cocks. And in
order further to illustrate my improvements, and the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I will now refer to the accompanying Drawings, which are
several representations of my improved construction of sluice cocks or valves,
shewing several modifications or arrangements of the same, which different
modes or contrivances for raising and lowering the slide or stop piece, but

page_text: which contrivances I do not consider as part of my Inveution, they being in
common use, and I have only shewn them in order that the mode of applying
and using the same with my improved sluice cocks or valves may be readily
understood.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one of my improved sluice cocks or valves
detached from the street main or service pipe. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of
the same. Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view, the cap-piece or cover being
removed to expose the interior; and Figures 4 and 5 are back and face
representations of the slide or stop piece removed from out of the valve to shew
its construction, the same letters of reference being marked upon these and all
the following Figures. a, a, is the main body or casing of the valve cast in
one piece, with the two ends or sockets b, c, for receiving the ends of the street
pipes or mains, together with the upper part or chamber d, in which the
mechanical contrivance for raising and lowering the slide is placed, which in
this instance is a toothed rack and endless screw. e is the cap-piece or cover of
the chamber d, fitted in the usual way with screw bolts and nuts and metallic
packing, and the stuffing box f, through which the spindle or shaft g is passed,
its lower end turning in a proper bearing, and having the endless worm or
screw / formed upon it, which takes into the toothed rack ke formed upon the
back of the slide i, which accurately fitted at the parts m, m, to the face of
the aperture n of the valve or cock; the slide is kept tight against the face of
the aperture when closed by means of inclined planes or wedge pieces at o, o,
formed on the casing coming in contact with other parts p, p, of the slide.
This action of this valve will be readily understood by inspecting the Drawings,
therefore no further description will be necessary.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section of another sluice cock or valve of
my improved construction, shewing a slight variation in the mode of applying
and fitting the slide thereto, and in the manner of making the same, which in
this instance has double faces fitted against the mouths of the apertures, and
is worked, by means of a male screw formed upon the shaft taking into a
female screw upon the slide; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same; similar
letters of reference being marked upon corresponding parts, as in the former
Figures, and the construction of this valve being so simple, it will not be
necessary for me further to describe it, the slide being in this instance fitted
between two surfaces or faces formed on the mouths of the apertures n, n, of
the valve or cock. Figures 8 and 9 are front and back views of the slide and
screw. Fig. 10 is a side elevation, Fig. 11 is a longitudinal vertical section,
and Fig. 12 is a plan view of another of my improved valves or cocks, in
which another slight variation in the fitting up and applying the slide is shewn,

page_text: the face of which in this instance is fitted against the face of the aperturo n of
the end piece or socket c, which in this modification is cast separate from the
valve case or box, and secured by a screw joint and packing or other fastening
to the valve case. This mode may be preferred by some persons for the con-
venience of accurately forming the face of the aperture, or the convenience of
putting brass faces thereon, which can easily be done when it is detached
from the valve; whereas, in the former instances, the faces of the apertures
have to be accurately formed by means of tools introduced into the valve case
through the chamber d. Figures 13 are various detached representations of
the slide, the better to show its construction.
Fig. 14 is a side elevation, Fig. 15 is a vertical section, and Fig. 16 is a
plan view of another modification of my improved construction of slide valve or
cock, shewing the slide fitted with double facings in contact with the months
of the two ends or sockets b and c, which in this instance are both moveablo
for the purpose, as above stated; in other respects the construction is the
same as that last described. Figs. 17 are side and face representations of the
slide and its shaft or spindle detached from the valve to shew the manner of
fitting up the same.
Having now described my improvements in the construction of sluice cocks
or valves, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would remark
that it will be evident that the same is applicable to steam pipes, brewers and
distillers liquor pipes, and various other situations where it is desirable to
obviate the evil arising from leakage of the side joints of sluice cocks or valves
of the ordinary construction; and in construction to state, that I do not claim
any of the mechanical contrivances herein described and shewn for raising and
lowering the slides of the said cocks or valves, or the mode of fitting or applying
the same with the necessary shafts or spindles and stuffing boxes, as they are not
new, and form no part of my Invention, my improvements consisting in, and
what I claim as my improvements being, the making, forming, or casting the
main body, box, or casing of the slide valve or cock in one and the same piece
of metal, and the modes of fitting and applying the slide or stop piece thereto,
and the manner of forming the facings of the cocks or valves, as herein set forth
and described.
In witness whereof. I. the said Ovid Topham, have hereunto set my
OVID (L.S.) TOPHAM.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of April, in the first
year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Ovid Topham
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.