IMPROVE- MENTS IN PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF PIPES AND TUBES FOR CONVEYING LIQUIDS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Westbrooke Squires, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Doctor in Medicine, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF PIPES AND TUBES FOR CONVEYING
LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 15th July 1856, and dated the 17th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the "said William Westbrooke
Squires at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th January 1856.
I, WILLIAM WESTBROOKE SQUIRES, do hereby further declare that the said
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF PIPES AND TUBES
FOR CONVEYING LIQUIDS, to be as follows, viz. :-
In the ordinary system of stop-cocks applied to cisterns and reservoirs, that
portion of the pipe below the stop-cock is always full, the liquid being unable
to escape through the tap below, and that portion of the pipe is frequently
burst through the action of frost upon the liquid contained therein. I purpose
to remove this difficulty by constructing a stop-cock, or a valve immediately
below the stop-cock, or a tube communicating with the atmosphere fixed im-
mediately below the stop-cock, by which method or methods air can be admitted
into the pipe, which will then be emptied through the ordinary tap or place
of exit.

page_text: In most cases, the stop-cock to be within reach is placed at some distance
below the cistern, and that, portion of the pipe between the cistern or reservoir
and the stop-cock being always full of liquid, is frequently burst by the formation
of ice within it. To remove this difficulty, I construct a plug or valve, which
I apply to the highest orifice of the pipe through which the liquid is admitted
from the reservoir, the said plug or valve having a communication with the
atmosphere, so that when the plug or valve is raised the liquid can flow freely
into the pipe below; and when the pipe is closed by the plug or valve, the
water being no longer admitted, the communication with the external air will
allow the pipe to be emptied of its contents. I thus purpose avoiding the
necessity for stop-cocks of the ordinary form and mode of application; and
I purpose to introduce within the pipe an elastic tube, or elastic substance or
agent in other form, which will neutralize the pressure, impulse, or concussion
of the liquid, and also meet the expansion consequent upon ice formation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Westbrooke Squires in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WESTBROOKE SQUIRES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Doctor of
Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Westbrooke Squires, Her special licence that I, the said William
-Westbrooke-Squires, my_executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Westbrooke Squires, 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 PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF PIPES AND TUBES FOR CON-
VEYING LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Westbrooke Squires, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Westbrooke Squires, 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, that is to say.:-
The nature of the said Invention consists in attaching or adapting certain
mechanism, apparatus or appliances, to pipes and tubes, so that the introduc-
tion of liquids into the same or parts of the same may be prevented; or liquids
may be removed at pleasure, and the liquids admitted when required, whereby
the bursting of such pipes may be prevented. Or this may be effected by the
use of an elastic agent introduced into the pipe or tube, so as to neutralize the
bursting power of the frost, or the liquid on the pipe or tube.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my said Invention, I now
proceed to describe in what manner the same is to be performed, wherein I shall
refer to the Drawings accompanying this Specification.
With regard to pipes and tubes where the common stop-cock at present in
use is adopted. By the use of such ordinary stop-cock the liquid is retained in
the whole length of the pipe, both below and above the stop-cock, hence the
pipes are frequently burst by the action of frost upon the liquid within thein.
To prevent this bursting, I purpose emptying, when desired, the pipes or tubes
in the manner or modes explained below.
(1.) I affix a small tap, which I call an air tap, just below the stop-cock
(see the accompanying Drawing at Fig. 1). This small tap may be of any
suitable form, but having a minute opening into the pipe or tube. When the
stop-cock is turned, to prevent the liquid passing through it on opening tho
small tap, air will be admitted into the pipe, and the liquid can be drawn off at
the customary place of exit.
(2.) Instead of the above, there might be a small tube bent upwards (or
in any convenient manner), as represented in the Drawing, Fig. 2, in-
serted into the pipe, the outer orifice having a valve opening inwards, which
will require a very trifling play. When the liquid in the pipe passes freely
through the stop-cock and fills the pipe below, it will act upon the under side
of the valve and keep it closed; but when the stop-cock is turned to prevent
the water passing, the pressure being taken off the under side of the valve,
atmospheric pressure externally will act upon and open it, and the liquid, can
be drawn off by the common tap or place of exit below.
The above will only remedy the defects of the common stop-cock; but the

page_text: following improvements in 'stop-cocks will remove the necessity for small air
taps or valves, as before described; :.: in
(3.) In the common stop-cock, I'form a minute groove in the plug or stopper
thereof on its outer edge, midway between the two openings, as shewn in
Fig. 8, this groove commencing at a point of the plug just outside the socket,
and terminating at a point just within the water passage. When the stop-cock
is turned to allow the liquid to pass, the communication formed by the groove
with the interior of the pipe will be closed by the side of the socket; but when
the stop-cock is turned to prevent the liquid passing, the groove will be turned
downwards, and air will pass through it into the interior of the pipe, by which
means the pipe below the stop-cock may be emptied by simply "turning on
the "drawing-off" tap. In order to prevent the groove being turned upwards,
a proper catch must be placed upon the stopper, to insure its being properly
turned.
(4.) Instead of a groove, a small passage may be drilled or formed in the
plug or stopper, as shewn in the Drawing at Fig. 4, its use being similar to
that of the groove.
(5.) I place a plate or flange upon the plug or stopper of the common stop-
cock, as shewn in the Drawing at. Fig. 5; the stop-cock having a hole formed
through it below the stopper, which hole or opening will be covered by the
flange when the cock is open, and when the stop-cock is closed the opening
will be uncovered, and air admitted into the pipe. The foregoing explanations
refer to modes of abstracting the water or liquid from below the stop-cock, but
can have no beneficial influence on the pipe or tube above it..
I now come to a method or methods of removing the water or liquid in the
pipe in its whole length, and thus entirely preventing bursting by ice formation
or otherwise, and this I purpose to accomplish by the adaptation thereto of
certain valves, or by improved valves or appendages to valves. In the modes
-previously-explained,-so-long as the liquid-remains-in-a-fluid state. above the
stop-cock, it may be admitted or withdrawn from below it at pleasure, but
frequently the water above the stop-cock is frozen and will not flow.
(6.) I will now state how stop-cocks and valves below the cistern will be
unnecessary, and how, by means of my improvements, so long as there is any
water in the cistern or reservoir in a fluid state it may be drawn through and
from the pipes at pleasure, and thus prevent the pipes being blocked up withi
ice and the passage obstructed, and prevent the bursting of pipes generally. I
will, therefore, show how, by the admission of air through the upper orifices of
the pipes, at the saine time preventing the passage of water from the cistern,
the pipes may be completely emptied below, and how the water may be again

page_text: freely admitted. To accomplish this, I place an upright tube upon the opening
of the pipe leading from the cistern' or reservoir (as seen in the Drawing at
Figs. 6, 7, and 8), the tube being long enough to reach above the level of
the water in the cistern. In the lower part of the tube, and slightly above the
bottom of the cistern, to prevent the passage of refuse or sediment," is an
opening, which opening has a weighted flap or door; or a weighted slide
working in grooves, and which flap, door, or slide may be raised or lowered by
the usual attachment of a wire and crank suspended from the upper framework
of the cistern. So long as the flap, door, or slide is raised by means of the.
crank, the water or liquid will pass freely through the opening into the pipe
below, and when the flap door, slide, or valve is closed, no water can pass,
while the free admission of air down the tube will allow the pipe below will be
completely emptied. Or I fix a narrow but long tube (reaching above the
level of the water in the cistern, upon a common 'plug or valve at the bottom
of the cistern, the plug or valve being perforated through the centre; this tube
with the plug or valve attached being raised or lowered: by means of the
ordinary crank at the upper part of the cistern (see Drawing, Fig. 9); thus
water or air only can be admitted into the pipe below at pleasure. It is
possible, but barely probable, that the suspending wire; just mentioned, or the
suspended plug and tube, just alluded to, may, be impeded by the pressure of
ice around them at the surface of the water; therefore, instead of the flap, door,
or slide, before mentioned, to close the bottom opening in the tube-externally,
I have a plug or valve, perforated through its centre, placed within the tube, so
arranged that it will close the opening from the cistern at the bottom of the
tube, and also the orifice of the pipe below, though this latter arrangement is
unnecessary if the opening in the bottom of the tube be sufficiently closed to
prevent liquids passing through it from the cistern; the plug or valve just
named to be suspended from a wire within the tube, and which may be acted
upon by a crank above the water.
In any of these modes just named the use of taps in the pipe below may be
unnecessary, as a wire or cord: or pulleys placed in any convenient direction
from the crank will act upon valves, doors, or slides, which may raised or
closed, as required. With taps in the pipe below, the valves, &c. may remain
constantly raised by suspending the pulley upon a hook or rail, and at night,
or at any other time when the frost may be too threatening, or when
bursting may be feared, the flap, doors, or valves may be closed. In cases
where the suspending wires are outside the tubes, they must act through the
coating of the ice on the surface; but where the suspending wire is within

page_text: e tube, the tube being kept free from the water at pleasure, by the
ug or valve being raised only when a supply is needed, there can be no
sk of the action being impeded by ice. These methods are applicable to
ater-closets, and all systems of water supply, whether as a protection
gainst frost, or as a means of relieving pipes of their contents and pressure 5
the weight of liquid.
(7.) I also purpose to have a tube of small diameter introduced into the
pe, the said tube being of vulcanised india-rubber or gutta percha, one end
osed (and weighted by shot or other heavy substance within it, to prevent
e tube rising when placed upright). When the elastic tube is within the 1
pe, it may be filled with compressed air, and firmly closed by any usual
ode.
The tube filled with air is designed to receive in some measure the force of
ncussion, or the pressure consequent upon ice formation.
The Drawing before referred to and accompanying this Specification has 1
Fig. 1, the air tap, marked A; Fig. 2, air valve, B.
Fig. 3, grooved plug of stop-cock, the groove being marked C.
Fig. 4, perforated plug of stop-cock, the perforation being shewn by the
dotted lines.
Fig. 5 and 5 shew the opening in tube of stop-cock and flange cover D. 2
Fig. 5 shews the plate cover (D³) to perforated stop-cock.
Fig. 6, 7, 8, shew the door, flap, or slide valve E, worked by means of the
wire G and lever H, with cord external I, and the air tube in
connection with the flap, door, or valve.
Fig. 9 shews the perforated plug or valvo K, with tubular spindle K 2
attached, worked by the lever H' and cord I².
Fig. 10 shews the air tube L, with perforated plug or valve K' worked
within it at the bottom enlargement, the plug or valve worked
_by_the_wire G within the tube, and the lever H* and cord I*.
The above Figures are outline sections, except Fig. 52, which is a plan view. 3
Having now described both the nature of my said Invention, and in what
anner the same is to be performed or put in practice, I declare that I claim,
respect of my said Invention for "Improvements in Preventing the Bursting
7 Pipes and Tubes for Conveying Liquids," as follows:-
(I.) The adaptation of the before-described small air tap and of the air 3
alve below the stop cock; also the node or modes specified of "drawing off""
letting on" water or other liquids by means of valves or flaps, actuated by
vers and wires or communicators.

page_text: (11.) The grooved or tubular opening to the stop-cock, forming an improved
stop-cock.
(III.) The perforated plug or valve with suspending wire working within a
tube.
(III.) The perforated plug or valve with the tube attached.
(V.) The attachment of air tubes, as specified, for admitting air to tubes or
pipes for conveying liquids.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Westbrooke Squires, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
WILLIAM W. SQUIRES, M.D. (L.s.)
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W. CAMPIN,
Patent Office, Strand.