IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING PIPES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bernoulli Barlow, of the City of Manchester,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
COUPLING PIPES."-A communication from abroad by Messieurs John
Baptist Mette, junior, and Julius Bigot-Renaux, of No, 45, Rue St.
Sebastien, Paris, Manufacturers
Sealed the 15th November 1867, and dated the 27th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th May 1867.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Iuvention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR COUPLING PIPES," a communication to me from abroad by
Messieurs Johu Baptist Mette, junior, and Julius Bigot-Renaux, of No. 45,
Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, Manufacturers, to be as follows:-
This improved apparatus is applicable in coupling steam, gas, water, and
other pipes having a socket at one end into which the end of another pipe
fits; the apparatus consists of four or other convenient number of segments
connected together by a hoop; one end of the segments is recessed to fit on
the socket of the pipes to be coupled; to the inside of each segment is screwed
a thin steel blade, and these blades are surrounded by a ring or hoop of india-
rubber or other packing. The apparatus having been placed onthe socket
of the pipe the end of the pipe to be coupled to it is forced within the blades
[Price 8d.1

page_text: of steel, thereby expanding them and the packing ring inside the socket; the
hoop is then knocked off the segments, and the segments with the blades of
steel are drawn out of the socket, leaving the packing ring in its place. By
this apparatus pipes can be coupled very expeditiously, and the packing ring
is sure to be left in its proper place within the socket.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Heury Bernoulli Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Benoulli Barlow, Her special license that I, the said Henry Bernoulli
Barlow, any executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Bernoulli Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
APPARATUS FOR COUPLING PIPES," a communication to me from abroad by
Messieurs John Baptiste Mette, junior, and Julius Bigot-Renaux, of 45, Rue
St. Sebastian, Paris, Manufacturers, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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 to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months nextand immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
This improved apparatus is applicable in coupling steam, gas, water, and
other pipes having a socket at one end into which the end of another pipe

page_text: its; this apparatus consists of four or other convenient number of segments
connected together by a hoop; one end of the segments is recessed to fit on
the socket of the pipes to be coupled; to the inside of each segment is screwed
a thin steel blade, and these blades are surrounded by a ring or hoop of india-
rubber or other packing. The apparatus having been placed on the socket of
the pipe the end of the pipe to be coupled is forced within the blades of steel,
thereby expanding them and the packing ring inside the socket; the hoop is
then knocked off the segments, and the segments with the blades of steel
are drawn out of the socket, leaving the packing ring in its place. By this
apparatus pipes can be coupled very expeditiously, and the packing ring is
sure to be left in its proper place within the socket.
And in order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being bad to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the improved apparatus; Figure 2 is
a plan in section through the line Z, Z, in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is another vertical section shewing the apparatus ready for use;
Figures 4 and 5 are a plan and side views of part of the apparatus drawn half
size; and Figure 6 is a section of the ends of two pipes coupled together by
the improved apparatus, which is composed of two semi-cylindrical pieces,
marked 1 and 2, united together by the hoop or clip F, see Figures 4 and 5;
each semi-cylinder is provided with three slots c, in which the slides or
segments g fit; to these slides are fixed the steel blades 7, the upper ends of
which are divided into three or more parts to make them yield readily when
the india-rubber or other ring to make the packing is placed upon them, as
shewn in Figure 3. When the apparatus is to be put into operation the
slides gare pushed upwards, as shewn in Figure 3, and the india-rubber or
other ring C is placed on the blades l. The two pieces 1 and 2 are held
together by the clip F, which is secured by the locking stud f, see Figures 4
and 5; the plain end of the pipe to be coupled is then introduced into the
apparatus until it touches the blades ; the end of the pipe is then struck to
force open the blades and to expand the packing ring C; the socket end of
the pipe to be coupled is then placed in the recessed end of the apparatus
over the packing ring; the clip F is then opened to allow the apparatus to
be removed from the pipes, and the apparatus can now be taken away, leaving
the packing ring in the socket. When pipes of large dimensions are to be
coupled on which the strokes of a mallet or hammer would have little effect
a screw with ratchet wheel and catch is employed to press on the end of the
pipe, by which means the plain end is forced gently through the apparatus to

page_text: the required extent Couplings formed in this manner resist the greatest
pressure, and are capable of yielding lengthwise and sideways. In order to
increase the resistance of the coupling the socket end of the pipe is made
with a chamber e, see Figure 6, so that when the pressure is on the packing
ring C it is held against the shoulder of the socket, and it is thus prevented
from being forced out of the socket by the pressure of the fluid in the pipes.
In coupling two pipes already laid, or in replacing a broken pipe, a short pipe
of larger diameter is applied, and the two joints are made with the improved
apparatus; this coupling will be as secure as the others above described.
Plain pipes without sockets can also be coupled in this manner.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention as communicated to me by
the within-named John Baptiste Mette, junior, and Julius Bigot-Renaux,
and described the manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim the
improved apparatus shewn and described for expanding the packing ring and
depositing it on the end or in the socket of the pipes to be coupled.
I also claim the socket with a chamber, as shewn in Figure 6, for effecting
a more secure coupling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.
H. B. BARLOW.
(L.S.