IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF METAL OR OTHER PIPES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, NESTOR FRÈRE, of 22 Southampton Buildings, W.C. in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF METAL OR OTHER PIPES," a communication to
me from abroad by Louis Kuypers and Pierre Denis, of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Ironfounders, to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the joints of metal or other
pipes, with objects and advantages consisting of
1st Facility for effecting repairs quickly.
2nd Facility for laying down new services quickly.
3rd. Facility for replacing a broken pipe without taking up a more or less
considerable length of pipe, including the breaking of several joints, which
latter operation may always be counted on when spigot and socket joints are
used.
4th. In the event of the fracture of a pipe of the latter kind, not only must it
be broken, but the two adjoining pipes also, and the repair made with pipes
jointed on another system.
5th. Flexibility of a line of pipe under circumstances of heavy traffic.
6th. All the advantages of collar or socket joints without their defects. These
improvements allow of a line of pipe following to a certain extent, the
inequalities in level of the pipe trench, without necessitating the insertion of
any special fitting.
7th. The fit of pipe to pipe is not affected in any way by the act of making the
joint, the packing-ring being alone affected thereby.
The collars or extensions on the ends of the pipes are provided with annular
grooves or trenches formed therein, and have detachable collars of a truncated cone
section. A packing ring of lead, or other equivalent soft metal of a convenient
thickness is jambed into the annular grooves formed on the extensions of the pipes.
Before the pipes are laid end to end, the detachable collars are slipped on to their
respective pipes. The lesser diameter of these collars corresponds, or nearly so, to
that of the annular extensions The packing ring is next slipped upon one of the
TDA71

page_text: pipes, which are then pushed up, and the packing ring embraces both extensions.
Before the detachable collars are fixed, the packing ring is jambed by any
convenient method, equally all round, until it assumes the outline of the annular
extensions. The detachable collars are next screwed up, and as this is being done,
the packing ring is forced tight into the grooves or trenches, and against the sides
of the same.
The joint is now perfectly sound.
It is, therefore, easy to perceive the efficiency of these improvements, and the
double purpose they serve.. A line of pipes laid with my joint cannot be broken or
twisted, while it will, at the same time be so flexible, that it will adapt itself, in
a considerable degree to the inequalities of the bed of the trench in which it is
laid.
My improvements can be applied to any of the usual elbows, bends, or T pieces,
no matter how close they may be, and whether in the horizontal or vertical
plane. A special pattern pipe is however desirable for realising the benefits of
this invention.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Patent Agents,
22, Southampton Buildings, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, NESTOR FRERE, of 22, Southampton Buildings, W.C. in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF METAL OR OTHER PIPES," (A communication
to me from abroad by Louis Kuypers and Pierre Denis, of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Ironfounders) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following Statement :-
The object of my invention is the production of an improved joint for connecting
metal or other pipes. It is intended for use principally with water, gas, and steam
mains, and pipes, but is applicable also to other pipes and mains, whether made of
metal or other material.
19
My improved joint is free from the numerous drawbacks inherent in the majority
of the methods of jointing pipes now in use, while it is, at the same time, as tight
and durable as the best of them.
:-
The following are its principal points of superiority :-
1st The practicability of quickly replacing or exchanging, in a style equal to new
work, any length in a run of pipes, without it being necessary to disturb
any more than the one pipe, or to unmake, and consequently to make again,
any more than its own joints.
When one of a line of pipes laid with the ordinary socket joint is cracked, it has
to be broken away before it can be taken up, and the two adjoining lengths must
also be replaced by pipes with joints of another type.
2nd Facility for laying new services quickly, especially if the time for caulking,
pouring the lead, and subsequent tamping, as well as other incidental
matters necessary to the making of the usual socket joints, are taken into
consideration.
3rd My improved joint is sufficiently flexible under the vibration caused by heavy
traffic to prevent its being broken thereby.
4th The construction of the joint does not allow a line of pipes sagging at these
points.
5th The tackle required for laying a run of pipes with my improved joint is very
light, the fitter requiring only two tools, viz., a gripper to compress the loose
ring on to its seat, and a wrench to screw up the coupling bolts. The work
can be carried on in all weathers and in spite of there being a little water in
the trench.
The making of a socket joint is, on the contrary, (in spite of its unpretending
appearance,) as complicated and expensive as can be. A more numerous staff of
workmen is required, and more cumbersome tackle. Fuel and melting pots for
nelting the lead, yarn and grease for caulking the sockets, clay to stop the mouth
of the sockets while the lead is being poured, and a supply of ingot lead and ladles,
are all essentials. The process of making a socket joint may be described as
consisting of the following steps.
1st Caulking; 2nd Making the clay stopping; 3rd Melting the lead and keeping
t melted; 4th Pouring the lead; 5th Removing the clay stopping; 6th Tamping
he lead; all of which operations it is difficult to perform properly in rainy
veather.
6th My improved joint has all the advantages of the flange or socket joints,
without any of their defects. It allows a line of pipe to follow, within
limits, the settling of the ground, without any special fitting, or repairing,
being required.

page_text: 7th The ends of the pipes are not brought into close contact by screwing
up the coupling bolts, this operation affecting only the packing ring which,
being forced to some extent between the ends of the pipes, tends to keep
them apart. The consequence is that pipes made with my improved joint
do not lose any of their length when laid, without any increase in point of
weight beyond that of the annular extensions on their ends, which is, after
all, quite insignificant; and even this increase is counterbalanced by the
spaces maintained between the pipes and which must be taken into
account in estimating the weight of pipes required for a given length of
trench.
My improved joint can be applied to any of the usual pipe fittings, e.g., elbows,
tees, bends, or H pieces. It can also be advantageously employed in the erection
of stacks of pipes, water columns, suction and rising mains, and the like.
In order that my invention and the method of putting the same into practive
may be thoroughly understood, I will describe it in detail referring to the
accompanying Drawings, which are to be taken as part of this Specification and
read therewith. Like parts are throughout marked with the same reference
letter.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, and Figure is an end elevation,
partly in section.
A A are the pipes, upon each end of which is formed a compound annular
extension. This extension consists of four parts, a ring, a, the outer face of which
is a plane parallel with the surface of the pipe, while one angle, a¹, is rounded off;
a channel, 6; a slope, c, sloping away downwards from the end of the pipe, and a
terminal ring, d. B, is a packing ring of lead, or other soft metal, of a suitable
thickness. I may use any other equivalent material, according to the amount of
pressure required to make a tight joint, and the material of which the pipes
are made. I use lead rings of a thickness of not less than 4/m with large mains.
The internal diameter of the packing ring is always the same as the external
diameter of the ring, a, and its width equal to the space separating the two
terminal rings, d, d. It is important that this relation should be maintained, as
conducing essentially to the tightness of the joint..
The loose collars, C, C, of a truncated cone section and preferably of cast iron,
and furnished with lugs, e, e, and coupling bolts f. f. (three or more of each
according to the diameter of the pipes). The smallest internal diameter of these
collars is equal to the external diameter of the ring a.
The following is the method of making my improved joint. A collar, C, is
slipped over the end of each pipe before the latter are laid end to end. The
packing ring, B, is then pushed on to the end of one pipe, the end of the other pipe
is pushed into the projecting end of the ring, the width of the packing ring
preserving a space, h, between the ends of the pipes, for the purpose of imparting a
degree of flexibility to the line of pipe, as before mentioned. The packing ring
now covers the whole joint. It is then pressed down on to the annular extensions
of the two adjacent pipes, by any convenient kind of flexible gripper, until it
assumes something like the shape the screwing up of the collars, C, C, will give it.
These are then brought together, and the coupling bolts put in. As they are
screwed up, the inner faces, g, g, of the rings will drive the packing ring down upon
the slope, c, into the groove, b, and against the round angle of the ring, a, upon its
outer face, and to some extent between the ends of the pipes.
The tightness of the joint is thus assured without any tamping being necessary.
Already trials made with it prove it to be capable of resisting a pressure of
20 atmospheres.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, as the same has been communicated to me, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. In a pipe joint, the use of two loose collars of the herein described section,
screwed up by ordinary bolts or their equivalents, pressing upon a ring of lead, or

page_text: equivalent material, and forcing the same against and into the several members of
the compound annular extensions on the ends of the pipes, as herein described and
illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Second Constructing one or both ends of pipes with a compound annular
extension, to be used in conjunction with detachable collars of a suitable section and
a loose packing ring, for making a joint as herein before described and illustrated
with reference to the accompanying drawings.