IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COCKS AND TAPS."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Vincent Scully, Esquire, and Bennett Johns Heywood,
Gentleman, both of the City of Dublin, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COCKS AND TAPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Vincent Scully and Bennett
Johns Heywood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 18th July 1855.
We, VINCENT SCULLY, Esquire, and BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD, Gentleman,
both of the City of Dublin, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COCKS AND TAPS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain mechanical arrangements for preventing
the surreptitious turning of the plugs of taps or cocks, whether employed
for drawing off liquids, or for regulating the flow of gas or other aeriformi
bodies.
In applying our improvement to cocks or taps which are turned on and off
by an ordinary handle or key, we form recesses in the periphery of the plug to
receive (when the tap is shut off) the end of a screw stop, which passes
laterally through the plug seat, and is turned by a private key. The head of
this screw stop projects into a chamber affixed to or cast with the barrel of the
tap, and into this chamber we insert a swivel pin, over which the key must
pass to reach the head of the screw stop for the purpose of turning the stop
and of locking or unlocking the plug. This swivel pin we furnish with one or

page_text: more helical ribs or feathers, or with straight, radial, or other projections which
will prevent access to the screw stop except by a key, the barrel of which is
suitably slotted to pass over the helical or other guard with which the swive!
pin is provided.
In applying our Invention to cocks or taps which are intended to be turned
on or off by a private key, we form above the conical plug seat a chamber to
receive the swivel pin, which will in this case rest upon the head of the plug.
The plug head is notched or otherwise shaped to form a bearing or purchase for
the end of the key to act upon, and the key being suitably constructed to pass
over the helical ribs or other lateral projections on the swivel pin, will, when
brought into contact with the plug head, and turned, give an axial motion to
the plug, and thus open or shut off the tap.
In cases where it is required to close (on occasion) the orifice of a tap plug
which turns by the ordinary handle, we propose to insert within the ordinary
plug (which is made hollow for the purpose) a second plug, the head of which
is formed as above explained, and is guarded by a swivel pin inserted in the
hollow stem of the handle. By this arrangement the tap can be left locked or
unlocked, as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 18th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, VINCENT
SCULLY, Esquire, and BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD, Gentleman, both of the City
of Dublin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood, Her special license that we, the
said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johus Heywood, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns
Heywood, our 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 THE CONSTRUC-

page_text: TION OF COCKS AND TAPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns
Heywood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon
(that is to say):
:-
This Invention relates to certain mechanical arrangements for preventing
the surreptitious turning of the plugs of taps or cocks, whether employed
for drawing off liquids, or for regulating the flow of gas or other aeriform
bodies.
Our Invention consists, firstly, in the use of a guard, either in combination
with a screw bolt (or its equivalent) or not, for the purpose of preventing the
plug from turning by means of the handle, or (where no handle is provided)
without the proper key.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shows our improved protector as
applied to a tap or cock for drawing off liquids, the plug in this example
being fitted with a handle of the ordinary construction for turning it on
and off. The tap is shewn in longitudinal section, the better to explain
its construction. In a line with the barrel a, a cylindrical chamber a is
formed to receive a screw bolt b, behind which is inserted in the same chamber
a swivel pin c, furnished with a helical rib or feather. This swivel pin is
secured in its place by the insertion of a threaded collar into the mouth of the
chamber a. The conical plug d is fitted and retained in its seat in the usual
manner, and in addition to the ordinary orifice for the escape of liquid from
the vessel to which the tap is applied, the conical plug is furnished on its
periphery with a lateral hole to receive (when the tap is turned off) the end of
the screw bolt or stop b, which for that purpose passes laterally through the
plug seat, and is turned to project the bolt into the lateral hole by means of a
private key. It will thus be understood that when it is required to prevent
access to the contents of a beer cask, for example, fitted with a tap of the
above-described construction, it is only necessary to turn off the tap by the
handle, and then by the application of a key (constructed so as to slide over

page_text: the swivel pin and reach the head of the screw bolt) to turn that bolt until
its forward end is projected into the hole in the plug intended to receive it.
The plug will then be held firmly in the shut-off position, and cannot be turned
until released from the screw bolt. The head of the screw bolt is furnished
with a raised piece, and a corresponding nick is made in the end of the key
for the purpose of taking on to it, and giving the requisite turning motion to
the screw bolt. We have shewn the swivel pin as fitted with a helical
rib or feather to prevent ready access thereto except by a key, the barrel of
which is formed with a helical groove the counterpart of the rib or feather;
other forms of projections may, however, be applied to the swivel pin if
thought desirable, but not with the like security. This remark applies also
to the other arrangements of tap or cock, which we will now proceed to
explain.
Fig. 2 shews in longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 in plan view, the first part
of our Invention as applied to a tap which is intended to be turned on and off
by a private key. In this arrangement we form above the conical plug seat a
chamber a to receive the swivel pin b, which rests upon the head of the plug.
The plug head is furnished with a bearing or purchase for the end of the key
to act upon, and the key, being suitably constructed to pass over the helical
rib or feather on the swivel pin, will, when brought into contact with the plug
head and turned, give an axial motion to the plug, and thus open or shut
off the tap.
In cases where it is required to close (on occasion) the orifice of a tap plug
which turns by the ordinary handle, we insert within the ordinary plug (which
is made hollow for the purpose) a second plug, as shewn in the sectional view,
Fig. 4. A seat for this second plug a is formed for it within the plug b, which
is made hollow from end to end, and in the space above the plug a we insert
the swivel pin c. The head of the plug a is formed as explained with reference
to the plug head in the last-described arrangement, and a tapped or threaded
collar is fitted into the mouth of the swivel pin chamber to prevent the with-
drawal of that pin. The detached sectional view, Fig. 5, shews the inner plug
a, and the swivel pin as resting upon it.
It will now be understood that when it is desired to prevent for a time
-access to the liquid contained in the vessel fitted with our improved tap, it is
only necessary for the holder of the key d (which is constructed as before
explained to pass down over the swivel pin to the plug head) to turn off the
inner plug, and the turning of the plug b by means of its handle will not then
effect the discharge of the liquid. The same arrangement we propose to apply
to gas burners, for the purpose of regulating the discharge of gas therefrom,

page_text: and putting it out of the power of servants to obtain more than a given amount
of light from a gas jet or burner. Fig. 6 shews in section a gas branch fitted
with this improvement; a being the gas pipe; b, the ordinary gas cock, hol-
lowed out to receive an internal plug c, and a swivel pin protector d, which,
as in the former example, prevents access to the inner plug except by the
proper key.
We would remark, that although we prefer to make the helical guard or
protector for the plug, which turns by means of the key, as shewn in the
Drawing, yet instead of forming the helix on a solid pin, the helix may be
attached to the inner periphery of a loose tube, and the key being made
to pass down the middle of the tube, the like effect of protection will be
ensured.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Cocks and Taps," and explained the manner of carrying the
sanie into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim,―
First, the application to cocks and taps of a swivel pin provided with a
helical rib or feather or other projections for preventing access (except by
a suitable key) to the screw bolt, stop, or plug, by which the discharge of liquids
or fluids is arrested or prevented.
Secondly, the use of an inner plug with a discharge passage through it for
the purpose of regulating or cutting off (as may be required) the flow of
liquids or fluids through cocks and taps, such plug being suitably protected for
the object above explained.
And, thirdly, making the handle hollow for the reception of the key, by
which the locking and unlocking of the tap is effected.
In witness whereof, wc, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns
Heywood, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eighteenth
day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
VINCENT SCULLY.
(L.S.)
BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD. (L.S.)