IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRE VALVES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas Walker, of Highgate, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRE
VALVES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas
Walker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd March 1875.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS WALKER, of Highgate, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRE VALVES," to be as follows, that is to say:
This Invention consists in improvements in centre valves for working
gas purifiers, chiefly applicable to working gas purifiers on the method
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and dated
Eighth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four,
No. 1992. It is also applicable to condensers, scrubbers, gas holders,
and to other apparatus used in gas works in which valves are required.

page_text: purifier had to be bye passed on one side whilst in action on the other
side.
Now by my improvements in centre valves I am enabled to entirely
dispense with the use of the said slide or gas valves, thereby not only
saving their cost, but avoiding the time, labor, and inconvenience
involved in operating the said slide or gas valves.
By my improvements I also avoid the use of bends for connecting the
main inlet with the centre valve.
In applying my improvements to a four-way centre valve suitable for
working one purifier according to the method in my said Letters Patent
I form the centre valve with a central main inlet or passage, and the
body or lower portion of the valve with four divisions or compartments,
one of which is closed in at the top, the gas inlet pipe opening direct
into this covered compartment or division, which is also in communi-
cation with the central main inlet. The upper part of the centre valve
has three divisions or compartments instead of two only. This arrange-
ment allows of the purifier being worked in a similar manner to that
when an ordinary four-way centro valve is employed, but when a
purifier has to be bye passed on one side it is merely necessary to give
the valve half a turn, when the purifier will be put out of action, and
the third or additional partition will shut off communication between the
inlet and outlet passages of the purifier, thereby avoiding the use of a
slide valve as was heretofore necessary. By giving the valve a further
quarter of a turn, so as to bring the outlet chamber or passage over the
closed chamber of the body of the valve, the centre valve will act as a
stop valve, as the gas would be entirely shut off.
To avoid the use of bends in entering centre valves for working, for
example, four purifiers, three on and one off, I form the body of the
valve with an additional compartment or division, which I close in at
the top, the gas main opening direct into this closed compartment or
division, which is in communication with the central main inlet in a
similar manner to that herein-before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thomas Walker in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd September 1875.
TY CUCI III ULIC ԿԵՆ ՆՇԱՆԵԱՆ
Office on the 22nd September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS WALKER, of Highgate, in the County of Middlesex, send
.greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Thomas Walker, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Thomas Walker, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thomas
Walker, 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 CENTRE VALVES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Thomas Walker, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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 next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thomas Walker, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say :—
This Invention consists in improvements in centre valves for working
gas purifiers, chiefly applicable to working gas purifiers on the method
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and dated

page_text: required.
In working gas purifiers according to the said Patent it is necessary
to provide a slide or other gas valve for each centre valve in order to
prevent foul gas finding a passage from the inlet to the outlet when a
purifier had to be bye passed on one side whilst in action on the other
side.
Now by my improvements in centre valves I am enabled to entirely
dispense with the use of the said slide or gas valves, thereby not only
saving their cost, but avoiding the time, labor, and inconvenience
involved in operating the said slide or gas valves.
By my improvements I also avoid the use of bends for connecting the
main inlet with the centre valve.
In applying my improvements to a four-way centre valve suitable for
working one purifier according to the method in my said Letters Patent
I form the centre valve with a central main inlet or passage, and the
body or lower portion of the valve with four divisions or compartments,
one of which is closed in at the top, the gas inlet pipe opening direct
into this covered compartment or division, which is also in communi-
cation with the central main inlet. The upper part of the centre valve
has three divisions or compartments instead of two only. This arrange-
ment allows of the purifier being worked in a similar manner to that
when an ordinary four-way centre valve is employed, but when a
purifier has to be bye passed on one side it is merely necessary to give
the valve half a turn, when the purifier will be put out of action, and
the third or additional partition will shut off communication between the
inlet and outlet passages of the purifier, thereby avoiding the use of a
slide valve as heretofore necessary. By giving the valve a further
quarter of a turn, so as to bring the outlet chamber or passage over the
closed chamber of the body of the valve, the centre valve will act as a
stop valve, as the gas would be entirely shut off.
To avoid the use of bends in entering centre valves for working (for
example) four purifiers, three on and one off, I form the body of the
valve with an additional compartment or division, which I close in at

page_text: the top, the gas main opening direct into this closed compartment or
division, which is in communication with the central main inlet in a
similar manner to that herein-before described. This additional com-
partment renders the valve available as a stop valve.

page_text: In the Drawing the inlet pipe F is shewn placed on the right-hand
side of the centre valve, but it will be understood that it can be placed
on the opposite side, or in any other suitable position. B is the upper part
of the centre valve, and a plan of the under side of which is shewn at
Figure 3. It has three compartments or divisions, the one marked E
forming the passage from the centre D to the inlet of the purifier or
other apparatus. The centre valve being thus constructed, I will now
proceed to describe its action by reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6
respectively, in which Figures the top of the upper part B of the valve
is shewn broken away, so as to shew the partitions of the upper part
lying upon the body facings, the said partitions being colored blue.
Figure 4 shews the valve in the position necessary for putting the
purifier or other apparatus into action.
The gas entering the inlet F passes into and through the covered
compartment or division C into the centre passage D, and thence into
the upper part and through the passage or compartment E into the
purifier inlet G. After the gas has passed through the purifying
materials it re-enters the valve through the purifier outlet H, as shewn
by the arrows, and passes thence through the valve to the main outlet I.
If a turn of half a revolution be now given to the upper part B of the
valve, so that it shall occupy the position shewn in Figure 5, the purifier
or other apparatus will be thrown out of action, that is to say, it will be
bye passed, and at the same time the communication will be shut off
from the inlet to the outlet of the purifier or other apparatus. This
effect will be easily understood by reference to Figure 5, by which it i
will be seen that through the turn of half a revolution given to the
valve the passage or compartment E of the upper part B of the valve
has been brought over the outlet passage or compartment J, Figure 2,
leading to the main outlet I. The gas will thus bye pass direct from
the inlet to the outlet of the valve without entering the purifier or other a
apparatus, and at the same time the said partition E will shut off com-
munication between the inlet and outlet of the purifier or other
apparatus.
I will now describe the motion required to make the valve act as a
stop valve, so as to shut off or stop the flow of gas altogether. To effect
this it is merely necessary to give the unner part B of the valve a turn.

page_text: be brought over the covered compartment or division C of the body A
of the valve, and will thus form a complete stop, there being no outlet
or egress by reason of the said compartment or division C being covered
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas Walker, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
10 Witness,
W. A. GILBEE,
4, South St.,
Finsbury.
WILLIAM THOMAS WALKER. (L.S.)