IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO TAPS AND COCKS FOR VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Howard, of the Town and County of
the Town of Southampton, Corn Factor, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO TAPS AND COCKS FOR VARIOUS USEFUL
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 21st August 1868, and dated the 28th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Howard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th February 1868.
I, RICHARD HOWARD, of the Town and County of the Town of
5 Southampton, Corn Factor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO TAPS AND COCKS FOR VARIOUS
USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements applicable to taps
and cocks, the object being to enable the plugs to be fitted to casks

page_text: or barrels in a more efficient manner than at present, where the plug
is driven into the bung-hole of the cask and tightened up, this process
generally involving the trouble of placing a washer or fold of paper or
other material around the plug to make it fit the bung-hole.
I propose to apply to the plug or to the hole of the cask a hollow i
cone of wood, gutta percha, india-rubber, metal, or other material, into
which the plug is fitted either before insertion in the cask, or the
.cone may be inserted in the cask and the plug afterwards driven in.
By this arrangement the plug will always protrude or extend from
the cask at a constant and uniform position, being regulated by the
relative diameters of the plug and hollow cone.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HOWARD, of the Town and County of the Town of Southampton, Corn
Factor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Howard, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Howard, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPLICABLE TO
TAPS AND COCKS FOR VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Howard, 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

page_text: 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 Richard Howard, 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:—
My Invention relates to certain improvements applicable to taps
and cocks, the object being to enable the plugs to be fitted to casks
or barrels in a more efficient manner than at present, where the plug
is driven into the bung-hole of the cask and tightened up, this process
generally involving the trouble of placing a washer or fold of paper
or other material around the plug to make it fit the bung-hole.
I apply to the plug or to the hole of the cask a hollow cone of wood,
gutta percha, india-rubber, metal, or other suitable material, into which
the plug is fitted either before insertion in the cask, or the cone may
be inserted in the cask and the plug afterwards driven in. By this
arrangement the plug will always protrude or extend from the cask
at a constant and uniform position, being regulated by the relative
diameters of the plug and hollow cone.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood I
annex the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a plan
view of the hollow cone a, through which the plug is passed and
fitted, the cone adapting itself to the size of the hole of the cask;
Fig. 2 is a section of Fig. 1, the same letters denoting corresponding
parts in each Figure.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark, in
conclusion, that I do not limit myself to the precise details or con-
figuration of parts I have expressed and shewn, as the same may be
slightly varied without departing from the principle of my Invention,
nor do I restrict myself to the use of any definite materials; but what
I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited
Letters Patent are, the hollow cones of wood, metal, or other suitable
material applicable as intervening washers between the plugs of taps

page_text: and cocks and the holes of casks or barrels, or other similar receptacles,
substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Howard, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight..
Witness,
JOHN YOUNG,
22, South Front,
Southampton.
RICHARD HOWARD. (L.S.)