IMPROVEMENTS IN TEST, TRY, OR GAUGE COCKS FOR ASCERTAINING THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF WATER OR PROVISIONAL SPATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adam Dixon, of Howard Road, Penge, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TEST, TRY,
OR GAUGE COCKS FOR ASCERTAINING THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF WATER OR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adam Dixon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th November 1874.
I, ADAM DIXON, of Howard Road, Penge, in the County of Surrey,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TEST, TRY, OR GAUGE COCKS FOR ASCERTAINING THE HEIGHT OP LEVEL OF
WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS, OR OF STEAK IN STEAM OR OTHER BOILERS OR VESSELS,"
to be as follows:-
The object of these improvements is to so arrange one fitting or
) instrument so as to do all the work which at present requires two
or three test or gauge cocks such as are now ordinarily made and
used.

page_text: I effect these improvements by the addition of a tail pipe or hollow
radial arm to the test cock so arranged as to work inside the boiler
when the cock is fitted thereto in a line with the proper working level.
On being acted upon by a handle outside the boiler the hollow radial
arm may be depressed or raised and either water or steam will blow off
through it if steam is up. The blowing off is regulated by a subsidiary
cock or valve forming part of the one fitting.
The absolute height of the water is ascertained by means of an index
plate against which a finger carried by the outside handle works, the
movement of the arm inside corresponding thereto. If steam is down
the peculiar construction of the open mouth of the radial arm (which
is formed with a pocket) enables it to scoop up the water from any level
should it be below the proper working level.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
•
filed by the said Adam Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADAM
DIXON, of Howard Road, Penge, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Adam Dixon, Her special
license that I, the said Adam Dixon, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Adam Dixon, my 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
TEST, TRY, OR GAUGE COCKS FOR ASCERTAINING THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF WATER
OR OTHER LIQUIDS, OR OF STEAN IN STEAM OR OTHER BOILERS OR VESSELS,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Adam Dixon, my

page_text: 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 next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Adam Dixon, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :—
Every well appointed boiler is fitted with two or three test or try
cocks besides the ordinary glass gauge so as to secure not only a
double means of ascertaining the height of the water within, but also
to provide against any temporary inconvenience or risk of danger arising
from the frequent breakage of the glass tubes.
It is intended that these improvements shall enable one fitting or
instrument to do all the work which at present requires two or three
of the test cocks as now ordinarily made and used to gauge the varying
heights of water or steam in boilers, and I effect this by constructing
a hollow plug cock with a pipe or tube or hollow radial arm open at
one end, the other end being attached to the plug, and the whole is so
made that when fitted to the boiler the hollow radial arm shall revolve
and describe the arc of a circle inside, upon being actuated through the
hollow plug by means of a handle standing outside the boiler, and which
is attached to the other end of the hollow plug. The flow or blow off
of the water or steam is regulated by a subsidiary cock or valve
attached either to the outside barrel or body of the cock, or to the
hollow plug itself.
It is intended that the main handle of the hollow plug shall be fitted
with a finger or pointer marking against an index plate the absolute
respective heights of either water or steam in relation to the proper
working level at which the water should stand in the boiler, and at
which level the improved cock or fitting is to be fixed.
The two Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed illustrate two methods
of constructing test, try, or gauge cocks according to my Invention,
Sheet No. 1 shewing the fitting made with a subsidiary blow-off plug

page_text: cock, while Sheet No. 2 illustrates the same effected by a screw valve
in the hollow plug itself.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the
Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the same figures and letters &
are used in both to denote similar illustrations and parts in each.
Figure 1'is a front elevation; Figuro 2 is a plan view; Figures 3 and 4
are sectional elevations on the centre lines K, K, and Z, Z, Figures 2,
Sheets 1 and 2.
A is the main body of hollow plug cock; B is the hollow plug; ]
O is the radial arm; D is the subsidiary blow-off cock as shewn on
Sheet No. 1; E is the main handle actuating the hollow plug B and the
radial arm C.
In Sheet No. 2 G shews the screw valve with hand wheel H to
effect the blowing off instead of the subsidiary cock D, as shewn in:
Sheet No. 1. Assuming steam to be up in the boiler, should tho water
be at its proper level or above it, on opening the subsidiary cock D or
valve G the water will at once declare itself by blowing off, but if not
then by working the handle E on the hollow plug B so as to depress
the radial arm C inside the boiler the absolute height of low water will,
if it be within the radius of the arm, at once be ascertained the moment
it begins to flow through the subsidiary cock or valve, as the super-
incumbent pressure of steam will force the water upwards through the
radial arm, while a contrary direction of the handle on the hollow plug
so as to raise the arm inside will indicate either steam or too much
water. On the other hand should steam be down and the water stand
below its proper level then the height of the water can also be ascer-
tained through the peculiar construction of the mouth of the arm
pocketwise, enabling it to lift or scoop the water up from any level
within the radius of the arm, and by noting on the index plate the level
to which the handle and consequently the scoop has been lowered; then
by a contrary action or raising the handle water will flow through the
hollow plug if its level has been reached by the scoop.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details

page_text: above set forth, as the same may be varied without departing from the
principle of my Invention; but I would have it understood that what
I do claim as my Invention and desire to secure by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the attachment of a hollow arm, tube,
or pipe with or without a scoop end, so attached to the end of a test, try,
or gauge cock inside the boiler as to be readily worked from the outside,
and so that the open end or mouth of such arm, tube, or pipe inside the
boiler may be varied to different heights or levels, whereby I combine
in one fitting the means of ascertaining not only the fixed levels or
heights of water or steam possessed by the present arrangement of using
two or more test or try cocks, but also any intermediate spaces within
the range of said arm, tube, or pipe.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adam Dixon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
undead and want fra