CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS, VALVES, AND FIRE-PLUGS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Ashpitel and John Whichcord the
younger, of Carlton Chambers, Regent Street, in the City of West-
minster and County of Middlesex, Architects, for the Invention
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Ashpitel
and John Whichcord the younger at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th October 1852.
We, ARTHUR ASHPITEL and JOHN WHICHCORD the younger, do
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
COCKS, VALVES, AND FIRE-PLUGS" to be as follows:-
The adaptation of an eccentric or system of guides and eccentric
motion placed in the interior of a cock, tube, or pipe, so as to act on a
spindle rod or cleat for opening or closing a valve or disc placed inside
or at the orifice of the cock, tube, pipe, or vessel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Ashpitel and John Whichcord the
younger in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
ARTHUR ASHPITEL and Joux WHICHCORD the younger, of Carlton
Chambers, Regent Street, in the City of Westminster, Architects, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Arthur Ashpitel and John Whichcord
the younger, Her special licence that we, the said Arthur Ashpitel and
John Whichcord the younger, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Arthur Ashpitel and John Whichcord the
younger, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN COCKS, VALVES, AND FIRE-PLUGS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Arthur Ashpitel and John
Whichcord the younger, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, should particularly describe and a-certain 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 I'atent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
l'atent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Arthur Ashpitel and John
Whichcord the younger, 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 state-
ment (that is to say):
We claim the Invention of the application of an eccentric and cam

page_text: combined with guides, and placed within a tube, for opening and closing
a valve. We prefer the valve being made with the edge bevilled or
slightly conical. The cain is fixed on a shaft which passes through the
tube, with or without a stuffing box, and which is worked by a lever or
handle or other known means; the eccentric is moved by the cam, and
kept in its place by certain guides placed inside the tube, so that by
these means combined a steady rectilinear motion is attained during the
travel of the valve. And we claim the said eccentric and cam when so
placed on that side of the valve not having pressure, and that they may
be worked and used in such steady manner without a stuffing box; and
we say that we prefer the said eccentric being made very nearly of the
form of the mathematical curves called the epicycloid or the trochoid,
but that we do not confine ourselves to the aforesaid curves, but other
mathematical curves may be applied to a like purpose. And we say that
we have placed the said eccentric and cam within the said tubular part
of the valve, so that the action shall be direct, and yet they shall not be
wetted with the liquors, or come in contact with the fluids, except at the
moment of their passage. And we say that by these means a cheap,
sound, and effectual driving cock may be made, as well as the larger
species of valves. And we say that we prefer that the plug or disc
should not be of the form of the old washer and waste, which is long,
and the sides of which are at a very small angle with each other, but
that it should be more like a disc and ground at a greater angle, so that
on the access of any hot liquor, steam, or fluid the expansion shall not
cause the plug or valve to gag or to stick in the washer or seat, and
that in closing the valve it shall come home to its scating and insure a
tight joint under any pressure, the only difference being that it does not
enter the seating so deeply. And we say also that by those means the
chance of cohesion from other causes is much lessened. In large valves,
where the cock will be subject to very heavy pressures, friction rollers
might be used where the surfaces meet, and that facets might be cut
in the edge of the cam to fix and retain the same in certain positions.
And we say that this valve may be readily connected to different ser-
vice pipes in conveying liquors of various temperatures, and that they
may also be connected to mixing chambers, so as to be particularly

page_text: useful for baths, or for dye houses, breweries, manufactories, and from
their perfect soundness under pressure of high columns of water pecu-
liarly fitted for water supply. And we say that such parts of the metal
as shall come in contact with the fluid can readily be galvanized or
electro-plated, or otherwise coated, so as to resist any chemical action
thereon.
And in order that our Invention may be better understood we have
annexed Drawings shewing the application of the eccentric a, cam b,
and guides c, for opening and closing the valve d, but we do not confine
ourselves to the particular form or configuration therein shewn.
Figure 1, is a vertical section of a cock through the stuffing box, and
Figure 2, is a horizontal section of the same. a, eccentric; b, cam;
c, c, guides; d, valve; d, spindle; e, shaft; f, lover handle; g, valve
seating; h, stuffing box.
Figures 3, and 4, shew the application of the eccentric to a driving
cock. Similar letters refer to similar parts described in Figures 1, and 2.
The same application may also be adopted for fire-plugs, and the
spindle made to be opened by means of a key fitted to the shaft e, or
by any other known application, and a nozzle or a branch pipe can be
applied to the tube or casing to conduct the water, as may be desired.
Note. The cam itself can be made of an eccentric form, and to act
on the guides, as shewn in Figure 5.
In witness whereof, we, the said Arthur Ashpitel and John
Whichcord the younger, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
ARTHUR ASH PITEL. (L.S.)
JOHN WHICHCORD. (L.S.)
ARTHUR ASH PITEL. (L.S.)
JOHN WHICHCORD. (L.S.)