IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES AND TAPS FOR HOT AND COLD WATER, GAS, STEAM, AND OTHER LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Goode Messenger, of Loughborough, in the
County of Leicester, Valve Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VALVES AND TAPS FOR HOT AND COLD WATER, GAS, STEAM, AND OTHER
LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Goode Messenger at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th April 1881.
THOMAS GOODE MESSENGER, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Valvo
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES AND TAPS FOR HOT AND COLD WATER,
GAS, STEAM, AND OTHER LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS."
My improvements consist in the first place in forming a valve or tap body made
of brass, iron, or other suitable material in the well known usual form, or modified
to suit the numerous purposes for which valves or taps are used, in the interior of
which I place a partition with an aperture through same of the desired size
perpendicularly, horizontally, or at an angle of 45° or other desired degree. Upon
this partition I place a valve seating of indiarubber, cork, felt, metal, or other
desired material or combination of materials, having through it or then a conical
or other shaped aperture, the smaller end of same resting upon the before named
partition. >
Secondly. I construct a loose ring of brass, iron, or other suitable material, and
fix it upon the upper side of valve seating, with an aperture through same some-
what larger than the upper or large conical end of valve seating, which ring is
secured in its place by metal bars projecting from valve or tap cover or their
equivalent; these metal bars also ensure cone (afterwards described) being kept in
its proper position.
Thirdly. I construct a cone or other shaped metal plug or valve of suitable size
and shape to fit (when forced into position) the above named seating. Upon this
plug I form a projection or shoulder, which is made to press upon the loose ring,
and by this means press the flexible seating in a lateral direction tightly upon the
cone or other shaped plug, thus making it water or fluid tight. The plug is kept

page_text: in position and not allowed to turn round by forming two or more slots in shoulders
of same, and fitting them to before named metal bars, upon which the plug moves
freely or by an equivalent device.
Fourthly. To raise or lower the movable cone plug I form an internal screw in
same, and with a corresponding external screw on a spindle fitted with handle,
wheel, or other appliance, or an internal screw may be formed through a boss or
other arrangement forming a part of or attached to valve or tap cover,
and a
corresponding screw formed on spindle to work in same, and thus operate upon
movable plug. When the plug is operated upon by this means I attach the spindle
to plug, so as to revolve freely in same by means of pins, flanges, or their
equivalent, so as to lift the plug out of seating or force it into same; or I sometimes
operate upon plug by means of a lever, bevil wheels, gearing, quadrant, worm,
float ball, or other appliance suited to the situation or purpose for which valve or
tap is required. The spindle or worm rod is made to work through a gland
attached to valve or tap in the well known usual way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Goode Messenger in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th October 1881.
THOMAS GOODE MESSENGER, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Valve
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES AND TAPS FOR HOT AND COLD WATER,
GAS, STEAM, AND OTHER LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS."
I construct a valve or tap body of brass, iron, or other suitable material in the
well known usual form, or modified to suit the various purposes for which valves
or taps are used, and having in its interior a chamber of a cylindrical or other
convenient form, into which is fitted the valve seating, which consists of a ring of
indiarubber, cork, vulcanite, felt, metal, or other suitable material or combination
of materials, and having a cross section of such a form as to suit the special
purpose for which the tap is designed.
The seating, although so made as to fit the chamber, is moveable, and can readily
be replaced when worn; it rests upon a flange or fixed ring at the bottom of the
chamber.
Upon the seating is placed a loose ring of brass, iron, or other suitable material.
The tap plug is made of metal or other suitable material, and is raised and lowered
by a handle and screw, or in any other convenient way; it is so arranged that
when the tap is being closed it passes down through the above named rings, and
in so doing presses down the loose ring, so that the flexible seating is firmly
compressed between the fixed ring and the loose ring, whereby it is caused to
expand laterally, and in so expanding becomes pressed against the wall of the
chamber and the surface of the plug, thereby making a good joint. Instead of
making the seating of a flexible material and the plug rigid, the seating may, if

page_text: preferred, be made rigid and the plug be made in part of a flexible material, which
can be compressed between a fixed flange and a loose ring, as in the case above
described, the flange and the ring however in this case being attached to the plug
instead of to the seating.
The nature of my Invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the
annexed Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of an ordinary water tap containing my improve-
ments; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the line a, b. A is the tap body;
D is the plug; B, the plug spindle working through a stuffing box C; E, the
flexible seating; F, the loose ring; G, the flange or fixed ring, the aperture of
which must be large enough to admit the plug freely; H, H, are guide bars, shown
in dotted lines in Fig. 1, which may either form part of the casting of the tap body,
or be cast in one piece with the loose ring or with the tap cover, or constructed in
any other suitable manner, and which drop into notches or slots in the flange or
shoulder K of the plug, by which the said plug is prevented from turning round
as the tap is opened and closed. The plug D is made hollow to admit the end of
the spindle B, which in the Figures has a screw at its extremity working into an
internal screw in the plug, by which means the latter is raised and lowered; the
same object may however be effected by forming an internal screw in the cover of
the tap, or in a suitable attachment to the same, and a corresponding external screw
on the spindle, in which latter case the spindle is connected at its lower extremity
with the plug in such a way as to raise and lower the same as the handle is
turned.
The tap or valve may also be operated upon by any other of the well known
means in ordinary use for that end, as, for instance, a lever, bevil wheels, quadrant,
float ball, gearing, worm, or other appliance suited to the situation or purpose for
which the tap is required.
The plug, as shown in the Drawings, is of a conical form. I do not, however,
confine myself to this shape, as the plug may be cylindrical or of any other suitable
shape, in which case however the relative size of the loose ring and the form of the
cross section of the seating must be modified accordingly.
In Fig. 1 the tap is shown open, the dotted lines showing the position of the
plug when closed; pressure is brought to bear upon the loose ring F by the descent
of the flange or shoulder K of the plug D, and in this case the aperture of the
loose ring must be large enough to admit the plug freely. In Fig. 3, however,
which is the form I prefer for a steam tap, the loose ring is so made as to fit
accurately the surface of the plug, which in this case should be of a conical form
or an approximation thereto; by this arrangement I obtain a double security for
the soundness of the valve, the fit of the plug into the ring, and the expansion of
the flexible packing caused by the compression of the latter between the said ring
and the flange.
Fig 4 shows the modified arrangement in which the flexible ring forms a
portion of the plug. In this case the seating may be either flexible or solid, and
may either form a part of the body of the tap, as in Fig. 4, M, or may be moveable,
as shown in Fig. 5, M, in which latter case it may consist if desired of a different
material to the body of the tap. In Fig. 4 the flexible ring E is compressed as
the plug descends between the flange or shoulder K forming part of the plug, and
the loose ring F, which latter is kept in its place by a nut and screw N or other
equivalent arrangement, the said loose ring resting upon a flange or fixed pro-
jection or projections G which support the said ring when pressure is brought to
bear upon it by the descent of the plug.
Fig. 5 shows an arrangement by which the seating and cone may be of the same
material, flexible or not, the seating at the same time being moveable so as to be
readily renewed when worn.
Fig. 6 shows the application of the flexible seating compressed between two
rings to a ball cock, the arrangement of seating and plug being substantially the
same as in Fig. 1, but reversed in position. I prefer however to substitute for the

page_text: plug flange or shoulder K, Fig. 1, a series of projections K, K, Fig. 6. In this
case the cock is opened and closed by a Boat and lever in the usual way; one end
of the lever only is shown in the Drawing passing through a slot in the plug
spindle, which is hollow and used as a water way; this is effected by boring several
holes in the plug shown at O, by which when the tap 'is opened the water coming
from the pipe P flows into the hollow plug, and thence from the orifice R into the
cistern or other receptacle.
The advantages of my above described improvements are, that the action of the
tap is not liable to be interfered with by dirt or bits of any foreign substance
finding a lodgment in the joint; as these are swept away at once by the flow of
water, it is not liable to become jammed or set fast, as from the peculiar construction
and the nature of the materials employed corrosion is not liable to take place;
the seating and plug, or parts thereof, are easily removed and replaced by new
ones when worn, and that in the case of steam or hot water taps, or in the case of
any hot fluid, the inconveniences arising from the expansion and contraction of
the metal or other material forming the tap are obviated, as the flexible material
will make up as the metal contracts or expands.
Having now described my Invention, and the method of performing the same, I
wish it to be understood that what I claim is,―
CLAIMS.
1st. The application to taps and valves of a movable flexible seating in the
form of a ring fitted into a chamber in the top, and so placed between a fixed
flange or ring and a loose ring that it becomes compressed between them, and
thereby is caused to expand laterally and make a sound joint by the pressure of
the plug, substantially in the manner above described and shown.
2nd. The employment of a tap plug consisting in part of a flexible material in
combination with a rigid or flexible seating, the said flexible material being in the
form of a ring, and being so placed between a flange which forms part of the said
plug and a loose ring, that it is compressed, and thereby caused to expand laterally
and make a sound joint by the pressure of the said plug, substantially in the
manner above described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Goode Messenger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty sixth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.