AN IMPROVED OIL CAN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Locke, of Edgeley, in the County
of Cheshire, Draper, for the Invention of constructing "AN IMPROVED
OIL CAN."
Sealed the 12th January 1858, and dated the 15th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Job
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Peti
15th July 1857.
I, WILLIAM JOHN LOCKE, of Edgeley, in the County of Chesh
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for constr
IMPROVED OIL CAN," to be as follows:-
My improvement consists in the construction of an "oil can
machinery and similar purposes, which will allow any waste oil
down the outside of the tube after having been used to return
by a seperate tube, which tube is so arranged that no oil shall es
when the can is in use.
To show the internal construction of my "Improved Oil Can"]
a section, in which A represents the oil tube for dropping oil
on the machinery; B, the seperate tube by which the waste
oil returns to the can C. And here I would remark, that'
no more oil must be put into the can C than will fill it up
to the line indicated at d, d, so that if the can be inverted
and the oil allowed to run out of the pipe A, the end of the
pipe B will admit air above the surface of the oil; and in.
the same way if the can. falls on its side no oil will run out
of the pipes A or B. But to secure these advantages the d
storekeeper or person entrusted with the oil must be pro-
vided with an exact measure, and when a can is brought to

page_text: be filled with oil, he must first unscrew the pipe A and completely empty the
can, then pour in the exact measure of oil, which must not fill the can above
the line d, d.
I claim as my Invention the general arrangement as described, the advan-
tages of which are mainly obtained by carrying the lower end of the tube B
to or near the centre of the oil can, as seen in the sketch.
-
•
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William John Locke in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHN LOCKE, of Edgeley, in the County of Cheshire, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William John Locke, Her special licence that I, the said "William
John Locke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William John Locke, 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 "AN
IMPROVED OIL CAN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William John. Locke, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and, seals, should particu-
larly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William John Locke, 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, that, is to say :-
My Invention consists in the construction of "An Improved Oil Can," for
oiling machinery, and similar purposes, which oil can is so constructed that
any waste oil which may run down the outside of the spout or tube after
having been used shall return into the oil can by a separato tube arranged

page_text: for that purpose; and also when the oil can is accidentally or otherwise laid
on its side, no oil shall escape or run out of the can.
The construction of "my Improved Oil Can" will be seen by reference to
the annexed Drawing, in which Fig. 1 represents a section of "my Improved
Oil Can," of the full size for ordinary purposes; and Fig. 2 a plan of the
same, the size and form of the can being varied according to the purpose for
which it is to be used. In this Drawing A represents the spout or tube for
dropping oil on the machinery, and B the separate tube, by which the waste
oil on the outside of the tube A returns to the oil can C. And here I would
remark that no more oil must be put into the can C than will fill it up to the
line indicated at d, d. This line d, d, it will be observed, is below the end of
the tube B, so that when the oil can is inverted and oil allowed to run out at
the tube A, the tube B will admit air above the surface of the oil in the can
C, and if the oil can is placed on its side, no oil will escape from either of the
tubes A or B. But to secure these advantages it is necessary that the store-
keeper or person who is entrusted to fill the oil can must be provided with an
exact measure, and when a can is to be filled with oil, he must first unscrew
the tube A and completely empty the can; it must then be filled from the
measure, which holds the exact quantity to fill the can up to the line indicated
at d, d.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Oil
Can," its construction, and the advantages it possesses over the ordinary oil can,
I claim as my Invention the general construction of such improved oil can,"
which mainly consists in carrying the end of the tube B to or near to the
middle or centre of the oil can, as represented in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Locke, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, One thousand
icht Landed and of night
WILLIAM JOHN LOCKE. (L.S.)
Declared at Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, this Twelfth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight,
before me,
JAMES BARROW,
A Commissioner to administer Oaths in
Chencore in England