IMPROVEMENTS IN CANS OR APPARATUS FOR CONTAINING AND SUPPLYING LUBRICANTS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CANS OR APPARATUS FOR CONTAINING AND SUPPLYING
LUBRICANTS." -A communication from abroad by Alexandre Ireland,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th May 1875.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CANS OR APPARATUS FOR CONTAINING AND
SUPPLYING LUBRICANTS," a communication to me from abroad by Alexandre
Ireland, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Spinner, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to cans or apparatus for containing oil or other
lubricant to be supplied as required to the working parts of engines
and machinery, and to rubbing surfaces generally, for the purpose of

page_text: lubricating the same, and consists essentially in the combination with
the can or receptacle containing the labricant of a pump operated by
the thumb or finger for effecting and regulating the discharge of the
lubricant therefrom.
In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to fit in the body of
the can or receptacle (which may be supplied with the oil or other
lubricant through an opening on the top closed by a screw plug
and washer) a small pump barrel (by preference of copper), in which
works a piston or plunger composed of leather, india-rubber, or other
suitable material, and carrying a rod or stem which passes up through
the cover of the pump barrel, and terminates in a knob or button
for its convenience of actuating the piston. The bottom of the barrel
is provided with a pendent tube which is open at its lower end and
dips into the oil or other lubricant, whilst the upper end or inner
orifice is normally covered by a ball or valve placed in the interior of
the barrel and arranged in such a manner as to be capable of rising
and uncovering the orifice for the admission of the oil or other
lubricant under the influence of the suction when the piston ascends
after having been depressed by acting upon the knob or button before
mentioned.
.The motion of the suction ball or valve is limited by a cross piece or
stop, between which and the under side of the piston there is disposed a
helical spring, having for its function the re-elevating of the piston when
the pressure is removed from the knob or button.
The oil or other lubricant admitted into the pump barrel when the
piston rises is, on the redescent of the piston, forced through an aperture
which in the normal condition of the apparatus is covered by a ball
or valve similar to that before mentioned, into a chamber communi-
cating by means of a tube fitted, with a union joint or otherwise, with
the discharge nozzle or spout.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
31

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the 38th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
5 grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I,
the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, or 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
86
IN CANS OR APPARATUS FOR CONTAINING AND SUPPLYING LUBRICANTS," a commu-
nication to me from abroad by Alexandre Ireland, of Paris, in
the Republic of France, Spinner, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:―
The said Invention relates to cans or apparatus for containing oil or
other lubricant to be supplied as required to the working parts of
engines and machinery, and to rubbing surfaces generally, for the
purpose of lubricating the same, and consists essentially in the combi-
nation with the can or receptacle containing the lubricant of a pump
operated by the thumb or finger for effecting and regulating the
discharge of the lubricant therefrom.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that

page_text: purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts.
in both the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a longitudinal
vertical section of an oil can constructed and arranged in accordance
with this Invention; and Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the
samė.
A is the body of the oil can into which the oil is introduced through
the nozzle G, the latter being closed after the can is filled by a screw
plug H bearing against a washer h of leather or other suitable material."
In the body A of the can there is fitted a small pump B (composed by
preference of brass), the piston P of which (composed by preference of
leather or india-rubber) is depressed by means of the knob or button pi
provided at the extremity of the rod p, and between the piston P and
the cross bar C (which limits the motion of the ball-suction valve b
disposed above the upper orifice of the tube x) there is arranged a
spiral spring which serves to raise the piston as soon as the pressure-
is removed from the knob or button p¹; is the discharge aperture
closed by the ball valve 6' which works in a small chamber 6 placed in
communication with the discharge nozzle F by means of the pipe D.
This nozzle and the tube D are connected together by means of a union
joint E.
The apparatus is operated in the following manner :— -The piston Pis
depressed by the operator acting upon the knob or button p', and when
the pressure is removed the piston is raised again to its former position
under the action of the spring r, whereby a certain quantity of oil is
drawn in, the ball valve 6 being lifted, after which the oil thus admitted
is forced out through the channel x¹, the chamber 6³, the tube D, and
the nozzle F, by the act of again depressing the piston.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the com-
bination with a can or receptacle for containing the lubricant to be
supplied, of a pump for effecting and regulating the discharge of such

page_text: lubricant, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)