IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PACKING CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO PISTON RODS, PUMPS, AND SUCH LIKE, AND FOR FORMING THE JOINTS OF GAS, STEAK, OR WATER PIPES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Ripley, of Brook Street," West Square,
Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PACKING CHIEFLY
APPLICABLE TO PISTON RODS, PUMPS, AND SUCH LIKE, AND FOR FORMING THE
JOINTS OF GAS, STEAK, OR WATER PIPES."
Sealed the 1st December 1863, and dated the 25th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by: the said Abraham Ripley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th June
1863. :
I, ABRAHAM RIPLEY, of Brook Street, West Square, Lambeth, in the
5 County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PACKING, CHIEFLY
APPLICABLE TO PISTON RODS, PUMPS, AND SUCH LIKE, AND FOR FORMING THE JOINTS
OF GAS, STEAM, OR WATER PIPES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in forming a packing of a strand of cotton, hemp, or
▸ other material capable of absorbing oil or tallow, and covering it or weaving,
round it a series of wires or small cords, so that it shall take the shape of a
small cord; this cord I wind round the piston or pump rod or such like article
to be packed, and compress it with a gland in the usual manner.
: My Invention is also applicable for making the joints of gas, steam, or water
pipes, the peculiar formation of the packing rendering it always soft and

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Ripley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAHAM
RIPLEY, of 14, Brook Street, West Square, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date.the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Abraham Ripley, Her special licence that I, the said Abraham Ripley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Abraham
Ripley, 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 THE METHOD
AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PACKING, CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO PISTON RODS, PUMPS, AND
SUCH LIKE, AND FOR FORMING THE JOINTS OF GAS, STEAM, OR WATER PIPES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I,. the said Abraham Ripley, my 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 Abraham Ripley, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in employing as a packing for piston rods and other.
parts of machines requiring to be similarly packed what I call a packing cord,
manufactured as hereafter described, and such packing cord is also suitable for
the forming the joints of gas, steam, and water pipes. The peculiarity of this.

page_text: packing cord consists in its having the interior formed of porous fibrous
substances, which are saturated with oil, tallow, or other suitable lubricant,
whilst the exterior of the cord is covered by a weaving composed wholly or
partly of wire.
The packing cord when used. for packing a piston rod or other part of
machinery requiring to be similarly packed is either wound round the piston
rod spirally in a suitable stuffing box or chamber, or a series of lengths are
passed once round: the piston rod, so that the two ends of each length meet,
and the successive lengths are arranged in such manner that the ends of one
length of the cord do not come opposite the ends of the next or neighboring
lengths, but break joint therewith.
The packing of a piston rod or other part of machinery requiring to be
similarly packed having been arranged as above explained, the packing is to
be compressed by a gland or other suitable instrument to retain the packing
under pressure.
In manufacturing a packing cord it is preferred to employ several yarns of
soft spun hemp, but other porous fibrous material may be used in place
thereof, or combined therewith; the quantity of such yarns used in each case
will be more or less, according to their size and the desired diameter of the
packing cord. In weaving the external cover or coating of wire it is preferred
to employ brass wire or wire formed of other alloy of copper or zinc, but
wire of other metal may be used, and it is also preferred that the whole
weaving should be of. wire, but yarns of fibrous material may be used
therewith.
The weaving and applying of the wire fabric or cover around the bundle or
cord of porous fibrous yarns may be performed in various ways, but I prefer to
weave the same by a braiding machine, though it might be by a loom suitable
for weaving tubular seamless fabrics, or the wire fabric may be first woven
and then sewed or otherwise fastened around the cord or bundle of yarns.
The saturating of the fibres of the packing cord with oil, tallow, or proper
lubricating materials may be before applying the outer weaving of wire or
afterwards; I prefer, however, that the yarns of fibrous materials should be
first saturated with the lubricating matter or compound before producing or
applying the woven wire fabric thereto.
I would remark that I make no claim to the construction or use of braiding
machines, or looms, or other mechanism used in producing or applying the
requisite covering of wire fabric, as the same are such as have been before
used when weaving wire and other fabrics around internal cores when
producing articles suitable for other purposes. When packings with flat sides

page_text: are required I prefer to produce them of a cylindrical form, as above described,
and then to flatten them by the pressure of rollers or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Ripley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
זת זהים.