IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GAUGE COCKS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GAUGE COCKS, ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES."-A communication from abroad by
Thomas Aldridge Weston, of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New
Jersév. United States of America.
Sealed the 16th February 1875, and dated the 18th August 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Olayton
Mewburn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th August 1874.
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer; do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GAUGE
COCKS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:
--
This Invention consists in making steam gauge cocks with a scroll
cam or screw thread on the stem, and with a box, sleeve, chamber, or

page_text: cap (containing whatever packing may be desirable) covering the end
of the stem, and provided with a corresponding scroll or screw thread,
or with a lug to take into or against the scroll cam or screw thread on
the stem. The box, sleeve, chamber, or cap has rigidly attached to it a
weighted handle or weight, by means of which the cock is opened and
closed. The nozzle or outlet for the escape of the steam or water from
the cock is in the box or sleeve, and in this nozzle are one or more
transverse pins or equivalents to divide the current of steam and project
it in a close column from the nozzle.
The steam or water under pressure from the boiler passes through
the stem, and is stopped by the packing against the inside of the outer
end of the box. But by slightly raising the handle the scroll or lug of
the box is raised on the scroll or cam of the stem, and as the friction
surface of this cam inclines upwards and towards the outer end of the
stem the pressure of the steam or water inside, against the packed end:
of the box, now forces the box outwardly, and the steam or water
escapes through the nozzle. The cock is closed by simply pushing
down or dropping the handle, the scrolls or cams assisted by the weight
effectually locking it..
It is preferred to insert the packing through a slot in the top of the
outer end of the box, and to clinch it through a like slot in the lower
side of the box. The handle and the box can be detached for cleaning
by simply reversing the handle to the opposite side and slipping the box
off the stem,
The action of the pins in the nozzle is as follows:-When the current 2
meets them it is parted into four jets (supposing two pins at right angles
to each other are used) with a tendency to fly sideways; but the sides of
the nozzle reverse this tendency, and they join below after rushing
together and leave the nozzle, under the influence of this reversal, a
close stream, the result of an inclination, receiving its impetus from four 3
different quarters, to dash down against each other.
The improved cocks are also applicable to hydrants and other like uses
where cocks are required

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Clayton Mewburn, Her special
licence that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Clayton Mewburn, 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 Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GAUGE COCKS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO
OTHER PURPOSES," (a communication from abroad by Thomas Aldridge
Weston, of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States
of America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Clayton Mewburn, 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 John Clayton Mewburn, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in making steam gauge cocks with a scroll

page_text: cam or screw thread on the stem, and with a box, sleeve, chamber, or
cap (containing whatever packing may be desirable) covering the end
of the stem, and provided with a corresponding scroll or screw thread,
or with a lug to take into or against the scroll cam or screw thread on
the stem. The box, sleeve, chamber, or cap has rigidly attached to it a
weighted handle or weight, by means of which the cock is opened and
closed. The nozzle or outlet for the escape of the steam or water from
the cock is in the box or sleeve.
The steam or water under pressure from the boiler passes through
the stem, and is stopped by the packing against the inside of the outer
end of the box. But by slightly raising the handle the scroll or lug of
the box is raised on the scroll or cam of the stem, and as the surface of
this scroll inclines upwards and towards the outer end of the stem the
pressure of the steam or water inside against the packed end of the
box forces the box outwardly, and the steam or water escapes through
the nozzle. The cock is closed by simply pushing down or dropping
the handle, the scrolls or cams assisted by the weight effectually

page_text: nozzle. On lowering or releasing the handle the scrolls or screws C and .
E assisted by the weight again come into action, and effectually close
the cock until the weight is again lifted. When it is required to remove
the box for cleaning, the handle is rotated until the scrolls or screws
and E are released from each other; the box may then be slipped off.
Figure 4 is a sectional plan of another steam gauge cock similar to
that represented in Figure 1, but with the addition of a removable
perforated plug I and of a cap K of peculiar form. The object of the
plug I, or rather of the small hole thereip, is to prevent the priming
over of water when the level is very near the hole. The object of the
cap K, a detached view of which in elevation is shewn in Figure 5, is
to limit the upward movement of the handle. It is screwed upon the
inner end of the box D, and therefore moves therewith, but by acting
against the scroll C it prevents the box being turned beyond a given
limit, and therefore prevents the handle being lifted higher than
requisite. To remove the box for cleaning, the cap K must first be
unscrewed. The packing shewn in Figure 4 differs from that in
Figure 1 in that the lead washer or packing H is contained in a recess
in a loose brass washer H¹. When this compound washer is pushed
out it can be readily refitted with a new lead washer and then replaced.
In the cock represented in Figure 6 the packing consists of a
strip of lead H passed through two opposite slots (see the partial
side view, Figure 7), and then bent right and left over the end of
the box D. In Figure 6 also, instead of the scroll or screw in the
box D, the box carries a lug E³ to act upon the scroll C of the stem.
The upward movement of the handle is limited in this case by a pin L
passed through a hole in the scroll C. By taking out this pin the box D
can be removed for cleaning.
The improved cocks, although specially intended as steam gauge
cocks, are also applicable to hydrants and other like uses where cocks
are required.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: screwing action, whereby the cock is self-closing, substantially as
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.