IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS AND VALVES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TAPS AND VALVES."-A communication from abroad by Jean Antoine
Clement, Antoine Crozy, and Andró Morateur, all of 23, Boulevard de
Strasbourg, Paris, France.
Scaled the 10th October 1862, and dated the 17th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
17th April 1862.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS AND VALVES," (communicated to me from abroad
by Jean Antoine Clement, Antoine Crozy, and André Morateur, all of 23,
Boulevard de Strasbourg, Paris, France,) to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are the construction of taps or valves applicable
to water pipes or passages, to water posts and mains, to house supplies, as well
as to pipes used for delivering water to towns and other places.
The Invention consists in causing the valves through which the water passes
to open by an opposite pressure of water, which counterbalances the resistance
offered by the inlet water to keep the valve open, and to allow it to close
gradually without jerk or shock as hereafter explained. When the tap or
valve is applied to water posts or water mains, provision is made for allowing
the water, which during winter would be exposed to the action of frost, to run
away when the tap is turned off, for this purpose the tap is placed under

page_text: ground out of reach of the action of frost, a pipe conveys the water to the
surface which when the tap is open becomes filled with water, and it would
necessarily remain so even after the tap is closed, unless some means were
afforded for emptying it; the object of one part of this Invention is to
accomplish this.
The tap is divided into four distinct parts carrying a discharge pipe at its
upper end. The tap is divided into three chambers or cells which together
form the barrel, which is made of cast iron or other material and in three
distinct parts; it is screw threaded at its lower end to attach a pipe to it, and
has flanges at top, whereby it is connected by bolts to the second chamber, a
leather, caoutchouc, or other washer being placed between. The second
chamber has on one side an exit pipe, and the rest is covered by an oblique
'truncated cap, below the cover the valve is fitted, the upper and lower ends of
which terminate in flanges and are secured by bolts. In the cover there are
passages in communication with the lower and upper end of the barrel. The
cap or cover itself is composed of three parts, one of which is made of cast iron,
with a projecting rib at top, of sufficient thickness for passages to be bored
through or formed in it. This cover is secured to the barrel by flanges
and bolts, and the joint is rendered secure by a caoutchouc washer,
but a leather, metal, or other washer may be employed. This washer is
corrugated to allow for expansion and forms a sort of elastic partition between
the second and third chambers. The cover is provided with a tap made by
preference of copper inserted in the cap, and there secured by screws. The
valve key is bored vertically, having two small holes at top, it has also a square
head for turning it, and is fitted with a lever carrying a hook which abuts
against a cam stop. The valve rod is screw-threaded at both upper and lower
ends, and carries three blades or wings, each set at an angle with the valve
rod; they act as guides to the rod during its up and down motions; two of the
wings extend up a portion only of the rod, while the third extends from end to
end. Two discs are placed above and below the screw-threaded portions of
the rod, the upper of which receives a copper washer to which a caoutchouc
washer is affixed, which latter presses against another copper washer. The
lower part of the rod forms the valve, and a disc holds the three wings on this
point; the valve itself is composed of a caoutchouc washer embedded in a
copper disc, the edge of which is bent to clip the caoutchouc all round, the
washer or thin copper disc being pressed down by a second washer. Water
which enters by the pipe at the base of the first compartment presses the
valve upwards as well as the corrugated caoutchouc disc before mentioned,
and thereby gradually closes the valve. Now by turning the key in one

page_text: direction, water is allowed to pass by the apertures in the cover in the third
or upper chamber above the caoutchouc disc, which as it fills the chamber tho
caoutchouc becomes gradually depressed against its metal disc upon the valve,
and opens it, whereby a passage is afforded between the valve and its seat for
water to enter from below, that is, from the first to the second chamber, and
thence by the exit to the pipes from which it is withdrawn. The valve key bas
two holes in it, the lower affords a passage for water to and from the chamber
above the valve while the upper is for affording a direct communication with the
atmosphere and the same chamber which is necessary when the tap is first turned.
The arrangement for preventing the stoppage of the pipe by liquid freezing
therein, consists in the employment of taps arranged in such manner that when
the exit tap is open the discharge tap is closed, and vice versâ ; and this is
effected by means of the cam on the key lever before described. There is an
apparatus or vane for regulating the supply of water consisting of a cylindrical
chamber somewhat bent at bottom; inside there is a screw-threaded rod passing
through lugs connected to the chamber; the head of the rod is square to receive
a key.
According to another arrangement for a tap, the rod above the axis of the
valve carries an excentric conical pinion communicating motion to a lever, the
opposite end of which carries a plug for closing an aperture above the branch
of the exit pipe. The pinion being excentric causes the lever to make a rotary
motion about its own axis, and at the same time an up-and-down motion which
opens or closes the aperture above.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: 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 TAPS AND VALVES," (communicated to me from abroad by
Jean Antoine Clement, Antoine Crozy, and André Morateur, all of 23,
Boulevard de Strasbourg, Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Drawings bereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The objects of this Invention are the construction of taps or valves applicable
to water pipes or passages, to water posts and mains, to house supplies, as well
as to pipes used for delivering water to towns and other places. The Invention
consists in admitting liquid to the body of the tap, there to act upon a valve
and open passage to the liquid through the tap together with arrangements
for stopping the flow through the tap without concussion.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section; and
Figure 2 is a plan of a large service tap constructed according to this Inven-
tion; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a small service tap particularly
suitable for domestic purposes; Figure 4 is a transverse section of the
barrel of the tap; Figure 5 is a view representing the method adopted for
fitting the leather or caoutchouc in the construction of the valves; and
Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the diaphragm rod employed in large pump
taps. When the tap or valve is applied to water posts or water mains
provision is made for allowing the water which during winter would be exposed
to the action of frost to run away when the tap is turned off; the tap is
placed under ground out of reach of the action of frost; a pipe conveys the
water to the surface, which when the tap is open becomes filled with water,
and it would necessarily remain so even after the closing of the tap, unless
some means were afforded for emptying it; the object of one part of this
Invention is to accomplish this. The barrel a consists of a circular receiver
.

page_text: divided into an upper chamber D and a lower chamber B, it is threaded at
three parts; at d to receive the exit pipe, at e the inlet pipe f, and at ga tap h.
The barrel a is closed by a cap i fixed by screws and made tight by a leather
washer (Figures 1, 3, and 5) which at the same time acts as a diaphragm,
On the cap i there is a stuffing box k, through the centre of. which a rod !
passes extending upwards to receive a metallic disc m; n is a helical spring to
keep the tap closed. The spring and rod are enclosed in a case made in two
parts o, p, screwing the one into the other. The cap i carries two lugs 9 upon
which a jointed lever r presses. The rod is round in section for a portion
of its length, and for the rest it is made triangular in section to afford a passage
to the water when the lower valve is open. On this rod la plugs of the
upper valve is fitted so as to be free to slide vertically thereon, but it is kept
rigid horizontally by a wedge t, which prevents it turning on the axis. The
diaphragm or washer j is fixed to the upper part of the plug's by two metailic
washers v, w, one above and the other below it, and both secured to the rod /.;
The first valve is formed by a caoutchouc washer x placed on the plug 8; it is
intended to close the orifice A affording communication between the lower
chamber B and the inlet pipe f. The lower end of the rod is also provided
with a small caoutchouc washer y held by a nut . By pressing on the lever r
the rod is caused to descend, and with it the washer y; the inlet water thus.
rises up around the rod and fills the upper chamber D. In consequence of
the large surface presented by the diaphragm j, a surface much larger than that.
presented by the valve x, the weight of the water contained in the chamber
D forces the valve x to descend, and consequently opens the orifice A, in,
communication with the lower chamber B: The inlet water entering through
that orifice A into the chamber B will run out through the exit pipe d, until,
pressure on the lever is removed; then the water ceasing to flow
up the
rod into the chamber D, the water in the latter gradually empties itself,
and the power exerted by the inlet water being greater than that of the
water flowing out of the chamber D, which will cause the plugs to re-
ascend and close the valve x. Any water that may remain in the
chamber D escapes round the rod and gradually runs out through the
orifice E formed in the plug s. Any water which may remain in the lower
chamber B will run into the space in which the tap h is fitted. The tap h
is turned by a handle F to place the part 9 in communication with the orifice G,
which is then turned down to allow of the water running out. The arrange-
ment just explained for the inlet and outlet of the water is similar for the
small tap shewn at Figures 3 and 4, the emptying tap may also if desired
be applied to it. For large supplies of water the rod with vanes shown at

page_text: Figure 6 may be employed, tho vanes 2 and 3 only extend a portion of the
length of the rod, that marked 1 extends the whole length and unites two
discs H to form a valve. In establishments where a constant and regular
supply is required a float may be added to this system of tap, and for this
purpose the part I hinged to the lever r is prolonged, from which prolongation
the float is suspended. When the level falls the float rod draws down the
lever which opens the valves; but when the level is too high the rod while
ascending does not act on the lever r, which following the action of the spring
closes the valves until the level is again attained. To regulate the extent of
opening of the valves of this tap the pieces o and p are screwed or unscrewed
as the case may be, in order to give more or less play to the rod land
lever 7.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the "Improve-
ments in Taps and Valves,"
First, the construction of taps with internal valves and chambers acting in
manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Second, the employment of a central rod, plug, and chambers in manner
and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Third, the method herein-before described for preventing the action of frost
on the tap..
Fourth, the arrangements herein-before described for regulating the supply.
of liquid.
And, fifth, the construction of valves as herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanynig Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have-
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROON
BROOMAN
(2.5.)