IMPROVEMENTS IN Cocks, TAPS, OR VALVES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Maxwell Miller, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Brassfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Cocks, TAPS, OR VALVES."
Sealed the 4th December 1857, and dated the 10th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Maxwell Miller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
June 1857.
I, MAXWELL MILLER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Brassfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COCKS, TAPS, OR VALVES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved system or mode of constructing
valvular mechanism, such as cocks or taps for pipes or ducts used in conveying
or discharging fluids, and has for its object increased simplicity, efficiency,
and durability.
According to one modification of the Invention, the valvular mechanism
consists of a hollow ball or sphere, fitted to work in a spherical socket formed
upon the pipe or duct. The socket is formed in two portions, which are
screwed or bolted together by flanges after the hollow ball is inserted. A
diaphragm of vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable flexible material is
held between the flanges of the socket, and lies between the ball and the
mouth of the pipe or duct by which the fluid reaches the valve, the fluid

page_text: The
having access to the ball by a comparatively small central aperture in the
diaphragm. One or more perforations are formed in the thickness of the
ball at one point, and when the ball is turned so that such perforation or
perforations coincide with the aperture in the diaphragm, the fluid has access
to the interior of the ball. When, however, the ball is turned so as to
shift the perforations away, the passage is closed, the flexible diaphragm
forming a tight joint, and the pressure of the fluid assisting the elasticity of
the diaphragm in keeping it against the ball. The fluid issues from the ball
by an aperture, which, if the apparatus is fitted to a line of straight piping, is
directly opposite to the perforations admitting the fluid into it, so that when
the ball is turned into the proper position there will be a direct thoroughfare
through it. In the arrangement just described the ball may be turned by a
spindle passing through an aperture to the outside of the socket.
arrangement is, however, obviously susceptible of various modifications. Thus,
in a modification resembling the kind of tap known as a "water crane" in
many parts of Scotland, the ball has fixed to it a short bent pipe or crane
for the discharge of the fluid, and this pipe projects through a slot in the
outermost portion of the socket, and is turned up or down, and moves the
ball with it into the positions required to open or close the tap. According
to another plan, a hollow cylindrical piece or a hollow piece, shaped like any
convenient solid of revolution, may be employed instead of the ball, and in
the case of the "crane" tap, the crane or spout may be contrived to fit and
work in a circular aperture instead of in a slot in the socket. An essential
feature of the Invention is the employment of the perforated flexible diaphragm,
against which the ball or valve piece works, a tight joint being thereby
obtained in a very simple manner, whilst the diaphragm can easily be renewed
at very slight expense in case it gets out of order.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Maxwell Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MAXWELL
MILLER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Brassfounder,
send-greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Maxwell Miller, Her special licence that I, the said Maxwell Miller, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Maxwell
Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
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 COCKS, TAPS,
OR VALVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Maxwell
Miller, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describo
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo
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 Maxwell Miller, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved system or mode of constructing
valvular mechanism, such as cocks or taps for pipes or ducts used in conveying
or discharging fluids, and has for its object increased simplicity, efficiency, and
durability.
A
According to one modification of the Invention, the valvular mechanism
consists of a bollow ball or sphere, fitted to work in a spherical socket formed
upon the pipe or duct. The socket is formed in two portions, which are
screwed or bolted together by flanges after the hollow ball is inserted.
diaphragmn of vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable flexible material is held
between the flanges of the socket, and lies between the ball and the mouth
of the pipe or duct by which the fluid reaches the valve, the fluid having
access to the ball by a central aperture in the diaphragm. One or more
perforations are formed in the thickness of the ball at one point, and when
the ball is turned so that such perforation or perforations coincide with the
aperture in the diaphragm, the fluid has access to the interior of the ball.
When, however, the ball is turned so as to shift the perforations away, the
passage is closed. The flexible diaphragm forms a tight joint, and the pressure

page_text: of the fluid, which has access to the back of the diaphragm assisting the
elasticity of the latter in keeping it against the ball. The fluid issues from
the ball by an aperture, which, if the apparatus is fitted to a line of straight
piping, is directly opposite to the perforations admitting the fluid into it, so
that when the ball is turned into the proper position there will be a direct
thoroughfare through it. In the arrangement just described the ball may
be turned by a spindle passing through an aperture to the outside of the
socket. The arrangement is, however, obviously susceptible of various modi-
fications. Thus, in a modification resembling the kind of tap known as a
"water crane" in many parts of Scotland, the ball has fixed to it a short bent
pipe or "crane" for the discharge of the fluid, and this pipe projects through
a slot in the outermost portion of the socket or cap, and is turned up or
down, and moves the ball with it into the positions required to open or close
the tap.
'
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I have
hereunto appended, and shall now proceed to describe, a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings, representing three of the various modifications of taps or valves
constructed according to my Invention.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a longitudinal vertical section, and
Figure 2 is a plan, of one modification of my improved tap, and Figure 3
is a face view of the flexible diaphragm employed. This tap is suitable for
being inserted in a length of piping, and its body consists of two portions A
and B, the water or other fluid entering it by the end A. The contiguous
ends of the portions A, B, are formed with spherical enlargements C, D, to
receive the hollow ball E, constituting the valve. This ball is enclosed within
the spherical enlargements C, D, which are screwed together by flanges. A
flexible diaphragm F is inserted between the ball E and the half socket C on
the side at which the fluid enters the tap. This diaphragm is held between
the flanges of the socket C, D, and is formed with a central aperture G, by
which the fluid has access to the ball E. The ball E is formed with two sets
of apertures, diametrically opposite to each other, and the tap is opened by
turning it so as to bring these sets of apertures into the line of the piping,
when one set will admit the fluid by the aperture G in the diaphragm, and
the other will allow it to pass on along the piece B. When the ball E is
turned a quarter round, or so as to move the apertures in it away from the
apertures G in the diaphragm, the fluid cannot pass. The spherical enlargement
C is of sufficient size to allow the fluid to press on the back of the diaphragm
round the aperture G, and the fluid pressure thus assists in making the tap.

page_text: tight. The ball E is turned by means of a spindle H, passing out through a
passage formed in the socket D, and the outer end of this spindle may be
formed either as shown to receive a key, or with a handle, as indicated by the
dotted lines in Figure 1.
Figure 4 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front elevation of a "water crane,"
as constructed according to my improved system, the "crane" being represented
as broken, and as in the position corresponding to the closed state of the tap;
Figure 5 is a vertical section of the same water crane, showing the water
crane elevated in the same position in which it is when discharging. The
parts similar to those represented in Figures 1 and 2 are marked by the like
letters, and the corresponding description already given applies to them. In
the water crane represented in Figures 4 and 5, a spherical cap I is substituted
for the parts marked B and D in Figures 1 and 2, and in this cap a slot is
formed to admit of the movement of the crane J. This crane is attached to
the ball E, and the fluid issues through it from the latter when turned into
the position shown in Fig. 5, in which the apertures in the ball coincide
with the aperture G in the diaphragm.
Figure 6 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front elevation, and Figure 7 is a
longitudinal horizontal section, of another modification of tap, slightly differing
from those already described. A short curved spout K is fixed to the ball E,
for the discharge of the fluid, and is arranged to work in a horizontal slot in
the cap I, the tap being open and shut by turning the spout K and ball E
into the corresponding positions.
In the various modifications of my improved tap, a hollow cylindrical piece,
or a hollow piece shaped like any convenient solid of revolution, may be
employed instead of the ball, although I prefer to use the ball. It is, however,
essential that the fluid pressure should act on the back of the flexible diaphragm
round the aperture or apertures in it. In the "water crane," and similar
arrangements having the discharge pipe attached to the ball, such discharge
pipe may be contrived to fit and work in a circular aperture instead of in a
slot in the socket.
Having now particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I must observe, in
conclusion, that I do not restrict myself to the precise details which I have
described and delineated, as my Invention is susceptible of various forms and
modifications; but 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 combination in the arrangement and construction-of

page_text: cocks, taps, or valves of a hollow valve piece and a perforated diaphragm, the
latter being disposed so as to be acted upon by the fluid pressure, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Maxwell Miller, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
MAXWELL MILLER. (L.S.)