AN IMPROVED ASBESTOS PACKING FOR PREVENTING LEAKS IN JOINTS UNDER PRESSURE
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ALPHONSE LOUIS NORMANDY of N° 6 The Crescent Clapham Common in
the County of Surrey, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"AN IMPROVED ASBESTOS PACKING FOR PREVENTING LEAKS IN JOINTS UNDER
PRESSURE" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
Asbestos paper millboard or cloth is extensively used for placing between the
metallic surfaces of joints, so that when the surfaces are drawn together by bolts
a joint is made, capable of resisting a high pressure of steam, water, or other fluid
or gas.
These asbestos-made joints have the advantage of resisting a higher temperature,
and of being more cleanly and convenient than joints made with india rubber or
red lead formerly used for the purpose.
It is found however that such asbestos-made, joints are liable to be affected in
time by moisture, and that the presence of this moisture sometimes causes serious
corrosion of the bolts used to make the joints tight.
Now my invention consists in saturating asbestos paper, millboard, or cloth, with
some substance or substances capable of preventing moisture affecting the joint
made with asbestos thus prepared, and the following may be used for this purpose
according to the requirements:
Boiled oil or other suitable oil grease or wax, liquified stearine or paraffine, red
or white lead, driers, thin paint, varnishes, solutions of india rubber or gutta percha,
or resins, tar, pitch, asphalte, bitumen, either alone or mixed more or less together
according to requirements.
The saturation of the asbestos may be assisted by heat, or by exhausting the air
out of the pores of the asbestos by a vacuum, or by forcing the desired substances
into the pores of the asbestos by pressure.
In some cases the asbestos paper millboard or cloth may be heated to a tempera-
ture that will destroy any organic matter and drive off any moisture it may contain,
and be submitted while hot or cold to the action of the saturating material.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The production and use of an improved packing material for joints consisting
of paper, millboard or cloth made of asbestos and saturated with substances that
will render it impervious to moisture.
2. The production of asbestos paper, millboard or cloth saturated with substances
that render it impervious to moisture, such saturation being effected by means of a
vacuum abstracting the air from the pores of the asbestos so as to facilitate the
penetration of the saturating substance admitted thereto at atmospheric pressure or
at a greater pressure, and with or without heat.
3. The production of asbestos paper, millboard or cloth saturated with substances
that render it impervious to moisture, such saturation being effected by immersing
it under pressure in the saturating material, either with or without the aid
of heat.
4. The production of asbestos paper millboard or cloth saturated with substances
that render it impervious to moisture, the asbestos being first subjected to heat to
destroy any organic matter and expel any moisture contained therein, and then
subjected to the saturating material either with or without the aid of heat.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,
28, Southampton Buildings,
London, W.C.