IM- PROVEMENTS IN LAYING AND JOINING PIPES FOR GAS, WATER, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Williams, of No. 4, Mitford Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN LAYING AND JOINING PIPES FOR GAS, WATER, AND OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES."
Scaled the 20th August 1869, and dated the 24th Feoruary 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th February 1869.
I, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, of No. 4, Mitford Street, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for." IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING AND JOINING PIPES FOR GAS, WATER, AND OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a new method of laying and jointing pipes
for the conveyance of gas, water, and such like purposes, securing com-
plete contact and a perfect joint in all possible positions of the pipes
under pressure. The joint is made by the simple contact of a spherical

page_text: with a cylindrical surface, each pipe to be formed with a socket of the
ordinary shape, but of which the interior shall be truly turned and bored
so as to be a perfect cylindrical surface. At the butt end, for a certain
proportion of its length, the thickness of the pipe is to be increased so
as to form a projecting ring, of which the exterior surface shall be truly
turned so as to form a perfect spherical zone of an external diameter
duly proportioned to the internal diameter of the cylindrical socket, the
two surfaces being well and truly finished and fitted to each other so
as to be tight, and having perfect contact solely in one circular line
or ring of points around the circumference of the spherical zone. The
joints can thus be formed by external pressure alone applied as needed
in bringing the pipes together, and vice versa in separating them or
breaking the joint. The joint is a moveable one, so that the pipes can
easily be laid or adjusted to any possible angle or in a simple or an S curve.
The line of pipes thus made would be self-adjusting under the effect of
distortion by external forces, such as might result from subsidence or
settlement of ground within certain obvious limits, and would still
remain a perfectly tight conduit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLIAMS, of No. 4, Mitford Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Williams, Her special licence that
I, the said William Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Williams, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING AND
JOINING PIPES FOR GAB, WATER, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES,"
upon the con-
dition (amongst otliers) that I, the said William Williams, 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 tho
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I,. the said William Williams, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and-by
the following statement:-
This joint is designed to avoid the defects found in rigid and inflexible,
joints as at present formed. It consists in the direct contact or union
of a cylindrical socketed with a spherical butt-ended pipe without the
intervention or use of lead or packing. The socket end of each cast-
iron pipe is made of uniform thickness with the pipe itself, but.
strengthened when required by an external hoop of wrought iron, and
it is then truly bored so as to form a perfect cylinder. Upon the butt
end of the pipe a projecting boss or ring is cast, the surface of which is
turned truly so as to form a perfect zone of a sphere of an external
diameter fully equal and proportioned to the internal diameter of the
cylindrical socket. The union of the two metal surfaces is thus perfectly
maintained throughout the circular ring or line of contact which within
the cylinder is fixed, bút varies on the spherical zone according to the
angle of direction at which the pipes are joined and with every change
thereof, while the perfection and tightness of the joint remain unim-
paired by the change of position. The joint is therefor a moveable one,
so that in case of change in level or direction by subsidence or dis-
turbance the pipe line is self-adjusting, and distortion is unattended by
leakage or fracture, as has been conclusively shown by actual experiment
with pipes of the largest size. The pipes are easily and quickly united,
and in practice it is found expedient in some instances to make the
diameter of the spherical zone about 0.05 per cent. in excess of that of
the cylinder, and complete the union under the expansion of heat applied
to the latter.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, I will now proceed to particularly describe and ascertain in what
manner the same may be performed and carried out in practice, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF MY INVENTION.
Fig. 1, section (part) of joint constructed in accordance with my.
Invention; Fig. 2, section of several lengths of pipe showing the
pipes laid in a curve. The same letters of reference are used in both
Figures.
a, a, pipes; b, b, sockets; c, c, strengthening hoops or bands; d, d,
projecting boss or ring (at butt end of pipe) turned to form a zone or
belt of a sphere.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature and
character of my said Invention, and in what manner the same may
be performed and carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim,
the Invention of "Improvements in Laying and Joining Pipes for Gas,
Water, and other like Purposes," as herein described and illustrated by
the accompanying Drawings, it being understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise forms of details herein described and illustrated by
the said Drawings, nor do I claim such details of construction per se and
apart from the purposes of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Williams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight. hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
LEWIS WILLIAMS.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS. (L.S.)