AN IMPROVED PLUG AND SOCKET OR APPARATUS FOR CLOSING AND OPENING PASSAGES FOR THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Barry Lord, of the Royal Artillery, Veteri-
nary Surgeon, and First Lieutenant, now residing at Plymouth, in the
County of Devon, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PLUG AND SOCKET
Sealed the 22nd April 1862, and dated the 23rd October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Barry Lord at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
October 1861.
I, WILLIAM BARRY LORD, of the Royal Artillery, Veterinary Surgeon, and
First Lieutenant, now residing at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PLUG AND
SOCKET OR APPARATUS FOR CLOSING AND OPENING PASSAGES FOR THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS
AND FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a portion of a ball, with handle for altering its
position, and of a socket with a part cut away, through which the liquid or
fluid is to be allowed to pass or stopped from passing, according to the position
of the ball. I combine a slotted guard with the apparatus for the handle to
work in.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Barry Lord in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BARRY LORD, of the Royal Artillery, Veterinary Surgeon, and First Lieu-
tenant, now residing at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date. the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Barry Lord, Her special licence that I, the said William
Barry Lord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Barry Lord, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
AN IMPROVED PLUG AND SOCKET OR APPARATUS FOR CLOSING AND OPENING
PASSAGES FOR THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I,. the said William, Barry Lord, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 William Barry Lord, 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, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings hereto
annexed, and forming part, of this my Specification, to the Figures placed
thereon, and to the letters of reference placed on such. Figures, such letters
denoting similar parts of the mechanism where such parts appear in each of
the Figures respectively.
3.
The object of my Invention is to close and open passage for the flow of
liquids and fluids, and this object.I have attained by the production of the
improved plug and socket apparatus herein-after described and shewn. The
use of corks or wooden stoppers for plugging the hole in the bottom of a ship's
boat first drew my attention to the necessity of a better means of stopping,

page_text: letting in, or letting out the water. I ascertained that ordinarily as the boat
was dropped into the water from the davits the water rushed into the plug
hole, and the stopper was usually absent to the annoyance and danger of the
boat's crew.
It was therefore necessary not only to arrange for stopping the
influx of the water at will and providing the means of outflow, but that the
apparatus should be a fixture and easily worked. . In effecting this purpose
I invented such a plug and socket apparatus as is not only applicable for the
purposes above-mentioned as regards ship's boats; but to stop the flow or admit
the ingress of fluid wherever such operations are required, and the apparatus
can be conveniently fitted for those purposes.
My Invention consists in the adaptation of a grooved ball to a seating,
socket, or bearer (as shewn in the Drawing), in such wise that when the ball is
by means of the short handle pressed down at one end of the seating frame,
liquids and gasses are freely admitted, and when the handle is raised traversing
a radius, and is made to descend to or over the other end of the seating frame
or bearer liquids and gasses are effectually shut off or excluded.
If the edge
of the groove in the ball in its traverse from open to shut meets with any
minor impediment, such as bits of string, stick, or other, it severs the
obstruction and attains its proper position, and this power of forcing through
obstructions I consider very important. I shew my ball apparatus in the
Drawing as attached to and forming as it were part of the handle or lever, but
the ball may be made separate and only worked on by the lever, and it may
work rigidly or loosely as the quadrant shaped bridge may be tightened or
loosened by screws threading into the bearer. The bridge is made almost in
two parts, or in other words a longitudinal slot, the width of the lever rod is
cut down to the flanges in which the screw holes are threaded, and on which
the screw heads rest, and through this slot the lever traverses from one side to
the other. It is well known that almost every arrangement for the influx or
outflow of liquid is liable to be rendered useless by frost. From the peculiar
construction of my plug it is evident it will operate when the usual con-
trivances are closed up by that power, even if it ever yields under its influence.
In the Drawing my apparatus is shewn constructed or made in three parts,
the bearer a, the guide slot b, and the plug c. Figure 1 is a side elevation,
shewing the plug c in position to leave the orifice in socket or bearer a¹ open
for exit or entrance of fluid; Figure 2 a side elevation as the apparatus
appears when the orifice is closed; Figure 3 is a front elevation, shewing the
guide slot or groove b; Figure 4, side view of plug c, detached; Figure 5,
plan view of the bottom of bearer a, shewing the ball of plug in socket.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which I carry it into practical effect, I would here observe that I do not
confine myself to the use of any particular metal or material in making my
plug and socket, as the apparatus may be made of brass, amalgam of metals,
or even wood, and of sizes and shapes suitable to the localities or articles
where or to which my apparatus is fitted; and I claim the exclusive use as of
my Invention and as such secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters
Patent, of "An Improved Plug and Socket Apparatus for Closing and Opening
Passages for the Flow of Liquids and Fluids," essentially as herein-before
-described, and shewn in the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Barry Lord, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM BARRY LORD. (L.S.)