IMPROVEMENTS IN SYPHON AND OTHER TAPS OR COCKS EMPLOYED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Hurst, of Victoria Terrace, Royal
Road, Kennington, in the County of Surrey, Henry Horsey, and George
Baker, both of Bridge Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SYPHON AND OTHER TAPS OR COCKS
EMPLOYED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 27th March 1861, and dated the 1st October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Hurst,
Henry Horsey, and George Baker at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st October 1860.
We, CHARLES HENRY HURST, of Victoria Terrace, Royal Road, Kennington,
in the County of Surrey, HENRY HORSEY, and GEORGE BAKER, both of Bridge
Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SYPHON AND OTHER TAPS OR COCKS
EMPLOYED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention comprises four distinct improvements in taps or cocks
employed for drawing off liquids. The first improvement consists in adapting
to the front or side of taps or cocks generally a safety lock, composed of a
small screw plug or pin, the head whereof is formed square, or of any other
shape to receive a key; a boss or projection is cast on or affixed to the tap, in
which is formed a hole to receive the said screw plug and key, the opposite
end of said plug is intended to take into a hole in the stem of the main plug
of the tap or cock, and in that part thereof on which fits the key employed for
turning said plug for opening and closing the aperture in the tap.

page_text: The second improvement consists in adapting a piece of steel or iron, or a
steel or iron screw with a large head to that part of taps or cocks which are
intended to be struck for driving same into a barrel or cask; the aforesaid
screw when applied to an ordinary tap or cock is intended to prevent mauling
of the tap, and when applied to a syphon tap, said screw serves the double
purpose of stopping the horizontal aperture in the tap, and by thus making the
head of the screw large instead of employing a screw with a small head, as here-
tofore employed, rivetting of the head by striking thereon is thus prevented.
The third improvement relates to syphon taps only, and consists in forming
the opening employed to admit atmospheric air into the tap about half an inch
in height from the bottom of the outlet opening, by which the liquid to be
drawn off is directed into the vessel intended to receive it instead of squirting
out sideways, as is at present the case in syphon taps or cocks.
The fourth and last improvement consists in cutting a screw about the
bottom of the outlet opening of taps or cocks generally, for the purpose of
attaching to the same a taper piece of metal to be used in bottling off liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey, and George Baker in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
HENRY HURST, of Victoria Terrace, Royal Road, Kennington, in the County
of Surrey, HENRY HORSEY, and GEORGE BAKER, both of Bridge Street,
Southwark, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey, and George Baker, Her special licence
that we, the said Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey, and George Baker,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey, and George Baker, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SYPHON AND OTHER TAPS

page_text: OR COCKS EMPLOYED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey, and George
Baker, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 we, the said Charles Henry Hurst, Henry Horsey,
and George Baker, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, 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 :-
This Invention comprises four distinct improvements in taps or cocks
employed for drawing off liquids. The first improvement consists in adapting
to the front or side of taps or cocks generally a safety lock, composed of a
small screw plug or pin, the head whereof is formed square, or of any other
shape to receive a key; a boss or projection is cast on or affixed to the taps, in
which is formed a hole to receive the said screw plug and key; the opposite
end of said plug is intended to take into a hole in the stem of the main plug
of the tap or cock, and in that part thereof on which fits the key employed for
turning said plug for opening and closing the aperture in the tap.
The second improvement consists in adapting a steel or iron screw with a
large head to that part of taps and cocks which are intended to be struck for
driving same into a barrel or cask; the aforesaid screw when applied to an
ordinary tap or cock is intended to prevent mauling of the tap, and when
applied to a syphon tap said screw serves the double purpose of stopping the
horizontal aperture in the tap, and by thus making the head of the screw large
instead of employing a screw with a small head, as heretofore employed,
rivetting of the head by striking thereon is thus prevented.
The third improvement relates to syphon taps only, and consists in forming
the opening employed to admit atmospheric air into the táp about half an inch
in height from the bottom of the outlet opening, by which the liquid to be
drawn off is directed into the vessel intended to receive it instead of squirting
out sideways, as it is at present the case in syphon taps or cocks.
The fourth and last improvement consists in cutting a screw about the
bottom of the outlet opening of taps or cocks generally, for the purpose of
attaching to the same a taper piece of metal to be used in bottling off the
liquids.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we

page_text: now proceed to describe the best men
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of our improved safety lock tap;
Figure 2 an end view of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side elevation of our
improved syphon tap; Figure 4 is a partial sectional elevation of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a top plan view, and Figure 6 and end view of a strengthening
At each of the
strap, herein-after particularly described and referred to.
foregoing Figures we employ similar letters of reference to denote corre-
sponding parts in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of such
said Figures respectively.
At Figures 3 and 4 A is the shell of the tap furnished with a syphon tube B;
C, an opening or passage communicating with the tube B, for admitting
atmospheric air thereinto, as commonly practised in the construction of syphon
taps, except that in syphon taps, as heretofore constructed, the opening B has
been made very short, as denoted by the dotted and on the side lines a at
Figure 1, the objection to which is, that in drawing off liquids in bottles,
decanters, or other vessels with comparatively small mouths or necks, the
liquid has been found to squirt from the opening B sideways, and is thereby
lost, whereas by forming the opening B inclined, and to within a short distance
of the bottom of the outlet opening D of the tap, as at Figure 4; the liquid is
thus directed into the vessel intended to receive it. In constructing taps
intended to be used for bottling off liquids, we form a screw about the bottom
part of the outlet opening, and adapt to such screwed parts a nozzle E, as at
Figure 3, one or more grooves 6 being formed therein to admit air whilst
bottling off; F is a strap of iron or steel, shewn detached at Figures 5 and 6,
this strap may either be placed in the mould in which the tap is to be cast,
and the molten metal run around the same, or it may be soldered or screwed
to the taps at the part 1, and connected to the front or nose of the tap by a
steel screw G formed with a large head, or the piece G may be cast with the
tap. This screw or piece G forms an important part of our said improvements
in taps, and is intended to be applied to taps generally, for the purpose of
protecting them from being injured and destroyed when struck with a hammer
in the act of tapping casks or other vessels to which they are to be applied.
The other parts of the tap are of the ordinary kind.
We now proceed to describe that part of our said improvements in taps

page_text: which relates to the safety lock, observing that our Invention consists in
adapting a screw H within a screwed socket I cast with or fixed to the shell
of the tap; the point of the said screw is intended to take into a hole formed
in the plug of the tap, by applying the part 2 of the key K to the square part
of the screw H. In this tap the improved nose G is represented applied
thereto; the other parts of this tap are of the ordinary kind.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of our said
Invention of "Improvements in Syphon and other Taps or Cocks employed
for Drawing off Liquids," together with the best means we are acquainted.
with for carrying the same into practical effect, we would remark in conclusion
that we hereby declare our Invention to consist in, and we claim,-
First, the screw or plug H, at Figures 1 and 2, in the construction of locking
taps or cocks, for the purpose set forth.
Secondly, we claim the adaptation to taps or cocks of a piece of steel or
other hard metal marked G, at Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the accompanying
Drawings, either separately or in combination with the strap of metal marked
F at Figures 3, 5, and 6, of the Drawings, for the purposes set forth.
Thirdly, we claim the mode described and represented of constructing
syphon taps or cocks, for the purposes set forth.
Fourthly, and lastly, we claim the screw nozzle marked E at Figure 3, for
the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Hurst, one of the parties
hereto, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES HENRY HURST.
L.S.)