IM- PROVEMENTS IN PIPE JOINTS AND IN THE COUPLINGS THEREUT.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Goode Messenger, of Loughborough, in
the County of Leicester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PIPE JOINTS AND IN THE COUPLINGS THEREUT.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Goode Mes-
‹ senger at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th December 1873.
I, THOMAS GOODE MESSENGER, of Loughborough, in the County of
3 Leicester, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIPE JOINTS AND IN THE COUPLINGS THEREOF,"
to be as follows:-
}
The first part of my Invention relates to flexible pipes or tubes, such
for instance as india-rubber, garden, fire, or brewer's hose.
A perfectly tight joint is formed by the insertion in the inner orifices
of the tubes of a double and cylindrical metal cone piece, the conical

page_text: ends being pressed closely into the ends of the flexible tubes or pipes by
screwing the couplings together, which couplings may be in two or more
parts, and when screwed home the joint is perfectly hermetical.
When the tube is to be attached to water or other cocks, stand pipes,
jets, horse singers, portable gas lamps, and other similar purposes, then a
single cone is employed, which cone forms part of the article to which
the tube is attached.
A good joint may also be formed by means of a male and female
screw, with a fast or loose ring pressed on packing by a spiral wire
arranged inside the tube, and dispensing in this case with the cone; or
a metal ring or tube may be passed up inside the tube to resist the
pressure from without when screwing down the packing.
The second part of my Invention relates to metal, glass, and other
pipes and tubes suitable for pumps, sanitary pipes, waterclosets, urinals,
surgical instruments, and so on. The two ends of the pipes where the
joint is to be formed are funnel-shaped, and round the ends or necks of
the funnels elastic washers or packings are placed, the sockets are then
passed up the pipes, the orifices at the bottom of the sockets being just
large enough to admit the pipes, so that when they reach the washers
and the funnel-shaped ends are brought in contact by screwing, the 1
pressure brought to bear upon them is exercised on the washers or
packings which are consequently spread, and filling up all interstices
produce a perfectly tight joint.
The principle can also be applied to pipes having plain ends or other-
wise prepared instead of being funnel-mouthed, or can be applied to
purpose made pipes having either one spigot and one socket or two
sockets, as may be required.
Screw bolts and nuts, or their equivalents, may in like manner be
substituted for the male and female screw for effecting the same

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Goode Messenger in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd June 1874:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GOODE MESSENGER, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Goode Messenger, Her
special licence that I, the said Thomas Goode Messenger, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Goode Messenger, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PIPE JOINTS AND IN THE COUPLINGS
THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Goode Messenger, 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 the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Goode Messenger, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to flexible pipes or tubes, such
for instance as india-rubber, garden, fire, or brewer's hose.
A perfectly tight joint is formed by the insertion in the inner orifices
of the tubes, of a double and cylindrical metal cone piece, the conical
ends being pressed closely into the ends of the flexible tubes or pipes by

page_text: screwing the couplings together, which couplings may be in two or more
parts, and when screwed home the joint is perfectly hermetical.
When the tube is to be attached to water or other cocks, stand pipes,
jets, horse singers, portable gas lamps, and other similar purposes, then a
single cone is employed, which cone forms part of the article to which
the tube is attached.
A good joint may also be formed by means of a male and female
screw, with a fast or loose ring pressed on packing or its own material
by a spiral wire arranged inside the tube, and dispensing in this case
-with the cone, or a metal ring or tube may be passed up inside the tube
to resist the pressure from without when screwing down the packing.
The second part of my Invention relates to metal, glass, and other
pipes and tubes suitable for pumps, sanitary pipes, waterclosets, urinals,
surgical instruments, and so on, as well for connecting solid rods of
any dimensions. The two ends of the pipes where the joint is to be
formed are funnel-shaped, and round the ends or necks of the funnels
elastic washers or packings are placed, the sockets are then passed up the
pipes, the orifices at the bottom of the sockets being just large enough
to admit the pipes, so that when they reach the washers and the funnel-
shaped ends are brought in contact by screwing, the pressure brought to
bear upon them is exercised on the washers or packings, which are
consequently spread, and filling up all interstices produce a perfectly
tight joint.
This principle can also be applied to pipes having plain ends or other-
wise prepared instead of being funnel-mouthed, or can be applied to
purpose made pipes having either one spigot and one socket or two
sockets, as occasion may require.
Screw bolts and nuts, or their equivalents, may in like manner be
substituted for the male and female screws for effecting the purpose.
Having now described the nature and objects of my Invention I
will here explain its mechanical details by aid of the accompanying
Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side elevation of the socket part of a
coupling with hose or pipe, the dotted lines showing the cylindrical
metal cone piece a applied thereto; Fig. 3 is a plan, and Fig. 4 a side
elevation of the spigot part of the same coupling and which screws into

page_text: the socket part Fig. 2. One end of the cone a is fixed by pressure in
the flexible tube b and the joint is made perfectly hermetical by screwing
the couplings c together, for as it is gradually screwed home the
pressure on the cone a increases in an equal ratio, forcing it into the
upper and lower tubes, so that a perfectly closed joint is thus formed.
Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 illustrate my improved couplings for metal, glass,
and other pipes and tubes, forming the second part of my Invention.
In this case the ends of the pipes & where the junction is to be formed
are funnel-mouthed or shaped, and round the necks elastic washers e or.
packings are placed, the sockets are then passed up the pipes, and the
orifices at the bottom of the sockets being no larger than requisite to
receive them the washer e or packings cover the apertures, and on
screwing the couplings together the funnels being brought in contact
exercise a pressure on the washers or packings causing them to spread
and so fill up all interstices and thus form a tight joint. Fig. 6
represents the funnel-mouthed end of the pipe with washer in detail
which is inserted in the socket part of Fig. 7.
Fig. 9 shows the same principle of the cone connection applied to a
water or other cock; in this case a single cone is employed and forms
part of the cock, the flexible hose fits on the cone-shaped end of the
cock, and the collar or socket being run over it is screwed to the tap.
Fig. 10 shows the same principle as applied to a T or other shaped
metal junction, three-way tap or any number of branches for directing
fluids, gas, steam, or hot air, either by metal or flexible pipes or tubes.
Figs. 11, 12, and 13 represent the application of the single cone
joint to fire engine and other fittings, a metal collar or socket 9, Fig. 11,
is passed over the hose h and then screwed on the cone which forms
one end of the standard, Fig. 12; when the collar is screwed home the
conical end of the standard expands and tightens the hose over it and
so forms a tight joint.
Fig. 13 is a metal spigot collar or ring shown in section and threaded.
to screw into the socket ; of the standard; it is bevelled inside to allow
of the end of the hose being opened or spread for the reception of a
metal ring; the collar is then screwed up having the hose firmly attached
to it by means of the internal ring, and the joint is made by a leather
washer or other packing being screwed up between the fillet on the
metal collar and the edge of the socket on the standard.

page_text: Having thus described my Invention what I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the coupling of pipes by means of the screw
sockets, and the double or semi-conical cone pieces herein described,
together with the funnel couplings, both acting on packings or washers,
so that on the couplings being screwed together either the cones (double
or single) or the funnel-mouthed pipes pressing on the packings or
washers expand them in suchwise that the couplings being screwed
home, in either case a perfectly hermetical joint is formed. I also
reserve to myself the right to apply the principle to any purpose to which
it may be applicable, in the manner and for the purposes precisely as
herein set forth and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Goode Messenger, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four..
THOS. G. MESSENGER. (L.S.) ·
Witness,
A. C. HENDERSON,
Patent Agent,
6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn.