IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC PACKING FOR PISTONS AND PISTON RODS OF STEAM ENGINES, PUMPS, RAMS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edwin Keirby, of Swinton, near the City
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Steam Packing Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC PACKING FOR
PISTONS AND PISTON RODS OF STEAM ENGINES, PUMPS, RAMS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edwin Keirby
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th November 1872.
I, JOHN EDWIN KEIRBY, of Swinton, near the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Steam Packing Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC
PACKING FOR PISTONS AND PISTON RODS OF STEAM ENGINES, PUMPS, RAMS, AND
OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in manufacturing the elastic packing for
the purposes of this Invention in the form of thin washers or rings ready
to be introduced into the stuffing box without the necessity in the first
instance of coiling the clastic packing round the rod as when a con-

page_text: tinuous length of packing is employed, which is often a tedious and
unhandy process, and is at the same time open to the objection that if
the packing when so applied is not deep enough to fill the stuffing box,
it is often necessary to. supplement it by an addition of clastic or
non-elastic packing.
In manufacturing my improved form of clastic packing I take a strip
or core of vulcanised india-rubber of any convenient width and thick-
ness, and round this india-rubber core, which may assume a tubular
form, I wrap or braid hemp or other fibrous material, either by braiding
machinery or by hand, so producing an elastic rope, by preference of a
square cross section, and of continuous length, which rope I saturate
with tallow or other lubricating material. . I then coil this rope singly
round a mandril of the requisite size, so that each succeeding coil
shall be larger than and be rolled upon the outside of the preceding one,
until the desired width is obtained, when I secure the coils together by
overlapping them with a suitable strand of hemp or other fibrous material,
so forming a washer or ring, which may then be saturated in tallow or
other suitable lubricating material. These washers or rings may be
made of the exact width to fit the stuffing box, and any required number
of them may be introduced into such stuffing box one above the other,
being previously cut by preference in a radial direction from the centre,
and so arranged in the stuffing box that neither of the jump joints-shall
be opposite one another.
Although I have only described my Invention as applied to a stuffing
box it will be readily apparent that it is equally applicable in a similar
manner to packing pistons, pump buckets, rams, and other similar
apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Edwin Keirby in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDWIN KEIRBY, of Swinton, near the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Steam Packing Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Edwin Keirby, Her special licence
that I, the said John Edwin Keirby, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edwin Keirby, 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 time
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
ELASTIC PACKING FOR PISTONS AND PISTON RODS OF STEAM ENGINES, PUMPS, RAMS,
AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the coudition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Edwin Keirby, my exccutors 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Edwin Keirby, 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 (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist in manufacturing the elastic packing for
the purposes of this Invention in the form of thin washers or rings ready
to be introduced into the stuffing box without the necessity in the first
instance of coiling the elastic packing round the rod, as when a continuous
length of packing is employed, which is often a tedious and unhandy
process, and is at the same time open to the objection that if the packing
when so applied is not deep enough to fill the stuffing box, it is often
necessary to supplement it by an addition of elastic or non-elastic
packing.
In manufacturing my improved form of clastic packing I take a strip
or core of vulcanised india-rubber of any convenient width and thickness
and round this india-rubber core, which may assume a tubular form, I
wrap or braid hemp, flax, cotton, or other fibrous material, cither by
braiding machinery or by hand, so producing an elastic tubular rope, by
preference of a square cross section and of continuous length, which ropę

page_text: I saturate with tallow or other lubricating material. I then coil this
rope singly round a mandril of the requisite size, so that each succeeding
coil shall be larger than and be rolled upon the outside of the preceding
one until the desired width is obtained, when I secure the coils together
by overlapping them with a suitable strand of hemp, flax, cotton, or other
fibrous material, so forming a washer or ring which may then be satu-
rated in tallow or other suitable lubricating material. These washers or
rings may be made of the exact width to fit the stuffing box, and any
required number of them may be introduced into such stuffing box, one
above the other being previously cut, by preference, in a radial direction
from the centre and so arranged in the stuffing box that neither of the
jump joints shall be opposite one another.
Although I have only described my Invention as applied to a stuffing
box it will be readily apparent that it is equally applicable in a similar
manner to packing pistons, pump buckets, rams, and other similar
apparatus.
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood I have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illus-
trating several modifications of my Invention. Similar letters marked on
the several views being used to indicate similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a plan or top view, and Fig. 2 a side view of a single washer
or ring of clastic packing constructed in accordance with this Invention ;
Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 1 through the line a, b, all drawn to full
size.
A represents the clastic tubular rope containing a core of india-rubber B
(see Fig. 3) in its centre, or a strip of india-rubber doubled into a tubular
form and braided or wrapped on the outside with hemp, flax, cotton, or
other suitable fibrous material, this elastic tubular rope or elastic packing
is well known in the market, and its construction in a continuous length
forms no part of the present Invention. I take this clastic tubular
rope A by preference when of a square cross section and coil it round a
mandril of the requisite diameter to answer for the size of the piston rod,
so that each succeeding coil shall be larger than, and be rolled upon the
outside of the preceding onc, as seen in Fig. 1, until the desired width
is obtained, when I lap the coils together with a suitable strand of hemp,
flax, cotton, or other suitable fibrous material D, and so secure them in
the form of a washer or ring. The Drawings (Figs. 1, 2, & 3) illustrate
the elastic packing washer partly lapped. This washer or ring may then

page_text: if requisite, be bodily saturated in tallow or other suitable lubricating
material, although I prefer not to saturate it bodily as I find it sufficient
to form it of elastic tubular rope which has been previously saturated.
The method of applying my improved elastic packing to a piston rod
is shown in perspective on a reduced scale in Fig. 4.
In order to introduce the washer or ring on to the piston rod it is
requisite to cut it across by a single cut by preferance in a radial
direction, and then to open it or separate the two ends (as seen in Fig. 5)
sufficiently far apart to allow it to pass over the rod. Several of these
washers may be placed in the stuffing box one above the other, taking
care that the jump joints formed by cutting the rings shall not be over
or opposite one another. The proper relative position of the jump joints
is illustrated in Fig. 4.
Instead of lapping single coils of elastic tubular rope together in the
form of a washer I sometimes employ two or more single washers
formed in accordance with this Invention, which I lay one upon another,
and I lap them together by the same strand of fibrous material and
so produce a packing of any requisite depth as well as width. Two,
three, and four single washers or rings of elastic packing material so
lapped together are respectively illustrated full size in cross section in
Figs. 6, 7, and 8. And for the same purpose I make a similar packing
of any requisite depth in the form of a washer or ring by winding a
continuous length of elastic tubular rope in a spiral form in the direction
of the dotted arrow in Fig. 9, and lap the same round on the outside to
secure it together as in the other modifications herein-before described.
These thicker washers or rings of clastic packing are also cut across in
a radial direction to introduce them on to the piston or other rod, but
besides the cut being in a radial direction I prefer also that it should
be at an angle with the axis of the ring and not parallel with it, as
shewn by the line in Fig. 8, and thus when the pressure of the gland
of the stuffing box is brought to bear upon the ring the jump joint is
rendered more steam or water tight.
Although I have only described my Invention as applied to a stuffing
box, it will be readily apparent that it is equally applicable in a similar
manner to packing pistons, pump buckets, rams, and other similar
apparatus requiring steam or water-tight packing. It will be further
evident that there are other methods of securing the coils of elastic
packing together besides that of lapping them as herein-before described,

page_text: and therefore I do not confine myself to that precise method of securing
them in the form of a washer or ring.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of
this my said Invention together with the best methods with which I
am acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect; I desire to
be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details, relative proportions or dimensions illustrated on the accompying
Drawing, and herein-before described as the same may be considerably
varied without departing from the Invention, but what I do claim is,
the manufacture of elastic packing in the form of a washer or ring as
and for the purposes hercin-before described and illustrated on the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof I, the said John Edwin Keirby, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Office,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
JOHN EDWIN KEIRBY. (L.S.)