IMPROVE- MENTS IN WASHERS OR MEANS OF MAKING THE JOINTS OF METAL PIPES AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES TIGHT
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WASHERS OR MEANS OF MAKING THE JOINTS OF METAL PIPES AND
OTHER METAL ARTICLES TIGHT."-A communication from abroad by
Hvonolyte Brocard and Edward Hunniball, both of Paris, France.
Sealed the 28th February 1865, and dated the 2nd September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd September 1864.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHERS OR MEANS OF MAKING THE JOINTS OF METAL
PIPES AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES TIGHT," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of washers or packings of lead
shaped in rolls or otherwise with longitudinal grooves, and placed between the
surfaces to be joined. These wasbers being subjected to pressure, the lead
yields and impresses itself into the surfaces united by the compression of the
tightening agents used, so as to follow exactly the more or less irregular
conformation of the said surfaces. A joint perfectly hermetic is thus con-
stituted without the use of white lead and yarn.
For some purposes the lead washer is formed from a strip of lead, the cross

page_text: section of which is that of a lozenge, and again for some purposes the washer
is in the form of wire. The edges of the washer should be scarfed, in order
that they may fit together when bent into a circular or oval form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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
Islo of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHERS OR MEANS OF
MAKING THE JOINTS OF METAL PIPES AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES TIGHT," (com-
municated to me from abroad by IIippolyte Brocard and Edward Hunniball,
both of Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibold Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 bo
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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the employment of washers or packings of lead

page_text: shaped in rolls or otherwise with longitudinal grooves, and placed between tho
surfaces to be joined. These washers being subjected to pressure, the lead
yields and impresses itself with the surfaces united by the compression of the
tightening agents used, so as to follow exactly the more or less irregular
conformation of the said surfaces. A joint perfectly hermetic as thus con-
stituted without the use of white lead and yarn.
For some purposes the lead washer is formed from a strip of lead, the cross
section of which is that of a lozenge, and again for some purposes the washer
is in the form of wire. The edges of the washer should be scarfed, in order
that they may fit together when bent into a circular or oval form.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings represent several views
of of a strip of lead a formed with grooves. This strip placed between the
Hanges b, , of two pipes c, c', to be connected (see Figure 4) preserves
before being compressed its original configuration, but if the flanges b, b', be
tightened or brought closer together by screws or bolts the strip a yields, and
the lead, owing to its great malleability, and favored also by the longitudinal
grooves of the strip, impresses itself into the surfaces of the flanges, following
exactly their more or less irregular conformation. The strip of lead is shaped
by hand or otherwise according to the configuration of the joint, and the ends
are cut as represented at h, Figures 1 and 3, in order that they may fit
together when bent into a circular or other form.
In some cases 1 form the strip of lead of lozenge shape in section, as repre-
sented in Figures 5 and 6, and without grooves; this configuration is
particuly adapted for valve boxes.
To make a hermetic connection between a bolt or screw (f, Figure 8,) and
a plate g, I take a thin strip or wire of lead, similar to that shewn in Figure 7,
the malleability of which is such that it can be readily rolled round the plain
portion of the bolt or screw to obtain by compression a tight connection.
In the formation of the lead washers by moulding they may be made either
straight or sinuous, or of circular or oval form. Instead of the continuous
rectangular edges of the grooves, the edges of the washers may be formed with
notches or otherwise, according to the purpose to which they are to be applied.
The number of grooves may also be varied, see Figures 9 and 10 and
Figures 11 and 12.
Figure 13 shews a washer of sinuous form; Figure 14 a circular, and
Figure 15 an oval washer.
The forms of washers shown in the Drawings are merely given as examples,
many other forms may be conveniently adopted, the form being chiefly
dependent upon the purpose to which the washer is to be applied.

page_text: And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declaro that I claim the employment,
as means of making the joints of metal pipes and other metal articles
tight, of washers or packings of lead, substantially in manuer herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, havo here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)