IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING PIPES, AND TUBES, AND IN THE PACKING TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Austin, of 14, Dorset Place, Wellington
Road, Holloway, in the County of Middlesex, Architect, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING PIPES, AND TUBES, AND IN THE PACKING
TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 6th November 1866, and dated the 11th May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Austin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
May 1866.
I, WILLIAM AUSTIN, of 14, Dorset Place, Wellington Road, Holloway, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING PIPES AND TUBES AND IN THE
PACKING TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
My improvements have reference to a method of joining pipes and tubes for
which I obtained Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, dated the Sixteenth of
December, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and entitled " Improve-
ments in Pipes and Tubes, and in the Method of Joining and Laying the same.'
And my present improvements consist both in the form of the joint and in
the nature of the packing to be employed, that is to say, to obviate the sliding

page_text: of the packing collar on the ends of the pipes when the sliding socket is
driven or otherwise tightened upon it. I attach to one end of the several
pipes a stop fillet, which I either cast permanently on the pipe or temporarily
attached to it by screws (as a clip). Or I make the ends of the pipes of a
reverse conical form, or as a substitute I form the packing with an internal
flange or fillet, which abutting against the ends of the pipes prevents the
movement of the packing collar. Either of these methods of attaining the
object may have their respective advocates. I also bevel, bell mouth, or
round off the inner edge or edges of the sliding socket, so that it shall not cut
into and thereby tear up the surface of the packing collar on which it slides,
the said stop fillet or bend should be made of such projection from the
external surface of the pipe that it will permit the sliding socket to be driven
without coming into contact with it. In some cases I prefer to employ screw
bolts and nuts for setting up the sliding socket, especially in pipes of large
diameter.
My improvements in the packing collars consist in preparing the material
of which they are composed of a loose or open texture, as leather, felt, papier
maché, a combination of bitumen and paper, or woollen or other textile
fabrics, gutta percha, a mixture of india-rubber and textile fabrics (vulcanized
or otherwise), or any suitable material capable of being moulded or cast into
the desired form. In some cases I prefer to use the material after it has
been rolled or otherwise formed into narrow sheets of the desired section,
either of parallel thickness or feather edged, so that by lapping a portion cut
from the sheet round both ends of the pipes when placed together, a packing
collar will be formed, adapting itself to the form of the pipes, whether cylin-
drical or conical, the outer surface in both cases being conical to receive the
sliding socket, which by driving or drawing up compresses the packing collar
tightly on the ends of the pipes, and prevents the escape of whatever fluid
may be passing through them. These collars may be pressed or cast in
moulds to the desired forms or sizes, so as to be easily applied to pipes of any
dimensions. By these means I am enabled to lay pipes more expeditiously
and consequently at less cost than heretofore, and also to make alterations or
remove defective pipes with greater facility and without destroying contiguous
pipes; and further I obtain a superior joint not so exposed to the ordinary
contingencies to which water, gas, and other pipes are subject.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Austin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUSTIN, of 14, Dorset Place, Wellington Road, Holloway, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Austin, Her special licence that I, the said William Austin, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Austin, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereaftor during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, usc,. exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING
PIPES AND TUBES, AND IN THE PACKING TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Austin, 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 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 William Austin, 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:-
My improvements have reference to the joining of pipes and tubes for the
conveyance of water, gas, sewage, and other fluids which it is required to
retain therein, and also for other purposes for which pipes and tubes may be
employed, and consist in forming the ends of such pipes and tubes, and the
enclosure thereof, in such manner that the junctions may be more easily made
socure against leakage, and more readily laid and united together, than by
the ordinary means, and when required may be taken apart with greater
facility and without destroying them. This I effect by making the shape or
form of such pipes or tubes so that their ends may abut the one against the

page_text: other, whereby any individual pipe may be inserted in or removed from a line
of pipes without disturbing or destroying the contiguous pipes, as is ordinarily
the case when pipes of the ordinary socket or spigot and faucet kind are used.
I further form grooves or indentations or inequalities on the surface of the
ends of such pipes, into which the elastic packing which I employ to envelope
the joint may bo forced, whereby a more secure joint is obtained than if the
surfaces of the pipes were left plain and smooth. These indentations also
cause the pipes to take a firm hold of the packing, and thus prevent them
from being separated or drawn asunder by the internal pressure where such
tendency exists, as would be the case where there are changes of direction in
a line of pipe, or where valves or cocks or blanks occur. I further use conical
sockets or collars for enclosing and compressing the packing which envelopes
the joint, and I either drive the sockets or collars on to the packing, or, as I
much prefer, draw them on to the packing by means of holts and nuts, either
temporarily employed as a tool for cases where the pipes are not subjected to
an appreciable internal pressure, or by means of permanent retaining bolts
and nuts when the pipes are to sustain internal pressure. I further use
sockets or collars in more than one piece with double-coned packings, and
draw them together by bolts and nuts, thus dispensing with the stop fillet
herein-after mentioned (which I find it necessary to adopt in using the single
cone), and obtaining a very secure joint. The packing which I employ may
.be of any suitable substance which possesses elasticity, as vulcanized india-
rubber, gutta percha, preparations of both these substances, canvass or
woollen, or papier machè, or a combination of these substances with india-
rubber, gutta percha, or bituminous matter, either cast in a mould to the
desired form or formed by successive layers of thin sheets or strips of tho
material. In some cases where the pipes are not required to sustain internal
pressure wood, metal, or other non elastic packings may be used, having their
inner surfaces which come into contact with the pipes smeared or payed over
with tar, bitumen, while lead, or other adhesive matter which will by the
pressure of the outer socket or collar be forced into contact with the pipes and
make a secure joint. To prevent the packing from sliding on the surface of
the pipes when the socket or collar is driven or drawn upon it I cast on one
end of the pipe a stop fillet, as shown in the Drawing; or the flange in other
cases forms a substitute for it, or a temporary clamp ring may be used while
the joint is made, and removed when completed. Against this permanent or
temporary stop the end of the packing will abut, and the sliding on the pipe
will be obviated. These methods of making the joints of pipes or tubes
renders the use of fire unnecessary, and is less dependent on the manipulator

page_text: for the security of the joint. The joints are also readily made and are not
liable to leak by disturbance of the ground in which they are laid.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to explain the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents a simple conical socket or collar of metal or suitable
material which is driven or drawn by temporary bolts and nuts upon the
packing, the sliding of the packing on the ends of the pipes being prevented
by a stop fillet permanently cast on the pipe, or by a temporary clamp fillet to
be removed when the joint is completed, the ends of these pipes are shewn as
plain; Fig. 2 represents a similar arrangement of joint, the ends of the pipes
being corrugated or grooved on the surface to prevent the drawing of the
pipes when subjected to internal pressure; Fig. 3 represents another mode of
grooving the ends of the pipes; Fig. 4 represents a form of joint particularly
applicable for pipes of large diameter, the socket or collar being drawn on to
the packing by screw bolts and nuts, for which purpose a flange or lugs are
cast on one end of each pipe, and which also forms a stop for the packing;
Fig. 5 represents a similar joint, but which may have a loose or independent
flange or ring abutting against the stop fillet; Fig. 6 represents a packing
with an internal stop collar, which interposing between the ends of the pipes
prevents the packing from sliding thereon, and is a substitute for the stop
fillet; Fig. 7 represents a joint with a double-coned packing, the socket or
collar being in two parts drawn together by screw bolts and nuts, a stop fillet
is unnecessary in such a case. Fig. 8, another form of double-coned packing,
the pipes which are conically formed at the ends being drawn together by screw
bolts and nuts either in connection with flanges or lugs cast on the sockets or
collars (which in this variety of joint are made in two or more pieces), or by
bolts drawing the two pipes together with the collar; Fig. 9, a method of
making the joint by forming the ends of the pipes conical, and employing a
single conical socket and collar, and a packing of parallel thickness; Fig. 10
represents a double-cone packing joint with a union screwed socket or collar
in two parts, and Fig. 11 a similar joint with a swivel union (which I prefer);
Fig. 12 represents a portion of the ends of two pipes at large, shewing tho
grooves or indents to prevent the separation of the pipes.
In all these Figures A is the pipe; B is tho stop fillet; C is the packing;
D is the sliding conical socket or sollar.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do

page_text: not confine myself to the precise details as shewn in the Drawing, so long as
the spirit of my Invention is retained; but what I claim is,―
Firstly. The application of a stop fillet either cast on the pipe or applied
temporarily for preventing the sliding of the packing, substantially as
described.
Secondly. The application of indentations or grooves to prevent the pipes
from being drawn asunder or separated by internal pressure, substantially as
described.
Thirdly. The application of single coned sockets or collars with bolts and
nuts for drawing up the sockets or collars, instead of driving them, substantially
as described.
Fourthly. The application of double coned packings and corresponding
sockets or collars united by bolts and nuts, or otherwise, substantially as
described.
Fifthly. The application of joint packings for pipes or tubes of the forms
described, whether cast as complete collars or formed of successive layers of
thin sheets or strips of the material, substantially as described.
And sixthly. I claim these several features of my Invention in combination,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said William Austin, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
AMHT. II. RENTON,
5, Whitehall.
WILLIAM AUSTIN. (L.S.)