IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Flood, of 21, Campden Hill Gardens, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and David Young, of 23, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer and Patent Agent,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Flood and
David Young at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th April
1881.
GEORGE HENRY FLOOD, of 21, Campden Hill Gardens, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, and DAVID YOUNG, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer and Patent Agent.
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS."
In the Specification filed in accordance with Letters Patent granted to the said
David Young, and bearing date the 18th day of June 1880, No. 2466, is described
an Invention of improvements in apparatus for regulating and controlling the flow
of liquids into tanks or other vessels, the essential feature of the said Invention
being the use of a wedge in combination with the lever of a ball valve. The object
of our present Invention is, firstly, to apply the wedge to valve cocks or taps for
regulating and controlling the How of liquids, and, secondly, to further improve
the mode of applying it to ball valves and the construction of such ball valves.
The first part of our Invention consists in constructing valve cocks or taps in
such a manner that they shall be opened either by the insertion of a wedge
between the valve or valve spindle and a roller or other suitable contrivance fitted
to or forming a part of the valve box, or by the withdrawal of the wedge from
between the said parts, the former method being adopted in the case of valves opening

page_text: against the pressure, and the latter in the case of valves opening with the pressure
of the liquid, the wedge in either case being acted upon directly by the hand or
by means of a lever or a screwed spindle connected thereto.
The second part of our Invention consists in constructing ball valves as described
in the Specification already referred to, in such a manner that no leather or
packing of any kind shall be required. For this purpose we make the end of the
plunger next the valve seat in the form of a cone or the frustum of a cone, the
valve seat being suitably shaped to receive it. In order that the faces of the valve
seat and plunger shall wear equally we provide suitable means whereby the plunger
shall be caused to occasionally rotate, and instead of fitting a roller in the end of
the plunger next the wedge we either make that end rounded or else we make it
cup-shaped to receive a ball or sphere which is free to revolve in any direction,
and will therefore be constantly changing its point of contact with the wedge.
These improvements may also be applied to the valve cocks or taps herein
described.
Instead of using the wedge in the manner described in the Specification already
referred to we may use in some cases a fixed inclined plane, a suitably shaped
sliding piece taking the place of the wedge and sliding between the said inclined
plane and the valve or plunger; or we may use a block sliding perpendicularly
to the valve, and provided with an inclined slot or other similar contrivance to
open and close the valve.
Our Invention further consists in the case of valves opening with the pressure
of the liquid, in providing means whereby the flow of the liquid shall be arrested
should part of the apparatus break or become detached. For this purpose we fix
to the end of the plunger a spindle having a suitable valve attached to it, which
in the case of such mishap, will close the inlet and prevent any further escape of
the liquid.