IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF FLUIDS, WHICH HE CALLS 'DIAPHRAGM OBTURATOR
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF FLUIDS, WHICH HE CALLS
'DIAPHRAGM OBTURATOR." "-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 26th April 1855.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de
l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF FLUIDS, WHICH I
CALL DIAPHRAGM OBTURATOR," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention consists, first, in constructing a moveable rectangular or
circular diaphragm for opening and shutting the orifice of vessels of different
forms & dimensions, and which slides between two plates, behind which an
elastic stuffing is set to make them adhere to the diaphragm.
Secondly, in constructing a box of a suitable form to serve as envelope to the
stopping apparatus.
The clastic stopping, which consists of caoutchouc, gutta percha, leather,
or other similarly elastic substances, may be set between the plates of the
interior surface of the envelope, and produces a hermetic closing between the
different surfaces, so as to prevent either liquids or fluids having any access

page_text: with the exterior of the box. The elastic stuffing, acting like the stuffing of
the cylinder of a hydraulic press, effects greater hermeticity in proportion as
the amount of internal pressure is greater.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Oflice on the 23rd October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in
the Empire of France, and of 4, South Strect, Finsbury, London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight.hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le. Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand lo
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OP FLUIDS, WHICH I CALL DIAPHRAGM
OBTURATOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter
Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the application of a diaphragm

page_text: or slide working between two guide plates suitably packed to pipes for con-
veying gas, water, or any other liquid, in lieu of stop-cocks. The Drawing
hereto annexed represents the application of the Invention to apparatus of
various forms.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent the details, in section and elevation, of a
"diaphragm obturator," with an exit orifice of nineteen inches diameter, for
a water pipe. a, a, Figures 1 and 2, is the diaphragm, in plan and section;
it is made of iron or brass, or other suitable material, according to the
application of the apparatus. The diaphragm is planed on the two parallel
faces, and slides between the two plates e, e, which are also planed on the
surface of their contact with the diaphragm. The oblong form of the plates,
Figure 1, serves to cover the orifice in the diaphragm. The diaphragm a, and
the two plates e, c, form the mechanism of the obturator, which is fixed in the
box or casing P, P. The interior of the box is provided with projecting rims
and circular or oblong cavities, in which are placed the two elastic packings
i, i, made of caoutchouc, gutta percha, leather, or other suitable material, one
on each side of the plates, which, being compressed in the putting together of
the casing by means of the bolts S, S, form at the same time an hermetic
joint between the surfaces, and press the plates against the diaphragm. The
diaphragm is opened and closed by means of a wheel n, n, and two racks o, o,
as shewn in the Drawing, or by other suitable mechanism. The openings
at q, q, are intended to shew that the weight of the box may be reduced.
openings c, c, serve to facilitate the withdrawal of the pins which fix the two
racks to the diaphragm.
The
Figures 5, 6, 7, & 8 represent an obturator having an orifice six inches in
diameter, the construction of which is similar to that of the obturator before
described. b, b, Figures 7 and 8, is the diaphragm, in plan and section; m, m,
are the two contact plates, which are adapted by their flange r, r, in the corre-
sponding cavities K, K, cast in the two parts forming the box L, L. The
diaphragm in this apparatus is provided with two projections, intended to stop
its downward stroke; its upward stroke is stopped by the guide Z, Z. If it
were required to move the diaphragm by means of a screw, a crank would
have to be employed in lieu of the guide Z, Z, and the rod F, F, in place
of being plain would have to be threaded and secured to the diaphragm in
the same way, as shewn by the fork x, x. The elastic packing is placed in the
cavities h, h, Figure 8; the fixing together of the box L, L, and the compres-
sion of the packing is obtained by means of the screws g, g.
In certain cases it might be desirable to give the diaphragm a rotative

page_text: movement; in this case the diaphragm would form a perfect disc. In other
cases the diaphragm might consist of a segment of a disc, and be worked by
means of a handle; in this case it would slide concentrically to the axis of
the handle. Figures 9, 10, and 11 shew the application of this plan to a
small obturator. This obturator is composed of a box in two parts A, B.
When the apparatus is intended for use on a water pipe, the two parts of the
box are symmetrical. The part A of the box has an exit orifice, and the
part B', which is shown broken off, can be united to any pipes or joint. The
diaphragm t, t, of this obturator has the form of the segment of a circle,
Figures 9 and 10. The oblong plates 1, 1, have also a concentric form, and
hermeticity is obtained between them by the means already described.
elastic packing is placed in the oblong annular cavity y, y.
The putting
together of the two parts of the box A, B, can be effected in different ways,
according to the size and force of the apparatus. In the Drawing it is shewn
fixed together by means of rivets and ears p, p, around the exterior of
the box.
The
The above arrangement is applicable to pipes of any diameter. The handle
V, V, serves to work the diaphragm, which is open in Figure 9 and closed in
Figure 11. To facilitate the application of the obturator to stop-cocks of any
form or diameter, I have shewn in Figures 18 and 14 two stop-cocks for
domestic use, which, being on the same principle as those already described,
requires no further description.
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of carrying the same into execution, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down, so
long as the peculiar character of the Invention be retained; but what I claim
is, the construction of apparatus, which I call obturator diaphragm, as
substitutes for ordinary stop-cocks, as herein-before described, and referred to
in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)