CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON Cocks, SUCH AS ARE USED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DIXON, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Brassfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-eighth day of November 1822, in the third year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said John Dixon, my exors, admors, and assigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Davies, my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON Cocks, SUCH AS ARE USED FOR DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said
John Dixon, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall
utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation
being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Dixon, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
The object of my said Invention is to make cocks of block tin, or a mixture
of metals, but little liable to be acted upon or corroded by acids, and of a
construction which will not want tightening in use, the wear being thrown on
a different part of the plug to that which stops the liquor, namely, upon the
screw or worm of it. In the Drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the
cock, with the screwed plug (shewn as solid) in its place. The end of that
part of the cock from a to b, which receives the liquid from the barrel, cask,
&c., is turned up at right angles to the other part of the bore, and is formed
into a circular cup c, the upper edge of which is made rounding, and rising up
a little above the parts adjacent to it. This cup is firmly secured into the
upright tube & by two webs at e and f, as shewn in the plan of this part of it
in Fig. 2, and which webs are soldered to the adjacent parts. Into the nose
of the screwed plug a cork g is inserted, which is pressed upon the circular
edge of the cup c by the action of the screw when in use, and stops the flow
of the liquor. In such cases, however, as when the liquor might be liable to
corrode the cock, I substitute the substance known by the name of caoutchouc
or indian-rubber in place thereof. The Drawing shews the plug as having a
handle to turn it by, but when I wish to make a lock cock I omit that part of
the plug h, which is above the screw, and make a cavity in the middle of the
screwed part as shewn by dotted lines at i, to which I give any desired form
or shape for the key to fit into, and I lengthen the socket above the female
screw into which the plug fits, as shewn by the dotted lines at j, j, and also
screw into the top of it a cap or cover, having a round hole in the middle of
it for the key to enter and turn in, and which said cap I prevent from coming
off in use by a screw fitted into it, and the back part of the socket. In order
to afford a free passage for the liquor to escape from the cup c, I widen the
adjacent parts of the upright tube as shewn at k, in Fig. 1. I am well
aware that attempts have been made in this and other countries to make cocks
of a somewhat similar nature with these, but I believe without the desired
success; and I particularly claim as my improvements the mode of securing
the cup c, in its place, the widening of the upright tube at k, the application
of caoutchouc or indian-rubber in the place of cork, and the manner of making
the cock into a lock cock.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dixon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-three.
JOHN (L.S.) DIXON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1823, the aforesaid John Dixon came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.