British Standard Pipe

The British Standard Pipe thread (BSP thread) is a family of standard screw thread types that has been adopted internationally for interconnecting and sealing pipe ends by mating an external (male) with an internal (female) thread.

Types

Two types of threads are distinguished:

• Parallel ('straight') threads, which have a constant diameter, denoted by the letter G; also abbreviated as BSPP (British Standard Pipe Thread Parallel);
• Taper threads, whose diameter increases or decreases along the length of the thread, denoted by the letter R; also abbreviated as BSPT (British Standard Pipe Thread Taper).

They can be combined into two types of joints:

• Jointing threads: These are pipe threads for joints made pressure-tight by the mating of the threads. They always use a taper external thread, but can have either parallel or taper internal threads. (In Europe, taper internal pipe threads are not commonly used.)
• Longscrew threads: These are parallel pipe threads used where a pressure-tight joint is achieved by the compression of a soft material (gasket) on to the surface of the external thread by tightening a backnut against a socket.

Threadform

For both the taper and the parallel pipe threads, the Whitworth threadform is used, which has the following characteristics:

• symmetrical V-thread in which the angle between the flanks is 55° (measured in an axial plane)
• one-sixth of this sharp V is truncated at the top and the bottom
• the threads are rounded equally at crests and roots by circular arcs ending tangentially with the flanks
• the theoretical depth of the thread is therefore 0.64 times the nominal pitch

Pipe thread sizes

A list of 15 thread sizes are defined by the standards, ranging from ¹/₁₆ to 6. The size number was originally based on the inner diameter measured in inches (25.4 mm) of a steel tube for which the thread was intended, but is in the modern metric version of the standard simply a size number.

Thread size	Threads per inch	Pitch [mm]	Major diameter of the thread		Gauge length [mm]		Corresponding pipe
			[mm]	[in]			DN	OD [mm]	OD [in]	Thick- ness [mm]
1/16	28	0.907	7.723	0.304	4
1/8	28	0.907	9.728	0.383	4		6	10.2	0.40	2
1/4	19	1.337	13.157	0.518	6		8	13.5	0.53	2.3
3/8	19	1.337	16.662	0.656	6.4		10	17.2	0.68	2.3
1/2	14	1.814	20.995	0.825	8.2		15	21.3	0.84	2.6
3/4	14	1.814	26.441	1.041	9.5		20	26.9	1.06	2.6
1	11	2.309	33.249	1.309	10.4		25	33.7	1.33	3.2
1¼	11	2.309	41.910	1.650	12.7		32	42.4	1.67	3.2
1½	11	2.309	47.803	1.882	12.7		40	48.3	1.90	3.2
2	11	2.309	59.614	2.347	15.9		50	60.3	2.37	3.6
2½	11	2.309	75.184	2.960	17.5		65	76.1	3.00	3.6
3	11	2.309	87.884	3.460	20.6		80	88.9	3.50	4
4	11	2.309	113.030	4.450	25.5		100	114.3	4.50	4.5
5	11	2.309	138.430	5.450	28.6		125	139.7	5.50	5
6	11	2.309	163.830	6.450	28.6		150	165.1	6.50	5

The major diameter listed is the outer diameter of the external thread. For a taper thread, it is the diameter at the "gauge length" from the small end of the thread. The taper is "1 to 16", meaning that for each 16 units of measurement increase in the distance from the end, the diameter increases by 1 unit of measurement.

Pipe thread designations

These standard pipe threads are formally referred to by the following sequence of blocks:

• the words "Pipe thread",
• the document number of the standard (e.g., "ISO 7" or "EN 10226")
• the symbol for the pipe thread type:
  • G = external + internal parallel (ISO 228)
  • R = external taper (ISO 7)
  • Rp = internal parallel (ISO 7)
  • Rc = internal taper (ISO 7)
  • Rs = external parallel
• the thread size

Threads are normally right-hand. For left-hand threads, the letters "LH" are appended.

Example: Pipe thread EN 10226 Rp 2 1/2

References

• International standard ISO 7-1: Pipe threads where pressure-tight joints are made on the threads — Part 1: Dimensions, tolerances and designation. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva.
• BS EN 10226: Pipe threads where pressure tight joints are made on the threads. (The European version of ISO 7.)
  • Part 1: Taper external threads and parallel internal threads — Dimensions, tolerances and designation.
  • Part 2: Taper external threads and taper internal threads — Dimensions, tolerances and designation.
• BS 21: Pipe threads for tubes and fittings where pressure-tight joints are made on the threads (metric dimensions). British Standards Institute, 1985. (Superseded by BS EN 10226:2004).
• International standard ISO 228-1: Pipe threads where pressure-tight joints are not made on the threads — Part 1: Dimensions, tolerances and designation.
• BS 2779: Specification for pipe threads for tubes and fittings where pressure-tight joints are not made on the threads (metric dimensions), 1986.

BS EN 10226-1:2004

See also

• Threaded pipe
• National pipe thread

External links

• Newman Tools Inc. and J.W. WINCO, INC. show the Whitworth form BSP or ISO pipe thread.