IMPROVEMENTS APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Stevens Hellyer, of the Firm of Beard,
Dent, and Hellyer, of Newcastle Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER."
IN
Sealed the 18th January 1876, and dated the 23rd July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd July 1875.
I, SAMUEL STEVENS HELLYER, of the Firm of Beard, Dent, and
Hellyer, of Newcastle Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER," to be as
follows:-

page_text: lavatories, and other like places, and consists essentially of a cistern
hung upon centres within an outer cistern or container, one of the said
centres consisting of the hollow plug of a cock which is fixed to the
inner side of the outer cistern, and works water-tight within a socket
forming the body of the cock brazed or otherwise secured to the inner
side of the inner cistern. From this socket which turns freely on the
plug of the cock there projects a short discharge branch or nozzle in
free communication, so long as the inner cistern is in its normal
position, with a supply pipe leading from a feed cistern fitted with the
well known arrangement of ball valve.
The act of tipping or turning slightly the inner cistern on its centres
of suspension for the purpose of discharging its contents necessarily
involves the immediate shutting off of the supply to the said cistern,
and hence no waste of water beyond the given quantity originally
contained within the tipping cistern can take place. The said cistern
may be tilted either by a counterweighted lever (the fulcrum of which
constitutes one of the centres of suspension of the said cistern) acted
upon by a chain or wire, or the counterweighted lever may be dispensed
with and the chain be passed over a guide pulley and be attached
directly to one side of the said cistern.
In all cases it is absolutely necessary to allow the tipping cistern to
resume its normal position before any further supply of water can enter
therein, which supply flows by gravitation from the feed cistern.
Moreover, as the tilting of the said cistern elevates the mouth of the
discharge branch or nozzle above the level of the water in the feed
cistern a further safeguard is provided against the flow of water into the
tipping cistern when maintained in its tilted position.
A stop or buffer of india-rubber or other suitable material is provided
for the edge of the tipping cistern to strike against when resuming its
normal position, thereby preventing any undue swinging or oscillation
of the same after it has been released.

page_text: filed by the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
STEVENS HELLYER, of the Firm of Beard, Dent, and Hellyer, of
Newcastle Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer, Her special
license that I, the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Stevens
Hellyer, 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 WASTE OF WATER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar combination and arrangement
tonalarata
usingla
'

page_text: lavatories, and other like places, and consists essentially of a tipping or
tilting cistern hung upon centres within an outer fixed receiver or
container, one of the said centres consisting of the hollow plug of a
cock, which is fixed to the inner side of the outer cistern and works
water-tight within a socket forming the body of the cock, which is
brazed or otherwise secured to the inner side of the inner cistern.
From this socket which turns freely on the plug of the cock there
projects a short lateral discharge branch or nozzle in free communi-
cation, so long as the inner cistern is in its normal position either
directly or indirectly with a self-acting feed cistern which is fitted with
the well known arrangement of ball valve.
The act of tipping or tilting the inner cistern on its centres of
suspension for the purpose of discharging its contents into the outer
fixed receiver or container effects the immediate shutting off of the
supply to the said inner cistern, and hence no waste of water beyond the
given quantity originally contained within the tipping cistern can take
place. The said cistern may be tilted either by a counterweighted lever
(the fulcrum of which constitutes one of the centres of suspension of
the said cistern) acted upon by a chain or wire, or the counterweighted
lever may be dispensed with and the chain may be passed over an
overhead guide pulley and be attached at one end directly to the front
side of the said cistern and at the other end to the pull of the closet, or
be provided with a ring or handle.
In all cases it is absolutely necessary that the tipping cistern should
be allowed to resume its normal position before any further supply of
water can enter therein, such supply flowing by gravitation from the
feed cistern which is placed at the same level as the tipping cistern.
Moreover, as the tilting of the last named cistern elevates the mouth of
the lateral discharge branch or nozzle above the level of the water in
the feed cistern a further safeguard is provided against the flow of
water into the tipping cistern so long as it is maintained in its tilted
position.
A stop or buffer of india-rubber or other suitable material is provided
for the edge of the tipping cistern to strike against when resuming its
normal position, thereby preventing any undue swinging or oscillation
of the same after it has been released, and ensuring its maintenance in a
horizontal or level position when at rest.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the explanatory Shect of Drawings
hereunto annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding
parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section
(taken along the line 1-2 in Figure 2) of my improved water waste
preventer, with feed cistern combined therewith, drawn to a scale of
about one-third the real size; Figure 2 is a corresponding end view of
the same, showing the feed cistern in vertical section along the line 3-4
in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the said
apparatus taken along the line 5-6 in Figure 4, and looking towards
the feed cistern; and Figure 4 is a plan of the apparatus complete, corre-
sponding to Figure 1.
A is the receiver, of any convenient size, fixed by screws or otherwise
to a wall or other suitable support, and placed at any convenient height
from the floor. Within this receiver there is provided an inner cistern B,
which is mounted or suspended at each end upon trunnions C, D, so as
to be free to oscillate or turn thereon to the required extent; E is the
feed cistern, which may be cast or made in one piece with the receiver A.
or be self contained and situate at any distance from the said receiver,
so long as the upper edge of the said feed cistern is on a level, or
practically on a level, with the upper edge of the inner or tipping
cistern B, which I prefer to make about one inch higher than the edge
of the receiver, as shown in my Drawings. One of the trunnions or
centres of oscillation C forms the hollow plug of a cock, which plug is
secured to the inner side of the receiver A and passes through into the
feed cistern E when the latter is combined in one with the receiver, as
shown in my Drawings; or it may communicate by a pipe of any con-
venient length with the said feed cistern when the latter is separate or
detached from the receiver. This hollow plug fits accurately inside a
socket piece a, which forms the body of the cock, the said socket piece
being brazed or otherwise secured to the inner side of the tipping
cistern B. I prefer to make the said plug and socket of gun metal ;
bis a discharge branch or nozzle, which projects from the side of the
socket or body a of the cock, the said socket playing freely around
the stationary hollow plug when the inner cistern is caused to oscillate
on its centres. The water way in the said hollow plug is so arranged

page_text: as regards the lateral discharge branch or nozzle 6 that when the tipping
cistern B is level, or in its normal position (as shown in Figure 3), there
will be free communication between the feed cistern E and the said
cistern B through the plug, the cistern B being thus always filled up
to the level of the water in the feed cistern when in its normal position.
The other centre or trunnion D may consist of a solid stud or pin secured
to the tipping cistern B and working in a gun metal socket in the end
of the receiver A.
The feed cistern E is kept supplied either direct from the main or
from any other convenient source by the service pipe c, the supply being
controlled by the well known ball valve arrangement d, an overflow
pipe e being provided to obviate the risk of accidental flooding; fis the
flushing or supply pipe, as the case may be, of the closet or other place
to be supplied, such pipe communicating directly with the bottom of
the receiver A; g is a chain or cord which passes over a fixed guide
pulley h and down behind the apparatus, as shown in Figure 3, and is
connected at one end to the front edge of the tipping cistern B, whilst
its other end is connected to the pull or handle of the closet, or is other-
wise so disposed as to be convenient to the hand of the person using the
apparatús, so that on pulling the said chain the tipping cistern will be
caused to turn on its centres of suspension, thereby assuming the position
shown in dotted lines in Figure 3. By this action the contents of the
cistern B will be suddenly discharged into the receiver A, and will flow
thence into the closet, urinal, or other receptacle by the pipe ƒ; the
capacity of the said cistern B being such that it will only contain
sufficient water for one flushing or supply and no more. The act of
turning the said cistern B into its tilted or inclined position simul-
taneously turns the socket piece a round the hollow plug of the cock C
and shuts off all further supply from the feed cistern E until the tipping
cistern B is allowed to resume its normal position again when the water
way through the plug of the cock will be reopened, thereby establishing
free communication between the feed cistern and the cistern B.
A further safeguard against the flow of water from the feed cistern
into the tipping cistern B, whilst the latter is held in its tilted position,
is ensured by the fact of the extremity of the lateral branch or nozzle b
of the socket piece a being elevated above the level of the water in the
feed cistern during the time the tipping cistern B is maintained in its
tilted position, as will be clearly seen on referring to the dotted lines in

page_text: Figure 3 of my Drawings. F is a stop or buffer secured to the side of
the receiver A and padded with india-rubber, the said stop projecting
over the edge of the cistern B for the purpose of checking its return
motion and ensuring its maintenance in a horizontal position when at
rest, the said cistern being so suspended as to enable it to restore itself by
its own gravity to its normal position when released. A corresponding
stop or buffer is provided at F¹ to check any undue tilting of the
cistern B when discharging its contents, as shown clearly in Figure 3.
G is a break water or baffle plate secured inside the receiver A from end
to end, and reaching near to the outer surface of the tipping cistern B
for the purpose of preventing any surging or splashing of the discharged
water over the lip of the receiver.
In some cases in lieu of the arrangement of chain and pulley shown
in Figure 3, I substitute a weighted lever i (shown in dotted lines in
Figure 2), fast on the outer end of the solid trunnion D, and having an
actuating chain & suspended therefrom to be pulled by the hand of the
user.
Although I have considered it necessary to illustrate only a single
apparatus in my Drawings, I may observe that in many cases two, three,
or more of the said water waste preventers may be arranged in different
localities on the same level, and be all supplied from one and the same
feed cistern E common to the series, in lieu of each apparatus being
provided with a separate feed cistern of its own. For this purpose it is
simply requisite to connect by means of branch pipes / the hollow plugs
of the cocks forming one of the centres of suspension C of the several
tipping cisterns B with a pipe m (shown in dotted lines) leading to the
feed cistern E which is thus made to supply the entire series of water
waste preventers.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application and use to and for the prevention of waste of
water in waterclosets, urinals, lavatories, and other like places of one or
more tipping or tilting cisterns working within one or more outer
cisterns or receivers in combination with a self-acting supply cock, and

page_text: a feed cistern when the said parts or elements are combined and arranged
to operate together, substantially in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated by my Drawings.
Secondly. The application and use of the cock C with its lateral
discharge nozzle 6 in conjunction with a tipping or tilting cistern, an 5
outer cistern or receiver, and a self-acting feed cistern when combined
and arranged to operate together, substantially in the manner and for
the
purpose herein-before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Stevens Hellyer, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in 1
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.