IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER IN WATER CLOSETS, URINALS AND OTHER PLACES WHERE A MEASURED QUANTITY OF WATER IS REQUIRED TO BE DELIVERED AT EACH OPERATION
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Tylor, of 2 Newgate Street, in the City of London
Brass Founder for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER IN WATER CLOSETS, URINALS AND OTHER
PLACES WHERE A MEASURED QUANTITY OF WATER IS REQUIRED TO BE
DELIVERED AT EACH OPERATION "
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Tylor at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th July 1883.
ALFRED TYLOR, of 2 Newgate Street, in the City of London, Brass founder,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER IN WATER
CLOSETS, URINALS, AND OTHER PLACES WHERE A MEASURED QUANTITY OF WATER
IS REQUIRED TO BE DELIVERED AT EACH OPERATION JJ
My improvements relate to the construction and arrangements of what are
known as syphon cisterns, which are employed for measuring and delivering fixed
quantities of water only, to Water closets, Urinals, and other places cach time the
water is applied thereto, whereby waste of water is prevented. In syphon cisterns
of the kind above mentioned the water is usually delivered into the measuring
cistern through a ball tap or otherwise up to a certain level, not high enough to
start the syphon into action without some other means. Various devices have
been proposed from time to time for effecting the starting of the syphon action
when required; in some cases the level of the water in the measuring cistern is
artificially raised by the immersion into it of some displacement body until it
overflows into the longer leg of the discharging syphon; sometimes the syphon
itself is lowered bodily into the water until its upper part is below the level of the
said water; sometimes the syphon is wholly immersed in the water and an
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page_text: Sometimes a
upward pointing end thereof is closed with a valve the opening of which below the
water level allows water to enter the syphon and to start the same.
device is employed of the nature of a piston or pump for forcing into the syphon a
sufficiency of water from the cistern to start the syphon into action; and sometimes
a hinged or loose flap is used either to raise the general level of the water in
the cistern above the syphon, or to raise in the syphon sufficient water to start the
same into action. The improvements forming the subject of this present invention
relate partly to the last mentioned device, namely, that in which a flap is employed
to raise or force a sufficient quantity of water out of the tank into the syphon to
start the same into action. For this purpose I employ a flap which may be hinged
or not as preferred, and adapted to fit more or less loosely in a separate chamber or
box inside the measuring cistern; the shorter leg of the flushing syphon opens into
this chamber or box which is to be so proportioned, and the tap in it of such an
area in relation thereto, that when the aid flap is pressed down or raised in the
said chamber or box, such a quantity of water shall thereby be forced out of the
said box up the shorter leg of the syphon as is necessary to put the latter into
action to empty the cistern. A separate flap and chamber or box may be employed
in another cistern or compartment for effecting the trapping or after-flush. The
flap or flaps may be operated by levers and chains, cords or rods in any suitable
way. The supply of water to the measuring cistern may be regulated by a ball tap
connected either directly with the water main or with a storage cistern according
to circumstances.
In some cases instead of employing the flap above rejerred to, I make the
syphon of a coiled or spiral form whereby it is rendered sufficiently elastic to
admit of its being bent down with its top under water and whereby the syphon
action started.
In some cases I employ a fan for charging the syphon, the said fan being caused
to rotate by suitable mechanical devices when the handle of the closet or urinal is
actuated.
The syphon may also be charged by the action of diaphragms of any suitable
construction, or water may be admitted to them for that purpose by means of
valves. What is known as the "Wurtemburg 'syphon may be employed in these
arrangements both for the flushing and trapping actions.
The improvements also relate to arrangements for starting a 'syphon by a current
or displacement of water actuated by a plunger, piston, or other moving part, or by
another stream of water, or by frictional disturbance.
When employing a plunger or piston I arrange the same so as to work in an
enlargement at the upper end of the short leg of the syphon, the longer leg of the
syphon commencing near the upper end of the said enlargement. The plunger or
piston is preferably actuated from below, so as to avoid the necessity for the use of
a stuffing box, and after having displaced sufficient water to start the syphon, the
said plunger or piston passes above the opening to the longer leg of the syphon,
leaving a free passage for the current of water through the said syphon, and is
held up in that position by the said current of water until the cistern is emptied
unless counterweighted so as to fall and break the syphon action as soon as the
handle or "pull" is let go.