IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER IN WATERCLOSETS, URINALS, LAVATORIES, AND OTHER SITUATIONS WERE INTERMITTENT SUPPLIES OF WATER ARE REQUIRED."
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Johnson at. the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 26th October 1878.
SAMUEL JOHNSON, of Wood Green, in the County of Middlesex. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER IN WATERCLOSETS,
URINALS, LAVATORIES, AND OTHER SITUATIONS WERE INTERMITTENT SUPPLIES OF
WATER ARE REQUIRED."
This Invention relates to apparatus used for preventing waste of water in
situations where the water has to be supplied intermittently at intervals, a certain
quantity only being required at one time, such as waterclosets, uriuals, or lavatories,
the object of such apparatus being to prevent the water from being wasted by being
supplied in larger quantities or for a longer time than necessary. My Invention is
also applicable to supplying baths or other vessels with a certain quantity of water,
which quantity is capable of being varied as desired, and it has for its objects im-
provements in such apparatus, by which improvements it is simpler,. cheaper, and
more effective than is ordinarily the case. I take a cistern or vessel of any suitable
material, such as metal, slate, earthenware, glass, or wood, but preferably of earthen-
ware, and I fix it at a sufficient height above the watercloset, basin, or other place
to which the water is to be supplied. From this cistern I conduct a syphon pipe,
the shorter leg of which dips nearly to the bottom of the cistern, while the longer
leg passes down to the watercloset, basin, or other place desired.
I prefer to make this syphon pipe of considerable internal diameter, and I arrange
it in such a position that when the cistern is nearly filled with water, the latter
fills the bend of the syphon which then begins to act and to discharge the water
into the watercloset, basin, or other place.
I arrange a supply pipe by which water can be supplied to the cistern from a
reservoir, or larger cistern, a main pipe or other source, and I provide this supply
pipe with a ball-cock of any of the kinds well known and used, or other automatic
valve so arranged that when the water in the cistern has risen sufficiently high to
shut the valve in the supply pipe, it does not quite rise to the bend in the syphon.

page_text: I prefer to make this bend wide but of little height in cross section so that a slight
rise in the level of the water closes it.
Tsuspend-a-block-of-cylindrical or other convenient form, and of considerable size,
of earthenware, metal, or any suitable material, above the surface of-the-water_in
the cistern, and I balance its weight by means of a metal or india-rubber spring or
_balance weight, so that it remains suspended above the water until it is forced
down or depressed into the latter-by-means of a string or cord, or a lever and rods,
pulled or operated by the person using it.
The cistern and other parts of the apparatus being arranged as described, when
it is wished that the desired quantity of water shall be supplied to the watercloset,
basin, or other-place, the suspended block is depressed into the water, and by dis-
placement raises the level of the latter until it fills the-bend-of-the syphon, down
the longer leg of which it then rushes into the watercloset or basin until the
cistern is sufficiently emptied to uncover the end of the shorter leg of the
syphon.
Whilst the water is thus. passing down the syphon the ball-cock or other
automatic valve opens (as the level of the water falls) and admits a fresh supply
which rises until the cock or valve is closed, the level of the water being then just
below the bend in the syphon. I make the water supply pipe smaller than the
syphon pipe in order that the cistern may be emptied sufficiently quickly, and in
cases where it is required to vary the quantity of water I arrange an adjustable
cock or valve in the supply pipe.
By means of this adjustable cock I am able to regulate the supply of water to
the cistern, so that it can be either altogether cut off, or so that the supply is equal
or nearly equal to the quantity discharged by the syphon. In the former case the
quantity so discharged at each operation of the apparatus is about equal to that
contained in the cistern, and in the latter case the discharge through the syphon
will continue as long as water is supplied through the supply pipe. The adjustable
cock or valve may be adjusted so that any intermediate quantity is supplied, and
an index may be attached to the cock or valve, by which this quantity can be
determined.
The block or weight which is depressed into the water when desired, as above
described, may be suspended from a spring and pulled down by a cord or wire
passing through a vertical tube fixed in the bottom of the cistern, or it may be
operated by levers and rods or wires worked when required, either by hand or
automatically.