A NEW SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER AND
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Howard, of Nineteen, Peckham Grove,
Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "A
NEW SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER AND
W
Sealed the 7th July 1874, and dated the 21st March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Howard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st March 1874.
I, JOHN HOWARD, of Nineteen, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER
AND DISINFECTANT FOR FLUSHING AND DISINFECTING WATERCLOSETS," to be as
follows:-
A cylinder made of any suitable material is fitted with a piston, piston
rod, inlet & outlet pipes, a valve or valves, also a tap, the tap being
opened and closed by pressure upon a rod, which is continued through
the seat of the closet and fitted with a knob, by pressure upon which

page_text: the machine is set in motion. The piston rod is provided with an arm or
other fitting, which in its ascent lifts a rod which is connected with the
trap pan of the closet. This rod becomes disengaged at a definito point
allowing the trap pan to resume its original position. When the tap is
opened water enters the cylinder beneath the piston, forcing it upwards,
and the water above the piston with which the disinfectant has been
mixed is forced through the outlet pipe into the closet pan, whereupon
the piston rod closes the inlet tap and a spring fixed upon the tap
blocks the rod in its original position, thus preventing any interference
with the series of operations. A valve in the piston opens simul-
taneously with the closing of the tap, allowing the piston to descend to
its original place when the above-named valve closes, and the spring
which blocked the rod is disengaged by contact with the arm or fitting
upon the top of the piston rod.
The disinfecting vessel, made of any suitable shape or material, is
fixed by the side of the tap rod and contains any good disinfectant. It
is fitted with a syphon pipe which communicates with the cylinder
allowing a measured quantity of the disinfecting fluid to flow into the
cylinder and mix with the water therein, therefore the machine being
once set in motion will completo the following series of operations before
ceasing to act, and when they are completed it has returned to its
original position.
First. It supplies at every operation a definite quantity of both water
and disinfecting fluid, mixed previously to their discharge into the closet
pan for flushing it and disinfecting its contents.
Secondly. This machine at the fitting time opens the trap of the pan
to discharge the disinfected contents, after which it replaces the pan
trap.
Thirdly. This machine after the above operations closes the inlet water
tap, while at the same moment a valve opens and permits the piston to
descend, but prior to the piston's arrival at the bottom of the cylinder
the piston rod disengages a spring which prevents any interference
during the series of operations.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOWARD, of 19, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Howard, Her special license that I, the
said John Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Howard, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "A NEW SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR REGULATINg the
SUPPLY OF WATER AND DISINFECTANT FOR FLUSHING AND DISINFECTING WATER-
CLOSETS, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Howard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
"
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Howard, do hereby declaré
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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object apparatus by which at each operation
a definite quantity of water and disinfecting fluid previously mixed may
be discharged into the pan of a watercloset. The arrangement is also
such that the pressure of the incoming water causes the closet pan to
open at the proper time for the discharge of its contents. The water

page_text: Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus. a is the closet pan, it has
a valve at the bottom of the ordinary sort, and it is opened and closed
by the weighted lever b, the valve opens when the lever is raised, and
it closes when the lever falls by gravity; c is an ordinary closet:
water supply valve, the valve itself is held down to its seat by the
weighted lever c¹. When this lever is raised water passes from the
supply pipe into the lower part of the cylinder & underneath a piston
which the cylinder contains. e is a knob, which when pressed down
starts the apparatus, it is attached at f¹ to the lever f, shewn also in
Figure 2. The lever has its fulcrum at f, it carries at its rear end the
weight fs, and in front it is jointed to the rod g. h is a latch which the
rod g carries, it is shewn in side view at Figure 3.
When the knob e is depressed the latch h descends and catches upon
the weighted lever c¹, and when the pressure on the knob ceases the
lever o¹ is lifted by the action of the weight f³, water then enters the
cylinder d, the piston rises and its rod presses upwards the lever i,
which has its fulcrum behind the cylinder.
By means of the chain the lever k is raised and when it has
travelled over a portion of its course it comes against the pin 6¹ on the
lever b. The pan valve of the closet is thus opened and the contents of
the pan discharged. This being done the lever k arrives at a point where
its jointed end ¹ slips over the pin b' on the lever b, and the valve of
the pan then closes. The piston afterwards goes on rising to the end of
its stroke when the chain attached to the lever i draws out the latch h
and the lever c' falling closes the water inlet valve. The return of the
piston now commences, there is a small hole through the piston by
which water is able to pass from its under to its upper side.. The piston
descends by its own weight and the weight of the parts attached to it;
the lever being jointed passes the pin 6' without difficulty and returns
to its original position,

page_text: 7 is a pipe, by which as the piston rises water passes away from the
upper part of the cylinder d into the closet pan; m is a vessel con-
taining a soluble disinfectant, chloride of zinc is suitable. The neck
of the vessel m stands above the level at which water enters the pan a;
n is a small siphon pipe passing from the vessel m to the upper part of
the cylinder d, it has a regulating cock n' upon it. Whilst the piston is
rising a small quantity of the water escaping from the cylinder d passes
by the pipe n into the vessel m and raises the level in this vessel above
that of the outlet into the pan. When the piston descends the disin-
fecting solution passes back into the cylinder d until the liquid in the
vessel m stands on a level with the lower part of the outlet into the pan.
Thus a mixture in given proportions of water and disinfecting solution
is prepared in the upper part of the cylinder d ready for the next flushing
operation.
What I claim is, the arrangement of self-acting apparatus for the
supply of water to waterclosets in such manner that the water supply
furnishes the motive power for opening the valve of the pan, sub-
stantially as described.
I also claim the arrangement for the supply to the closet of water
mixed with disinfectant, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Howard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.