Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 28th July, 1887'
Complete Left, 28th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 29th June, 1888
1 WILLIAM NORMAN SWETTENHAM of the Old School-house Shrewsbury in tho
County of Salop Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
to be as follows
The object of this Invention is to provide means whereby the closet is automatically
flushed with a necessary and fixed quantity of water the said means being effective
simple and not liable to readily get out of order and the same fixed quantity of
flushing water always being flushed through regardless of the time the Closet is
in usc.
According to my Invention the lid is arranged so that it is only maintained raised
by the back of a person using the Closet. The lid is provided with a hook or catch
which acts on an inclined plane on a lever the other end of which engages a bolt
urged forward by a weight or spring which bolt supports a tumbling box which
receives water from a cistern through a hollow trunnion. This Cistern is furnished
with a ball cock and the water level thereof is on level at top with the top of the
tumbler box but is of greater area.
When the tumbler box turns over its contents
are precipitated down a culvert leading to the pan of the Closet the supply from the
cistern being then cut off and when the tumbling box rights itself the supply from
the cistern is opened. This may be effected by a hit and miss diaphragm opening
and closing by a quarter turn or by a slot extending through about a quarter of the
tube forming the supply passage or by means of a helical opening covered and
uncovered by a sleeve on the trunnion.
The arrangement can be worked from the seat instead of the lid if so desired but
the latter is preferred. The underside of the lid may be made to fit the back of the
person.
When the lid is raised the hook or catch moves up and when the person rises
from the seat the lid falls and the hook or catch strikes the inclined plane on the lever
so that the bolt is withdrawn from under the tumbling box the contents of which are
When empty
consequently precipitated down the culvert to the pan of the closet.
the tumbling box returns to its normal position and the bolt under the action of the
weight or spring returns to support it and the parts are again in position to be acted

page_text: upon for flushing the tumbling box in the meantime being filled with water from the
Cistern. Instead of a Cistern and ball cock I may use any other suitable arrange-
ment such for example as a Beanes Patent Valveless waste proventer by balancing
the lever and withdrawing the bolt but I prefer the arrangement described.
Dated this 28th day of July 1887.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London,
Agents for the said William Norman Swettenham.
I WILLIAM NORMAN SWETTENHAM of the Old School House Shrewsbury in the
County of Salop Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my Invention is to provide means whereby a closet is automatically
flushed with a necessary and fixed quantity of water the said means being effective
simple and not liable to readily get out of order and the same fixed quantity of
flushing water always being flushed through regardless of the time the closet is
in use.
According to my Invention the lid or back of the closet is arranged so that it is only
maintained raised by the back of a person using the closet. The lid or back or the
axis on which it turns is provided with a rod and hook or catch which acts on an inclined
plane on a sliding bolt urged forward by a weight or spring to engage or support a
tumbling or tipping box which receives (by preference through one of the trunnions
on which it oscillates) water from a cistern furnished with a ball cock to regulate the
supply of water to the tipping box. When the tumbling box turns over its contents
are precipitated down a culvert leading to the pan of the closet the supply from the
cistern being then cut off and when the tumbling box rights itself the supply from
the cistern is opened. This supply and cutting off of the water may be effected by a
hit and miss diaphragm valve or other convenient arrangement operated upon by the
tipping box or by the rising and falling of the lid or back of the closct. The arrange-
ment can be worked from the seat instead of the lid or back if so desired but for
sanitary reasons the latter is proferred. The lid or back is mado to fit the back of
the person.

page_text: Instead of the tipping box described 1 may use any other suitable arrangement
such for example as a Beanes Patent valveless waste preventer so that by the movement
of the lid or back a syphon action is produced to flush the closet as hereinafter
described.
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 annexed sheets of drawings the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 a front elevation (both partly in section)
of a closet fitted with my improved flushing device and Figure 3 is a plan of the
tippping box and the top of the culvert leading to the closet Figures 14 and 1B
illustrate slight modifications in the tipping box. Figures and 5 are views similar
to Figures 1 and 2 illustrating my invention in combination with a Beanes Patent
water waste preventer, and the remaining Figures are details herein after referred to.
Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 A is the closet and B the lid or back which back
may, if desired, shut down on to the seat of the closet. I prefer however that when
the closet is not in use the lid or back will by gravity fall from the position shown in
dotted lines and assume a position at an angle to the seat as shown by full lines
in Figure 1 the angle being such that the closet cannot be used without raising
the lid or back but that the said lid or back may be raised by the back of the
The lid or
person using the closet without using the hands for the purpose.
back B is connected to a rock shaft C mounted in bearings D at the back of
the closet which shaft carries an arm E connected at its outer end to the lower
end of a rod or bar F extending upwards to the flushing apparatus above.
rod or bar F which is supported in a guide G and is provided at its upper end.
with a hook H having an inclined surface is raised and lowered by the rising
and falling motions of the lid or back B of the closet. I is a vessel supported on
trunnions ii in a receiving vessel whose sides serve for supports to the said
trunnions one of which is hollow and is in communication with a supply cistern j. This
trunnion has fitted to it a valve preferably a "hit and miss" valve, as shown in
plan and elevation in Figure 6 one half of this valve is fixed to the vessel I and
can turn with the vessel when it is tilted on its trunnions and the other half is
The vessel I is
fitted to the mouth of the supply pipe leading to the cistern j.
constructed with a sloping side, as shown at 1', in Figure 2, so that when it
is charged with a given quantity of water its centre of gravity tends to tilt it over,
on its trunnions, in the direction of the sloping side but the position of its
trunnions is such that when it is empty its tendency is to right itself and remain
in an erect position.
The
Figure 7 shows a portion of the tipping vessel 1 and the receiver. A bolt K,
Figure 7, is shot by means of a cord, pulley and weight.
This bolt serves to
hold the tipping vessel I in a vertical position whilst it is being filled from the
supply cistern j.
is a ball cock valve, actuated from the liquid in the tipping vessel I and
allows, when it is open, water to flow through the pipe 62 into the supply cistern j
the supply, owing to the rise of the ball, being cut off when the tipping vessel I
has been filled through the "hit and miss valve 1. The receiver 2 is in
communication by the pipe P with the flushing holes or slot in the closet pan A.
The operation is as follows:-A person using the closet A must necessarily push
back the lid or back B to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1
and by this operation the hook H engages with the inclined plane h attached to
the bolt K.
On the person rising from the closet the back B falls by gravity to its original
position (as shown by the full lines in Figure 1) and in so doing the rod F
operated through the lever E pulls the hook H down and as the hook can only
move in a right line, the inclined plane his forced sideways and disengages the
bolt K thereby allowing the tilting or tipping vessel I to fall over and discharge
its contents into the receiving vessel thereby Hushing the closet A.

page_text: As soon as the tilting vessel I is emptied it returns to its normal position and when
vertical allows the end of the bolt K to pass over its upper edge and hold it in
position whilst it is refilled through the "hit and miss" valve from the cistern j
ready for the next flushing.
The rod F may be connected directly to the lid or back B and the hook on the
upper end thereof may be made to engage the under side of the tipping box or a bar
connected thereto so that when the lid or back B falls the hook will engage the
tipping box and cause it to discharge its contents and then to release it to admit of it
returning to its normal position as hereinbefore described.
To ensure the tipping vessel I returning to its normal position after discharging
its contents it may have attached to it a counterweighted lever as shown at in
Figure 1 in which case the axis i on which the vessel turns may be at the back of
the vessel. The lever a may be curved so as to pass over the edge of the receiving
vessel as shown in Figure 1 or the said lever may be straight and be fixed to the
axis on which the vessel I turns as shown in Figure 1B a slot a² being made in the
side of the receiving vessel to receive the lever when the tipping vessel is in its
normal position.
The lid or back, rod, hook and inclined plane, (acting now as a lever) may be
employed in combination with a Beanes concentric siphon arrangement in the manner
next hereinafter described or they may be attached to and work in conjunction with
any sort of flushing apparatus of a kindred nature. Figures 4 and 5 show the
application of my invention to a Beane's concentric siphon flusher the operation of
which is as follows.
The person using the closet pushes back the lid or back B as in the arrangement
hereinbefore described thereby elevating the rod F and causing the hook H on the
upper end thereof to rise past an arm or levers fast on a spindle 2 mounted in
bearings on the vessel 2 as shown by dotted lines in Figure 5. Fast on this
spindle 2 is a bifurcated lever 3 the arms of which are attached to a hollow cap 4
placed over the upper end of the flushing pipe P which passes through the bottom of
the vessel to the level to which the water is permitted to rise therein by the ball
cock fitted to the service pipe 62 the opposite end of the lever 3 being connected to
a spring or carrying a counterweight tending to raise the cap 4.
The hollow cap 4 (the lower end of which enters a well 5 in the bottom of the
vessel 2) is elevated into its normal position shown by the drawings by the counter-
weighted lever 3.
When the lid or back B is released it will fall by gravity into the position shown
by full lines in Figure 4 and draw down with it the rod F. As this rod descends the
hook H on the upper end thereof will engage the arm or lever s so as to impart to
the spindle 2 a partial rotation in its bearings and through the weighted lever 3
cause the cap 4 to descend into the well 5 thereby forcing the water contained in
the well and in the cap 4, into the pipe P thus establishing a syphon action which
will draw the water contained in the vessel through the pipe P and effect the flushing
of the closet.
As the water is discharging from the vessel the float of the ballcock will descend
and open the cock 2 to admit a fresh supply of water to the vessel but by the time
the lid or back B has fallen to its normal position the hook H will have disengaged
the arms and the cap 4 will be again elevated by the counterweighted lever 3 where-
upon the syphon action ceases, so that when the float has risen to the proper level
by the inflowing water from the service pipe the supply will be cut off, the vessel B
being thus charged in readiness for the next operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I am aware that tilting
vessels have been used for the purpose of flushing and I do not therefore claim such
in itself as being novel but what I do claim is :-
1. In flushing apparatus for water closets a back-lever or lid in combination with a
tipping vessel and means for retaining and releasing it the said lever or lid taking

page_text: normally such a position that a person using the closet must move the said back lever
or lid and so cause a releasing device to take a position to subsequently release the
tipping vessel substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In flushing apparatus for water closets the combination of a back lever or lid,
a rod and hook, an inclined plane as such or as a lever and a bolt substantially as and
for the purpose herein before described.
"
3. In flushing apparatus for water closets the combination of a tilting vessel with
a hit and miss" valve a stop bolt and counterweight or spring and engaging and
disengaging mechanism all arranged substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described.
4. In flushing apparatus for closets the combination of a tilting vessel, a receiver
and discharge pipe to the closet a ball cock and second supply vessel or tank; the
tilting vessel and supply tank communicating with each other through a "hit and
miss valve or its equivalent substantially as and for the purpose herein beforo
"
described.
5. In flushing apparatus for closets the combination with a "Beans Syphon" of a
back lever or lid, a rod and hook and a counterweighted lever or spring substantially
as and for the purpose hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 5, 6 and 7 of
the accompanying drawings.
6. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the apparatus for flushing
water closets hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the
accompanying drawings.
7. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the apparatus for flushing
water closets hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 of the accom-
panying drawings.