A NOVEL METHOD OF WORKING ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAINS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Stevenson, of Wimpole Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A NOVEL
METHOD OF WORKING ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAINS."
Sealed the 9th March 1869, and dated the 21st September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Stevenson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st September 1868.
I, NATHANIEL STEVENSON, of Wimpole Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NOVEL METHOD OF WORKING ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAINS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention applies especially to fountains for the dinner table or
the drawing room, and is based upon an application of atmospheric
pressure to produce a continuous jet or jets from a limited supply of
water.
I will illustrate my method by describing its application to a dinner
or other table fountain, premising that it is equally applicable to

page_text: aquariums or any open basin or reservoir. The base of the fountain
will be formed by a closed receiver or reservoir of any desired capacity
and of glass, porcelain, metal, or any suitable material. The top of
this reservoir will be sunk in the centre and form a sort of well, from
the bottom of which will rise a hollow tube or stem of glass or any
suitable material upholding at its top an open basin of a somewhat
less capacity than the closed reservoir forming the base. A pipe will
pass from the top of the basin down the centre of the hollow stem
and through the bottom of the well, terminating inside the reservoir at
a short distance from its bottom. From various parts of the circum-
ference of the hollow stem, at a suitable distance or distances below
the basin, tubes may branch to smaller and subsidiary basins supported
from the base or on these pipes themselves, and from each of these
subsidiary basins a pipe passes to the well. In: one of the sides of the
well I fix a valve opening inwards, and contigous to the back of this
valve starts a very small tube passing thence through the bottom of
the reservoir through the table or along its surface and over the edge,
or communicating in the most convenient manner with a bellow's
or an air pump beneath the table or at any convenient part of the
apartment.
The action is as follows:-The reservoir being filled or partially filled
with water by the basin or otherwise, the bellows or air pump is worked,
the air entering the reservoir closes the valve, and by its pressure on
the surface of the water causes it to rise up the tube in the stem, issuing
at the top in a jet of any desired form; the water from this jet falls
into the basin, descends the stem outside the central pipe, and passes to
the subsidiary fountains, the jets of which are thus produced by
gravitation from these basins; the water runs into the well, and when
a sufficiency has there accumulated to counteract the atmospheric
pressure from within, relieved by means of an escape pipe contiguous
to the air pump or bellows, the valve slightly opens and the water
percolates back into the reservoir. When the upper jet shows symptoms
of failing a few strokes of the bellows or of the air pump renews the
atmospheric pressure and the fountain plays continuously.
'
Instead of working under a combination of atmospheric pressure and
gravitation as above described, I might dispense with the subsidiary jets
and otherwise direct the water from the basin into the well, and thence
through the valve into the reservoir. It will be evident that such

page_text: fountains may be ornamented with flowers and plants and play perfumed
water if desired..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathaniel Stevenson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
STEVENSON, of Wimpole Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen. :Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Nathaniel Stevenson, Her special licence
that I,, tho said Nathaniel Stevenson, my executors,, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathaniel Stevenson, 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 "A NOVEL METHOD
OF WORKING ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAINS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Nathaniel Stevenson, 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 Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nathaniel Stevenson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawing
hereunto annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the
figures and letters of reference marked thereon :-

page_text: The novel method of working ornamental fountains which forms the
subject of my Invention consists in an application of atmospheric or
pneumatic pressure for the purpose of producing a continuous jet or jets
from a limited supply of water or other liquid, and is therefore par-
ticularly suitable for working fountains for ornamenting the dinner table
or the drawing room, and for producing jets in aquariums and in any
open basin or reservoir which cannot conveniently be connected with a
constant water pressure and discharge conduit.
My Invention will be readily understood by reference to the accom-
panying Drawing, Fig. 1 representing in vertical section through the
centre a table fountain constructed and working upon my system,
A indicating an open basin of crystal carried by the hollow stem B;
O, branches forming pipes leading from the stem B to small subsidiary
basins D; E, pipes starting from the bottom of the basins D and
terminating in the well F formed in the upper part of the closed
reservoir H, with the interior of which it communicates by the valve G
I, air tube; K, pipe running through the centre of the stem B in its
entire length, its lower end entering the closed reservoir H and its upper
end rising above the level of the basin A; L, union pipe of metal or of
elastic material by which the air tube I is placed in communication
with the pipe M from a pneumatic pump, a simple bellows, or a reservoir
of compressed air; N, air escape pipe. The arrows indicate the course
of the liquid.
;
Working of the Fountain.-I charge this fountain by filling the
basin A with water; this water descending the stem B passes by the
pipes C into the subsidiary basins D, thence by the pipes E to the
well F, and finally enters the closed reservoir H through the valve G.
The reservoir H might be charged directly from the well F, but by
operating as above described the quantity of liquid poured into the
reservoir is at once ascertained and all danger of an overflow obviated.
If the fountain is not already upon the table, or in the position where
it is to play, I now place it there and put the pipe I in communication
with the pneumatic machine or reservoir of compressed air by means of
the union pipe L; I then momentarily close the air escape pipe N, give
a few strokes of the air pump or bellows, or open the valve of the
compressed air reservoir, and the compressed air passing by the pipes L
and I enters the reservoir H, closes the valve G, and pressing on the
surface of the water forces it to ascend the pipe K, from the upper end

page_text: of which it escapes in a jet or jets, falling into the basin A, from whence
it passes. by the stem B and pipes C to the subsidiary basins D (where
the jets are produced by simple gravitation) thence by the pipes E into
the well F, where it accumulates until the pressure of air within the
closed reservoir H being sufficiently relieved by the escape pipe N it
returns to the reservoir through the valve G, and so on continuously
until all the water raised to the basin A has been exhausted and the
circulation completed. It will be evident that if the pressure of air
upon the valve G were not relieved, the water arriving from the basins
could not open this valve, and would eventually overflow the well F.
To prevent any possibility of such an occurence and to provide against
the negligence of servants, I prefer to make the tube N of an elastic
material compressible between the finger and thumb while the reservoir
is being charged with compressed air and necessarily reopened when the
operator withdraws, rather than to provide this tube with a cock, which
might possibly be left closed after the charging, and cause an overflow.
The subsidiary basins may be dispensed with and the water fall directly
into the well F extended as shewn by dotted lines, Fig. 1. The pipe I
may penetrate into the reservoir H at any convenient point, and the
position of the valve G may also be varied. The union pipe L may be
of very small diameter, it may lie on or pass through the table or
between its leaves at pleasure and be connected in any convenient
manner with the pneumatic machine, or air reservoir, or both, which
may occupy any suitable position either in proximity to the fountain at
a distant part of the apartment or elsewhere. If preferred the reservoir
H may be placed beneath the table, and the stem supporting the basin A
and fomning its supply and discharge conduit pass through the table.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the adaptation of my Invention
to an aquarium. A, aquarium; B, closed reservoir with dome per-
mitting air pipe E to come above water level; C, one of the supports
of basin D broken off in order not to confuse the Drawing, and which
may be either a simple rod or a tube supplying a jet or jets; C', 0",
tubes supporting basin D, and also forming water conduits C" supplying
jet 6 and C', supplying jet a through tube C"; F, extension of pipe Cu
within the reservoir B; G, valve through which reservoir B is supplied
from aquarium A; c, tap for escape of air as by tube N, Fig. 1. The
aquarium A supplies water to the reservoir B through valve G, and on
air being forced into B through pipe E the valve G closes and the water

page_text: rises by the pipe C to the basin D, from whence it returns by pipes C¹
and C produces jet a, and finally falls into the aquarium A. When
the water raised to basin D is exhausted, air is again forced into B, and
so on continuously precisely as described in relation to Fig. 1. ..It will
be evident that the number of supports of basin D may be increased or
diminished at pleasure as also the number of jets, and that the reservoir B
may be placed beneath the aquarium instead of within it, and many
other modifications be made from the illustration, Fig. 2, while still
adhering to the same method of working.
Fig. 3, sectional view of valve G, which may be such as shown or of
any kind which may be found suitable for my purpose.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be carried into practical effect, I would here observe
that I do not confine myself to the use of any particular material in
constructing the various parts of my arrangement, using glass, metal, or
any which I may find suitable, neither do I limit myself to any precise
number of basins or to any particular shape or size of basin or of closed
reservoir, or to any precise number of valves, or to any particular descrip-
tion of valve, nor to any precise relative position of the various parts so
long as their relative functions are performed, and I claim, the use of the
reservoir H, B, (Figs. 1 and 2), and valve G, or of more than one closed
reservoir, and of several valves in combination with a pneumatic machine
or reservoir of compressed air, or both, and an open basin or basins for
the purpose of producing a continuous jet or jets by the circulation of a
limited supply of liquid, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Stevenson, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.