IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR JAW BOXES OR SINKS, BATHS, WASH HAND BASINS, OPEN BOILERS, DRINKING FOUNTAINS, AND STREET OR COURT WELLS
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Shanks at the Office
of the Commissioner of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
January 1873.
I, JOHN SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Sanitary Engineer, do licreby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR JAW BOXES
OR SINKS, BATHS, WASH HAND BASINS, OPEN BOILERS, DRINKING FOUNTAINS,
AND STREET OR COURT WELLS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the constructing of water supply
apparatus in an improved manner, and more particularly with a view to
the prevention of waste in connection with jaw boxes or sinks, bathis,
wash hand basins, open boilers, drinking fountains, and street or
court wells.
An important feature of the Invention in all its applications or
modifications is the arranging of the primary outlet from the service
pipe in the form of a float cock in a closed chamber so that it is not
liable to be tampered with or improperly acted upon, and so that being

page_text: always acted on in the same manner by the float lever it is less liable to
get out of order than other arrangements. In the case of a jaw box or
sink the closed chamber is formed as a contiguous compartment at one
side, and a curved discharge spout or crane proceeds from the top or
side of the compartment so as to overhang the jaw box. This discharge
spout may be jointed or arranged to slide so as to be movable out of the
way of a window shutter when the jaw box is fitted at a window as is
common. For discharging the water from the closed chamber there is
fitted therein what is herein-after termed a water lifter; this water lifter
comprises a fixed vertical cylinder to the top of which the discharge
spout is attached whilst holes at the bottom of the sides admit water
from the chamber. The lifting detail is a disc with a central opening
through which there passes a rod connected to a hand lever, the
bottom of the rod having on it a small flange or disc which
lifts the main disc when the rod is raised. When the lifting disc
is raised rapidly by the hand lever the water above the disc in the
cylinder is driven out of the discharge spout, and water enters the
cylinder beneath the disc from the chamber, this water getting above
the disc through the central aperture when the rod is pushed down.
The float cock replenishes the chamber as the water is taken away; and
it is obvious that with the described arrangement no cock or tap can be
left running, whilst it is unlikely that any one will work the lifter more
than is necessary for actual requirements.
In the case of a bath the closed chamber is formed at one end and the
various details are substantially as described for the jaw box, the
discharge spout being of course directed through the dividing partition
into the bath.
In the case of a wash hand basin the closed supply chamber is formed
in the casing or supporting frame in which the basin is set, and beneath
or at the side, as may be most convenient.
In the case of an open boiler the closed supply chamber with its
water lifter is of course arranged apart from the boiler but as near as
convenient, and a pipe is led therefrom to the boiler.
In the cases of drinking fountains and street or court wells the
pedestals, standards, or supporting frames may be made to constitute the
closed supply chambers or may have vessels or chambers fitted inside
them, or where the fountain or well is fitted against a wall a recess may
be formed in the wall for the chamber, or this may be fitted on the

page_text: other side of the wall and be made to communicate with the discharge
outlet by a pipe.
In some cases it may be more convenient to arrange the water lifter
to work horizontally or at an inclination instead of vertically.