Water Closet Cisterns, Tanks, or other Vessels.
Year: 1888

page_text: Water Closet Cisterns, Tanks, or other Vessels.
We, WILLIAM LEWIS HOLLAND, of 141 Adelphi Street, Preston, in the County of
Lancaster, Brass Founder, and JOHN ECKERSLEY of 5 St. Pauls Square in the same
town, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object the construction of valve apparatus for discharging
the contents of a cistern or tank in such manner that when the ordinary discharge
lever, handle, or other appliance has been actuated or pulled down from the outside
and then released the greater portion of the water or other liquid will thereby be
allowed to discharge itself from the cistern or tank whereupon the discharge outlet
will be automatically closed.
Our improved apparatus comprises a circular weighted valve lid or disc faced with
india-rubber on its lower side and when the valve lid is down or in its closed posi-
tion it sits upon an annular inverted V shaped seating placed above the outlet hole
at the bottom of the cistern or tank and of its own weight makes a watertight joint.
The upper side of the valve lid is provided with an eye into which is hooked the
lower extremity of a link (preferably formed of inetal wire) whose upper extremity
hooks on to an upper link which hangs from the inner end of the pull down lever
above. At a suitable distance above the valve lid the stem of the lower link has
formed upon it a spherically shaped or rounded collar which when the valve lid is
lifted from off its seating by the upward pull of the discharge lever is arranged to
meet the inclined edge of a slotted bracket or standard through which the stem of
the lower link passes. The incline tends outwardly and as the link and its collar are
drawn upwardly the valve lid along with the link is moved outwardly from over the
discharge outlet until the collar reaches and passes through an opening or circular
aperture in the horizontal upper part of the bracket or standard whereupon the valve
lid returns inwardly to its former centre of gravity and remains hanging from the
collar which now rests upon the upper or forked part of the slotted standard or
bracket the contents of the cistern or tank meanwhile escaping until the collar is

page_text: pushed back off the fork and over the circular aperture (as hereinafter described)
when the valve lid will drop on to its seating and thereby close the valve. Upon one
side of the upper part of the slotted standard or bracket is a projecting pin upon
which is pivotted one end of a lever whose other end carries a "float-ball." The
pivotted end of the float-ball lever carries at right angles thereto a horizontal finger
which when the cistern or tank is full.and the float-ball is in its highest position is
thrown back out of the way but as the escaping contents of the cistern or tank
gradually allow the float ball to descend the finger comes in contact with the collar
resting on the fork of the bracket or standard and gradually pushes it over the circular
aperture or opening thereby allowing the valve lid to drop on to its seating and to
close the discharge outlet as herein before mentioned. The lower side of the valve
lid is provided with elongated guide wings or feathers tapering downwards to a point
in order that the valve lid may be guided back into position concentrically with
its seating after having been drawn sidewise from its ordinary centre of gravity as
hereinbefore stated.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in Valve Apparatus for Discharging the Contents of
Water Closet Cisterns, Tanks, or other Vessels.
We, WILLIAM LEWIS HOLLAND, of 141 Adelphi Street, Preston, in the County of
Lancaster, Brass Founder, and JOHN EOKERSLEY, of 5 St. Paul's Square, in the same
town, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the construction of valve apparatus for discharging
the contents of a cistern or tank in such manner that when the ordinary discharge
lever handle or other appliance has been actuated or pulled down from the outside
and then released the greater portion of the water or other liquid will thereby be
allowed to discharge itself from the cistern or tank whereupon the discharge outlet
will be automatically closed.
Our improvements relate to the class of discharge valve apparatus described and
shewn in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 5796 of 1887 granted to the
within-named William Lewis Holland.
In Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings a is a circular weighted valve
lid or disc faced with india-rubber on its lower side and when the valve lid a is
down or in its closed position (as shewn at Fig. 1) it sits upon an annular inverted
V shaped seating b placed above the outlet hole at the bottom of the cistern or tank
and of its own weight makes a watertight joint. The upper side of the valve lid a is
provided with an eye c into which is hooked the lower extremity of a link d (pre-
ferably formed of metal wire) whose upper extremity hooks on to an upper link e
which hangs down from the inner end of the pull down lever above. At a suitable
distance above the valve lid a the stem of the lower link d has formed upon it a
spherically shaped or rounded collar f which (when the valve lid a is lifted from off
its seating by the upward pull of the discharge lever) is arranged to meet the
inclined part of a slotted bracket or standard g through which the stem of the lower
link passes (see section and plan view of the upper part of the slotted bracket or
standard g at Figs. 3 and 4). The incline h tends outwardly and as the link d and its
collar or ball fare drawn upwardly the valve lid a along with the link d is moved
outwardly from over the discharge outlet until the collar has passed through the
inclined opening or circular aperture in the bracket or standard g whereupon the
valve lid a returns inwardly to its former centre of gravity and remains hanging from
the bracket on the collar or ball which now rests upon the upper or forked part of
the slotted bracket or standard 9 (see Fig. 2) the contents of the cistern or tank
meanwhile escaping until the collar or ball is pushed back off the fork and over the
circular aperture (see Fig. 4) when the valve lid a will drop on to its seating and
thereby close the valve. Upon one side of the upper part of the slotted bracket or
standard g is a projecting pin i upon which is pivotted one end of a lever j whose other

page_text: end carries a "float-ball" k. The pivotted end of the float-ball lever j carries at right
angles thereto a horizontal finger which when the cistern or tank is full and the float
ball is in its highest position (as shown in Fig. 2) is thrown back out of the way but as
the escaping contents of the cistern or tank gradually allow the float ball k to descend
the finger comes in contact with the link d carrying the collar or ball resting on the
fork of the bracket or standard g and gradually pushes the collar or ball over the
circular aperture or opening thereby allowing the valve lid a to drop on to its
seating band to close the discharge outlet as hereinbefore mentioned. The lower side
of the valve lid is provided with elongated guide wings or feathers m tapering
downwards to a point in order that the valve lid may be guided back into position
concentrically with its seating after having been drawn sidewise from its ordinary
centre of gravity as hereinbefore stated.
Figs. 5 and 6 shew a modification of the above described arrangement. In lieu of
a slotted bracket as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 we employ a slotted link n whose
slot or opening is of such a length that when the valve is closed a horizontal finger
on the float-ball lever j presses against that part of the link n which is above the slot
and holds the link hard up against the edge of the bracket g. When however the
valve lid a is lifted off its seating in the usual way the upward tendency of the float-
ball (immersed in the water) will cause the slotted link to be pushed over by the
pressure of the finger and onto the bracket g (see Fig. 6 and dotted lines in
Fig. 5) the water meanwhile escaping from the cistern until the float-ball moves
downwardly on the receding water level and thereby (by the contact of another
horizontally arranged finger o) gradually pushes the slotted link off the bracket and
allows the valve lid a to again drop down on to its seating and so close the discharge
outlet.
In Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6 p is a stop to arrest the upward movement of the float-ball
lever j. In Figs. 5 and 6 g is a pin or guide for the slotted link n.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
In water closet cisterns or tanks the use or employment of automatic discharge
valve apparatus in which a valve lid (such as a) connected to a link raised or lifted
by the ordinary pull down lever of a cistern or other equivalent lifting appliance is
retained or held in its open position by being suspended from a bracket or standard
until the contents of the cistern or tank have been so far discharged that the receding
water level causes a pivotted float-ball lever (such as ) to move downwardly and
to push the said link off the bracket or standard and so allow the valve to drop down
on to its seating and close the discharge outlet substantially as described and shewn
in the drawings.
Dated this 7th day of Fabr 1880