Improvements in Apparatus for Detecting the Exact Where- abouts of Leakage in Underground Water Mains.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Detecting the Exact Where-
abouts of Leakage in Underground Water Mains.
DAVID BENTLEY, Water fittings Inspector 44 Great Cross Street, off Vicar
Lane Bradford, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for DETECTING THE
EXACT WHEREABOUTS OF LEAKAGE IN UNDERGROUND WATER MAINS to be as
follows:-
:
The apparatus consists of a ferrule let into the street main, a flexible hose pipe
attached to a movable water gauge and pet taps, and a gradient level for
determining the inclination of the main.
The apparatus is applied in the following manner. At the lower end of a Water
Main in which leakage is suspected to be going on, the ferrule is inserted and to
this ferrule is attached one end of the flexible hose pipe, which may be of any
desired length. To the other end of the hose pipe is attached the water gauge,
or tube of glass, to which the pet taps are attached.
This gauge is mounted on a framework with or without wheels but preferably
with wheels, so that the gauge with the attached pipe may be moved in any
desired direction along the Street or place, and along the track of the underground
main. If the supply of water to the main be stopped and leakage exist at any
point, the water will recede in the main and in the hose pipe and gauge, to the
level of the point where such leakage exists; the gauge is moved downwards until
the water ceases to flow out of it. The place at which it ceases so to flow indicates
by the application of the gradient level the position of the leakage in the under-
ground main. This gradient level indicates the rise per unit of the surface of the
Street. The point on the surface can thus be determined at which the line from
the gauge to the main of any determined depth is horizontal, and in this manner
the position of the surface of the leakage is determined.
1
SOLL

page_text: abouts of Leakage in Underground Water Mains,
DAVID BENTLEY, Water Fittings Inspector 44 Great Cross Street off Vicar Lane
Bradford, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for DETECTING THE EXACT
WHEREABOUTS OF LEAKAGE IN UNDERGROUND WATER MAINS and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to a new or improved apparatus for ascertaining the
position of a leakage in underground water mains that are inclined or on a gradient
without it being requisite to lay bare the pipes in several places before arriving at
the point of leakage.
The apparatus consists of a vertical tube fitted with a glass water-gauge and 1
suitable valves or cocks also a supply of flexible tubing.
The apparatus is applied in the following manner; the section, or the portion of
the main between two main valves, in which a leakage is suspected has a ferrule
inserted at or near its lowest point, to which is attached the flexible tubing
connected to the bottom valve of the gauge, this valve being opened admits the 1
water from the main into the glass of the gauge; the section is then disconnected
from the rest of the main by closing the valve at each end of such section. The
leakage now that the section is disconnected exhausts the water in that portion of
the main having a higher level than such leakage. And the gauge being vertically
adjusted until the water appears in the gauge glass, a horizontal line being struck
from the surface of the water in such gauge glass will strike the pipe at the point
of leakage. Or such point may be discovered by ascertaining the gradient of the
main (by any convenient method) then multiplying the vertical height from the
water main to the surface of the water in the glass of the gauge; as for instance, if
the gauge glass registers five feet of water above the main and the gradient is
one foot in twenty by multiplying 5' x 20' = 100' thus the point of leakage will
be one hundred feet from the apparatus.
Reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters marked
thereon. Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus and the method
of applying the same Figure 2 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the
gauge.
A hand cart A has an upright B fixed at the back, from which the gauge O is
suspended and it may be adjusted vertically by means of the cord D. A. furrel
having been inserted into the main E it is connected by the flexible tubing F to
the bottom valve G of the gauge, and such valve being opened the water rises in
the gauge glass H to the point J which is the level of the leakage, and a horizontal
line being struck therefrom as indicated by the broken line J. K cuts the main
at K which is the point where the leakage occurs.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The apparatus for indicating the position of a leakage in an inclined underground
watermain substantially as berein shown and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 18th day of November 1885.