IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-WASTE PREVENTORS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John Barton,
Engineers, both of the Farringdon Works, Shoe Lane, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-WASTE
PREVENTORS."
Sealed the 8th April 1873, and dated the 15th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Alfred
Pontifex and John Barton at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th October 1872.
We, EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX and JOHN BARTON, Engineers, both
of the Farringdon Works, Shoc Lane, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-
WASTE PREVENTOв8," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus whereby
waste of water is prevented, and if desired the quantity drawn off may
he measured

page_text: Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2 is a plan; and Figure 3 is a
vertical section of apparatus arranged according to our Invention.
a is the valve box, it is connected with the inlet pipe b, the outlet c,
and the measuring vessel d, as is shown; e is the valve, which when
opened admits water into the box a from the supply pipe; is the
outlet valve, when it is lifted the measured quantity of water is
discharged; g is a spindle passing across the valve box and out through
a hole at one side of it. The escape of water around the spindle is
prevented by an india-rubber tube, strengthened if necessary with
canvas, which at one end is nipped against the side of the valve box
by the cap 4, and at the other is bound tightly around the spindle; ¿ is
a short lever within the valve box, which is made to press alternately
against the stems of the valves e aud; k is a lever on the outer end
of the spindle y, it is weighted at one end sufficiently to cause it to
descend, and so to cause the lever to lift the valve e off its scat; the

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John Barton,
Engineers, both of the Farringdon Works, Shoe Lane, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-WASTE
PREVENTORS."
Scaled the 8th April 1873, and dated the 15th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Alfred
Pontifex and John Barton at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th October 1872.
We, EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX and JOHN BARTON, Engineers, both
of the Farringdon Works, Shoe Lane, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-
WASTE PREVENTORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus whereby
waste of water is prevented, and if desired the quantity drawn off may
be measured.
The apparatus consists of a box or chamber provided with inlet and
outlet pipes connected to it at apertures in the top and bottom

page_text: respectively. Each of these apertures is fitted with ordinary valves
closing with the flow of the water. Between these two valves the box
or chamber communicates at the top with a closed measuring vessel.
At the centre of the box or chamber is pivotted a rocking lever, the
pivot being carried through a stuffing box in the side of the box or
chamber, and provided with a handle or suitable connection on the
outside, by which the lever may be rocked to and fro. When the lever
is left free one end of it is caused by means of a weight to bear against
the spindle of the inlet valve, and so to lift it. from its seat, and when the
lever is caused to rock it first allows the inlet valve to fall to its scat,
and then its other end comes against a stop on the spindle of the valve
at the outlet pipe and raises it.
When the outlet valve is closed and the inlet valve open, the water
flows from the clevated cistern or the main into the measuring vessel,
compressing the air therein. When to draw off water the weighted
rocking lever is moved by its handle or connection it no longer supports
the inlet valve which closes, and then the other end of the lever acts
against tho stop on the outlet valve and thereby lifts this valve, and the
water is forced out through the outlet pipe by the pressure of the air in
the air vessel. If the pressure of water in the inlet pipe is constant it
will readily be seen that the quantity of water drawn off by each
oscillation of the lever is also constant, and if an indicator be attached
to the handle the apparatus may be used as a meter.
In place of using a closed measuring vessel a small air pipe may be
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John Barton in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th April 1873.
• TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDMUND 30
ALFRED PONTIFEX and JOHN BARTON, Engineers, both of the Farringdon
Works, Shoc Lane, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John
Barton, Her special license that we, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex
and John Barton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John Barton, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WATER-WASTE PREVENTORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John Barton, our exccutors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and
John Barton, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to
say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus whereby
waste of water is prevented, and if desired the quantity drawn off may
be measured.
The apparatus consists of a box or chamber provided with inlet and
outlet pipes connected to it at apertures in the top and bottom
respectively. Each of these apertures is fitted with ordinary flat valves
closing with the flow of the water. Between these two valves the box
or chamber communicates with a closed measuring vessel. At the
centre of the box or chamber is pivotted a rocking lever, the pivot being
carried through the side of the box or chamber, and provided with a
handle or suitable connection on the outside by which the lever may be
rocked to and fro. When the lever is left free, one end of it is caused
by means of a weight to bear against the spindle of the inlet valve and
so to lift it from its seat, and when the lever is caused to rock it first

page_text: allows the inlet valve to fall to its scat, and then its other end comes
against a stop on the spindle of the valve on the outlet pipe and
raises it.
When the outlet valve is closed and the inlet valve open, the water
flows from the elevated cistern or the main into the measuring vessel,
compressing the air therein. When to draw off water the weighted
rocking lever is moved by its handle or connection it no longer supports
the inlet valvo which closes, and then the other end of the lever acts
against the stop on the outlet valve and thereby lifts this valve, and the
water is forced out through the outlet pipe by the pressure of the air in
the air vessel. If the pressure of water in the inlet pipe is constant
it will readily be seen that the quantity of water drawn off by cach
oscillation of the lever is also constant, and if an indicator be attached
to the handle the annaratus may be used as a motor
vertical section of apparatus arranged according to our Invention.
a is the valve box, it is connected with the inlet pipe 6, the outlet c,
and the measuring vessel d, as is shown; e is the valve, which when?
opened admits water into the box a from the supply pipe; is the
outlet valve, when it is lifted the measured quantity of water is
discharged; g is a spindle passing across the valve box and out through
a hole at one side of it. The escape of water around the spindle is
prevented by an india-rubber tube, strengthened if necessary with
canvas, which at one end is nipped against the side of the valve box
by the cap, and at the other is bound tightly around the spindle; i is
a short lever within the valve box, which is made to press alternately
against the stems of the valves e and; k is a lever on the outer end
of the spindle g, it is weighted at one end sufficiently to cause it to
descend, and so to cause the lever i to lift the valve e oll its scat; the

page_text: measuring vessel d then fills; it is shewn in the Drawing, with an air
pipe d' at the top, which rises as high as the supply cistern, and hence
in this arrangement the whole capacity of the vessel d is available and
becomes charged.
When it is desired to draw off water the weighted end of the lever k
is raised by drawing down its other extremity by the wire k', then first
the valve e being set free closes, and afterwards the lever i continuing
to move the valvef is lifted, and the contents of the measuring vessel
commence to flow out to the pan of the closet or other place where the
supply is required.
When the weighted lever k is allowed to return, the valve ƒ first is
able to close, and afterwards the valve e is lifted to allow the measuring
vessel to refill. The lever k need not always be weighted necessarily,
and sometimes it may be weighted so as to keep the outlet valve open
instead of the inlet.
Figure 4 is a section of a similar apparatus adapted to work with a
closed air vessel. The small air nozzle is here inserted into the inlet
pipe b, so that the flow of water into the valve box a may draw air in
with it, and so keep up a continual supply of air to the measuring
vessel d; m is a small valve to prevent the escape of water.
What we claim is, the construction of water-waste preventers, sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex and John
Barton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.
EDMUND A. PONTIFEX. (L.S.)
JOHN BARTON.
(L.S.)