AN IMPROVED AND COMBINED WATER WASTE PREVENTER AND DISINFECTOR."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Harry Langston Jones at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th February 1879.
HARRY LANGSTON JONES, Civil Engineer, of 61, Lant Street, Borough, in the
County of Surrey.
"AN IMPROVED AND COMBINED WATER WASTE PREVENTER AND
DISINFECTOR."
The apparatus forming the subject of the present Invention consists of a
receptacle composed of earthenware, metal, or some durable substance, and is divided
into three distinct chambers, one of which constitutes the reservoir for the disin-
fecting fluid, whilst the others represent respectively the trapping and flushing
compartments or reservoirs containing the water for these purposes.
A partition running lengthwise of the apparatus forms these two latter chambers.
The trapping chamber will contain, say, one gallon of water, whilst the flushing
part holds one gallon and a half or thereabouts. These proportions would naturally
vary to suit the exigencies of the case, but I have mentioned these capacities as
those best suited to the requirments of the water companies, or as stipulated by
them for economy.
The third chamber or disinfecting part of the apparatus is formed by fixing a
partition across the apparatus, that of the other two chambers meeting it near its
centre.
A weighted lever pivoting on a support fixed on some convenient part of the
apparatus constitutes the motor or actuating part of the mechanism which is of the
simplest nature, and is composed merely of two valves set in motion by the
movement of the plug handle of a water-closet.
One of these valves is situated in the flushing, and the other in the trapping
chamber, whilst the disinfecting apparatus is brought into play by the same lever
which is in communication with the plug handle.
The apparatus is placed in some convenient position, by preference, above the
closet, and by means of the lever is connected to the plug handle so that the rise
and fall of the plug actuates the lever and so sets the apparatus in motion for
performing its functions of preventing water waste and disinfecting, which
operations are as follow:-
A small tube entering at one end into the trapping chamber is connected at its

page_text: other extremity with the main pipe or with a cistern, the water flows thence into
this chamber, and when it has reached a certain height it passes through an aperture
made in the partition, and enters the flushing chamber till it is filled; a ball then
shuts off the water, and the apparatus is ready for action.
Supposing the closet has been used and the plug handle raised, this lifts the
weighted lever and simultaneously raises the valve in the flushing chamber, allowing
the water therein to flow into the closet pan, which it will continue to do as long
as the handle is raised and only so long as there is water in this chamber; when the
handle is released the lever by its weight descends and closes the valve in this
chamber, but in descending it raises the valve in the trapping chamber in the
following manner :-
This valve is furnished with a vertical rod round the upper part of which a
groove is cut, in which a finger connected to a weighted kind of trigger catches
when the lever descends and lifts the valve from its seat, allowing the trapping-
water to flow from this chamber, and when the water has nearly run out the ball
cock descending strikes the trigger, releases the finger from the groove, and allows
the valve to drop into its seat.
The diameter of the inlet pipe is considerably smaller than that of the outlet to
enable the ball to fall to its lowest level. The water then fills the chambers as
before which occupies only 2 or 3 minutes.
At the same time that the valve in the trapping chamber is open by the descent
of the weighted lever the disinfector operates as follows:-Inside the chamber at
the upper part is fixed a pulley over which a chain is wound and at one end of
which is a small cup, which is drawn up to a small bent tube which reaches to the
exit pipe of the trapping chamber, and the rush of water from this chamber
producing a vacuum in the small tube is sufficient to syphon up the measured
quantity of disinfectant in the cup and passes out with the trapping water into the
closet pan.
When the lever is depressed the chain on the pulley uncoils and lowers the cup
into the fluid disinfectant contained in this chamber, so that when the lever again
rises the cup is brought up full and held under the bent part of the tube ready for
syphoning into the trapping water.
And a modification of this principle (where the disinfector is placed under the
seat) is as follows:-The syphon tube is fixed in the supply pipe to the closet in
such a manner that the small cup containing its measured quantity of disinfecting
fluid rises and falls by the action of the closet handle bringing the full cup to the
end of the syphon tube at such a time as to mingle with the trapping water,
This part of the Invention is applicable to urinals, lavatories, latrines, drains, and
similar purposes where tanks or receivers are used, in which the water is inter-
mittently let off in a body for the purposes of flushing at which opportune time the
syphon and cup commence their operation caused by the falling of the water in the
tank, raising the cup with its measured quantity of disinfecting fluid to the
syphon tube, and so mingling with the outflowing water for the purpose of
disinfection.
This part of the Invention can be used independently of the water waste part, or
vice versa.
Or in lieu of this disinfector I make use of one of any suitable form
where the lever in its descent depresses by aid of a hollow shaft an elastic hollow
ball attached to it, in which is a small hole. At the bottom of the apparatus is an
indentation or cup for the reception of the ball, which when raised by the lever's
action admits of the cup filling, and when it again descends the pressure exercised
upon it causes the measured quantity of disinfectant to be forced up the hollow
shaft into the closet pan.
In all cases and by both methods the disinfectant is injected into and retained in
the trapping water after the flushing of the closet.
This latter part of my Invention is used preferably under the closet seat, and is
an improvement on a former Patent granted to me under the No 2466 1874 in

page_text: which the employment of a separate delivery tube is obviated, the piston rod being
now hollow and taking its place, and the glass lined cylinder and piston therein
mentioned being done away with, as in practice by the corrosive action of the
disinfectants they became fixed, and the closet handle being raised the piston rod
5 was frequently pulled away or the whole apparatus torn from its fixings on the
floor;