IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick George Underhay, of Crawford
Passage, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, and Alfred'
Edwin Carter, of Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention. of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING WASTE
OF WATER"
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 29th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick George
Underhay, and Alfred Edwin Carter at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th November
1873.
We, FREDERICK GEORGE UNDERHAY, of Crawford Passage, Clerken-
well, in the County of Middlesex, and ALFRED EDWIN CARTER, of
Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
WASTE OF WATER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for

page_text: At the present time great waste of water takes place through overflow
pipes belonging to cisterns, baths, and other fittings, but such overflow
pipes are not dispensed with in consequence of the risk which might
thus arise of flooding and injuring valuable property.
Now according to our Invention we prevent the waste without in-
volving this risk. We retain the overflow pipes, but in place of leading
them direct into a drain we lead them into a box, which is sealed, so
that the consumer can have no access to it. Within the box is a stop-
cock or valve, which is in connection with the main service pipe. The
cock or valve is controlled by a float or by other means, so that when
water enters the box the cock or valve closes.
When a cistern, bath, or other receptacle overflows, the first effect is
that the box fills with water; the cock or valve on the service pipe is
thus closed, and no more water enters the house.
The box may have an overflow pipe, so that free escape is given to the
overflowing water, thereby avoiding the risk of injury to property, but
when such a derangement of the water supply apparatus has taken place,
no further supply will be obtained by the consumer until the box has
been emptied, and this must be done by an officer having control of the
water supply, and whose duty it is to see that defects in the apparatus
are repaired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Frederick George Underhay and Alfred Edwin
Carter, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
GEORGE UNDERHAY, of Crawford Passage, Clerkenwell, in the County
of Middlesex, and ALFRED EDWIN CARTER, of Notting Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three,
in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Frederick George Underhay
and Alfred Edwin Carter, Her special license that we, the said Frederick
George Underhay and Alfred Edwin Carter, our executors, adminis

page_text: "
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick George
Underhay and Alfred Edwin Carter, 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 APPARATUS FOR
PREVENTING WASTE OF WATER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Frederick George Underhay and Alfred Edwin
Carter, our executors 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 I, the said Frederick George Underhay, on
behalf of myself and the said Alfred Edwin Carter, 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 for
preventing waste of water.
At the present time great waste of water takes place through overflow
pipes belonging to cisterns, baths, and other fittings, but such overflow
pipes are not dispensed with in consequence of the risk which might then
arise of flooding and injuring valuable property.
Now according to our Invention we prevent the waste without in-.
volving this risk. We retain the overflow pipes, but in place of leading
them direct into a drain we lead them into a box, which is sealed, so
that the consumer can have no access to it. Within the box is a stop-
cock or valve, which is in connection with the main service pipe. The
cock or valve is controlled by a float, or by other means, so that when
water enters the box the cock or valve closes.
When a cistern, bath, or other receptacle overflows, the first effect is
that the box fills with water; the cock or valve on the service pipe is,
thus closed, and no more water enters the house.

page_text: The Drawing shews a side view partly in section of the apparatus.
a is a small cistern or box, with a cover screwed on and secured by seals
or otherwise, so that it cannot be opened without discovery. This cistern
or box contains a ball-float 6 and valve c, which may be of any well-
known construction-a diaphragm valve is shewn in the Drawing.
The valve is connected at c¹ with the pipe which supplies water to the
premises, and at c² with another pipe for leading the water after it has
passed the valve to the ball-cock which supplies the house cistern. The
valve, as will be seen, closes when the float b is raised and opens when
it falls. The cistern or box a is also connected at a¹ with the overflow
pipe from the house cistern, and at a² with a waste pipe leading into
some open space; or if preferred, this connection with the drain at a²
may be dispensed with. d is a plug in the bottom of the cistern or box a,
which is lifted when the cistern or box has to be emptied. The plug has
a handle d³, which can be got at only by removing a screw plug as in the
cover of the cistern or box. This plug is secured by a seal, which must
be broken before the plug d can be raised from its seat. A pipe is
connected at d¹ beneath the plug. It may be a short pipe leading to a
spout, and serving to prevent access to the plug being had from the
under side; or the pipe connected at d¹ may be led into a sink.
'
-
So long as the cistern or box a remains empty, water enters the house
and passes to the ordinary ball cock of the cistern without impediment,
but should the ordinary ball-cock at any time get out of order, and as a
consequence an overflow from the main cistern take place, then the close
cistern or box a becomes filled, and the supply is shut off from the
premises.

page_text: In place of a float it is evident that other instruments may be
employed, as for example, a counterbalanced cup, receiving into it the
water entering the sealed-up box, and falling when so loaded; but the
float is the instrument which we prefer to employ.
What we claim is the arrangement of apparatus for preventing waste
of water, consisting of a closed box receiving the water from the over-
flow pipe or pipes, and containing a float or other instrument controlling
a cock or valve through which the water supply enters, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick George Underhay, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-