IMPROVE- MENTS IN WATERCLOSETS, AND IN WASTE-PREVENTING WATER-SUPPLY APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Crawford, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Plumber, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATERCLOSETS, AND IN WASTE-PREVENTING WATER-SUPPLY
APPARATUS."
Sealed the 16th October 1874, and dated the 22nd April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Crawford at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd April 1874.
I, ANDREW CRAWFORD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERCLOSETS, AND IN WASTE-PREVENTING WATER-
SUPPLY APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to simple, reliable, and inexpensive watercloset
and water-supply apparatus.
In the improved watercloset apparatus the main discharge valve is a
spherically-shaped disc closing up against an annular rubber seat, and

page_text: carried by an arc-shaped bar, which passes out through an aperture in
the side of the valve box to an external axle by turning which the
valve is opened or closed.
The overflow passage for the basin is made in the upper part of
the metal seat into which the basin is fixed, instead of being formed
through the side of the basin.
The closet is supplied with water by a pipe proceeding from a duplex
valve in connection with an intermediate receptacle and a service pipe,
which last communicates directly with the main. The duplex valve
comprises a flexible diaphragm of vulcanised rubber, one side of
which is exposed to the pressure from the main. An aperture is made
through the centre of the diaphragm and is fitted with a metallic ring
to act as a seat to a small rubber valve attached to a spindle passing
out through a stuffing box. This smaller valve is on the side of the
diaphragm opposite to the service inlet, and it gives access (when not
pressed inwards) to the water from the main to the receptacle,
and when doing so, the pressure keeps the diaphragm closed against
one or more outlets leading to the closet basin. The receptacle is
made like an air vessel, and the water entering from the main com-
presses the air to an extent depending upon the pressure. When a
supply of water is wanted the small valve is pressed inwards, which
action whilst closing the central inlet from the service pipe also presses
away the diaphragm from the outlet or outlets, and the compressed air
in the receptacle forces the water through the pipe leading to the basin.
The receptacle is proportioned to suit the quantity considered necessary
at cach use, and it thus measures the water and provonts waste.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Crawford, Her special
licence that I, the said Andrew Crawford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Crawford, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timo 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. WATERCLOSETS, AND IN WASTE-PREVENTING WATER-SUPPLY APPARATUS,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Crawford, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Andrew Crawford, do hereby
declare the nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to simple, reliable, and inexpensive water-
closet and water-supply apparatus; and in order that the nature of it
and the manner in which it is to be performed may be properly under-
stood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be
herein-after referred to, and representing modifications of my improved
apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used
to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a vertical section showing my
improvements in the watercloset. I make the main discharge valve 1
in the form of a spherically-shaped disc closing up against an annular
rubber seat 2. This valve 1 is carried by an arc-shaped bar 3, which

page_text: passes out through a stuffing box 4 in the side of the valve box or
casing 5, and is externally fixed to a lever 6 fitted to turn on a centre 7
concentric with the arc-shaped bar 3. The lever 6 has the usual closet
handle 8 connected to it, and is weighted to make sure of closing the
valve 1 when the handle is let go. A wire 9 connected to the lever 65
communicates through a bell-crank lever 10 and vertical wire 11 with
the water-supply details. The closet basin 12 is seated by means of a
flange on the top of a conical shell 13 fixed to the top of the main valve
box or casing 5, and extending down within the upper part of such
casing 5. The rubber ring 2, serving as seat to the valve 1, is inserted 1
in an internal groove in the bottom of the conical shell 13 and the
overflow passage 14 for the basin 12 is made in the upper part of the
conical shell 13, a space between this shell and the bottom of the basin
giving the water access to the overflow passage or passages 14. The
main valve 1 is jointed to its bar 3, so as to adjust itself equally to its 1
scat 2, but the joint is shaped so as to limit the extent of the joint
action, so that the valve cannot get too far out of the position for
closing properly.
The bar 3 may be made straight instead of arc-shaped, its connection
externally with the lever 6 or equivalent part being suitably modified. 2
The conical shell 13, or both it and tho valve casing 5 may be made of
earthenware instead of metal, if preferred.
This improved valve mechanism is very suitable for a ship's closet,
the parts being in that case in duplicate and arranged to act alternately,.
as is well understood.
The next part of my Invention relates to the water supply of water-
closets and other apparatus, my improvements being designed to prevent
waste, and comprising contrivances for that purpose of a simple nature,
and less liable to get out of order than what has hitherto been in use.
2
The improved apparatus, as arranged for application to a watercloset, 3
is shown in Figure 2, partly in vertical section, whilst a duplex valve,
forming an important part of the arrangement, is shown enlarged and
in vertical section in Figure 3. The water is supplied to the closet
by a pipe 15 proceeding from the duplex valve 16, 17, which is in
connection with an intermediate receptacle 18 and a service pipe 19, 3
the last communicating directly with the main. The duplex valve

page_text: •
comprises a flexible diaphragm 16 of vulcanised rubber held between
the flanges by which upper and lower parts of the valve casing or shell
are united, the under side of this diaphragm 16 being exposed to the
pressure from the main. An aperture is made through the centre of
the diaphragm 16 and is fitted with a metallic ring or tube 20, the top
of which is formed with a conical seat for a conical shoulder on a valve
piece or spindle 17, the upper end of which passes out through a
stuffing box 21, so as to be actuated by a lever or other convenient
means. The lower part of the valve spindle 17 is made tubular and
works down through the ring or tube 20 fixed in the diaphragm 16, but
immediately beneath the conical shoulder holes are made through the
tubular part of the spindle 17 to allow the water from the main access
to the pipe 22 leading to the intermediate receptacle. 18, when the
spindle 17 is raised. A ring 23 of rubber, leather, lead, or other
suitable compressible material, is held by the metal centre or ring 20,
fixed to the diapragm 10, and closes upwards against an annular seat,
forming an annular outlet from the pipo 22 round the spindle 17 into
the space immediately above the diaphragm 16, and which space com-
municates with the outlet or downlet pipe 15. The valve spindle 17
is counterbalanced, so as to be lifted up when left to itself, and then
whilst the water from the main entering by the pipe 19 has access, as
described, through the centre of the diaphragm 16 through the tubular
part of the spindle and through the pipe 22 to the receptacle 18, the
pressure bears up the diaphragm 16 and closes the outlet from the
pipe 22. The receptacle 18 is made like an air vessel, the pipe 22 com-
municating with the bottom of it, and the water entering it from the
main compresses the air in it to an extent depending upon the pressure.
When a supply of water is wanted, or when the closet handle is raised,
the valve spindle 17 is pressed inwards or downwards and first closes
the holes in its tubular part, so as to shut off the water from the main;
then as the downward movement continues the diaphragm 16 becomes
depressed and the outlet from the pipe 22 thereby opened. The com-
pressed air in the receptacle 18 forces the water from that receptacle
through the pipes 22 and 19 to the closet basin. The receptacle 18 is
proportioned to suit the quantity of water considered necessary at each
use, and it thus measures the water and prevents waste..
Where water under pressure is unobtainable, or where a direct con-
nection with the main is not allowed or convenient, then the receptacle

page_text: (18) need not be made like an air vessel, but may constitute simply a.
separate or measuring compartment 28, of any convenient shape, in an.
ordinary cistern, as shown in vertical section in Figure 4.
Figure 5 is an enlarged section of my duplex valve, as modified to suit
the cistern arrangement. The rubber diaphragm 16 is fixed over an
opening in a horizontal part of the partition separating the compart-
ment 28 from the rest of the cistern, such opening being directly over
the outlet 29 from the compartment, and the central metal fitting 20
of the diaphragm has attached to it by rods, or by a perforated
cylindrical shell, a disc valve 30, which when down closes the outlet 29.
The valve 17 for closing the passage through the rubber diaphragm is,
in this case, a plain disc, by preference covered with rubber, on the
bottom end of a spindle, which is connected by wires and levers 31, 32,
33, to the closet handle. When this valve 17 is raised, it first closes
the passage through the diaphragm 16, and then by a further upward
movement, which the flexibility of the diaphragm allows of, opens the
outlet valve 30. When the valves are lowered the compartment 28
refills from the cistern, an air pipe 34 being provided to facilitate that
action.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of watercloset
apparatus, substantially in the improved manner herein described and
delineated.
2. The application of a spherical disc closing up against an annular
scat and worked by a rod passing through the side of the casing as a
main discharge valve for a watercloset, substantially as herein-before
described,
3. The application to a water receptacle in connection with the main,
or to a measuring compartment in or connected with a cistern, of
a duplex valve, comprising a flexible diaphragm (16) with a central
aperture and two valve pieces, the movement for opening one valve
piece being obtained through the flexibility of the diaphragm after tho

page_text: aperture in
the diaphragm is closed by the owner valve piece, sup
stantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Crawford, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
ANDREW CRAWFORD. (L.S.)