IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAINS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Storer, of Hammersmith, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAINS."
Sealed the 8th October 1870, and dated the 7th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Storer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1870.
I, JOSEPH STORER, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FOUNTAINS," to be as follows:-
:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in that class of self-
acting fountain known as Hero's fountain, and relates to the application
of means whereby the repeated filling and emptying of the cisterns
or reservoirs is obviated. For this purpose I connect the cisterns or
reservoirs by pipes or tubes carried by a suitable axis of motion, so that
when all the water has passed from the upper to the lower cistern or
reservoir the cisterns or reservoirs can readily be turned or reversed on
their axis of motion, and the action of the apparatus thereby renewed.

page_text: The pipes or tubes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs are
arranged so as to afford proper air and water passages, whilst the axis
is provided with suitable air and water passages to communicate with
the pipes or tubes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs and with
the passages connecting the basin with the two cisterns or reservoirs.
The tubes or pipes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs alternately
act as air or water passages, that acting for the time being as an air
passage being carried to the top of the upper cistern and passing
through a suitable way or passage in the axis to the air tube ending at
the top of the lower cistern or reservoir, whilst that acting for the
time being as the water passage from the upper cistern or reservoir
communicates by a way or passage in the axis with a tube passing to
the jet pipe, the water from the basin passing by a suitable tube or
pipe through a passage in the axis to one of the tubes connecting the
two cisterns or reservoirs and passing to near the bottom of the lower-
most cistern or reservoir. The air and water pipes connecting the two
cisterns or reservoirs are arranged so as to act alternately, as the one or
the other, by simply turning the cisterns or reservoirs on their axis.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Storer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
Storer, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Storer, Her special licence that
I, the said Joseph Storer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Storer, my 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 FOUNTAINS," upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Storer, 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
Séal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Storer, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in that class of self-
acting fountains known as Hero's fountain, and relates to the application
of means whereby the repeated filling and emptying of the cisterns or
reservoirs is obviated.
For this purpose I connect the cisterns or reservoirs by pipes or tubes
carried by a suitable axis of motion, so that when all the water has
passed from the upper to the lower cistern or reservoir the cisterns or
reservoirs can readily be turned or reversed on their axis of motion and
the action of the apparatus thereby renewed.
The pipes or tubes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs are
arranged so as to afford proper air and water passages, whilst the axis
is provided with suitable air and water passages to communicate with
the pipes or tubes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs and with the
passages connecting the basin with the two cisterns or reservoirs. The
tubes or pipes connecting the two cisterns or reservoirs alternately act
as air or water passages, that acting for the time being as an air
passage being carried to the top of the upper cistern and passing
through a suitable way or passage in the axis to the air tube ending at
the top of the lower cistern. or reservoir, whilst that acting for the
time being as the water passage from the upper cistern or reservoir
communicates by a way or passage in the axis with a tube passing to
the jet pipe, the water from the basin passing by a suitable tube or pipe
through a passage in the axis to one of the tubes connecting the two
cisterns or reservoirs and passing to near the bottom of the lowermost
cistern or reservoir. The air and water pipes connecting the two
cisterns or reservoirs are arranged so as to act alternately as the one or
the other by simply turning the cisterns or reservoirs on their axis.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawing, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING,
which represents a vertical sectional elevation of a self-acting fountain
having my improvements applied thereto.
a, a¹, are two cisterns or reservoirs, which are connected together
by pipes or tubes b, b, c, c¹, mounted on a hollow axis of motion d
surrounding a fixed conical plug e having suitable passages f, g, h,
therein communicating with the pipes or tubes b, b, c, c¹, and i, and
with the jet pipe j.
To put the fountain in operation water is poured into the dish or
basin until the lower reservoir is filled and the opening is covered.
The cisterns or reservoirs a, a¹, are then turned on their axis of motion,
so as to place the filled cistern or reservoir a at the top when the water
therefrom will flow to a level in the jet pipe j, and the water in the
basin or dish k by passing down the pipes or tubes i and 6' into the
lower cistern or reservoir a' rises in such lower cistern or reservoir a¹
and forces the air out therefrom through the pipe or tube c', passage f,
and tube b, into the upper part of the cistern or reservoir a, where it
presses upon the surface of the water therein, and forces it out there-
from through the tube c, passage h, and jet pipe j, until all the water
in the upper cistern or reservoir a has passed through the jet pipe j
and into the lower cistern or reservoir a¹ by the pipe i, passage g, and
pipe b', when by turning the cisterns or reservoirs a, a¹, on their axis
of motion until the cistern or reservoir a¹ is at the top, the action of
the fountain will be continued; the pipes or tubes b, c¹³, which had
previously been air passages now becoming water passages, and the
pipes or tubes b³, c, now becoming air passages which had previously
served for the passage of water. By these improvements the necessity
for alternately filling and emptying the cisterns or reservoirs a, a¹, is
obviated.
A spring stop or catch is employed to retain the cisterns or reservoirs
a, a', in the desired position.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is, the construction of self-acting fountains of the character

page_text: herein described with the cisterns or reservoirs capable of being turned.
on an axis of motion and provided with suitable tubes and passages, so
that by simply reversing the position of the cisterns or reservoirs a, a³,
the action of the fountain may be continued substantially as herein
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Storer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
FRED
HARRIS,
Patent Agent,
35, Southampton Buildings.
JOSEPH STORER. (L.S.)