IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: oy the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Adam Baird at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th December
1857.
I, ADAM BAIRD, of Finchett House, near Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS FOR
DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to remove as much as possible out of the
way of frost or other detrimental influences incidental to cisterns or other
receptacles situated on the roofs of buildings or elevated situations, all ball-
taps, wires, levers, or other apparatus, as also to regulate the whole of the
various cisterns connected with a building or buildings, whether on the same
or different levels with the supply cistern, by one valve action so situated as
to be out of the way of frost, and if necessary, to be kept under lock and key.
A cistern which receives its supply from the street mains of a town or other
source is placed in an elevated situation (say, at the top of the house, or where
the Invention is wished to be used), the supply water is introduced at the
bottom of the cistern and on a level with the bottom thereof by a pipe carried
up the interior of the building. The service pipe may also be introduced
through the bottom and project upwards to the height the water is required
to remain in that cistern; upon the supply water rising above the head of
this service pipe it flows down it and is conveyed to a service cistern on (say)

page_text: the upper story of the house, and upon that cistern being filled to the required
height the water passes through a pipe to a second service cistern, and so
on until all the service cisterns on the various levels (say, above the butler's
pantry) are supplied, then the water is conveyed from the last of the series
of service cisterns to a small regulating cistern which is provided with a waste
pipe to prevent it being accidentally filled above a certain level; within this
regulating cistern a ball or other suitable float works a valve on the supply
pipe. Now, suppose the supply and service cisterns all full, the water passing
from the last of the service cisterns, enters the small regulating cistern in the
butler's pantry, causing the ball to rise, and closes the valve on the supply
pipe. The regulating cistern has a discharge valvo at the bottom, which is
connected by a wire or other means, which passes through a protecting pipe
to the supply cistern, when it is attached to the end of a small lever which
has a float on the other end, and works on a pin near the bottom of the
cistern. When the float on the end of this lever is acted upon by the water
the wire is slack, but upon the water in the supply cistern falling below a
given distance the ball on the end of the lever falls and draws up the wire,
by which the discharge valvo in the bottom of the regulating cistern is
opened, and the water therein allowed to escape through the discharge pipe,
which causes the float in the regulating cistern to fall down and open the
valve on the supply pipe, and remain open until every cistern is filled to their
required height, when the last servico cistern being filled the water passes to
the regulating cistern again, raising the float on the supply pipe valve and
closing it. The service or secondary cisterns are each provided with a float
which is attached to a wire carried through protecting pipes and over pullies
to the wire of the discharge valve to which they are attached, so that any of
the service cisterns falling low will cause the float to descend, and drawing the
wire after it will open the discharge valve of the regulating cistern, and cause
the valve on the supply pipe to open, as before described. The orifice of tho
supply pipe in the supply cistern is covered by a lift valve to prevent the
water returning down the supply pipe should it at any time become empty.
A service cistern or series of service cisterns may bo fed through the regu-
lating cistern when the upper line thereof is level with tho bottom of the
regulating cistern.
The valve on the supply pipe which is in connection with the regulating
cistern it is preferred to make of a peculiar form, the supply water being
received from the top of a lift valve which is opened by the end of the lever,
which is acted upon by the flont in the regulating cistern. The lever works
with a ball and socket joint, the arm being attached to the ball and working

page_text: through a slot in the socket, and the ball and socket are so perforated that if
the outer arm of the lever be elevated by hand the water in the supply pipe
can escape through a nozzle formed either in the ball and working in a slot
in the socket or through a nozzle on the socket. This will be found a
convenient tap for many purposes.
The regulating cistern may be dispensed with when only one cistern or one
set of cisterns placed on the same level are used, in which case it is preferred
to weight the lever of the valve on the supply pipe, and to arrange a float
within the supply cistern, so that it may rise and fall for a given distance
without clevating or depressing the lever, which can be done by means of an
upright rod or other conductor connected to the wire of the supply valve,
which passes up through a hole or otherwise in or outside a float, the float
being at liberty to work up and down the rod for a given distance, so that it
may rise and fall within that limit without acting upon the supply valve, to
which it is connected by a wire or other means, as herein-before described.
The service water for waterclosets may be taken either from the supply or
service cisterns, as may be found most convenient, the water being conveyed
by a pipe to a small cistern connected with the closet. This chamber is
provided with inlet and outlet valves, which are placed on the ends of a
working lever which has its fulcrum between the valves, and which is so
connected with the seat of the closet that when a weight is placed thereon
the outlet valve is closed and the inlet valve opened, so as to allow the service
water to enter the small enclosed cistern, and upon the seat of the closet
being relieved of the weight placed thereon the lever closes the inlet valve
and opens the outlet valve, discharging the water collected in the service
chamber into the pan of the closet. The small service chamber is provided
at the top thereof with a small air valve to facilitate the escape of the water,
or the chamber may be made air-tight, and large enough to allow the air
therein to be sufficiently compressed to admit the requisite quantity of water
to enter that will be required for flushing the pan. To prevent effluvia
arising from the closet it is proposed to cover the orifice of the soil pipe with
a movemable curtain or slide worked by a cross lever action, which is acted
upon by the under side of the closet seat, so that when there is a weight
thereon the slide is removed from the front of the soil pipe, and so retained
until relieved from the pressure of the seat, after which it is retained open
during the time the water from the service chamber is rushing into the pan
by means of a tongue piece jointed to the front of the discharge orifice of the
service vessel, which is forced by the action of the water to retain the cross
levers and prevent them working until the tongue piece is relieved of the

page_text: pressure of the water and allowed to fall to its vertical position, when tho
curtain drops down and covers the orifice of the soil pipe.
The service water for baths it is proposed to supply through a small servico
chamber, much on the same plan as that used for the waterclosets, except that
two levers are used to open two valves, one for the hot and the other for the
cold water supply, which meet in the supply chamber and are discharged
through one opening into the bath, the discharge valve used when applied
to waterclosets being dispensed with. When it is required to fill the bath,
weight is brought to act upon the outer end of the levers to keep the supply
valves open, and a float or floats are used to lift up the levers when the bath
is sufficiently full.
In addition to the arrangements herein-before described it.is proposed to
carry a pipe from the supply cistern and every service cistern to ono receiving
chamber placed in some convenient situation in the house, the bottom of each
pipe being provided with a lift valve which is opened when required by a
bell-crank action worked by a connecting rod, which is brought out to the
front of the receiving chamber, so that by drawing the rod out one arm of
the bell crank acts against the lift valve and opens it, when the water from
the cistern to which the pipo is connected flows into the receiving chamber.
One or more of the service cisterns may be caused to discharge into the
receiving chamber at one time when required, and there being only one outlet
to this receiving chamber for all the service cisterns a large body of water
may be carried by a flexible tube to any part of the building to axtinguish fire,
or for other purposes.
As the present arrangement ains at great simplicity of action, and as tho
ordinary stop-cock but too frequently becomes so stiff as not to be workablo
when long out of use, it is proposed to substituto one of the following design
to shut of the main supply from a street or road to the building when wanted.
The construction is much the same as the presont stop-cock, but with no
screws or other fittings likely to get out of order by having the plug or stop
to form a valve on the under side, to which a key for turning it is aflixed with
the upper end being brazed up, so as to prevent escape in that direction.
This stop-cock is equally applicable as a flow cock.