IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR WATER-SUPPLYING APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Connell, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Plumber and Brassfounder, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR WATER-SUPPLYING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 21st December 1874, and dated the 1st July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Connell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1874.
I, WILLIAM CONNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Plumber and Brassfounder, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR WATER-SUPPLYING
APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the constructing of valves for water-
supplying apparatus, so as to prevent waste without the practical dis-
advantages of many existing valves made for the same purpose.

page_text: The improved valves are applicable in connection with waterclosets,
urinals, washing basins, drinking fountains, and any apparatus in or by
which it is wished to obtain separate limited supplies of water.
In one modification of the improved valves which is adapted for
waterclosets a disc or conical valve picce arranged to close the outlet
from the bottom of a cistern is attached to the rod of a piston working
in a main cylinder, and in connection with this main cylinder there are
two lateral cylinders having in them pistons which are connected to a
weighted lever, and one on each side of the fulcrum of such lever. The
lever is connected by wires and levers or otherwise to the usual closet
handle, and on lifting this one of the lateral pistons is depressed, which
action forces water through a small valve into the main cylinder, and
thereby raises the piston in the latter. The main piston in rising opens
the main valve, but both begin to descend again, notwithstanding that
the closet handle may continue to be held up, because the water escapes
from under the piston through an aperture provided for the purpose in
the side or bottom end of the cylinder. This escape aperture determines
the duration of the flow of water through the outlet valve, and may be
made larger or smaller, as may be required. It is a defect with some
existing self-closing valves that the closet basin is not supplied with an
after flush or quantity of water for trapping after the main discharge
is closed should the closet handle be held up too long, but with the
arrangement now being described the after flush is supplied after the
handle is lowered, the weighted lever in connection with the valve
apparatus then reversing itself, and by depressing the second lateral
piston forcing water into the main cylinder, and thereby again lifting
the piston and with it the main outlet valve. Each of the two lateral
pistons is made with clack or similar valves, which allow the water free
passage through when the piston is raised.
One double-acting cylinder and piston may be substituted for the two
lateral ones, and in cases wherein an after flush is not required one only
of the lateral cylinders need be fitted to the apparatus.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Connell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CONNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Plumber
and Brassfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Connell, Her special licence that I,
the said William Connell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Connell, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVES FOR WATER-
SUPPLYING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Connell, 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 William Connell, 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 has for its object the constructing of valves for
water-supplying apparatus, so as to prevent waste without the practical
disadvantages of many existing valves made for the same purpose.

page_text: My improved valves are applicable in connection with waterclosets,
urinals, washing basins, drinking fountains, and any apparatus in or by
which it is wished to obtain separate limited supplies of water.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
two 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 of the Drawings is a vertical section of one modification of
my improved apparatus as adapted for a cistern used for supplying water
to a watercloset, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section. The apparatus is
formed with a bottom flange 1, by which it is to be fixed inside the
cistern down upon the outlet aperture or mouth of the downlet pipe by
which the water descends to the closet. Immediately over the outlet
there is a valve seat 2 closed by a valve piece 3 fitted with a rubber,
washer, or disc (or formed with a conical closing surface, in which case
the seat would also be conical). The valve piece 3 is formed with a
bow 4, by means of which it is attached to the rod 5 of a piston 6
working in a main cylinder 7, the piston being packed with a cup
leather, and being loaded with a weight 8. In connection with this
main cylinder 7 there are two lateral cylinders 9, 10, having on them
pistons 11, 12, both fast on one rod 13, the upper end of which is to be
connected to the ordinary cistern lever, or otherwise arranged so as to be
raised whenever the watercloset handle is raised. The two cylinders 9, 10,
might be one on each side of the main cylinder 7, their pistons being
in that case connected to the lever for working them on opposite sides
of its fulcrum. In the space between the two cylinders 9, 10, there is
fixed by means of lateral screws 14 (Figure 2) a piece 15 formed with
three passages, one admitting water from the cistern by a lateral
opening 16, and through a clack valve 17 into the upper cylinder 10
whenever the piston 12 is raised, and the other two forming com-
munications from the top of the cylinder 9, and from the bottom of the
cylinder 10 respectively by passages 18, 19, to spaces formed in a
piece 20 fixed in the bottom of the main cylinder 7. The spaces in the
bottom piece 20 of the main cylinder 7 communicate with the interior

page_text: of the cylinder by clack valves 21, 22. When the parts are in the
position in which they are represented in Figure 1 the cylinder 9 is full
of water, and on the piston rod 13 being drawn up that water is forced
by the passage 18 and valve 21 into the main cylinder 7, and raises the
piston 6 and with it the valve 3, thus allowing water to flow down to
the closet. In the bottom piece 20 of the cylinder 7 there is a small
passage and aperture 23 (indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1), and the
water gradually leaves the cylinder through this aperture by the action
of the weight 8 on the piston 6, so that the valve 3 becomes automatically
closed in a certain limited time whether the closet handle be kept up or
not. The escape aperture 23 determines the duration of the flow of
water, and consequently the quantity used at each action, and may be
made larger or smaller as may be required in different cases. It is a
defect with some existing self-closing valves that the closet basin is not
supplied with an after flush or quantity of water for trapping after tho
main discharge is closed, should the closet handle be held up too long,
but with my improved arrangement the after flush is supplied after the
handle is lowered. A weight 24 is applied to the rod 13 and
pistons 11, 12, and moves these down whenever the closet handle is let
go. The upper piston 12 then forces the water from under it by the
passage 19 and valves 22 into the main cylinder 7, and again lifts the
piston 6 and with it the outlet valve 3, which causes the requisite water
to descend for the after flush, the valve 3 gradually closing as before as
the water escapes from under the piston 6 by the aperture 23. The
piston 11 is formed with clack valves 25, which admit water to its upper
side when the piston descends, and thus make the apparatus ready for
a fresh action. The main cylinder 7 is formed with a number of lateral
apertures 26 at a certain height, and the piston 6 cannot be raised
higher than what is sufficient to uncover these apertures; as the water
then escapes by them. This arrangement tends to prevent waste, as with
it a mischievous person cannot by repeatedly working the closet handle up
and down make the valve take any longer time to close after he lets the
handle alone, nor can he increase the after flush, which will remain the
same under all circumstances. The arrangement of apertures 26 also
allows of the duration of flow by the valve 3 being adjusted independently
of the escape aperture 23, by permitting the travel of the piston 6 to be
easily adjusted, simply by screwing the piston rod 5 more or less through
the bow 4, connecting it to the valve piece 3.

page_text: Figure 3 is a vertical section of a modification, in which one
double-acting cylinder 27 with its piston 28 is substituted for the two
single-acting cylinders 9, 10, of the modification shown in Figure 1.
Self-closing inlet valves 29, 30, are fitted to the top and bottom ends
of the cylinder, and passages 18, 19, lead from each end to the inlet
valves 21, 22, of the main cylinder 7. Whenever the rod 13 is raised
water is forced from above the piston 28 into the main cylinder 7, and
therein raises the heavy piston 6, 8, and with it the valve 3, and
whenever the rod 13 is let go the weight 24 on it moves down the
piston 28, and forcing water from under it by the passage 19 into the
cylinder 7 causes the valve 3 to be again opened for the after flush. In
this modification the piston rod 5 passes down through the bottom
piece 20, and is directly attached to the valve piece 3, and the water
escapes from the main cylinder 7 round either the piston 6 or rod 5, or
both, these being made a sufficiently casy fit for the purpose.
The nozzle 30 (Figures 1, 3,) is for the attachment of the usual air
pipe for facilitating the emptying and filling of the downlet pipe which
leads the water to the closet basin.
When my improved apparatus is applied without the intervention of a
cistern, and is fitted to a service pipe direct from the main, the various
parts are enclosed in a suitable shell. In this case a double-acting
cylinder, like the one (27), shown in Figure 3, is by preference adopted,
the piston rod (13) passing out through a stuffing box in the bottom
end, and the inlet valves (29, 30,) being supplied by a small branch pipe
from the service pipe or from the discharge branch. The main cylinder
(7) is placed directly over the cylinder (27), forming externally a con-
tinuation thereof, and the main valve (3) is fitted above the main
cylinder (7) in a valve box, which is externally an extension of that
cylinder, and which has the service pipe connected to it at one part,
and at another part a branch pipe leading to the basin. The main
valve (3) is in this case by preference of the equilibrium or double-beat
class.
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

page_text: me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the fitting of
valves of water-supplying apparatus with improved actuating details,
combined and working substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Connell, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Thirtieth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
WILLIAM CONNELL. (L.s.)