IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE FOR THE SUPPLY OR DISCHARGE OF VARIOUS LIQUIDS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stewart Peters, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Coppersmith, and William Donald, of the
same Place, Plumber, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
CONNECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE FOR THE SUPPLY OR
DISCHARGE OF VARIOUS LIQUIDS."
Scaled the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 7th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stewart Peters and
William Donald at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th April 1874.
We, STEWART PETERS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Coppersmith, and WILLIAM DONALD, of the same Place,
Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE FOR
THE SUPPLY OR DISCHARGE OF VARIOUS LIQUIDS," to be as follows, that is to
say:-
This Invention comprises improved arrangements for the discharge of
waterclosets and improved arrangements: designed to prevent waste of

page_text: the water supplied to waterclosets. A part of the. improvements is also
applicable to apparatus for the supply or discharge of various liquids.
By the present Invention the usual main discharge valve of the closet
is dispensed with, together with its expensive fittings and complex
details, which are so troublesome, and there is substituted a complete
and in every way more satisfactorily working equivalent. The discharge.
passage or pipe is made with two siphon trap bends, one close to the
basin and the second as near as conveniently may be, and on the bottoms
of the bends being filled with water a quantity of air is imprisoned
between them, which causes the water to stand at a higher level in the
basin than it otherwise would do. The air space between the bends is
connected by a pipe with the top of a closed compartment in the water
supply cistern, and when the downlet valve in the cistern is lifted by a
wire or cord and lever connected to the closet handle the down rush of
water tends to produce a vacuum.in. the top of the cistern compartment
and in the air space between the two bends in the discharge pipe down
below. In consequence of the action just described the contents of the
basin rush suddenly off by the discharge pipe. Whilst the downlet
valve of the cistern is raised a second valve on or worked by the wire
stops communication with the compartment of the cistern containing
the float and supply cock, but on the handle being let go the second
valve opens and the closed compartment fills again, this compartment
being thus a measure of the water expended at each use, and avoiding
waste.
°
Modifications of the double siphon arrangement herein-before described
as applied to the basin discharge pipe may be applied to the water supply
pipe of closets having ordinary main discharge valves. In these cases
the upper siphon is formed by an inverted cup dipping down inside the
cistern over the downlet pipe, which projects above the cistern bottom.
This inverted cup is connected by means of a lever and cords or wires to
the closet handle, and on being lifted causes a rarefaction of the
imprisoned air and a consequent downflow of the water. Any con-
trivance, such as a pump for example, by which the imprisoned air may
'be rarefied or withdrawn may be used for starting the flow of the
water.
In the double siphon, arrangement all trouble as to the fitting of
valves on their seats is avoided, as no metallic or other solid surfaces

page_text: require to be in contact, and it is therefore well adapted for the supply
or discharge of corrosive liquids.
Another part of the Invention relates to improved means for obtaining
the after flow required for filling the watercloset basin up to the proper
height after the main discharge has stopped, such means being also com-
bined with arrangements limiting the supply of water which serves for
flushing on the closet handle being drawn up. The handle is connected
to the parts acting on the main discharge by a chain or other loose
suspensory connection, and the part above such connection is weighted
and arranged to act on a lever or arm fixed or connected to the float of
the supply cock when the handle is let down, but the float is relieved
from this weight when the handle is held up.
In one modification the float is within a basin or compartment inside
the cistern, and on the downlet valve being opened the cistern (of a
limited size) is emptied, but not the float basin, and the float keeps the
supply cock shut: On the handle being lowered however the weight
depresses the float and opens the supply cock, and the cistern refills, the
float finally closing the cock when the water rises sufficiently high to
furnisli the additional floating power for lifting the float with the
weight bearing on it.
In another modification the float is in the same compartment as the
downlet pipe, but this pipe is made like a siphon, which after emptying
the compartment does not act when the water flows in again up to the
level corresponding to the unweighted float. On the closet handle being
lowered however the weight acting on the float causes the requisite extra
supply of water to enter.
Where a separate pipe is provided for the afterflow; as is now insisted
on by some water companies, such pipe may be made with the two
siphons, the inverted cup of the upper one being connected to the other
side of the lever working the main downlet valve or siphon so as to be
actuated on the closet handle being let go.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stewart Peters and William Donald in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 6th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, STEWART
PETERS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Copper-
smith, and WILLIAM DONALD, of the same Place, Plumber, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh 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 successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Stewart Peters and William Donald, Her
special licence, that we, the said Stewart Peters and William Donald,
our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Stewart Peters and William Donald, our executors, adminis-
'trators, 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 AND CON-
,NECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS, AND IN PART APPLICABLE FOR THE SUPPLY OR
DISCHARGE OF VARIOUS LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
wc, the said Stewart Peters and William Donald, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 Scal Patent
'Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
'
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Stewart Peters and William
Donald, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :—
-
Our said Invention comprises improved arrangements for the discharge
of waterclosets and improved arrangements designed to prevent waste of

page_text: the water supplied to waterclosets. A part of our improvements is also
applicable to apparatus for the supply or discharge of various liquids.
By our present Invention the usual main discharge valve of the closet
is dispensed with, together with its expensive fittings and complex
details, which are so troublesome, and there is, substituted a complete
and in every way more satisfactorily working equivalent.
And in order that this and the other parts of our Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, may be properly understood, we here-
unto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings, to be herein after referred
to and representing various modifications of watercloset apparatus
embodying our improvements. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
Figure 1 is a vertical section showing one modification of our improved
main discharge apparatus and one modification of water supply apparatus
to be used therewith. The discharge passage or pipe from the basin 1 is
made with two siphon trap bends, one 2 close to the basin 1, and the
second 3 as near as conveniently may be, and on the bottoms of the
bends 2, 3, being filled with water a quantity of air is imprisoned in
the space 4 between them, which (amongst other things) causes the
water to stand at a higher level in the basin 1 than it otherwise would do.
The air space 4 between the bends is connected by a pipe 5 with the top
of a closed compartment 6 in the water supply cistern 7, and when the
downlet valve 8 in the bottom of the compartment 6 is lifted by a wire 9
or chain and lever 10 connected to the closet handle the descent of the
water tends to produce a vacuum in the top of the closed compartment 6
and in the air space 4 between the two bends 2, 3, in the discharge pipe
down below. In consequence of the action just described the contents
of the basin 1 rush suddenly off by the discharge pipe. Whilst the
downlet valve 8 of the cistern is raised another valve 11 worked by the
wire 9 stops communication with the compartment of the cistern con-
taining the float 12 and supply cock 13. This valve 11 is a piston.
working in a tube, and is connected by a loose chain to the lower valve 8,
· so as to move up sufficiently for closing the opening or openings in the
tube before beginning to lift the valve 8. When the lever 10 is let go
the lower valve 8 closes and the upper one 11 opens, and the compart-
ment 6 refills from the other part of the cistern. This compartment. 6

page_text: being thus a measure of the water expended at each use and a means of
avoiding waste. When the water refills the closed compartment 6 the
air is forced back into the pipe 5. This pipe is however in some cases
fitted with a simple ball valve 14, opening outwards, by which the air
escapes, and whence it may be led by a pipe to the outside of the house.
With this arrangement all gaseous effluvia from the soil pipe are pre-
vented from polluting the air inside the house.
Modifications of our double siphon arrangement hercin-before described
as applied to the basin discharge pipe may be applied to the water
In
supply pipe of closets having ordinary main discharge valves.
Figure 2 however, which is a vertical section, one such modification is
shown as applied in combination with our main discharge arrangement.
The upper siphon is formed by an inverted cup 15 dipping down inside
the cistern (in this instance in a closed chamber 6) over the upwardly
projecting and by preference coned top 16 of the downlet pipe 17. A
small pipe 18 communicating with the interior of the downlet pipe 17 is
led to a small cylinder 19, in which there is a disc or loose piston 20,
connected to the closet handle 21. Some water is put in the cylinder 19,
which forms a simple air pump in such way that on raising the handle 21
a sufficient rarefaction of air is produced in the pipe 18 and in the
downlet pipe 17 between the upper siphon 16 and lower one 22 to start
the water and make it flow from the cistern down to the basin 1. This
action is followed by the action of the main discharge apparatus as
herein-before described with reference to Figure 1; a small pipe 23 con-
necting the cylinder 19 with the upper part of the basin 1 serves at each
flushing to lead a little water to the cylinder and so maintain the supply
in it.
In the modification shown in Figure 2 the float 12 and supply cock 13
are fitted inside the closed chamber or cistern 6, and no separate supply
compartment is required. The inverted siplion cup, 15 has a siphon air
tube 24 fitted at one side of it to insure the stoppage of the descent of
the water at the proper time. Without this air tube the water might fill
in by the cock 13 quickly enough to keep the siphon running. About
the bottom of the air tube 24, not being quite as low as that of the
inverted cup, air gets access to the former before the latter is uncovered
and stops the siphon action.
Figure 3 is a vertical section showing a simplified modification of our
double siphon water supply apparatus suitable for a closet with any kind

page_text: °
of main discharge apparatus hitherto in common usc. The inverted
cup 15 of the upper siphon is made movable, and is connected to the
lever 10, which can be tilted by a cord or wire. On the cup 15 being
raised a little it causes a rarefaction of the air imprisoned in the down-
let pipe 17 between the upper siphon 16 and lower one 22, and this action
causes the water in the cistern to rise inside the cup 15, and flow down
the cone 16 and pipe 17. A hole is formed in the top of the inverted
cup 15 to insure the entrance of the necessary air after a quantity of
water has descended, but this hole is too minute to interfere with the
quick action which takes place when the siphon starts.
reverso
When it is desired that only part of the water in the cistern 7 (or in
the closed compartment 6) shall be used at each action, there is fitted to
the inverted cup a siphon air pipe 25 (Figure 3) in a position the
of the air pipe 24 of the modification shown in Figure 2. There is a
small hole at the bottom of the air pipe 25 by which water enters to
fill up the pipe to the outside level when the parts are at rest. When
the siphon runs air is soon sucked down the pipe 25 and stops the
flow of the water, and the time required for this to take place and tho
consequent quantity of water used can be varied or regulated by suitably
proportioning the air pipe 25 and the small hole at the bottom
of it.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of a modification in which our improved
water supply apparatus is combined with a common form of main dis-
charge valve, consisting of a large plug 26 working in a vertical passage
at the side of the basin 1. The air suction pipe 18 is led into the side
of the trunk pipe in which the main plug valve 26 works, and on this
being raised some water contained in an enlargement of the pipe 18
passes off and produces the requisite rarefaction or suction.
Provision for what is known as after flush (that is, the additional
supply of water for filling up the basin to the proper height after each
use) is shown in Figure 4; a compartment 27 is formed in the cistern 7
to contain the after flush water, and a pipe 28 dipping therein nearly to
the bottom leads down to a cylindrical cavity 29 in the top of the main
plug valve 26. The bottom of the pipe 28 is fitted with a flange nearly
closing the cavity 29, and when the plug valve 26 descends on the
handle 21 being let go a sucking action takes effect on the pipe 28 and
causes the water to pass over its siphon top and flow down. The pro-

page_text: improvements.
In the modification shown in Figure 1 the water supply cock 13 has
in addition to its discharge nozzle into the cistern a small branch pipe 30
leading into the downlet pipe 17, and when the cock opens to refill the
cistern a portion of the water passes down by this branch pipe 30 for the
after flush..
17
In the modification shown in Figure 2 an enlargement 31 formed on
the downlet pipe 17 receives part of the descending water, and this part
passes again into the pipe 17 slowly by a small hole in the bottom of the
enlargement, and forms the after flush.
For the siphon trap 22 at the bottom of the downlet pipe 17 there
may be, substituted any simple valve or arrangement serving. for
imprisoning air without preventing the flow of the water when required.
Thus valve traps arranged as shown in section in Figures 5 and 6 may
be used. It is not necessary for the lower trap or siphon 22 to be at the
very bottom of the downlet pipe 17, as it may be situated quite near the
upper siphon or at any intermediate point.
°
Figure 7 is a vertical section of a modification of our improved water
supply apparatus, in which the lower trap or siphon 22 (formed with an
inverted cup 32) is arranged at the top of the downlet pipe 17, and within
the lower part of the upper siphon details 16, 15, enlarged for the
purpose: The air between the cup 32, 15, may be rarefied by means like
what is herein-before described for that purpose. A different modifi-
cation is however shown in this. Figure 7. The pipe 18 from the small
air pump
is led down a tube 33, the bottom of which communicates with
a close topped annular chamber 34, and a small pipe 35 leads from the
bottom of the latter to the top of the inverted siphon cup 15. The
suction produced in the pipe 18 acts in the chamber 34, so as to draw air
by the pipe 35 from the inverted cup 15, and this starts the running
down of the water. Afterwards when the cistern refills water entering
down the tube 33 compresses air in the upper part of the annular
chamber 34, which air finds its way by a small hole into the upper part
of the pipe 35, thus insuring the proper quantity of air being imprisoned
between the cups 15, 32.

page_text: Figure 8 is a vertical section of a modification in which the com-
partment 40 of the cistern 7, from which the downlet pipe 17 proceeds is
ordinarily empty, the cock 13 being kept shut by water in another
compartment 41 acting on the float 12. A siphon pipe 18 leads from
the compartment 41, and is started by means of a pump 19. When the
cock 13 opens from the sinking of the float the compartment 40 fills.
high enough to start the siphon 15, 16, and at the same time a separate
branch 42 fills the compartment 41, and by raising the float 12 closes
the cock 13.
Another part of our Invention relates to certain improved arrange-
ments for obtaining the after flush and for limiting the supply of water
which serves for flushing on the closet handle being drawn up.
"
1
b
Figure 9 is a vertical section showing one modification in which the
lever 10, worked as usual by the closet handle, is connected by a
chain 36 or other loose suspensory connection to the downlet valve 8,
and the part above such connection has a weight 37 arranged to act on a
lever or arm 38 connected to the float 12 when the handle is let down,
but the float is relieved from this weight when the handle is held up.
The float 12 is within a basin 39 or compartment inside the cistern, and
on the downlet valve 8 being opened the cistern (which is of a limited
size) is emptied, but not the float basin 39, and the float keeps the
supply cock 13 shut. On the handle being lowered however the
weight 37 depresses the float and opens the supply cock 13, and the
cistern refills, the float finally closing the supply cock when the water
rises sufficiently high to furnish the additional floating-power for lifting
the float 12 with the weight bearing on it.
'
In another modification shown in section in Figure 9 the float 12 is in
the same compartment as the downlet pipe 17, but this pipe is fitted with
an inverted siphon cup 15, which does not act when the water fills in
again up to the level corresponding to the unweighted float. On the
closet handle 21 being lowered however the weight 37 acting on the
float causes the requisite extra supply of water to enter. *
-
Where a separate pipe is provided for the after flush, as is now. insisted
on by some water companies, such pipo may be made with the two
siphons, the inverted cup of the upper one being connected to the
other side of the lever (10) working the main downlet valve (8) or
siphon so as to be actuated on the closet handle being let go.

page_text: In our double siphon arrangement all trouble as to the fitting of
valves on their seats is avoided, as no metallic or other solid surfaces
require to be in contact, and it is therefore well adapted for the
supply or discharge of corrosive liquids. Any contrivance acting like
a pump or otherwise so as to produce a sudden rarefaction of the air
imprisoned between the two siphons may be used for starting the flow
of the water.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves
to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what we
believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured
to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for
the supply or discharge of liquids in any improved modes, substantially
such as are herein described and delineated:
2. The combining of two siphons, traps, or equivalent parts with an
air space between, and with means of rarefying the air in such space or
withdrawing it therefrom, so as to cause the liquid to flow, substantially
as and for the purposes herein-before described.
3. The combining of the parts of water supply apparatus for water-
closets in the improved modes, substantially as herein-before described
with reference to Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stewart Peters, on belialf of
myself and the said William Donald; have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
· One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four...
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent, .
Glasgow.
STEWART PETERS. (L.S.)