An Improved Syphon Automatic Flushing Apparatus.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1893-Accepted, 15th Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Syphon Automatic Flushing Apparatus.
I, GEORGE GATTON MELHUISH HARDINGHAM, of 191, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Civil Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention (a communication to me from Joseph Allison Newton,
of Flinder's Lane, Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, Manufacturer's Agent,)
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to automatic flushing apparatus; that is, to apparatus
which discharges a given volume of water or other fluid from a cistern or tank
periodically for the purpose of flushing urinals, sinks, water-closets, drains and
the like.
The object of this invention is to produce an extremely simple, cheap and
efficacious apparatus of this description.
In carrying out my invention, I employ a reservoir or tank, and a discharge-pipe
leading from the tank and containing in the tank at any desired height from the
bottom of the tank a convolution forming a trap. The inner extremity of the
discharge-pipe is furnished with a syphon-chamber having an opening at the bottom
and a small hole in its side at a point just above the bottom. The discharge-pipe
and the syphon-chamber, which may be in the form of a truncated cone, are con-
nected together at a point above the trap. To give a powerful flush a large
discharge-pipe is required.
The supply to the reservoir may be conveniently effected through any tap which
can be regulated so as to allow either a small or a large quantity of water to enter
the reservoir. The tap having been set, the tank needs no further attention; the
only effect caused by a difference in the rate with which the reservoir is supplied
being that the automatic discharges occur at correspondingly shorter or longer
intervals. The regulating tap may be placed in an easily-accessible position.
As soon as the water begins to enter the tank and rises above the opening in the
side of the syphon-chamber, it drives the air in the syphon-chamber through the
top of the discharge-pipe, through the trap, and finally through the outlet, until,
when the water has risen high enough in the tank, water flows from the syphon-
chamber into the trap, which becomes filled, whereupon the discharge-pipe and its
chamber act as a syphon and almost the whole of the water in the tank is discharged.
Air then enters the syphon-chamber through the small hole in its side, thus breaking
the syphon, whereupon the column of water in the syphon-chamber falls back into
the tank. The water or other fluid in the tauk then begins to rise until the syphon
is recreated, upon which the discharge again takes place.
In the accompanying drawing, which serves to illustrate one form of my inven-
tion (given by way of example only), A is the tank, B the inlet pipe, C the outlet,
D the discharge-pipe, E the trap, F the chamber, and G the hole in the side of the
chamber.
The base of the chamber is shown in the drawing at some distance above the
bottom of the tank, thus giving access to the opening in the base. There may,
however, be other openings in addition to, or in substitution for, the said opening
in the base of the chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :--
1. The improved syphon automatic flushing apparatus constructed or operating
substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

page_text: 2. In automatic flushing apparatus, mounting in the flushing tank and in con-
nection with the discharge-pipe a syphon-chamber and trap which gradually
become submerged as the tank fills and thereupon suddenly discharge the flush by
syphonic action, substantially as herein described, and without movement of any
part of the apparatus.
3. In automatic flushing apparatus of the kind above referred to, the application,
to the outlet C, of the trap E and the syphon-chamber F (with or without the
pin-hole G), substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
Dated the 9th day of March 1893.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM.