Improvements in Ball Cocks or Float Valves.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ball Cocks or Float Valves.
I, PETER LEONARD, of 75, Victoria Road, Great Crosby, in the County of
Lancaster, Master Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to cocks which are opened or closed by means of a
ball floating on the surface of the water in the vessel, thus constituting an auto-
matic arrangement for keeping the water at a certain height where the supply
is constant and the demand intermittent. Hitherto such cocks have been so
arranged that they close very gradually in proportion as the water rises in filling
the tank, and consequently it often takes a long time to fill the tank after
emptying.
My invention is designed to avoid this defect.
In carrying my invention into effect I arrange the valve so that it shall remain
fully open until the tank is nearly full and then close quickly to shut off the
water supply. One way of effecting this is by providing a hinged or pivoted arm,
at one end of which is a valve capable of being closed against a valve seating at
the end of the supply pipe, or against a delivery orifice therein. At the opposite
end of this valve arm is a saddle or abutment against which the rod connection
of the ball impinges, thus a small movement of the floating ball will open the
entire orifice of the supply pipe, and enable a full supply of water to be fed
into the tank, while allowing the valve to remain fully open until the water
has attained nearly its full height, when the rod connection with the rising ball will
impinge against the abutment on the valve arm, turning it on its pivot and closing
the valve on its seat to cut off the water. The end of the supply pipe and the
valve may be enclosed within a nozzle if so desired, to protect it from injury, and
furthermore by my invention the valve seating can he easily trued up, preferably
by making the end of the supply pipe removable from the nozzle. By this means
therefore, the seating can easily be trued up and replaced without any difficulty
or without any special tools being required, a very important point which has
usually been overlooked in the construction of ball cocks hitherto.
In another arrangement the cock is operated by a float device or auxiliary ball
in such a manner that this float or ball will only enable the cock to close when the
cistern is almost full. This is effected by providing an air cushion consisting of
a plunger, coupled to the rod of the main ball and working in an air-tight manner
in a cylinder. As the rod ascends therefore or has a tendency to do so, the plunger
will compress the air in the cylinder which thus forms a cushion. There is however
a small air valve in the cylinder, so controlled by the auxiliary ball that it will
only open when the water has risen to nearly its full height. This opening of the
valve will allow the air to escape from the cylinder, thus destroying the air

page_text: cushion and enabling the ball cock to close to shut off the water supply. In
this arrangement the ball cock may be of any suitable or convenient description.
Dated this 27th day of June 1898.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6. Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Ball Cocks or Float Valves.
I, PETER LEONARD, of 75, Victoria Road, Great Crosby, in the County of
Lancaster, Master Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
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 cocks which are opened or closed by means of a
ball floating on the surface of the water in the vessel, thus constituting an auto-
matic arrangement for keeping the water at a certain height where the supply
is constant and the demand intermittent. Hitherto such cocks have been so
arranged that they close very gradually in proportion as the water rises in filling
the tank, and consequently it often takes a long time to fill the tank after
emptying.
My invention is designed to avoid this defect.
In carrying my invention into effect I arrange the valve so that it shall remain
fully open until the tank is nearly full and then close quickly to shut off the water
supply.
The invention will be understood from the following description, reference
being had to the accompanying drawings, in which,
Fig. 1 shows a sectional elevation of my invention applied to a ball cock:
Fig. 2 an end view.
Referring to these figures, I provide a hinged or pivotted arm A, at one end
of this arm is a valve B capable of being closed against a valve seating C at the
end of the supply pipe D or against a delivery orifice therein. At the opposite
end of this valve arm is a saddle or abutment E against which the part e of the rod
connection F of the hall impinges. Thus a small movement of the floating ball
will open the entire orifice C of supply pipe D and enable a full supply of water
to be fed into the tank, while allowing the valve to remain fully open until the
water has attained nearly its full height, when the rod connection F with the
rising ball will impinge against the abutment E on the valve arm A turning it
on its pivot, and closing the valve on its seat to cut off the water. The end of
the supply pipe D and the valve may be enclosed within a nozzle G to protect it
from injury, and furthermore by my invention the valve seating can be easily
trued up, preferably by screwing the end of the supply pipe D into the fitting H
so that it can easily be unscrewed and removed. By this means therefore the
seating C can easily be trued up and replaced, without any difficulty, or without
any special tools being required, a very important point which has usually been
overlooked in the construction of ball cocks hitherto. I is a part of the side of
the tank to which the fitting H is secured by screwing up the nut J. K flats on
the pipe to enable it to be turned by a spanner, L a shoulder at end of rod
connection F, which when it abuts against the fitting H limits the movement of
the ball.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
-
1. The improvement in ball cocks or float valves, which consists in so arranging
the valve that it shall remain fully open until the tank is nearly full and then
close quickly to shut off the water supply, substantially as described.
2. In ball cocks or float valves, a hinged or pivotted arm at one end of which
is a valve capable of being closed against valve seat of the supply pipe, and at
the other end a saddle or abutment against which the rod connection of the ball
impinges, the arrangement being such that a small movement of the floating
ball will open the entire orifice of the supply pipe and enable a full supply of
water to be fed into the tank, while allowing the valve to remain fully open until
the water has attained nearly its full height, substantially as described.
3. The general combined arrangement and construction of parts forming my
improved ball cock or float valve, substantially as set forth.
Daded this กรม
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London.