IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH VALVES AND WASTE PREVENTIVE DM APPARATUS FOR WATERCLOSETS, BATHS, LAVATORIES, AND SIMILAR APPARATUS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Shanks, of Barrhead, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Sanitary Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH VALVES AND WASTE PREVENTIVE
DM
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Shanks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th June 1873.
I, JOHN SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Sanitary Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH VALVES AND WASTE
PREVENTIVE APPARATUS FOR WATERCLOSETS, BATHS, LAVATORIES, AND SIMILAR
APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say: :-
This Invention has principally for its object the preventing of waste
by means of simple, effective, and convenient contrivances in connection
with the water supply valves for waterclosets, baths, lavatories, and
similar apparatus,

page_text: In one kind of the improved waste preventive apparatus which is
applicable to ordinary watercloset cisterns, when the valve is opened to
supply the closet it at once begins to close by its own weight, or by a
separate weight connected to it notwithstanding that the handle is held.
up, and its time of closing is regulated by the action of a fan which t
revolves in the water whilst the valve is closing, so that only a definite
or limited quantity of water is discharged.
In one modification a freely working vertical screw with a nut is
employed, the fan vanes and weight being fixed or connected to the nut,
and the screw to the lifting rod, so that the nut runs down the screw
and causes the fan to revolve. When the lifting rod is lowered the
screw revolves in the nut.
In another modification the valve and weight are connected to a rack
which gears with a pinion held by the lifting rod, the fan being fixed on
the arbor of the pinion, and when the rod is lifted quickly the pinion being
at the bottom of the rack lifts the latter and the valve, and the rack
immediately begins to descend and turns the pinion in doing so.
A second kind of the improved waste preventive apparatus is
applicable in connection with waterclosets when a measuring com-
partment is used for determining the quantity of water to be supplied
at each action.
In one modification of this kind the outlet is by a pipe entering the
bottom of the compartment and continued inside in a flexible or jointed
piece, the mouth of which is ordinarily above the full water level. The
lever or rod for effecting the discharge is connected to the flexible or
jointed part of the pipe so as to lower its mouth to the bottom of the
vessel, or to any intermediate point according to the quantity decided to
be discharged. The compartment or small cistern is afterwards filled
up again by a float cock, but the float is held up to keep the cock shut
during the discharge from the compartment by a concentric cam piece
on the lever. With this arrangement the closet handle requires to be
held up as long as the water has to run, but in a second modification a
siphon is substituted for the simple flexible or jointed discharge pipe,
and causes all the intended supply to run off, although it is not kept
depressed longer than is necessary to start it. In its normal position the
top of the siphon is above the water level beneath which it is depressed
to start it, or the siphon may be started by the action of a disc in a

page_text: cylinder to which its inlet end is connected, such cylinder having free
inlets for the water, and being arranged so that when the disc is lifted,
the water in the cylinder is thrown up the siphon and makes it begin
to run.
Where it is wished to limit the quantity of water supplied at each
action in the case of lavatories and similar apparatus, the improved con-
trivances herein-before described may be advantageously used.
In
general however what is wanted in connection with baths, lavatories,
and similar apparatus is means for preventing water being supplied whilst
it can run to waste by the discharge outlet, and this object is secured by
the present Invention by improved constructions and arrangements of
the supply and discharge valve details.
"
"
In one modification the discharge valve is a common plug or other
well known kind of valve which opens or shuts by turning, and has
fixed in connection with it a disc that is notched or indented to receive
the ends of levers connected to the hot and cold inlet valves. The inlet
valves are either what are known as "cottage" valves or others opening
and shutting by a simple up-and-down movement, or are "Lamberts or
other "
screw down or turning valves with the levers connected to them
so as to assume different positions accordingly as the valves are open or
shut. When the discharge valve is open the levers rest on the top of
the disc and prevent either of the inlet valves from opening, but when
the discharge valve is shut the indentations or notches of the disc are
in positions to allow either lever to move, and then in opening either
inlet valve the corresponding lever is made to enter a notch or inden-
tation in the disc, so that the discharge valve cannot be opened until the
inlet valve is reclosed.
When a "Lambert " screw down valve is used its construction is
improved by forming the handle or handle shank with an internal screw
to work on a screw thread on the outside of the neck of the cover piece,
and the spindle which presses down the valve piece is formed with a
shoulder for a contracted part of the internally screwed piece to bear on,
whilst it is connected loosely to that piece by a small nut or cross pin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Shanks in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th December 1873.
•
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Sanitary Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Shanks, Her special licence that I, the
said John Shanks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Shanks, 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, 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 CONNECTED WITH
VALVES AND WASTE PREVENTIVE APPARATUS FOR WATERCLOSETS, BATHS, LAVA-
TORIES, AND SIMILAR APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Shanks, 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.

page_text: connection with the water supply valves for waterclosets, baths, lava-
tories, and similar apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications of apparatus as made with my improvements. In
these Drawing the same reference numerals are used to mark the same
or like parts wherever they are repeated.
One kind of my improved waste preventive apparatus which is appli-
cable to ordinary watercloset cisterns, is shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, on
Sheet 1 of the Drawings, Figure 1 being a sectional plan; Figure 2, a
side elevation with the cistern bottom 1 in vertical section; Figure 3, a
plan of a ratchet swivel forming part of the connections, and Figure 4,
a sectional elevation. In Figure 2 the valve 2 which has a rubber
washer 3 fixed on its face, is shown as just lifted, and in Figure 4 the
valve 2, 3, is shown as having closed down on the seat 4, forming the
inlet mouth of the pipe or passage leading to the closet basin. The
valve 2, 3, is arranged so that when it is opened to supply the closet
basin it at once begins to close by its own weight (or it might be by a
separate weight connected to it), notwithstanding that the closet handle
is continued to be held up, and its time of closing is regulated by the
action of a fan 5 which revolves in the water whilst the valve 2, 3, is
closing, so that only a definite or limited quantity of water is discharged.
For the purpose in view a freely working vertical screw spindle 6 with a
nut 7 is employed, the fan vanes 5 and valve 2, 3, (or weight) being
fixed on or connected to the nut 7, and the screw spindle 6 to the
lifting rod 8, which last is by the usual lever at the top of the cistern,
and wire thence connected to the actuating gear at the closet seat
below. In other woods the valve 2 is formed with a central tubular
part 9, in the top of which the nut 7 is fixed or formed, and on the
outside of which the fan vanes 5 are fixed or formed. The tubular
part 9 also serves to guide the valve 2, being arranged to work in an eye
in a bridge crossing the valve seat 4, and having a cross pin inserted
below to limit the amount of lift of the valve. It is also necessary to
limit the amount of lift of the lifting rod 8 by a stop arranged in any
convenient way, and which stop may be made adjustable to regulate the
quantity of water discharged at each use of the apparatus. The screw
spindle 6 may be made of a different pitch from that indicated in

page_text: Figure 4, and when it is made of a considerably smaller pitch, it may be
connected to the lifting rod 8 by a common swivel, but when it is thus
made it not only requires extremely accurate workmanship and nice.
proportioning, but is at the best uncertain in its action from the com-
paratively excessive friction between the screw and its nut. The
practical objection thus indicated is completely obviated by making the
screw spindle 6 as shown of so large a pitch that the friction between it
and its nut 7 if any, is too slight to influence the action. With such a
pitch however the lifting of the rod 8 would not raise the valve 2, 3, but
only the screw spindle 6, which last turning in the swivel would simply
screw itself up through the nut 7, were it not that the swivel joint 10 is
made like a ratchet clutch which prevents the screw spindle 6 from
turning when being lifted, but allows it to do so when on the closet
handle being let go it has to return down through the nut 7 into the
tubular part 9 of the then closed valve. The swivel joint piece 10 is
shown in plan in Figure 3, and as without the cross piece 11 fixed
to the bottom of the lifting rod 8. Ratchet teeth are formed on the
upper side of the swivel piece 10 immediately round the central eye
through which the screw spindle 6 passes, and this screw spindle is
formed with a head having ratchet teeth on the under side of its pro-
jecting part to gear with the ratchet teeth of the swivel piece 10. In
cases in which it is requisite that the valve 2, 3, should be kept open a
comparatively long time, the screw and fan 5, 6, may be combined with
a disc or piston working in a cylinder, the motion of such disc or piston
being retarded in consequence of the space or passage allowed for the
water to pass from one side to the other thereof being restricted.
A second modification of my improved valve arranged to close not-
withstanding the continued holding up of the handle is shown in
sectional plan in Figure 5, and in sectional elevation in Figure 6.
In this modification the valve 2 (or weight) is attached or connected to
a rack 11 which gears with a pinion 12, the arbor or spindle 13 of which
is held by lugs on a tube 14 connected to the lifting rod 8. The fan
vanes 5 are fixed on the arbor 13 of the pinion, being by preference as
shown in two sets, one on each side of the pinion 12. When the rod 8
is lifted quickly the pinion 12 being at the bottom of the rack 11 lifts
the latter and with it the valve 2, but the rack and valve immediately
begin to descend and turn the pinion 12 and vanes 5 in doing so, and
thereby regulate the time the valve takes to close.

page_text: Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of a modification differing from that
shown in Figure 6, simply by having the rack 11 and pinion 12
transposed, and which has the advantage that the fan vanes 5 are not
lifted so high. In Figure 6 the valve is shown shut, but it is shown
open in Figure 7.
A second kind of my improved waste preventive apparatus is
applicable in connection with waterclosets when a measuring com-
partment is used for determining the quantity of water to be supplied
at each action. A modification of this kind is shown in vertical section
in Figure 8 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings. The outlet from the cistern or
measuring compartment is by a pipe 15 entering the bottom 1, and
continued inside in a flexible or jointed piece 16, the mouth of which is
ordinarily above the full water level. The lever 17 for actuating the
discharge is connected by a chain 18 to a pulley 19 which is connected
by a chain 20 to the flexible or jointed part 16 of the pipe, so as to lower
its mouth to the bottom of the vessel, or to any intermediate point
according to the quantity decided to be discharged. The compartment
or small cistern 1 is afterwards filled up again by a float cock 21, but the
float 22 is held up to keep the cock shut during the discharge from the
compartment by a concentric cam piece 23, on the spindle of the
pulley 19. A counterweight is also fitted in connection with the
pulley 19 to lift the pipe 16 up again when the closet handle is let go.
The pipe 16 is connected to the outlet pipe 15 by a short piece of rubber
tubing.
The waste preventive apparatus just described is in Figure 8 shown as
combined with watercloset arrangements as now made in accordance
with my Patent No. 2539, of 1863, the whole forming a simple, effective,
cheap, and durable combination, not liable to waste water nor easily
getting out of order. A small branch pipe a is led from the float
cock 21 into the mouth of the outlet pipe 16, so that a portion of the
water escaping from the service pipe when filling up the cistern may
pass down to the closet to fill up the basin to the proper height.
In my Provisional Specification lodged on applying for the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, I described certain applications of
siphons to water cisterns, I have however since learned that such
applications are not new, and I therefore make no claim herein
respecting them.

page_text: Where it is wished to limit the quantity of water supplied at each
action of the supply apparatus in the case of lavatories and similar
apparatus, my improved contrivances herein-before described may be
advantageously used. In general however what is wanted in connection
with baths, lavatories, and similar apparatus is simple, convenient, and
effective means for preventing water being supplied whilst it can run to
waste by the discharge outlet; and this object is secured by my present
Invention by improved constructions and arrangements of the supply
and discharge valve details.
In one modification of apparatus for baths, lavatories, and the like,
shown in vertical section in Figure 9, the discharge valve (not shown)
is a common plug or other well known kind of valve which opens or
shuts by turning, and the spindle 24 thereof has fixed to or in connection
with it a disc 25 shown in plan in Figure 10, and which is notched or
indented to receive the ends of levers 26, 27, connected to the hot and
cold valve spindles 28, 29. The inlet valves (not shown) are either what
are known as cottage" valves or others, opening and shutting by
simple up-and-down movements. When the discharge valve is open, the
levers 26, 27, rest on the top of the disc 25 and prevent either of the
inlet valves from opening, but when the discharge valve is shut, the
indentations or notches of the disc 25 are in positions to allow either
lever 26, 27, to move, and then in opening either inlet valve, the corres-
ponding lever (27 for example) enters a notch in the disc 25, so that
that disc cannot be turned or the discharge valve opened until the inlet
valve is reclosed.
"
te
"Lamberts or other screw down" or turning valves may be used
for the inlets, in which case I arrange the parts as shown in plan in
Figure 11, and in sectional elevation in Figure 12.
The general arrangement of the casting containing the two inlet
passages indicated by dotted lines in Figure 11 is the same as that
described in the Specification of my Patent No. 2471, of 1871. The
inlet valves being turning valves, the discharge valve (not shown) is
made a common lifting one, its spindle 24 having a disc 25 fixed on it:
The levers 26, 27, are fixed on the external moving parts 30, 31, of the
inlet valves. One lever 26 is shown in the shut position, and it will be
obvious that it could not move in the direction of the arrow for opening
the valve if the disc 25 were in the position it assumes when the

page_text: discharge valve is open. The other lever 27 is shown in its open
position, and it is obvious that by its being over the disc 25 it prevents
the discharge valve from being opened.
The "Lambert screw down" valve is improved in construction as
shown in the sectioned part of Figure 12 by having its external moving
part 31, to which the handle 32 is attached, formed with an internal
screw to work on a screw thread on the outside of the neck 33 of the
cover piece 34, and the spindle 35 which presses down the valve piece 36
projects through the neck 33 for the moving part 31 to bear on it,
whilst it may be connected loosely to that part by a small nut or cross
pin, or by being screwed into it as shown. The screw thread on the
spindle 35 is left-handed when the screw thread on the neck 33 is right-
handed, or vice versa, and the spindle 35 being prevented from turning
by the rubber cover washer 37, or otherwise, the action of the outside
piece 31 on it is to increase the lifting or lowring action due to the
outside screw, so that a less inclination of screw or a smaller amount of
turning will give the desired movement to the valve piece 36.
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 me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The providing of a water supply cistern with an outlet valve
connected to the part which opens it by a screw or by a rack and pinion,
such screw or rack and pinion being arranged so that the valve closes
independently, and in doing so produces rotation in vanes or other parts
whereby the time of closing is regulated, substantially as herein-before
described.
2. The providing of a water supply cistern with a flexible or jointed
outlet pipe, the entrance of which pipe is above the water level excepting
when lowered to discharge the water, substantially as herein-before
described.
3. The arranging and combining together of the parts of water supply
apparatus for baths, lavatories, and the like, substantially as herein-
before described with reference to Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, on Sheet 2 of
the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: 4. The constructing of the actuating parts of a "Lambert's screw
down" valve in the improved manner herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Shanks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN SHANKS. (L.S.)