Improvements in Baths and in Apparatus to be used therewith.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Dec., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 26th Aug., 1890-Accepted, 27th Sept., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Baths and in Apparatus to be used therewith.-
I CHARLES CLEMENT WALKER of Lilleshall Old Hall near Newport in the County
of Salop Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in baths particularly
applicable to public baths, and in apparatus to be used therewith also hereinafter
described.
By my invention the construction of public and other baths is simplified and their
use economized and by the employment of the automatic apparatus constituting part
of my invention the labour of the attendants is reduced to a minimum. 1 will
describe my invention as applied to a single bath room of a public bath, but any
number of bath rooms supplied with my invention may be arranged side by side or
otherwise arranged.
I use preferably a bath room or chamber of the ordinary kind that is provided with
a door opening from a passage and I place on or near the floor of the said bath room
a cylindrical or other shaped bath pan similar to an ordinary sponge bath pan.
The
said bath pan is connected by a pipe with a warm or (cold) water main pipe a valve
or cock under the control of the bather regulating the supply to the bath pan. The
pan may be emptied of its contents by opening a plug or valve at its bottom. Over
the centre of the pan and near the ceiling of the bath room is a perforated rose made of
such a diameter that while the bather when standing under it is completely enveloped
in the shower or spray delivered by it yet the water does not fall outside the edge of
the bath pan. The said rose is supplied with warm water from a supply cistern in
connection with a store cistern where it is heated and is also supplied with cold water
from a small cistern or from the main pipe.
Each supply cistern is furnished with a valve or cock connected to a weighted lever
which valve is opened by the bather pulling down a chain or rope the counterbalance
weight of the valve lever automatically closing the valve when the chain or rope is
released.
By the arrangement of parts described the bather himself is enabled to fill the bath
pan and also to use the warm or cold shower or spray rose or deliver with the
assistance of an attendant; and in order that the bather may not waste or un-
necessarily use the water particularly the warm water I use in combination with the
bath pan and shower or spray deliverer supply cisterns of limited capacity which can
only be emptied by the bather while he remains in the room the said small cisterns
being filled from store or large hot water cisterns or reservoirs or from cold water
mains or cisterns by the following arrangement of parts. In the hot or cold water
small supply cistern I use a float the stem of which can operate upon a lever connected
with a rod horizontal or otherwise to which a second lever is jointed the latter lever
carrying a valve for opening and closing the pipe from the warm (or cold) water
main. The last named lever is provided with a weight which by being turned over
on one or other side of the centre of the lever preserves the said lever in the position
to which it has been brought and thereby maintains the valve in the supply pipe in its
opened or closed position. The horizontal or other rod described in connection with
the valve and float has at its end near the door of the bath room a vertical lever catch
and the top of the door is furnished with a bracket which can operate upon the lower
arm of the lever catch when the door is opened. The empty supply cistern in the
bath room is refilled on the bather leaving the bath room in the following way. On
opening the door of the bath room the bracket strikes against and presses back the
lever catch which operating upon the valve rod causes the valve to be opened and the
small cistern to be refilled from the main or store cistern. On the filling of the small

page_text: cistern a collar on the rod of the raised float acting through the connecting lever
described closes the valve and cuts off the supply to the small cistern the valve being
maintained in its closed state by the changed position of its weighted lever.
In order that the closing of the bath room door when the bath is to be used by a
second bather may not act upon the valve mechanism the lower arm of the lever
catch is so jointed to the upper arm that the latter arm is only operated upon by the
lower arm when the door is opened for the exit of the bather.
Although I prefer to use the arrangement described for automatically refilling the
small supply cisterns on the bather leaving the bath room and for cutting off the
supply when the cistern is filled yet other equivalent arrangements for the same
purposes may be employed.
Dated this Third day of December 1889
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Baths and in Apparatus to be used therewith.
I, CHARLES CLEMENT WALKER, of Lilleshall Old Hall, near Newport, in the County
of Salop, Engineer, 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 :-
My invention relates to baths for public use, and especially to such baths as are
designed for use by workmen, the object of my invention being to enable a bath to be
supplied at a relatively low cost, by limiting the supply of water and by dispensing, as
far as possible, with the need for attendants.
To enable my invention to be understood I will describe the same as applied to a
public bath-room.
In the accompanying drawing-
Figure 1 is a sectional view of such a bath-room, the cisterns and water-supply con-
trolling mechanism being on the floor above:
Figure 2 is a plan view of the floor carrying the cisterns and water-supply
controlling mechanism, the bath in the room below being indicated by dotted
lines.
a indicates a sponge-bath of any ordinary construction (although it is to be under-
stood that a bath of any other desirable form may be used), which bath is connected with
hot and cold water-supply pipes b, c, and provided with a plug or valve a¹ for
emptying the contents."
d, e are the hot and cold water cisterns which are of a size corresponding with
the quantity of water to be supplied to a bather and are respectively in connection
with the pipes b, c. d¹, el are air-pipes arranged in connection with the cisterns d, e
respectively, which can, if required, contain floating rods or the like for indicating the
height of the water in the said cisterns. f is a rose which is arranged over the
centre of the bath a and surrounded by a guard f¹ to protect it from damage.
This rose is adapted to be supplied with hot or cold water through the pipes g, h,
respectively connected with the pipes b, c and each provided with a valve i adapted to
be opened by means of a chain k depending through the ceiling of the bath-room, so
that it can be pulled by the bather, and to be closed by means of a weight 1.
The size of the rose f and the distribution of the holes in the same are such that none
of the water passing through the same can go beyond the rim of the bath, thus
preventing the floor from becoming wet.
m is the main hot water supply pipe (which may extend to several bath-rooms)
connected to the circulating cistern n and to the small cistern d through the
pipe o and p is the main cold water-supply pipe connected to the small cistern e
through the pipe q.
In order to provide against more water than is contained by the cisterns d, e
being supplied to a bather, I provide for controlling the supply of water to these

page_text: cisterns by means of the door of the bath-room, in such a manner that while the door
is closed the supply of water to the said cistern is cut off, no more being supplied
until the door is again opened. For this purpose I advantageously employ the
arrangement shewn in the drawing which comprises two valves r, r arranged in the
pipes o, q. These valves are normally kept closed by means of weights s, s, and
are adapted to be opened by means of wedges t, t acting upon the lower ends of
rods u, u connected with the valve-levers, the said wedges themselves being connected
to a rod jointed to a lever w secured to a spindle a attached to the door at its
axis or hinge. With this construction it will be obvious that, when the door is closed,
the wedges t, t will be in the positions shewn so as to allow the weights s, s to
close the valves r, r; when, however, the door is opened, so that the lever w and rod v
take the position indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2, it will be obvious that the
wedges t, t will be forced beneath the rods u, u thereby opening the valves r, r.
Rollers y, are placed on the ends of the rod u, u and beneath the wedges t, t
respectively, in order to reduce friction as much as possible. Instead of the rod v
being rigidly attached to the wedges t, t it may be hinged or jointed thereto so that
the latter may work in a straight line.
It will be obvious that the door a¹ may be placed in any other convenient position
than that shewn.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that, when a bather enters the
bath-room and shuts the door, the supply of water is cut off, the bather can then
draw water directly into the bath through the pipes b, c, or partly through the said
pipes and partly through the rose, the supply of water, however, being limited to the
contents of the two cisterns d, e.
When the bather leaves the bath-room the opening of the door causes the opening
of the valves r, r and consequently the refilling of the cisterns d, e ready for the next
person.
In the foregoing description I have referred to the use of cisterns d, e for the hot
and cold water, it is to be understood, however, that, in cases where the supply of
cold water is practically unlimited, the cistern e can be dispensed with, in which case
the pipe c is directly connected with the main-pipe p and the corresponding wedge t
and valve r are also dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The improvements in connection with baths consisting in the use of a small
supply cistern of predetermined capacity in combination with a main-supply cistern,
the connection between the main cistern and the small cistern being provided with
a valve, adapted to be operated by the opening and closing of the door of the room
in which the bath is situated, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
2. The combination with a bath adapted to be supplied with only a limited
quantity of water, of a valve for controlling the water-supply, which valve is
operated by means of a wedge connected with the door of the room in which the
bath is situated, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
drawing.
3. The improved apparatus hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawing for supplying limited quantities of water to baths.
Dated the 25th day of August 1890.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.