IMPROVEMENTS IN ECONOMIC WATER-SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stewart Peters and John Peters, Coppersmiths
and Tinplate Workers, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ECONOMIC WATER-
"
Sealed the 18th June 1872, and dated the 21st December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stewart Peters and John
Peters at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st December 1871.
We, STEWART PETERS and JOHN PETERS, Coppersmiths and Tinplate
Workers, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ECONOMIC WATER-SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR WATERCLOSETS," to be as follows, that
is to say:
This Invention relates to a combination of parts which is simple in
action, economical in first cost, not liable to derangement, and especially
designed to prevent waste of water in connection with waterclosets.

page_text: The improved apparatus is in one modification fitted somewhat like the
well-known "pan" closet, but for the pan valve there is substituted a
convex disc closing up against a rubber ring fitted to the discharge
orifice. This disc is connected loosely to the spindle by which it is
moved, the spindle having fixed on it a lever bearing up against the
middle of the disc, by which arrangement a uniform bearing all round is
insured. The valve spindle is actuated in the usual way by means of a
lever connected to the closet handle, but this lever has in connection
with it a stop and escapement movement which prevents its being raised
twice without a certain interval, and which is herein-after described.
A small cistern is fitted in connection with the closet basin, and
contains a float fixed to a lever which opens and closes the water-supply
cock or tap. The float lever is however held up by the stop and escape-
ment during the time that the water is passing off through the main
discharge valve from the basin and float cistern when the closet handle
is pulled up. The part holding up the float lever is a detent lever, which
is weighted so as to come under the float lever when the float rises on
the basin and cistern filling with water; and this detent lever is pushed
aside so as to let the float lever fall and the water cock open whenever
the closet handle is lowered so that the basin may be filled up to the
proper level. The detent lever is pushed aside as mentioned by a cam
piece on the main closet lever, this cam piece being jointed to the lever
so as only to act when the closet handle is lowered. The detent lever is
formed with a projection, which encounters a projection on the main
lever whenever the detent lever is not in a position to support the float
lever, so that the main lever cannot be worked or the closet handle be
raised during the time that the float lever takes to rise from the filling in
of the water after each action of the apparatus. The interval that must
elapse between each action can be arranged as desired by adjusting the
water-supply cock to occupy more or less time in filling, whilst no more
water can be used at each action than what will fill the basin and float
cistern up to the proper level.
The improvements have been described as applied in immediate con-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stewart Peters and John Peters in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, STEWART
PETERS and JOHN PETERS, Coppersmiths and Tinplate Workers, of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Stewart Peters and John
Peters, Her special licence that we, the said Stewart Peters and John
Peters, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Stewart Peters and John Peters, 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 ECONOMIC
WATER-SUPPLY APPARATUS FOR WATERCLOSETS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Stewart Peters and John Peters, our executors
or administrators, 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 Seal 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 John Peters,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being
had to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
Our said Invention relates to a combination of parts which is simple
in action, economical in first cost, not liable to derangement, and
especially designed to prevent waste of water in connection with water-
closets.

page_text: And in order that our said invention, an
the same, may be properly understood, we hercunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing a
convenient modification of our improved arrangements.
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 and Figure 2 an elevation showing the
working parts of a watercloset as made with our improvements. The
basin 1 is cemented in a casting 2, which is bolted on the top of a valve
box 3, somewhat after the manner of the well-known "pan" closet, but
for the ordinary pan valve there is substituted a convex disc 4, closing
up against a rubber ring 5 fitted to the discharge orifice 6 of the basin.
This disc 4 is connected loosely to the spindle 7, by means of which it is
moved, and the spindle 7 has fixed on it a curved lever 8, the outer end of
which bears up against the middle of the disc 4, the arrangement
insuring a uniform bearing of the disc round all parts of the rubber
ring 5. The valve spindle 7 is actuated in the usual way by means of a
lever 9 turning on a centre stud 10, and connected to the closet handle 11,
but this lever has in connection with it a stop and escapement movement
which prevents its being raised twice without a certain interval, and
which is herein-after described. A small cistern 12 is provided in con-
nection with the closet basin 1, being conveniently formed in the same
casting as the part 2, into which the basin is fitted; and this cistern
contains a float 13 fixed to a lever 14 which opens and closes the
water-supply cock or tap (not shown). The float lever 14 is held up by
the stop and escapement details during the time that the water is passing
off through the main discharge orifice 6 from the basin 1 and float
cistern 12 when the handle 11 is pulled up. The part holding up the
float lever 14 is a detent lever 15, which is weighted so as to turn its
upper end under the float lever 14 when the float rises on the basin 1
and cistern 12 filling sufficiently with water; and this detent lever 15 is
pushed aside so as to let the float lever 14 fall and the water cock open
whenever the closet handle 11 is lowered, so that the basin may be filled
up to the proper level after the main discharge valve 4 is closed. The
detent lever 15 is pushed aside as mentioned by a cam piece 16 on a
prolongation 17 of the main lever 9, this cam piece 16 being jointed to
the lever in such a way as to act only when the closet handle 11 is
lowered, at which time a stop on the lever prevents it from turning out

page_text: of the way as it is free to do when moving in the opposite direction.
The detent lever 15 is formed with a projection 18, which encounters a
projection on the prolongation 17 of the main lever 9 whenever the
detent lever is not in a position to support the float lever, so that the
main lever 9 cannot be worked or the closet handle 11 be raised during
the time that the float lever takes to rise from the filling in of the water
after each action of the apparatus.
In Figure 1 the parts are shown in the positions they assume when
the handle 11 is being lowered, the cam piece 16 being about to turn the
detent lever 15 from under the float lever 14.
In Figure 2 the parts are shown in the positions assumed just after
the handle 11 is quite lowered, and when the projection 18 on the detent
lever 15 is immediately under the corresponding projection of the
prolongation 17 of the main lever 9, which will prevent its being again
worked until from the filling in of the water the float lever 14 rises far
enough for the detent lever 15 to turn under it, and thereby move the
projection 18 out of the way. The cistern 12 is formed with a trapped
overflow 19, which is partly indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, and
which discharges into the casting 3 below.
Instead of arranging the overflow as indicated in the Drawings, a
plain overflow passage may be formed down the side of the cistern 12,
such passage having a projecting nozzle at its bottom end which dips
into a pocket formed in the casting or valve box 3, with an outlet into
the box at a point above the bottom edge of the nozzle, so that the
overflow passage is trapped. The valve disc 4 has a lug formed on it to
connect it to the spindle 7, and this lug has a hole formed in it for the
spindle to pass through, such hole being of the elongated cross section
shown in Figure 1. The lug is of sufficient breadth along the spindle to
prevent angular movement in the plane of the disc 4, whilst the elon-
gation of the hole at right angles to that plane allows the disc to
accommodate itself to any inequality in the rubber ring 5, and will also
admit of its closing tightly even when anything small happens to be
caught between it and the rubber ring. The interval that must elapse
between each action of the apparatus can be arranged as desired by
adjusting the water-supply cock to occupy more or less time in filling
the cistern and basin, whilst no more water can be used at cach action
than what will fill the cistern and basin up to the proper level.

page_text: The improvements are equally applicable whether the water supply
be taken by a service pipe directly from the main or from an overhead
cistern.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we have to state that we do not 5
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 water-supply
apparatus of waterclosets, substantially in the improved manner herein 1
described and delineated, and more particularly the applying of the stop
and escapement details or their equivalents to such apparatus.
2. The making of the main discharge valve to consist of a disc 4
capable of closing tightly notwithstanding inequalities, and arranged
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stewart Peters, in behalf of myself
and the said John Peters, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
STEWART PETERS. (L.S.)