IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN DRAWING OFF WATER And
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to Edmund Alfred Pontifex, of the Farringdon
Works, Shoe Lane, in the City of London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN DRAWING OFF WATER And
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Alfred
Pontifex at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th May 1874.
1
I, EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX, of the Farringdon Works, Shoe Lane,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN DRAWING OFF WATER AND
OTHER LIQUORS, AND IN MEASURING THE QUANTITIES DRAWN OFF," to be as
follows:-
..

page_text: For the purpose of drawing off a measured quantity of water or liquor
at each operation I employ an apparatus consisting of a cylinder, which
is closed by a cap at each end. Within the caps are vulcanized india-
rubber discs, which serve to render the joints water-tight, the ends of the
cylinder being pressed into water-tight contact with the disc. A pipe
or water passage is connected to each cap, and these pipes or passages
pass to the opposite sides of the shell of a four-way cock. The other
two pipes or passages connected with the four-way cock communicate
the one with the supply and the other with the outlet for the measured
quantities of liquid. Within the cylinder is a piston packed with two
cupped leathers, or otherwise rendered water-tight or approximately
water-tight. When the piston is at rest the water pressure one one side
of it holds it at one end of the cylinder, and then a raised ring upon it
rests in water-tight contact with the india-rubber disc, so that then,
quite independently of the packing of the piston, water is prevented
from leaking past it.
When it is required to draw off water or other liquid the plug of the
four-way cock is turned one quarter round, so that the pressure in the
supply pipe may be thrown upon the other side of the piston, whilst
the water or liquid is allowed to escape to the place where it is required
from that side of the piston on which it was previously retained under
pressure. The piston then travels from end to end of the cylinder, dis-
charging a measured quantity of water or liquid, and the piston comes
again to rest at the other end of the cylinder, making a water-tight joint
against the disc in the cap as before, and then the flow ceases. Thus it
will be seen that the apparatus consists essentially of a floating piston,
which when at rest is held by the pressure in water-tight contact with a
surface in such manner as to close the passage to the outlet, and which
also can be driven from one end of the measuring cylinder to the other
by the pressure of the liquid itself being applied alternately first to one
end of cylinder and then to the other by means of a four-way cock or
other equivalent device communicating between the ends of the cylinder
and the supply main and outlet.
The apparatus may be very usefully applied as a measure or tell-tale.
For instance, if applied to a beer engine, and a counting machine is
attached, it will shew the number of measures for which they ought.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
ALFRED PONTIFEX, of the Farringdon Works, Shoe Lane, in the City of
London, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty.
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, Her special
license that I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edmund
Alfred Pontifex, 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 APPARATUS TO BE USED IN DRAWING OFF
WATER AND OTHER LIQUORS, AND IN MEASURING THE QUANTITIES DRAWN OFF,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edmund Alfred
Pontifex, 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: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be
used in drawing off water and other liquors.
For the purpose of drawing off a measured quantity of water or liquor
at each operation I employ an apparatus consisting of a cylinder, which
is closed by a cap at each end. Within the caps are vulcanized india-
rubber discs, which serve to render the joints water-tight, the ends of the
cylinder being pressed into water-tight contact with the disc. A pipe or
water passage is connected to each cap, and these pipes or passages pass
to the opposite sides of the shell of a four-way cock. The other two
pipes or passages connected with the four-way cock communicate the
one with the supply and the other with the outlet for the measured
quantities of liquid. Within the cylinder is a piston packed with two
cupped leathers, or otherwise rendered water-tight or approximately.
water-tight. . When the piston is at rest the water pressure on one side
of it holds it at one end of the cylinder, and then a raised ring upon it
rests in water-tight contact with the india-rubber disc, so that then,
quite independently of the packing of the piston, water is prevented
from leaking past it.
When it is required to draw off water or other liquid the plug of the
four-way cock is turned one quarter round, so that the pressure in the
supply pipe may be thrown upon the other side of the piston, whilst
the water or liquid is allowed to escape to the place where it is required
from that side of the piston on which it was previously retained under
pressure. The piston then travels from end to end of the cylinder, dis-
charging a measured quantity of water or liquid, and the piston comes
again to rest at the other end of the cylinder, making a water-tight joint
against the disc in the cap as before, and then the flow ceases. Thus it
will be seen that the apparatus consists essentially of a floating piston,
which when at rest is held by the pressure in water-tight contact with a
surface in such manner as to close the passage to the outlet, and which
also can be driven from one end of the measuring cylinder to the other
by the pressure of the liquid itself being applied alternately first to one

page_text: end of cylinder and then to the other by means of a four-way cock or
other equivalent device communicating between the ends of the cylinder.
and the supply main and outlet.
The apparatus may be very usefully applied as a measure or tell-tale.
For instance, if applied to a beer engine, and a counting machine is
attached, it will shew the number of measures for which they ought
to have received payment, or it might be used as a water or other liquid
meter..
The apparatus might consist of a round ball fitting loosely in a
cylinder, and closing into a cup joint at either end of the cylinder.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section, Figure 2 is a longitudinal
section, and Figure 3 is a plan of apparatus constructed according to my
Invention.
a, a, is a cylinder with ends or covers b, b, secured by longitudinal
rods c, which are screwed to receive nuts c³, c'. The covers are recessed
to hold vulcanised india-rubber rings d, d, which serve to render tight
the joints between the cylinder and the covers. e is a piston; as shewn
in the Drawings it is provided with cup leathers, but it may be packed
in any manner which will admit of its moving freely in the cylinder,
and it is not essential that the fit to the sides of the cylinder should be
water-tight, for whenever the piston is at rest at either end of the
cylinder a rim e¹ upon it beds directly upon the vulcanized india-rubber
packing ring d, and prevents leakage. The pipes f, f, are connected
with the cylinder ends; they serve alternately as the inlet and outlet to
the cylinder; they communicate with the shell of the four-way cock g,
to which are also connected the supply pipe h and the delivery pipe g.
i is a four-armed wheel fixed on the plug of the cock g, and k is a lever
capable of turning on a fixed centre; at its further end it carries a
finger jointed to it. is a rod by which the lever k is lifted when it
The finger ¹ then turns the plug of the cock
k¹
is desired to draw water.

page_text: one quarter round.
finger ¹ to yield and pass the arm of the wheel i. This arrangement is
suitable for a watercloset, but by any convenient means the plug of the
cock may be turned.
When the lever k returns the joint allows the.
What I claim is, the arrangement, substantially as described, of
apparatus to be used in drawing off water and other liquors, and in
measuring the quantities drawn off.
°
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-.
four.