Improvements in Syphon Flushing Cisterns for Water Closets and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr.,. 1894
Complete Specification Left, 28th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Mar.,
1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Syphon Flushing Cisterns for Water Closets and
the like.
JAMES HOLT 2 Back Oxford Street Liverpool Lancashire, Plumber, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the means employed for charging the syphon, and
consists of a pump, fixed vertically inside the cistern.
This pump
has two cylinders one of them inside the other, and has a piston in the
form of a bucket, the sides of this piston or bucket slide or work in the space
between the two cylinders, the area of the space between each cylinder and the
piston or bucket is at least equal to the area of the long leg of the syphon.
The upper portion of the two cylinders are united so that when water or other
liquid rises in the cistern air is entrapped between the two cylinders.
The lower end of the inner cylinder is closed, and has a vertical passage through
it forming the delivery pipe from the pump.
The whole of the piston or bucket when at rest is slightly below the lower edge
of inner cylinder and the outer cylinder must reach at least to as low as the bottom
of the piston or bucket.
The lengths of the piston or bucket and cylinders are such as to allow the required
stroke of the pump.
From the upper end of the delivery pipe a capacious horizontal channel is carried
to the top end of the long leg of the syphon.
The piston or bucket when at rest & not held is at the bottom of the pump, and
assuming that the cistern has been charged with water or other liquid none will
have entered the space between the cylinders, the entrapped air therein preventing
it doing so.
The air in the space between the cylinders forms a sufficiently watertight
packing to enable the piston or bucket to lift the water or other liquid the
necessary height up the delivery pipe.
Then on lifting the piston or bucket the water or other liquid will be forced
through the delivery pipe formed in the inner cylinder to the channel and thence
to the long leg of the syphon and thereby charging it.
By this arrangement one movement of the pull actuating the piston or bucket is
only necessary to start the syphon instead of the pull and let go movements
required in other cases before the syphon will work.
The piston or bucket may be fixed and the cylinders travel over it.
Dhis wh 1
11004

page_text: Improvements in Syphon Flushing Cisterns for Water Closets and
the like.
I, JAMES HOLT, of 2 Back Oxford Street, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, 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 syphon flushing cisterns and more particularly to the
means for charging the syphons in such cisterns, and the object of the invention is
to provide a simple arrangement in which the one pull of the operating handle will
start the syphon, and in which the efficiency of the means for starting the syphon is
such that the bend of the latter may be kept above the top of the cistern so that a
leakage of the water through the syphon is impossible.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a diagrammatic
sectional elevation of the arrangement.
1 is the cistern, 2 the long leg, and 21 the short leg of the syphon. Within the
cistern I fit two cylinders 3 and 4; the outer one 4 extends down nearly to the
bottom of the cistern but the inner one 3 is shorter axially as well as smaller in
diameter. The cylinders are joined together at their tops by the annular plate 5
and are so arranged that, as the cistern fills with water, air is trapped in the annular
space 6 between the cylinders.
A pump bucket 7 is also provided, the upper edge of which enters the annular
space when the bucket is raised. The bucket is operated in the usual way by a
handle and lever articulated to the pump rod 8, and the pump rod passes through
an opening 9 in the bottom 10 of the cylinder 3. The rod 8 does not require to be
packed where it passes through 10, as I find that very little water passes, and
I consequently make the rod a free fit in the opening 9.
The short leg 21 of the syphon forms the delivery pipe of the pump and passes
through the bottom 10 of the small cylinder.
The top edge of the bucket, when the latter is in its lowest position, is below the
bottom 10 of the cylinder 3, and the outer cylinder 4 is carried down at least as low
as the bottom of the bucket, when the latter is in its lowest position; the dimensions
of the various parts are such, of course, as to admit of the required stroke of the
.bucket.
The action of the apparatus is as follows ;-
Assuming that the bucket 7 is at the bottom of its stroke, that water enters the
cistern through a ball-cock or other controlling device, and that the cistern is filled
to the level A. A., it will be seen that air will be trapped in the annular space 6, and
that the water will rise in the short leg 21 of the syphon, to the level A. A., of the
cistern; this is the normal state prior to the operation of the handle.
If now the handle be pulled the bucket 7 will be raised, its upper edge will enter
the annular space 6 and the water in the bucket will be displaced by the inner
cylinder 3; part of the displaced water will have a tendency to escape into the
cistern through the annular space and over the mouth of the bucket, but, as the
bucket rises, the pressure of the trapped air will be increased and resistance will
therefore be offered to the escape of the water through the annular space, with the
result that the water will take the path of least resistance and will be forced up the
short leg 21 of the syphon and so charge the latter.
After the syphon is charged, the water in the cistern will be rapidly discharged
through the syphon, the water flowing from the cistern to the syphon through
the aunular space and over the top of the bucket. I have found however that the
discharge is greatly facilitated if à valve 11 be fitted in the bucket 7. When the

page_text: bucket is raised this valve closes, but when the discharge commences the rush of
water to the syphon opens the valve and so provides a direct passage for the water
from the cistern to the syphon. The valve need not be so accurately made as to be
a perfect fit when closed; the use of the valve admits of the reduction of the area
of the passage through the annular space and over the mouth of the bucket, and, of
course, a corresponding reduction in the width of the annular space, which I find to
be of considerable advantage.
I have referred to the casings 3 and 4 as cylinders, but it is evident that they
need not necessarily be of cylindrical configuration, but of any other convenient
shape; the bucket is also described as moving, but it may be fixed and the
cylinders moved.
I have found that the means described for charging the syphon are effective even
when the water level in the cistern falls as it frequently does owing to the
differential action of the ball cock, and this notwithstanding that the level of the
bend of the syphon is above the top of the cistern.
It should be noted that the annular space 6 between the two cisterns is, in the
arrangement described, as high up in the cistern as possible; I attach considerable
importance to this inasmuch as it is absolutely necessary that the annular space shall
be untrapped each time the cistern is operated, in order to ensure the replacement
of any air which might be carried away with the flush; where the arrangement is
modified so that the cylinders are moved and the bucket is stationary this point
inust also be attended to by ensuring that the cylinders, when in normal position,
shall be high enough to become untrapped as described.
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. In combination with a cistern flushed by a syphon, the means for charging the
syphon, which consist of ;-An inner cylinder whose top is approximately level with
the top of the cistern and through the closed.bottom of which the short leg of the
syphon passes; an outer cylinder the top of which is level with and connected to
the top of the inner cylinder, but the bottom of which is open and lower than that
of the inner cylinder; a bucket which is normally below the inner cylinder but whose
upper edge is adapted, as the bucket is raised, to enter the annular space between
the two cylinders; and the means for operating the bucket so that the inuer
cylinder is caused to displace the water in the bucket and force it up the short leg
of the syphon; substantially as described and illustrated.
2. In combination with a cistern 1 and syphon 2, 2'; the inner cylinder 3 with a
closed bottom through which the short leg 21 of the syphon passes; the outer
cylinder 4 forming with the inner cylinder, the annular space 6; and the bucket 7,
operated by the rod 8 passing through the bottom of the cylinder 3, and provided
with a valve 11; substantially as described and illustrated.
3. The improved syphon flushing cistern substantially as described and
illustrated in the drawing.
Dated this 26th day of January 1895.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26, Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.