AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER TO TANKS, WATER BUTTS, OR CISTERNS. APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES."AL SP
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Fell, of No. 7, Robinson Row, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, and Davy Hammond, of Hackney Road, in the
said County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER TO TANKS, WATER BUTTS, OR
CISTERNS. APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Fell and Davy
Hammond at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 20th October 1865.
We, RICHARD FELL, of No. 7, Robinson Row, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, and DAVY HAMMOND, of Hackney Road, in the said County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF WATER TO TANKS, WATER BUTTS, OR
CISTERNS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:
We provide a chamber, which we place in a vertical position above å tank,
water butt, or cistern; this chamber is divided horizontally near its base into
two compartments, the upper part of the said chamber being undivided, the
space so left having to contain a float hereafter described. In the lowest
division of the chamber aforesaid we place a valve acting vertically, and
commanding an opening to the division above it. In the same chamber,
connected with the lowest division before named, is a pipe by which the water
is conducted from the service pipe, and passes up through the valvular
>

page_text: opening into the second division, and then down through apertures in the
same diyision into the tank, water butt, or cistern beneath the chamber
aforesaid. When the tank, water butt, or cistern is filled to the required
height, the following action takes place, viz. :-In the undivided space at the top
of the chamber we construct an aperture opening from the tank, water butt, or
cistern into the said undivided space at the top of the chamber, so that when
the water in the tank, water butt, or cistern rises level with the aforesaid
aperture opening into the chamber, it flows into the said undivided space and
acts on a float connected by a spindle to the valve in the lowest division, and
closing the valve prevents any water entering from the service pipe aforesaid
and running to waste. By reversing the action of the before-named valve and
fitting a perforated shield over it, and connecting the spindle to a lever pro-
jecting through the bend of a tube leading out from the tank, water butt, or
cistern, we can employ the arrangement as an improved draw off cock or valve;
and if the cock or valve is required to be at any distance from the tank, water
butt, or cistern, the perforated shield will not be required, but a close dome
fitted instead, through which the supply pipe will pass and connect with
the valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Fell and Davy Hammond in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
FELL, of No. 7, Robinson Row, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and
DAVY HAMMOND, of Hackney Road, in the said County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Richard Fell and Davy Hammond, Her special licence that we, the said
Richard Fell and Davy Hammond, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Richard Fell and Davy Hammond, our execu-
tors, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING

page_text: THE SUPPLY OF WATER TO TANKS, WATER BUTTS, OR CISTERNS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Richard
Fell and Davy Hammond, 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 Richard Fell and Davy Hammond, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and.
by the following statement :-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of our water regulator. a, a, a, a, is the domed
chamber divided into three compartments b, b, c, c, d, d; e is the float con-
nected with the valve f,f, by the spindle or bar 9, 9, and commanding the
valvular aperture h, h, and surrounding the aforesaid valvular aperture h, h,
are four apertures marked J, J ; i is the supply pipe, through which the water
flows from the service pipe through the lower division or compartment d, d,
into the middle division or compartment c, c, by way of the aforesaid valvular
aperture aperture h, h, and then down through the aforesaid apertures J, J,
into the butt, cistern, or tank beneath. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section
or plan of the same apparatus. a, a, a, a, is the domed chamber; f,f,.
is the valve; d, d, d, d, is the lower division or compartment; J, J,
J, J, are the four apertures through which the water escapes into the
butt, cistern, or tank beneath. When the water in the butt, cistern, or
tank rises to the level of the apertures at the side of the upper division or
compartment marked in Fig. 1, K, K, it flows into the said upper division or
compartment b, b, of the chamber a, a, a, a, and with it rises the float e,
which closes the valvular aperture h, h, by raising the valve f, f, and so
effectually prevents the entrance of any more water than the regulated
quantity from the lower division d, d, and service pipe i; Fig. 3 is a key
wedge, which is intended to fit under the float e, e, to keep it elevated, and
thereby close the valve f, f, when the water is required to be shut off for any
purpose, or for the nonpayment of rates, etc., which will avoid the necessity of
opening the ground and the consequent expense. Fig. 4 is a vertical section
of an improved tap fitted with our valvular arrangement, as shown in Fig. 1,
but with its action reversed; a, a, is a perforated domed shield fitted inside
the butt, cistern, or tank, with the lower domed chamber d, d, d, beneath it.
The water flows through the perforations in the shield and surrounds the

page_text: valve b, b; the valve is raised by means of the spindle J, by the motion com-
municated to it by the lever g and handle h. On raising the valve b, b, the
water flows through the valvular aperture c, c, into the lower chamber a, a, a,
and thence out through the barrel e and nozzle f in the direction of the arrows.
The above arrangement of our valve prevents any leakage, and the shield and
chamber of the tap being inside the butt, cistern, or tank, the barrel and
nozzle of the tap being the only parts in contact with the external air,
the action of frost is by this means prevented, and a continuous supply of
water can always be obtained even in the debth of winter. Fig. 5 is a key to
fit the lock bolts l, l, in Fig. 1, when it is required to remove the covering of
the upper division or compartment b, b, to fit the key wedge, Fig. 3, under the
float e, to stop the supply, as mentioned previously. In case it should be
required to connect the regulator to the high service (viz., the high pressure
from the mains), we construct the flap of the valve in two parts, one fitting
inside the other, the inner section being conical, the apex being at right angles
and fixed to the spindle of the valve, the outer section comprising the rim,
resting on the body and base of the conical inner section, both being capable
of free motion in the action herein-after described. When the upper chamber
of the regulator before described is full, and the ball or float at its greatest
elevation, the valve is closed, and the water is prevented from passing from the
main pipe into the upper chamber, but on drawing the water by means of the
supply tap from the regulator the ball or float sinks, and carries with it in its
descent, by means of the spindle, the conical inner section of the valve,
whereby the water from the main pipe (which would have been otherwise
prevented from passing up through the valvular aperture in our low service
arrangement previously described, by reason of the pressure of the water from
the main pipe acting on the back of the valve, and keeping it closed, the valve
in that case being solid and in one piece) passes between the outer and
inner sections into the upper chamber of the regulator, and releasing the outer
section or rim, which by reason of its own gravity falls down on to the inner
conical section of the valve, and allows the water to fill the upper chamber
until the ball or float is again at its greatest elevation, which closes the valve
as before. The supply of water can be cut off direct by means of our key
wedge before described, without the intervention of a cistern or butt, or
interfering with the main service pipes in any way.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, we declare our claim to
be as follows, viz. :-
1stly, we claim the construction of the chamber a, a, a, a, with its triple
divisions.

page_text: 2ndly, the construction of the lock bolts b, b, for locks or padlocks to fasten
the upper domed division of the chamber a, a, a, a.
3rdly, the construction of the valve tap, Fig. 4, for drawing off the
water.
4thly, the construction of the regulator, as a whole or part, for its several
uses herein-before described.
5thly, the construction of the valve for high pressure, viz., the division of
the flap into two sections, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Richard Fell and Davy Hammond,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.
RICHARD FELL. (LB.)
DAVY HAMMOND. (L.B.)