An Improved Valve for Tanks and Cisterns.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Dec., 1896-Accepted, 20th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Valve for Tanks and Cisterns.
I, HUGH ALEXANDER, of 13 St. Mark's Road, Hackney, in the County of
London, Sanitary Inspector, 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 a valve so arranged as to serve five purposes in
connection with closed tanks, or reservoirs as follows.-
(1) Protection of stored water from atmospheric or other impurities. (2) The
admission of air when required. (3) The expulsion of air when not required.
(4) An overflow in the event of the supply ball cock leaking. (5) By the
assistance of a valve suspended from the float, warning may be given when the
service from the maiu is shut off.
This valve may be used for any description of closed tank, or reservoir; but it
is specially designed for use in combination with the invention described in the
Letters Patent No. 22064 of 1895 (and it may be used conjointly with a ball cock
of any description supplying water). The object being the same as results from
the use of the valve arrangements of the latter invention, but the means employed
are different.
The construction I will now describe, and it is shewn in the drawings herewith,
which are as follows.-
Fig. 1. is a general view of the valve showing the float at its highest, and lowest
positions.
Fig. 2. shows the valve, lever, and float at normal level; these are parts of a
vertical section through the reservoir, described in the Letters Patent No. 22064
of 1895. The section also shows the valve, and its float in combination with the
"air box" and the "warning valve" of the said reservoir.
X shows a suitable form of guide for the spindle of the said warning valve.
The other arrangements of the improved reservoir are all described in the Letters
Patent No. 22064 of 1895.
Fig. 3. is a section through the sheath G and the lever E showing the two parts
clasped together by the sheath G and operating as one, in the event of the ball
cock leaking, and thereby raising the water, and the float H above the normal
level.
The pipe A communicating with the outer air is curved upwards, and on its
upper and horizontal end I form a seating to receive the valve B. To the pipe A
I attach the guide C constructed with a slot, the lower part of which forms a
fulcrum for the action of the lever E. I also construct the standard D with a slot
to receive the lever E'. The lever I construct in two parts E, and E', and they
work together on one centre F in the standard of the valve B, they are attached,
and work conjointly, on their axis J in standard D. and the two parts are clasped
together by the sheath G., and operate as one when the float H is raised above its
normal level. The float H attached to the lever E is fitted with an eyelet from
which a valve may be suspended to give warning when the service of water is
shut off, in the manner shown, and described in the before mentioned Letters Patent
No. 22064 of 1895.
The action is as follows.-The service from the public main being shut off, and

page_text: the reservoir being empty. The valve will be open. The service being restored, the
inflowing water will displace and expel the air, which will flow out through the
open valve, until the ascending water-supplied by an ordinary (or other) ball
cock-reaches the normal level, carrying up with it the valve float, and thus closing
the valve, and thereby protecting the contents of the reservoir from further
contact with the outer air, until the next withdrawal of water takes place. In the
event of the ball cock leaking, and the water rising above normal level, the two
parts of the lever (as already described) will be clasped together by the sheath G
and become as one for the occasion, working on its axis J in standard D and as it
rises by the upward movement of its float will raise the valve from its seating, and
thereby obviate pressure in the reservoir, and provide an outflow for water.
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) A valve, and a duplex lever (with a float attached) governing the said valve,
constructed and arranged in the manner shown in the drawings herewith. The
float, and the valve, work in connection with the lever which lever is constructed,
80 as to move on a fulcrum formed in the slotted guide in which the said lever
works and also to move on two centres, or one of them, as occasion requires for
the purposes herein described.
(2) A sheath for uniting the parts of the duplex lever in its upward movement,
constructed in the mauner shown; or other suitable means attached to, or part of
the said lever, for the purposes described herein.
2000