IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERCLOSETS AND COCKS USED THEREWITH
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dixon, of Gallowgate Works, Newcastle-on-
Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERCLOSETS AND COCKS
USED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 10th December 1861, and dated the 18th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dixon at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th June
1861.
I, JOHN DIXON, of Gallowgate Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne, do hereby
3 declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERCLOSETS AND
COCKS USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My improvements in self-acting and other waterclosets consist in the
employment of a cylinder or chamber with a flexible disc or piston to be
worked by a supply of water from the supply pipe before it reaches the ball
cock for supplying the basin, also of a pipe forming the communication
between the supply pipe and a three-way cock; this pipe has inserted in it a
cock for the purpose of regulating the supply of water to the cylinder or
chamber. The three-way cock is for reversing the action of the balance

page_text: weight in the cylinder or chamber, and by the regulating cock in the pipe
the valve at the bottom of basin can be closed at any required speed. A
communication is formed from the basin to a'chamber or vessel placed at the
back of the closet having the ball of a ball cock therein. The water when
rising in the basin rises in the chamber or vessel, by which ball cock or valve
is closed which shuts off the supply of water from the supply pipe.
My improvements in cocks used for shutting off the supply of water to the
basin of a watercloset, and other purposes for which it is suitable, consist in
the employment of two rings of india-rubber or other flexible material made
hollow or concave. Between these rings is inserted a ring of metal with holes
in it all round the centre; a plain, parallel, or cylindrical spindle or plug is
used, which is slid up and down through the flexible rings so as to close and
open the passage in the barrel; the pressure of water acting between the rings
tends to press them tightly around the plug and to keep the same water-tight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN DIXON,
of Gallowgate Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of.
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her, heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Dixon, Her special licence that I, the said John Dixon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Dixon, 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 WATERCLOSETS
AND COCKS USED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Dixon, 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
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Dixon, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
thereof, that is to say:-
-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction of waterclosets.
by dispensing with any connections to cisterns, except by a pipe which can
be brought either from a cistern or from a main pipe without the necessity.
of wires, cranks, service boxes, valves, &c. I effect this by forming a com
munication from the bottom of the watercloset pan or basin to a vessel placed-
behind the closet, in which is a ball of a ball cock; when the handle or seat
is at liberty the valve at bottom of basin is shut, the water rises in the basin,.
and at the same time flows through the pipe to the vessel behind the basin,.
and raises the ball which is connected to a lever in communication with a cock
or valve, and shuts off the supply to the basin, leaving the water standing: in
the basin up to the level of the overflow pipe. In my self-acting watercloset L.
use a cataract cylinder or a chamber with a flexible disc for holding the valve..
at bottom of basin tight, and by regulating.the supply of water to the cylinder
or chamber the basin can be allowed to wash out during any required..
time. The construction and arrangement of the ball cock which can be used..
for other purposes is as follows:-Two fixed elastic rings with a perforated ring
between them are used; by this arrangement the pressure of the fluid offers no
resistance against the spindle of the valve, as it does not press against a seat
but goes into. both rings; there is little or no wear on the spindle, as it
works against the elastic rings, which can be easily renewed.
In order that my said Invention may be more fully understood, I shall now
proceed to describe the same in detail, and for that purpose I shall refer to the
several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereto annexed, the same letters
of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS..
Figures 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section, of a
closet constructed according to my Invention..
A, A, is a safe for the purpose of catching any waste water; to this safe is.
fixed at the under side a trap S', and on the top side the valve chamber A,
in which is set a spindle M, carrying the valve at bottom of basin, which is
shewn on the Drawings; the water stands in the basin at the level of O. A

page_text: communication being formed to the chamber P by the pipe O, the water is
free to rise in the chamber and come in contact with the ball R of a ball
cock W, which is joined to the main supply pipe G, and as the water rises
shuts off the supply, the water being left standing in the basin to the level of
overflow pipe B. A small pipe F is joined to the main supply pipe before it
reaches the ball cock, and taken to a three-way cock E; in this pipe is inserted
a small cock H, for the purpose of regulating the supply of water to the three-
way cock E; this cock is connected to a chamber I, with a flexible disc or a
cylinder within it, with a balance weight J, having a rod K working through a
cupped ring at the top of chamber I. As the water raises the balance
weight it comes in contact with the lever L, fixed on the end of spindle M,
and shuts the valve at bottom of basin; on the other end of the valve
spindle a lever B' is fixed; another lever D¹ is attached to a rod C', fixed by a
joint to the front of seat; another rod C is also fixed to the seat and connected
to a lever D on the end of the three-way cock E. On sitting or pressing upon
the front of the seat it falls down about of an inch, reversing the action of
the three-way cock, and allowing the water to be released from the cylinder,
which is conducted through the three-way cock E to pipe W¹ into the trap, the
balance weight in the cylinder then falls ready for the valve at bottom of basin
to fall open, at the same time the seat moves, the lever D' comes in contact
with the lever B', and holds the valve tight at bottom of basin so long as the
seat is kept down, but on the seat being set at liberty it rises, and the rods C¹
and C reversing the position of the lever D' and B', the valve at bottom of
basin falls open, and the water, becoming released both out of the basin and
from the chamber, allows the ball cock to open, and by simply adjusting the
cock H, the water can be regulated to the basin in any required quantity.
Figures 3 and 4 shew a closet of nearly the same construction as the one
already described, but made to lift by a handle instead of being self-acting.
Figures 5 and 6 are drawings of the improved valves and cocks which are
used in these closets as well as for other purposes.
A is the inlet or supply; B, a brass ring with holes round the centre; C, C,
are rings of india-rubber or other flexible material; D is a ring fitting loosely
on the flexible rings; E, nut screwed against the ring D, and pressing the
rings into their seat; the spindle in this valve having no seat, it being perfectly
parallel, variation of pressure can have no effect on it, and for any kind of bib
cocks can be opened and shut without any screws. The flexible rings being
exactly made to a gauge, should they ever happen to wear out, they can be
replaced in a few minutes by any person without the assistance of a mechanic.

page_text: What I claim as my Invention is, forming the communication between the
basin and the vessel behind for working the ball cock.
Second, the application and use of a cataract cylinder or flexible disc for
shutting the valve at bottom of basin, and the general construction and
arrangements of the apparatus.
Third, the use of two fixed elastic rings, one at the top and one at the
bottom of the water way in the cock, with a perforated ring for keeping them
separate.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dixon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 16th day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN DIXON. (L.S.)