IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OFF WATER
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick George Underhay, of Crawford Passage,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OFF WATER."
Sealed the 10th February 1880, and dated the 11th November 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick George Underhay
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th November 1879.
FREDERICK GEORGE UNDERHAY, of Crawford Passage, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OFF WATER.”
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for drawing off
water.
In order to prevent waste of water it is often required that the movement of a
lever or handle shall open a valve which automatically closes after the lapse of
a time sufficient to permit the flow of as much water as it is considered desirable
to allow to be drawn at one operation. Apparatus of this description is made use
of in water closets to ensure a flow of water for a time after that the handle has
been released.
I construct for such uses an apparatus of the following nature:-The handle is,
by suitable connections, caused to give motion to a piston or pump bucket working
in a small barrel contained in the supply cistern. When the movement to draw
water is made water is forced by the piston out from the barrel past a small valve
into another similar barrel or cylinder, and it moves a piston therein; this second
piston is coupled with the outlet valve from the cistern and lifts it. The piston
in the second barrel or cylinder has a perforation through it, or it is made a loose
fit, so that the water is able gradually to pass it from one side to the other, and
as it does so, the outlet valve closes to its seat. This apparatus it will be seen will
not be affected in its operation by the handle being moved more or less rapidly,
and the quantity of water which it allows to pass at each action is not liable to
fluctuate to any injurious extent.
1

page_text: The Drawing shows an elevation partly in section of one of my double cylinder
water waste preventers. It is intended to be fixed within and upon the bottom
of the water supply cistern. a and b are the two cylinders, each is provided with
a piston, and each is open freely at the top so that water from the cistern can enter
when the piston descends, and escape when it rises; a¹ and 6' are small passages
bored in the rods of the two pistons respectively to allow of the slow passage of
water past the piston from one end of the cylinder to the other; c is a passage
connecting the cylinder a with the cylinder b at the lower part beneath the
pistons, and c is a flap valve preventing the return of water from the cylinder b
to the cylinder a; d is the outlet from the cistern by which water is drawn out
to the place where it is required for use; e is a weighted valve faced with leather,
and intended to cover and close the outlet passage d. The stem of the valve e is
jointed at its upper end to the lever f; this lever is also jointed at one end to the
link g, which connects it with a projection upon the base of the apparatus, and at
the other end to the rod of the piston working within the cylinder b. The upper
end of the rod of the piston in the cylinder a is slotted, and receives through it
one end of a lever h which has its fulcrum at h¹. At the further end of the lever h
there is a weight i sufficient to raise the piston to the top of the cylinder, and a
wire or chain is also attached at k to the lever. By means of this connection k the
weight is raised when it is required to draw water. The piston in the cylinder a
being thus moved to the bottom of the cylinder expels the water it previously
contained, forcing it into thecylinder b. In this way the piston of the cylinder b

page_text: is raised, and with it the valve e, leaving the outlet & open. Immediately however
the weight of the valve e and the piston causes a flow of water to commence
through the small passage b', and by the time the space beneath the piston is thus
emptied the valve e reaches its seat. The closing of the valve e is thus quite
independent of the position of the lever h, and takes place, as described, whether
the weight i has been allowed to descend or is still held up.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim, my double cylinder
water waste preventer, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick George Underhay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
F. G. UNDERHAY. (L.S.)