CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CRELLIN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and JAMES HOLT, of the
same Place, Plumbers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-seven, in the first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said James Crellin and James Holt,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the
said James Crellin and James Holt, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as we, the said James Crellin and James Holt, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that we, the said James Crellin and James Holt (or one of us),'
shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery with six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
James Crellin and James Holt, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cularly described and ascertained in Drawings hereto annexed, and to the
following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
Our improvements in water-closets consist, firstly, in a novel arrangement
of apparatus or combination of mechanism constituting the working parts of the
closet, and designed to regulate the supply and exit of the water to and from
the basin in order to cleanse it after use. By the particular construction or
arrangement of our improved water-closet, it is not necessary to have the
water service or cistern in immediate connection with it, which is necessarily
the case with ordinary closets, and from whence frequent inconvenience arises,
as the principal difficulty in working those of common use is the great liability
of the cranks and wires forming the connections between the valves of the
cistern and the closet, to get disordered and out of repair, and which parts we
have entirely dispensed with. Now the cistern, reservoir, or service of water
to supply our improved closet may be placed in any convenient situation, and
without reference to its distance, provided it is erected a little above the seat
of the closet, and one reservoir is hereby also enabled to supply any number
of closets in a range of building, which it is impossible to effect with the
ordinary construction of closet, owing to the complicated arrangement of con-
necting wires and bell-crank levers, which must necessarily be made between
the valves in the cistern and those of the water-closet, and instead of requiring
one main water pipe to serve each separate closet, as commonly used, our
arrangement of the mechanisn will require but one main pipe to supply any
number of closets in the same range of buildings.
Secondly, our improvements consist in a modification of a similar construc
tion of apparatus or combination of mechanism, in order to render the same
self-acting, that is, by the cleansing the basin of the water-closet without the
trouble of drawing up the piston rod as in the ordinary closet, and as this
improved mechanism is actuated by the person rising from the seat, the
principal advantage is the impossibility of leaving the basin of the closet in a
foul state after use. In both of these improved water-closets the earther
basin or pan delivers the soil and water at bottom through a dish valve into
the iron pan or receiver, from whence it passes into the discharge pipe
which communicates with the common sewer or other receptacle, as usual.
And thirdly, our improvements consist in the application of a two-way
cock to the main supply pipe of the closet, in order to admit hot or cold water
into the basin of the closet at pleasure.

page_text: In order that our improvements may be fully understood, there is attached
to these Presents a Drawing of the water-closets, which will be explained by
reference to the following description:
P
―:
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of our improved water-closet,
with the working parts shewn in a quiescent state; a is the earthenware
basin; b, b, the iron box or receiver; and c, the common discharge pipe,
which is to be provided with the ordinary trap or valve, to prevent the
escape of any effluvium; d is a valve box containing a valve opening
downwards (see detached sectional Fig. 2.) This valve box is always charged
with water, being connected to the cistern or reservoir by the main or
supply pipe e, which is also always full; f is the service pipe for supplying
water to the basin of the closet; a branch g from this pipe also supplies the
float box h with water, this box h contains the float i suspended at the end of
-the lever j, having its fulcrum at k; is the plunger of the water valve n, and
is attached to the lever j; now it will be perceived that the rise and fall of this
float entirely commands the supply of water to the basin of the closet by
effecting the opening and closing of the valve n in the box d, supposing the
water-closet with all the working parts to be in the positions shewn in Figure 1,
that is, in a quiescent state; in order to bring the same into action to cleanse
the basin a after use, the piston rod o must be raised by hand as usual, which
raising the lever p will, by means of the morticed crank piece q, immediately
open the dish valve at the bottom of the basin a (as shewn by dots in Figure 1)
and allow the soil to fall into the discharge pipe, and simultaneously the valver,
being connected to the end of the lever p, will be lifted from its seat and the
water running also out of the float box into the discharge pipe c, will cause
the float i and lever j to descend, thus opening the water valve n and affording
a supply of water to rinse or cleanse the basin of the closet; upon the descent
of the piston rod o the valve of the float box is immediately closed,, and
thus, as the float i gradually rises, it will shut the valve n, and all parts will.
resume their former position. Figure 3 represents a front elevation of a.
similar construction of water-closet, with some additional mechanism, in order
to render the same self-cleansing, and is drawn with the working parts in the
position they assume when the weight of the person is upon the seat of the
water-closet. In this Figure also a represents the basin; b, the iron box or
receiver; c the discharge pipe; and d a water valve, of precisely similar, con-
struction to that previously described, and supplied with water in the same
manner by the supply pipe e; f is the service pipe, to conduct the water to the
basin a; g, the branch pipe, to supply the float box h, containing the float i,
which is suspended at one end of the lever j, baving its fulcrum at k, as pre-

page_text: viously described; the water valve n in the box d, is similarly attached to the
lever j. Now supposing the weight of the person to be upon the seat of the
closet, the rod or plunger m will be depressed, which, acting upon the lever o
will open the valve in the float box h and allow the water to flow therefrom;
but the float i is kept in its elevated position by the lever o, also acting against
the under side of the stud or pin p fixed in the lever j, and thus keeping the
water valve in the box d closed upon the person rising; and the seat being
relieved from the weight the self-acting parts are set in motion, that is, the
the rod or plunger m will rise with the seat (see the dotted lines in this
Figure,) and releasing the lever o from bearing against the stud or pin p in the
lever j, the float i will descend, and consequently open the water valve in the
box d; the descent of the float i will also cause the short lever q to trip the
lever r, which, by the assistance of the morticed crank piece s, and the weight
of water now rushing into the basin will open the dish valve at the bottom of
the basin, and precipitate the soil and water into the discharge pipe below;
there is a small click or catch piece fixed upon the crank piece s, which
catches into a notch formed upon the lever u, suspended above it, and keeps
the dish valve open during the cleansing of the basin, and as the water is also
flowing into the float box h through the branch pipe g, the float i will gradually
ascend, releasing the catch from the lever u, and allow the counterbalance
weight v to close the dish valve under the basin, and at the same time cause
the lever to shut the water valve in the box d and stop the supply. It will
be seen that in either of these constructions of water-closets a two-way cock
may be applied to the supply pipe e, in order to turn either hot or cold water
into the basin as may be desirable; this tap is represented at w, in Figures 1
and 3; and a small branch pipe may also be conducted from the main pipe e
into the bath-room or dressing closet at pleasure.
or
Having now described the particular combinations of mechanism
apparatus constituting our improvements in water-closets, we intend it to be
understood that we do not claim any of the ordinary or well-known parts of
water-closets now in use, nor to confine ourselves to the precise situations or
dimensions of the new arrangement of mechanism above described; but we
do claim the peculiar arrangement of apparatus as shewn in the Drawings
and above described for the purposes and in the manner there represented.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Crellin and James Holt, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Nineteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
JAMES i

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of February,
in the first year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said James
Crellin and James Holt came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chan-
cery, and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing
therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight..