Improvements in Valves and "Wastes" suitable for Lavatory and other Water Supply Purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Sept., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 24th June, 1891-Accepted, 25th July, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Valves and "Wastes" suitable for Lavatory and
other Water Supply Purposes.
We, PHILIP WINN, and CHARLES REGINALD WINN both of Saint Thomas'
Works, Granville Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineers and
Brassfounders, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to an improved construction of valve and "wastes" suitable
for lavatory and other water supply purposes and our object is to obviate certain
difficulties at present common to such valves or "wastes." In ordinary lavatory
valves opened by the action of a lever and a cam, or other devices against the
water pressure and against springs, the part upon which the cam acts to open the
valve is usually rigidly attached to, or forms part of the valve. This construction
presents considerable difficulties when it is desired to take the valve out for
examination or repair. In our improved construction we obviate this difficulty by
arranging the valve so that it is independent of the spindle used for opening it, and
that by means of a removable bridge piece it can be easily got out without
interfering with opening lever or the upper part of the metal work.
When constructing a lavatory valve in accordance with our present invention,
we form the valve casing in such a manner that it may carry at its upper part a
lever, which acts by means of a cam or projection, upon the upper part of a loose
or independent spindle, which spindle is kept up against the lever by a spiral
spring. The spindle is independent of the valve, which is forced against its seat
by the spiral spring and is suitably guided by wings or feathers, and a projecting
spindle passing through a removable bridge picce. The bridge piece we sometimes
screw into position for guiding the valve spindle, or it may also be slipped within a
plain recess and held in position by means of a suitable projection or head formed
upon the pipe or union piece which is to be connected to the valve.
When it is desired to remove the valve for examination and repair, such as
renewal of the rubber seating, the coupling or nut is unscrewed and the bridge piece
is then rendered accessible, which upon being unscrewed or released permits of
the valve and spiral spring being easily withdrawn. The advantage of this
arrangement is self evident.
The independence of the spindle and the valve permits the valve to seat itself
firmly without interference from the manipulating handle or lever; and the spiral
spring always keeps the spindle firmly against the lower part of the handle, thus
avoiding entirely any unsightly slack or shaking of the operating lever. When
the lever is moved to open the valve, the spindle travels a short distance downwards
before it strikes the screw or pin head upon the valve. By separating the opening
spindle and the valve we greatly increase the ease of fitting, as the valve seats
itself readily, and considerable wear or compression of the seat can be allowed
without causing it to leak.
We do not limit this system of constructing valves for lavatory purposes only,
but employ the same system of construction, for valves to be used for fountains and
other like water supply purposes.
When constructing "wastes" for lavatory basins according to our present invention
we obviate the difficulty common to existing "waste" systems wherein the plug is
held either in or out of its position with some uncertainty of result and with some
inconvenience in manipulation. We construct the handle, lever, or other device
which we use for connecting to the "waste" rod or plug chain in such a manner
that the connecting lever or jaw is slightly beyond the centre of motion of the
handle, so that when the lever is in its open position the centre of gravity of the

page_text: system is beyond the centre or pivot of the lever, and consequently there is no
tendency to fall to the opposite or shut position.
Similarly when the lever is reversed the centre of gravity of the appliances is
outside the pivot and thus it will remain in the shut position. Thus in whichever
position the handle or lever is placed, in that it will steadily remain without risk of
slipping or alteration.
We form the pivot boss or centre of our lever or handle sometimes in the form of
a bent lever, upon the smaller arm of which we connect or attach the waste rod or
chain. The angle of the two arms being such that the heaviest portion will always
fall beyond the centre and towards the position in which the handle is placed.
Instead of a double armed lever we sometimes form one end as a hollow globular
surface and we attach the rod or waste chain to the interior of this globe or other
hollow bulb ended lever, taking care however that the handle is not upon the
centre line of the globe or bulb.
We construct waste fittings also to be firm and steady in either position, with a
sliding instead of a pulling motion by attaching our lever or handle to a wedge
action lever which raises or lowers the plug as the wedge or inclined plane is drawn
in or out.
Similarly we cause a steadiness and certainty of position to be obtained with a
circular motion by providing an inclined or spiral path, up which the lever or rod
can be raised when the manipulating handle is moved and formed so that the lever
is held without possibility of slipping at each end of its stroke.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1890.
MARKS & CLERK,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Valves and Wastes suitable for Lavatory and
other Water Supply Purposes.
We, PHILIP WINN, and CHARLES REGINALD WINN, both of Saint Thomas'
Works, Granville Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineers and
Brass-founders, 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 :-
Our invention relates to an improved construction of valves and wastes suitable
for lavatory and other water supply purposes and our object is to obviate certain
difficulties at present common to such valves or wastes. In ordinary lavatory
valves opened by the action of a lever and a cam, or other devices acting against
the water pressure, and against springs, the part upon which the cam acts to open
the valve is usually rigidly attached to, or forms part of the valve. This con-
struction presents considerable difficulties when it is desired to take the valve out
for examination or repair. In our improved construction we obviate this difficulty
by arranging the valve so that it is independent of the spindle used for opening it;
and that by means of a removable bridge piece, it can be easily got out without
interfering with opening lever or the upper part of the metal work. In the
accompanying five sheets of explanatory drawings on Sheet 1 Figure 1 is a
sectional elevation of a lavatory valve constructed in accordance with our present
invention in which we form the valve casing A in such a manner that it may carry
at its upper part a lever B which acts by means of a cam C or projection, upon the
upper part of a loose or independent spindle D, which spindle is kept up against
the lever by a spiral spring E. The spindle is independent of the valve F, which
is forced against its seat by the spiral spring G, and is suitably guided by wings or
feathers and a projecting spindle H passing through a removable bridge piece K.
This bridge piece we sometimes screw into position, for guiding the valve spindle,

page_text: or it may be slipped within a plain recess as shown in Figure 2 and held in position
by means of a suitable projection or head formed upon the pipe or union piece L
which is to be connected to the valve.
When it is desired to remove the valve for examination and repair, such as
renewal of the rubber seating, the coupling or nut L is unscrewed, and the bridge
piece K is then rendered accessible, which upon being unscrewed, or released
permits of the valve F and spiral spring being easily withdrawn. The advantage
of this arrangement is self-evident.
The independence of the spindle and the valve permits of the valve seating itself
firmly without interference from the manipulating handle or lever B, and the spiral
spring E always keeps the spindle firmly against the lower part of the handle, thus
avoiding entirely any unsightly slack or shaking of the operating lever. When the
lever is moved to open the valve, the spindle D travels a short distance downwards
before it strikes the screw or pin head M upon the valve. By separating the
opening spindle and the valve we greatly increase the ease of fitting as the valve
seats itself readily, and considerable wear or compression of the seat can be allowed
without causing it to leak.
We do not limit this system of constructing valves for lavatory purposes only,
but employ the same system of construction for valves to be used for fountains and
other like water supply purposes.
When constructing wastes for lavatory basins according to our present invention
we obviate the difficulty common to existing waste systems wherein the plug is
held either in or out of its position with some uncertainty of result, and with some
inconvenience in manipulation.
By another modification of our present invention we construct the handle, lever,
or other device which we use for connecting to the waste rod, or plug chain, in
such a manner that the connecting lever or jaw is slightly beyond the centre of
motion of the handle, so that when the lever is in its open position the centre of
gravity of the system is beyond the centre or pivot of the lever, and consequently.
there is no tendency to fall to the opposite or shut position.
Similarly when the lever is reversed the centre of gravity of the appliances is
outside the pivot, and thus it will remain in the shut position. Thus in whichever
position the handle or lever is placed, in that it will steadily remain without risk
of slipping or alteration.
We form the pivot boss or centre of our lever or handle sometimes in the form
of a bent lever, P, P₁ as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, in which we connect or
attach the smaller or shorter arm P¹ of the lever to the waste rod or chain O by
the shackle or link o. The angle of the two arms P, P₁ being such that the
heaviest portion will always fall beyond the centre R and towards the position in
which the handle end is placed.
Instead of a double armed lever we sometimes form one end as a hollow globular
surface as shown in Figures 5 and 6 and we attach the rod or waste chain O to the
interior of this globe or other hollow bulb ended lever, by arranging horns S¹, S²
or jaws therein taking care however that the handle S³ is arranged so that it will
not stand vertically upon the centre line of the pivots or axis upon which the globe
turns.
We attach this handle to the bulb by means of rivets or screws or we cast it in
one piece with the globe, and we provide pins or trunnions T for the globe to pivot
or turn upon; the pins being secured to lugs or ears U formed upon the base
cap V. We construct waste fittings also to be firm and steady in either position,
with a sliding instead of a pulling motion as shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 by
attaching our lever or handle B to a wedge action lever W which raises or lowers
the plug W as the wedge or inclined plane is drawn out, a roller W² being
introduced to prevent undue wear of the surfaces. We place a weight W³ upon
the valve chain to ensure that the plug shall be kept upon its seat on the sliding
lever W.
Similarly we cause a steadiness and certainty of position to be obtained with a

page_text: circular motion as shown in Figure 9 and Figure 10 by providing an inclined or
spiral path a up which the lever or rod can be raised when the manipulating
handle X is moved, and formed so that the lever is held without possibility of
slipping at each end of its stroke, by providing a plain portion for the roller a¹ to
rest upon.
The central spindle we cause to work tightly through the boss of the
cap or central disc e and we employ any ordinary kind of connecting rod or chain
to lead from the central pillar or spindle to the valve plug or valve itself.
We employ the arrangement of levers and valves fittings as hereinbefore
described to any kind of lavatory or other valve requiring a similar action to open
or close it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
. we claim is :-
(1) The combination and arrangement of lavatory valves and valves for like
purposes having independent operating spindles and controlling levers, as and for
the purposes herein before described and substantially as set forth in the accom-
panying drawings.
(2) The construction of lavatory valves and valves for like purposes having the
operating levers or handles arranged for connecting to the valves substantially as
hereinbefore described and as illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1891.
MARKS & CLERK,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for Applicants.