IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS, WATER CISTERNS. URINALS, BATHS, LAVA- TORIES, AND OTHER SANITARY APPARATUS, AND IN THE MODE OF SUPPLYING WATER THERETO
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Culpin, at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th July
1859.
I, THOMAS CULPIN, of No. 25, Royal Hill, Greenwich, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS, WATER CISTERNS. URINALS, BATHS, LAVA-
TORIES, AND OTHER SANITARY APPARATUS, AND IN THE MODE OF SUPPLYING WATER
THERETO," to be as follows:-
Water-closets have hitherto been connected to their soil pipes by means of
a fixed trap sometimes above and sometimes below the floor, and sometimes
the trap is formed in one piece with the basin; the sole object of this trap has
been to prevent the return of effluvia from the drain.
1. One part of my Invention consists in making this trap movable, by
which I not only increase its efficiency as a trap, but I give to it a new duty
and value, by using it to maintain the water in the vessel to any required
level. A movable trap may be constructed in a variety of ways; I adopt the
following, by preference:-I make a trap of suitable rigid material, bent
nearly to the form of the letter S; I connect one end of this trap to the closet
basin by a short flexible tube, forming a kind of hinge; I-connect the other
end of the trap to the soil pipe by a piece of corrugated tube of flexible
material. The trap being thus-connected, the end furthest from the basin is
held in an elevated position by a weighted lever; this weighted lever is con-
trolled by the handle of the closet. The handle being lifted, the trap descendis,
and the contents of the basin are discharged.

page_text: 2. The second part of my Invention consists in the peculiar construction of
the water supply valve, which may be applied under all the varieties of
buoy valve, stop valve, bib valve, and regulating valve.
It is a spindle
valve with single or double seat, according to circumstances. Through the
valve spindle I pass a screw, which forms a guide, for the motion of the
valve admits the water upon the opposite side of the valve, and greatly
facilitates the examination or repair of the valve. At right angles to this
screw I have a second spindle grooved parallel with its axis. These grooves
correspond with a series of rings turned upon the valve spindle. The valvo
-spindle forms a rack, and the other spindle forms a pinion, to which the
power is applied for moving the valve.
3. A third part of my Invention consists in making sanitary vessels, part of
rigid and part of flexible material; thus I make a closet pan of earthenware,
except the bottom, which being made of suitable flexible material will contain
a quantity of water, as a bag; a slight force being applied to the under side,
the contents are discharged through an opening or openings provided for the
purpose. In closets of superior quality I use a floating valve in conjunction
with a movable trap; the water supply valve is for some purposes worked by
a compound lever, and for other purposes the force is made to act direct upon
the valve without the intervention of any lever. These arrangements bring
the apparatus into small space, and enable me to enclose it in a box as a pro-
tection from accident or intentional injury.
Another modification of the water supply valve is that it is self-closing,
and is used in connection with wash basins, lavatories, &c., which lavatories, &c.,
may be discharged by my movable trap; or they may be supported upon
journals or trunnions, so as to be tilted over to discharge the contents; in either
case when the basin or the trap resumes its proper position, a new supply of
water is given.