IMPROVEMENTS IN URINALS AND LAVATORIES, AND FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY AND PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONCHARGE WATER OTHER LIQUIDS TO ANDROMAME
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Salter Olver, of Victoria Road, Kentish
Town, London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN URINALS AND LAVATORIES, AND FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Salter Olver at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th March 1871.
I, JOSEPH SALTER OLVER, of Victoria Road, Kentish Town, London,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN URINALS AND LAVATORIES, AND FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY
AND DISCHARGE OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS TO AND FROM THE SAME," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the forms of urinal
vessels and lavatory basins (provided with lids or otherwise), and
discharging urine in the former, and for regulating the supply and
discharge of water to both former and latter, to be used in public

page_text: For this
and private waterclosets and lavatories, or lavatories only.
purpose there is a supply pipe and a discharge pipe, also a waste pipe
when required, which are provided with valves of various forms and
patterns for regulating the supply and discharge of water to and from
the same.
These valves are to be connected with the lid in each case.
In the case of the urinal vessel, when the lid is raised the discharge
valve is to open; and in the case of the lavatory basin, when the lid is
raised the supply valve is to open, and the result will be, in the former
to empty the urinal vessel, and in the latter to fill the basin.
Again, in the case of the urinal vessel, after it has been used the lid
is lowered, and by thus opening the discharge valve the liquid is allowed
to flow away and the vessel is filled with fresh and clean water from the
supply water pipe, and remains so until the next occasion for using it.
In the case of the lavatory basin, by means of the lid being raised
the valve in the supply water pipe is opened and the required quantity
of water flows into the basin, and on the lid being lowered the discharge
valve opens and the basin becomes emptied.
It is proposed also by this Invention to dispense with the lid in both
cases, as stated above, and to use a lever handle or similar contrivance
instead thereof, by which action is given to the valves, and to cause, as
already explained, the necessary supply and discharges.
The waste water pipe in all cases will be connected with the soil pipe
of the watercloset when there is one in the same or adjoining chamber,
or, if not, with the nearest soil pipe thereto.
The vessels will be formed of metal and the linings of porcelain or
earthenware or other suitable material, or wholly of metal, or wholly of
porcelain, or earthenware, or other suitable material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Salter Olver in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SALTER OLVER, of Victoria Road, Kentish Town, London, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year ;

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Salter Olver, Her special license
that I, the said Joseph Salter Olver, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Salter Olver, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during. the term thercin
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 "INPROVEMENTS IN URINALS
AND LAVATORIES, AND FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY AND DISCHARGE OF WATER
AND OTHER LIQUIDS TO AND FROM THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Salter Olver, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great 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 Joseph Salter Olver, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
-
My said Invention has for its object improvements in urinal vessels
and lavatory basins, which I propose according to one arrangement to
provide with lids, also in a self-acting arrangement in connection with
the said lid or a special lever or levers for discharging urine from the
former and for regulating the supply and discharge of water to and from
both former and latter, which improvements are applicable to public
and private waterclosets, and public and private urinals and lavatories,
or to lavatories only.
In carrying out my said Invention there is a supply pipe and a
discharge pipe, also a waste or overflow pipe when required in connec-
tion with the urinal vessel or lavatory basin, which pipes are provided
with suitable valves for regulating the supply and discharge of water to
and from the said vessel or basin. These valves are to be connected
with the lid in each case when a lid is employed.

page_text: In the case of the urinal vessel when the lid is raised the discharge
valve is to open, and in the case of the lavatory basin when the lid is
raised the supply valve is to open, and the result will be in the former
to empty the urinal vessel and in the latter to fill the basin. Again, in
the case of the urinal vessel, after it has beon used, the lid is lowered
and the vessel is filled with fresh and clean water from the supply water
pipe, and remains so filled until the next occasion for using it.
In the case of the lavatory basin, by means of the lid being raised the
valve in the supply water pipe is opened, and the required quantity of
water flows into the basin, and on the lid being lowered the discharge
valve opens and the basin becomes emptied; or, if preferred, the urinal
may be worked in precisely the same manner as the lavatory basin,
that is to say, the opening of the lid shall close the discharge and open
the supply valve and vice versa when closing the lid again, as herein-
after fully described with reference to the Drawings.
It is proposed also by this Invention to dispense with the lid in both
cases, as stated above, and to use a lever handle or similar or equivalent
contrivance by which action is given to the valves so as to produce, as
already explained, the necessary supply and discharges.
The waste water pipe in all cases will be connected with the soil pipe
of the watercloset when there is one in the same or adjoining chamber,
or if not with the nearest soil pipe thereto. The vessels will be formed
of metal and the linings of porcelain, or earthenware, or other suitable
material, or wholly of metal, or wholly of porcelain or earthenware, or
other suitable material.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a sectional clevation of my
Invention as applied to a lavatory basin; Figure 2 is a corresponding
front clevation with a portion of the front part of the casing broken
away; Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of a urinal vessel and mechanism
connected therewith; and Figure is a front view of the same with the
front of the casing removed.
In all these Figures A, A, represent the urinal vessel or lavatory
basin supported on a closed casing B, B, and provided with a lid or

page_text: 1
cover C hinged at c. This cover is to be turned up into the position
shewn by dotted lines when the apparatus is required for use, and is
there retained by a spring catch d, hercin-after referred to. A short
lever arm e, e, forming an extension of the hinge of the lid is connected
to the upper end of the catch rodƒ provided with a notch or step at f¹,
which engages with a pin in the end of the weighted lever g. This
lever turns on a fixed fulcrum at h and is connected to the rod i of a
piston working in the cylinder k of à regulator containing oil or other
fluid, as is well understood. The lever g is also connected by a link
to the weighted lever m, to which is hinged the valve spindle n of the
inlet valve o in communication with the inlet pipes p, p, for supplying
fresh water to the urinal vessel or basin, as shewn by the arrows. To the
same catch rod f there is also jointed a rod q, which is connected to the
weighted lever attached to the spindle of the discharge valve which
communicates with the discharge pipes t, t. The lower end of the catch
rod is curved, as shewn at f", and beneath this curved portion there
projects from the bracket v an incline or curve w, which knocks off the
catch f¹ from the pin in the end of the weighted lever g when the
rod has descended by the act of opening the lid, as will be readily
understood on referring to the altered positions of the parts (shewn in
dotted lines in Figure 1), when the lid is open. x (Figures 1 and 2)
is the waste or overflow pipe applied only to the lavatory basin, which
pipe opens into the discharge pipe t. The spring catch d is held up
when released by a small spring and serves to retain the lid open so
long as the apparatus is in use; this spring catch is connected by wires
and bell cranks to a weighted lever 1 situate underneath the moveable
platform or standing plate 2. is a bracket secured to the wall or back
of the casing for supporting the valves and regulator.
The action of the apparatus in connection with the urinal vessel or
lavatory basin is as follows, supposing them both to work in the same
manner: The weight of the person standing on the platform 2 depresses
the same and raises slightly the weighted end of the lever 1, thereby
releasing the catch d and allowing it to be raised by its spring in
readiness to engage with a suitable projection 3 on the lid or cover C,
when the latter has been opened back to the position shewn by dotted
lines in Figures 1 and 3. Previous to the opening of the lid C, or whilst
use, the discharge valves of the urinal vessel
or lavatory basin A, as the case may be, remains full open and the inlet
the apparatus is not in

page_text: valve o shut, the vessel being consequently empty. But so soon as the
lid is turned back the simultaneous descent of the catch rod fand
rod causes the inlet valve o to open and the outlet valves to close;
the catch f¹ is knocked off the pin in the lever g by the incline w, thus
leaving the lever g elevated and the valve connected therewith open.
The duration of time during which the inlet valve o remains open is regu-
lated by the gradual descent of the piston in the regulator cylinder k,
its speed depending on the size of the weight on the lever g, and on
the size of the aperture through which the displacement of the oil or
other liquid in the cylinder k takes place, which latter may be varied
by an adjusting screw or plug. The object is to allow the inlet valve o
to remain open long enough to supply a proper quantity of water to the
vessel A and no more after the lid C has been opened. On stepping off
the platform 2 the weighted lever 1 will tend to pull the wires, and
by drawing down the catch d will release the lid C and permit it to
close on to the vessel A. by its own gravity, a padding of india-rubber or
other suitable clastic or soft material 4 being applied round the edge
of the vessel A to deaden the concussion of the lid in falling. This
descent of the lid elevates simultaneously the catch rod ƒ and rod q,
the catch taking up its position again upon the pin in the lever g
ready for its next action, whilst the rod q opens the outlet valve and
allows the vessel A to empty itself.
It is obvious that a lever handle, to be worked by the person using
the apparatus, may be substituted for the lid C, but I prefer the latter;
and it is also obvious that various combinations of mechanical parts
other than the precise arrangement I have described and illustrated for
acting simultaneously upon two valves, so as to open the one and close
the other by the opening or shutting of a lid, or by the movement of
a lever handle may be devised, and therefore I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise arrangement shewn in my Drawings, so long as
the essential feature of my Invention be maintained. If preferred,
moreover, the valves may be used without the intervention or use of
regulators or treadles or platforms.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried-into-effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―

page_text: First. The combination with the urinal vessels and lavatory basins of
hinged lids or of levers so connected with inlet and outlet valves as to
open one valve and close the other simultaneously upon the opening
and closing of the lid or the moving of the lever, substantially as and for
hercin-before described.
the purpose
Second. The peculiar combination of valve-actuating mechanism with
the lid of a urinal vessel or lavatory basin as and for the purpose hercin-
before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof I, the said Joseph Salter Olver, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of
September One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.