IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING REGULATORS, AND IN THE COCKS OR TAPS TO THE SAME, FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS AT HIGH PRESSURE, AND PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF COCKS, PIPES, OR TAPS UNDER ORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES OR FROM THE EFFECTS OF FROST
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Geoghegan, of the City of Dublin, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING REGULATORS, AND IN
THE COCKS OR TAPS TO THE SAME, FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS AT HIGH PRESSURE,
AND PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF COCKS, PIPES, OR TAPS UNDER ORDINARY
CIRCUMSTANCES OR FROM THE EFFECTS OF FROST."
Sealed the 22nd January 1869, and dated the 1st August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Geoghegan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st August 1868.
I, CHARLES GEOGHEGAN, of the City of Dublin, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING REGULATORS,
AND IN THE COCKS OR TAPS TO THE SAME, FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS AT HIGH
PRESSURE, AND PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF COCKS, PIPES, OR TAPS UNDER
ORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES OR FROM THE EFFECTS OF FROST," to be as
follows:-

page_text: maintain it at all times at a fixed level, so that as soon as any quantity is
drawn off by any outlet from the reservoir a corresponding quantity is let in,
the cock closing as the ordinary standing level in the cistern is attained.
The apparatus is attached to the cistern, which stands at the greatest
altitude in the building, from which all other services at ordinary
pressure are supplied. The action of the regulator is to shut off the fluid
at high pressure by means of a lever, screw, or other cock or valve
placed outside the building, or in any other desirable situation, and
admitting only as much fluid as will reach to the fixed level in the
cistern, closing automatically when that point is attained. Little or no
extra pressure is caused to the pipes existing in old buildings, and the
necessity of their removal is consequently obviated, and the risk of their
bursting inside a building and consequent damage to property is there-
fore avoided, no high-pressure pipes, cocks, or taps being required,
except the lever cock before alluded to, and to which the apparatus is
fitted outside the building. Inside the cistern or reservoir at the
highest altitude is fixed an inverted open-air vessel or receiver, which
is sunk below the surface of the water at standing level, and being
furnished with a small aperture at the top only communicates with an
air tube or other pipe of small bore, carried down to the top of a closed
vessel having a connection at the top and bottom only, the air pipe
being attached securely to the upper vessel, the bottom one being united
to a vessel (in a similar manner) having an open top, in which water
is allowed to stand at a fixed level, determined by an overflow tap in
the side of the vessel, a compensatory reservoir being attached to supply
the waste by evaporation, the falling of the ball causing the tap from
the same to open; this compensator is placed under the high-pressure
cock so as to receive the droppings from it. On the surface of the
water on the open vessel a float or air ball is made to rise and fall by
means of the condensed air in the inverted receiver by the pressure of
the head of water above it in the highest cistern acting through the
air pipe on the surface of the water in the closed vessel, and causing
the water to rise in the open vessel in which the float is placed, the
float or ball being connected with the short end of a lever or spindle
passing through the shank of the high-pressure cock, which is situated
outside the building or in the lowest floor or basement, the longer
end of the lever having a weight attached to it of sufficient power to shut
off the cock when the ball at the other end has been floated up, the rise
and fall of the ball causing the opening and closing of the cock. The

page_text: lower vessels may be united so as to form one vessel having a central
division open at the bottom to economise space, as an expanding vessel,
the top rising and falling by the action of the condensed air, and thus
causing the action of the ball: All the pipes and apparatus being made
air-tight the apparatus is placed in the ground, or coated with non-
conducting medium to prevent freezing when placed outside a building.
In order to.. prevent the pipes bursting in frosty weather a minute
aperture or boring is carried through the shank or spindle of the high-
pressure cock and also through the casing in which the spindle works,
and is so arranged that these communications can only correspond when
the cock is completely closed, so as to let the fluid run out of the rising
main, and leave the pipe empty when the cock is closed and the fluid
not in motion. The water in the open vessel having its surface covered
with fish oil prevents evaporation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent...
filed by the said Charles Geoghegan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GEOGHEGAN, of the City of Dublin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give.
and grant unto me, the said Charles Geoghegan, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Geoghegan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Geoghegan, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING
REGULATORS, AND IN THE COCKS OR TAPS TO THE SAME, FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS
AT HIGH PRESSURE, AND PREVENTING THE BURSTING OF COCKS, PIPES, OR, TAPS.
UNDER ORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES OR FROM THE EFFECTS OF FROST," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Geoghegan, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Geoghegan, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say
The object of the present Invention is to admit water or other fluids
into cisterns or reservoirs in buildings at high pressure, and maintain
it at all times at a fixed level, so that as soon as the water is drawn
off by any outlet from the reservoir it refills itself, the cock closing as
the ordinary standing level in the cistern is attained. The apparatus
is attached to the cistern which stands at the greatest altitude in the
building, from which all other services at ordinary pressure are supplied,
or cisterns on various levels may be supplied by the same pipe when
required. The action of the regulator is to shut off the fluid at high
pressure by means of a lever, screw, or other cock or valve placed
outside the building, or in any other desirable situation, and admitting
only as much fluid as will reach to the fixed level in the cistern, closing
automatically when that point is attained. Little or no extra pressure
is caused to the pipes existing in old buildings, and the necessity of
their removal being consequently obviated, and the risk of their bursting
inside the building, and the consequent damage to property resulting
therefrom is avoided, no high-pressure pipes, cocks, or taps being
required, except the lever, screw, or ground plug-cock before alluded to.
Inside the cistern or reservoir. A', see Fig. 3, is fixed an inverted air
vessel or receiver A with open bottom (or with inlet valve d in some
cases where greater force is required) fixed below the surface of the
water at standing level, having an aperture at the top connected with
an air tube B, or other pipe of small bore, carried down to the top of
a closed vessel C (Figure 2), having an aperture at the top and bottom
only, the air pipe being attached securely to the upper aperture, and the
bottom aperture being united to a vessel D in a similar manner, having
an open top, in which water is allowed to stand at a fixed level until
acted upon by the condensed air in the vessel C. The inlet valve d is

page_text: placed in the bottom of the air box or in an open chamber communicating
with the air chamber to let the water flow in from the top and escape
from the bottom as the water is drawn off from the cistern. On the
surface of the water in the open vessel D a float or air ball E is made
to rise and fall by means of the condensed air in the inverted receiver A,
Figure 3, by pressure of the head of water above it in the cistern
acting through the air pipe B on the surface of the water in the closed
vessel C, and causing the water to rise in the open vessel D in which
the float is placed, this float or ball being connected with the end F of
a lever or spindle G passing through the shank H of the high-pressure
cock, see Figure 1, which is situated outside the building or in the
lowest floor or basement, the rise and fall of the ball causing the
opening and closing of the cock. The lower vessels C and D, Figure 2,
may be united so as to form ane vessel having a central division open
at the bottom I to economize space; or an expanding vessel, the top
rising and falling by the action of the condensed air, and thus causing
the action of the ball, may be used without water in certain cases.
the ball rises in the open vessel D by its action a tube G₁ or hollow
lever connected with the spindle of the inlet cock and loaded with
mercury or other weighty matter, see Figure 4, is made to turn over
and discharge the weight to the reverse end, and thus cause a smaller
cock K or valve to open and exhaust all the water out of the supply
pipe J to the cistern, and by leaving the pipe empty secures it against
the action of frost, the evaporation of water in the vessel D contain-
ing the floating ball being prevented by having its surface covered
with oil. All the pipes and apparatus being proved to be air-tight the
apparatus is to be placed in the ground or coated with non-conducting
medium to prevent freezing when placed outside a building.
As
In more fully describing the Drawings Figure 1 represents the
inlet cock and lever full size, the dotted lines showing the position of
the lever when the cock is shut.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus, the dotted lines as in
the first showing the cock shut.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the air box A in the cistern A¹
with the connecting air tube B and overflow pipe B¹; B" is the top
of the air box, and B the open chamber; c, c, are apertures, and d
a floating valve.
Figure 4 shows the balance lever for exhausting the supply pipe J.

page_text: Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the herein-before described apparatus, as
herein mentioned and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, and
for the purposes already cited, reserving to myself the right of varying
or modifying the form of the several parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Geoghegan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,.
A. C. HENDERSON,
31, Charing Cross.
CHARLES GEOGHEGAN. (L.S.)