IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER CLOSETS AND APPA- RATUS FOR CLEANSING OR FLUSHING THEM."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bailey Denton and James
Compton Merryweather at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
28th March 1879.
JOHN BAILEY DENTON, of Whitehall Place, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, and JAMES COMPTON MERRY WEATHER, of Long Acre, in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER CLOSETS AND APPA-
RATUS FOR CLEANSING OR FLUSHING THEM."
One part of our Invention relates to closets wherein the basin or pan and the
trap beneath are in one, the trap being ventilated by an outlet connected with a
pipe taken directly into the open air, and the soil pipe into which the trap
discharges by being continued upwards a considerable distance above its junction
with the closet outlet, it may be to the roof of the dwelling.
According to our Invention the basin or pan is separated from the trap by &
swinging valve or flap lightly hung in such manner as to be very sensitive in its
action, to shut off from the closet any effluvium or gas which may rise from the
excreta in the trap or escape from the sewer through the trap into the closet, and
to be readily moved from its seat by and for the escape of water, et cætera, from
the basin or pan, and readily closed up against its seat by air pressure in the event
of a down or inward draught from the ventilator.
Our Invention has reference also to apparatus for the cleansing or flushing out of
the basin or pan by a discharge of water from a small cistern which may obtain its
supply from the general tank or cistern of the dwelling, the quantity of water used
in each flush out being regulated by a ball-tap and syphon, which, acting together,
limit the use to the exact quantity required. To bring into full force this limited
quantity of water the short limb of the syphon is placed wholly inside the cistern,
while the longer one passes down to the basin or pan below; and to ensure action
of the syphon and cause it to discharge the required quantity we employ a ball or
float so adjusted that when it floats at rest on the surface of the water the level of
that water will be within a short distance of the crown of the syphon, and that by
wire, cord, or equivalent means the float or ball can be depressed and cause to
rapidly displace a bulk of water equal to the cubical contents of the portion thus
immersed and to let in more water at the same time.
The immersion of the float or ball and consequent displacement of water by
raising the level of the water in the cistern fills up the syphon suddenly, thereby

page_text: starting it, and water continues to run until the level in the cistern is lowered
below the end of the short limb of the syphon when all further discharge is
instantly stopped.
The capacity of the pipe admitting water into the cistern and that of the syphon
and pipe discharging water from the cistern into the basin below are so adjusted in
relation to each other that the quantity of water coming in shall be so much less
than the quantity simultaneously going out as to allow of the adjustment of the
quantity used for a flush-out.
Our improvements, as above set forth, may be used together or separately.