IMPROVEMENTS IN · WATERCLOSETS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Philip Buchan, of the Town and County
of Southampton, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ·
WATERCLOSETS."
Sealed the 13th March 1874, and dated the 10th October 1873.

page_text: organic matter at each use of the closet. At the top and bottom of the
cylinder are two taps so arranged that when the top tap is shut the
bottom one is open, and vice versâ; to each tap is a lever with a slit in
it and the two are connected with an iron rod the bottom end of which
is attached to the handle or lever of the closet, so that when the handle
is lifted to empty the contents of the pan the two taps are not in
action; the top tap is opened to allow the disinfecting fluid from the
reservoir to fill the cylinder, but the bottom tap is shut so that it cannot
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Philip Buchan in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
PHILIP BUCHAN, of the Town and County of Southampton, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Philip Buchan,
Her special license that I, the said Henry Philip Buchan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Philip Buchan, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERCLOSETS," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Philip Buchan, my executors,
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or 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 Henry Philip Buchan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to apply disinfecting fluid to water-
closets.
The apparatus used for this purpose can be fixed either above or below
the seat of the closet, and is connected with a reservoir containing the
disinfecting fluid. It consists of a small cylinder of sufficient capacity
to hold enough disinfecting fluid to destroy all noxious gases and organic
matter at each use of the closet. At the two ends of the cylinder arc
two taps, so arranged that when one tap is shut the other is open, and
vice versa. On the plug of each tap is a lever, and the two are connected
with an iron rod which is coupled to the handle or lever of the closet, so
that when the handle is lifted to empty the contents of the pan one tap
is opened to allow the disinfecting fluid from the reservoir to fill the
cylinder, but the other tap is shut so that it cannot escape.
When the handle is let down the reverse action takes place, and the
fluid in the cylinder is discharged and conducted by a small pipe to the
pan, valve, trap, or drain.
An air pipe is provided at the top of the cylinder to allow the air to
escape whilst it is being filled with the fluid.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I have shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed an
apparatus constructed according to my Invention for supplying disin-
fecting fluid to waterclosets.

page_text: J
seat pan and pull-up apparatus of a watercloset as is necessary to explain
its action.
In these Figures A is the small cylinder or vessel; B, B¹, two taps,
one at each end of the cylinder. On the plug of each tap is a lever armı
jointed to a connecting rod C. At the centre of this rod is carried a
pin D, which is connected by the connecting rod E with a crank F, and
this crank is connected by the rod G to the lever, by which the pan valve
is opened and closed, and to which the ordinary pull-up handle is
connected. By this means, when the handle of the closet is raised, the
tap B is opened, and the tap B' closed, and when the handle is lowered
the position of the taps is reversed. From the tap B a pipe K passes to
the bottom of a small supply cistern H containing a supply of disinfecting
fluid, so that when the tap B is opened the cylinder A fills with
disinfecting fluid, there being an air pipe A' rising up from the cylinder
to allow air to escape from it, and this pipe is turned over at its upper
end to overhang the cistern H, so that any liquid rising up it quickly
may if jerked out from its upper end be received back again into the
tank. From the tap B' a pipe L passes to the pan of the closet or into
the end of the water supply pipe.
The cistern together with the cylinder A, and the taps, levers, and
rods are enclosed in a wooden casing, not shewn in the Drawing, and
this casing is constructed so that any part of the apparatus can readily
be got at.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When the apparatus is at
rest, that is, before the closet is used, the tap B is closed, so that no
fluid comes into the cylinder from the cistern H. When the handle of
the closet is raised the tap B' is closed, and the tap B opened; the
cylinder A and air pipe rising from it then become filled with liquid.
When the handle is again lowered the tap B' is opened, and the tap B
closed; the disinfecting fluid in the cylinder A and air pipe then flows
by gravitation through the pipe L into the pan of the closet. A sectional
view taken through the plugs of the two taps B, B', in their two
positions is shewn at Figure 3.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would state that I do not confine myself to the
precise construction of the apparatus as shewn in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, as various modifications may be made in its construction, as for

page_text: example, the cylinder A in place of being mounted horizontally may be
mounted vertically, and the taps at its two ends may then be worked
directly by a rod rising up from the lever, by which the pan valve is
opened and closed, and to which the ordinary pull-up handle is connected;
but what I claim is, the combined arrangement of apparatus, substantially
as herein described, for supplying disinfecting liquid to the pans of
watamalarats
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Philip Buchan, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
HENRY PHILIP BUCHAN. (L.S.)