US416131A - Island - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

H. C. WEEDEN.

PLUSHING DEVICE.

No. 416,131. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.-

UNITED STATES nTnNT muon.

HENRY C. IVEEDEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE YVEEDEN SANITARY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF RHODE ISLAND.

FLUSHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,131, dated November 26, 1889. i

Serial No. 300,528. (No model.)

To all whom. t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. WEEDEN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flushing Devices for Urinals and Similar Structures, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to that class of devices for liushing the bowls of urinals and kindred structures in which a iiushing-tank is employed having an electrically controlled dischargewalve, and in which the actuation of the discharging apparatus is effected by elec t icity. Its object is t0 so construct and arrange such an apparatus in combination with the bowl to be flushed that the operation of liushing shall be produced automatically whenever the bowl is used and by reason of its use.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented a device for this purpose in the form now best known to me.

Figure l represents in elevation and partial 'section a front View of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a detail view of a portion thereof. Figs. 3 and 4. show modifications of a portion of the apparatus, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

In the drawings, A represents a flushingtank of well known construction, the discharge of which for the purpose of lushingis effected by means of a lever B, carrying the armature C of an electro-magnet D, which lever is connected to and operates the discharge-valve E of the tank.

F is the flushingpipe, which leads to and introduces the iiushing-water into the article to be flushed, which I have represented at G in the form of a urinal-bowl of ordinary construction. Y

The electro-magnet is connected in the ordinary manner with an electric battery II or other suitable source of electricity, and the wires which form the path of the current are represented atI I. At some convenient point I place the terminals of these wires I I, and in the drawings I have represented them as located in the discharge-pipe close to its junc tion with the urinal. As represented in the drawings, the device is intended to operate on the openscircuit principle-t-hat is to say, the

circuit is normally open, and is to be closed only when the 'liushing operation is to'take place.

I so construct, form, and locate the terminals J J of the wires I I that they shall be normally separated when the apparatus is at rest or not in operation, but so that theintroduction of iiuid into the urinal by reason of 6o its use will cause one of the terminals before mention d to be brought into contact with the other. IVhen this is done, the circuit is completed, the flushi-ng-valveis lifted, andthe operation of liushing is thereby automatically produced. Forconvenientlycarryingoutthis method of operation I make one of the terminals J so that it shall be movable and shall be moved by the introduction of fluidinto the Y urinal when used. I also so arrange the other 7o terminal J relative to this movable terminal that when the latter is so moved by the fluid the two shall be brought in contact, as before described. This may be conveniently done by forming the terminal J of a thin flap (see Fig. 2) hinged at its upper end and hanging normally by gravity in a position clear of the second terminal J', but in close proximity to it, and also across the path of the iiuid coming from the urinal, so as to be moved thereby 8o into electrical connection with the terminal J when the urina-l is used. It will be seen, however, that the precise construction and location of this movable terminal, so that it may be moved automatically by the iiuid contents 8 5 of the urinal, may be Widely varied without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, as shown in Fig. 3, an enlargement of the discharge-pipe may be provided where it joins the urinal, as represented at L, 9o within which the two terminals J J may be located. In this modification the movement of the terminal J to close the circuit andstart the flush is obtained by attaching` it to atilting spoon-shaped lever M, the bowl of the spoon being located within the path of the iiuid as it comes from the urinal.

At Fig. 4L is represented a second modifica* tion, wherein the bringing of the terminals together is effected by the use of a float carryrco ing the movable terminal J, which iioat is disposed in a similar enlargement L of the discharge-pipe. The operation of this device is that t-he introduction of fluid from the urinal,

raising,` the Water-level, carries the float, and consequently the terminal J, upward and into contact with the other terminal J As it is desirable for many reasons to do so, I have represented theilushing-tank as p rovided with a siphon. Any other form of tank or watersupply may, however,be substituted in which the production of a flush can be obtained by electric action. I have, furthermore, described and shown VVthe device as working upon the opencircuit principle; but it is obvious that the. closed-circuit principlemay be used instead, the two terminals being in that case so arranged that they normally stand in contact and that the action of the fluid contents of the urinal will separate them and break the contact. The location of the circuit-controlling device at the point shown in the drawings is desirable, because it'is thereby hidden from sight and protected from accident.

It is obvious that the wires I I and terminals J J should be suitably insulated wherever they pass in contact with electrically-conductive substances-as, for example, the metal of which the various pipes in the apparatus are ordinarily made.

Electrically-operated flushing-tanks have long been known and used which were operated by a push-button in the ordinary manner. Furthermore, I am aware that fluid has heretofore been used to form apart of an elec-v tricalconductor, and thus to shut off a watersupply. I make no claim herein to an electric tank or to any device whereby fluid is used to shut off water.

I make no claim herein to any method of operation, the same being set forth in an application numbered 303,758 filed by me March I8, 1880.

I claim- In combination, a flushing-tank, a bowl to be flushed therefrom, a flushing-pipe extendin g from the tank to the bowl, a valve controlling1 the outflow of water from the tank through the flushing-pipe, an electro-magnet, an armature therefor adapted to be moved when the magnet is energized, a connection between the armature and the valve, whereby said motion of the armature is adapted to raiseV the Valve, an electric circuit including the said electro-magnet, and a pair of terminals for said circuit located within the path of fluid introduced into the bowl from Without, one of said terminals being movable and adapted to be moved into contact with the other by theV impact of the said fluid upon the said movable terminal, all substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 12th day of February, A. D. 1889.

HENRY C. IVE-EDEN. lVitnesses:

JOHN H. TAYLOR, ELLEN B. ToMLINsoN.

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