US3067432A

US3067432A - Buoyant valve control means for flush tanks

Info

Publication number: US3067432A
Application number: US137170A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harry E New
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-09-11
Filing date: 1961-09-11
Publication date: 1962-12-11
Anticipated expiration: 1979-12-11

Description

Dec. 11, 1962 H. E. NEW

BUOYANT VALVE CONTROL MEANS FOR FLUSH TANKS Filed Sept. 11, 1961 INVENTOR HARRY E. NEW flaw My W ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,067,432 BUOYANT VALVE CONTROL MEANS FOR FLUSH TANKS Harry E. New, 118 Crittenden Lane, Newport News, Va. Filed Sept. 11, 1961, Ser. No. 137,170 2 Claims. (Cl. 4-67) This invention provides a new and improved arrangement for closing the buoyant valve of flu s l 1 tanks for toilets and like flush tanks, whereby the amount of water used to flush may be controlled. This invention is accomplished by the attachment of a flexible connector between the buoyant valve assembly and the flush actuating linkage whereby the buoyant valve can be pulled downward by the actuating linkage causing the buoyant valve to close at any time during the flushing cycle.

iln conventional flush tanks, the entire contents of the tank is discharged once the actuating lever has been operated. Various methods have been suggested for prematurely closing the buoyant valve by pushing it closed. The buoyant valve stem is loosely fitted in a guide which allows it to tilt from the vertical plane when the buoyant valve is open, thus creating friction between the valve stem and guide which assists the buoyant valve to stay open until all the water in the tank has discharged. It can be readily understood that pushing down of the tilted valve stem has a tendency to bind the stem in the guide requiring considerable operator force to close the valve. Addition of weight to the buoyant valve has also been proposed to overcome this friction. As can be readily understood the addition of very much weight to the buoyant valve would cause premature closing of the valve when a conventional flushing is desired.

It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide a new and novel means for prematurely closing the buoyant valve for flush tanks a any time during the flushing cycle thus allowing the operator to control the amount of water discharged, resulting in a considerable savings in water used.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:

(a) The improved valve control means can be easily and readily installed or removed from conventional tanks without altering the standard parts. The conventional operation of the flush tank is not aflected by the installation of the invention.

(b) The said valve control means is simple and inexpensive in construction being durable and flexible in adjustment to normal variations in conventional tank construction.

(c) The said valve control means is light in weight thus eliminating the addition of objectionable weight to the conventional flushing mechanism.

(d) The said control means is attached to existing parts of a conventional flush in such a manner as to pull the buoyant valve closed which reduces binding of the valve stem in the guide thus improving the valve operating efficiency.

(e) The said control means is easily installed and ad-.

justed with simple tools and easily understood instructions.

Other objects of the invention will be set forth in the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front vertical sectional drawing of a conventional flush tank for water toilets and the like.

FIG. 2 is a detail drawing of the invention mechanism attached between the buoyant valve stem and the flush actuating link.

FIG. 3 is a right end vertical sectional drawing of the essential parts of a flush assembly embodying the invention, the buoyant valve being seated in its valve seat and the actuating linkage in its normal inoperative position.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating the opened buoyant valve in flushing position. The flushing linkage is supported by the flexible connector attached to the buoyant valve assembly.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but illustrating the flush actuating linkage returned by the operator to its lowest position whereby the attached inventive flexible connector has pulled the buoyant valve to a position where it will be closed by the discharging water thru the valve seat.

FIG. 6 is a drawing of a modified collar having a lever attached whereby the position of attachment of the flexible connector may be varied to change the angle of pull.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a conventional flush tank T is shown. The tank is equipped with a flush out-let 11 located in the bottom of the tank and having its lower end connected to a bowl or the like (not shown) in any desired manner. The upper end of the flush outlet 11 is equipped with a valve seat 10, fitted with a buoyant valve 5, having a valve stem 4 loosely fitted in a guide 6. The valve stem 4 having a suitable loop or bend at its upper end is slideably connected by a loop in flush actuating link 3 to the flush actuating lever 2. The flush actuating lever 2 is controlled by the operation of an externally mounted handle 1 pivotally connected to said lever 2 by bolt 12. The filling of tank T is controlled by valve 7 which is opened and closed by float 8. Flushing is accomplished by pressing down on handle 1 of the flush actuating linkage which un-seats

buoyant valve assembly

4 and 5 causing it to float up against guide 6 until the water level 13 is lowered to the top of valve seat 10 at which time the incoming water fromfill pipe outlet 14 agitates the lowered water level causing buoyant valve 5 to reseat. The loose fit of valve stem 4 in guide 6 allows valve stem 4 to be pulled out of verticle line by the arc of movement of flush actuating lever 2 shown in its extreme upward position by dotted lines. This tilted position of valve stem 4 assists buoyant valve 5 to stay in its uppermost position until the water level 13 is lowered to the level of valve seat 10. Occasionally the agitation of the water by fill pi-pe outlet 14 is insufficient to cause buoyant valve 5 to reseat, making it necessary for the operator to jiggle the handle 1 to overcome the friction between the tilted valve stem 4 and guide 6 to cause a reseating of buoyant valve 5.

What has been described so far is the conventional mechanism and operation of flush tanks for water toilets and the like equipped with a buoyant valve to control flushing. The invention herein is shown in FIG. 2 which is a flexible connector 9 composed of a nylon ten pound test monofilament a attached at either end to brass collar b equipped with a screw adjustment 0 for positioning it when mounted on valve stem 4 and the rigid flush actuating link 3.

FIG. 3 shows the buoyant valve 5 and control mechanism in its normal inoperative seated position with the invention installed. The flexible connector 9 is installed as follows: The float 8 (FIG. 1) is fastened in an up position by a suitable hook or cord to prevent filling of the tank with water. Tank is flushed by pressing down on handle 1. Valve stem 4 is unscrewed from buoyant valve 5 and removed from the tank with flush actuating link 3. Collars b of connector 9 are then mounted respectively on the lower part of link 3 and on the upper part of stem 4, as shown in FIGURE 2, and the collars are held in proper position by tightening the screws c. The assembled wires and connectors are then reinstalled in the tank first by inserting the bent end of link 3 in flush actuating lever 2, then placing valve stem 4 in guide 6 after which buoyant valve 5 is screwed onto valve stem 4. The hook or string is removed from float 8 to refill the tank for restored operation.

The length of the flexible connector is adjustable as 1 e3 desired. A preferred length is equivalent to the length of free play between flush actuating link 3 and the valve stem 4 plus approximately one half the length of the distance between the top ofrseated buoyant valve 5 and bottom of guide 6. The connector can be made as a taught connection equivalent to the length of the free play of link 3 and the loop of valve stem 4 which would allow the connector to pull the buoyant valve 5 completely closed when handle 1 is raised. This adjustment while possible with this invention is not necessary to 'close the buoyant valve 5 since the discharging water thru the valve seat and discharge outlet 11 will pull the valve closed once the buoyant valve 5 has been pulled downward approximately one fourth the distance between the bottom of guide 6 and its seated position. The adjustment of the length of the flexible connector 9 affects the amount of downward force exerted by the flush actuating lever 2. The shorter the length of the flexible connector 9 the morethe force exerted on the buoyant valve 5 by the flush actuating lever 2. :It can therefore be understood that by adjustment of the length of the flexible connector 9 premature closing of the buoyant valve 5 can be prevented until the operator forces the buoyant valve 5 closed by lifting the handle 1, thus preserving the conventional flushing characteristics of the flush tank.

The flexible connector 9 is shown connected to the horizontal part of the flush actuating link 3 and the top of the valve stem 4. The positioning of attachment on the valve stem 4 may be lowered to reduce the free play between actuating link 3 and the collar of the flexible connector 9 resulting in an effective lengthening of the flexible connector 9 action on the valve stem 4. Similarly the position of attachment to flush actuating link 3 can be made. Thus it can be readily understood that a predetermined length of the flexible connector 9 can be adjusted to effectively close the buoyant valve of conventional flush mechanisms having considerable variation in free play design of the flush actuating linkage. While the attachment of the flexible connector 9 is preferably mounted as shown, its position of attachment and angle of pullon the flush actuating link 3 and valve stem 4 can be altered so as to increase 'or decrease the friction between the raised and tilted valve stem 4 and the guide 6 as may be desired. Further adjustment of angle of pull of the flexible connector 9 can be obtained by altering the design of the collar or suitable clamp or device having a. lever arm attached as shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 4 shows the buoyant valve 5 in its flushing position and the handle 1 releasedby the operator but supported in a partially down position by the connector 9. The downward pull of the connector 9 on the valve stem 4 is in the arc of movement of the flush actuating lever 2 pulling the valve stem 4 towards a vertical position resulting in a reduction of friction in guide 6. As previously described, by adjusting the position of attachment of the inventive flexible connector 9 improved efficiency of the closing of the buoyant valve is obtained.

FIG. 5 shows the handle 1 in its raised position and the buoyant valve 5 pulled one half way closed by the flexible connector 9. When in this position the buoyant valve 5 will be pulled closed by the discharging water thru valve seat 10 and outlet 11. A flush tank holds from three to four gallons of water. When approximately one and one half gallons of water has discharged after the -buoyant valve 5 has been opened, the operator can raisethe handle 1 causing the buoyant valve 5 to close. The rapid discharge of water from the full tank will cause the toilet to flush thus saving considerable water.

Having described the invention what is claimed is:

1. In combination with a flush tank having a flush outlet and a buoyant valve for said outlet, a control mechanism for said buoyant valve, said mechanism including a stem for said valve mounted in a guide bracket for vertical reciprocation in the direction of the valve axis, a manually operative pivotally mounted actuating lever mounted within said tank and having a handle portion outside of said tank, a rigid link member articulated with said lever, said stern extending through a lateral ring formed at the lower end of the link member and being slidable therein, said valve stem being provided with an enlarged head at the upper end thereof which is engaged by said link member to lift said valve upon raising of said lever, and a connection between said valve stem and said rigid link member to cause premature seating of said valve during a flushing operation, when saidlink member is forced downwardly by said lever, said 'connection comprising a flexible member connected at a first point to said valve stem near the upper end thereof and connected to said rigid link at a second point located below said first point; whereby depression of said lever during flushing operation applies tension to said flexible member through said rigid link and pulls said valve downw'ardly. k I v I I 2. A combination according to claim lwherein the connection of said flexible member at one of said points is adjustable to fix the extent to which said valve 'is depressed by said lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED ST 1 res PATENTS 2,583,468 Castellano Jan. 22, 1952 2,809,378 .Newton Oct. 15, 1957 2,908.9'14 Lasecki Oct. 20, 1959