US367814A - Wash-basin stopper - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

P .R.JOH'NSON'. WASH BASIN STOPPER.

7 0o 00 9 ma u A d e t n e b a P. A 1 7 6 3 nw N IHHIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll I INVENTOI? WITNESSES.-

1 UNITED STATES; PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK READ JOHNSON, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

WASH-BASIN STOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 367,814, dated August 9, 1887.

(No model.)

To all whom it mayconcern/.-

Be it known that I, FRANK READ J oHNsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing inthe city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in VVas'h-Basin Stoppers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to stoppers of stationary hand'basinswhich are supplied with public water. 7

The objects of my invention are to render such stoppers automatic in their action, and thereby to render it impossible to overflow such basins with water, whether the faucets leak or the water (by oversight or otherwise) be left running,and to do away with the overflow holes and gutters of such basins, and at the same time to prevent the escape of sewergas from sewers and ccsspools into the apartments where such basins may be located. I

attain these objects by the simple mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which v Figure 1 is a vertical section showing the usual wash-basin and my improvement asapplied to such basins; Fig. 2, a vertical sect-ion of my device of full size and the bottom portion of the basin, to more clearly showthe relation of the device to the stopper; Fig. 3, a horizontal section of a part of the device, to

show the means of its adjustment to the stopper itself.

Similar letters refer to si milar parts throughout theseveral views.

A A represent the wash-basin; B, the wastepipe of the basin; 0, the stopper proper, 6 being the eye of the stopper, which, as stoppers are now used, receives one end of a small chain for inserting it (the stopper) into and drawing it out of its socket in the bottom of the basin. This chain I dispense with and insertinto the eye 0 of the stopper 0, quite loosely fitted there in the curved rod D D D, which rod acts upon the stopper 0 (to lift it, the stopper, out of its socket) as a lever of the second class, relating to which the point (1 of the basin, Fig. 2, is the fulcrum, and the portion of the lever D extending from d to the eye 6 of the stopper the short arm; D and D D extending from the eye 6 of thestopper to the center of the float E, the long arm, E being a suitable float attached to the outer end of the long arm, the weight to be acted upon andlmoved by this lever D D D beingthe stopper 0 and the water that may bear upon it. Upon the short arm D of this lever, and extending back to about the point (1011 the long arm D D, is provided a thread, upon which is worked two small adjusting-nuts, d d, and between which nuts is placed and loosely held on the lever the eye 0' of the stopper (,the object of these nuts being twofold-namely, to hold the stopper 0 in its place on the lever and at the same time to render the position of the stopper on the lever adjustable to basins of different sizes.

it is in this position the stopperO is water-- tight in its socket, and it makes no difference as to which side of the basin the float and its arni'may be placed, as it may be placed in any desired position around on the interior wall of the basin.

Of course, the float E may be made of any suitable material-as cork, light wood, Orhollow metal or rubber-and it may be made in any desired form, as flat, oval, or round.

The operation of my invention is briefly described thus: .When the water rises in the basin any higherthan by the adjustment of the device it is intended it should rise, the float rises into or ncar the position indicated by the dotted lines of its form in Fig. l, which lifts the stopper, and thus allows the surplus water to escape through the waste-pipe 13, instead of its escaping, as heretofore, through the overflow-holesf f, Fig. 1. NVhen the surplus water runs out, the float falls and closes thestopper by lowering it into position, thus retaining in the basin as much water as it is ever intended it shall contain for use, and cutting off at the same'time the sewer-gas, except when the stopper is removed by hand to empty the basin of all its contents.

By means of my invention above described certain advantages are gained besides the general object of an automatic stopper: First, the float is held at one side of the basin andis thus kept out of the way; second, the lever being curvedthroughout its length causes itto conform to the shape of the basin and to be as much as possible out of the way; third, the float acting upon the long arm of the most advantageous lever, and with so great a difference between the two respective arms of the same, it gives the float E sueha power over the stopper as to completely control it; fourth, the motion of the stopper is so much less than that of the float that the stopper is not, in practice, drawn entirely out of its socket before the water will escape from the basin and allow the float to lower it into place, hence it automatically keeps its own position; fifth, the float E and lever D D serve a convenience as a handle (instead of the chain usually employed) for removing and replacing the stopper; sixth, itrcnders the overflowholesff and guttcrfj" wholly useless, as indicated by the drawings, Fig. 1; seventh, it wholly prevents the escape of sewcr-gas from the sewers, except when the stopper is removed by hand to empty the basin; eighth, it prevents all possibility of the overflow of the basin, which is not the ease with the overflow-holes usually employed, for the gutterff often becomes choked up with dirt, which cannot be easily removed. Besides, by means of my device a continuous stream of water may be allowed to flow into the basin at all times without removing the stopper by hand, whether or not the basin is being practically used at the timefor personal ablutions or for other cleansing purposes, whereby such ablutions can be performed in a continuouslyruuning stream of clean water, it being the case that the basin will contain no more and no less than a practical quantity of water while the apparatus is in position and the water is running, whether the stream be large or small.

I am aware that floats attached to float-arms for automatically opening the discbargepipe of hand wash-basins have been employed, as in the ease of Patent No. 308,307, granted to l\.'fathew T. Deegan, November 18, 1884-; also, in the ease of Patent No. 347,390, granted to Benjamin F. Smith, August 17, 1886, in which hinged stoppers or valves are employed and thrown open by the action of springs attached thereto after they (the stoppers or valves) have been released by the action of the floats from locks which hold the said stoppers or valves in place against the action of said springs, which render said valves automatic only in opening, but not in closing, the discharge-pipe of basins. Therefore I do not claim, lnroadly, the use of mere floats and float-arms in connection with stoppers of wash-basins irrespective of the particular arrangement employed in the combination of the several parts; but,

Having described the peculiararrangement of the several parts employed in my device and pointed out the usefulness of my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In stationary hand wash-basins, thecombination of the floatll, lever D D D, andstopper 0, the stopper being loosely suspended upon the lever at the movable extremity of the short arm, and the long arm D I) I), having for its fulcrum simple contact upon the interior surface of the basin, in the manner set forth, whereby in use the stopper is gradually raised and lowered by the float-lever, and whereby the whole device can be rotated in a horizontal circle within the basin and be freely (letached therefrom, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In stationary hand wash-basins, the combination of the float E, lever D D D, stopper 0, and adjusting-nuts (Z (1, the stopper being loosely suspended upon the lever at the movable cxtremity of its short arm, and the long arm I) D D, having for its fulcrum simplccontact upon theinteriorsurfacc of thebasin, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

FRANK READ JOHNSON.

\Vitnesscs:

F. G. JonNsoN, O. W. Fiscnnn.

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