GB2159187A - Water closet system - Google Patents

Abstract

A water-closet which uses relatively small quantities of flush-water comprises a flush-water metering vessel (11), e.g. of 3 &cirf& 5 litres capacity, which is arranged above a porcelain toilet basin (10) and connected thereto via a pipe (16). Water is supplied to the metering vessel (11) from an overhead supply tank (12). Inlet (19) and outlet (18) valves are interconnected so that one is open when the other is closed. An outlet (44) of the toilet basin (10) is connected to an adjacent end (30) of a discharge conduit (29). The outlet (44) and adjacent conduit end (30) for a water seal (44, 30) having the form of a recumbent-S. The other end of the discharge conduit is connected to a siphon system (13) which incorporates in the vicinity of the toilet basin (10) a closed collecting basin (33) so arranged that when a total volume of flush water e.g. 35 litres is collected, the siphon operates and discharges this as a plug into the sewer. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in and relating to a water-closet system The present invention relates to a water-closet system which can be used with relatively small quantities of flush-water.

An object of the invention is to provide a watercloset system which, although operating with small quantities of flush-water, will produce plug-like effluent flows with a high kinetic-energy content, so as to ensure efficient transport of the effluent to sewage lines intended to receive such effluent.

A further object is to provide means for ensuring a given minimum flow of flush-water to the watercloset of said system.

Another object is to prevent unintentional use of excessive flush-water in the system.

To this end this invention consists in a watercloset system which uses relatively small quantities of flush-water, comprising a flush-water metering vessel; a toilet basin which is connected to the metering vessel and also to a discharge conduit; and a siphoning means which is connected to one end of said discharge conduit, wherein the flush-water metering vessel is located above the toilet basin and spaced therefrom; wherein a water seal in the form of a pipe of recumbent-S configuration extends between said toilet basin and said discharge conduit and forms a part of said basin and a part of said conduit; and wherein the siphoning system incorporates in the vicinity of the toilet basin a closed collecting basin so arranged that a total volume of released flush-water of at most 3.5 litres affords a flow of water through the water seal and to the collecting basin of sufficient volume and duration to activate the siphoning means in a manner to empty the collecting basin.

Conveniently, the siphoning means enclose an inlet pipe, part of which extends vertically into the upper part ofthe collecting basin; a riser pipe connected between the bottom of the collecting basin and one end of a vertical fall pipe.having an inlet which is on level with or higher than the upper surface of the collecting basin; a substantially Ushaped pipe bend connected between the outlet of the fall pipe and a horizontal effluent discharge-line section located beneath the level of the connecting basin; and wherein the substantially U-shaped pipe bend is so connected with said discharge-line section that in the event of relatively small flush-water flows there is formed in said pipe bend a partially closing water-seal, while in the event of large flush-water flows the water-seal in said U-shaped pipe bend is fully closed, thereby initiating the siphoning of the contents of the collecting basin.

In order to ensure that the pipe bend never has to work against a back-pressure upstream of the pipe bend the closet system is preferably provided with a vent line between the inlet of the siphoning means and the outlet thereof.

To enable the toilet basin to be made more cheaply, the water seal is preferably not an integral part of the toilet basin, and hence the toilet basin preferably has a horizontal outlet pipe which forms a first part of the toilet water seal, the other part of said water seal being conveniently formed by one end of the discharge conduit.That part of the discharge conduit which extends between the toilet basin and the siphoning means suitably has a length of less than 3 metres, preferably less than 1.5 metres.

Conveniently, the discharge-conduit part has smaller cross-sectional area than that of the inlet pipe and the riser pipe in said siphoning means.

In order to enable the amount of water used in the system to be carefully controlled the aforesaid metering vessel is preferably supplied with flushwater through a supply pipe extending from a water tank located above said metering vessel; wherein there extends between the bottom of the metering vessel and the toilet basin a flush pipe having a flush valve incorporated therein; wherein a shut-off valve is arranged in the supply line to said toilet basin; and wherein the flush valve and the shut-off valve are arranged to co-act with one another, so that when one valve is open the other is closed, thereby determining the amount of flush-water delivered to the toilet basin with each flush.

The valves may be arranged to co-act with one another through a connecting rod which extends between a rotatable knob on the flush-water valve and a valve body in the shut-off valve. In order to simplify the manufacture of the porcelain toilet basin with respect to the flushing of water thereinto, the aforementioned flush pipe can be connected to a separate flush-water distributing and spreading pipe mounted in the vicinity of the rim of said toilet basin.

So that the invention will be more readily understood and further features thereof made apparent, a water-closet system constructed in accordance with the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of a water-closet system incorporating a toilet basin, a flush-water supply vessel and a siphoning means; Figure 2 illustrates a metering vessel having means for determining the amount of water fed to the toilet basin with each flush; Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional side view of the toilet basin illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a top plan view of the toilet basin of Figure 2.

The water-closet system illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a porcelain toilet basin 10, a flush-water metering system 11, a flush-water supply tank 12, and a siphoning system generally shown at 13. The supply tank 12 can be filled with rain water and suitably has a volumetric capacity of about 25 litres.

The metering vessel 11 suitably has a volumetric capacity of from 2.5 to 3.5 litres, suitably from 2.5 to 3.0 litres, which is considered a sufficient quantity of water to effect efficient cleansing of the system when using the water-closet system according to the invention. As shown in the Figure, the supply tank 12 is located above the metering vessel 11 at a given distance therefrom, and is connected to said vessel by means of a pipe 14. Extending upwardly from the metering vessel 11 to a location above the supply tank 12 is a vent pipe 15, through which air located in the vessel 11 is expelled to atmosphere as said vessel is filled with water from the tank 12.

The flush-water metering vessel 11 is connected to the basin 10 arranged therebeneath through a feed line 16 which extends from the bottom 17 of said vessel and which incorporates a shut-off valve 18 arranged to co-act with flush-water valve means in a manner hereinafter described, such as to supply a given amount of water to the metering vessel 11. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, the flushwater valve means 19 is incorporated in the upper surface of the metering vessel 11 and comprises a pipe connector 20 and a valve body 21 arranged to seat against a seating 22 in the closed position of the valve.As shown in Figure 2, the valve body 21, which here has a conical configuration, is seated on one end of a rod 23, which extends through the metering vessel 11 and the other end of which extends through a seal arrangement 27 in the bottom of the vessel 11, and is connected to the shut-off valve 18 located in the feed line 16 depending from the bottom of the vessel 11.

In the illustrated embodiment of Figure 2, the shut-off valve 18 is assumed to comprise a conventional ball valve, comprising a spherical valve body 24 mounted on a spindle 25. The spindle 25 is provided with conventional means (not referenced) which co-act with the rod 23 in a manner to convert the rotary movement of spindle 25 to a linear movement, such as to raise or lower the rod 23, and therewith the valve body 21, in accordance with the direction of rotation of the spindle 25. The spindle 25 is rotated by means of a knob or like device 26, and it is assumed that a 90" rotation of the valve body 24 is sufficient to close and open said valve, and that stop means (not shown) are provided to limit the angular rotation of the spherical valve body 24.Figure 2 illustrated the shut-off valve 18 in its closed position and the flush-water valve 19 in its open position. It will be understood herefrom that when the valve 18 is opened, to allow water to run from the metering vessel 11 to the toilet basin 10,thevalve 19 will be automatically closed, thereby to prevent replenishing of the vessel 11 as it is emptied during a toilet flushing operation. When the knob 26 is rotated to close the valve 18, subsequent to effecting a toilet flush, the rod 23 will be lowered, so as to open the valve 19 and refill the metering vessel 11. In this way it is ensured that each flush will only consume the aforesaid quantity of flush-water. Such a valve arrangement will also prevent emptying of the supply tank 12, if the stop-valve 18 should be left open unintentionally.

The siphoning system generally shown at 13 in Figure 1 has an inlet pipe 28, the inlet end of which communicates with the outlet of the toilet basin 10 through a discharge conduit 29 and an overlying water-seal 30 of recumbent-S configuration, which water-seal forms a part of the toilet basin 10 and a part of the discharge conduit 29. To prevent the water-seal 30 from being emptied by suction, there is provided a venting tube 31, extending between the crest of a loop of S-shaped water-seal and a location on the discharge conduit 29. Preferably, this conduit 29 has a length of less than 3 metres, suitably less than 1.5 metres, so that when flushing the toilet basin 10 a coherent liquid plug is passed to the collecting basin 33, to initiate activation of the siphoning means.

The inlet pipe 28 is connected through a vertical part 32 thereof to the top of a collecting basin 33.

Extending from the bottom 34 of the basin 33 is a downwardly directed outlet, which is connected to a riser pipe 35 which extends upwardly from said outlet at a selected acute angle relative to the horizontal. The riser pipe 35 ends in a pipe bend 36, whose invert constitutes the overflow level 37 of the riser pipe and is located on a level with or slightly higher than the upper surface of the collecting basin 33. A vertical fall pipe 38 depends from the pipe bend 36 via a constrictions means 39. At its lower end, the vertical fall pipe 38 connects to a U-shaped pipe bend 40, which connects horizontally on its outlet side to an effluent-discharge line section 41, which in turn may be connected to a sewer line (not shown).

The invert of the pipe bend 40 is somewhat higher than the line section 41 so that in the event of relatively small flush-water flows, there is formed in said pipe bend 40 a partially closing water-seal, while in the event of large flush-water flows the water-seal in said pipe bend 40 is fully closed. A vent line 42 branches off from the line section 41 and connects to the inlet pipe 28. The effect of this vent line 42 is such that a water-plug emerging from the pipe bend 40 never has to work against a backpressure in the sewer line (not shown). If a blockage should occur further on in the sewer line, preventing air in the siphoning means from passing freely therethrough, this air can be diverted via the vent line 42 to the inlet pipe 28, and from there be vented to the atmosphere in a manner known per se.

In order to reduce the risk of a blockage in the siphoning means, the inlet end 43 of the inlet pipe 28 is of larger diameter than the discharge conduit 29.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, the toilet basin 10 is provided with a horizontal outlet pipe 44 which forms a first leg of the S-shaped water-seal 30, the other leg of said water-seal being formed by the discharge conduit. With this arrangement, said first leg of the water-seal 30 also forms part of the sump of the toilet basin 10. Because the water-seal 30 is a separate unit and not an integral part of the toilet basin 10, such basins can be produced much more cheaply and of much simpler design than would otherwise be the case. In order to simplify the design of such a toilet basin 10 still further, the feed line 16 is connected to a flush-water distributing or spreading pipe 45, which is a separate element and not an integral part of the basin. As shown in Figure 4, the spreading pipe 45 is designed to follow the inner contour of the rear part of the toilet basin 10 at the upper region thereof, and is arranged to distribute the flush water in a curtain-like fashion along said rear part of the basin 10.

The above described siphoning means of the water-closet system has the following mode of operation. Liquid flows through the inlet pipe 28 into the collecting basin 33. Owing to the fact that the basin 33 and the riser pipe 35 communicate, the liquid finds the same level in both. The invert or overflow level 37 in the riser pipe 35 is substantially at the same level as the top of the basin 37. When the liquid in the basin has reached this level 37, an amount of liquid normally equal to the flow into the basin 33 runs over the overflow level 37 in the riser pipe 35. If this flow into the basin 33 is small, only a small quantity of liquid per unit time flows downwardly through the vertical fall pipe 38 and into the U-shaped pipe bend 40, which functions under such low flow conditions as an incompletely sealing water trap.Since the system operates under atmospheric pressure, the flow emerging from the pipe bend 40 is equal to the flow into the inlet pipe 28. If this incoming flow increases, e.g. because the toilet is flushed, the volume of liquid passing into the vertical pipe 38 also increases to an extent such that the water trap in the pipe bend 40 closes, in other words the cross-section of the pipe bend 40 at its lowermost point between the invert and crown is filled with the liquid. If the increased flow continues for a second or so, a coherent liquid plug will have had time to form in the pipe bend 40 and then leaves through the line section 41. A vacuum is thereby created in the vertical pipe 38, whereby liquid is sucked out of the riser pipe 35 and the collecting basin 33.This suction increases the flow through vertical pipe 38 to such an extent that the new liquid plug forms immediately in the pipe bend 40. Actually, these steps take place so rapidly that it is no longer possible to speak of separate liquid plugs, but rather a continuous column of liquid flows from the basin 33 through the riser pipe 35 and the vertical pipe 38 and out through the pipe bend 40 into the line section 41. This arrangement thus functions as a siphon until all liquid has been emptied from the basin 33 and air is sucked out into the riser pipe 35.

The siphon then ceases to draw, and the arrangement returns to its at rest state.

Although the siphoning means 13 has been illustrated and described in relation to a single watercloset, it will be understood that such a siphoning means may be arranged to serve a plurality of individual water-closet systems and/or other wasteliquid producing systems, such as baths, showers etc..

Claims (12)

1. A water-closet system which uses relatively small quantities of flush-water, comprising a flushwater metering vessel; a toilet basin which is connected to the metering vessel and also to a discharge conduit; and a siphoning means which is connected to one end of said discharge conduit, wherein the flush-water metering vessel is located above the toilet basin and spaced therefrom; wherein a water seal in the form of a pipe of recumbent-S configuration extends between said toilet basin and said discharge conduit and forms a part of said basin and a part of said conduit; and wherein the siphoning system incorporates in the vicinity of the toilet basin a closed collecting basin so arranged that a total volume of released flush water of at most 3.5 litres affords a flow of water through the water seal and to the collecting basin of sufficient volume and duration to activate the siphoning means in a manner to empty the collecting basin.

2. A water-closet system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the siphoning means includes an inlet pipe part of which extends vertically into the upper part of the collecting basin; a riser pipe connected between the bottom of the collecting basin and one end of a vertical fall pipe having an inlet which is on level with or higher than the upper surface of the collecting basin; a substantially U-shaped pipe bend connected between the outlet of the fall pipe and a horizontal effluent discharge-line section located beneath the level of the collecting basin; and wherein the substantially U-shaped pipe bend is so connected with said discharge-line section that in the event of relatively small flush-water flows there is formed in said pipe bend a partially closing water-seal, while in the event of large flush-water flows the water-seal in said U-shaped pipe bend is fully closed, thereby initiating the siphoning of the contents of the collecting basin.

3. A closet system as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the fall pipe has constriction means incorporated therein, to reduce the cross-sectional area of said pipe.

4. A closet system as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein a vent line is arranged between the inlet of the siphoning means and the outlet thereof.

5. A closet system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the toilet basin has a horizontal outlet pipe which forms a first part of the toilet water-seal.

6. A closet system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein that part of the discharge conduit which extends between the toilet basin and the siphoning means has a length of less than 3 metres, preferably less than 1.5 metres.

7. A closet system as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said discharge conduit part has a smaller crosssectional area than that of the inlet pipe and the riser pipe in said siphoning means.

8. A water-closet system according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the metering vessel is supplied with flush water through a supply pipe extending from a water tank located above said metering vessel; wherein there extends between the bottom of the metering vessel and the toilet basin a flush pipe having a flush valve incorporated therein; wherein a shut-off valve is arranged in the supply line to said toilet basin; and wherein the flush valve and the shut-off valve are arranged to co-act with one another, so that when one valve is open the other is closed, thereby determining the amount of flush water delivered to the toilet basin with each flush.

9. A closet system as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the valves are arranged to co-act with one another through a connecting rod which extends between a rotatable knob on the flush-water valve and a valve body in the shut-off valve.

10. A closet system according to Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the flush pipe is connected to a flush-water distributor pipe mounted in the vicinity of the rim of said toilet basin.

11. Awater-closetsystem which uses relatively small quantities of water substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

12. A siphoning system arranged and adapted for use in a water-closet system according to any one of the preceding claims.