Hints on the Water Supply of Small Towns and Villages (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877 Excerpt: ...to the cistern, and is thus exposed to the full pressure of the water. The party using the closet can keep the valve open as long as he wishes, and empty the cistern of its water in a few moments. Ordinary cisterns contain from 50 to 100 gallons, so that the consumer has it within his power to waste a large amount of water. The service boxes just mentioned contain from l to 2 gallons, a quantity sufficient to flush any properly constructed closet; and it is out of the power of the consumer to use more than one charge at a time. This is attained by arranging the valves in the service box so that they cannot be opened together. The inlet valve for passing the water from the large cistern into the service box is also made much smaller than the outlet valve which sends the water down to the closet. It will thus be seen that when the handle of the closet is lifted, the water in the service box is discharged with great rapidity and force, whilst, at the same moment, the inlet valve is closed, and no water can pass from the large cistern to the service box. On the handle being dropped, the box will begin to fill again, but so slowly that the party lifting the handle will not likely wait to repeat the operation of flushing the closet. A large number of service boxes are now in use in England, where their value as waste preventers is fully understood. In their details, there is a great variety, as nearly every maker has a design of his own, but the object aimed at is the same in all. One obstacle in the way of the introduction of service boxes in small towns, is the cost. The many improvements in their design and make unfortunately have the effect of increasing the price. A cheap and efficient service box can be made for a small extra on the cost of the cister...