Fig. 18.—Intermittent Dosing Apparatus made by Ansonia M’f’g Co.
A more simple type, however, is the inverted siphon arrangement, developed perhaps most completely by the Pacific Flush Tank Company under the Miller patents. Fig. [21] shows their ordinary design, the upper part of the siphon being replaced by a bell and the discharge starting when the level of the water in the long leg of the siphon has been depressed sufficiently to reach the curved part of the pipe. The principle on which this siphon works is as follows:
Fig. 19.—Simplest form of Automatic Siphon.
When the water rises in the tank above the lower edge of the bell, the air which remained between the water in the siphon pipe and in the bottom of the tank is confined, and, as the water rises, is gradually compressed. The effect of this compression is to force down the water in the long leg of the siphon and to hold down the level of the water inside the bell lower than the level outside. When sufficient head of water in the tank is secured, the water inside the pipe will be forced down to the curved part of the pipe, and, the siphon being so designed, the water level inside the bell will be just at the top of the same pipe, but on the outside. Any slight additional height then allows the contained and compressed air to escape around the bend in the pipe, suddenly relieving the pressure and allowing the water to enter the pipe from under the bell readily. Thus the siphon starts and continues to flow until the water level falls so that the air is drawn in under the bell. That stops the action of the siphon and the tank fills again. These siphons are generally sold in two pieces, the cast iron bell and the curved pipe being the factory product. At the plant they have to be set in place, generally bedded in concrete and properly connected with the outlet pipe. For a small installation a three-inch or four-inch siphon is ample, and will cost, delivered, from $10 to $15, depending on the freight.
Fig. 20.—Van Vranken Automatic Siphon.
Fig. [22] shows two siphons with auxiliary air-pressure chambers installed in the same chamber for the purpose of automatically diverting the flow from one bed to another. This may be done more simply by installing two ordinary siphons of the Miller or similar type. If one of these siphons is filled half full when the tank is empty, that siphon will discharge first because of the amount of water already present in the U-shaped tube. During the filling of the tank previous to its discharge, the other siphon will partially fill, so that when the tank begins to fill for the second time the second siphon is half full and the first nearly empty. In this way alternate action is secured and the discharge takes place as often as the tanks fill.
