Saving water in lavatory cisterns

We had an energy saving day at work today. Stalls at the staff canteen displayed literature about how to save energy, as explained by the library's power company.

One of the giveaways was a packet labelled Save-a-flush®, manufactured by KMA (UK) Limited. It has on it

Patent No 2319788

Patent No US 6243 886 B1

Sometimes it pays to look at patents from different countries for the same invention. The British patent application as found on Espacenet gives the inventor as Colin John Kerwin, and he and another as the applicants (who will "work" the invention). The American patent instead gives KMA (UK) as the applicant, information that might not have been known. What is not clear is how they got the rights -- was it Kerwin's company, did he sell the rights, and so on.

So, how does the Water saving insert for W.C. cistern work ? The perforated packet, a bit bigger than a paperback, contains beads rattling around. When placed in a cistern the beads absorb water and the packet swells in size. This means less water is used when flushing occurs, as the ball float rests on the packet. Here is the main drawing.

 

I recall seeing another product that did the same thing in a different way, Hippo the Water Saver®. Here the plastic envelope itself expands. They have a colourful website.

Comments

[Beef Recipes]

Simple and working well, what else could we ask for! Very interesting, always hungry for more great stuff like this, we're building a greener world one small step at a time!