The earliest type of valve was a device that pressed a plug into a seat to stop water from flowing and retracted the plug to allow it to flow again. For much of the first 70 years of faucet development, there were two competing technologies: the compression valve that used a screw mechanism to control the plug, and the Fuller valve that controlled the plug with a lever and cam.

Compression Valves

The first practical compression valve was invented in 1845 by John Guest china touchless bathroom faucet manufacturers , a plumber, and the brothers Richard and Edward Chrimes Jr. owners of a foundry in Rotherham, England. The foundry, manufactured faucets (which were variously called sluice cocks, hydrants, and taps) and other devices that included the valves until its closing in 1999.

The earliest compression valves used a stack of leather washers as a plug. Turning the handle of the faucet raised and lowered a stem. The plug – called a seat washer – at the base of the stem, was pressed into a metal (usually brass) seat until water flow stopped. To start water flowing again, the plug was retracted by turning the screw the other way.

Anatomy of a Compression Faucet

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Over time the rubber or silicon seat washer will wear out permitting the faucet to leak. The good news is that it is very simple to replace the washer.

The screw action that opened and closed the valve worked well but also wore out the leather washers fairly quickly by repeatedly grinding them into the seat. Even after the switch from leather to rubber washers, the problem of rapid washer deterioration continued, abated only somewhat by improvements in washer technology.

The Fuller Valve

Fuller Faucets

A reproduced Fuller Lavatory Set in a Victorian style by in the company's famous hand-polished chrome. These faucets include modern quarter-turn ceramic catridges for Fuller valve functioning without Fuller valve maintenance.

Fuller's invention, patented in 1879, used an eccentric cam attached to the handle to press a grape-sized rubber ball into the seat. The cam took advantage of mechanical leverage to push the ball into place, shutting off the water.

Unlike the compression faucet that operated against the stream of water, the Fuller valve worked with water pressure to improve the seal. Since china motion sensor bathroom faucet suppiers the cam mechanism did not grind the rubber ball to stop water flow, the mechanism lasted much longer between repairs.

The cam required only about a half turn to bring the flow of water from off to full-on but precise control of flow volume was tricky and required a deft touch. Moreover, according to generally accepted plumbing lore, it could take a lot of force to squeeze the ball into its seat hard enough to stop water flow, especially as the ball wore down, so large lever handles were common to provide the needed leverage.

Brian Marrone, whose company, in Gladstone, Oregon, repairs and restores original fuller faucets, disagrees with this traditional view.

The large handles, he says, were ornamental — a Victorian-style preference — not functional. As the Victorian era gave way early in the 20th century to the Arts & Crafts movement in interior decoration, large levers disappeared. The lever handles on Fuller faucets were no larger than those found on compression faucets.

According to Brian, extreme force applied to the lever would deform the eccentric post at the end of the main stem, damaging the faucet. He writes:

I have worked on many Fuller valves at this point and most of them do not have terrible wear on the stems. The balls are all corrupted and the seats need to be honed but the stems are, more often than not, in fair condition. From this, I conclude that they were set up to not be forced.

Compression Valves Today

In the end, the Guest & Chrimes screw-type compression faucet won the day. Better design and improved rubber made compression faucets more reliable as time passed. By the turn of the 20th-century compression valves that required several turns to reach maximum water flow were being replaced by newer models that required no more than a quarter turn. This put much less twisting force on the compression washer, further reducing wear and extending the life of the washer.

Fuller ball valves, oem waterfall shower despite several improvements in the technology over the years, started to die out in the 1920s and are no longer to be found. Even replacement parts are becoming hard to find.

A type of compression valve called a "Bibb" valve can be found in outside faucets (which are called "bibcocks", "spigots", "wall hydrants", "hose hydrants", "garden valves" or "hose bibbs" — depending on where you live in North America — just a little plumbing trivia, for fun).Compression valves are still widely used, just not in home kitchens or baths.

Compression valves are also the preferred valve in restaurant and hotel kitchens where the ease of replacing the compression washer outweighs the nuisance of having to replace it more often.

An Arby's kitchen cannot shut down for a day waiting for a replacement ceramic cartridge to arrive by FedEx, it needs to be able to get a malfunctioning faucet working again right now, and replacing the compression washer — which typically takes about 10 minutes and uses parts that every plumber always has tucked in his or her toolbox — usually does the trick.

This is why the standard valve used by companies that specialize in heavy-duty faucets for restaurants, hotels, and medical facilities is a quarter-turn compression valve. The Chicago Qua­turn® quarter-turn valve has been in continuous use for over a century and shows no sign of going away any time soon.