IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS, DRAINS, AND CESSPOOLS, AND GAS AND AIR TRAPS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM BELL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
July, One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles William Bell, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles
William Bell, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles William Bell, my exors, admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH WATERCLOSETS,
DRAINS, AND CESSPOOLS, AND GAS AND AIR TRAPS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Charles William Bell, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles William Bell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are full described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of constructing passages of india rubber in com-
bination with waterclosets, drains, and cesspools, and gas and air traps, in such
manner that they will allow of the passage of sewage and other liquids and
matters suspended in them, gases and other fluids, in one direction, and will by
collapsing prevent the return by the passage of vapours or matters in the
opposite direction.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section, Figure 2 an under side view, and Figure 3
a side elevation of parts of a waterclost having my improvements applied
thereto. a, a, shews the lower part of a watercloset. b, b, is the pipe by
which the soil and water are carried away. The connection between the
pipe and the lower part of the watercloset is to be made air-tight by any
convenient means. I prefer simply to employ a socket joint ring of vulcanized
india rubber c for this purpose, but other means may be resorted to. d is an
improved passage according to my Invention, the lower part of which is made
flat, and has at all times a tendency after opening to assume a collapsed state,
and yet when pressed by fluid above, the fluid will readily cause the collapsed
part to open. In order to make passages such as d of india rubber, and
give to them at all times a tendency to assume the collapsed state, I find the
best way is to take a tube or pipe of india rubber, and cause the part which
is to assume the collapsed state in use to be collapsed, and to be held firmly
in that form or state during the time when the process now well known as
vulcanizing of india rubber is being performed, or the whole length may be
treated in a collapsed state, and part thereof drawn on to the tube, by which
means the collapsed surfaces will be in contact during the process, and they will
after such process retain such form or set, and, if separated, will, when allowed
to do so, assume that state or form in which they were vulcanized, and the
contact will be such as to produce an air-tight joint, and thus will be formed
an air and liquid tight joint or structure, readily overcome by the pressure of
the fluid or liquid within in one direction, and close after the passage of fluid
or liquid, as above explained. And although I prefer to use india rubber for
of constructing such
purposes
I do not confine myself thereto, as
other matters may be combined with india rubber, so long as the india rubber
the
passages,

page_text: is still allowed to retain that degree or state of elasticity which will cause the
surfaces of a passage, such as herein described, to collapse by their own
clasticity when free to do so.
Figure 4 shews a section, Figures 5 and 6 au upper and an under
side view, of a grating or trap for sinks and other places, to allow of
the passage of fluids to drains or cesspools, and yet prevent the passage
of gas or foul air back through the trap. The grating may be of other
form than that shewn, or the parts where the gratings are may be simple
perforations or holes. The passage d, as in the former case, is made
with a part collapsed, as shewn in the manner and of the material above
mentioned. In some cases these passages may be placed in pipes, as shewn
at Figure 7, acting as air traps, or they may be employed simply as the end
of a pipe entering a drain or cesspool, as shewn at Figure 8, the part d
constituting the collapsing passage, as described in respect to waterclosets.
Like passages may be used for flexible air cushions and other articles
requiring to be filled with air or gas, but in such cases other means of
withdrawing the air or gas must be provided, the best means being the passage
of a tube through the collapsed passage, by which the air or gas will flow out.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood, that what I claim is the
nianufacture of collapsable passages of india rubber herein described, connected
with waterclosets, drains, and cesspools, and gas and air traps.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Bell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
CHARLES WILLIAM (L.S.) BELL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Charles William Bell came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.