IMPROVEMENTS IN DRY CLOSETS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Phillips, of Heavitree, Exeter, in the
County of Devon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRY
CLOSETS."
Sealed the 17th September 1872; and dated the 18th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Phillips at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1872.
I, HENRY PHILLIPS, of Heavitree, Exeter, in the County of Devon,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRY CLOSETS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in dry closets. For
this purpose I employ a barrel or axis with a screw thread around it,
and set within a cylinder placed, it may be, horizontally beneath the
seat of the closet in such manner that the excrement may fall through
an opening in the cylinder on to the screw. There is also a shoot or
incline by which dry earth, or preferibly a deodorising powder, descends

page_text: from a reservoir, and is deposited in the same place. The screw is
turned round after the use of the closet, the excrement with the earth
or deodorising powder is carried on into the closed part of the cylinder,
and a further portion of earth or deodorising powder descends into the
open part, which is left free by the rotation of the screw. The cylinder
communicates with a receptacle, by preference outside the building in
which the closet is, and the excrement together with the earth or
powder is discharged into this receptacle. The only communication
between the closet and the receptacle is through the cylinder, which
is always completely filled by the earth or deodorising powder, so that
no smell or draught of air can enter the closet by way of the receptacle.
The deodorising powder which I prefer is fine alluvial silt mixed with
tar and dried at a high heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Phillips in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
PHILLIPS, of Heavitree, Exeter, in the County of Devon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Phillips, Her special license
that I, the said Henry Phillips, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Phillips, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRY CLOSETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Phillips, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Phillips, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in dry closets. For
this purpose I employ a barrel or axis with a screw thread around it,"
or with arms arranged spirally and set within a cylinder or casing
placed it may be horizontally beneath the seat of the closet in such
manner that the excrement may fall through an opening in the cylinder
or casing on to the screw. There is also a shoot or incline by which
dry earth, or preferably a deodorising powder, descends from a reservoir,
and is deposited in the same place. The screw is turned round after
the use of the closet, the excrement with the earth or deodorising
powder is carried on into the closed part of the cylinder or casing, and
a further portion of earth or deodorising powder descends into the open
part, which is left free by the rotation of the screw. The cylinder or
casing communicates with a receptacle, by preference outside the
building in which the closet is, and the excrement together with the
earth or powder is discharged into this receptacle. The only com-
munication between the closet and the receptacle is through the
cylinder or casing, which is always completely filled by the spiral
propeller and the earth or deodorising powder around it, so that no
smell or draught of air can enter the closet by way of the receptacle.
The deodorising powder which I prefer is fine alluvial silt mixed with
tar, and dried at a high heat.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.

page_text: is a receiver b; c is a hopper containing dry and powdered earth or
deodorising powder; it flows out of the hopper and down the back of
the receiver b, which is inclined at such an angle that the powder lies
upon it in a layer of moderate thickness. Beneath the open bottom of
the receiver b is the casing d containing the axis e; this axis, as shewn
in the Drawing, has inclined blades set spirally around it, or it may
carry a screw thread. There are two openings in the casing d, one.
coincident with the bottom of the receiver, and the other marked d¹, by
which the material from the pan a and hopper c are discharged together
down the trunk f, which, by preference, leads to a receptacle outside the
building in which the closet is situate; 9, 9, is wheelwork by which the
axis e is actuated from a handle by the side of the seat. As the handle
is turned the material in the casing d is discharged down the trunk f,
and the deodorising powder from the hopper c slides down the inclined
back of the receiver b, to supply the place of the matters carried
forward by the screw.
If desired, the action may be reversible so that the same apparatus
may be fitted to discharge either at the right hand or left hand of the
operator according to the situation of the building in which it may be
placed. Thus it will be seen that the operator by a turn of the hand can
discharge the matter outside the house, so that you may fit a closet of
this description on each of several floors one above the other, all of
which may discharge into the same trunk or shoot outside the house,
to fall into one easily accessible receptacle.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim the construction of a dry closet with a screw or spiral propeller
arranged and operating substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Phillips, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.