A NEW OR IMPROVED SLOP AND TOILET PAIL
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Simpson, of the Office for Patents,
77, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED SLOP AND TOILET PAIL."—Partly a communication.
Sealed the 24th November 1857, and dated the 28th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Simpson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1857.
I, ALEXANDER SIMPSON, of the Office for Patents, 77, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED SLOP AND TOILET PAIL," to be as follows, (that is
to say):-
My Invention, which has for its object the construction of slop and toilet
pails so as to render them available as chamber commodes as well as for the
general purposes for which they are usually employed, consists in causing the
interior of the said pails to be fitted or furnished with a pan of earthenware,
or coated with the same or similar non-absorbant materials, and provided
with an air-tight lid or cover for the purpose of preventing the escape of
effluvia, the said cover being secured or removed through the medium of a
bayonet stop fastening.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Simpson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SIMPSON, of the Office for Patents, 77, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Simpson, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Simpson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Simpson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
'after 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 "A NEW OR
IMPROVED SLOP AND TOILET PAIL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alexander. Simpson, 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,
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 Alexander Simpson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to say):
My Invention, which has for its object the construction of slop and toilet
pails so as to render them available as chamber commodes as well as for the
general purposes for which they are usually employed, consists in causing the
interior of the said pails to be fitted or furnished with a pan of earthenware
or coated with the same or similar non-absorbant materials, and provided
with an air-tight lid or cover for the purpose of preventing the escape of
effluvia, the said cover being secured or removed through the medium of a
bayonet stop fastening.
But in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe it by the aid of the

page_text: accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures thereon
marked (that is to say):-
"
'
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of my improved toilet pail; Fig. 2,
a top or plan view; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section taken through
the dotted line in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a sectional side elevation of the spring
catch valve separately shown; Fig. 5, a front elevation of my improved slop
pail; Fig. 6, a top or plan view; Fig. 7, a detached side. view of the cover;
Fig. 8, an inside view of the same, showing the application of the elastic
washer; Fig. 9, a sectional side view of the pail with the cover removed;
Fig. 10, a sectional front view of a box furnished with my improved slop pail,
showing its adaptation for use as a commode; and Fig. 11, a top or plan
view of the same with the cover thrown back.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corresponding
parts. A, A, case or body of the pail; B, B, pan or inner lining formed of
earthenware or other non-absorbant material;..C, C, concave top or cover;
C¹³, C', cover of slop pail; D, D, spring catch valve for discharging the water
or otherwise from the concave cover into the pail and preventing the escape
of effluvia; E, E, spiral spring for retaining the valve closed; F, F, catch for
securing the same when open; G, G, thumb stud and box for actuating the
same; H, H, spindle valve, secured to the thumb stud as in manner shown;
I, I, openings or perforations in the fixed portion of the valve through which
the water escapes; J, J', and J2, handles; K, K, elastic washer; L, L, bayonet
stop fastenings, formed on an inclined plane, for securing a constant downward
pressure upon the elastic washer, and preventing the escape of effluvia from
the said pails; M, M, commode box; N, N, lid or cover thereof; 0, 0, seat;
P, P, ring handle for raising the same; Q, Q, hinges.
In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly note that
self-acting valves may be employed in lieu of the one represented at Figs. 3
and 4, by causing the water or otherwise to liberate the valve by its own
weight in passing from the conical top into the pail below, and to hermetically
close the same by retaining a small portion of the fluid within the valve seat,
whereby the necessity of pressing the thumb stud to open the valve, as shown
at Fig. 4, is obviated.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it clearly under-
stood that I do not intend to confine myself to the precise details herein-before
described, as the same might be varied without departing from the general
principle of these my said improvements; but that which I do claim as new
and of my said Invention is, the general construction and employment of slop

page_text: and toilet pails with a lining of non-absorbant material, together with the
elastic washer and spring catch valve, in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Simpson, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
my
Witness,
ALEXANDER SIMPSON. (L.S.)
F. R. DARKIN CAMPBELL,
Clerk to Messrs Weatherdon & Co.,
77, Chancery Lane.