IMPROVEMENTS. IN COLLECTING AND IN DISINFECTING HUMAN EXCRETA AND CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE; ALSO IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
NICOLAS GOUX, of No. 49, Rue de Longchamps, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Agricultural Proprietor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date
Westminster the Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did grant
unto me, the said Pierre Nicolas Goux, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, the sole privilege of making, using, exercising, and vending
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS. IN COLLECTING AND IN DISINFECTING HUMAN
EXCRETA AND CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE; ALSO IN THE APPARATUS OR
MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN," within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, for and during
the term of fourteen years next ensuing: And whereas in pursuance
and performance of a proviso in the said Letters Patent contained I did,.
within six calendar months next after the date of the said Letters
Patent, cause a Specification in writing,, under my hand and seal, par-,

page_text: ticularly describing the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, to be duly filed in the Great Scal Patent
Office And whereas since the filing of the Specification of my said
Patent as aforesaid I have been advised and have ascertained that the
claims made by me to the use of the absorbents referred to otherwise
than as linings and to the several modifications and arrangements of
apparatus and the modes of applying the same, save and except when
combined with the use of the absorbent linings described in the said
Specification, are claims that are too extensive, and open to objection on
the ground of want of novelty or of utility as regards their general
application: And whereas I have also discovered certain clerical errors
in the said Specification which I am desirous of amending; I am there-
fore desirous of disclaiming the first, third, and fourth claims of the said
Specification, and certain parts thereof referring to the said claims, and
otherwise altering the said Specification to render the same consistent
with the claims as altered, and for the reasons aforesaid I am desirous of
amending the various parts of the said Specification; I therefore, for
the reasons aforesaid, strike out from the printed copy of the said
Specification, printed by the Queen's Printers, and published at the
Great Seal Patent Offico (which copy is herein-after referred to as the
said printed copy), of the words "the said," which occur in the thirty-
seventh line of the third page of the said printed copy. I also strike
.out the whole of the lines 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the
fifth page of the said printed copy of the said Specification, and I insert
in place thereof the following words, "Figures 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
and 24 represent arrangements or modifications to which I make no
claim." I also, for the reasons aforesaid, strike out from page 5 of
the said printed Specification the whole of the passage commencing at
line 28 with the words "fis a pipe," and ending at line 35 with the
word "compartment." I also strike out the whole of the passage com-
mencing in line 32, page 6, of the said printed copy at the words "as
herein-before," and ending in line 37 with the words "said Invention."
I also, for the reasons aforesaid, alter the word "residiums" in line 19,
page 7 of the said printed copy into "residuums;" and I alter the word
"carbonite," occurring in line 35, page 7, of the said printed copy, into
"carbonate." I also strike out the whole of the passage commencing in
line 28 of the same page 7 with the words "I thus reserve," and ending
in line 31 with the word "utilized." I also, for the reasons aforesaid,
strike out the whole of the paragraphs commencing with the words

page_text: Baid
"Figure 14 represents" at page 9; line 18, and ending with the word
"absorbents" at line 17, page 10; of the said printed Specification. I
also strike out the word "however," occurring in the 17th line of the
said 10th page. I also, for the reasons aforesaid, strike out from the
said Specification the whole of the first claim occurring in lines 29, 30, 31,
and 32, page 11, of the said printed Specification; also the word "second"
in line 33 of the same page, and the whole of the third and fourth
claims in pages 11 and 12 of the said printed Specification; and the said
Specification when amended will read as follows,. the preamble being
omitted:-.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Pierre- Nicolas Goux, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following, statement,. 'reference. being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
My said Invention has for its object the collection of human excreta,
and the conversion of the same whilst in the receptacles in which it is
collected into a valuable manure in a simple and efficacious manner.
In carrying out my Invention I employ a peculiar system of manure
producing closet, cesspool, or receptacle, in which I effect the immediate
and complete absorption of the gases and liquids contained in the fecal
matters by means of absorbent substances which are applied to the
bottom and sides of my receptacles before the fecal matters are deposited
therein, I employ, in preference, to fixed cesspools moveable receptacles
lined either by hand or by means of moulds in order to expedite the
operation with agents capable of absorbing the liquids and metallic salts
and of fixing the fertilizing gases.
I shall herein-after give a list of the different materials or substances
which I utilize for the purpose of fixing the fertilizing gases, which
substances are selected as being of themselves useful for vegetation,
whilst serving at the same time for the reception, preservation, disinfec-
tion, and solidification of the excreta.
manure is
By means of my process the nuisance resulting from the emptying of
cesspools is avoided, and an extremely powerful' and valuable, obtained
which may be used with as much facility as any of those hitherto
employed.
.

page_text: I may observe also that according to my system the emptying of the
receptacle and the production of manure are effected by the same
operation without filtering or separating the matters, the whole of which
are subsequently utilized, no portion being rejected.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheets of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 is an elevation and Figure 2 a vertical section of the mould
used when ramming the absorbent materials into casks or other
receptacles.
Figure 3 is an elevation and Figure 4 a vertical section of the casks
which I employ, and which may be of any required form and dimensions
for collecting the excreta.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of a mould of different dimensions.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a metallic receptacle which may be
of any desired size, and of a cylindrical or other convenient form.
Figure 7 is a vertical section of a mould used when ramming tho
absorbent into the receptacle, shewn in Figures 8 and 9.
Figure 8 is a vertical section and Figure 9 a plan shewing the arrange-
ment of the absorbents in a flat-sided receptacle.
Figure 10 is a vertical section of an oval mould used when disposing
the absorbents in the receptacle shewn in Figures 11 and 12.
Figure 11 is a vertical section and Figure 12 a plan of a receptacle
of an elongated rectangular form intended to be placed under the seats
of ordinary closets.
Figure 13 is a plan of a receptacle of an oval form intended to be
used in the same way as Figure 11.
and 24
Figures 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, represent arrangements or modifica-
tions to which I make no claim.
Figure 20 is a vertical section shewing an arrangement which may
be employed for the application of my system to a house of several
stories.
Figure 21 is a vertical section and Figure 22 a horizontal section

page_text: drawn to an enlarged scale of one of the receptacles shewn on a smaller
scale in Figure 21, and provided with a lateral opening.
Figure 23 is a vertical section of a modification of the preceding
arrangement.
'
And Figure 24 is a vertical section shewing a method of closing a pan
which may be placed over one of my receptacles.
a represents the absorbent materials disposed in the receptacles or
vessels b; c is the mould, and d its cover and handle; e are the handles
of the receptacle b; n (Figure 20) is a pipe for the descent of the
excreta, and is a large receptacle placed underneath the pipe n to
receive the solid and liquid matters combined or separate as they proceed
from the closets; p (Figures 20, 21, and 22) is a lateral opening for the
escape of the solid fecal matters into the pipe n, such opening being
closed by a slide q; r (Figure 23) is a valve closing an opening formed
in the bottom of a receptacle which is intended to be substituted for the
slide g; s are hooks which maintain the valve r closed. (In Figure 23
the red lines shew the said valve open). t, Figure 24, is a valve filled
with pounded charcoal, and closing the bottom of a pan of a watercloset,
and u is a hinged lid which also actuates the valve t, as shewn by red
lines.
As herein-before stated the object of my process is to immediately and
completely absorb the gases and liquids contained in the feces, and then
to preserve them from the action of the oxygen of the air in order to
prevent their fermentation, which produces noxious gases.
nlant
In order to absorb the gases existing in the feces or which might be
developed therein, and to fix the fertilizing substances therein contained,
I make use of chemical agents which have been already employed for
this purpose, such as sulphate of iron, of. zinc, or of lime, and others
which I shall herein-after mention; then in order to prevent the contact
of the air and avoid fermentation I employ any species of pulverent
bodies, giving the preference to such as from their nature are capable by
themselves of forming a manure, those matters may be of both an
absorbent, antiseptic, and disinfectant nature; even the agents used for
fixing the gases may form when it practicable so to utilize them an
integral part of the absorbents. These matters which are requisite for
the mechanical part of the operation will in almost every case act as
fertilising agents. These matters may be applied under many forms,
is

page_text: they may be more or less divided, cut, or pulverized, disintegrated or
dissolved, employed in their natural or manufactured condition, and used
in a dry or wet state as required.
I shall now indicate some of the mineral, animal, vegetable, or mixed
substances which when placed in the receptacles will directly absorb the
liquids of the feces and fix their gases. I may mention the following
substances as having been found to give good results in practice :-
Straw of all kinds, husks, straws, and dust from winnowing machines,
the refuse and sweepings of grain mills, residues of straw and fodder
lofts, stable litter, and straw from dung heaps, vegetable mould, dry
garden .mould, road dust, or sweepings, wood ashes, cotton waste of
spinning mills, the waste or dust arising from the operation of carding
animal or vegetable textile materials, seaweed or wrack, fodder from
natural or artificial meadows, reeds of the gladiolus ferns, mosses,
lichens, heaths, house, office, and workshop sweepings, old papers, mud
or dirt from town sweepings, paper, straw, or hay from packages,
feathers, and wastes of feathers, soap boilers' waste or lixivium ashes,
carpenters' shavings, flesh and blood, dried and disinfected bone powder,
carbonized and pulverized wool, woolen rags, dust from rolling mills,
cloth shearings, hair; also dust raspings, waste clippings of horns and
hoofs, short hairs, and wastes from tan yards, residue of fat or graves,
obtained
clippings of hides, glue residues, residuums in the manufacture of
Prussian blue, oil cakes of all oleaginous grains or fruits, sawdust, tan or
tan waste, charcoal, pulverized, pounded, or whole, under all its different
degrees and modes of preparation, and produced by all carbonizable
vegetables, dung, leaves of all vegetables, solid excreta of all domestic
animals, stable refuse, residium of expressed grapes, apples, or perry,
brewers' mash, residuums from starch works and sugar refineries in every
state.
I may here state that I may also employ the vegetable substances
herein-before described in a fresh or green state.
Amongst the mineral substances I may mention the sulphates of iron,
copper, baryta, lead, ammonia, zinc, potash, soda, magnesia, and
alumina or alum, sulphate of lime, chloride of manganese and of
magnesium, carbonate of lime or chalk, carbonate of lead or white lead,
nitrate of lead, pyrolignite of iron, acetate of protoxide and of sesqui-
oxide of iron, acetate of lead, empyreumatic oils, petroleum, nitric acid,
chlorhydric acid, black and red pyritous ashes of every description, coal,

page_text: wood, and peat ashes, carbonized earth, rich aluminous carbonized clay,
carbonized or dried alumina, wet clay, soot, peat, carbonized or in its
natural condition, lime, phosphate of lime, coprolite, apatite or phos-
phorite, sulphate of lime, vitrifiable earth, silicate of soda, felspar,
magnesia, nitrates of soda, potash, and magnesia, ammoniacal salts,
chloride of sodium, gas tar, either in its natural state or carbonized,
sulphuric and phosphoric protoxide and peroxide of iron.
In order to collect and absorb the fecal matters, I previously dispose
the absorbents herein-before described in receptacles made of wood,
metal, or other suitable materials, reserving to myself the right to vary
the forms and size to suit the position or the requirements of the
operation.
I have shewn in Figures 1 and 2 the description of metal mould
which I employ for ramming the absorbént materials into the casks
or receptacles, and which I consider most suitable for the ready and
inexpensive transport of the manufactured manure.
Figures 3 and 4 shew the description of receptacle which I prefer to
employ; it will be observed that the interior is lined with pulverulent
matters a, which are pressed in so as to form a lining which prevents
the immediate contact of the fecal matters with the sides or bottom of
the receptable b. The absorbent materials are placed in the receptable
by hand or by means of a metal mould or mandrel c, provided with a
slightly conical lid or cover d which facilitates the introduction of the
different substances employed for the absorption of the liquid or gaseous
bodies, and which are thus rammed in with facility so as to assume the
external form of the mandrel. These moulds or mandrels may obviously
be made of any suitable material, and be of corresponding form to the
receptacle required to be lined. It will be observed that my receptacles
are provided with handles e, by which to lay hold of them in order to
place them on carts to convey them where required. The various
absorbents herein-before mentioned may also be applied to ordinary
portable utensils or receptacles in order to obviate the inconvenience
which attends the present mode of emptying, returning thus if required
to the habitual conditions of working, whilst at the same time the fecal
matters are utilized by being converted into a valuable manure.
I have shewn in Figures 5 and 6 the mould or mandrill and metallic

page_text: receptacle which may be advantageously employed when the materials
and workmen necessary for the construction of wooden receptacles cannot
be readily obtained.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 represent a peculiar form of wooden receptacle
provided with its mandrill. In this arrangement the mandrill is of metal
and of a nearly cylindrical form; the receptable on the contrary is of
wood and of rectangular form.
Figures 10, 11, and 12 represent another form of mandrill and
receptacles intended to be applied under the seats of ordinary closets.
The receptacle is of a rectangular form, its height being limited by the
height of the seat. The mandrill is of metal and of an oval form in order
to facilitate the arrangement of the absorbent materials.
Figure 13 is a modification of the preceding arrangement, in which
the wooden receptacle is of an oval form. The object of the oval or
elongated form is to admit of the introduction into the receptacles of a
sufficient quantity of the absorbent materials which would be difficult
with receptacles of any other form on account of their height being
necessarily limited. I reserve to myself the right to employ also as
urinals my receptacles lined with absorbents by providing them with lips
to conduct the urine therein.
Figure 20 represents an arrangement which may be employed in order
to obviate the necessity for removing the receptacles which are placed
beneath the seat of the closet by the staircase in houses of several stories.
This consists in providing these receptacles with a lateral opening, as
in Figures 21 and 22; or an opening at the bottom, as in Figure 23,
communicating with a vertical pipe n of larger diameter and of the
same height as the building, such pipe conducting the matters into a
receptacle o placed underneath, or what is better still direct into the
cart or waggon intended to convey away the manure produced. By
means of this arrangement the urine which escapes by the pipe n may
be collected in a special receptacle which may be provided for this
purpose, in order to obviate the necessity for the frequent renewal of
the absorbents in the receptacles disposed on the different floors.
Figures 21 and 22 shew a receptacle in which the lateral opening p
is closed by means of a species of slide 9, by raising which the matters

page_text: arc caused to fall into the pipe n and into a receptacle o placed
underneath.
Figure 23 shews a modification of the preceding arrangement in which
the opening is formed at the bottom of the receptacle r, the valve to
close which is simply maintained fast by means of two hooks 8.
It is obvious that the external form and method of operation of my
apparatus may be modified, and that such means of transport may be
employed for the receptacles and the solid and liquid matters, whether
separato or mixed together, as circumstances may suggest.
Figure 24 shews a simple method of closing the closet by which all
cmission of smell is effectually prevented. According to this arrange-
ment the pan is closed by a species of valve t, which is operated by the
lid u, and opens and shuts at the same time as the lid. The valve t
itself consists of a species of box closed at its lower part by wire gauze,
and in which granulated charcoal may be placed, or any other substances
capable of absorbing the gases which might be evolved therefrom.
It will be readily seen that by the system or method herein-before
described a manure may be produced of a considerable fertilizing power,
whilst the salubrity of the dwellings and towns where this system is
applied are ensured, as fermentation is entirely prevented by the
putrescible matters being preserved from contact with the air, tho
human excreta being collected and preserved in the same manner as
those of animals.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the lining
with the said absorbents or their equivalents, by the aid of moulds or
mandrills or otherwise, the interior of the vessels or receptacles intended
to receive human excreta, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof I, the said Pierre Nicolas Goux, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of March One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
GOUX, PIERRE NICOLAS. (L.S.)

page_text: To the Clerk of the Patents for Inventions.
I hereby grant my fiat giving leave to the above-named Pierre Nicolas
Goux to file in the Great Seal Patent Office, with the Specification to
which the same relates, the above written Disclaimer and Memorandum
of Alteration.
J.D. COLERIDGE,
29th April 1871.
Solicitor-General.

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Pierre Nicolas Goux, of No. 49, Rue de
Longchamps, Paris, in the Empire of France, Agricultural Pro-
prietor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLLECTING AND IN
DISINFECTING HUMAN EXCRETA AND CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE;
ALSO IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
aled the 1st May 1868, and dated the 20th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Nicolas Goux
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th February 1868.
I; PIERRE NICOLAS Goux, of No. 49, Rue de Longchamps, Paris,
in the Empire of France, Agricultural Proprietor, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLLECTING AND
IN DISINFECTING HUMAN EXCRETA AND CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE;
ALSO IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:—
This Invention has for its object the collection of human excreta, and
the conversion of the same into a valuable manure in a simple and
efficacious manner.

page_text: According to my Invention I employ for collecting and treating or
disinfecting human excreta, receptacles or vessels of any convenient
form and dimensions, portable or otherwise, which receptacles are to be
previously lined so as to completely cover their internal surfaces with
any suitable or well-known absorbent and disinfectant substance capable
of effecting the immediate and complete absorption and fixing of the
fertilising gases and liquids contained in the fecal matter. Those
absorbents are, by preference, selected which possess fertilising properties
of their own and which tend to increase the richness of the manure
whilst they also serve for the preservation, disinfection, and solidification
of the fecal matter, these operations being all effected during the time
the fecal matter remains in the receptacle. By the time the receptacle
requires emptying the fecal matters will be in a fit state for application
to the land, and the whole, in company with the absorbent lining, is
discharged into suitable collecting carts or wagons which convey it
away.
In order to facilitate the lining of the interior of the receptacle I
employ a mould or mandril, by preference of sheet metal bent to the
desired form, which mould I place in the centre of the receptacle and
all round it tho absorbent materials or substances employed.
A'handle is provided on the top of the mould or mandril, and the mould
itself is made slightly tapered in order to facilitate its' withdrawal from
the rammed materials which surround it. The receptacle thus lined-is
ready for use again in collecting and preparing a fresh quantity of fecal
matter. The absorbents or disinfectant substances may be employed in
a more or less divided or disintegrated form, or may be used in the
form of powder or be dissolved and used either in their raw or
manufactured state, whether moist or dry according to requirement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Pierre Nicolas Goux in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 20th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
NICOLAS GOUX, of No. 49, Rue de Longchamps, Paris, in the Empire
of France, Agricultural Proprietor, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Pierre Nicolas Goux, Her special
license, that I, the said Pierre Nicolas Goux, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said Pierre Nicolas
Goux, my executors, administrators, or 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 COLLECTING AND IN DISINFECTING HUMAN EXCRETA
AND CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE; ALSO IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Pierre Nicolas Goux, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and, seal, 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 Pierre Nicolas Goux, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
My said Invention has for its object the collection of human excreta
and the conversion of the same, whilst in the receptacles in which it is
collected, into a valuable manure in a simple and efficacious manner.
In carrying out my Invention I employ a peculiar system of manure
producing closet, cesspool, or receptacle, in which I effect the immediate
and complete absorption of the gases and liquids contained in the fecal
matters by means of absorbent substances which, are applied to the
bottom and sides of my receptacles before the fecal matters are deposited.
therein. I employ in preference to fixed-cesspools moveable receptacles
lined either by hand or by means of the said moulds in order to expedite

page_text: the operation with agents capable of absorbing the liquids and metallic
salts and of fixing the fertilizing gases.
I shall herein-after give a list of the different materials or substances
which I utilize for the purpose of fixing the fertilizing gases, which
substances are selected as being of themselves useful for vegetation
whilst serving at the same time for the reception, preservation, dis-
infection, and solidification of the excreta.
By means of my process the nuisance resulting from the emptying of
'cesspools is avoided and an extremely powerful and valuable manure is
obtained which may be used with as much facility.as any of those
hitherto employed.
I may observe also that according to my system the emptying of the
receptacle and the production of manure are effected by the same
operation without filtering or separating the matters, the whole of which
.are subsequently utilized, no portion being rejected.
.And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
:shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheets of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a vertical section of the
mould used when ramming the absorbent materials into casks or
other receptacles.
Figure 3 is an elevation, and Figure 4 a vertical section of the casks
which I employ, and which may be of any required form and dimensions
for collecting the excreta.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of a mould of different dimensions.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a metallic receptacle, which may be
of any desired size and of a cylindrical or other convenient form.
Figure 7 is a vertical section of a mould used when ramming the
absorbents into the receptacle shewn in Figures 8 and 9.
Figure 8 is a vertical section, and Figure 9 a plan shewing the
arrangement of the absorbents in a flat-sided receptacle.
Figure 10 is a vertical section of an oval mould used when disposing
the absorbents in the receptacle shewn in Figures 11 and 12.

page_text: "
Figure 11 is a vertical section, and Figure 12 a plan of a receptacle
of an elongated rectangular form intended to be placed under the seats
of ordinary closets.
Figure 13 is a plan of a receptacle of an oval form intended to be
used in the same-way as Figure 11.
Figure 14 is a vertical section of a receptacle, which may be of any
desired form, in which the absorbents are simply inserted without
the use of a mould, and which is provided with a vent pipe for the
escape of the air contained in the absorbents.
.
Figure 15 is a vertical section of a stationary cesspool containing
absorbent materials.
Figure 16 is an elevation, and Figure 17 a plan of a urinal adapted
to the carrying out of my said Invention.
Figure 18, Sheet 2, is a vertical section of another modification of
urinal, and Figure 19 is a plan of the same arrangement.
Figure 20 is a vertical section shewing an arrangement which may
be employed for the application of my system to a house of several
stories.
Figure 21 is a vertical section, and. Figure 22 a horizontal section
drawn to an enlarged scale of one of the receptacles shewn on a smaller
scale in Figure 21, and provided with a lateral opening.
Figure 23 is a vertical section of a modification of the preceding
arrangement.
And Figure 24 is a vertical section shewing a method of closing
a pan which may be placed over one of my receptacles.
a represents the absorbent materials disposed in the receptacles or
vessels b; c is the mould, and d its cover and handle; e are the handles
of the receptacle b; fis a pipe intended to facilitate the escape of the
air contained in the absorbents; g (Figure 15) represents the absorbent
materials introduced into the stationary cesspool; h are the apertures
leading into the interior of the said cesspool; i is a réceptacle applied
to the urinal and contained in a pit ; (Figure 18); k is a perforated
metallic vessel placed on the top of the said receptacle, and I are its
projecting lips or flanges; m, m, are wooden or metal partitions for
dividing the urinal into a number of compartments; n (Figure 20) is
a pipe for the descent of the excreta, and o is a large receptacle:
placed underneath the pipe n to receive the solid and liquid matters,
·

page_text: combined or separate, as they proceed from the closets; p (Figures
20, 21, and 22) is a lateral opening for the escape of the solid fecal
matters into the pipe n, such opening being closed by a slide q;
(Figure 23) is a valve closing an opening formed in the bottom of
a receptacle which is intended to be substituted for the slide q; 8 are
hooks which maintain the valve closed. (In Figure 23 the red
lines shew the said valve open.) t, Figure 24, is a valve filled with
- pounded charcoal, and closing the bottom of the pan of a watercloset,
and u is a hinged lid which also actuates the valve t, as shewn by
- red lines.
As herein-before stated, the object of my process is to immediately
and completely absorb the gases and liquids contained in the feces and
then to preserve them from the action of the oxygen of the air in
order to prevent their fermentation, which produces noxious gases.
In order to absorb the gases existing in the feces, or which might
be developed therein, and to fix the fertilizing substances therein con-
tained, I make use of chemical agents which have been already
employed for this purpose, such as sulphate of iron, of zinc, or of
lime and others which I shall herein-after mention; then in order
to prevent the contact of the air and avoid fermentation, I employ
any species of pulverulent bodies, giving the preference to such as
from their nature are capable by themselves of forming a manure;
those matters may be of both an absorbent, antiseptic, and disinfectant
nature; even the agents used for fixing the gases may form, when
it is practicable so to utilize them, an integral part of the absorbents.
These matters which are requisite for the mechanical part of the
operation will, in almost every case, act as fertilizing agents. These
matters may be applied under many forms, they may be more or
less divided, cut or pulverized, disintegrated or dissolved, employed
in their natural or manufactured condition, and used in a dry or wet
state as required.
As herein-before stated, these matters are placed in the receptacles
in the manner and at the places most convenient; they may be mixed
and disposed in the most suitable order and proportions, and I reserve
to myself the right to vary the method of employing these products
as experience may suggest without deviating from the nature of my
said Invention.

page_text: I shall now indicate some of the mineral, animal, vegetable, or
mixed substances, which when placed in the receptacles will directly
absorb the liquids of the feces and fix their gases. I may mention
the following substances as having been found to give good results in
practice: Straw of all kinds, husks, straws and dust from winnowing
machines, the refuse and sweepings of grain mills, residues of straw
and fodder lofts, stable litter and straw from dung heaps, vegetable
mould, dry garden mould, road dust or sweepings, wood ashes, cotton
waste of spinning mills, the waste or dust arising from the operation.
of carding animal or vegetable textile materials, seaweed or wrack,
fodder from natural or artificial meadows, reeds of the gladiolus, ferns,
mosses, lichens, heaths, house, office, and workshop sweepings, old-
papers, mud or dirt from town sweepings, paper, straw, or hay from
packages; feathers and wastes of feathers, soap boilers' waste or lixivium
ashes, carpenters' shavings, flesh and blood dried and disinfected, bone,
powder carbonized and pulverized, wool, woollen rags, dust from
rolling mills, cloth shearings, hair; also dust, raspings, waste clippings
of horns and hoofs, short hairs and wastes from tan yards, residue
of fat or graves, clippings of hides, glue residues, residiums obtained
in the manufacture of Prussian blue, oil cakes of all oleaginous grains
or fruits, sawdust, tan or tan waste; charcoal, pulverized, pounded, or
whole under all its different degrees and modes of preparation, and
produced by all carbonizable vegetables, dung, leaves of all vegetables;
solid excreta of all domestic animals, stable refuse, residuum of expressed
grapes, apples, or perry, brewers' mash, residuums from starch works
and sugar refineries in every state.
I
may here state that I may also employ the vegetable substances
herein-before described in a fresh or green state. I thus reserve to
myself the right to use, the leaves and stalks of herbaceous: and
other vegetables of which the antiseptic action may be advantageously
utilized.
Amongst the mineral substances I may mention, the sulphates of
iron, copper, baryta, lead, ammonia, zinc, potash, soda, magnesia, and
alumina or alum, sulphate of lime, chloride of manganese and of
magnesium, carbonite of lime or chalk, carbonate of lead or white. lead,
nitrate of lead, pyrolignite of iron, acetate of protoxide and of sesqui-oxide
of iron, acetate of lead, empyreumatic oils, petroleum, nitric acid,
chlorhydric acid, black and red pyritous ashes of every description}

page_text: coal, wood, and peat ashes, carbonized earth, rich aluminous carbonized
clay, carbonized or dried alumina, wet clay, soot, peat carbonized or
in its natural condition, lime, phosphate of lime, coprolite, apatite, or
phosphorite, sulphate of lime, vitrifiable earth, silicate of soda, felspar,
magnesia, nitrates of soda, potash, and magnesia, ammoniacal salts,
chloride of sodium, gas tar either in its natural state or carbonized,
sulphuric and phosphoric acid, protoxide and peroxide of iron.
-
In order to collect and absorb the fecal matters I previously dispose
the absorbents herein-before described in receptacles made of wood,
metal, or other suitable materials, reserving to myself the right to
vary the forms and size to suit the position or the requirements of
the operation.
I have shewn in Figures 1 and 2 the description of metal mould
which I employ for ramming the absorbent materials into the casks
or receptacles, and which I consider most suitable for the ready and
inexpensive transport of the manufactured manure.
Figures 3 and 4 shew the description of receptacle which I prefer
to employ; it will be observed that the interior is lined with pulverulent
matters a, which are pressed in so as to form a lining, which prevents
the immediate contact of the fecal matters with the sides or bottom of
the receptable b. The absorbent materials are placed in the receptacle
by hand or by means of a metal mould or mandrel c, provided with
a slightly conical lid or cover d which facilitates the introduction of
the different substances employed for the absorption of the liquid or
gaseous bodies, and which are thus rammed in with facility so as to
assume the external form of the mandrel. These moulds or mandrels
may obviously be made of any suitable material, and be of corresponding
form to the receptable required to be lined. It will be observed that
my receptacles are provided with handles e, by which to lay hold of
them in order to place them on carts to convey them where required.
The various absorbents herein-before mentioned may also be applied
to ordinary portable utensils or receptacles, in order to obviate the
inconvenience which attends the present mode of emptying, returning
thus if required to the habitual conditions of working, whilst at the
same time the fecal matters are utilized by being converted into a
valuable manure.
I have shewn in Figures 5 and 6 the mould or mandrill and metallic
receptacle which may be advantageously employed when the materials

page_text: '
and workmen necessary for the construction of wooden receptacles
cannot be readily obtained.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 represent a peculiar form of wooden receptacle
provided with its mandrill. In this arrangement the mandrill is of
metal, and of a nearly cylindrical form; the receptacle on the contrary
is of wood and of rectangular form.
.
Figures 10, 11, & 12 represent another form of mandrill and
receptacles intended to be applied under the seats of ordinary closets.
The receptacle is of a rectangular form, its height being limited by
the height of the seat; the mandrill is of metal and of an oval form,
in order to facilitate the arrangement of the absorbent materials.
Figure 13 is a modification of the preceding arrangement in which
the wooden receptacle is of an oval form. The object of the oval or
elongated. form is to admit of the introduction into the receptacles of
a sufficient quantity of the absorbent materials, which would be difficult
with receptacles of any other form on account of their height being
necessarily limited.
Figure 14 represents a receptacle into which the absorbents are
introduced without the use of a mould, but in this case, as the fecal
matters may extend to the sides of the cask, and as they would thus
form a very impermeable surface, the air contained in the absorbents
cannot readily escape therefrom. With a view to facilitate the escape
of the air a small tube f is provided, such pipe having perforations
throughout that part of its length inserted in the absorbents, whilst
on the contrary the upper part of the tube which is in contact with
the fecal matters is not perforated on its circumference. This arrange-
ment, which is very simple, or any other similar plan will effect the
purpose intended without the use of moulds to ram in the absorbents.
I should observe, however, that this is a purely accessary arrangement,
as I-always consider the use of a mould in ramming-in the absorbents
as preferable to any other system.
Figure 15 shews a stationary or permanent cesspool containing such
a quantity of absorbents as may be considered desirable, and provided
with absorbent materials either mixed or disposed in alternate layers..
Figures 16, 17, 18, and 19 represent arrangements of urinals intended
for collecting urine. These consist of a cask i disposed in a pit j of
such a depth that the top of the receptacle may come the requisite

page_text: distance above the soil for the use to which it is to be applied. On
the cask i is disposed a perforated metallic vessel or tray k, slightly
conical in form, containing a sufficient quantity of absorbent material,
and intended to receive the urine direct and prevent the air from
coming in contact with that collected in the cask below. The vessel k
is provided, as shewn in the Drawings, with a certain number of lips
which prevent the urine from coming in contact with the outside
surface of the cask, and conduct it into the absorbents. Wood or
metal partitions m are shewn to enable several persons to use the urinal
at the same time.
The form and arrangement of the urinals may be varied according
to the place where and the particular use to which they are to be
applied. By the use of this system the urine may be collected without
the emission of smell, and its transport effected at less expence than
in collecting it on the absorbents. The urine added to my manures
serves to enrich them, and to render soluble the fossil phosphates which
may have been used as absorbents. I reserve to myself, however, the
right to employ also as urinals my receptacles lined with absorbents
by providing them with lips to conduct the urine therein.
Figure 20 represents an arrangement which may be employed in
order to obviate the necessity for removing the receptacles which are
placed beneath the seat of the closet by the staircase in houses of
several stories. This consists in providing these receptacles with a
lateral opening, as in Figures 21 and 22, or an opening at the bottom,
as in Figure 23, communicating with a vertical pipe n of large diameter,
and of the same height as the building, such pipe conducting the
matters into a receptacle o placed underneath, or, what is better still,
direct into the cart or waggon intended to convey away the manure
produced. By means of this arrangement the urine which escapes by
the pipe n may be collected in a special receptacle which may be
provided for this purpose in order to obviate the necessity for the
frequent renewal of the absorbents in the receptacles disposed on the
different floors.
Figures 21 and 22 shew a receptacle in which the lateral opening
p is closed by means of a species of slide q, by raising which the
matters are caused to fall into the pipe n and into a receptacle o placed
underneath.

page_text: which the opening is formed at the bottom of the receptacle r, the
valve to close which is 'simply maintained fast by means of two
hooks 8.
It is obvious that the external form and method of operation of my
apparatus may be modified, and that such means of transport may'
be employed for the receptacles and the solid and liquid matters, whether
separate or mixed together, as circumstances may suggest.
Figure 24 shews a simple method of closing the closet by which all
emission of smell is effectually prevented." According to this arrange-
ment the pan is closed by a species of valve t, which is operated by
the lid u, and opens and shuts at the same time as the lid; the valve t
itself consists of a species of box closed at its lower part by wire gauzė,
and in which granulated charcoal may be placed or any other
substances capable of absorbing the gases which might. bo evolved
therefrom.
It will be readily seen that by the system or method herein-before
described, a manure may be produced of a considerable fertilizing
power whilst the salubrity of the dwellings and towns where this
system is applied are ensured, as fermentation is entirely prevented
by the putrescible matters being preserved from contact with the
air, the human excreta being collected and preserved in the same
manner as those of animals.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the In-
vention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
First. The effecting the immediate and complete absorption of the
liquid and gaseous products contained in human excreta by the
employment of suitable absorbent substances, such as those herein-
before described, or their equivalents.
Second. The lining with the said absorbents or their equivalents, by
the aid of moulds or mandrills, or otherwise, the interior of the vessels
or receptacles intended to receive human excreta, substantially as
herein-before described.
Third. The various peculiar constructions and arrangements of

page_text: apparatus and the modes of using or applying the same whereby
human excreta are collected and the liquid and gaseous products thereof
are immediately absorbed, as herein-before described.
Fourth. The peculiar construction of urinals for collecting urine
-intended to enrich the improved manure and to facilitate the solution
of the phosphates, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Nicolas Goux, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of
August One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.