Improved APPARATUS FOR DEODORIZING AND DISCHARGING FLUIDS, AND FOR TRAPPING SINKS, DRAIN PIPES, AND TANKS."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Millington Henry Synge, of the United Service
Club, Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Major-General Royal
Engineers, for the Invention of “Improved APPARATUS FOR DEODORIZING
AND DISCHARGING FLUIDS, AND FOR TRAPPING SINKS, DRAIN PIPES, AND
TANKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Millington Henry
Synge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th January 1874.
I, MILLINTON HENRY SYNGE, of the United Service Club, Pall Mall,
in the County of Middlesex, Major-General Royal Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DEODORIZING AND DISCHARGING FLUIDS, AND FOR TRAPPING SINKS, DRAIN PIPES,
AND TANKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to novel appliances for containing charcoal and
presenting it in such a manner as to make its filtering and deodorizing
qualities applicable to a variety of domestic uses,
.

page_text: In constructing a urinal suitable for chamber use and applicable also
to an invalid's chair I propose to make it of two, three, or more pieces.
The lowest piece will be a circular shallow box with a dished-shape
porous cover, and it will be filled with granulated charcoal. The top
piece will be similar to the bottom piece with the addition of a central
discharge spout, and it will also be charged with granulated charcoal.
Between these two pieces I propose to place two or more shallow boxes
for containing charcoal, and these I pierce both at top and bottom.
When these pieces are suitably arranged one above the other and
supported in a frame or connected by interlocking edges they will be
ready for use. The urine as it is discharged into the top receptacle will
filter down through the layers of charcoal and eventually find its way
into the lowest box, which may be removed from time to time and
replenished with fresh charcoal. The use of this filtering apparatus will
offer great conveniences for chamber use as it will permit of no odour
escaping into the apartment.]
The upper box or vessel while acting as a filter is an effectual trap
against ascending odours, I propose therefore to apply the same in
slightly modified forms to a variety of domestic uses. Thus, for
example, I use it as a cover for a chamber pail, and I line the pail also
with charcoal, inserting the same between a pierced lining and the shell
or walls of the pail. This form of pail besides being inodorous will
not readily foul with use.
The filtering box I use also as a trap for scullery sinks, which trap
will allow of the pot liquor running away freely, while it will effectually
prevent the return of the foetid smell pertaining to cabbage water.
This trap may also take the form of a funnel and fit into the drain
pipe below the roadway trap, thus a double check will be provided
against sewer gas or other noxious gas or vapour entering the house
through the sink drain.
In applying the Invention to a fixed urinal I allow the urine to run
directly from the pan into a tube or funnel filled with charcoal and
leading to a tank below similarly charged. The top of this tank will
constitute the floor by which the urinal is approached, and to it will be
fitted a filtering trap, which will receive the drippings and pass them
into the tank. This tank I propose shall deliver its liquid contents into
a lower tank fitted with a man-hole and connected by a syphon with a

page_text: still lower tank, which tank may discharge into a drain pipe leading
to the common sewer or into a well, where the liquid may be retained
and used for horticultural purposes.
The second and third tanks will be charged with suitable filtering or
deodorant materials, and to enable the syphon to act intermittently
without the liquid rising to the full height of the syphon I flatten its
upper or arched part and expand it correspondingly in a lateral
direction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Millington Henry Synge in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 20th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILLINGTON
HENRY SYNGE, of the United Service Club, Pall Mall, in tho County of
Middlesex, Major-General Royal Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Millington Henry Synge, Her special
licence that I, the said Millington Henry Synge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Millington Henry
Synge, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DEODORIZING AND DISCHARGING FLUIDS,
AND FOR TRAPPING SINKS, DRAIN PIPES, AND TANKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Millington Henry Synge, 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.
.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Millington Henry Synge, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to novel appliances for containing charcoal or
other deodorant, and presenting it in such a manner as to make its
filtering and deodorizing qualities applicable to a variety of domestic
uses.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation and
Fig. 2 in vertical section a urinal constructed according to this
Invention, that is, with a means of filtering, and a trap for preventing
the dissemination of odours combined in one apparatus.
The urinal consists of a cylindrical case a fitted with a vertically
sliding cover b, which gives access to the interior thereof. This case is
furnished with a lid c at top, on raising which a filtering funnel d is
disclosed. This funnel is composed of two inverted cones of pierced
zinc or other non-oxydizable metal set one within the other, and between
which is placed granulated or moulded charcoal, by preference that
produced by the burning of seaweed in a retort. The cones are formed
with a lip which rests upon the upper edge of the case a. Below this
filter d is a second filter e conveniently formed of zinc and having a
central opening covered by a pierced disc of metal. This vessel e is
provided with handles, and it is formed with a lip at its upper edge
which allows of its resting on a rib or internal flange connected to the
casing a. The vessel e is charged with charcoal which is covered by a
concave disc of pierced metal e¹. Below this second filter e is a pan or
other vesself resting on the bottom of the case a and intended to
receive the liquid passing off from the filters. This arrangement of
urinal provides for intermittent filtration, the urine being first received
into the conical filter d and passing thence quickly into the filter e,
through which it will slowly percolate and run into the vessel f. It will
be readily understood that as the charcoal has a tendency to absorb
noxious gases the intervention of the two filters will effectually prevent
the escape upwards of any odour from the vessel f.
Fig. 3 shews in vertical section a chamber pail with my improvements
applied thereto. In this instance i is a concave strainer composed of

page_text: two pierced plates of metal, between which is a filling of charcoal
which will form an effectual trap against ascending odours. This pail I
line also with charcoal, inserting the same between a pierced metal
lining k and the walls of the pail h. The pail may also be provided
with a tap 1, and besides being inodorous it will not readily foul with
use.
The filtering box shown at e, Fig. 2, I use in a modified form as a
trapped scullery sink which will allow of the pot liquor running away
freely, while it will effectually prevent the return of the foetid smell
pertaining to cabbage water.
Fig. 4 shows the sink in vertical section connected with a tank m,
into which the filtered water is received. This tank is connected by
means of a syphon n with a tank o provided with charcoal and fitted
with a pipe p leading to the drain. Both these tanks m and o are fitted
with man-holes to give access thereto. The sink q is charged below
its strainer plate with charcoal, as at r, which constitutes a filtering
trap. is a hinged cover fitted to the sink and lined with charcoal.
The syphon is flattened or contracted vertically at its arched part and
expanded correspondingly in a lateral direction. This modified form of
syphon I prefer as it will act intermittently without the water rising in
the vessel 12 to the height otherwise required to set the syphon in action.
Fig. 5 shows the filtering trap adapted to an ordinary stone sink, the
grating being capable of removal to give access to the interior of the
trap. This grating is formed of two flat perforated plates and a concavo
Between
plate set in a rebated portion of the outer shell of the trap.
the lower flat plate and the concave plate I insert charcoal, which will
act as a filter and serve to prevent the return of odours to the apart-
ment. This filtering trap is shewn as applied to a drain pipe at Fig. 6
and to a stable drain at Fig. 7.
t, Fig. 6, is the drain pipe, into the socket of which fits a funnel-shaped
piece u. To the funnel u is hinged a filtering trap provided with
perforated plates, between which the charcoal is inserted.
The stable drain, Fig. 7, consists of a cast-iron box to covered with a
grating to', and below this is placed the charcoal trap or filter x. The
box is cast with a central hole at bottom, which is surrounded by an
annular lip or flange, and over this is placed a dish pierced with holes

page_text: for the escape of the liquid from the box and containing charcoal or
other solid deodorant.
In place of the filtering sink I sometimes provide a kitchen slop filter,
as shewn in sectional elevation at Fig. 8. This is substantially the
arrangement of tanks shown at Fig. 4, the tank m in this case however
being fitted with a removable strainer q and provided with charcoal.
The liquid as it accumulates in this vessel m is passed by means of the
syphon n into the vessel o, which is also charged with charcoal; and by
means of a pipe p the liquid may be run into the drain or into a
receptacle to be reused.
In adapting my Invention to a fixed urinal I allow the urine to run
directly from the receiving pan into a vessel filled with charcoal and
leading to a tank or other suitable receptacle.
Fig. 9 shows a public urinal constructed according to my Invention,
where A is the receiving pan connected by a pipe A¹ to a filtering box B.
From this box the liquid drains into a tank C set at a lower level, and
from this tank it passes by a syphon D, by preference of the construction
already described, to a tank E containing charcoal. These vessels are
all fitted with man-holes to permit of ready access thereto, and in the
tank E the urine may be allowed to accumulate until the charcoal has
become charged with the salts derived therefrom, in which case the
charcoal will have been converted into a valuable manure. The
tank E may however be connected by a drain pipe with the sewer to
discharge the filtered liquid therein. The receiving pan A. I close by a
hinged cover F lined with charcoal. To make the rising of the cover
automatic I connect it by link rods G with a hinged footboard H, which
by means of a counterweight may be held in a raised position, as shewn
at Fig. 9. The depression of this footboard by the weight of the person
advancing to the apparatus will lift the cover F to the dotted position
and expose the receiving pan A. On the retirement of the person using
the apparatus the moving parts will regain their former positions.
Fig. 10 shows in elevation a detached or standard urinal divided into
six compartments, as shown in the plan view at Fig. 11. It consists
mainly of a central octagonal filtering box I, see Fig. 12, containing
charcoal and connected by a pipe K with a suitable receiving tank or
with the sewer. The boxes is fitted with a perforated plate, and above
this plate it expands laterally into an octagonal funnel, presenting one

page_text: side to each division of the urinal, the vertical division walls being made
of slate or sheet or cast iron as thought most convenient. By the use
of this arrangement of urinal the rise of foetid odours will be entirely
avoided.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved
Apparatus for Deodorizing and Discharging Fluids, and for Trapping
Sinks, Drain Pipes, and Tanks," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim,—
Firstly. The deodorizing and filtering trap and its various applications,
as above described.
Secondly. The apparatus for filtering and discharging liquids inter-
mittently, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Millington Henry Synge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
MILLINGTON HENRY SYNGE. (L.S.)