WATER-CLOSET UPON NEW CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1778

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BRAMAH, of Cross Court, Carnaby Market, in the County of Middlesex,
Cabinet Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-seventh day of January, in the eighteenth year of His reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Bramah, His special licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Bramah, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein expressed, make,
use, exercise, and vend, throughout that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of
Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, my invented "WATER-CLOSET UPON NEW CONSTRUCTION;"
in which said recited Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Joseph Bramah, by writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within four calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, and the Statute in that behalf
nade, relation being thereunto had, may more at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso and in pursuance
of the said Statute, I, the said Joseph Bramah, do hereby declare that my said
Invention is composed and made in manner following, that is to say :--
The merits of this my Invention depends chiefly on two valves so situated
and constructed as totally to prevent the great inconveniences complained of
in every sort of water-closets heretofore made use of; one of these valves is
placed at some distance from the bottom of the bason in the soil pipe, or a led

page_text: box joined to the said pipe proper for receiving it; the the other is in the upper
part of the feeding pipe, or a led box which is joined to the said pipe and to
the reservoir; these valves being both actuated by one movement causes fresh
water to be admitted into the bason, at the same time its contents is
discharging. The intention and effects of the valve which is fix'd under the
bottom of the bason, is to reserve a proper quantity of water therein, and by
that means cuts of all communication of smell or stench which might other-
wise arise from the soil pipe, drains, or sesspool; this valve moves on a hori-
zontal axis, and in such a direction that its surface is the thoroughly washed
every time the contents of the bason is discharged, both by the water's falling
upon it whilst opening, and by its meeting the water when shutting to again;
the intent of the other valve being placed in the top part of the feeding pipe
is to cause such pipe always to be left empty, in order to prevent the bad
effects of the frost, which hath always been a complaint of water-closets; this
valve opens and shuts in a manner similar to that already to that already
described, all ways meeting the natural currency of water when shutting, and
falls from it when opened, and is not liable at any time to have its motion
obstructed by the frost, no part of it being immerged in water. Its movement
is communicated through a lead pipe or tube soddered into the part where it
acts, and is continued above the highest surface of the water in the reservoir,
so that this movement is not exposed to the water which is retained in the
reservoir, which is the particular advantage of this part of this Invention,
which hath not hitherto attended any other kind of water-closets, since all
valves, plugs, &c., yet made use of for this purpose have had their movements
in the water they are meant to retain; for which reason they were always
liable to be set fast by the frost, and thereby rendered useless during the
continuance thereof. The bason for this water-closet may be many ways
varied in shape and size, without prejudicing any of the essential properties
already mentioned. The Figure or Drawing hereunto or hereunder annexed
will more plainly shew the true nature and disposition of the parts of this
Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven
hundred and seventy-eight
Sealed and delivered (being first duly
stampt) in the presence of
JOSEPH (L.S.) BRAMAH.
JN° HOOPER.
RP JONES.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1778, the aforesaid Joseph Bramah came before our
said Lord the King in His 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 stampt according to
the tenor of the Statutes made in the sixth year of the reign of the late
King and Queen W and Mary of England, and so forth, and in the
seventeenth year
year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight.