AN IMPROVED PORTABLE CLOSET OR PRIVY RECEPTACLE FOR SANITARY PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert King, trading under the Style or Firm
of Tupper and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Galvanized Iron Manufacturers, for the Invention of.
"AN IMPROVED PORTABLE CLOSET OR PRIVY RECEPTACLE FOR SANITARY
PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert King at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th February 1872.
I, ROBERT KING, trading under the Style or Firm of Tupper and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Galvanized Iron
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PORTABLE CLOSET OR PRIVY RECEPTACLE FOR SANITARY PURPOSES,"
to be as follows (that is to say) :-
:-

page_text: My Invention consists in the application of an inner curved rim
placed below the top edge proper of the vessel or receptacle, and in
appearance presenting an annular sunken groove for the rim of the cover
to drop into after the manner of a lute joint, but I do not intend for
the inner rim to be attached to the vessell water-tight, but purposely
forming certain openings for any fluid excreta that flushes over the edge
of this inner rim to flow back again into the vessel.
The convenience of such constructed sanitary vessells is that they may
be moved about more readily and placed one above the other in process
of transit necessary in removing such vessels when filled to be discharged
and restored.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert King in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
KING, trading under the Style or Firm of Tupper and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Galvanized Iron Manu-
facturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, 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 Robert King, Her special license that
I, the said Robert King, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or
administrators,
such others as I, the said Robert King, my executors,
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 "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE CLOSET OR
PRIVY RECEPTACLE FOR SANITARY PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert King, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: 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 Robert King, 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 (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in the application of an inner curved rim
placed below the top edge proper of the vessel or receptacle, and in
appearance presenting an annular sunken groove, for the rim of the cover
to drop into after the manner of a lute joint, but I do not intend for the
inner rim to be attached to the vessel water-tight, but purposely forming
certain openings for any fluid excreta that flushes over the edge of
this inner rim to flow back again into the vessel.
The convenience of such constructed sanitary vessels is that they may
be moved about more readily, and placed one above the other in process
of transit necessary in removing such vessels when filled to be discharged
and restored.
But as my Invention will be best understood and illustrated by
referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, I will proceed to describe
the same, reference being made to the figures and letters marked thereon,
(that is to say) :
Fig. 1 is a top view of the receptacle or vessel with the cover removed,
which vessel is fitted with two strong handles A and B for the con-
venience of removing or replacing. The top edge C, C, C, C, is formed
by the ordinary mode of turning the metal over so as to engage a wire
strengthening ring, and to form a ledge or seat for the portable cover
hereafter to be referred to. D, D, is an inner annular curved rim, rolled
or formed in a suitable shape for its convenient attachment by rivetting
or otherwise to the vessel, while its inner edge rises upwards forming
a recess for the lower edge of the inner rim of the cover to fall into, as
will be understood by referring to Fig. 2, which is a section of Figure 1
taken through the dotted line E, E, of that Figure. In this view I
am enabled to show the general mode of constructing this improved

page_text: vessel or receptacle, which for convenience and endurance and con-
sequent economy I prefer making entirely of wrought iron, the
same being afterwards protected from oxidation by being immersed in
molten zinc or subjected to the well known process of galvanizing;
which has the effect of not only soldering and closing up the joints, but,
also of strengthening the vessel so treated. F, F, are the sides of the
vessel, to which are rivetted the handles A and B; the vessel is slightly
larger at the bottom edge for receiving the rectangular strengthening
hoop marked G, G, which holds and confines the disc H, H, forming the
bottom of the vessel, which may be simply strengthened by strips of
hoop iron rivetted at right angles across the bottom as here partly shown.
D, D, is the annular rim of iron referred to at Figure 1, the sectional
form of which as here shown I have found suitable and convenient, as
it presents a surface for rivetting and forms a recess for the lower edge
of the rim of the cover, as here shown marked J, to fall into, which rim
may be conveniently made of thin angle iron rivetted to a disc forming
the cover proper, marked K, and resting on the wire rim of the vessel
proper, marked C, as mentioned in Figure 1, and this cover I have
exhibited in a detached sectional view at Fig. 3.
Having described the mode of construction I will state that for the
size or proportion I have found vessels, say, sixteen inches deep and
eighteen inches diameter internally, a convenient size, but this measure-
ment as well as the general detail of construction may be varied without
affecting the use and purpose of such vessels made in accordance with
my Invention. I by preference make these vessels flat on the top for
the purpose of affording facility for their standing one on the other, and
for convenience of removal and transit when emptying and restoring the
same; and for which object should it be thought necessary a wire or
its equivalent may be applied or attached wholly or partially around the
outer edge of the cover K, as shown in dotted lines at M, Figure 3, in
order to keep the vessel placed above concentric with the one beneath it.
The rim D may also be varied in its sectional form as long as the object
described is preserved, viz., the forming of a recess for the rim of the
cover to descend into, and in which recess any suitable disinfecting
absorbing compound may be placed so as to form a material lute joint,
thereby thoroughly and completely preventing the escape of effluvia
from the charged vessels during the time of their removal, the cover

page_text: forming only a portable appendage to such vessels while being removed
(when filled) from privies and closets.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert King, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
WILLIAM LOACH,
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
ROB. KING. (L.S.)