IMPROVEMENTS IN BATHS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rob'. Griffiths, of 69, Mornington Road, Regents
Park, London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BATHS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rob. Griffiths at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1858.
I, ROB. GRIFFITHS, of 69, Mornington Road, Regents Park, London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BATHS," to be as follows:-
The construction of baths of such a form that they can be used as ordinary
arm chairs and placed within a vessel which is to be drawn outwards when
the bath is required and used as a foot bath.
Another part of my improvement consists in having a pump beneath the
seat of the bath, which is to be operated upon by the weight of the person
using the bath, the water thus forced by the pump is intended to flow over
the person in the bath through holes perforated through the pipes placed
along the edge, or otherwise for that purpose. It can also be used for a
shower bath by the continuation of a conducting pipe and the necessary
discharging apparatus over the head of the person using the bath, the pumps
for forcing the water may be so fixed and arranged so as to be worked by
hand by the occupier of the bath or a person in attendance.
When the bath is not occupied the foot bath can be drawn underneath the
chair bath, which can then be covered with any ordinary furniture covering, and
will then be converted into an arni or easy chair for ordinary use, or it may be
fitted with a pan and be thus converted into a night commode occasionally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Griffiths in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GRIFFITHS, of 69, Mornington Road, Regents Park, London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Griffiths, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Griffiths, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Griffiths, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BATHS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Griffiths, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Robert Griffiths, 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 accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist in the arrangement and construction of baths so
as to form a foot, hip, sponging, and shower bath, which may be used
separately, or jointly; or the shower bath, and consequently the force pump
may be dispensed with, in that case it will only form a foot, hip, and sponging
bath, and when it is not required for a bath will form an easy chair or night
commode which can be covered and cushioned with ordinary materials to suit
the furniture.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of its application.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents the bath as an easy chair and covered with chintz
furniture.
Fig. 2 represents the bath with the chintz covering removed and the foot
bath drawn out, the seat is also removed from the hip bath and the bent pipe
with shower rose head and curtain ring fixed, also the pump handle put into
its place ready for use. When the water is put into the foot bath the person
using it can by moving the pump handle give himself a shower bath, the
water being forced up through the bent pipe to the rose head so as to come
direct on to his head and body, or he may cause the water that is pumped to
flow out at the perforated holes around the back and up the centre of bath,
so as to flow over his body only. By reversing of the bent pipe provision is
made in that pipe at one end to stop the water going up to the rose head,
and at the other end to stop going to the back of the bath, or the bent pipe
may be dispensed with and a cork put into the opening when the water is
required at the back only. I have shown here an ordinary force pump to be
worked by hand, but I do not confine myself to this plan as I intend in some
baths to put in pumps constructed similar to a pair of bellows, with an exit
valve and a flexible or rigid pipe to connect it to the back of bath, thus pump
will be placed within the foot bath and put in operation by the foot of the
person using it, or the pump may be made of a hollow sphere, or any other
form, of vulcanized india-rubber, with inlet and outlet valves and flexible pipo
to connect it to the back of bath as before stated, and worked by the pressure
of the foot upon it.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into practical effect, I would observe that I
do not intend to restrict myself to the exact arrangements herein described
and shewn in Drawing hereunto annexed, as the relative proportion and
disposition of parts may be varied or modified without in any way departing
from the principle of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Griffiths, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ROBT. GRIFFITIIS. (L.S.)