IMPROVEMENTS IN EARTH CLOSETS
Year: 1870

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.LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN EARTH CLOSETS."-A communication from abroad
by William Harrison Newton, of Newport, in the County of
.
Newport and State of Rhode Island United States of America
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 24th November 1870, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EARTH CLOSETS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my.
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for.
the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the same is commu

page_text: nicated to me from abroad by William Harrison Newton, of Newport,
in the County of Newport, and State of Rhode Island, United States of
America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and 5
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed 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 :-
This Invention relates to a new mode of distributing earth over the 1
excreta or deposits, and is intended to dispense with the use of valves
and complicated mechanism heretofore employed in order to regulate
the passage of the earth from the hopper or receptacle in which it is
placed to the deposit box.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I 1
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a commode made in accordance with 2
this Invention and termed a "dry earth cabinet;" Figures 2 and 3 are
vertical sections of the dry earth cabinet, the former representing the
cover down and the latter the cover thrown back.
A is the lower part of the commode containing the pan B, and pro-
vided with a seat C. These parts may be constructed in any ordinary or 2
suitable manner and require no further description. To the frame A
of the commode is hinged at a a box or receptacle D, which serves as a
seat cover, but is also intended to contain the earth needed to cover the
fecal matter in the pan B. In this box there is formed a hopper E, the
lowest part of which is at the front of the box on the side removed from a
the hinge a, and the bottom thence slants upward toward the rear of
the box, the sides of the hopper also converging toward the same point.
At this point is situate the upper end of a tube or conduit F, which
extends down through the cover so as to open into the seat Ċ when the
cover is down. When the cover is thrown back the earth will gather in
what was formerly the highest but is now the lowest part of the hopper
and will be immediately over the mouth of the tube F, there being
space enough between the tube and the top of the box D to allow a
,

page_text: considerable quantity of earth to fall between them. If now the cover
be returned to its position over the seat the major part of the earth will
return to the bottom of the hopper, but a quantity of it will also pass
down through the tube and will thence be discharged through the seat C
into the pan B which contains the exereta. Figures 2 and 3 represent
clearly the different positions assumed by the earth when the cover is
thus operated.
The earth may be introduced into the hopper in any convenient
or suitable manner. I find a door G in the top of the hopper well
adapted for the purpose, and in order to prevent the cover when
turned back from going over too far a supporting frame H is used,
which is hinged to the upper part of the back of the cover and can be
brought out into the position shewn in Figures 1 and 3 whenever needed.
The commode or dry earth cabinet when of the form shewn in the
Drawings may be made an ornamental piece of furniture, and nothing in
its shape when the cover is down suggests the use for which it is
designed.
Although this Invention is here described as applied to the production
of commodes or portable earth closets to be used in rooms, yet the same
principal may also be used in the construction of earth closets con-
stituting permanent fixtures in houses or other localities, and, in fact,
is applicable to any closet in which earth is used to cover the fecal
matter.
It is obvious that the internal arrangement of the cover or upper
section D of the commode by which the discharge of the earth is insured
when the movement of the cover takes place may be greatly modified
without departure from the principle of the said Invention.
I do not therefore limit myself to the details of construction
herein described and shewn, but what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,―
First. An earth closet or commode in which the discharge of earth
upon the fecal matter takes place through the privy seat, and is effected
by the movement of the seat cover or earth receptacle, as herein shown
and described.
Second. The combination with the earth closet or commode of a scat
cover hinged to the same and provided with a hopper and discharge tube
or tubes, arranged substantially as described, so that at cach raising and

page_text: lowering of the cover a certain quantity of earth in the hopper will be
caused to pass through the said tube and the seat into the pan containing
the excreta.
Third. The combination with the hinged earth receptacle and seat
cover of the hinged frame for supporting the same when thrown back 5
from the seat, substantially as shewn and set forth.
Fourth. A commode or dry earth cabinet composed of two sections
hinged together, the lower section containing the pan and seat, the upper
section, the dry earth receptacle, and discharge conduit for the same, the
said parts being so formed that when the commode is not in use the 1
upper section may be turned down so as to cover and rest upon
the lower section, substantially as and for the purpose shewn and set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this Complete Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty- 1
fourth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
'seventy.