CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO WATERCLOSETS
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, I, JAMES
VINEY, of Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight, Colonel in the Royal Artillery,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Sixth day of May, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Viney. His especial licence, that I, the said James Viney, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Viney, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His said Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO
WATERCLOSETS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said James Viney, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will moro fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Viney, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My said Invention of Certain Improvements in and Additions to Water-
closets, consists in so forming the basons of the closets as that the soil, &c.,
deposited therein at the times of using them shall be as quickly and as
completely removed out of the dwelling houses or other places where the
closets are erected as may be, in a more effectual manner than in the generality
of the waterclosets now in use, and at a less expense; and in order to accom-
plish this desirable object, I cause the said basons and the pipes which convey
away the soil, &c., to be formed with a very considerable declivity, so that
when the water is thrown into the bason by my improved method, as will be
hereafter described, the whole of the said soil, &c., is rapidly carried off in the
stream caused thereby. In order, however, to afford an example of a method
of carrying my said Invention into effect, I shall proceed to describe the various
Figures contained in the Drawing, which, as aforesaid, is annexed to this
Specification, and in all of which said Figures the same letters of reference
indicate the similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a side view and sections of the different parts; Fig. 2 a plan and
sections thereof; Fig. 3 a front elevation and section, and Fig. 4 an elevation
of some of the parts. A is the bason, made of earthenware or any other fit
and proper material or materials; it is here, however, shewn as being made
of earthenware. B, the pipe, which conveys away the water and the soil, &c.,
mixed with it, into an upright trunk, rain water pipe, or other pipe C,
which is affixed against the outside wall of the house, &c., reaching to
the bottom and from thence to the sewers, &c., &c., and communicating
with the open air at its top. D is another pipe, which descends from
a cistern or other reservoir of water placed at a proper height above the
closet to produce the required effect, and which said pipe D is furnished
with a conical valve, lever, and weight in the usual manner of fitting up
such pipes in the cisterns of water closets, and need not therefore be described
herein. This pipe D branches off into two arms E, E, which are properly
secured by cement or otherwise with a hollow channel or pipe F, which passes
all around the brim of the bason A, and has on its under side holes or slits
(shewn in section at G, G, in Figs. 1 and 3) which direct the water into the
bason in a proper and efficient manner, and so as to wash out and carry away
all the soil, &c., deposited in the bason. As, however, it is desirable, though

page_text: not absolutely necessary, (except in the time of using) that water shouid be
retained in the bason A (as in the water closets of the best construction,
I have introduced a sliding door, valve, or shuttle, or hatch H, made of metal,
and sliding within a metal frame I, (as shown in Fig. 4) placed vertically, and
which frame it fits so as to be water-tight or nearly so. This sliding door is
intended to retain the water in the bason when shut to a proper height at the
time of using it, as shewn by the dotted line J, in Fig. 1, and the overplus is
conveyed away by the waste pipe K, K, into the open air. This pipe K has
also the double advantage of admitting the external air and keeping the closet
Sweet. In order the more effectually to prevent the entrance of the foul air
from the pipe C I have placed a valve L at the lower end of the pipe B, which
Fields or opens on the pressure of the water, soil, &c., against it from within,
but remains shut of its own accord at all other times. The sliding door, valve,
or shuttle H may be raised or drawn up by any of the usual and well-known
methods of levers, or preferably by means of a cord or line passing over pullies
with a weight affixed to it, merely heavy enough to keep the line steady in the
pullies P, P, as shewn in Fig. 8, in which case however the line connected with
the lever of the valve in the cistern or reservoir above should be united to the
cord or line passing over the pullies in such a manner as to hang loose, so that.
when the sliding door, is down the valve in the cistern may be lifted either
independently of or with the sliding door, in order to supply the basin A with
water. This, however, will hardly be required, as upon lifting the cover of the
closet a spring is contrived to act upon the valve so as to supply the basin with
water at the precise time it is required.
I do not hereby claim as my Invention the individual or separate parts
herein shewn or described, and which may or may not be known or in use,
but I do hereby claim as my Invention the new arrangement of the sliding
door H, and combination of those parts whereby the water is admitted into a
circular pipe at the top, so as more completely to wash every part of the bason,
and at the same time by the violent rush which it occasions, rapidly to carry
off the soil into the pipe C, which communicates with the open air. I
also think the application of the said circular pipe F, F, F, F, Fig. 2, with
its holes and slits for washing the bason might be used to advantage in many
other waterclosets. Although it has been found in practice that no escape-
ment of foul air takes place through the sliding door frame when the door is
shut, yet, in order to give it the same perfection as if the sliding door was per-
fectly air-tight, a casing of tin, copper, or other fit material, M, M, M, M, shewn
by the red dotted line, Figs. 1 and 8, may be placed over the whole of the
machinery surrounding and inclosing the same, at the uppermost part of which

page_text: a pipe N is placed, leading to the open air, so as to draw off any possible
cffluvia that might arise.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Viney, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.