IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIVIES OR CLOSETS TO BE USED IN PLACE OF WATERCLOSETS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josias Bull York, of Coleshill, in the County of
Warwick, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIVIES
OR CLOSETS TO BE USED IN PLACE OF WATERCLOSETS."
Sealed the 23rd February 1864, and dated the 7th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josias Bull York at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1868.
I, JOSIAS BULL YORK, of Coleshill, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRIVIES OR CLOSETS TO BE USED IN PLACE OF WATERCLOSETS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in privies
or closets to be used in place of waterclosets, by which improvements the soil
of the said privies or closets is deodorized and preserved in a solid form, and
thereby made into a valuable manure.
The seat of the privy or closet is furnished with a pan, which may differ
from that of an ordinary watercloset in having a division near its front, by
which the urine may be conducted from the pan and not allowed to mix with
the soil which falls into the pan.
According to one arrangement of my Invention, underneath the seat and at
the back of the fixed pan is a vertical shaft, which carries a circular disc or

page_text: An
platform, near the periphery of which an annular trough is made. The said
trough is divided by a series of equidistant radial divisions into a series of
compartments, each of which said compartments may be brought by the rota-
tion of <the shaft under the fixed pan of the seat, so as to form a temporary
bottom to the said pan. The bottom of each of the said compartments opens
downwards on a hinge, the said bottom being held in a horizontal position by
.a spring catch fastening. At the back of the seat is a cistern or reservoir
containing sand or ashes or other solid in powder, which may be mixed with
the soil without injuring it as a manure. A hopper in the bottom of the said
cistern or reservoir opens over the divided annular trough, the bottom of the
-said hopper being situated in a horizontal plane a little higher than that in
which the tops of the radial divisions of the annular trough are situated.
intermittent rotatory motion being given to the annular trough, each of the
compartments therein as it is brought under the bottom of the hopper
receives a supply of sand or ashes. As soon as the sand or ashes has accu-
mulated in any compartment sufficiently to form a heap, the summit of which
touches the bottom of the hopper, the descent of the sand or ashes ceases.
When by the partial rotation of the shaft an empty compartment is brought
under the hopper the sand or ashes commence again to descend until the
compartment has received its charge, when the descent of the said sand or
ashes ceases.
In this way the several compartments are charged without any
valve or measuring apparatus between the hopper of the reservoir and the said
compartments. The action of this part of my Invention is as follows:-After
the privy or closet has been used a partial rotation is given to the vertical
shaft. By this motion the compartment of the annular trough, which had
received the soil upon the sand or ashes contained in it, is removed from under
the fixed pan and emptied in the manner herein-after explained. At the same
time another compartment with its charge of sand or ashes is brought under
the fixed pan, and the privy or closet is ready for use again. An empty com-
partment is simultaneously brought under the hopper and receives its charge
of sand or ashes in the manner already explained. The emptying of the
compartments charged with sand and soil is thus effected:-As the compart-
ment containing the soil passes from under the fixed pau its spring catch
fastening is unfastened by striking against a fixed projection or stop, and the
hinged bottom falls and delivers the soil and sand into a chest, or into a
channel which conducts it to a chest; as the discharged compartment passes
further on in its course to the hopper it passes over an incline by which the
bottom is raised and secured by its spring catch fastening. The said compart-
ment is now ready to pass under the hopper again to receive its charge of sand

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and to be brought in its turn under the fixed pan of the privy or closet.
intermittent rotatory motion may be given to the annular trough by means of
a lever, a pall, or click engaging with a ratchet wheel on the periphery of the
disc carrying the trough temporarily, fixing the said trough in the proper
positions. for use.
•
Although I prefer to divide the annular trough in the manner described,
yet the divisions may be dispensed with without materially affecting the action
of the apparatus. In place of the spring catch fastenings for supporting the
hinged bottoms of the compartments the annular trough may rotate over a
plane which supports the said bottoms, excepting at that part of their path
where the soil is to be discharged, at which part the said plane terminates,
and the bottoms on arriving at that part being unsupported fall and deliver
the soil into the channel or chest for its reception.
According to another arrangement of my Invention underneath the seat and
at the back of the fixed pan is a vertical shaft carrying.four or other number,
not less than two,. horizontal arms, each arm terminating in a shallow pan.
The construction of the said shallow pans is herein-after explained. By the
rotation of the shaft each of the shallow pans can be brought under the fixed
pan, and form a temporary bottom to the said fixed pan. At the back of the
seat is a wheel turning in a vertical plane, and on the periphery of the said
wheel is a series of cups equal in number to the shallow pans carried by the
arms, and of about one-half the cubic capacity of the said shallow pans. Over
the vertical wheel is a hopper connected with a receptacle or reservoir con-
taining ashes or sand, or other solid matter of an absorbent character, which
may be mixed with the soil without injuring it as a manure. By the rotation
of the vertical wheel under the hopper each of the cups is filled as it passes
the mouth of the hopper, and descending through a half rotation of the wheel
empties itself into one of the shallow pans. A fixed semicircular plate or hoop,
nearly fitting the descending side of the vertical wheel, prevents the falling out
of the ashes from the cup during its motion from the hopper to the shallow
pan. The vertical shaft carrying the arms with the shallow pans is geared to
the vertical wheel, so that they can only rotate simultaneously. The cups can
thus only discharge themselves when the shallow pans are in the proper posi-
tions to receive the contents of the said cups. The action of this part of my
Invention is as follows:-In using the privy or closet the soil falls through
the fixed pan of the scat into the shallow pan forming a temporary bottom,
and is received on the ashes in the said shallow pan. By means of a winch
or lever a partial rotation is given to the vertical wheel. The shallow pan
containing the soil is thereby carried from under the fixed pan of the seat, and

page_text: another shallow pan charged with ashes brought under it. The privy or closet
is then ready for use again. The way in which the soil and ashes are dis-
charged from the shallow pans is as follows:-The bottom of each of the
shallow pans opens downwards by turning on a hinge joint, and is fixed in a
horizontal position by a spring catch fastening. As the shallow pan moves
from under the fixed pan and arrives at the place where its contents are to be
discharged a fixed pin or projection disengages the fastening and the bottom
opens, letting the soil and ashes fall into a channel, which conducts them to a
box or chest. As the pan travels further the open bottom passes over an
incline, by which it is raised and held by its fastening ready to receive a supply
of ashes.
In place of supplying the shallow pans with ashes by means of the vertical
wheel described, the following arrangement may be employed:-Immediately
over the plane in which the shallow pans revolve is a scries of cups or hollow
cylinders open both at top and bottom. The said series of cups consists of a
number equal to the number of the shallow pans, and rotates on a vertical.
shaft at the back of the seat. Over the said cups is the reservoir containing
the ashes, the mouth of the hopper of the said reservoir being immediately.
over the said cups. Underneath the said cups, and between them and the
plane in which the tops of the shallow pans. revolve, is a plate having a hole in-
it, through which, when one of the cups is brought over the said hole, the
ashes fall into the shallow pan underneath the said plate. As the said cups
rotate each cup is first filled with ashes by passing under the hopper, and
afterwards empties itself by being brought over the hole in the plate and the
mouth of one of the shallow pans. The filled shallow pan afterwards takes its.
place under the fixed pan of the seat. The series of cups is so geared with
the disk carrying the shallow pans that they can only move together and
perform their respective functions in the requisite order.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josias Bull York in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOSIAS
BULL YORK, of Coleshill, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of

page_text: •
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and. grant unto
me, the said Josias Bull York, Her special licence that I, the said Josias
Bull York, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Josias Bull York, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN. PRIVIES OR CLOSETS TO BE USED IN PLACE OF WATERCLOSETS," upon.
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Josias Bull York, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,.
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Josias Bull York, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements berein-after described in privies
or closets to be used in place of water closets, by which improvements the soil
of the said privies or closets is deodorized and preserved in a solid form, and
thereby made into a valuable manure.
The seat of the privy or closet is furnished with a pan, which may differ
from that of an ordinary water-closet in having a division near its front, by
which, the urine may be conducted from the pan, and not allowed to mix with
the soil which falls into the pan.
According to one arrangement of my Invention underneath the seat and at
the back of the fixed pan is a vertical shaft, which carries a circular disc or
platform, on which an annular trough is made. The said trough is divided
by a series of equidistant radial divisions into a series of compartments, each
of which said compartments may be brought by the rotation of the shaft under
the fixed pan of the seat, so as to form a temporary bottom to the said pan.
The bottom of each of the said compartments opens downwards on a hinge, the
said bottom being held in a horizontal position by a spring catch fastening.
At the back of the seat is a cistern or reservoir, or a hopper containing sand
or ashes or other solid in powder, which may be mixed with the soil without
injuring it as a manure. A hopper in the bottom of the said cistern or reser-

page_text: voir, or the bottom of the said cistern or reservoir, opens over the divided
annular trough, the bottom of the said hopper being situated in a horizontal
plane a little higher than that in which the tops of the radial divisions of the
annular trough are situated. An intermittent rotatory motion being given to
the annular trough, each of the compartments therein as it is brought under
the bottom of the hopper receives a supply of sand or ashes. As soon as the
sand or ashes have accumulated in any compartment sufficiently to form a
heap, the summit of which touches the bottom of the hopper, the descent of
the said sand or ashes ceases. When by the partial rotation of the shaft an
empty compartment is brought under the hopper, the sand or ashes commence
again to descend until the compartment has received its charge, when the
descent of the said sand or ashes ceases. In this way the several compart-
ments are charged without any valve or measuring apparatus between the
hopper of the reservoir and the said compartments. The action of this part of
my Invention is as follows:-After the privy or closet has been used a partial
rotation is given to the vertical shaft. By this motion the compartment of
the annular trough which had received the soil upon the sand or ashes
rontained in it is removed from under the fixed pan, and emptied in the
manner herein-after explained. At the same time another compartment with
its charge of sand or ashes is brought under the fixed pan, and the privy or
closet is ready for use again. An empty compartment is simultaneously
brought under the hopper, and receives its charge of sand or ashes in the
manner already explained. The emptying of the compartments charged with
sand and soil is thus effected:-As the compartment containing the soil passes
from under the fixed pan its spring catch fastening is unfastened by striking
against a fixed projection or stop, and the hinged bottom falls and delivers the
As
soil and sand into a chest, or into a channel which conducts it to a chest.
the discharged compartment passes further in its course to the hopper it passes
over an incline, by which the bottom is raised and secured by its spring catch
fastening. The said compartment is now ready to pass under the hopper again
to receive its charge of sand, and to be brought in its turn under the fixed
pan of the privy or closet. An intermittent rotatory motion may be given to
the annular trough by means of levers on the vertical shaft.
Although I have described a divided annular trough yet the divisions may
be dispensed with without materially affecting the action of the apparatus. In
place of the spring catch fastenings for supporting the hinged bottoms of the
compartments, the annular trough may rotate over a plane which supports the
said bottoms, excepting at that part of their path where the soil is to be
discharged, at which part the said plane terminates, and the bottoms on

page_text: arriving at that part being unsupported fall and deliver the soil into the
channel or chest for its reception.
According to another arrangement of my Invention underneath the seat and
at the back of the fixed pan is a vertical shaft carrying four or other number,
not less than two, horizontal arms, each arm terminating in a shallow pan..
The construction of the said shallow pans is herein-after explained. By the
rotation of the shaft each of the shallow pans can be brought under the fixed
pan, and form a temporary bottom to the said fixed pan. At the back of the
seat is a wheel turning in a vertical plane, and on the periphery of the said
wheel is a series of cups equal in number to the shallow pans carried by the
arms, and of about one-half the cubic capacity of the said shallow pans. Over
the vertical wheel is a hopper connected with a receptacle or reservoir
containing ashes or sand or other solid matter in powder of an absorbent
character, which may be mixed with the soil without injuring it as a manure.
By the rotation of the vertical wheel. under the hopper each of the cups is
filled as it passes the mouth of the hopper, and descending through a half
rotation of the wheel, empties itself into one of the shallow pans. A fixed
semicircular plate or hoop nearly fitting the descending side of the vertical
wheel prevents the falling out of the ashes from the cup during its motion.
from the hopper to the shallow pan. The vertical shaft carrying the arms with
the shallow pans is geared to the vertical wheel, so that they only rotate
simultaneously. The cups can thus only discharge themselves when the
shallow pans are in the proper positions to receive. the contents of the said
cups. The action of this part of my Invention is as follows:-In using the
privy or closet the soil falls through the fixed pan of the seat into the shallow:
pan forming a temporary bottom, and is received on the ashes in the said.
shallow pan. By means of a winch or lever a partial rotation is given to the:
vertical-wheel. The shallow pan containing the soil is thereby carried from
under the fixed pan of the seat, and another. shallow pan charged with ashes
brought under it. The privy or closet is then ready for use again. The way
in which the soil and ashes are discharged from the shallow pans is as
follows: The bottom of each of the shallow pans opens downwards by:
turning on a hinge joint, and is fixed in a horizontal position by a spring catch
fastening. As the shallow pan moves from under the fixed pan and arrives at
the place where its contents are to be discharged, a fixed pin or projection.
disengages the fastening, and the bottom opens, letting the soil and ashes fall
into a channel which conducts them to a box or chest. As the pan travels
further the open bottom passes over an incline, by which it is raised, and held.
by its fastening ready to receive a supply of ashes.
.

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In place of supplying the shallow pans with ashes by means of the vertical
wheel described, the following arrangement may be employed :-Immediately
over the plane in which the shallow pans revolve is a series of cups or hollow
cylinders open both at top and bottom. The said series of cups consists of a
number equal to the number of the shallow pans, and rotates on a vertical
shaft at the back of the seat. The said cups are inserted in and carried by a
circular plate, the open tops of the cups being flush with the said plate, and
over the said cups is the reservoir containing the ashes, the mouth of the
hopper of the said reservoir being immediately over the said cups. Under-
neath the said cups, and between them and the plane in which the tops of the
shallow.pans revolve, is a plate having a hole in it, through which, when one of
the cups is brought over the said hole, the ashes fall into the shallow pan
underneath the said plate. As the said cups rotate each cup is first filled
with ashes by passing under the hopper, and afterwards empties itself by being
brought over the hole in the plate. and the mouth of one of the shallow pans.
The filled shallow pan afterwards takes its place under the fixed pan of the
seat. The series of cups is so geared with. the disk carrying the shallow pans
that they can only move together and perform their respective functions in
the requisite order.
Having explained the nature of the several arrangements constituting my
Invention, I will proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying
Drawing, the manner in which that arrangement of my Invention which I
prefer to use is carried into effect.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a privy or closet constructed
according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents a horizontal section of the
same taken through the line a, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a horizontal section of
the same taken through the line 6, Figure 1; Figure 4 is a front elevation of
the privy or closet; Figure 5 is a vertical section of the same taken through
the line c of Figure 3, and Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 represent portions of
my Invention as herein-affer particularly explained. The same letters of
reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing. d is
the seat of the closet furnished with a pan e; the said pan e may be of the
form represented in the Drawing or be provided with a division near its front
by which the urine may be conducted from the pan, and not allowed to mix
with the soil which falls into the said pan. Underneath the said seat d is a
circular disk or platform f, fixed on the bottom of the vertical shaft g, the said
shaft turning in bearings at h, h. The said disk or platform f has vertical
flanges i, i, on its outer edge and near its axis respectively, the disk or plat-
form and flanges constituting an annular trough, which said trough may be

page_text: divided by radial divisions into a series of compartments, or the said trough:
may be left undivided, as represented in the Drawing. I will herein-after call.
the platform and flanges i an annular trough. The annular trough f, i, and
axis g are shown separately in elevation in Figure 7, and the trough f, i,.
is shown separately in section in Figure 8, and a plan of the under side in
Figure 9. Below the annular trough f, i, a fixed plate or bottom k is situated,
the bottom of the said trough being nearly in contact with the said fixed
plate k. The plate k is shewn separately in plan in Figure 6. In the bottom
of the trough f, i, and at equal distances apart are three (or more) doors l,
opening downwards on hinges, the said doors being supported and held in a.
horizontal position at the requisite times by the fixed bottom k. At m in the
fixed bottom k is an opening of a size somewhat greater than the hinged.
bottoms of the trough and of the same form. Under the said opening m is a
pipe or channel n, through which the soil is delivered, in the manner herein-after
explained, to a chest or receptacle. When the several parts of the closet are
in the positions represented in Figures 1 and 2, one of the said doors lis
immediately under the fixed pan e, and the closet is ready for use. On moving
the trough f, i, by turning the shaft g each of the hinged doors can be
brought in succession over the opening m in the fixed bottom k. On arriving
over the opening m the door / being no longer supported falls, and delivers
the matter on it into the pipe or channel n. On the further rotation of the
trough fi, the open door 2 is raised into a horizontal position by means of the.
antifriction rollers o, o, at the bottom of the inclined edge p at one side of the
opening m, as represented in Figure 6. As the hinged door passes over the.
rollers o, o, it is raised into a horizontal position, and is preserved in that
position by the fixed bottom k until it is again brought over the opening m.
The hinged doors of the trough are supplied with sand or ashes, or other
solid in powder, which may be mixed with the soil without injuring it as a
manure, in the following manner :-At the back of the scat d is a cistern or
reservoir q having the general figure of a hopper, into which hopper the ashes,
sand, or other powder is put through the door r. The bottom end of the
hopper g opens in the annular trough f, i. The figure of the bottom of the
hopper q will be readily understood by referring to Figures 2, 3, and 5. As
the trough f, i, is made to rotate the ashes or sand descends in the hopper q,
forming a layer in the said trough of a depth equal to the distance between
the bottom of the hopper and the bottom of the trough. A shafts con-
nected by bevil pinions to the shaft g crosses the hopper q near its bottom.
The said shaft s carries a series of cross arms by the rotation of which when.
the shaft is turned the ashes or sand is stirred and prevented from wedging
9

page_text: or choking in its passage to the trough f, i. The depth of the layer of sand
or ashes may be made greater or less by raising or depressing the plate or
valve t'on that side of the bottom of the hopper 9 under which the layer of
sand or ashes passes. The plate or valve t may be raised or lowered by means
of a knob acting on a pinion and rack, as indicated in Figure 5.
In order to give a rotatory motion to the shaft 9 it is provided with three
handles u, one of which is shewn separately and on a larger scale in Figure 10.
These handlesu áre jointed to a boss on the shaft g, and are capable of
being raised in a vertical plane, so as to enable them to pass the pin or stop w
on the front of the closet. After the closet has been used the handle u in
contact with the stop w is lifted until it will pass over the said stop w, and the
said handle is moved in the direction of the arrow in Figure 3, until the next
handles comes into contact with the stop w. By this motion of the handle a
partial rotation is given to the trough f, i, and the soil which has fallen
through the pan e upon one of the doors under it, is delivered through the
hole m down the channel n; and another of the doors which had been
previously charged with sand or ashes is brought under the fixed pan e, when
the closet is again ready for use. At the same time the open door which had
been previously emptied through the opening m is raised into a horizontal
position and brought under the hopper q, where it receives its charge of sand
or ashes, and is ready in its turn to be brought under the fixed pan e.
several actions described are repeated each time the closet is used.
The bottom is provided with shallow flanges a, a, to prevent any liquid
escaping excepting by the opening m. Ribs (see Figures 7, 8, and 9,) on
the under side of the doors scrape the fixed bottom k and keep it free from
obstruction, and a scraper y screwed to the fixed bottom k scrapes from the
doors as they pass under it whatever matter may not have fallen from the
said doors. The motion of the shaft g in a direction contrary to that indicated
by the arrow in Figure 3, is prevented by a ratchet wheel on the said shaft,
in which ratchet wheel a pall on the panel 1* engages.
The
Instead of supporting the hinged doors in a horizontal position by means of
a fixed plate or bottom, they may be supported by means of spring catch
fastenings, the said doors being fastened and unfastened in the manner before
described. I prefer, however, the arrangement represented in the Drawing.
The arrangements of my Invention which I have not represented resemble in
many respects that portion of my Invention which I have represented in the
Drawing, and the respects in which they differ therefrom will, I believe, be
sufficiently understood by the description herein-before given.
. Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention of improvements in privies or closets to be used in place of water-
closets, the general arrangements or combinations of the parts of the said
privies or closets, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josias Bull York, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSIAS BULL YORK. (L.S.)