AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS
Year: 1842

page_text: SMITH'S SP
ECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SMITH, of Northampton, in the County of Northampton, Plumber, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of March, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me; the said Thomas
Smith, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Smith, my exors, admors,.
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Smith, my exors, admors,.
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,.
Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-CLOSETS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Smith,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The Drawing hereunto annexed represents the fittings up of a water-closet
constructed according to my said improvement or improvements in their com
plete state. A is the cistern; B, the basin; C, a trap connected with the
bottom of the basin; D, a principal service pipe, which conveys the water from
the cistern to the basin; E, a secondary service pipe, which proceeds from the
large service pipe D (at the point where it turns off towards the basin) to the
back of the trap C; F, a spring valve, by the raising or lowering of which by
means of the wire or cord G the supply of water from the cistern is let on or
shut off; II, the box of the service pipe D; and I, the discharge pipe. When
the valve F is raised, the water rushes at (nearly) one and the same time
through the principal and secondary service pipes D and E, into the basin and
trap, so that the contents of the basin are no sooner carried down into the trap
by the main stream of water, than they are driven forward by the secondary
stream from the back of the trap into the discharge pipe I, and any detention or
deposit is thus effectually prevented. The adoption of the secondary service
pipe rendering any considerable length of fall unnecessary, enables me to give
to the trap the short curved form represented in the Drawing, which is
attended with this further advantage, that the basin and trap may be placed on
the floor of the closet or other apartment, where they are fixed (the distance
from the top of the basin to the bottom of the trap being only about eighteen
inches), instead of its being requisite to cut away the floor, as is frequently the
case with water-closets on the common construction. Should the trap at any
time become accidentally stopped up, there is a small door K at the top,
through which access may be obtained to clear away the obstruction. The
principal service pipe I make of an inch and a half strong lead pipe, and the
secondary pipe of the same material, but only half the size. The service box
should be made of lead of nine or ten pounds to the foot, and not larger than to
afford just sufficient room for the valve to work in. In most cases the service
box need have no bottom, but may be simply placed on the mouth of the service
pipe, the latter being soldered into the bottom of the cistern. But where want
of room makes it desirable to have a smaller cistern, it will be proper to make
the service box with a bottom as usual, and that very strong. When the basin
and trap are fixed, they should be well packed all round with sawdust or some
other non-conducting material to exclude the effects of frost, though, unless
when accidentally obstructed, there can seldom be any lodgment of water in
either.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I lay no claim to any of
the parts herein-before described, saving and excepting only the secondary ser-
vice pipe E, and trap C, connected therewith, and that I do not restrict myself
to making the said secondary service pipe and trap of the dimensions, materials,
or forms herein-before expressed, or of any particular dimensions, materials, or
forms.
"
I declare further, that though I prefer that the said secondary service pipe
should be an appendage to the principal service pipe (all unnecessary multipli-
cation of piping being objectionable), yet that I reserve to myself the right of
employing a distinct and separate pipe for the purpose of communicating directly
from the cistern to the trap whenever particular circumstances may render the
same advisable.
And I declare generally that what I claim as of my Invention is, the making
of water-closets with a secondary service pipe and trap of the description and
serving the purposes before expressed, whether such secondary service pipe
and trap are made use of in water-closets constructed in other respects in the
manner represented in the Drawing hereunto annexed, or in water-closets con-
structed in any other manner, and whether the said secondary pipe is connected
directly or indirectly with the cistern, and whether the said trap is of the form
represented in the Drawing hereunto annexed, or of any other suitable form.
And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of
Wales, or the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be
my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifi-
cation doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the
proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and forty tin

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Thomas Smith came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.