Improvements in or Applicable to the Means of Closing the Openings of Cess-pits and Manhole Chambers, and other Apertures or Openings in Connection with the Drains or Cowore and analogous Sanitary Arrangements, or other Parts
Year: 1884

page_text: Improvements in or Applicable to the Means of Closing the
Openings of Cess-pits and Manhole Chambers, and other
Apertures or Openings in Connection with the Drains or
Cowore and analogous Sanitary Arrangements, or other Parts
0
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, THOMAS DURRANS, Architect, of Upper Baker Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Day, Davies & Hunt, Patent Agents, 321 High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPRove-
MENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE MEANS OF CLOSING THE OPENINGS OF CESS-PITS,
AND MANHOLE CHAMBERS, AND OTHER APERTURES OR OPENINGS IN CONNECTION
WITH THE DRAINS OR SEWERS AND ANALOGOUS SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS OR OTHER
PARTS OF HOUSES OR OTHER BUILDINGS OR PLACES to be as follows:-
"
This Invention relates to certain improvements in or applicable to the means
of effecting a perfectly tight closure of the openings of cess-pits, and manhole
chambers, and other apertures or openings within or without buildings in connection
with the drains or sewers and analogous sanitary arrangements or other parts of
houses or other buildings or places, such for further example as the openings of
close tanks, cisterns or boilers, and cellars, for shutting off or preventing the escape
of sewer gas or other vapours or of steam or liquids from such apertures or
openings; the especial object of the improvements being to provide simple means
of effectually closing such apertures or openings in the manner indicated, and
which can be readily placed in and removed from position, and which will not be
liable to become accidentally displaced out of position.
To this end the Invention consists in the formation of a cover to the aperture
or opening to be closed and of a seating for the cover in such a manner as that
the cover requires to be screwed or more or less turned in the act of being placed
or secured in position in or on its seating and so that in the act of being thus.
turned or screwed into position it shall effect a perfect closure of the aperture or
opening.
Three modifications of the Invention are illustrated on the accompanying
drawings by way of example of its application, and such modifications are
hereinafter described.

page_text: One of these modifications is illustrated in Figs; 1, to, 5, of which Fig; 1,
represents a sectional elevation of one half of the diameter of the improved cover
and seating. Fig; 2, is a transverse section thereof at a-b. Fig; 3, a similar
section at c-d. Fig; 4, a complete sectional elevation of the cover and seating
on a smaller scale, and Fig; 5, a plan view thereof.
1, represents the seating or frame of the cover, 2, and which is made of an
annular or cylindrical formation, and is formed with an inner rim, 3, formed after
the manner of a screw preferably with a rounded thread or threads, 4, so that the
cover may be securely fixed in position and perfectly tight with a comparatively
limited turning movement. The cover is formed with a depending flange, 5, of a
similar conformation to the threaded part, 4, of the seating with which it engages
on being turned into position and it is or may be also provided with depending guides
or lugs for ensuring the correct placing of the cover upon the seating. The
seating or frame is also made with an external flange, 6, which is preferably square
in plan or it may be otherwise equivalently shaped so as to resist and not partake
of the circular turning movement of the cover, and by which flange, or by equivalent
lugs, the seating can be readily fixed or secured in position at the mouth of the
'cess-pit opening or other aperture 7. The upper surface of the inner screwed
rim, 3, of the seating is bevilled and truly turned as at, 8, and the cover is also
made with a laterally projecting flange 9, which overlies this bevilled part, 8.
There is thus provision afforded between contiguous parts (9, 8,) of the cover
and of the seating for effecting a perfect closure of the opening from the cess-pit,
manhole chamber or other aperture, 7, and between other contiguous-parts (5, 4)
of the cover and seating for drawing these parts forcibly together as the one is turned,
so that as the parts, 1, 2, are thus drawn nearer together, the closure between them
is rendered more and more effective and finally perfectly air steam or liquid tight.
The upper surface of the cover is preferably slightly raised in the centre or
"weathered " for preventing the lodgment of water thereon, and it is or may be
formed with ribs, 10, or it may be otherwise roughened in any usual manner
to prevent the foot slipping thereon when passing thereover..
The cover is also formed with one or more handles for the purpose of lifting,
placing, and removing it as required. Handles of any usual rigid formation may
be adapted to the cover in some cases, but I prefer to combine with the improved
covers, drop handles, 11, which fall vertically or in a curvilinear direction into
closed cups or depending pockets or receptacles, 12, of a straight or correspondingly
curved formation, and which are screwed, bolted, or otherwise secured to the under
surface of the cover, and are formed so that the handles fall into such depending
cups or receptacles flush with the general surface of the top of the cover or nearly
so as illustrated in Figs; 1, and, 4, and offer no impediment to the foot, or facility
for the entrance of water into the depending receptacles, the handles being so
formed and adapted as that they can be readily lifted up within such receptacles,
and for the time secured in their raised position and caught hold of for their
. intended use, the lower ends of the spindles of the handles being formed square
or being provided with nuts or equivalent means, 13, the corners of which rest
on the shoulders, 14, of the pockets, 12, when the handles are raised, and slightly
turned, vide Fig, 2.
The exact conformation of the contiguous bevilled faces, 8, 9, of the seating and
of the cover is not material so long as they truly correspond, as for example, they
may be made of a corresponding curved conformation, either face being formed of
a convex or of a concave formation as desired and likewise the exact conformation
of the contiguous screwed surfaces, 4, 5, of the seating or frame, and of the cover,
is not material, but I prefer that the thread or threads of such contiguous surfaces
should be of an obtuse or rounded formation as illustrated in Figs; 1; and, 4, rather
than of an acute or angular formation.
Or, in lieu thereof, the seating may be equivalently formed with one or more
short inclines, 15, as illustrated in Figs; 6, and, 7, which are similar views to
Figs; 1, and, 4, respectively, in which case the cover is formed or provided with

page_text: lugs 16, of a circular, rounded, or other formation, and which are lowered between
the contiguous ends of the adjacent inclines, 15, and the cover is then turned, and
secured in the manner herein before stated, the bevilled and truly turned contiguous
parts thereof and of the seating forming a perfect contact and an effective closure
to the opening.
In the modification illustrated in the part sectional elevation Fig, 8, and of equal
advantage in some applications, I adapt an elastic medium 17, between contiguous
parts of the cover and its seating, in lieu of the said contiguous bevilled or other
truly ground edges or parts thereof, forming the seating with an annular recess, 18,
for the reception of a washer or band, 17, of vulcanised india rubber, leather or
other elastic or yielding medium, so that when the cover is being turned into its
intended position it shall compress the elastic medium between it and the seating,
and, as in the case of the use of the said bevilled and ground edges, effect a perfect
closure of the opening.
The seating of the cover or the frame into which the cover fits, and the cover,
and the handle or handles by which it is placed in or removed from position
as required, may be made of iron or of hard brass, or other suitable metal or
metals.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and objects of my,
said Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that
what I claim is :-
The herein before described improvements in or applicable to the means stated,
and in which means the principal features of novelty consist in the combination
of the bevilled or equivalently formed and truly ground faces on contiguous parts
of the cover and seating, or of an elastic medium between such parts; with the
screwed or equivalently inclined and conformed parts on other contiguous parts
of the cover and seating, and in the further combination with covers thus formed
and fitted of handles which may be dropped into depending pockets or receptacles,
for fixing, unfixing, and lifting the covers in or out of their seatings, when such
parts are made to co-operate substantially as herein before described with reference
to the accompanying drawings.
Doted this 20th den of Sentombar 1984