IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR STORING, CLEANSING, AND FACILI- TATING THE REMOVAL OF HOUSE REFUSE' AND FECAL MATTER."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Chantrell, of Liverpool, in
the County of Lancaster, Sanitary Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR STORING, CLEANSING, AND FACILI-
TATING THE REMOVAL OF HOUSE REFUSE' AND FECAL MATTER."
TATING THE REMOVAL OF HOUSE REFUSE' AND FECAL MATTER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick
Chantrell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th February 1873.
I, GEORGE FREDRICK CHANTRELL, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Sanitary Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR STORING, CLEANSING,
AND FACILITATING THE REMOVAL OF HOUSE REPUSE' AND FOCAL MATTER," to
be as follows :-
This Invention relates to the construction of a suitable receptacle or
box to contain the ashes and other solid refuse of dwelling houses and
the like, which shall occupy as little room as possible, and to a novel
situation for the same, rendering it extremely convenient for receiving

page_text: such refuse whilst it is equally convenient for removal when full by the
proper authorities. For this purpose I provide a rectangular or other
suitably shaped casing herein-after called a wall box, constructed by
preference of wrought or cast iron, which I firmly build in the yard wall
of the house. This wall box contains the receptacle or box for the refuse
before mentioned, and is so constructed as to permit of the refuse box
being introduced and withdrawn from the outside, that is from the
passage outside the yard, without the necessity of entering the yard.
The refuse box and the wall box containing it I make considerably
wider than the wall in which it is built; the excess of width projects
into the yard and is covered by a lid hinged to the wall box at a suitable
angle to throw off the rain, and having a stop upon it to ensure its
always returning to its closed position after being opened to introduce
the refuse, which refuse is thus kept dry, and decomposition and its
attendent evils are thereby greatly retarded, the dryness of such refuse
having the further advantage of reducing the weight and consequently
the cost of removal to a minimum.
To prevent the refuse box being removed from the outside by any but
the person appointed to such duty, I fit a short lid or flap to the wall
box on that side secured in its closed position by a padlock or other
description of lock in which position it is impossible to withdraw the
refuse box from the wall box; or I secure such box in position in any
other convenient manner.
In situations where no yards are attached to the dwelling houses I
build my wall box in the outer wall of the building and have a back to
the casing, so that the dust box projects into the area and is covered
as in the case before mentioned with a hinged self-closing lid.
My Invention further relates to a modification of the apparatus
herein-before described, for the purpose of cleansing and separating the
solid, greasy, and other matters from house slops, and consists in con-
necting a drain pipe to the bottom of the wall box herein-before
described, and providing a false or perforated bottom to the receptacle
which in this case is partially filled with charcoal through which the
liquid filters and runs away through the drain pipe, leaving the solid
matter mixed with the charcoal which is periodically removed. The
cover of the receptacle in this case is provided with a cavity for con-
taining charcoal dust which, by the falling of the flap or cover spreads
a small quantity of the dust every time upon the upper surface of the

page_text: contents of the receptacle. This charcoal containing receptacle may be
in communication with the sink or slop stone of a dwelling house, or
may be arranged beneath the seat of a privy, and thus may be useful
for separating the solid fœecal matter whilst the liquid portion alone in
a comparatively pure state, owing to the action of the charcoal, escapes
into the sewer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Frederick Chantrell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK CHANTRELL, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Sanitary Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Frederick Chantrell, Her special licence that I,
the said George Frederick Chantrell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Frederick Chantrell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AND APPARATUS FOR STORING, CLEANSING, AND FACILITATING THE REMOVAL OF
'HOUSE REFUSE' AND FECAL MATTER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Frederick Chantrell, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 George Frederick Chantrell, do hereby

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This Invention relates to the construction of a suitable receptacle or
box to contain the ashes and other solid refuse of dwelling houses
and the like, which shall occupy as little room as possible, and to a
novel situation for the same, rendering it extremely convenient for
receiving such refuse, whilst it is equally convenient for removal
when full by the proper authorities. For this purpose I provide a
rectangular or other suitably shaped casing, herein-after called a wall
box, constructed by preference of wrought or cast iron, which I firmly
build in the yard wall of the house. This wall box contains the
receptacle or box for the refuse before mentioned, and is so constructed
as to permit of the refuse box being introduced and withdrawn from the
outside, that is, from the passage outside the yard without the necessity
of entering the yard. The refuse box and the wall box containing it,
I make considerably wider than the wall in which it is built; the excess
of width projects into the yard and is covered by a lid hinged to the
wall box at a suitable angle to throw off the rain, and having a stop
upon it to ensure its always returning to its closed position after being
opened to introduce the refuse; which refuse is thus kept dry, and
decomposition and its attendant evils are thereby greatly retarded, the
dryness of such refuse having the further advantage of reducing the
weight and consequently the cost of removal to a minimum.
To prevent the refuse box being removed from the outside by any but
the person appointed to such duty I fit a short lid or flap to the wall box
on that side, secured in its closed position by a padlock or other de-
scription of lock, in which position it is impossible to withdraw the
refuse box from the wall box; or I secure such box in position in any
other convenient manner.
In situations where no yards are attached to the dwelling houses I
build my wall box in the outer wall of the building and have a back to
the casing so that the dust box projects into the area and is covered as
in the case before mentioned with a hinged self-closing lid.
My Invention further relates to a modification of the apparatus
herein-before described for the purpose of cleansing and separating the
solid, greasy, and other matters from house slops, and consists in con-
necting a drain pipe to the bottom of the wall box herein-before
described, and providing a false or perforated bottom to the receptacle,

page_text: Fig. 13 is an outside view; and Fig. 14, a front elevation partly in
section of a slop stone to which my improvements are applied.
Fig. 15 is a cross section; and Fig. 16, a plan partly in section of
Figs. 13 and 14, and Fig. 17 is a perspective view of the wall box
removed.
Fig. 18 is a front view; Fig. 19, a cross section; and Fig. 20, a
sectional plan of a wall box and receptacle for house slops, or the liquid
portion of house refuse.
Fig. 21 is a side sectional view of my .improved intercepting
apparatus for waterclosets and urinals, and Fig. 22 is a sectional plan of
Fig. 21 through the line a, b; Fig. 23 is a vertical section of a charcoal
containing receptacle with a perforated bottom and corners, as herein-
after explained in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
A is the wall box, constructed by preference of cast iron, and which
is built into the outside wall A' of a yard or building flush with the
outside of such wall, and is arranged to project into the yard (as seen
more clearly in Figs. 3 and 4); but this projecting portion of the wall
box is provided with a hinged cover or overhanging lid B, which is
opened (as seen in Fig. 5) for the purpose of introducing the refuse into
the receptacle from the inside of the yard, as herein-after described, but
is prevented remaining open by the application of the stop C, which
ensures such cover closing itself immediately it is "let go," and thus
the contents of the receptacle are kept dry, and decomposition of such
contents is greatly retarded.
D is the receptacle or dust box for receiving the ashes and other dry
refuse from a dwelling house, which are emptied into such receptacle
from the inside of the yard by raising the cover B, as seen in Fig. 5.
This receptacle is of a rectangular form, and is constructed by preferance
of galvanized sheet iron, and provided with two handles E, by means
of which it may be removed for the purpose of being emptied of its
contents. This receptacle is introduced and removed from the wall
box A from the outside of the yard, and is secured in position by the
hinged flap F, which may be locked by a padlock G, or any other
suitable description of lock. This modification of my Invention is
suitable for use in localities where the authorities collect the refuse from
house to house periodically, as the scavengers by carrying a key fitting

page_text: all the locks, and taking with them an extra receptacle, may substitute
it for the full receptacle. This full receptacle is then carried by the carter
and assistant, and emptied into the dust cart, when it is ready to take
the place of the full receptacle in the next wall box, and so on. The
collection of house refuse is thus performed without the scavengers
entering the yard of the houses to which my Invention is applied, and
such collection may thus take place in the daytime instead of at
night, as is usual where ash-pits are employed to receive such house
refuse.
For localities where there are no yards, but a court or area common to
several cottages, I prefer to use the modification illustrated by Figs. 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, which only differs from the last modification in the
wall box H being constructed with a solid back I, and in the receptacle J
being introduced and removed from the front of the wall J¹ with its
handles to the sides, and being secured in position by the bar K fitted
with a padlock L. The wall box in this case may be built into the outer
wall of the building with its solid back I flush with the inner side of the
wall, which may be covered with the wall paper, and thus be unnoticed
from the inside of the cottage. It will thus be seen that the same sized
receptacle or dust box may be used in this as in the last-mentioned
modification, which is an advantage in localities where both systems
would require to be adopted.
For the purpose of cleansing and separating the solid, greasy, and
other matters from house slops I employ a modification of my Invention
illustrated in Figs. 13 to 17, which is applied beneath the slop stone of
a dwelling house. In these views M is the wall box built into the outer
wall M¹ of the building and situated beneath the slop stone N, which is
bricked up at front as seen at N' in Figs. 14 and 15 so as to form a
cavity beneath the slop stone. The bottom of the wall box is sloped
towards the centre, where it is connected, as illustrated, to a drain pipe
O to carry off the liquid portion of the contents of the receptacle P,
which receptacle in this case is provided with a perforated bottom, as
seen in Fig. 23, and marked Q, upon which a quantity of charcoal R is
laid. The slops escaping into the receptacle P from the slop stone N
through the outlet S are thus intercepted by a bed of charcoal, through
which such slops filter, leaving the greasy and solid matter behind in the
charcoal, and in order to ensure such liquid escaping readily in case of
the charcoal bed being choked up I affix a perforated corner piece Tat

page_text: each of the corners of the receptacle, as illustrated in Fig. 16 and more
clearly in Fig. 23, and which corners may be filled with charcoal.
The receptacle P is secured in position by the bar U, and is capable of
removal from the outside for the purpose of emptying the surcharged
charcoal, which may be either used for manure or may be dried and
re-charred, in which case, owing to the quantity of organic matter
derived from the slops, the product is a charcoal in a state of fine
powder, and will be found useful as a good deodorising medium for dry
closets and similar purposes.
Another modification of my improved apparatus for treating house.
slops for the removal of greasy and other solid matter is illustrated in
Figs. 18 to 20 and 23, which is designed for use in courts or areas and
other localities where it would be inconvenient to apply a receptacle
beneath the slop stone if any existed, for instance, in situations where
the privies or closets are some distance from the dwellings, as in the case
of back to back cottages, in which cases it is desirable to prevent the
occupants discharging their slops into the streets or gulleys. In these
views (a) is the wall box, which is built into the wall b of a building,
and has its bottom in connection with the drain pipe c as in the last
mentioned modification. This wall box has a solid back and projects
beyond one side of the wall, and the receptacle g, when in position in
the wall box, is covered with an overhanging lid d similar to that
described in the first two modifications herein-before mentioned (Figs. 1
to 12), but which lid is hinged to the solid back of the wall box, and on
its under side is provided with a cavity or box e having a perforated
bottom f, and which box contains powdered charcoal or other deodoris-
ing medium, so that when such lid is allowed to fall every time after
emptying the slops into the receptacle g (which is similar to that
described in the last modification, except that it is removable from the
other side and is secured by a bar) seen in vertical section in Fig. 23 a
small quantity of such deodorant is caused to escape through the
perforations in the bottom f of the box e and to be sprinkled over the
surface of the charcoal contained in the receptacle g.
In all the foregoing modifications it will doubtless have been noticed
that I utilize the thickness of the wall for the purpose of receiving my
receptacle, whereby space is much economised and at the same time an
unsightly receptacle is to a great extent hidden from view, the contents

page_text: OI the receptacle are dis
is so far retarded.
For intercepting the solid foecal matter from waterclosets I employ
the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 21 and 22, in which h is the soil
pipe descending from the watercloset, and which is provided with a trap
i; the bottom of this soil pipe opens into a cylindrical box j or length of
earthenware drain pipe of large diameter fixed below the level of the
ground, and which in its turn communicates with the vertical drain pipe
k leading to the main sewer through the funnel shaped socket pipe 7, or
in those localities where there is not sufficient depth for this arrangement
a special socket pipe may be employed to communicate with the main
sewer in the direction of the dotted lines. A ledge is formed round the
top of the socket pipe to support the metallic cylindrical shaped
receptacle n, which has a perforated bottom o and is provided with a
perforated lining p of smaller diameter surrounded on the outside by
charcoal, a quantity of charcoal being also placed inside the perforated
lining, and resting upon the perforated bottom o. The liquid and solid
focal matter descending the soil pipe is discharged into the receptacle
n within the perforated lining p, when the liquid portion will escape
through the charcoal, leaving its manurial properties to a great extent
behind it, and the solid matter will remain upon the surface of the
charcoal. Access is obtained for the removal of the receptacle n through
the man hole A' opening into the street or area, and which is covered with
a metallic lid or cover B³, the receptacle for this purpose being provided
with a handle C, shewn dotted in Fig. 21, and which, when not in use,
falls down to the position scen in Fig. 22. At a lower level than the
man hole a ledge q is formed to support a perforated tray filled with
coarsely granulated charcoal. This perforated tray serves to deodorise
and disinfect any emanation or gases arising from the contents of the
receptacle, which, after passing through the charcoal, may then escape
in a sufficiently pure state through the side passage (s) covered with the
grid or grating t. When it becomes necessary to remove the receptacle
n the metallic lid or cover B is first removed, the perforated tray r may
then be lifted off its ledge by means of its handle u, and the charcoal
contained within it be emptied on to the surface of the foecal matter in
the receptacle n previous to lifting it out of its position; the contents of
such receptacle are thus deodorised, and may now be removed and used
for manurial purposes.

page_text: In some cases I prefer to arrange the perforated tray to contain
charcoal dust, or other deodorising medium, and to agitate such tray
every time the closet is used by connecting it by means of a wire to the
handle, hinged seat, or door of the watercloset, and thus sprinkle a small
quantity of such charcoal dust upon the contents of the receptacle
whenever they are added to.
This modification of my Invention is also applicable to urinals for
extracting the manurial properties from urine, which are imparted to the
charcoal by passing through it.
It will be readily apparent that in some positions it would be practi-
cable and advantageous to have my improved receptacle for intercepting
the solid foecal matter from waterclosets arranged above the level of the
ground in an enclosed wall box fitted with a tight fitting door, but in
this case it is advisable to have a self-acting apparatus applied, such as the
one herein-before described in reference to Figs. 21 and 22 for sprinkling
charcoal dust or other deodorising medium over the contents of the
receptacle every time the closet is used.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details,
relative proportions, or dimensions of the various parts of the apparatus
illustrated on the accompanying Drawing and herein-before described,
as the same may be considerably varied without departing from the
Invention, but what I do claim is,―
First. Utilizing the thickness of a wall for the purpose of receiving a
wall box and receptacle for containing dry house refuse or slops as and
for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated on the accompany-
ing Drawing.
Second. The novel construction of wall boxes fitted with hinged flaps
or lids as and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated on
the accompanying Drawing.
Third. The charcoal containing receptacles for separating greasy and
solid matters from house slops when arranged as herein-before described
and illustrated on the accompanying Drawing.

page_text: Fourth. The general construction and arrangement and combination
of apparatus for intercepting the solid foecal matter from waterclosets,
and for extracting the manurial properties from urine in passing from
urinals, and deodorising the gases emanating from the same as and for
the purposes herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Chantrell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
GEORGE FREDERICK CHANTRELL. (L.S.)