AN IMPROVED WATER-CLOSET ARRANGEMENT
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gray, of Nos. 4 and 5, Princes Street, in the
County of the City of Dublin, Ireland, Medical Doctor, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED WATER-CLOSET ARRANGEMENT."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Gray at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on the
17th September 1855, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRAY, of Numbers 4 and 5, Princes Street, in the County of the City of
Dublin, Ireland, Medical Doctor, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention of "AN IMPROVED WATER-CLOSET ARRANGEMENT," and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, that is to say:―
My Invention is intended to produce a deeper and more perfect trap, and
to cause the closet to be discharged by syphonic action in a full volume and
with a flush; and to effect these ends, I substitute for the part of the closet
called the trap, through which the contents of the closet are now usually
discharged, as by an overflow, a pipe of metal, earthenware, or other suitable
material, so formed that it constitutes a trap to the closet much deeper than

page_text: the ordinary trap; and that when properly supplied with water, either directly
through one of its extremities, as herein-after described, or through the closet
pan, or through both, its discharging end acts as a syphon, and draws off the
contents of the closet solids and liquids, the syphon discharging same through
its long leg in such force and volume as to flush the soil pipe and drain, into
which the contents may be discharged, so as more or less perfectly to prevent
obstructions or accumulations.
In order, however, that the manner in which I apply this my said Inven-
tion may be better understood, I will proceed to describe, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, figures, and letters, one of the modes in which I
have carried out the same.
Figure 1 is a section of the pipe, which is about 4 inches in internal
diameter. A is a socket or neck to receive the discharging end of the
closet pan, shewn at B, Figure 2; it is about 2 inches deep, and about
4in. diameter. G is one extremity of the pipe, curved upwards; D, E, F,
being the other extremity, so curved as to form a regular syphon with
its short leg D, its curve or neck E, and its long leg F. O shews an
ordinary screw tap for facile access to the syphon, in case any obstruction
caused by accident or design should require to be removed; W in G,
and Win E, shew the level to which the water rises in the pipe when the
pan is set, and so filled, that any further supply would pass off as an over-
flow, and indicates the depth of trap secured; H is part of the connecting
pipe which carries the water to G, D, E, F, from the closet cistern. Figure 2
shews this pipe adapted to a three-seat pan. The short extremity of the pipe
G in this Figure is less curved and shorter than in Figure 1, in order to be
adapted to the pan C; C is the closet pan; S, S, S, being the 3 seats; B is
the discharging aperture of the pan, inserted into A, the neck on the pipe, the
portion of the pipe corresponding to A being the bottom of the closet;
W, W, W, W, shew the water level in the pan, and in the pipes H and D, and
also the depth of the water trap; L is a part of the closet cistern; M is the
valve, about 5 inches in diameter, for admitting water to K. The prolonged
pipe from the valve seat K embraces H, which conducts the water to G and J,
here shewn broken off, which conducts the water intended to rinse the pan.
N is a dribble pipe, of very small bore, say, inch, which I use in certain
cases, especially with large pans, to restore the level of the water after the
discharge by the syphou, and to maintain that level till the next discharge.
Having thus described the forms of the several parts, I will now proceed
to describe the manner of the operation that results from the application of
my Invention.

page_text: When the closet pan C, Figure 2, is full to the level of W, W, W, W, the
dribble pipe N continues its supply, and a quantity of liquid passes as by an
overflow over the neck of the syphon E, equal in bulk to every addition
made to the contents of the closet pan through N, or otherwise. The cistern
Lis made of sufficient size to contain about as much water as is required to
supply the continuous pipes H, G, D, E, F, with suflicient water to produce
the peculiar action of the syphon D, E, F, and the pipe J with sufficient
water to rinse the pan C, and is furnished with a large drop valve or other
suitable arrangement for suddenly allowing the water to pass in a full flush
into these pipes, and it is also furnished with a supply pipe and suitable ball
cock or other similar arrangement, to prevent waste or overflow. When it is
desired to discharge the contents of the cistern, this drop valve is raised, by a
lever pulley or other suitable arrangement, whereon the water rushes into the
pipes and J. The water that passes into I forces forward the liquid
already there, and acting on the liquid in G, D, forces so much of it into E
and F, that D, E, F, commences to act as a syphon, and continues so to act
while the liquid in the pan, or in the pipes connected with it, is supplied in
sufficient quantity to fill its bore; thus discharging the whole contents of the
pan and pipes in a copious flush, leaving only enough of liquid in G, D, B, to
form a moderate water trap to the closet, which is rapidly increased in depth by
the flow from the pipe N, which soon raises the level of the water in the pan
to W again, when the deep trap is again restored, and the excess of water is dis-
charged as before, as by an overflow, through the neck E. I have also supplied
the syphon D, E, F, directly from the closet without the pipe G, but I prefer
supplying it through G, by which a more certain operation is secured, a less
quantity of water ensuring the syphonic action in D, E, F.
Having now described a mode by which my Invention may be applied, I
would observe that the form of the pipe G, D, E, F, may be varied, and that
it and the closet pan may be made in one piece, as shewn in Figure 3, which
is a section of an earthenware closet made in one piece. G, D, E, F, is the
pipe formed on the side of C, the closet pan; B is the aperture, substituted for
B and A, in Figure 2, and indicates a projecting pipe to receive J, which
supplies the water to rinse the closet pan; H, K, L, M, N, O, represent the
same parts as in Figure 2; and on F indicates a point at which a junction
might be made in the syphon to render it more portable. I may observe
that in large closet pans with several seats I use, instead of the drop valve
opened by the hand, one of the self-acting flushing apparatuses, invented by
me, and for which I heretofore obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent. Either
the hand valve or the self-acting valve may, however, be used for either single

page_text: closets, or for closets with more seats than one. I do not confine myself to the
precise forms indicated here for the pipes, either as to size or the inclination
of their curves, as to whether they be made in one or in many parts, or as to
the situation of the socket on the pipe, or as to the mode of supplying water
to D, E, F, so as to cause it to act as a syphon; any of which may be varied
according to circumstances, provided the general arrangement be adhered to.
What I do claim as my Invention is, the substitution for the ordinary trap of
the deep trap and syphon, as described, and the causing of the pan to be
emptied by the syphonic action produced in D, E, F, by sending into the pipe
G, or into pan, or into both simultaneously, a sufficient quantity of water to
produce in D, E, F, the peculiar action known as the action of the syphon, by
means of which the contents of the closet are carried up over E, and dis-
charged in a full flush, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of September 1855.
Witness present,
THOMAS WALTER BOURKE,
31, South Glocester Street, Dublin.
JOHN GRAY, M.D. (L.S.)