IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC APPARATUS POR RENDERING SEWAGE GASES INNOCUOUS.” IN DOMESTIC APPARATUS FOR
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Anderson, of Inverkeithing, in the
County of Fife, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DOMESTIC APPARATUS POR RENDERING SEWAGE GASES INNOCUOUS.”
IN DOMESTIC APPARATUS FOR RENDERING SEWAGE GASES INNOCUOUS,'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Anderson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1871.
I, WILLIAM ANDERSON, of Inverkeithing, in the County of Fife,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC APPARATUS FOR RENDERING SEWAGE GASES IN-
NOCUOUS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved arrangement or construction
of apparatus to be applied to waterclosets, lavatories, sinks, or other
domestic vessels or receptacles connected with the sewers, so as to render
innocuous the gases escaping up through the pipes connecting them
thereto.

page_text: The properties which charcoal possesses of absorbing and oxidising
sewage gas are well known, and the mode of putting this Invention
into practice consists in adapting to the pan of the watercloset, lavatory,
or other similar receptacle a hollow case whose lower side is perforated,
or having both the lower and upper sides perforated, and containing
charcoal. This casing may be made of any form to fit the receptacle
whereon or wherein it is placed; and when the watercloset, lavatory, or
other similar receptacle is not being used the casing is placed therein or
thereon, so that all gases escaping up through the connecting pipes must
pass into or through the charcoal, which is revivified from time to time
by heating it or placing it in a current of air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Anderson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANDERSON, of Inverkeithing, in the County of Fife, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
35th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Anderson, Her special license
that I, the said William Anderson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Anderson, my executors,
administrators, or 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 DOMESTIC
APPARATUS FOR RENDERING SEWAge Gases Innocuous," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Anderson, 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

page_text: 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 William Anderson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved arrangement or construction
of apparatus to be applied to waterclosets, lavatories, sinks, or other
domestic or other vessels, or other receptacles connected or not con-
nected with the sewers, so as to render innocuous the gases escaping
from them.
The properties which charcoal possesses of absorbing and oxidising
sewage gas are well known, and the mode of putting this Invention into
practice consists in adapting to the pan of the watercloset, lavatory, or
other similar receptacle a hollow case whose lower side is perforated, or
having both the lower and upper sides perforated, and containing
charcoal. This casing may be made of any form to fit the receptacle
whereon or wherein it is placed, and when the watercloset, lavatory, or
other similar receptacle is not being used the casing is placed therein
or thereon, so that all gases escaping up through the connecting pipes
must pass into or through the charcoal, which is revivified from time to
time by heating it or placing it in a current of air.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
I now proceed to set forth what I have found to be the most efficient
manner in which to carry it out in practice, that is to say,―
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a side
elevation of my improved domestic apparatus for rendering sewage gases
innocuous; Figure 2 is a plan thereof; whilst Figure 3 is a transverse
section of the same.
As shewn by Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, the apparatus
consists of a hollow cylindrical case A covered at its upper end by a
square plate B (shewn more particularly at the plan, Figure 2), which is

page_text: made large enough to allow of its projecting a considerable distance
from the periphery of the cylindrical case A. The periphery of the
cylindrical case A, together with the upper and lower ends thereof, are
perforated with small holes a, and situated in the centre of the square
plate B is a small door C, by means of which the cylindrical case A is
filled with charcoal. Attached to the square plate B is a handle D, by
means of which the apparatus is lifted from or placed within the
receptacle to which it is applied; and when the watercloset, lavatory,
or other similar receptacle is not being used the apparatus is placed
therein or thereon, so that all gases escaping from the vessels or
receptacles must pass by means of the perforations a into the cylindrical
case A, and through the charcoal which is placed therein, thereby
absorbing and oxidising the same.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be used
or practically carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that
what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
construction and employment of a movable casing to be applied to the
vessels or receptacles herein mentioned, and containing charcoal for
the purpose of rendering the gases escaping therefrom innocuous, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Anderson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM ANDERSON. (L.S.)