IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET GUTTERS AND SINKS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. George William Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
February 1867.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM WRIGHT, of 134, Bishopgate Street Without, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET GUTTERS
AND SINKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in street gutters and sinks.
In constructing street gutters and sinks which are usually placed on each side
of the carriage way I form below the surface of the street a channel or double
gutter, by preference of cast iron; this cast-iron channel or double gutter is
covered over at the surface level of the street with an openworked (triangle
bar) iron grating, which admits of six bushels per house of dust or mud, or
any quantity of water without stoppage, lodgment, or clearing, also prevents
brick rubbish or other solid matter entering the inside gutter; the grating is
made in lengths or sections, and each length is hinged on one side to the back
edge of the cast-iron gutter; one end of each length of grating is made to
overlap the end of the grating next to it, so that it secures any length of the
grating by one lock and key. Within the cast-iron gutter is placed a
percolator or a box of sheet iron galvanized, or other metal having numerous
small holes formed through it; this is also made in sections, each section
being closed at both ends, and the ends being similarly perforated; the
percolators are placed end to end along the gutter, and serve as filters to
filter the water from the mud which passes down into them through the

page_text: grating at the top; the percolators do not pass down quite straight to the
bottom of the cast-iron gutter, but a small space is left to allow any water
filtering through the percolator to flow along the bottom of the gutter; the
ends of the percolators are not made to come to the top of the cast-iron
gutter, but a space is left to allow a clear stream of water to flow above them.
The gutters or sinks cannot be stopped up by shop refuse or overflowed by a
heavy shower of rain, or opening of plugs in case of fire; the percolators are
made moveable, so that they may from time to time be readily taken out and
emptied of the mud free from water; the cast-iron gutter is made to com-
municate at intervals by branch passages with the sinks and sewers, and at
these points a length or section of the gutter is made deeper at the bottom to
form a sink or outlet for the water into the sewers. The bottom portion of
this section is similarly provided with a percolator, which can be removed
from time to time to be emptied; the branch passage or sink passes out from
this section, and the opening into the passage is made to extend to a height
above the top of the percolator, so that should the percolator be full of mud a
clear stream may pass to the sewer without the least obstruction.
By constructing street gutters and sinks in the manner above described
there will be no collection of puddles of water, mud, ice, or dust at the sides
of the streets, and considerable expense in sweeping the streets and cleansing
the sewers will also be saved, as the mud and solid matters passing into the
gutter will be intercepted by the percolator.