IMPROVED COMBINED BATHING, WASHING, AND WATER CLOSET APPARATUS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, of the Glebe Sugar House,
Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Sugar Refiner, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED COMBINED BATHING, WASHING, AND WATER
CLOSET APPARATUS."
Sealed the 28th January 1859, and dated the 2nd December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1858.
I, LAUCHLAN MAC KIRDY, of the Glebe Sugar House, Greenock, in the
County of Renfrew, North Britain, Sugar Refiner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVED COMBINED BATHING, WASHING, AND
WATER CLOSET APPARATUS;" to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improved combined bathing, washing, and
water-closet apparatus of a portable character, and suitable for a bed room
or other apartment. This apparatus comprises, first, a vessel answering as a
foot, body, or sitting bath, and occupying the lowest part of the apparatus
secondly, a plunge or washing basin placed upon or within a stand con-
trived to answer also as a seat when the lower vessel is used as a foot bath ;
thirdly, a shower bath discharger placed directly above the plunge basin;

page_text: the foot bath can be placed within the stand, from which it is drawn out
when it is to be used; and, fourthly, a water-closet ordinarily concealed within
the stand, and contrived so that the act of drawing it out for use places it in
communication with the discharge passage, which is at other times closed.
It is preferred to supply the apparatus with water by means of a service pipe
from a cistern above, or from the main taps being provided for the foot bath
and plunge basin, and a branch pipe passing up to a sufficient height, where
it is fitted with a" rose "or perforated plate, its discharge through which forms
the shower bath. It is preferred to perforate the shower bath rose in such a
way that the streams of water from it will all fall within the plunge basin
beneath. The shower bath may be used either by exposing only the head to
the discharge, or by sitting upon the stand so as to expose the entire body to
it. The apparatus may be surmounted by an ornamental cornice or canopy,
and it may be encompassed by curtains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAUCHLAN
MAC KIRDY, of the Glebe Sugar House, Greenock, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Sugar Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight; in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did,. for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, Herspecial licence that I, the said Lauchlan Mac
Kirdy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, 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 "IMPROVED
COMBINED BATHING, WASHING, AND WATER-CLOSET APPARATUS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,

page_text: 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 Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to improved combined bathing, washing, and
water-closet apparatus of a portable character, and suitable for a bed room or
other apartment. This apparatus comprises, first, a vessel answering as a foot,
body, or sitting bath, and occupying the lowest part of the apparatus;
secondly, a plunge or washing basin placed upon or within a stand, contrived
to answer also as a seat when the lower vessel is used as a foot bath; thirdly,
a shower-bath discharger placed directly above the plunge basin; and,
fourthly, a water-closet ordinarily concealed within the stand, and contrived
so that the act of drawing it out for use places it in communication with the
discharge passage, which is at other times closed. The foot bath can be
placed within the stand, from which it is drawn out when it is to be used. It
is preferred to supply the apparatus with water by means of a service pipe
from a cistern above, or from the main, taps being provided for the foot bath
and plunge basin, and a branch pipe passing up to a sufficient height, where
it is fitted with a "rose" or perforated plate, its discharge through which forms
the shower bath. It is preferred to perforate the shower-bath rose in such a
way that the streams of water from it will all fall within the plunge basin
beneath.
The shower bath may be used either by exposing only the head to the
discharge, or by sitting upon the stand seat so as to expose the entire body to
it. The apparatus may be surmounted by an ornamental.cornice or canopy,
and it may be encompassed by curtains.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, I have delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
hereunto appended, and shall now proceed to describe, a modification of my
improved combined apparatus,premising that the same reference letters mark
the same parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus, the foot bath and water-
closet being supposed to be closed up within the stand, the latter being
indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, showing the foot bath
A and water-closet B, as drawn out for use; and Fig. 3 is a plan cor-

page_text: responding to Fig. 2. The stand or body C of the apparatus is rectan-
gular in plan, the foot bath A being adapted to the lower part of it like a
drawer. The top of the stand is shaped to form a seat D, the sides and back,
however, rising above this seat to prevent splashing. Ordinarily a large deep
plunge basin E is placed on this seat D, but can be removed at pleasure,
being provided with handles for the purpose. From the two back corners of
the stand C tubes F, G, rise up to support the canopy H. One G of these
tubes serves also as a water pipe, being supplied from the main, or from an
overhead cistern, and a tap and branch I from it carries and supplies a shower
bath rose J, whilst a tap or crane K serves for supplying the plunge basin E.;
this tap K being opened by turning the spout over the basin, as in Fig. 2,
and closed by turning it back out of the way, as in Figs. 1 and 3. Lower
down a branch and tap L supplies the water-closet B, being provided' with a
length of caoutchouc tubing to allow of the movement of the water-closet,
whilst lower down still another branch supplies the foot bath A by a tap at M
of the same kind as that at K, and shown open in Fig. 3, and closed in
Fig. 1. The trap bend N of the water-closet communicates with the
discharge pipe O by means of a kind of tap joint indicated by dotted lines at
P, in Fig. 2, and shown in section at P¹. When the water-closet is pushed
into the stand, it turns about the tap joint P, and closes the communication,
the reverse act of drawing out the water-closet opening it. The position of
thewater-closet when shut up in the stand is indicated byred lines in Figure 3.
The hollow of the seat D is perforated for the discharge of water thence into
a shallow cone beneath, with which communicates the discharge pipe Q,
joining the water-closet discharge pipe O. The plunge basin E is provided
with a discharge orifice and plug in its bottom, and thewater when discharged
from it flows off through the perforations in the seat D, and through the
discharge pipe Q. The foot bath A is similarly provided with a discharge
orifice and plug R, which communicates by means of a caoutchouc branch.S
with the water-closet discharge pipe O. Where convenient hot water may be
supplied by the tubular support F, branches and taps being adapted thereto as
required.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein-bofore described or
delineated, and that I do not claim to have invented every separate detail
herein before described and delineated; but that what I consider to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is the combining of bathing, washing, and

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said Lauchlan Mac Kirdy, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May,in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
LAUCHLAN MAC KIRDY. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said Lauchlan
Mac Kirdy, in the presence of
G. B. WINSTANLEY,
Clerk to Messrs. Davies & Hunt,
Patent Agents,
1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn.