IMPROVEMENTS OR AIR TRAPS FOR PRIVIES, WATERCLOSETS, CLOSE STOOLS, CHAMBER CONVENIENCES, AND OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME MAY BE APPLICABLE
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
HAWKINS, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, under the
Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth.
day of October last, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant.
unto me, the said Stephen Hawkins, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Stephen Hawkins, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves,.
or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others
as I, the said Stephen Hawkins, 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 of years therein unexpired, exercise and
vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS OR AIR TRAPS FOR PRIVIES, WATERCLOSETS, CLOSE
STOOLS, CHAMBER CONVENIENCES, AND OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME MAY BE
APPLICABLE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Stephen Hawkins, by an instrument in writing under my hand,
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven- .
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, AND THESE PRESENTS WITNESS, that in compliance
with the said proviso, I, the said Stephen Hawkins, do hereby ascertain and
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, by the Plan or Drawing to these Presents annexed, and the
following is the description of my Invention of improvements or air traps
for privies, waterclosets, close stools, and chamber conveniences, which con-
sists in the adaptation of a self-acting valve for the purpose of closing the
aperture immediately after the soil or water has passed through the con-
ductor.
edges of the lower
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1 represents the basin of a watercloset,
a is the dish of the
to the bottom of which the improved air trap is attached.
trap resting upon or forming the longer arm of a lever. The dish is made
with a smooth flat surface within, so as to meet exactly the
part of the basin or conductor. 6 is the fulcrum upon which the lever acts.
c is the counterbalance, by which the dish is pressed upwards, and kept in
contact with the throat of the conductor. When soil or water is deposited
into the basin, its weight falling upon the trap a at bottom overcomes the
balance weight c, and presses the lever down, by which the trap or valve
opens, and the soil and water immediately descend through the pipe of a
descending trunk to be placed below.
Figure 2 shews the trap open, and the soil and water in the act of descend-
ing. The form of the dish is capable of being varied, provided its surface is
so made that it will meet the edges of the conductor or throat of the basin,
and the edges of the dish must be turned up sufficiently to form a vessel
capable of holding a small quantity of water, for the purpose of producing a
water valve, by which the aperture may be kept air-tight.
Figure 3 shews the section of a close stool or chamber. convenience, in
which a, b, c, is the air trap, as before described. d is a moveable can or
vessel for receiving the soil and water, to the cover of which can the air trap
is attached; e is the pan or basin of the close stool; f, the conductor. The soil
and water falling from the basin through the conductor overbalances the dish
and descends into the can below, when it is prevented from emitting any
effluvia by the instantaneous closing of the trap, which must be afterwards
charged with a small quantity of water, in order to produce a water valve, and
render the vessel air tight. In this state the can may be removed without
causing any obnoxious smell in the apartment. A similar contrivance is like-
wise applicable to chamber pails, easy chairs, and other portable conveniences,

page_text: in which the vapour will be perfectly confined, so that no effluvia whatever can
escape. The air trap is not only applicable to waterclosets and chamber con-
veniences, as above described, but also to privies generally, to drains, sink
holes, and vents.
Figure 4 is the section of a trap to be applied to a drain. a, b, and c are
the parts of the trap above described.
Figure 5 is a section of the trap as applicable to a sink hole. The water
having accumulated on the dish a overbalances the weight c, and descends
into the drain below; the trap or valve instantly returning closes the aperture
and stops the progress of any fumes that might otherwise arise.
Figure 6 shews the apparatus in another way adapted as a house or ship's
watercloset. a, b, and c, are the parts of the valve or trap, as described. d is
a box into which the soil and water descends; the bottom of this box is an
inclined plane, for the purpose of allowing the soil to run off. 9 is a pipe
discharging itself into another pipe or funnel or out at the ship's side. h is a
fly trap opening outwards, but closing inwards, so as to shut off the passage
of the wind, which would otherwise force itself up the pipe. Though I have
described the various situations and forms of apparatus to which my Invention
of an air trap is applicable, yet I wish it to be understood that my claim of
Patent right does not extend to any other part of the apparatus than the
valve or trap described and referred to in the Drawings, and letter'd a, b,
and c. The trap alone I lay claim to as my Invention, and its adaptation to
such situation as above mentioned, and whenever the same may be found
applicable.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, the Seventeenth day
of April in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and