AN IMPROVED DOMESTIC CONVENIENCE
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CLARK, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Ironfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Пer present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of September, (One thousand eight hundred
and forty-four,) in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Clark, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Iler especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Clark, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the continuance of the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED DOMESTIC CONVENIENCE;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Clark, to
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Clark, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what
imanner the same is to be performed, to be fully described and set forth in and
by the following statement and Specification thereof, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, which I declaro to be and to form part of this
my Specification, the letters and numeral figures marked thereon being for the
purpose of such reference, that is to say:―
My Invention consists in and has reference to the principles of construction
and the modes of arrangement of the mechanical parts, and also the several
combinations of the same, as such several matters are herein-after described
and set forth, as regards my application of the same to the object set forth and
referred to in and by the title of the Letters Patent granted unto me, the said
Thomas Clark, as hercin-before recited. The particular nature and intention
of my said Invention I declare to consist in forming and constructing an appa-
ratus, machine, or vessel for the purposes of an improved domestic convenience.
It is shewn in its general form in the Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, of the Drawing.
Figure 1 is an external view, in front elevation, of the same; Figure 2 is a
vertical section thereof, taken through the body of tho vessel by the dotted
line X, X, of Figure 1. The machine, as shewn in Figure 1, is a vessel of
metal, and coated on its inner sides with enamel or matter suitable to effect
the complete resistance to the penetration of liquids or moisture. A, A, A,
is the body of the machine; B, B, its lifting handle; C, C, an enlarged or
dished portion of the upper edge of the body, to render it more commodiously
fit for the secondary office of the machine as a chamber convenience; D, D,
is its cover, the internal form of which is that of a concave or shallow
dished vessel. The Figure 3 shows the cover D, D, as separated from the
body of the machine, and seen edgewise; in Figure 4 the cover D, D, is
represented also as separated from the body of the machine, and is shewn in
'transverse section, the more distinctly to explain its form and construction.
In the Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, the corresponding parts are respectively marked
with the samit letters of reference as far as the same parts can be seen in cach
Figure. In Figure 3, E is a balanced lever valve, of which F is its fulcrum,
G, its closing or acting plate, and H, its counterbalance weight. This closes
the central aperture I in the dished cover D (seen in Figure 4), through
which the waste water passes or is poured into the interior of the body of the

page_text: vessel A, A, A. The adjustment of the counterbalance weight is such
that the valve opens with the pressure of the stream of water poured into the
dished cover D, D, and the body of the vessel, and closes immediately on its
cessation by tlic action of the counterbalance weight II. The dotted line
K, K, in the Figure 2 shews the situation of the water when contained in the
body of the vessel A, A, A. In the Figure 5, L represents a portion of the edge
of the cover D, D, shewing the mode of attaching the cover to the body of
the vessel A; A; A. M is a projecting pin made on the cars N of the vessel
in which the handle is held, and on this pin and a second pin which is placed
opposite to it on the other side of the vessel the hook O, formed on the edge
of the lid D, D, produces the joint or fastening, technically termed a bayonet
joint or fastening. for the lid. The escape of offensive effluvia from the
contents of the vessel A, A, A, is prevented by the effective action of the
valve E; the air-tight fitting of which on the borders of the central aperture I
is produced by the accurate workmanship of the valve and its seat, and is
assisted by the thin film or stratum of water, which will generally remain upon
the inner or upper surface of the valve plate, the action of the lever being
duly adjusted to its support. Tho close and air-tight fitting of the lid, shown
at the Figures 3 and 4, to the body of the vessel, is effected by a facing of
cloth, gum, caoutchouc, or other suitable matter or substance, closely attached
to, the sloped rim or seating of the mouth of the vessel A, A, A, or to the
sloped border of the lid D, D, on its under side, or to both the sloped borders
of the vessel A, A, A, and its lid D, D. The Figure 6 represents the lid, as
above described and shewn, in a plan view, as it appears on its external or
under side; the Figure 7 represents the lid, shewn in a plan view, as it
appears in its internal or upper side. The same parts of the Figures 6 and 7
are respectively marked with the same letters of reference by which they are
distinguished in the other Figures of the Drawing.
Ilaving now described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as of
my Invention therein the specific constructions and arrangement of parts, and
the combination thereof in the compound, produced as they are herein-before
specially set down and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
THOMAS (b.s.) CLARK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of March, in the
eighth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Thomas
Clark came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.