IMPROVEMENTS IN HOUSE TRAPS FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF SEWER GAS INTO DWELLINGS FROM SEWERS, DRAINS, OR CESSPOOLS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Gregson Banner, of 11, Billiter Square,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOUSE
TRAPS FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF SEWER GAS INTO DWELLINGS FROM
SEWERS, DRAINS, OR CESSPOOLS."
Sealed the 26th November 1875, and dated the 2nd July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Gregson
Banner at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd July 1875.
I, EDWARD GREGSON BANNER, of 11, Billiter Square, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HOUSE TRAPS FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF SEWER GAS
INTO DWELLINGS FROM SEWERS, DRAINS, OR CESSPOOLS," to be as follows:-
House traps constructed according to this Invention are more
especially intended to be placed at the lower end of the soil pipes of
dwelling houses to prevent gases passing from the sewer into the soil pipes,
and from thence into the house. The soil pipe I carry up to the top of the
house as has before been proposed and place on the top of it a ventilating
cowl, such as is described in the Specification of a former Patent

page_text: granted to me, to produce at all times an upward current of air in such
soil pipe, there being an inlet of fresh air provided just above the house
trap at its lower end. The house trap is a double dip or other trap, one
trap above another, as shewn in the Drawing annexed. All matters
passing down the soil pipe enter the upper trap and pass from it to the
lower one, and thence into the outlet pipe to the drain or sewer; this
outlet pipe I also carry upwards and continue it from the top of the
house trap to above the roof of the house, and place upon the top of it
a ventilating cowl, or one cowl may be used both for it and for the soil
pipe.
In order that any liquid falling from the upper to the lower trap may
not be able to produce a partial vacuum in the space between the two
traps, and empty or partially empty the upper trap so as to unseal it, a
small pipe is led from this space into the sewer and drain ventilating
pipe. If the house trap is fixed in positions where the water in the
traps might at times be liable to become frozen, hinged flaps might be
provided, as shewn at A in the Drawing, to at that time allow an escape
of the matters coming down the soil pipe. Cover plates which can
readily be removed and replaced may be provided to allow of the
condition of each of the traps being ascertained, as shewn at B.
Instead of the two traps being placed vertically one below the other
their position might be varied and placed either obliquely or otherwise,
the arrangements for ventilating both the soil pipe and the sewer or
drain pipe being varied as the circumstances require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Edward Gregson Banner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GREGSON BANNER, of 11, Billiter Square, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
3

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Edward Gregson Banner, Her special
license, that I, the said Edward Gregson Banner, my executors, admini
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Gregson Banner,
my executors, administrators, and 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 HOUSE TRAPS FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF SEWER
GAS INTO DWELLINGS FROM SEWERS, DRAINS, OR CESSPOOLS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Gregson Banner, 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, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Gregson Banner, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
: F
0
This Invention has for its object to prevent the passage of sewer gas
into dwellings from sewers, drains, or cesspools. For this purpose I
place a trap at the lower end of the soil pipe and provide an inlet of air
to the soil pipe just above the trap or in the upper part of the trap
itself. The soil pipe I carry up to the top of the house and place on
the top of it a ventilating cowl (such as is described in the Specification"
of a former Patent granted to me No. 3400, in the year 1874), so con-
structed that the passage of wind through it shall produce at all times
a continuous upward current of air from the inlet pipe through the soil
pipe.
1
"
>
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shows a diagram sectional'
view of a dwelling with the soil pipe trapped in the manner above
described to prevent all access of sewer gas to the interior of the'
dwelling. A is the soil pipe passing from top to bottom of the dwelling;"
B is a ventilating cowl on the top of the soil pipe; this cowl is con-
structed in the manner described in the Specification, No. 3400, previously"
mentioned. Other forms of cowls to act in the same way may however!

page_text: be used in place of it; C is a trap at the bottom of the soil pipe; this
trap is constructed in the manner described in the Specification of a
former Patent also granted to me, No. 2303, in the year 1872, or it
might be a trap such as herein-after described, or trap of other sustable
construction.
The trap C is shown separately at Figure 2, and as described in the
above-mentioned Specification is so constructed as to well flush the
outlet at each discharge; D is an air inlet entering the soil pipe just
above the trap C; E, E, are the basins, pans, or valves of water closets,
which closets may be of any ordinary construction; F is the outlet drain
passing from the trap C to the sewer G.
From the above description it will be seen that a current of fresh air
will continuously flow into the lower end of the soil pipe at the inlet D,
and be drawn up to and discharged at the top of this pipe by means of
the ventilating cowl B, whilst at the same time the communication
between the soil pipe and the drain cesspool or sewer is cut off by the
valve or water seal of the trap C. It will consequently be unnecessary
to provide the several closets each with a separate trap below the
basin.
may
In the Drawing, Figure 1, I have also shown that a ventilating pipe H
be carried up from the drain or sewer to the top of the dwelling,
and similarly have a ventilating cowl B placed on the top of it. In this
case the ordinary air gratings in the sewer will afford a sufficient inlet of
fresh air, and a continuous current will be maintained through the
pipe H in the same way as through the soil pipe A. An open out door
trap may be used in connection with this pipe, as shown at K, into
which rain water and the water and waste, &c., from a scullery or other
sink may be discharged.
Another part of my Invention consists in constructing traps to be
placed at the lower end of the soil pipes of dwelling houses, each with a
two dip traps, ono discharging into the other, and with an air shaft led
up from the outlet into which the second trap discharges, and carried to
the top of the house, where it carries a ventilating cowl by which a
continuous upward current is maintained from the drain or cesspool
having a proper inlet provided, or from the sewer through the pipe, and
serves to ventilate the drain, cesspool, or sewer at the same time that it
prevents any backward pressure coming upon the traps. The soil pipe

page_text: having an inlet D as above described is also carried up to the top of the
house and led either into the same or to a separate ventilating cowl.
Figure 3 shows an elevation of a trap of the construction above
described with its side cover plate removed.
Figure 4 shows the cover plate separately. A is the soil pipe; Dis
the inlet pipe thereto for fresh air; C, the first dip trap into which it
discharges; B, the second trap below it; F, the outlet to the drain, cess-
pool, or sewer; and E, the air shaft rising from the outlet to the top of
the building as above described; G, G, are openings in the side cover
plate; these openings are closed by plates of glass which allow of the
condition of the traps being seen at all times.
Instead of the two traps B and C being placed vertically one above
the other, as shown in the Drawings, they might be placed obliquely or
otherwise.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
First. The trap or apparatus herein-before described for the prevention
of the passage of sewer gas into dwellings from sewers, drains, or
cesspools, such trap or apparatus being a combined arrangement by
which a perpetual movement of air in, into, and through the soil pipe is
maintained, and consisting of a, a valve or water seal at the lower end
of the soil pipe; b, also of an air inlet to the soil pipe just above the
valve or water seal; c, also of what I have called a ventilating cowl
placed upon the top of the soil pipe, which pipe is carried up to the top
of the dwelling.
Second. The combined arrangement of double trap with ventilating
shaft for sewer, drain, or cesspool, substantially as hercin-before described
and illustrated at Figures 3 and 4.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Gregson Banner, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred