CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATES OR GRIDS, APPLICABLE TO SEWERS, DRAINS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LOWE, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of October, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine;
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Lowe, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power;
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Lowe, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Lowe, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN GRATES OR GRIDS, APPLICABLE TO SEWERS, DRAINS, AND OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that. I,. the-
said Joseph Lowe, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be.

page_text: enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Lowe, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
This Improvement in "Grates" or "Grids," applicable to Sewers, Drains, and
other similar Purposes, consists in converting the ordinary grates used in such
situations into a stench trap, adapted to such places and purposes in which it
is desirable to prevent the effluvia arising therefrom escaping to the surface,
and thereby polluting the atmosphere and engendering miasma, &c. This
improved combination of the ordinary street grating with the stench trap not
only effectually prevents the escape of any effluvia, but also prevents, in a con-
siderable degree, the downward passage of rubbish, street mud, stones, and
other solid substances, which are so frequently swept over and into the gratings,
as instead of passing into and obstructing drains.and sewers, such substances
are detected and deposited in the box trap of the grid, which can be readily
cleaned out by lifting up the hinged grating when required.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 shews a sectional elevation of the
improved "stench trap grid; and Fig. 2. a plan or top view of the same.
a, a, a, a, is an oblong or other shaped cast-metal box, having partitions or
dividing plates b¹, 62, cast or placed in it, and of such suitable depth as to form
a gas-tight joint when the box is nearly filled with water, as shewn in the
Figure. The grid or-grate c-is hinged on to the upper part of the box a, a,
so that it may be lifted up at pleasure for the purpose of cleaning out the box
trap. It will be seen that on water or other drainage passing off from the
surface and down the grating c, it will flow under the partition 6' and over the
partition 6, and pass downwards through the opening d into the sewer or drain,
and that the water-sealed joint between the partitions.61 and 62 will effectually
prevent the return of any effluvia arising therefrom.
Having thus described my said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood, in conclusion, that I claim
the novel and peculiar combination and construction above described and set
forth, constituting my Improvements in Grates or Grids applicable to Sewers,
Drains, and other similar Purposes, whereby the ascent or return of any effluvium

page_text: or vapour is prevented, by means of the water-sealed joint effectuated between
the partitions 61 and 6 in the trap box of the grate or grid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Lowe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Joseph Lowe came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.