IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH BATHS, SINKS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Shanks, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED
WITH BATHS, SINKS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Shanks at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th September. 1881.
$8
JOHN SHANKS, of Barrhead, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain.
IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH BATHS, SINKS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS."
This Invention relates to water supply, discharge, and other apparatus of or
connected with baths, sinks, and similar vessels, and comprises various improve-
ments in details, these being modifications or further developments of the Invention
described in the Specification of Letters Patent obtained by the present applicant,
and officially numbered 2056 of 1877.
In a bath made with one modification of the present improvements the water
supply inlets are kept quite distinct from the discharge outlet, the supply taps or
cocks for hot and cold water being fixed to the inside of the end of the bath, and
one on each side of the centre. The shell of the bath is of castiron or other
suitable material, and the discharge-outlet is at the middle of the bottom of the
end, and a recess or concavity is formed up the middle of the end, in which recess
there is placed the rod or wire, or the discharge valve-piece when of a tubular form,
and acting as an overflow by its upper end. A separate cover plate is applied in
front of the recess and conceals the valve details, this plate being by preference
made and fitted so that the used water when being discharged can get away not
only at the bottom but at higher parts. Over the inlet taps or cocks a shelf is
placed, the handle spindles of the taps or cocks and of the discharge valve passing
through it; or the spindle of the discharge valve may be passed up through a
separate part. The shelf may be made of earthenware or glass, and have recesses
for soap and the like formed in it; or it may be of metal, with earthenware or
glass soap dishes cemented in sockets formed for them. Or the soap dishes may be
fixed by means of Banged drainage pipes, and with or without cement.
The space

page_text: for the discharge valve rod or tube may be entirely within the line of the end of
the bath, in which case the covering plate may be flat, or the covering plate may
be curved in horizontal section, and the enclosed space be partly in it and partly
recessed into the end of, the bath, or the covering plate may be sufficiently curved
to allow of the requisite space being enclosed without the end of the bath being
recessed at all.
Some of the bath details may be modified by fixing the supply taps or cocks for
hot and cold water at the outside of the end of the bath, the parts being covered
or partly covered by a shelf or plate at or near the top, through which plate the
spindles or handles project whilst the nozzles project into or through openings in
the end of the bath.
The portion of the herein before described improvements specially applicable to
ordinary sinks (or jawboxes, as they are sometimes called), is that relating to the
discharge or waste outlet details, but other similar vessels for washing purposes
may also be fitted with more or fewer of the improved details.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Shanks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1882.
-JOHN SHANKS,-of-Barrhead,-in-the-County-of-Renfrew, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH BATHS, SINKS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS."
My said Invention relates to water supply, discharge, and other apparatus of or
connected with baths, sinks, and similar vessels, and comprises various improve-
ments in details, these being modifications or further developments of the Invention
described in the Specification of Letters Patent obtained by me and officially
numbered 2056 of 1877.
In a bath made with one modification of my present improvements the water
supply inlets are kept quite distinct from the discharge outlet, the supply taps or
cocks for hot and cold water being fixed to the inside of the end of the bath, and
one on each side of the centre. The shell of the bath is of castiron or other suitable
material, and the discharge outlet is by preference at the middle of the end, a
separate cover plate being applied inside the bath in such manner that the used
water when being discharged can get away not only at the bottom but at higher
parts. Over the inlet taps or cocks a shelf is placed, the handle spindles of the taps
or cocks and of the discharge valve passing through it; or the spindle of the
discharge valve may be passed up through a separate part. The shelf may be
made of earthenware or glass, and have recesses for soap and the like formed in
it or it may be of metal, with earthenware or glass soap dishes cemented in sockets
formed for them. Or the soap dishes may be fixed by means of flanged drainage
pipes, and with or without cement.

page_text: Some of the details may be modified by fixing the supply taps or cocks for hot
and cold water at the outside of the end of the bath, the parts being covered or
partly covered by a shelf or plate at or near the top, through which plate the
spindles or handles project whilst the nozzles project into or through openings in
the end of the bath.
Some of my present improvements are applicable to ordinary sinks or jaw boxes
and to other washing vessels, such as basins.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,
to be hereinafter referred to, and representing various modifications of my improved
details. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a plan of a bath as fitted
with one modification of my improved details, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section
of the end of the bath, whilst Figures 3 and 4 are a sectional side elevation and a
transverse vertical section. The end 21 of the bath is at its middle formed with
a vertical recess 22, at the bottom of which is the discharge valve seat 23 and
waste pipe 24. The discharge valve 25 is in this example a tube, the upper end
of which serves as an overflow outlet whilst the bottom is furnished with a ring
of rubber to close upon the valve seat 23. The discharge valve details are concealed
by a covering plate 26 fixed in front of the recessed part 22, but so as to leave
narrow slits at the sides, and it is through these slits that the water passes off
when the discharge valve 25 is lifted.
The space or recess 22 for the discharge valve details may be entirely within the
line of the end 21 of the bath, in which case the covering plate 26 may be flat, as
in the modification shown in Figures 1 to 4; or the covering plate 26 may be
curved in horizontal section, and the enclosed space be partly in it and partly
recessed into the end of the bath, as in the modification shown in Figures 5, 6,
and 7, which Figures are respectively a plan, a vertical section, and a horizontal
section; or the covering plate 26 may be sufficiently curved to allow of the
requisite space being enclosed without the end 21 of the bath being recessed at all,
as in the modification shown in Figures 8, 9, and 10. The covering plate 26 may
be fixed to the end 21 of the bath by screws applied at its upper corners; or it
may be fixed in the manner indicated in horizontal and vertical section in
Figures 13 and 14. As shown in these Figures, the covering plate 26 is fixed to
a ring 27, which is itself fixed at its back by means of a screw and nut to the back
of the recess 22, the valve tube 25, or a rod passing through the ring.
In the modifications shown in Figures 1 to 10 a shelf 28 is fixed inside of the
end 21 of the bath, and in a position a little below the top edge of the bath, this
shelf covering the inlet taps or cocks 29, and having their handle spindles 30 and
that 31 of the discharge valve passing through it. Or the spindle 31 of the
discharge valve might be passed through a separate part. In the modification
shown in plan in Figure 11, and in vertical section in Figure 12, the shelf 28 for
covering the inlet taps or cocks 29, and these taps or cocks are fixed on the outer
side of the end 21 of the bath, the nozzles of the taps or cocks being arranged to
project through openings in the end of the bath.
In Figure u is shown the application of a ball waste or discharge valve 32 with
a separate overflow-pipe 33, and it may here be mentioned that any convenient
form of discharge valve may be used with my improved details.
In Figures 3 and 4 there is shown fitted, in connection with the bath, a perfo-
rated disc 34 for giving a shower or spray. The disc is connected to the supply
pipes by a flexible tube 35, and when arranged in this way I prefer to apply a
ring or annular tube of rubber round the edge of the disc to prevent noise and
concussion in the event of the disc coming into contact with the sides of the bath
or other part.
The portion of my hereinbefore described improvements specially applicable to
ordinary sinks or jaw boxes is that relating to the discharge or waste outlet

page_text: details, but other vessels for washing purposes may also be fitted with, more or
fewer of my improved details. Figures 15 and 16 are a plan and a vertical section
of a sink or jaw box as fitted with a modification of the waste discharge details,
like that shown in Figures 6 and 7.; but the other arrangements of the covering
plate 26 and recess 22 are equally applicable. The dotted lines in Figures 15
and 16 indicate the form of a wash hand basin, to which the parts may be
applied.
In baths, sinks, or other vessels the waste discharge details may be arranged at
a corner or other part, if preferred, instead of being placed at the middle of the
end, as shown in the Drawings.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging or combining together of the water supply, discharge, and
other apparatus of or connected with baths, sinks, and other vessels for washing
purposes, substantially in the improved manner hereinbefore described.
2. The improved discharge details, comprising as essential parts .the covering
plate with lateral slits or spaces for the passage of the water and the recess or
space behind such plate, substantially as and for the purposes herein before
described.
3. The combination of the shelf with the improved discharge details, the parts
being arranged in relation to each other, substantially in any of the modes herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Shanks, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN SHANKS. (L.S.)