IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAPPING WATER CLOSETS AND OTHER WATER RECEPTACLES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Philip Middleton Justice at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th June 1880. A com-
munication from abroad by Jesse Edward Folk, of the City of Brooklyn, State
of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE, of 14, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAPPING WATER CLOSETS AND
OTHER WATER RECEPTACLES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
A communication from abroad by Jesse Edward Folk, of the City of Brooklyn,
State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.
Heretofore it has been found difficult, if not impossible, with the methods in use
for trapping water closets, etc., to effectually prevent the admission into dwellings
of the deleterious gases arising from the sewers or engendered in the sewer
connecting pipes, and this difficulty has arisen chiefly from relying upon water to
form a barrier or seal in the trap to prevent the passage of gas from the sewer
connecting pipes into the apartment in which the water receptacle may be placed.
Water however being absorbent of and permeably by gases, it is only a matter of
time, dependant somewhat upon the pressure exerted by the gases, for the latter to
be absorbed at one end of the water seal and given up to the atmosphere at the
other or apartment end; aside from this, the scal formed by the water is often
broken by the siphoning out of the water from the trap or by the evaporation of
the water if it stand long enough unreplenished, in either case permitting a free
passage of the gases through the trap.
This Invention is designed to obviate the defects mentioned, and to supply a
simple and more effective barrier than is offered by water to prevent the admission
of sewer gases, and consists mainly in the employment of quicksilver or other
equivalent fluid substitute of greater specific gravity than the water, and which will
not mix or unite with water, as a fluid seal in the trap, the quicksilver being so heavy
that it will always remain or keep itself below the water, and so dense that the
gases cannot pass through it. My Invention consists also in constructing the traps
as generally used, such as the S shaped trap, for instance, with an opening at or
near the bottom of the trap, and connecting thereto a receiver, into which the
quicksilver may be drawn from the trap in order to permit the passage of water, etc.,
through the trap; also in the suitable construction and arrangement of such receiver,
by which, in connection with a plunger, piston, or other suitable mechanism
operating in said receiver, the quicksilver may be forced or caused to return to the
Desing 91

page_text: trap to form a seal therein after the water, etc., has passed through; also in suitably
venting the trap by an air pipe or otherwise to break the pressure of the water in
passing through the trap, to prevent or lessen the rush of water and its consequent
liability to carry off some of the quicksilver particles or globules; also in a novel
construction and arrangement of trap for wash basins and the like, in which the
trap ends upward, and such end is within and surrounded by a bowl or cup for
holding the quicksilver upon, and into which latter a cap or inverted cup rests to
complete the seal, which cap or inverted cup is lifted (by the pressure of any
excess of water flowing into the trap) out of and above the quicksilver to allow the
water to pass between the latter and the cap, and overflow the bowl into an outer
waste receptacle to which the waste pipe is attached, said receptacle being secured
gas-tight to the under side of the wash basin. This Invention also consists in the
construction of the cap or inverted cup to be guided in its rise and fall so that its
lower edge will meet with only fluid contact, and thus obviate the danger of its
sticking, and the need of more water head or pressure to force an exit for surplus
accumulating water.
All the parts of the apparatus that are to hold or be in contact with the quick-
silver should be made of, or coated or lined with, material which is impervious to
the action of, and will not deleteriously affect, the quicksilver or other equivalent
fluid substance employed. Enamelled iron may be advantageously employed, and
is deemed a suitable material for this purpose.