IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING AND DEODORIZING SEWAGE MATTERS OF DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNEXION WITH THE SAME
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lloyd, of Llangefui, in the County of
Anglesea, M.D., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING AND
DEODORIZING SEWAGE MATTERS OF DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER PLACES,
AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNEXION WITH THE SAME."
Sealed the 22nd December 1857, and dated the 26th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lloyd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th June 1857.
I, JOHN LLOYD, of Llangefui, in the County of Anglesea, M.D., do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZING
AND DEODORIZING SEWAGE MATTERS OF DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER PLACES,
AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNEXION WITH THE SAME," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in applying the waste or refuse of fireplaces in
houses, &c., alone or in combination with lime, to correct or remedy the
nuisance produced, especially by human excretions, and thereby reduce them
to a harmless and inoffensive state, so as to be easily removeable with such
refuse, and so to be used as manure, or for other purposes.
By the waste refuse I mean what is generally called the sifted ashes or
breeze, and more or less or the whole of the cinders at times, to be used
either as they usually occur, or more or less ground or pounded, and either
alone or combined with quick-lime in certain proportions, and assisted in
certain circumstances by small quantities of the chloride of lime of commerce.

page_text: The ashes and cinders are either to be used fresh daily, by being added, in a
state of mixture with lime or not, to the closets or pans, to be again described,
in quantities sufficient to cause all bad smell or noxious effluvia to cease, or if
not used from the fires every morning, they are to be carefully preserved from
wet in certain covered depôts, to be again described, and the excess of them
produced in winter is to be carefully reserved for summer in such depóts, which
are either to be small ones attached to every house, or street, or block of houses,
or large ones for whole towns and districts. In the same depôts, or other
convenient places, I propose that the dry sewage thus produced shall be
accumulated for sale or use, and also that the lime, which is useful for the
process, shall be either collected or burnt, and the vapours therefrom to assist
in correcting any effluvia which may arise from a large collection or manipu-
lation of such sewage matter. The proportion of lime which I propose to use
with the ashes is one part to two, generally, but the proportion may be varied
according to circumstances and localities, or omitted. The chloride of lime
will only be necessary in rare cases, and very small quantities.
The useful action of the substances above mentioned require certain
changes in the closets, middens, necessaries, and cesspools now in common
use. Where waterclosets, or night chairs, or privies are now used, it will
not be necessary but prejudicial to use water at all, according to this plan,
the very principle of which is to get rid of all the water contained naturally
in the excretions, and so prevent the possibility of putrefaction.
I propose to use inside of closets and night chairs, and beneath the seats
of privies, metallic or other pans, of sizes convenient to be introduced and
removed therefrom, and through passages, &c., when full. They will be s
generally of a square shape, from a cubic foot upwards in dimensions, and
divided by a curved or other shaped partition, in such a position, with regard
to the circular opening of the seat, as effectually to separate the foeces and
urine as they fall; a circumstance depending entirely upon anatomical con-
siderations, and which acts in the case of. women as well as men. The two 3
substances are therefore acted upon separately, which is of great importance,
the posterior portion becomes exceedingly dry by the action of the fresh ashes
and lime, and rapidly solidifies and even fossilizes the foeces, and converts
them to dry masses or cakes, without any smell, and which can be compressed,
pounded, or packed, as may be desired. It has also a great effect upon the 3
evaporation in the front compartment of the closet, and helps to remove the
watery portion of the urine by evaporation.
The front compartment of the pan or closet I propose shall always, if
possible, be nearly filled with the mixture of lime and ashes already mentioned.

page_text: It acts in this manner: the quantity of urine passed into the closet forms a
mass of wet lime, which acts in its well-known capacity of absorbing gases by
deodorizing at once the natural offensive smell of the fresh foeces, which are
afterwards rapidly fossilized.
A great part of the urine thus passed in the closet is at once absorbed, and
any excess of it filters through the mass of lime and carbon through a pipe to
the sewer, and by so doing, becomes divested of urea, uric acid, mucus, and
nearly all foreign matters, passing off as lime water, with only a very small
proportion of impurities, and in a state that the ordinary urinary putrefaction
and smell is rendered impossible. The lime separates spontaneously in the
sewers, &c., or may be discharged artificially, along with most of the animal
matter, by means of carbonic acid, and the deposit collected.
Lastly, I propose to apply the action of the materials now mentioned, on the
same principle as in the front compartment of the closet, to the purification of
cesspools, and the urine and other liquids thrown away from bedrooms, wash-
houses, kitchens, &c., by which means the great body of the solid matters
contained in them are detained in the materials employed, and the. remainder
of such liquids filter through in such a state that they will not putrify or smell,
or cause any nuisance. And I propose to act upon such liquids, either as they
pass from each house separately, or for, a street, or block of houses, or for a
whole town, by appropriate pipes, sinks, reservoirs, and means of transport
suitable to the exigency of each locality and circumstance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lloyd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LLOYD, of Llangefui, in the County of Anglesey, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Lloyd, Her special licence that I, the said John
Lloyd, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Lloyd, 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

page_text: 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 UTILIZING AND DEODORIZING SEWAGE MATTERS OF DWELLING
HOUSES AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION, WITH
THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lloyd,
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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lloyd, do hereby declare the
nature of the: said Invention, and in what manner the. same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in .and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in applying the waste..or refuse. of fireplaces in
houses, &c., alone or in combination with lime, to correct or remedy the
nuisance produced by the sewage of houses, especially by human excretions,.
and thereby reduce them to a harmless and inoffensive state, so as to be
easily removeable with such refuse, and so to be used as manure, or for.other.
purposes.
By the waste refuse I mean what is generally called the sifted ashes. or.
breeze, and more or less or the whole of the cinders at times, to be used
alone when in sufficient quantities, and when urine and all other liquids are
separated from the fæces, either as they usually occur, or more or less ground
or pounded, and either alone or combined with quick-lime in certain propor-
tions, and assisted in certain circumstances by small quantities of the chloride
of line of commerce.
In summer, mouldiness and the lave of insects are apt to be generated,
tinless an addition of quick-lime, or chloride of lime, or other chloride, is made.
to prevent it. The ashes also deodorize and practically solidify their own weight
of urine, slops, &c., by evaporation and absorption; but if the liquids are in
larger proportion, in the absence of lime, &c.,.they filter through, and although
greatly divested of urea and other important matters, they in time cause some
degree of smell, which the addition of lime entirely prevents.
For.
The mixture is made in different proportions to suit circumstances.
the back compartment it is generally better made an "intimate" mixture, but
for sinks, &c., the substances are. better in layers or strata, or roughly mixed,
the upper layer to be of ashes alone, to absorb most of the urea before passing.

page_text: to the lime. The lime employed is preferable if burnt from the limestone
called "dolomite," or such at least as contains an appreciable quantity of
mágnesia, with the view of detaining any ammonia that may be formed in
the insoluble form, well known as ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, produced
between the two substances, and the soluble phosphates of the urine; I depend
chiefly, however, upon the prevention of all decomposition, (particularly with
ordinary lime) by the rapid solidification and drying of both fæces and urine,
or the solid contents thereof, in which state their chemical constituents do not
act upon each other to cause putrefaction. The ashes may be assisted; in the
absence of quick-lime, or in case of any inconvenience arising from it, by the
use of sulphate of lime (burnt), or even burnt clay. Any ammonia that
possibly may be formed is, however, retained by the "wet lime," (as in gas-
works,) or in the pores of the charcoal, and ultimately solidified, as in guano.
Chloride of lime (solid) is, however, to be added in small quantities, if from
unusual circumstances any ammoniacal smell or putrefaction should occur.
The ashes and cinders are either to be used fresh daily, by being added in a
state of mixture with lime or not, to the closets or pans, to be again described,
in quantities sufficient to cause all bad smell or noxious effluvia to cease, or if
not used fresh from the fires every morning they are to be carefully preserved
from wet, in certain covered depôts, to be again described, and the excess, of
them produced in winter is to be carefully preserved for summer in such
depôts, which are either to be small ones, attached to every house, or street,
or block of houses, or large ones for whole towns and districts. In the sanie
depôts, or other convenient. places, I propose that the dry sewage thus pro-
duced shall be, accumulated for sale or use, and also that the lime, which is
useful for the process, shall be either collected or burnt, and the vapours there
from to assist in correcting any effluvia which may arise from a large collection
or manipulation of such sewage matter. The proportion of line which I
propose to use with the ashes is one part to two, generally, but the propor-
tion may be varied according to circumstances and localities, or omitted. The
chloride of lime will only be necessary in rare cases, and very small quantities.
The useful action of the substances, above mentioned requires certain
changes in the closets, middens, necessaries, and cesspools now in common use.
Where waterclosets, or night chairs, or privies are now used, it will not be
necessary but prejudicial to use water at all,, according to this plan, the very
principle of which is to get rid of all the water contained naturally in the
excretions, and so prevent the possibility of putrefaction.
"
. I propose to use inside of closets and night chairs, and beneath the seats of
privies, metallic or other pans, of sizes convenient to be introduced and

page_text: removed therefrom, and through passages, &c., when full. They will be
generally of a square shape, from a cubic foot upwards in dimensions,
and divided by a curved or other shaped partition, in such a position with
regard to the circular opening of the seat as effectually to separate the fæces
and urine as they fall; a circumstance depending entirely upon anatomical
considerations, and which acts in the case of women as well as men.
The two substances are therefore acted upon separately, which is of great
importance. The posterior portion becomes exceedingly dry by the action of
the fresh ashes and lime, and rapidly solidifies and even fossilizes the fæces
and converts them to dry masses or cakes without any smell, and which can
be compressed, pounded, or packed, as may be desired.
It has also a great
effect upon the evaporation in the front compartment of the closet, and helps
to remove the watery portion of the urine by evaporation.
The front compartment of the pan or closet I propose shall always, if pos-
sible, be partially or nearly filled with the mixture of lime and ashes already
mentioned. It acts in this manner: the quantity of urine passed into the
closet forms a mass of wet lime, which acts in its well-known capacity of
absorbing gases by deodorizing the natural offensive smell of the fresh fæces,
which are afterwards rapidly fossilized.
A great part of the urine thus passed in the closet is at once absorbed, and
any excess of it filters through the mass of lime and carbon, through a pipe to
the sewer, and by so doing becomes divested of urea, uric acid, mucus, and
nearly all foreign matters, passing off as lime water, with only a very small
proportion of impurities, and in a state that the ordinary urinary putrefaction
and smell is rendered impossible. The lime separates spontaneously in the
sewers, &c., or may be discharged artificially, along with most of the remaining
animal matter, by means of carbonic acid, and the deposit collected.
- Lastly, I propose to apply the action of the materials now mentioned, on the
same principle as in the front compartment of the closet, to the purification of
cesspools, and the urine and other liquids thrown away from bedrooms, wash-
houses, kitchens, &c., by which means the great body of the solid matters con-
tained in them are detained in the materials employed, and the remainder of
such liquids filter through in such a state that they will not putrify or smell, or
cause any nuisance. And I propose to act upon such liquids either as they
pass from each house separately, or for a street, or block of houses, or for a
whole town, by appropriate pipes, sinks, reservoirs, and means of transport
suitable to the exigency of each locality and circumstance.
There are several forms of the closets by means of which I propose to carry
out the principles above described under various circumstances. The simplest

page_text: form will be a pan or vessel of zinc, or iron, or even wood, covered with a seat
with a circular hole, as usual, and a quantity of the deodorizing material, so
arranged inside of it as to form a kind of partition, the fæces falling bebind
and the urine before, and there absorbed.
(see
The next form is a metallic or other vessel with a curved partition a
Figures 1 and 2), so dividing the vessel and bisecting the circle of the seat,
that all urine shall infallibly fall in front of the partition and all fæces behind,
each to be therein acted upon by the materials, as already described. In this
case the materials are added each time after the closet has been used by means
of a ladle, or large spoon resembling a basting spoon, or any other convenient
instrument.
In the third form of closet the partition is straight, bisecting the circle of
the seat as before, and rising up to a certain distance under the seat, where it
is met by a flat broad valve b, Figures 3 and 4, which, when closed, meets the
partition from behind, and so closes mechanically upon all unpleasant appear-
ances, and assists in preventing smell. Now this valve may be actuated either
by a handle like that of an ordinary watercloset, or it may be self-acting, the
motion being produced by the weight of the person using the closet acting
upon springs in communication with multiplying levers and assisted by a
counterweight behind, as shewn in these Figures. In either case it is desir-
able to make it assist in introducing the deodorizing materials spontaneously,
so as to avoid the effects of neglect arising from forgetfulness, or a feeling
of delicacy, &c. I effect this object easily in the following manner:-
Behind the axis on which the valve b works backwards and forwards, there
is another axis c, bearing a cylinder with several " pockets d upon it.
By means of two small cog wheels e and f, and a ratchet wheel g, the
cylinder is made to revolve in one direction, and that only during the closure
of the valve b. Behind and above the seat h is placed a box or feeder i, filled
at proper times with the deodorizing material, and placed upon and above the
cylinder d, with which it communicates by an opening. The result is, that as
the cylinder revolves, the deodorizing powder in the box falls down into the
pan or receptacle of the closet, falling first into a pocket j behind the valve,
by whose motion it is carried well forward into the closet; and a portion is
even projected forward, if necessary, to the front compartment to deodorize
the urine, and keep down all noxious smell. The valve b is also useful in
preventing dust, inasmuch as the ashes or mixture passes behind it as it closes,
a little dust, however, rising in the front compartment, which is useful and
effectual in correcting noxious smell. The quantity, however, of dust or coarse
ashes, &c. can be regulated by the arrangements behind, so as to suit."

page_text: circumstances. Now as the front compartment of the closet in fact is a
distinct and separate vessel, so it is sometimes useful to make it. so in reality,
as shewn in Figures 5 and 6, and sometimes joining the rims of the vessels by
a flap of sheet lead. Over this compartment it is also generally useful to
place a wire guard or kind of rack, one of which is shewn separately at
Figures 7 and 8, and which prevents all paper, &c. used falling into it, and
made to go out of sight behind the valve each time it opens. Another
important use of this valve, not yet mentioned, is to prevent all liquids
thrown or passed into the closet getting to the back compartment, which
would destroy the effect of the whole arrangement. The seat it will
be seen turns upon a hinge at h', and is constantly acted upon with a
tendency to bear it upwards by springs h³. Upon being sat on, the seat
h will be depressed, and act by the link n upon one end of the lever o;
which turns upon a centre of motion o', and at its other end is, by the con-
necting link o, connected to the lever o³, which by the driver o acts upon the
teeth of the ratchet wheel' g to cause a partial rotation thereof, and thence to
the cylinder a, at each of such times. The weight b' acts as a counterbalance
is suspended from the arm affixed
to the valve b, for which purpose it
to the axis g, upon which are also fixed other arms supporting the valve.
.
It now only remains to describe a plan for carrying out these principles on
a combined and comprehensive scale, and this is easier and shorter done by
means of the two Drawings, Figures 9, 10, and 11, and Figure 12.
Figures 9, 10, and 11, show three views of means by which three principal
closets, one on each story of a large house, may discharge the solid evacuations
into one common receptacle below, where they are deodorized and solidified by
either of the methods before described. Pipes or tubes k, about an inch or
two in diameter, admit of the overflow from front compartments of the closets
when there is a separation in the closet, as shewn by Figures 1, 2, 5, & 6, or
from sinks in connection therewith, the fall to take place from each closet
without touching or soiling their sides. A self or hand acting closet
1; 1, or 1, being placed at the top of each channel t, u, v, sending down
the deodorizing powder with the evacuation, or otherwise conveying the
powder below, or ashes, &c. are added daily through the holes by manual
labor. In these cases particularly, the front compartment is to be remove
able, and charged, either by hand or otherwise, with the deodorizer, and
also having an overflow pipe m, (Figures 1, 2, 5, & 6,) discharging to
the solidifying sinks in the back yard, the overflow from the latter, if
any, finding its way to the sewers by the chambers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, con-
secutively, in a perfectly harmless state. 2 are openings of communication

page_text: between the separate compartments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; and 22, the discharge pipe.
p is a depôt for ashes, which are supplied through the opening p¹, when a
separation of the smaller particles from the cinders is effected by the sieve p³,
the cinders passing down through an opening p³ into any suitable receiver,
whilst the smaller particles are collected in p, to be, taken therefrom as
required through the door p; q is a receiver for the ashes from the chamber
p', and lime to be mixed therewith, and the ashes or mixture with lime taken
from the depot q are then put in daily, or it may be by self-acting machinery,
through the openings s'; 1, upper closet without pan, the fæces from which
fall to the receptacle or depôt s; the same also takes place in respect of the
two other closets and l; v¹ is a ventilating tube running from the receptacle
s to the caves or other upper part of the building.
The Drawing, Figure 12, is a collateral plan for deodorizing, solidifying, and
utilizing all the liquid sewage of houses, whether overflowing from closets, or
thrown from bedrooms, wash-houses, &c.
The pipes, with proper traps upon them, convey all these liquids from small
sinks and closets upstairs, &c. into large sinks supplied with the deodorizing
and solidifying materials, or when the level suits, into a tank or sink on wheels
to be drawn off at times by horse power, or otherwise, and replaced by another;
the overflow, if any, always to find its way to the sewers fully deodorized and
harmless. And these appliances or means for one entire house or series of
houses may, when desired, be connected together for streets and other blocks
of buildings.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood, that what
I claim is, the combination and adaptation of means for utilizing and deodo-
rizing the sewage matters of dwelling houses and other places, substantially as
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lloyd, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS.
JOHN LLOYD. (L.S.)