IMPROVED MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE DRAINAGE OF LAND."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lavender at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th March 1881.
WILLIAM LAVENDER, of Biddenham, in the County of Bedford, Farmer.
'IMPROVED MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE DRAINAGE OF LAND."
The object of this Invention is to provide simple and efficient means for facilitating
the drainage of land.
The various systems of subsoil drainage hitherto adopted are liable to lose their
efficiency in whole or in part after some years owing to the soil above the pipes or
covered trenches becoming so compact and homogeneous as to hermetically seal the
drain pipes below.
This is especially the case upon clay lands, and there is reason to believe that this
result is in a great measure owing to the want of a free supply of air to the said
pipes or trenches. In fact, drain tiles have been dug up after a lapse of years in
such a state as to clearly prove that they have failed to effect the purpose for which
they were laid down.
I propose therefore to construct short lengths of tubing, either in stoneware, iron,
or other suitable material, each having a short socket for the reception of another
short tube having a somewhat enlarged head at one end, and protected by bars or
a perforated disc.
I propose in laying down subsoil drain pipes to interpose between such pipes at
suitable intervals one or more of these short socketted tubes, and to connect the
said socketted tube with the air by means of a short vertical shaft, having preferably
an enlarged head fitted, as above described, with bars, a grating, or a perforated cap
piece or plate, for the purpose of preventing the filling up or accidental clogging of
the said vertical air shaft.
The heads of these vertical air shafts may for grass land be conveniently situate
just at or about the level of the land, and the pipes may be of earthenware where
sheep only are grazing, but in fields where there are horses and cattle these vertical
tubes should be made of iron.
On haylands the pipes should project a foot or so above the soil, or they will not
be seen by the mowers and their scythes will be injured.
In draining fields which are bounded on one or more sides by ditches of sufficient
depth, I propose to connect the ends of the main lines of drain tiles by short air

page_text: shafts of iron or earthenware placed at a suitable inclination and piercing one side
of the ditch, by which means a free supply of air will be admitted to the subsoil
drain pipes, and the drying of the soil above them will be greatly facilitated. By
this system of aërating the land a great saving of labour in digging the trenches
will result, as the pipes may be laid at a depth of about 2 feet only in land where
a depth of 3 or 4 feet has been previously deemed necessary.
The intervals at which these ventilating tubes should be placed will vary
according to the nature of the land to be drained, the several lines of drainage
pipes being distant from each other, say, from one to four rods, and the said lines
being tapped by a ventilating tube, say, every 20 rods, or thereabouts.
These improved means for facilitating the drainage of land are especially applicable
to restoring the impaired efficiency of long laid subsoil drain pipes, which may be
simply tapped at suitable intervals and fitted with air shafts, as above explained.
It will thus be seen that owing to the free admission of air below the subsoil its
drying will be assisted, and by maintaining its comparatively porous state the
passage through it of water will be facilitated.
The free admission of air to the subsoil pipes will also hasten the running off of
the water which has percolated through the subsoil,