AN IMPROVED SIFTER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF ASHES AND OTHER ABSORBENT OR DEODORISING MATERIALS IN CONNECTION WITH DRY CLOSETS AND COMMODES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Francis Thomas Bond at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1874.
I, FRANCIS THOMAS BOND, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
SIFTER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF ASHES AND OTHER ABSORBENT OR DEODORISING
MATERIALS IN CONNECTION WITH DRY CLOSETS AND COMMODES," to be as
follows:-
For the purpose of this 'Invention I construct a box of wood or
metal of the shape and dimensions indicated in the Drawings, which are
appended hereto. This box I attach by hinges to the upper surface of
the seat of the closet or commode to which it is to be applied, in such a
way that it may lie horizontally on, and completely cover the hole in
the seat, and that it may also be thrown back when the seat has to be
used, in which case it should stand vertically on the back part of the
seat. Part of the upper and front surfaces of this box are so arranged
that they form a lid which can be opened,, and which is connected by a
hinged joint with that portion of the roof of the box which is fixed to

page_text: be placed, shewing the way in which the box is fixed. The lid which is
shewn open is formed of the movable portion of the roof A, with about
two-thirds of the anterior wall attached to it, the lower margin of which
is bevilled off at M, to fit the correspondingly bevilled margin at M².
These margins, when the lid is closed, are held together by a hook and
eye. Above I is seen the rectangular channel formed between the
two sloping surfaces of O and T, in front and behind, and between the
two intervening fillets R, R, (Fig. VI.) which separate these surfaces
from one another. This channel communicates with the main chamber
of the box through the space N.; inside the main chamber is seen the
sifter P, the mode of supporting which is shewn in Fig. IV. (which
is a section made through F, G,), to be, by its upper margin resting at
its sides on two fillets Q, Q, attached to the sides of the box.
Fig. V. is a perspective outline of the sifter, the margin of which is
formed by a piece of stout wire for the purpose of supporting it on the
fillets, and of giving it strength.
Fig. VI. is a view of the interior of the box after the upper surface has
been removed & the sifter taken out, shewing the floor H, the fillets Q, Q,
apart of the anterior surface of the front wall O of the sloping
channel above referred to, and two triangular sloping cheeks, S, S,
which prevent the ashes from accumulating in the corners of the main
chamber of the box, and direct them towards the aperture N. The
quantity of ash or other absorbent material, which is discharged into
the excrement receptacle L, each time that the box is brought from a
vertical to a horizontal position, will depend upon the width of the
channel between O and T, and between R and R. This width may be
made to vary according to the nature of the absorbent or deodorizing
material used, the structure of the excrement receptacle, and other
circumstances. A convenient size for this channel is four inches from
side to side and one inch from back to front.