AN IMPROVEMENT IN EARTH CLOSETS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Liddiard, of Wantage, in the County of
Berks, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN EARTH CLOSETS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Liddiard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th March 1875.
I, WILLIAM LIDDIARD, of Wantage, in the County of Berks, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
EARTH CLOSETS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improved apparatus for effecting and con-
trolling the supply of dry pulverized earth or other deodorizing material
to the soil pan or receptacle in dry earth closets.
According to my Invention I mount a cylinder or barrel to oscillate
on a horizontal axis immediately beneath the aperture at the bottom of
a fixed hopper containing a supply of the said dry earth or deodorizing
material, which aperture is completely closed by said cylinder. The

page_text: latter has a cavity or chamber on its upper side corresponding to the
opening at bottom of the hopper, and of proper capacity to hold the
quantity of earth or other deodorizer to be discharged at one time. The
pulverized earth or other deodorizing agent runs into this cavity from
the hopper, and after the closet has been used the barrel is partly rotated
by means of a pull handle actuating a lever connected to a crank arm
on the axis of the barrel, whereby the contents are discharged into a
spout leading to the soil receptacle. On releasing the handle the barrel.
is returned to position by a spring. As the barrel completely fills tho
aperture of the hopper no more earth can escape than is contained in
the cavity of the barrel itself, so that a measured quantity is discharged
at each time of use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Liddiard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LIDDIARD, of Wantage, in the County of Berks, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Liddiard, Her special
licence that I, the said William Liddiard, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Liddiard, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others from time to time, and at all times thereafter during tho
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN EARTH CLOSETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Liddiard, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Liddiard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
My Invention relates to improved apparatus for effecting and con-
trolling the supply of dry pulverized earth or other deodorizing material
to the soil pan or receptacle in dry earth closets.
According to my Invention I mount a cylinder or barrel to oscillate
on a horizontal axis immediately beneath the aperture at the bottom of
a fixed hopper containing a supply of the said dry earth or deodorizing
material, which aperture is completely closed by said cylinder. The
latter has a cavity or chamber on its upper side corresponding to the
opening at bottom of the hopper and of proper capacity to hold the
quantity of earth or other deodorizer to be discharged at one time. The
pulverized earth or other deodorizing agent runs into this cavity from
the hopper, and after the closet has been used the barrel is partly rotated,
whereby the contents are discharged into a spout leading to the soil
receptacle, the barrel being afterwards returned to position. As the
barrel completely fills the aperture of the hopper no more earth can
escape than is contained in the cavity of the barrel itself, so that a
measured quantity is discharged at each time of use.
Figure 1 is a front elevation (partly in section); and Figure 2, a
cross section of an earth closet provided with the apparatus of my
Invention.
a is the hopper to contain the deodorizing material; and 6 is the
cylinder or tumbrel placed beneath the hopper a so as to close the aperture
at the bottom of the said hopper. The cylinder 6 has a cavity c corre-
sponding exactly to the shape of the aperture in the bottom of hopper a.
d is a shoot bencath the cylinder 6 by which the pulverized earth is con-
b

page_text: ducted to the soil receptacle. A strip of webbing e or other suitable
material is fixed along the edge of the aperture in the bottom of hopper a,
the webbing resting on the circumference of the cylinder b and serving
to prevent the earth passing otherwise than in the cavity c. The
cylinder is fixed on an axle ƒ mounted in bearings in the case or
frame of the closet, and the cylinder is made to partly rotate by the
action of a footboard 7 fixed on the front ends of two levers / pivoted
at i, and connected at their other ends by rods % to two short crank
arms 7 fixed on the axle f.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When the footboard g is
'depressed by the weight of the person upon it the cylinder bis rotated
until the cavity c coincides with the aperture at bottom of hopper (as
shown in blue lines in Figure 2) and is filled with the deoderizing
material. As soon as the weight is removed from the footboard the
cylinder quickly returns to its first position and discharges the material
contained in the cavity c into the shoot d. This action may be assisted
by weighting the rear ends of levers / if necessary.
b
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declaro that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, in an a
carth closet the combination with a fixed hopper of a rotating cylinder
fitted beneath the hopper and having a cavity in which the earth is
received therefrom and whence it is discharged into a spout, all as
herein shown and described.
°
In witness whereof, I, the said William Liddiard, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Tenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-