Improvements in Sewers or like Conduits.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov., 1890-Accepted, 20th Dec., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewers or like Conduits.
I, STANLEY FABER PREST of Logic House, Beckenham in the County of Kent,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been communi-
cated to me from abroad by George E. Waring Jr., of Newport, Rhode Island, in the
United States of America) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The materials now used in the construction of sewers or like conduits vitrified and
cement pipes and brick have well known defects which make perfect work uncertain.
Vitrified pipes are not true in form. They are difficult and at times impossible to lay
with tight joints. They are subject to "breakage after laying and they are liable
especially when the sower after laying is used to drain a ditch to accumulate silt and
rubbish during construction. After they are laid their interior condition cannot be
properly inspected or controlled. Cement pipes, save for their truer form, are subject
to all the defects of vitrified pipes while as generally made they have the further draw-
back of instability of material. Brick sewers are costly in construction, they are
rough in interior surface and as ordinarily laid are very deficient in tightness.
The purpose of my invention amongst other things is to increase the natural strength
of articles of approximately cylindrical shape longitudinally divided and made of a
moulded material. This I do by moulding the sections with an embedded plate or
rib of iron or other equivalent strong material so that the resistance of the sewer to
pressure may be increased without increasing its thickness. The sections can thus
be made very light and the necessary strength be secured even with thinner walls
than have heretofore been customary by the suitable application of the re-enforcing
plate or rib.
My invention also relates to certain details of construction more fully described
hereinafter.
Various methods of applying my invention are shewn in the drawings.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a sewer or conduit embodying my invention.
Figure 4 is an isometric drawing of a portion of the sewer or conduit into which a
branch leads from above, Figure 5 being a longitudinal section thereof. Figure 2
shews a longitudinal section of one form of the ends of the moulded rabbets of the
lower section shewing a rabbet for the reception of the jointing material. This rabbet
may be of any convenient form. Figure 3 shews the same rabbet joint with the
addition of a strip of metal or the like to protect the joint against leakage and shewing
the jointing material in position.
In each of the drawings is a wall of cement concrete or other suitable material in
which is embedded a re-enforcing plate or rib or re-enforcing plates or ribs j of some
stronger material. For this purpose 1 prefer to use a metal plate or metal plates
(preferably iron) according to the size and location of the sewer or conduit or the
circumstances under which it is to be used and suitably shaped to re-enforce the
material of which the sewer or conduit is made. Ribs of iron or other suitable material
placed at proper intervals may be used in the place of metal plates.
Wherever joints are to be made whether connecting an upper and a lower section or
connecting two lengths of the sewer or conduit it is extremely desirable that the parts to
be connected shall be properly centered or aligned. For this purpose I provide on the
edge of one of the two surfaces to be joined projections and corresponding depressions
in the edge of the other surface-as for example is shewn in Figures 1 and 2 at ƒ
and g each projection fitting into its corresponding depression and keeping the parts
in line while they are being permanently connected. The same result will be effected
by partially embedding a strip or piece of metal or other suitable material on one part

page_text: so as to project slightly from it and fit into a suitable groove in the other part into
which mortar or cement may be put if desired."
i-
I am aware that sewer pipes and other pipes have previously been made in upper
and lower sections; but such pipes have been of circular form each section constituting
substantially a half circle. This, form is for many uses objectionable inasmuch as the
capacity of the channel which it is sometimes desirable to use without the cover is
neither of such form as to give the best scouring effect to a small stream nor of such
capacity as to admit of an economical use of material. I therefore make my sewer pipe
or conduit of oval section as shewn in Figure 1 having a narrow water way and a very
deep channel the cover being arched only sufficiently for strength. Another reason
why this form is desirable is that for use in soils saturated with ground water it is
desirable to allow ground water to enter the sewer through an uncemented or
imperfectly cemented joint which joint should be placed at such height as to leave an
ample water way below it to lessen the probability that sewage will escape outwardly
through this joint in dry seasons and so contaminate the ground.
When the sewer or conduit is made in an upper and a lower section the sections
'may be provided with depressions or grooves in their adjoining surfaces in which
case if the upper section is to be removable it may be kept in place by strips of wood
or the like laid into the depressions without cement or water, or instead of the
depressions the upper sections may be provided with lips which fit over the edges of
or onto the lower section (see Figure 1 at k) and keep the upper section in place on
. the lower section but allow it to be lifted casily!
f
I am aware that in the manufacture of pipes formed of a series of rings of com-.
pressed dry clay (powdered) to' be burned in a kiln 'a vitrifiable material has been
applied to them by means of grooves previous to burning.
1. 2
"
I am also aware that in connecting the ends of pipes which are to be held together
by bolts depressions have been made in their flanges to receive gaskets which are to
be tightly compressed by bolting them together. I do not therefore claim broadly
the use of this method of jointing; but I'do claim the use of grooves filled with a
material which will unite or cement readily without burning and the tightness of
which does not depend on pressure such as the drawing together of flanges by bolts.
In order to make a 'water tight joint between any two parts I make depressions or
grooves like the grooves 6 in the adjoining surfaces and fill them a little inore than
full of mortar or other suitable joining material. When two surfaces so prepared are
joined the mortar will unite them and form a water tight mass and such a joint may
be further strengthened by the introduction of 'a strip of metal or other suitable
material embedded in the joining material in some cases so as to break joints with the
sections to 'he connected which strip will prevent the cement being washed away while
setting. This method of joining is more particularly adapted to fastening the upper
section upon the lower section but may be used with end joints.
'
To fasten the length of pipes together I prefer to make the depressions in the form
of rabbets as shown at d in Figures 2 and 3, Figure 3 showing the rabbets filled with
mortar and providing a strip of metal or other suitable strengthening material c
inserted therein which may be used or not as desired.
"
114
I do not wish to contine 'myself to the form of rabbet d as shewn the purpose being
chiefly to allow the joint between the ends of the two pipes to be cemented or other-
wise closed from the inside of the lower section of the pipe so that its tightness may
'be assured and so that the character of the work may be properly inspected which
purpose may be accomplished by any formation of the ends of the pipes which when
they are placed in contact will leave a space exposed at the inside of the channel wide
enough for proper cementing and sufficiently close at its outer part to prevent the
extrusion of the cement.
L
By the use of a sewer or conduit having an upper and a lower section it is possible
to introduce all branches into the sewer or conduit at the top. (See Figures 4 and 5)
Hence branch pipes need not be provided in the original construction of the sewer.
When a new branch is to be introduced a length of the cover may be taken off and
replaced by a corresponding length having a branch projecting from it as is shown

page_text: in Figures 4 and 5. This is one great advantage in building a sewer or conduit in
upper and lower sections as it allows the water way to be entirely uninterrupted except
when two main sewers or conduits come together, all man-holes, hand-holes and
inspection pipes being connected with the upper section only.
It is not necessary in all cases that sewers or conduits made in an upper and a lower
section should be re-enforced as above described as if made of material of the best
quality they will be sufficiently strong for many uses without re-enforcement which is
especially useful in the case of sections of large radius used for covers and for sewers
or conduits of large diameter. In the latter case the strength given to a sewer or
conduit by such re-enforcement allows it to be made of much larger diameter than is
usual with the ordinary cement or vitrified pipes and hence it may be used in places
where, but for it, brick sewers or conduits would be a necessity.
In constructing the lower section of my, sewer or conduit in suitable ground it may
be moulded in the bottom of the trench, the re-enforce plates or ribs when used being
properly shaped and embedded in the process of construction. The cover will then
be applied afterward and suitably secured in the manner described to the bottom
section.
For use in ground not suited for construction in the trench and for convenience of
transportation and work the material may be formed at a factory as is the case with
material now used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. A sewer pipe or conduit made in two moulded sections a lower section to form a
channel and occupying more than one half of the height of the pipe and an upper
section or cover preferably arched, with or without branches or openings substantially
as hereinbefore described.
2. A section of sewer-pipe or conduit provided at each end with an internal rabbet d
as shewn, or its equivalent, as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
3. A sewer pipe or conduit consisting of two or more lengths or sections, the con-
tiguous edges of which are provided with meeting depressions or rabbets adapted to
be filled with mortar or cement to form a tight joint by the setting of such mortar or
cement without extraneous pressure, as and for the purposes set forth.
4. A sewer pipe or conduit consisting of two or more lengths or sections, the con-
tiguous edges of which are provided with depressions which have been filled with
cement or mortar and containing a re-enforcing strip embedded therein, as herein before
set forth.
5. A sewer pipe or conduit consisting of two or more lengths or sections, the con-
tiguous edges of which are provided with depressions, into which is set a protecting
strip of metal or the like, as and for the purposes herein before set forth.
6. A sewer pipe or conduit made in two sections, a lower section to form a channel
and an upper section or cover composed of concrete or other suitable material
re-enforced with embedded plates or ribs, as herein before described.
Dated this 1st day of November 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.