47C 



SEWERAGE. 



Refrigerators connected with drains, so that tho 

 food-supply is poisoned by fool gaaes. 



Water-tanks with their overflows leading into tho 

 cesspools or sewer BO as to pollute the drinking 

 supply. 



Uncleanly water-closets and other fixtures with 

 deficient water for flushing purposes, and with im- 

 proper drip-trays, safe wastes, and other connections. : 



When to these inherent defects, due to ignorance, 

 cupidity, or carelessness, are added the effects of 

 neglect on the part of householders and domestics, 

 the wear and tear of time, and of occasional patch- 

 ing where pipes have become choked or damaged, 

 or where certain portions are abandoned or cut off, 

 a state of things will be found which is far from 

 sanitary or safe. Yet such is the condition of hun- 

 dreds of houses occupied by the most intelligent 

 and prosperous people. When such buildings, where 

 people may have lived for years without suspicion 

 that anything was wrong, are tested with peppermint, 

 or in other ways, great surprise is manifested at 

 their condition, but the heavy mortality from pre- 

 ventable disease in all settled communities affords 

 ample evidence of the dire effects of so much bad ] 

 plumbing. 



Under the rules and regulations now enforced by 

 boards of hoaltli the following features are insisted 

 upon in all the plumbing of new dwellings : 



1. The materials must all be of the best ; extra- 

 heavy cast-iron pipe, tarred inside and out, and lead 

 pipe and sheet lead of proportionate weight and 

 thickness. 2. All pipos and drains must be con- 

 centrated as far as possible, so as to bo easily ac- 

 cessible for examination, and so far as possible open 

 to view, the drain pipe in the cellar being carried 

 along the side wall wherever possible and not under- 

 ground. 3. All joints must be carefully calked with 

 lead, and it is now becoming customary to test them 

 by water-pressure, or with an air-pump, to insure 

 that there are no flaws or leaks. 4. In each house 

 the drains must be disconnected from the sewer or 

 cesspool by a running trap with an opening for foot 

 ventilation carried to the ground level or the edge 

 of the sidewalk so as to create an upward current 

 through the soil pipe, which must bo carried up 

 through the roof of fall size and usually with tho 

 npper end enlarged and left wide op MI without any 

 c.iwls, caps, or return bends, but simply protected 

 by a wire basket strainer. 



No soil pipe should bj nsed as a leader or con- 

 nected with a chimney. 



Each and every fixture must ba separately trapped 

 by an S- or R-trap placed as close to tho fixture n.s 

 possible and ventilated as a security against siphon- 

 age by a back-air pips of ample size connecting at ' 

 the crown of the trap. All water-closets must bo 

 flushed by a separate cistern, and not connected with 

 the same pipes which supply the inmates with 

 drinking-water, nor must any tank overflow or any 

 refrigerator connect directly with a drain. AVh. ;> 

 the water does not rise at all times to the upiu-r 

 fixtures in a house, then a tank must bo provided 

 with a pump to keep it filled. 



The English practice of using lead soil pipe has 

 been entirely abandoned in the United States, whilo 

 the custom of carrying soil pi|>es outside the build- 

 ing and of separating the drainage from baths and 

 basins from that of water-closets and conveying it in 

 a distinct waste pipe has not been deemed necessary 

 here. 



The regulations enforced by boards of health do 

 not affect the choice of fixtures in houses. Great 

 improvement, however, has been made in this direc- 

 tion. With the remarkable advance in the design, 

 decoration, and furnishing of modern dwellings, due 

 to the recent rapid growth in esthetic taste, there 

 has been a proportionate improvement in the line of 



plumbing fixtures. Lavatories and bathrooms are 

 now constructed in the most costly and luxurious 

 manner, the floors and walls being covered \\ith 

 tiling, heavy porcelain-line. 1 l>:itlis exposed without 

 superfluous wood-work, and tho water-closets and 

 basins fitted up in a most elaborate manner with 

 brass pipes, marble flooring, nickel-plated traps, 

 and other fittings of tho most elaborate description. 

 The kitchens and luumlries iu many private and 

 public buildings are no less expensively furnished, 

 with ]K>rcelain Kinks and \va.--h-t ul>s iind with the \\-.i\'.-\ 

 and floors protected from moisture by marble or 

 tiling, so that it may be said that modem plumbing 

 has become an {esthetic art as well as a I 



(c. F. w.) 



In t'.iii connection it may bo state 1 that two new style* of 

 water-closet* (both American invention*) 1 / beta 



introduced tho " Wash-out " and the "Tip unitary 

 The former consists in a receiving bowl connected by an - 

 trap with tho soil pipe without valves or moving me. . 

 parts of any k.utl. \Yuur is supplied frum a tank placed 

 liigh above the closet, which, coining down with a ruin, 

 carries everything before it through the trap and into the Boil 

 pipe. Being made of one piece and devoid of all forms of pan, 

 valve, plunger, and siphon attachment* it cannot get out of or- 

 der and is an improvement on former inventions ; it r< ijuiri a a 

 large amount of water, which is probably no great oi 

 when the city supply is abundant. Tho " Tip sanitary closit" 

 is a new departure, or an t M one revived. It consists in a 

 receiving bowl and reservoir balanced on trunnions over a 

 hopper ; both bowl and reservoir are automatically filled with 

 water from a storage reservoir over the closet and are in one 

 piece, separated by a low water-fence or dam. The receiving 

 bowl is narrowed in front and opera, spout-shaped, into a de- 

 tached hopper and trap through which its contents are dis- 

 charged into the soil pipe whenever tho closet is " tipped." 

 which can bo done bv pressing on a stirrup beneath the foot. 

 The water at the back of the receiving bowl, which is regulated 

 by a ball-oock, follows the previous contents of the bowl vi < n 

 tipped and cleanses it of any remaining impurities. Ti.o 

 claims made for this closet are saving of water, noiseless ac- 

 tion, and simplicity of construction, the only im-chau.Mu be- 

 ing the ball-cock and trunnions for tipping. 



The ultimate disposal of smrage, including street 

 sweepings, ashes, garbage, and kitchen waste, is now 

 receiving tho earnest consideration of sanitarians, 

 and although no plan has yet been perfected, scien- 

 tific experiments are being made throughout En- 

 rope and the United States with a view to destroy- 

 ing by fire, or its equivalent, nil refuse of cities, in 

 1S70 I'addington, England, first experimented with a 

 " garbage destructor," which proved a complete fail- 

 ure ; a fow years later Manchester attempted 11 simi- 

 lar enterprise, with little better success, though in 

 later years it has accomplished much in this direc- 

 tion. Birmingham, in 1877, met with like rc\ 

 at first. Bradford was more fortunate with tho 

 " Healey Patent Destructor;" but the one most 

 successful, now in use in England, is the " Beehive 

 Destructor," which was first introduced in Rich- 

 mond, England, and is now extensively used in that 

 country. In the United States, the first "crema- 

 tory" for tho destruction of garbage was constructed 

 at Governor's Island, New York Harbor, in 1885, 

 for the purpose of disposing of the waste material of 

 the post. Allegheny City, Pa., followed, the same 

 year, with a small " destructor." Two vears Inter a 

 small furnace was built for the use of Johns Hopkins 

 University, Baltimore, Md. Probably the first ex- 

 tensive " destructors " were the "Engle patent," 

 put up at Des Moines, Iowa, and the "Forristal 

 furnace," erected at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1886. The 

 " Rider garbage furnace " followed, the next year, at 

 Pittsbnrg, Pa., and the "William Mann patent" 

 was erected at Chicago about the same time. In 

 Minneapolis, Minn., adopted the " Engle pat- 

 ent," with improvements, anil was followed by Mil- 

 waukee, Wis.) and Coney Island, N. Y. 



Dr. S. S. Kilvington, president of the board of 

 health of Minneapolis, in speaking of the four prin- 

 cipal crematories which have been in use during the 



