Plumbing 



221 



Section of a modern syphon closet 



directly on the floor. Of these the former are better for obvious reasons. 

 They are all provided with waste and overflow, as well as hot and cold water. In 

 placing the tub in the bathroom it is well not to set it under or with back to the 

 window, although it may face it. Whatever its location, it should be distant. 



The shower bath, as ordinarily used, is placed over the bathtub, and con- 

 sists of a shower or sprinkler at the top, 

 with an enclosing curtain to keep the 

 miniature rain storm where it belongs. 

 A simple form of this may be had for 

 from $18 to $20. Sometimes it forms 

 an independent feature with a basin of 

 its own, but the former type is the most 

 used, as it is cheaper and detracts noth- 

 ing from the tub, while the latter takes 

 up extra room of its own. 



It is needless to waste time describ- 

 ing the ancient "pan" and "plunger" 

 closets. Both are practically obsolete; 

 and our present needs require the best 

 that is to be had. The old "washout" 

 closet is a decided step in advance, but 

 as it holds very little water it easily be- 

 comes foul, and hence the source of bad odours, nor does it wash out as its name 

 implies. The three foregoing types were natural steps toward the present form. 



The best article on the market to-day is the "syphon" closet. It is made 

 in numerous patterns and differs slightly in some details, but its general principles 

 are the same. This style is made so as to hold considerable water in the bowl, 

 both of which (the water and the bowl) form a natural seal or trap which pre- 

 vents the gases from escaping through it from the soil pipe. The bowl is 

 flushed or emptied through the medium of a discharge of tank water, which, 

 either by its own action or the supplementary one of air, creates a syphonic action 

 which empties the bowl and at the same time refills it with clean water. Take, 

 for example, the style shown (Fig. 39). From the construction of the bowl and 

 the normal position of the water, it is readily seen that sewer gas cannot escape 

 through the seal thus formed. To empty the bowl the water is released from 

 the tank, which expels the air in the supply pipe and in the two canals (a) which 

 pass either side of the long syphon limb (b) into the water at the back of the bowl 

 in such a way as to take an upward and backward turn (c). This starts the 

 syphon in the trap, and the water which follows it completes the work. At the 

 same time a limited flow of water is filling the bowl through the flushing rim (d). 

 This slow flow of water allows the air to get in between it and the discharged 

 water, thus breaking the syphon and allowing the undisturbed refilling of the 

 bowl. The passage of the discharge down the syphon limb and soil pipe forms 

 a temporary seal until the normal seal is completed in the bowl. Another form 

 ejects by a downflow of water the air contained in the syphon limb and several air 

 chambers attached in such a way as to induce a vacuum and cause the syphonic 



