April 17, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



325 



CHAPTERS OX :\rODERN DOMESTIC 

 ECONOMY. 



XXin.— THE FKAMEWOKK OF THE DWELUXG-nOUSE 

 STRUCTURAL EXAMPLES {continut\{). 



THE DISPOSAL OF HOUSEHOLD KEFUSE. 



IN the valuable contributions to popular hygiene, edited 

 by Dr. !^hirley Foster ^Murphy,* the reasons for the 

 institution of a " manhole " on the course of the household 

 drain are given as follows : — •" It thus gradually came to be 

 i-ecoguised that for the proper ventilation of drains it was 

 necessary to have an inlet or inlets for air, as well as an 

 outlet or outlets, and it soon came to bo seen that the 

 lower the level at which the inlet was placed, the more likely 

 was it to act continually as an inlet for air. So ojienings 

 were boldly made into the drain itself, on the house side of 

 the trap, from the level of the ground or thereabouts, and 

 it was found to the astonishment of many that, provided 

 there were no places in connection with the draiti where 

 actual lodgment of foul matters could take place, such 

 openings prove no nuisance whatever. This point having 

 been reached, a variety of ' disconnecting traps ' were 

 devised, in all of which there is an inlet for fresh air to the 

 drain on the house side of the trap, and in one of which — 

 the Edinburgh air-chamber disconnecting-trap — there is a 

 long open channel interposed between the Utrap and the 

 house-drain. Most of these traps, however, while affording 

 an inlet for fresh air, do not afford a sufficient means for 

 getting at the drain and at the XJ-trap at any time. 

 Neither, with the exception of the one just mentioned, is 

 the inlet for air as large as is desirable. 



" Hence the practice, which has been described in pre- 

 ceding pages, of building a manhole or air-chamber in 

 brickwork on the course of the drain, carrying the drain 

 through the bottom of it, as first suggested by Mr. Rogers 

 Field, by means of channel-pipes, and fixing the syphon or 

 [J-trap at the lower end of these. The manhole may be 

 covered by an iron locking grating, or, where this is con- 

 sidered undesirable, by an iron locking door, air-inlets being 

 provided by channels carried into the manhole from 

 suitable positions. One great advantage of this plan, 

 besides the facility it affords for getting at the drain and 

 the trap, is, that if at any time air escapes from the air- 

 inlets, the air that comes out is the last fresh air that has 

 entered the manhole, and so, practically, these inlets never 

 become a nuisance." 



In " Our Inventors' Column " last week a description 

 was given of Mr. G. C. Davies's " Cast-iron Inspection or 

 Access Pipe for House-drains." In so far as inspection 

 goes, the form of the opening, its cover, and the material 

 out of which it is made, all contribute to make it one of 

 the most secure contrivances that have ever come before 

 our notice, but it can never be substituted for a manhole, 

 .since no provision ia made for ventilation, one of the most, 

 if not the most, important item in drain construction. 



Where sewage discharges into water affected by tides, as 

 into a tidal river or into the sea, the backflow is often 

 stifficient to force the foul matters into the domestic drains, 

 and thus to give rise to evils of the very worst description, 

 more especially in cases where the tide rises high aVjove the 

 sewer level. In order to prevent this undesirable regurgi- 

 tation, an ingenious appliance has been invented by Mr. F. 

 Dyer, of 66, High-street, Camden-town, N.W., which is 

 perfectly effectual. Dyer's " Patent Automatic Tidal Valve 

 Trap," shown at Fig. 22, consists of a body preferably made 

 of cast-iron of any size to suit the requirements of the 

 drain-pipe to which it is to be fixed ; the inlet or house end 



• " Our Homes, and How to Make them Healthy," pp. 723, 724. 



of the valve trap is higlior than the outgo. The valvo is a 

 copper ball of unusual tliickuess, wliich is made to press 

 against specially-prepared india-rubber and guii-niotal 

 seatings when it is called into |>lay. Its action is described 

 as follows : — The tide or ilood, when backing up the 

 drain, enters the outgo brunch, rises in the chamber, 

 and floats the ball, which, as the water rises, a])- 

 proachos the inlet or house-end branch, and finally 

 beds itself firmly upon the seating, thus oH'cctually 

 closing the orifice, and preventing the water from entering 

 the building. Consequent upon this action, the greater 



Fig. 22. 



the amount of water-pressure there is behind, the more 

 completely trapped or sealed the trap becomes. By reason 

 of the arm being always slightly inclined towards the inlet 

 branch, there is no danger of the ball sticking with the 

 arm vertical, or of its moving the wrong way. When the 

 water subsides again, the ball falls with it, unsealing the 

 inlet, and leaving a clear passage for the sewage, <tc. The 

 valve ought to be very carefully fixed upon a firm stone or 

 concrete bedding to prevent its future dislodgnient. A 

 brick-work chamber, or manhole, as shown in the figure, 

 ought to be built around it, of a sufficient size, and with a 

 good manhole cover, to admit of periodical inspection, 

 although it has been found that when once the apparatus 

 has been properly set, it cannot easily become clogged or 

 get out of repair. 



We have now passed in review the principal forms of dis- 

 connecting appliances for the prevention of the entry of 

 sewer gas into the domestic drain, and we have shown that, 

 theoretically, no further precaution in the form of traps is 

 necessary ; but there are so many cases in which carefully- 

 laid drains of approved type cannot be brought into use 

 for at least a considerable period of time, that the tubular 

 system ought to be additionally secured. In a former 

 communication we noted that in order to be of any practical 

 value a trap between the closet and soil-pipe ought always 



to form a portion of the latter, 

 or tubular system. The best 

 form of apparatus is that devised 

 by Mr. W. Henman, of Ben- 

 nett' s-hill, Birmingham (Fig. 2.3), 

 and called the " Safety Sanitary 

 Trap." The trap with its ver- 

 tical length of arm to the soil- 

 pipe outside of the building 

 is made of a single piece of 

 stoneware, highly glazed both 

 Pig. 23. inside and out The outer arm, 



