Mat 1, 1SS5.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE * 



375 



CHAPTERS OX MODERN DOLIESTIC 

 ECONOMY. 



IXV.— THE FKAUEWORK OF TUE DWELLIXG-HOUSE. 



STRUCTURAL EXAMPLES (conliniced). 



THE DISPOSAL OF HOUSEUOLD REFUSE. 



OF the numerous methods which have hitherto been 

 emplojed to ventilate the house-drains and soil- 

 pipes of the better class of tenements, it must be 

 admitted thst the plan now being introduced by 

 Messrs. Wni. Hill i Sons, of Manchester, and noticed in 

 our last chapter as the " Patent Extractor " ventilator, 

 leaves scarcely any room for improvement. Fig. I'l shows 



the way in which this form of 

 : ventilator can be adapted to a 



^ "\ soil-pipe, so as to continuously 



^'^^ — . extract and consume all the 



p^ 1 sewer-gases which may, and 



l"-^ I are very liable to, collect within 



^^ I the household drains. It re- 



^^ —f lieves the pressure from the 



^^ closet apparatus, and discharges 



^P: jmritied air only from its out- 



let, so that there cannot pos- 

 .sibly be any danger of entry of 

 unwholesome gases into the 

 house by way of windows 

 adjacent to the ventilating 

 head, or in a line with the 

 direction of prevailing winds 

 j therefrom. 



We shall now pass on to an 

 ! explanation of the details of 

 closet furniture as such, but, in 

 I order to avoid undue repetition, 

 I we must refer oui readers to' 

 ' our former remarks upon the 

 principles of this subject, and 

 confine our attention to but a very few types out of the 

 hundreds of e.xamples that :re to be found in the market. 



The greater proportion of houses within the metropolitan 

 area are provided with what is known as the "Pan 

 Closet," and D trap. We would here make an urgent 

 appeal to those of our readers who live in London, to make 

 a careful examination into the state of affairs in each of 

 their houses, and, should they find the defective apparatus 

 •we are about to describe, to insist upon its immediate 

 removal and the substitution of one of the many valuable 

 contrivances of recent inventors. 



The Pan Closet consists of a conical stoneware or china 

 basin fixed into the top of a large receptacle, usually made 

 of iron, and called the " container." The edge of the 

 orifice of the basin, situated at the bottom, or position of 

 the coijical apex, dips into a metal bowl or "pan," gene- 

 rally made of tinned copper, which is capable of being 

 moved inwards and downwards within the container, when 

 the pull-up handle is made use of, and which, after 

 splashing its contents into the container, swings back to 

 form a pan at the bottom of the basin for holding a quan- 

 tity of water, the last that has been used for f^ui^hing the 

 basin with. The apparatus is thus provided with a water- 

 seal between the ba-in and the container. The bottom of 

 the container is provided with a 3-inch outlet pipe which 

 descends into a D-trsp, so-called because in shape it 

 resembles the letter D turned thus: — Q. The trap is, as 

 a rule, pUced beneath the flooring, and into it may open 

 the waste water from the bath, lavatory, housemaid's sinks. 



Fig. 24. 



itc, whilst sometimes provision is made for the entry 

 therein of water that may by accident get into the " safe '' 

 or leaden ti'ay which protects the floor of the closet. 



Now let us Fee how this complicated ajiplianco fulfils its 

 functions. The Dtraj) is of such a shape as to be pccu 

 liarly adapted to the collection of foul sediment from which 

 unwholesome gases arise to fill the container ; witbin the 

 latter the products of decomposition ate aiigmented, for it 

 has been found that the sides of that metal rece|>tacle, in 

 time, become coated with an ever-increasing layer of filth. 

 The result of all this is, that in the very hou.so itself, 

 special provision is made for a small cesspool in each 

 closet, the gases from which enter the apaitments every 

 time that the pull-up handle is used. Not only that, the 

 pipe which is intended to convey away the waste from the 

 safe beneath the closet, is veiy seldom called into use, so 

 that its real action is to atford a passage for sewer-gases 

 from the D trap into the safe, and hence into the room. 

 The waste pipes from the bath, 1 ivatory, and sinks, more- 

 over, become special ducts for the introduction of sewer-gases 

 into the several departments to which they lead. 



An attempt to cure the defect of pressure of foul gas 

 within the container is worthy of note here, since it has 

 been so universally employed, and with the most serious 

 consequences. The container is generally provided with an 

 aperture, from which a small pipe is conducted through the 

 wall to the external atmo.sphere. This relieves the pres- 

 sure within the receptacle, but does not remove the 

 remaining foul gas. To ventilate the container and cause 

 a current of fresh air to jiass through it, two holes were 

 then bored into its sides and ventilating pipes connected 

 thereto. Experience has shown that these precautions 

 almost always terminate in a cure which proves to be 

 worse than the disease, for the ventilating holes are 

 invariably left open, without any pipes being attached to 

 them ; hence the sewer gases are free to escape into the 

 room continuously, and, when the pull-handle is employed, 

 are forcibly driven out through these orifices, so violently, 

 indeed, that the rush is sufficient to blow out the flame of 

 a lighted candle placed near the aperture. 



Another improvement has been to construct the entire 

 ajiparatus out of stoneware. This certainly does away with 

 the adherence of filth to the inside of the container to a 

 large extent, especially if the surface is well glazed, as in 

 the case of Doulton's " Lambeth Pan Closet." 



The pan closet, then, wherever it may be found, ought to 

 be condemned ; but there are many persons who would be 

 inclined to adopt a modification of the existing apparatus 

 if it could be efliciently and less expensively carried out 

 than an entirely new substitution. To this question Mr. 

 Gregson Banner has devoted special attention, and has so 

 far succeded in improving the ordinary pan closet that it 

 can be used with comparative safety ; his invention pro- 

 vides for the thorough facility with which every part of 

 ths appliance can be inspected and cleaned, the total 

 abolition of the D-trap, or, indeed, the absence of a trap 

 of any kind, and an induced current of fresh air upwards 

 through the soil-pipe. Although the pan closet can thus 

 be remodelled to meet the demands of the sanitary 

 inspector, its usual concomitant, the D-trap, ought never 

 to find a place in any house, and when it is detected, should 

 always be removed without delay. A simple pipe in its place, 

 without any traps, will be found to be infinitely more 

 valuable. It is moat surprising to find that in spite of the 

 prohibition of D traps for new houses, the laws are not 

 strict enough to prevent plumbers from inserting new traps 

 of that form into the places of old ones that have suc- 

 cumVjed to long usage, and that eminent firms of these 

 wares still continue to manufacture them largely. 



