CHAPTER VI.

Water-closets, Sinks, and Baths.-Arrangement of Pipes, Traps, &c.

Water-closets. The simplest form of water-closet is the common hopper closet, consisting of a conical basin with a stoneware syphon trap below it. There

is nothing to get out of order in these closets, but they are liable get stopped up through an insufficient amount of water being used in them, and the basins often get very foul from the same cause, and from the fact that no water remains in the basin. They are very often supplied with water by means of a -inch service pipe, which cannot supply enough water to flush them properly. This pipe is frequently taken directly from a cistern supplying drinking water, or even, where the water service is constant, directly from the main water pipes, provided with an ordinary stop-cock, or, perhaps, with a screwdown tap-a very mischievous plan, as the taps are frequently left turned on, and the water allowed to run to waste, sometimes emptying the cistern, and allowing foul air to get into it. When such pipes are taken direct from the main, the results are even more serious, as, if the water is, for any reason, turned off in the latter, foul air, and even liquid and solid filth, may be soaked up into the water mains and contaminate the water supplied next. To this cause a very serious outbreak

of typhoid fever in Croydon has been traced by Dr. Buchanan. The supply pipes for these closets should not be less than 1-inch in diameter, and should not be connected directly with the drinking water cistern or with the main water-pipe, but with a water-waste preventing cistern holding two or three gallons(the quantity required to flush the closet) and supplied from the nearest water cistern, or in the case of constant supply, from the main water-pipethe supply pipe being guarded by a ball valve. The pipe from this waste preventer to the closet is guarded by a valve, frequently the conical one known as the spindle valve, which can be raised by means of a lever worked by a chain and ring. When the chain is pulled, the spindle valve is raised, and the two or three gallons contained in the water-waste preventer are discharged into the hopper closet, while at the same time the ball valve is also raised by the lever, so that no water can come into the waste preventer while the chain is being pulled. It will be seen that this and similar contrivances not only prevent direct connection between the water-closet and the drinking water of the cistern or main water pipe, but also prevent an inordinate waste of water. Instead of the spindle valve in the water-waste preventer it is better to have a regulator valve, such as will be described shortly, under the seat of the closet. An improvement on the ordinary hopper closet is the "Artisan" closet, made by Messrs. Beard, Dent, and Hellyer, in which the hopper is provided with a flushing rim, which is far better than the old plan of shooting the water in at

one side of the hopper. In the "Vortex" closet, made by the same firm, the syphon is much deeper than in the "Artisan" closet, and the water stands in the basin. A two-inch supply pipe is necessary, the water being discharged by a flushing rim, and also projected into the middle of the basin, as it is clear that a greater force of water is required to flush out so deep a syphon. On the other side of the syphon is placed a ventilating pipe to carry away any foul air.

We now come to various forms of "Wash-out" closet, the first being Jennings's "Monkey" closet. In this a small amount of water remains in the basin, the opening out of which into the syphon is not at the bottom, as in the case of the hopper closet, but on one side. The advantage of this form of closet is that it is not possible, as is the case with hopper closets, for careless persons to go on using the closet without flushing it with water, as the soil remains in the basin until it is flushed out. Hopper closets, on the other hand, may be used for a long while without any supply of water at all, and this is the way in which pipes get stopped up. In the monkey closet the basin and syphon are all in one piece of earthenware. Woodward's "Wash-out" closet the basin is provided with a flushing rim, and the syphon is separate from the basin, so that it can be turned in any direction necessary. In Bostel's "Excelsior" closet the basin and the syphon are one piece of earthenware, and the outlet is at the back of the basin. The water-supply pipe is made to enter the basin by two branches, one on each side, and a flushing rim is provided. At the back of the basin

In

is a vertical opening leading directly into the syphon, by means of which anything improperly thrown into the closet can be removed. An overflow-pipe is also provided, but this is, in most instances, useless. Dodd's "Wash-out" closet is somewhat similar in shape to the others, but has a ventilating pipe attached to the discharge pipe immediately beyond the syphon. An inch and a quarter supply pipe should be used in these closets, and where there is less than six feet fall, 14inch pipes may be used with advantage. Fowler's closets are suitable for use in poor neighbourhoods, especially when there is an insufficient supply of water. In this system, rain, sink, and other waste waters are made to wash out the trap of the closet.

The closet apparatus most commonly used in the interior of houses is that known as the "pan" closet, and is a most mischievous contrivance. The basin is conical, and below it is placed a metal pan capable of holding water, into which the lower part of the basin dips. This pan can be moved by the pull-up apparatus of the closet inside a large iron box called the "container" placed under the seat of the closet, and into the top of which the conical basin is fixed. This " container" has a 4-inch outlet at the lower part of it leading into a trap placed below the floor, the trap being generally a lead "D" trap, from which a 4-inch pipe passes to the soil pipe, which conveys the refuse from the closets into the sewer. The great fault of the "pan" closet consists in the large iron "container," which is merely a reservoir for foul air, as it always becomes very filthy inside. When the pull-up appara

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tus is worked, the pan is swung from its position below the basin, and its contents thrown into the "container," the sides of which are splashed with foul matters, and cannot possibly be cleaned. Besides this the container leads into the D-trap, which always contains foul matters, and gives off foul air into the container. At the same time that the contents of the pan are thrown into the container, foul air from the latter is forced into the house. This can only be partly remedied by providing a ventilating pipe for the container, and carrying it out of doors, but I have more than once seen a ventilating hole drilled in the container, and no pipe attached to it, so that foul air from the container was driven out, with a puff that would blow out a candle, each time the closet was used, and this in closets immediately connected with bedrooms. The D-trap

should not be used at all either under closets or sinks. It consists of a lead box shaped like the letter D, placed thus, . The outlet pipe starts close to the top at one end, and the inlet passes down to an inch or so below the level of the lower part of the outlet. Of course water remains in this trap up to the level of the outlet, so that the inlet pipe dips into it an inch or more. The D-traps are never washed out thoroughly at each use of the closet. A deposit of foul matter takes place in them, and foul air is generated. This gradually corrodes the lead, and eats holes through it at the upper part of the trap. In the Parkes Museum are many specimens of D-traps with holes eaten through. them by the foul air. Such holes, of course form a means of escape for the foul air from the sewer into the