CHAPTER VII. SANITARY APPLIANCES. (Part 5)

connected by three or four vertical pipes, and fitted with shower rose, side-spray rose, and vertical rose, throwing spray up from the ground. They are used principally in public and private Turkish baths. Fixed washhand-basins or lavatories are coming more and more into general use, and as they are now being placed in SANITARY APPLIANCES. 321 dressing-rooms and bedrooms, much care must be given to render them safe fixtures in such positions. The waste-pipe and trap should be one inch in diameter, not larger, but the area of the grating should be sufficient to fill the waste-pipe full bore. The best method of discharge is through an ordinary Fio. 267. — Lavatory basin arrangement, with flushing rim. 1-inch round- way cock, fixed between the grating and the trap, with the handle and lever carried through the front casing. There is no simpler or more certain method. The hot and cold J -inch supplies should be taken in through special horns prepared for them, one at each side of basin, and discharging all round the basin by a flushing rim, so as to wash down soap-suds adhering to the sides of the basin. The J-inch valves on the hot and cold pipes Y 322 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. may be lever or screw-down valves, and the handles may also come out through the front casing, or the valves may be fixed in the wall so as to leave the marble slab or porcelain top free of any projection, to allow of its easy drying with a cloth. The overflow may be led to the open air, or into the trap under basin. The waste-pipe must be made as short as possible, for it never can be absolutely quite pure, and it must discharge in the open air in an absolutely pure position. A lead safe-tray should be provided also, having its waste open to the air direct, with a copper flap- valve on the end. We have illustrated here another arrangement of waste- Fio. 268. — Basin with valve and lever to waste-pipe. valve for washhand-basins, actuated by a chain pull and lever, which close the valve, as in the valve water-closet, against a watertight seating. It is a cleanly and neat arrangement, but the difficulty of repairing the valve pre- SANITARY APPLIANCES. 323 vents its general adoption. Sanitaricuis seek for simplicity in construction. The object of the antiseptic hospital lavatory (Fig. 269) is to meet a demand for a lavatory in which a surgeon may wash his hands after cui operation without risk of contagion. The supply taps are placed underneath the basin, and are Fig. 269. — Antiseptic hospital lavatory. actuated by means of pedals. The water enters the basin from a perforated rim in the front made in the earthenware, and overflows the weir at the back, so that the hands may be washed in constantly running water. The waste is an open orifice behind the weir, connected to a trapped down- pipe. The basin is emptied by a small hole leading directly to the waste outlet. It is not sufficiently large to interfere with the filling and overflowing of the basin when in use, 324 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. bat is quite ample to empty the basin in a very short time when the taps are closed The independent lavatorj' (Fig. 270), with all parts fully exposed and accessible, is a very excellent arrangement. Fig. 270.— Independent lavatory. Washhand-basins and basin tops, in numerous shapes and Fio. 271. —Oval basin, pottery ware lavatory top. designs of pottery and earthenware, are made by many firms, and are largely fitted up. The best kinds are made SANITARY APPLIANCES. 325 with a slope towards the back, and the waste going off at the back also. The overflows should be always sufficient to carry off all the water which the taps can possibly admit at full bore. It is very seldom indeed that we find the overflows large enough, and the pipe sufficient to prevent an overflow. The point is a very serious one for plumbers, as damage may result from neglect. Fig. 272. — D-basin, with hot, cold, waste, and overflow. Fig. 278. — D-basin, with hot, cold, waste, and overflow, and skirting. The washhand-basins above illustrated are made in a D shape and much used, the straight side being next the user, and affording great width and scope for free movement in washing. 326 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. These basins have also an arrangement for douching the face with cold or tepid water in a very agreeable fashion, which is a luxury added to these fixtures. Four taps are, of course, necessitated to produce this result and control the supply. The arrangement is shown in two of these illustra- tions (Figs. 274 and 275). Fig. 274. — D-baain, with hot and cold douche arrangement added. Fio. 276.— D-basin, with hot and cold donche arrangement added. D-shaped basins are also made for comers of rooms where space is limited. The arrangements are precisely similar to those with the flat-wall back. The demand for fixed basins has grown very rapidly in Great Britain, as before referred to, rendering it desirable SANITARY APPLIANCES, 327 Fig. 276. — D comer basin, shown in position. Fig. 277.— D-shaped corner basin, top plan. Fig. 278. — Lavatory on bronzed iron brackets. 828 DOMESTIC SANITAkV DRAINAGE AND PLUMBINC;. that we give a few illustrations (Figs. 278-284), more as suggestions to plumljers. to guide thein in the methods Fn;. 279. —Lavatory ou bronzed iron brackets. Fig. 280.— Corner layatory on bronzed iron brackets. which may be adopted in the fitting and finishing of such appliances. The old-fashioned plan of sunk soap and brush trays, SANITARY APPLIANCES. 329 with small waste-pipes leading from them into the basin, is now obsolete, being superseded by the sunk trays with open grooves draining into the basin. Originality in design is soi^ht for in such work, and in Fio. 281. — Shower shampoo lavatory on brackets. Fio. 282.— Handsome wood -encased lavatory. 330 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. new mansions the architect will probably design special fittings, which the plumber must ever be ready to work to zealously. Architects are frequently much pleased to find a design Fio. 283. — Handsome wood-encased and tiled lavatory. Fio. 284. — Handsome wood-encased corner lavatory. SANITARY APPLIANCES. 331 suited to their requirements ready to their hand, and in such matters it is the plumber's duty and interest to give all the assistance in his power, and to place his special technical and trade knowledge and experience at the architect's disposal. There is nothing more agreeable to a good tradesman than to find an architect willing to consult with him, and to accept any suggestions from him likely to improve the work in hand. Fig. 285. — Adams' cabriole lavatory. Adams' cabriole lavatory stands, with marble slabs and white ware heavy washhand basins, are very neat and effective sanitary appliances in dressing-rooms, and if hot and cold water is laid on and waste-pipe safely arranged, they save domestic labour, and are convenient, healthy, and ornamental This lavatory is carried on polished brass brackets, as here illustrated ; the basin is 26 inches long, and the outlet trap is made of brass. Plumbers will do well to notice how rapidly designers 332 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. and manufacturers are improving all the appliances formerly made by and put together by plumbers ; it is admitted that the demand for these fittings is very extensive. Architects and employers welcome every appliance calculated to reduce the amount of skilled labour required on contract work, as such labour has not hitherto been easily obtained ; and, as demand always ensures supply in every market, in one way, Fio. 286. — Adams* large oval titanite lavatory. if not in another, artisans should take the lesson to heart, make their labour the best of its kind, and render it in a manner agreeable to those who employ them, so that the feeling in the employer's mind when the work is done may be satisfaction, rather than repulsion, accompanied by stem determination never to employ a workman again. If work- men would do their utmost to turn out sound work without wasting time over it, the demand for work would increase four-fold. SANITARY APPLIANCES. 333 One very serious defect is found in the baths and basins of modem construction, and it should be remedied by the makers. The overflows are made too small. Every over- flow should be ample to carry ofif all the water that can possibly be turned on when all taps are running full bore. Fio. 287.— Modtm fomi improved UTitorji For hospitals and institutions the corbel form of lavatory basin is approved. It afifords free access to the floors and walls for cleansing. The basin is supported wholly from the corbel built solid into the wall. The adamant lavatory also is much used, and its perfect cleanliness and simple construction must always commend it from the sanitary point of view. These illustrations (Figs. 288-294) explain a very good 334 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. Fio. 288. — Section of improved lavatory. Fig. 289. — Improved corner lavatory. SANITARY APPLIANCES. 335 form of improved modern lavatory suitable for schools, hospitals, and pubUc places. The basin is made of white enamelled earthenware, with full-way accessible waste and trap. Fio. 290. — Corbel lavatory in section. Fio. 291. — Corbel lavatory in plan. 336 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. Fio. 292. — Adamant lavatory. Fig. 293. — Improved flat lavatory. The simple form of lavatory shown on next page, when substantially made, is a good one for schools; for in such SANITARY APPLIANCES. 337 institutions plumbers should be careful to fix none but simple, strong appliances. The slabs are best of polished and oiled slate, with plain chamfered edges and skirting, and sunk soap trays. The height of the slabs may be fixed for junior schools at two feet from floor, and for senior schools at two feet five inches z :^:^8 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. from floor. Sixteen-inch fire-clay D-shaped bowls will be found a suitable size for schools. Lavatory tops are now made in most artistic designs; some of those which we have seen costing over £100, and being really good value for that amount. In America these fixtures are used in every mansion and Fig. 295. — Tip-up lavatory, with marble top and wood casing. in every dressing-room. Domestic labour-saving appliances are more thoroughly appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic than with us. Patented appliances are more numerous in America for the same reason, and invention receives its reward more certainly. A basin with a syphon waste arrangement can also be used in some positions, arranged so that by closing a valve in top of syphon it will syphon out, while by opening the SANITARY APPLIANCES. 339 valve air passes in, stops the syphon action, and leaves it acting as a simple overflow, trapped, of course, beneath, and with waste-pipe delivering in open air. Hot and cold supply by means of flushing rim is the best system. Fig. 296. — ^Tip-up lavatory, marble top, wood encased. Fio. 297.— Tip-up basin filling. Fio. 298.— Tip-up basin emptying. 340 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. Tip-up basins have large interior surfaces, likely to get foul, and even when made to lift out for cleaning, this duty is not attended to, or the basin gets broken in lifting it in and out. The trap below the basin, owing to the sudden discharge of water, is liable to unseal itself by the momentum of the water. Tip-up basins are also made with the inlet for hot and cold water through the journals right and left, on which the basins revolve. This arrangement is liable to go out of order, difficult to adjust or to repair, and the basins cannot be lifted out. Waste-preventing cisterns for water-closets we may con- sider here. Ingenuity has l)een exercised over these inventions until there ought to remain no more difficulties to conquer. It is well that every closet should have its own separate cistern, but these cisterns should hold and discharge three or four gallons at each flush. Waterworks authorities limiting the supply for closets to two gallons should be prosecuted, instead of being protected according to law. Such prevention of legitimate use of water causes filth and disease in many places, and en- courages underhand practices, and eventually causes more waste than it prevents. A well-directed flush of three or four gallons of water is requisite to wash out a water-closet, soil-pipe> and drain, and to clear out the interceptor trap. This usage is not waste of water, but is the very use that water is valuable for. The meaning of " to waste " is to keep unproductive, while public health demands abundant supply. Plumbers will do good public service by always contending for a full flush for water-closets each time of use, but to oppose all dribbling as undoubted waste. The simplest principle of waste-preventing cistern is that SANITARY APPLIANCES. 341 in which the ball- valve is closed by the raising of the lever during the first half of the pull, while the outlet valve emptying the cistern and flushing the closet is opened during the second half of the pulL There is no after-flush provided to charge the basin, so that for valve and pan closets service- boxes must be attached under the cisterns, and even then the pull must be let go before water ceases to run. Care must be taken to ensure that the ball-valve is so arranged and guarded that the continued pull will not cut or strain the seating. All metal cisterns for closets shguld be galvanized or enamelled. A service-box is made of 4-inch lead pipe, with 2-inch inlet, 1 J-inch outlet, and a J-inch hole at bottom of an inner tube, placed so as to retain water during flush, and to allow it to flow slowly down after the pull is let go. A J-inch air-pipe must be carried from the box up above the cistern. Each flush can utilise the full contents of cistern. Double-chambered waste-preventing cisterns are made with a horizontal false bottom, in which is fixed a small lifting valve, while in the real bottom of the cistern is fixed the large flushing valve. A lever is connected to each valve at opposite sides of fulcrum, so that when at rest the small valve is open and water fills the lower com- partment, whose large valve is shut, and when lever is pulled the small valve closes to prevent more water descending, and then the large valve opens and flushes the closet with the contents of the lower compartment. The ball-valve supplies the upper compartment in ordinary way, having no strain on it. The objection to this arrange- ment is that only half the contents of cistern is given at each flush ; that the lower compartment cannot be got at, to clean or to regulate the bottom valve. The latter objection is avoided by making the division vertical, each compartment having its valve exposed, and a 342 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. connection is formed from the small valve into the flashing compartment. Still only a portion of the contents of the cistern is sent down. The after-flush waste-preventers, made with three compart- ments and four distinct valves, are manifestly too complicated and difficult to keep in repair. The tumbler waste-preventers consist of an ordinary cistern and ball-cc>ck, fitted with a tumbling inner cistern Fio. 299. — Tumbler water waste-preventer. swung on bearings, which, on being actuated by the lever, cants up and discharges its contents suddenly into the outer cistern and down the service pipe. These are liable to splash and difficult to cleanse. The syphon-action waste-preventers are numerous. Each one has a syphon in some form at the head of the service- pipe. In some the syphon is started by the water level in cistern being suddenly raised by plunging a piece of terra cotta or stone to displace its volume of water, which rushes over the syphon and starts it. Another covers the upright SANITARY APPLIANCES. 343 inouth of syphon with a cap (Fig. 300), which the pull lifts, drawing up a charge of water with it, which pours over the Fig. 300. — Capped double-syphon water waste-preventer. Fig. 301. — Lifting piston-syphon water waste-preventer. syphon and starts it. Another uses a piston plunger to force a wave of water over the syphon (Fig. 305). Another lifts the water over the syphon by lifting a metal plate, thus :]44 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. mochanically starting the syphon, and avoiding the use of valves (Fig. 301). Another syphon arrangement depends on the lifting of the ordinary water-closet flush-valve, which admits the water direct to the flushing pipe while holding Fig. 302. — Valve and syphon water waste-preventer. Fig. 303. — Capped 8ingle-S3rphon cistern water waste-preventer. SANITARY APPLIANCES. 345 the ball-valve closed, and when the lever is let go the syphon starts, and continues the flush until the cistern is empty (Fig. 302). The cistern illustrated above (Fig. 303) is made in galvanized cast iron, holding two or three gallons, and is Fig. 304. — Capped single-syphon cistern water wa8te-pre?enter. Fio. 305. — Valveless plunger-sjphon cistern water wasto-prevonter. :^46 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. fitted with a conical stand-pipe and copper dome. The pull, which can be actuated from either side, starts the syphonic action without the use of a valva Fig. 304 illiistrates a cistern made in galvanized cast iron, with copper dome, which, when forced down, drives the water over the stand-pipe and starts syphonic action, without the use of any valve. This cistern is made in galvanized cast iron. When the handle is pulled, a loose piston forces a jet of water from Fio. 306. — MahogaDj encased cistern. the cylinder into the syphon, which discharges the contents rapidly, whether the handle