m
i ,
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Deceived JAN 11 1893 • l89
Accessions No. IIQ Qi4 I - • cla*s No- '
THE DEAINAGE
OF
HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PLUMBING. By S.
STEVENS HELLYER, Author of "The Plumber and
Sanitary Houses," and "Lectures on the Science and Art
of Sanitary Plumbing." Small post 8vo, with 4 plates and
180 Illustrations, 5s.
" For all intents and purposes this book maybe described as an illus-
trated plumber's dictionary, and should always be 'at home ' for study and
reference. It is invaluable to the working apprentice commencing his
trade, and cannot but prove of considerable assistance to builders, clerks
of works, foremen, &c." — The Plumber and Decorator.
SEWAGE TREATMENT, PURIFICATION, AND UTILIS-
ATION. A Practical Manual for the Use of Corporations,
Local Boards, Medical Officers of Health, Inspectors of
Nuisances, Chemists, Manufacturers, Eiparian Owners,
Engineers, and Ratepayers. By J. W. SLATER, F.E.S.,
Editor of "Journal of Science." "With Illustrations, 6s.
"The writer, in addition to a calm and dispassionate view of the situation,
gives two chapters on ' Legislation ' and ' Sewage Patents.'"— Specta tor.
LONDON : WHITTAKER & Co.
THE DRAINAGE
OF
HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
BY
W. LEE BEARDMORE,
ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF C.E. J MEMBER OF COUNCIL AND HON.
SEC. CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS* SOCIETY, ETC.
BEING A REPRINT AND REVISION OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES
WHICH APPEARED IN THE PAGES OF 'THE PLUMBER
AND DECORATOR, AND JOURNAL OF GAS AND
SANITARY ENGINEERING.'
NEW YORK: MACMILLAN AND CO.
LONDON : WHITTAKER AND CO.
1892.
[All rights reserved.]
PREFACE.
IN the early part of the year 1881, I was employed to
write for the Plumber and Decorator, and Journal of Gas
and Sanitary Engineering, a series of articles which now
comprise this work ; and in writing upon such a subject
as Habitable Buildings, I elected to touch, but briefly,
upon what has been done in such an insanitary manner
in the past, and to point out mainly what should be done
to render a dwelling thoroughly sanitary as regards its
drainage arrangements. The title therefore of The Drain-
age of Habitable Buildings suggested itself to me as an
appropriate one.
It is a great question if there is any necessity at all for
a preface to such a book, but I beg to take the liberty
with my readers of opening this edition with a few words
of a prefatory nature.
For many years past I have made a special and
particular study of the Science of House Drainage, and
that fact being known was the reason of my being
employed to write this work for the above Journal, in the
pages of which it appeared.
It is probable that I should never have taken up this
subject as a specialist had it not been that I was employed
as an assistant to Mr. E. F. Griffith, Associate Member
Institution C.E. (so well known in connection with his
vi PREFACE.
work at Oxford), who at one time was manager to that
eminent sanitarian Mr. Rogers Field, M.A., Member
Institution C.E.
My obligations are great to certain gentlemen at the
Natural History Museum (British Museum), South
Kensington, S.W., for their kind assistance, but this has
been acknowledged in one of the chapters of the book.
Some critical readers may maintain that I have neither
gone sufficiently deep into the theory, nor into the practice,
but I trust that, at the same time, it will be said that I
have made a hearty endeavour to place before the public
what should be done in order to have a truly habitable
building.
I beg to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy of
Messrs. Dale, Reynolds & Co., the proprietors of the above
Journal, arid of the present publishers, Messrs. Whittaker
& Co. of Paternoster Square, and to claim the indulgence
of the many critics that I trust will read this book.
W. LEE BEARDMORE,
Assoc. M. INST. C.E.
7, LITTLE QUEEN ST.,
GEE AT GEORGE ST., WESTMINSTER, S.W.
December 1891.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The Air we breathe — How and why we do breathe such Air — How
the Blood is cleansed by good Atmosphere — Those Gases gener-
ated in Sewers, &c., which we should not breathe — The Danger
arising from breathing such Gases — The necessity of preventing
such Gases and Germs, or Bacilli, entering our Dwellings p. 1
CHAPTER II.
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE.
"The Stoneware Syphon Trap" — American Practice — Argument in
favour of a " Disconnecting Trap," and with regard to the Danger
of Gases from the Main Sewer entering the House — Introduction
of Fresh Air through the House Drain for the purpose of Oxi-
dizing any Foul Gases that may be generated — The Stoneware
Syphon Trap — Demonstration of the Principle of same — Liability
of the Syphon Trap to choke, and arrangement for its Examin-
ation— Chamber known as the Disconnecting Manhole — Method
of discharging Branch Drains into Main House Drain — White
Glazed Faced Bricks should form the Brickwork inside the Man-
hole— Syphon Traps sometimes of too large Diameter — The same
consequently never Scoured thoroughly . . . p. 8
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE MAIN HOUSE DRAIN, ETC.
The Distinction between the " Main House Drain " and the " Con-
necting Drain " — Position of the Disconnecting Manhole — Com-
pulsory Position of the Disconnecting Manhole in the case of
Houses in Towns — The Objection to Excessive Fall — The Practice
pursued in laying the House Drain and the Connecting Drain —
The Laying of Drains generally to insure their being Self-Cleansing
— Glazed Stoneware Drain Pipes — The Reduction of Friction in,
and of Porosity of, Pipes by being Glazed — The " Stanford Joint "
and the Joints of Glazed Stoneware Pipes — The Selection of such
Pipes — The Danger of Cement being left in the Pipes — Drains
should not be laid under the House — Coated Cast-Iron Pipes —
The Employment of such Pipes gives a minimum of Joints —
General Argument for use of Cast-Iron Pipes under House — The
Geological Nature of Ground through which they have to be laid
— Concrete Bed, &c., for Drains — Glazed Stoneware Bend Pipe
for reception of Soil Pipe — Such Bend Pipe should be accessible
from a Manhole — Construction of such Manhole — Branch Drains
— A Manhole to admit of Inspection of same — Change of Direc-
tion of the Line of Drains — The Turning Chamber — Test as to the
proper laying of a Drain — The Enlargement of Syphon Trap at
Spigot end — The Flap Trap — The Size of House Drains — Formula
for calculating the Discharge through Drains — Drains should be
Self-Cleansing p. 17
CHAPTER IV.
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING — SOIL AND VENTILATING PIPE.
The Annular Syphon— The Soil Pipe— The Connecting Soil Pipe-
Lead and Iron for such Pipes — The Ventilating Pipe — The Size
of same — Cowls . . . . . . . p. 26
CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER V.
w.c.'s.
Disconnection of w.c. Apparatus, &c., from the House Drain and
Soil Pipe, &c.— "P" and "S" Traps— The Pan Closet— The
Container — The "D" Trap — The Long Hopper Closet — The
Improved Hopper Closet — The Valve Closet — Its Overflow Pipe
—The Safe- The "Warning Pipe"— The Hinged Seat— The
Loose Eiser — Situation of the w.c. — The Flush — The Waste
Preventer Cistern— The Screw-down Stop-Cock — Cistern Over-
flow Pipes p. 34
CHAPTER YI.
THE URINAL, SINKS, ETC.
The Urinal with Flushing Rim — Inspection Cap to Traps — Auto-
matic Flushing of Urinals — The w.c. may be arranged for use
as an Urinal — The Slop Sink — Housemaids' and Butlers' Sinks
— Bell Trap — Enamelled Earthenware Sinks — The Space beneath
Sinks— The Gully Trap p. 43
CHAPTER VII.
THE LAVATORY, RAIN-WATER PIPES, BATH, ETC.
The Tip-up Lavatory Basin — Rain-water Pipes — Their Joints — The
Rain-water Shoe— The Bath— The Safe— The Safe Waste Pipe—
The Area of same— The Outlet from Bath— The Bath Waste Pipe
— The Overflow Pipe — Cisterns — Dustbin — The Portable Iron
Dustbin . p. 49
CHAPTER VIII.
STABLES.
The Nature of Stable Sewage — Flooring — Stable Channels — Special
Flushing of- same— The Fall of Stable Floors— The Coach-house
p. 56
x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
The Elvers Pollution Prevention Act — The Cesspool— The Float
Indicator — The Overflow Pipes — Removal of Solid Residue —
The Straining Chamber — The Position of the Cesspool — Surface
Disposal — Shuttle and Flap Valves — The Objection to the Dis-
charge of Crude Sewage on the Ground — Sub-Irrigation — Bed
for Sub-Irrigation Pipes — Contour Principle of Irrigation —
Sewage Meter Tank — Sewage Sick — Setting out ground on the
Contour Principle — Herbage grown on Sewage-fed Land — Tape-
worm— Ventilation of the Connecting Drain . . £>. 61
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION.
The Preparation of Schemes for House Drainage — Maxims— Rules
for Housekeepers . . p. 80
UNIVERSITY
THE DRAINAGE
OF
HABITABLE BUILDINGS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY.
The Air we breathe — How and why we do breathe such Air— How
the Blood is cleansed by good Atmosphere — Those Gases gener-
ated in sewers, &c. which we should not breathe — The Danger
arising from breathing such Gases — The necessity of preventing
such Gases and Germs or Bacilli entering our Dwellings.
THIS question is one of the greatest import. Although
some few years ago it commanded but little consideration,
its vital consequence is now fully recognized. As the
inward man cannot be judged by the outward coat he
wears, the visible exterior or interior of a dwelling cannot
be a criterion of its healthy condition. The disclosures so
constantly made in both palace and cottage on the investi-
gation of their drainage arrangements tend to prove this.
Not many years ago a nation was anxiously watching round
the bed of a prince afflicted with a dangerous illness, caused
by the poisonous effects of sewer gas ; — a few years later a
princess was struck down with serious blood-poisoning,
B
2 DBAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
supposed to be the result of defective drainage, and since
then how many princes and people, peers and peasants,
have suffered in a greater or less degree from similar
causes ? Can we wonder that this subject of house
drainage receives the prominence it does in the minds of
both professional men and the intelligent public generally ?
How many diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet,
and other fevers, cholera pestifera, &c., if not actually
created are provoked and aggravated by inefficient house
drainage ? Many people appear to be expecting a visit
from the last-mentioned terrible scourge, and perhaps the
words on house drainage, &c., referring to this malady, of
the late eminent author of Two Years Ago (whose novels
were always written with some good object in view),
may be here appropriately quoted — "It is hard," he
writes, " to human nature to make all the humiliating
confessions which must precede sanitary repentance ; to
say — I have been a very nasty, dirty fellow. I have lived
contented in evil smells, till I care for them no more than
my pig does. I have refused to understand Nature's
broadest hints, that anything which is so disagreeable is
not meant to be left about. I have probably been more
or less the cause of half my own illnesses, and of three-
fourths of the illness of my children ; for aught I know it
is very much my fault that my own baby has died of
scarlatina, and two or three of my tenants of typhus. No,
hano" it ! that's too much to make a man confess to ! I'll
O
prove my innocence by not reforming ! So sanitary reform
is thrust out of sight, simply because its necessity is too
humiliating to the pride of all, too frightful to the con-
sciences of many."
Before proceeding to the technical portion of our subject
it may be advantageous to consider cursorily the reason
why it is unhealthy to breathe the gases arising from
INTRODUCTORY. 3
sewers and drains, but it is not proposed to do so from
a medical point of view, but merely in a popular
manner.
In order to do this, let us observe what composes the
atmosphere we should breathe.
The globe is enveloped in an atmospheric sea, indis-
pensable to life, which is known to be at least forty-five
miles in depth. This atmosphere is a mixture of different
matters, each fulfilling to the life of both animals and
vegetables a marvellous, awe-inspiring, and beautiful office.
Oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic acid, and watery vapour are
known at least to be its components, the two former
almost constituting its whole bulk, whilst the carbonic
acid and watery vapour exist but in small quantities.
Oxygen is a gas with neither colour, taste, nor smell,
and gives to animals breathing it increase of enjoyment,
their circulation being quickened, producing finally a
state of fever. When combustion takes place in this gas,
the process is greatly accelerated.
Nitrogen is also a gas without colour, taste, or smell,
but is almost opposite in its action to oxygen, animals no
longer breathing, and burning objects being immediately
extinguished, when placed in it.
Carbonic acid is a gas which is slightly odorous, and
has a sharp, sour, and acid taste, but no colour ; as in the
case of nitrogen, animals cease to breathe, and burning
bodies are extinguished, when introduced into it.
The watery vapour is a result of evaporation which
takes place.
These four substances are always to be found in the
atmosphere, and are necessary to life, although it is cus-
tomary in speaking of dry air, to say that it only consists
of nitrogen and oxygen, and when the watery vapour and
carbonic acid, &c., are absent, the proportions of the two
4 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
former gases in one hundred parts is seventy-nine of
nitrogen to twenty-one of oxygen.
Having deliberated somewhat on the atmosphere we
should breathe, let us glance at how and why we do
breathe it.
The heart is situated in our bodies between our two
lungs, and is a muscular organ consisting of four chambers,
the two in the upper portion being termed auricles and
the two in the lower ventricles.
Roughly viewed, there are two classes of circulation of
the blood, the one being the "pulmonic," by which, as
implied by the name, the blood is circulated to the
lungs and back to the heart ; the other being the
" systemic," by which the blood is conveyed all over our
systems.
By the muscular contraction of the left auricle the blood
is driven to the left ventricle, and by a similar action
of the left ventricle, to the extremities of our bodies by
the arteries ; then, the blood, having become impure and
charged with carbonic acid, is returned by the capillaries
and veins to the right auricle, and thence by muscular
contraction to the right ventricle ; this, in its turn, forces
our life fluid to the lungs, where, after purification by
the oxygen we inhale, it is returned to the left auricle, to
be once more circulated over the system, to perform its
offices in a properly cleansed condition.
But although the greater portion of respiration takes
place in the lungs, yet it also does so in a less degree
through the outer skin or cuticle by the pores in it.
Thus the oxygen we breathe is carried along by our
blood, and, combining with the carbon and hydrogen of
our fat, ultimately is exhaled in the forms of watery
vapour and carbonic acid, and the waste tissues and matter
of our system being oxidized, pass off with the fluid excre-
INTRODUCTORY. 5
tions of our skin and organs in the form of urea and uric
acid, &c.
Therefore, of all the constituents of the atmosphere,
oxygen is directly of the greatest importance to animal
life, but the nitrogen is necessary to counteract the effects
of the oxygen, which alone would give us but rapid life ;
without the watery vapour our skin would be dry and
arid, and without the carbonic acid vegetable life could not
exist.
Having slightly considered the atmosphere we should
breathe, let us turn our attention to some of those gases
we should not breathe, but which, nevertheless, Nature has
ordained we shall have to contend with.
By the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter
gases are generated, and the following are some which may
be advantageously considered in connection with this
subject.
Sulphuretted hydrogen is a highly poisonous gas ; it has
no colour, whilst its smell is of a most disagreeable, foetid
sulphury nature, and is of a sour and sulphureous taste.
Bi-carburetted hydrogen (olefiant gas) is a poisonous
gas, being colourless, but of an unpleasant odour.
Carbonic acid gas has been already referred to. Light
carburetted hydrogen (marsh gas) is a non-poisonous gas,
and is without smell, taste, or colour.
Ammoniacal gas is ^also colourless, but, as is generally
known, has a strong alkaline taste, and stinging smell.
Excreta and sewage matter generally give off all these
gases when decomposing, which process takes place at
different times in various climates, but in this country
commences in about three or four days ; excreta from a
healthy person, although so offensive, being practically
harmless when fresh. But when we consider that one
gallon of sulphuretted hydrogen, mixed with one hundred
6 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
gallons of air, will make a mixture poisonous enough to
kill a dog, when we reflect that near the earth's surface in
every five thousand gallons of air there are but two gallons
of carbonic acid gas, and that if this proportion were much
increased it would be injurious to the health of animals,
can we wonder that the endeavours to avoid such gases
entering our houses have resulted in the important and
necessary science of house drainage ? When, owing to
untrapped drains, leaky joints, broken and unconnected
pipes, ill- ventilated soil pipes, &c., such gases escape into
our dwellings, can our blood be properly cleansed, can we
enjoy good health, when, instead of the normal atmosphere
we should breathe, we inhale a mixture of pure air with
such deadly gases as sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic
acid?
Does it not, therefore, behove us to retain, if possible, in
an unvitiated condition, the natural atmosphere as given
to us by our wise and all-provident God ?
But, in referring to these gases, we must remember that
besides differing in nature they vary also in weight ; for
instance, carbonic acid is heavier than oxygen, which is
heavier than nitrogen, the two former being heavier than
common air, whilst the latter is lighter. Thus a question
I was once asked in connection with this subject of house
drainage suggests itself, viz. How is it the heavier gases
do not lie in distinct strata nearest the earth's surface ?
It is a fact not generally known that a vast amount of
the ventilation of our dwellings takes place actually
through the brick walls of them ; but it is only in some
degree due to the natural winds and aerial currents that
this takes place, for independent of these there is a grand
law of Nature which governs the blending and inter-
mixture of all gases. This law is known as the " Diffusion
of Gases," and in conformity with it the heavier gases
INTRODUCTORY. 7
intermingle with the lighter, even through porous
partitions. Thus the poisonous gases of decomposing
sewage matter, if properly discharged into the atmosphere,
are diffused with it to a harmless condition.
Graham, by various experiments, demonstrated the law
that " the rates of diffusion of two gases into each other
are in the inverse ratio of the square roots of their
densities."
But, besides the danger of the poisonous gases gener-
ated by decaying refuse, there is also another to be faced
wherever the house drains discharge into a main sewer.
Whether the cause or effect, it is, I believe, still a
disputed question, but I think the medical faculty agree
that minute germs or bacilli, capable of transmitting
disease, emanate from the faeces of patients suffering from
zymotic disorders.
Therefore, if the evacuations of such patients pass into
the main sewer, is there not a danger of such germs
passing into any house drains that may be in direct open
communication with the main sewer, thereby tending to
spread disease ?
In order, then, to prevent such germs and the gases
generated in the main sewer, sewage meter tank,
irrigation tanks, or cesspools, &c., from entering the
house drains, a trap of syphon shape, consisting of a
water seal, has been devised in order to disconnect entirely
the house drains from the main sewer, &c. With this
disconnection I shall open my next article.
CHAPTER II.
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE.
The Stoneware Syphon Trap — American Practice — Argument in
favour of a " Disconnecting " Trap, and with regard to the Danger
of Gases from the Main Sewer entering the House — Introduction
of Fresh Air through the House Drain for the purpose of
Oxidizing any Foul Gases that may be generated — The Stoneware
Syphon Trap — Demonstration of the Principle of same — Liability
of the Syphon Trap to choke, and arrangement for its Examin-
ation— Chamber known as the Disconnecting Manhole — Method
of discharging Branch Drains into Main House Drain — White
Glazed Faced Bricks should form the Brickwork inside the
Manhole — Syphon Traps sometimes of too large Diameter — The
same consequently never Scoured thoroughly.
IN England, all those Civil Engineers who have made
House Drainage their especial study, and all those who
have given serious attention to sanitary work, agree, I
think, that whether discharging into a main sewer,
sewage meter tank, irrigation tanks, or cesspool, &c., the
house drain should be disconnected from them in such a
way that the gases generated in them shall not be diffused
with those of the latter, and they further, I believe,
concur in the opinion that the proper and most suitable
form of trap for this purpose is that known as the
" Stoneware Syphon Trap."
In America, however, this view does not appear to have
gained such universal approval ; for in some recent articles
on house drainage by Mr. George E. Waring, junr. (who
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE. 9
by his writing shows the great attention he has given to
this subject, and his vast knowledge of it), this "dis-
connection is not advocated."
He contends that " the trap itself, unless the course of
the drain is very steep, and its flushing very copious,"
may "form a seat of decomposing filth," and will also
" set back the flow," thereby causing a " deposit of foul
material for some distance along the house-side of the
drain ; " — but if the suitable form of trap is employed,
viz. the " Glazed Stoneware Syphon Trap," and is
properly arranged, and if the drains are laid with a
proper fall, I think there can be little chance of danger
arising from the employment of such a trap, and my
opinion is most positive that its use is highly necessary
and advantageous.
Again, he states that "if the sewer is not extremely
offensive, there will be less stench coming from a current
of air flowing from the sewer without a trap, than will be
developed in the house drain itself with a trap. The
absence of the trap will secure a pretty constant and
effective current of air from the sewer through to the top
of the soil pipe. Without the trap a sufficient current
can be established by the use of a well-placed fresh air
inlet."
But is not the presence of a trap required especially to
prevent any current of air from the sewer passing through
the house drain and up the soil pipe to the outlet at the
top ? Again, it is true that a sufficient current can be
established without a trap by the use of a well-placed
fresh air inlet, but let us look at what the nature of such
a current will be.
When a current of gases is established in a channel,
there is a tendency to create a vacuum at the point at
which the current arises, and all gases about that point
10 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
rush to it in consequence. Therefore, if there is no
disconnecting trap, the gases of the main sewer, or
whatever be used, will be in direct communication with
those of the house drain, and when a current is caused in
this drain by a fresh air inlet, in the absence of a discon-
necting trap, not only will fresh air pass up the house
drain, but the gases generated in the main sewer or what
not, will do so also ; thus the house drain will act as a
ventilating shaft for the main sewer, or whatever receptacle
it may discharge into. I fail entirely to see how " there
can be less stench coming from a current of air flowing
from the sewer without a trap," for no sewer is entirely
inoffensive, and if the gases arising in it pass into the
house drain owing to there being no disconnecting trap, it
is obvious that there must be more stench caused by a
current of such gases mingled with fresh air than there
would be from fresh air alone passing from the external
atmosphere into the house drain, &c., by the fresh air
inlet ; therefore, I consider it most necessary to disconnect
the receptacle, into which the house drain discharges, from
that drain, with such a trap as will entirely prevent
the gases of the one diffusing into the gases of the other.
A fresh air inlet should be placed near this trap on the
house-side of it in connection with the house drain, in
order that a current of air may be created throughout the
house drain, soil pipe, and ventilating pipe to the outlet
at the top, and that any offensive gases generated in the
house drains, &c., may be intermingled with the fresh air
current, or ventilated to the outlet to be diffused into the
atmosphere, for the purpose of oxidization.
All those who read the introductory chapter to this
series, will, I think, agree as to the necessity for, and
importance of, such a trap as will completely sever the
gases of the main sewer, &c., from the house drain.
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE.
11
Fig. 1 shows a " Stoneware Syphon Trap," which is
tubular, and has a socket sometimes at one end, being
similar to an ordinary stoneware drain pipe, bent to a
syphon shape ; this trap is also sometimes made with half
"SYPHON TKAP" wrTH SOCKET
(Not bo Scale)
FIG. 1.
the socket of the above, and with a branch from the spigot
end as shown by Fig. 2. Inasmuch that if a liquid is
contained in a vessel its surface must be level, if water be
poured in at the end D (Fig. 1), till the syphon is filled
to the surface DE, that surface will be horizontal, and the
FIG. 2.
columns AB and BC will be in equilibrium ; but if more
water be poured in at D, the column AB will tend to
increase in height, and become heavier, thereby equilibrium
will no longer take place, and the column AB will tend
to force BC upwards; then, by the force of gravity, the
12 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
water at E will flow down the drain until the surface of
water in the syphon columns again assumes the level DE,
when equilibrium will again take place and the water will
be at rest ; thus, when water passes through the syphon
a quantity always remains to fill it to the level DE. But
if the syphon is always full to the level DE, then for all
practical purposes the passage of the gases up the drain to
E will be barred by the surface E, or in other words the
trap is " sealed " by the water being to the level DE, and
the amount of " seal" is measured by the distance F.
But owing to the peculiar shape which the syphon trap
is made to assume, there is necessarily considerable liability
to its becoming choked, from time to time, and conse-
quently it should be accessible so that a man can at any
time clear and clean it thoroughly. For this purpose, it
is usual to construct at the house end of the syphon trap
a chamber not exceeding about three feet square, in nine
inches thick brickwork, which is termed the disconnecting
manhole ; concrete should be laid in the bottom of this
manhole, and a straight, open, glazed stoneware channel
should be laid on and in this concrete, forming a butt joint
•\\ith the house drain, and being bedded in cement on the
socket of the syphon trap. It is better, if possible, to give
this channel about an inch more fall than the house drain
has, as thereby the sewage receives a greater impetus
before entering the syphon trap, which is consequently
better flushed.
The concrete should be brought some few inches above
the channel on each side, and then " battered " off to the
side of the manhole, the whole of the concrete should then
be neatly rendered over with a smooth surface of cement
with a float, "the cement "being flush" with the internal
face of the channel on each side.
The concrete should be made with good Portland cement,
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE. 13
and it may be well to state here that it is advisable in all
house drainage work to use this cement for the joints of
brickwork and all stoneware pipes, &c. The manhole
should be covered with an iron, air-tight cover (such as
invented by Mr. A. T. Angell), and a stone carefully sealed
down with cement.
Immediately adjoining the syphon trap, at that end
farthest from the house, there should be a Y junction
pipe, with its branch pointing to the manhole, and an
inspection pipe should be fixed, accessible from the man-
hole and jointed with this branch. A stoneware inspection
cap should be placed in the socket of the inspection pipe,
and be carefully sealed down with Portland cement.
Thus at any time by the removal of this inspection cap
the connecting drain between the syphon trap and main
sewer, (or whatever be used,) can be cleared in the event
of its becoming choked. For the purpose of clearing
drains of any stoppage that may occur, a bundle of "Rods"
is employed, each rod being of a convenient length to
enter a drain from a manhole, and being fitted at each
end with a screw joint, so that as each length is passed
into the drain a fresh one can be attached to its end by
the screw joint; various tools can be fixed to the first
" rod," for the purpose of either pushing forward or raking
back, &c., any matter that may be blocking the course of
the drain. It will therefore be understood that the dis-
connecting manhole admits of the "house drain" being
cleared from it in one direction, and the "connecting
drain " and syphon trap in another, at least as far as the
extent of the total number of "rods" when all joined
together will admit, which reaches about one hundred
feet. From a side wall of the manhole, a little above the
concrete batter, and communicating with the inside of the
manhole, a pipe of the same size as the house -drain at
14 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
least, should be carried up to a few feet above the surface,
this terminating in a wall or chamber on which a vase or
statue may be placed, in order that fresh air may pass into
the manhole and thence up the " house drain," soil and
ventilating pipes to the outlet at the top, thus ventilating
the house drain.
The current of air up the house drain, &c. (when
properly arranged) is nearly always found to be very
considerable, but in the event of there being a down
draught into the disconnecting manhole, then the pipe
leading from the side wall of the manhole will be service-
able as ah outlet to ventilate the manhole ; it is therefore
wise to conduct it to a point on the surface sufficiently
apart from any approach to the building. Branch drains
may be conveniently led into the disconnecting manhole,
discharging through curved open glazed stoneware channels,
into the straight, open channel, on either side of it, so that
such drains may be cleared with as much ease as the
house drain, should they become choked.
It is advisable to face the inside of the manhole, where
the brickwork is exposed, with white glazed faced bricks
(especially when the manhole is of considerable depth),
for such bricks reflecting the light more efficiently than
ordinary ones, enable the man when clearing the drains,
&c., to see his work better.
Before leaving this subject of the disconnecting manhole,
it may not be out of place to refer to a mistake that is
sometimes made in the employment of a syphon trap of
too large a diameter. I have known one of these traps
used of a diameter of nine inches, the diameter of the
" house drain " discharging into it being also nine inches ;
in this case the diameter of both drain and trap alike was
too large, the consequence being that when a closet or
sink was used, instead of the discharge coming down the
THE DISCONNECTING MANHOLE.
15
drain as a good flush, to thoroughly scour out the syphon
trap, it only trickled through the large drain (although
there was a good fall), to little more than ooze into the
syphon trap.
In this instance, even the flushing of a closet did not
appear to be sufficient to change the contents of the trap,
heavier matter being deposited in the lowest bend of the
x^/^*>!*^X'T»5!?^*>x?^^'5^^'^l^^^v^^^^^^^^5x^s5^
•^ ''^•.^•^.^'^•'••^^^''^''^^'^.y't''^^ S''f''/\£'f'/:>.i.'T/-.~ "f
FIG. 3.
syphon, and a slight film collecting about the surface of
the contents of the socket end of the syphon trap.
In my opinion it is rarely, if ever, (in house drainage
work,) necessary to use a syphon trap of larger diameter
than four inches ; even if it be essential to employ a house
drain of six inches diameter. I think a trap four inches
in diameter will be found more advantageous when con-
16 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
nected to the house drain by a reducing, (from six inches
to four inches,) open glazed stoneware channel in the
bottom of the manhole.
If there be a proper flush from the closets, through a
properly laid drain, there will be little fear of the contents
of a syphon trap of four inches diameter not being flushed
out, and little chance of the trap forming a "seat of
decomposing filth."
The sections of a disconnecting manhole, shown by Figs.
3 and 4, may assist in explaining the text of this article.
FIG. 4.
CHAPTER III.
THE MAIN HOUSE DKAIN, ETC.
The Distinction between the " Main House Drain " and the " Connect-
ing Drain" — Position of the Disconnecting Manhole — Compulsory
Position of the Disconnecting Manhole in the cases of Houses in
Towns — The Objection to Excessive Fall — The Practice pursued
in laying the House Drain and the Connecting Drain — The
Laying of Drains generally to insure their being Self-Cleansing
— Glazed Stoneware Drain Pipes — The Keduction of Friction in,
and of Porosity of, Pipes by being Glazed — The " Stanford Joint,"
and the Joints of Glazed Stoneware Pipes — The Selection of such
Pipes — The Danger of Cement being left in the Pipes — Drains
should not be laid under the House — Coated Cast-Iron Pipes —
The Employment of such Pipes gives a minimum of Joints —
General Argument for use of Cast-Iron Pipes under House — The
Geological Nature of Ground through which they may have to
be laid — Concrete Bed, &c., for Drains — Glazed Stoneware Bend
Pipe for reception of Soil Pipe — Such Bend Pipe should be
accessible from a Manhole — Construction of such Manhole —
Branch Drains — A Manhole to admit of Inspection of same —
Change of Direction of the Line of Drains — The Turning Chamber
— Test as to the proper laying of a Drain — The Enlargement of
Syphon Trap at Spigot end— The Flap Trap— The Size of House
Drains — Formula for calculating the Discharge through Drains
— Drains should be Self-Cleansing.
ATTENTION must now be turned to the house drain, and
although, of course, literally it is all " house drain," yet
it will be easier to make a distinction between that part
of the drain from the soil pipe foot to the disconnecting
manhole, and the drain from the syphon trap to the main
sewer, or whatever it may discharge into ; therefore, here-
c
18 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
after the former part will be referred to as the " house
drain," and the latter part as the " connecting drain."
The "disconnecting manhole" should be built, if
possible, at a distance of — say, some seventy feet from the
house ; and I have known a good draught up the " house
drain " and ventilating pipe when it has been situated
about, or over, two hundred feet from the house ; but, of
course, this is too great a distance to admit of the " house
drain " being efficiently cleaned by the " rods " ; however,
in the case of houses in towns drained on a main sewerage
system, it is rarely possible to place the " disconnecting
manhole " at a greater distance than a few feet from the
house.
Now, as the main sewer is often as much as seventeen
or twenty feet below the crown of the road, and often
only some twenty or thirty feet from the house, the fall
from the head of the drain to the main sewer is necessarily
great, and objection to excessive fall is raised on the score
that, the sewage flowing at a high velocity, there is a
tendency for the solids to deposit and the fluids only to
pass to the main sewer, &c. ; again, the expense of deep
excavations must be considered, where no advantage is
gained by it, as all that is necessary is a proper and suffi-
cient fall. It is therefore the practice to lay the " house
drain " to a proper fall, (to which I shall refer hereafter,)
and to lay the " connecting drain " at whatever fall may
be left between the manhole and main sewer, provided
such fall be not less than the minimum fall to which the
drain in question should be laid. Of course there may be
occasions when both "house drain" and "connecting
drain " can be laid to the same fall, or when a sufficient fall
cannot be obtained, and to this latter case I shall refer
later on.
All drains should be laid perfectly straight from point
THE MAIN HOUSE DRAIN, ETC. 19
to point, and when possible to a good and true and even
fall, such that will ensure their being self-cleansing.
When a drain is laid of four-inch pipes, it should have a
fall of at least one in thirty, one of six-inch pipes should
have a fall of at least one in forty, and one of nine-inch
pipes should not have a less fall than one in sixty. But,
of course, it is not always feasible to lay drains to these
falls, and when such falls cannot be procured, recourse must '
be had to automatic flushing.
It is generally admitted now, I think, that in most cases
the glazed stoneware drain pipes form the best and most
efficient drains for house drainage, owing to the truth
with which they can now be made, and the smooth surface
the glazing presents to the sewage ; the process of glazing
reduces frictional resistance very materially, and, no
doubt, greatly diminishes the otherwise porosity of the
stoneware. These pipes are made with the ordinary
socket and spigot, the joint being made with cement
luting ; there are also, I believe, various other patent
joints employed with these pipes, notably amongst them
being the " Stanford joint." This joint is formed by rings
of durable material being moulded and cast on the socket
and spigot of each pipe, which, when brought together,
form a joint, and in addition to this the joint may be luted
with cement. It is, however, my practice to use the
ordinary socket and spigot pipes, with a Portland cement
joint, which, if properly laid, gives satisfaction, and I
believe, taken all round, to be the best class of pipes.
It must be the duty of the engineer, in selecting these
pipes for use, to inspect and ascertain that they are
straight, and of uniform and sufficient thickness, not over
or under-fired in the kiln, so that they are not too brittle
or too soft; that they are free from cracks, flaws, and
blurs ; that the spigot fits well and evenly in the socket ;
20 DEAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
that a good joint can be made, and that they are thoroughly
glazed inside as well as outside. A good pipe should ring
well when knocked. In laying these pipes, the greatest
care must be taken that none of the cement is left inside
the barrel of the drain, as thereby the danger is incurred
of an accumulation of the solids of the sewage. If a piece
of cement is left in the sewage channel, a small portion of
solid matter may catch on it in passing down the drain,
then more solid matter may catch on the first portion, and
more again on the two deposits, and so on, till at length a
very considerable obstacle may be presented to the flow of
the sewage down the drain, perhaps, eventually, causing a
complete block.
For the purpose of cleaning out any cement that may
be left in the barrel of the drain, a tool should be made of
a piece of wood cut to a chord of a circle rather smaller
than the circle of the barrel of the drain, its versed sine
being about one-third of the diameter of the barrel; this,
having been secured to a handle about eighteen inches
long, at right angles to the versed sine and chord, should
have flannel or some similar material wrapped round it
and secured ; then, when each pipe is laid, the workman
should pass the tool up the drain and wipe back any
cement that may have been squeezed into the drain
from the joint, when the socket was placed home over the
spigot.
This removal of superfluous cement is very important,
and is one of those things which, when proper super-
intendence of house drainage work is not employed (too
often the case), can easily be neglected without detection,
and which is, no doubt, very often left undone.
If possible to avoid it, no drains should be laid under
the house, for should the pipes be faulty or have leaky
joints, owing to " scamped " work, &c., the ground is apt to
THE MAIN HOUSE DRAIN, ETC. 21
become saturated with the leaking sewage, converting the
subsoil of the basement into little better than a cesspool
with its consequent dangers. However, in town houses the
laying of drains underneath the house is often unavoidable,
and in such cases the use of cast-iron pipes coated inside
and out with Dr. Angus Smith's paint, or some suitable pre-
paration, for the prevention of rust and the eating away of
the iron by acids, &c., is to be strongly recommended. It
is indisputable that the more joints there are employed
the greater must be the chance of leakage, &c., and as, by
the employment of iron pipes, about seven joints less are
used in every two nine-feet lengths of iron piping than
would be the case if stoneware pipes were used, this alone,
I think, should advocate the use of iron pipes, with well-
caulked lead and spun yarn joints underneath the house.
But, again, iron is stronger than the more fragile stone-
ware, and consequently, in the event of the house giving
away at its foundations, pipes made of the former are better
able to cope with the compressive force brought to bear on
them, on the house " dropping." For similar reasons, the
use of iron pipes is to be advised when the drain is laid
under a road, over which there is liable to be heavy traffic
passing, unless it is laid at some considerable depth below
the crown of the road. In laying a drain, careful observ-
ation of the geological nature of the excavated bed, on
which the pipe will rest, must be made by the engineer,
and if of soft ground or running sand, an artificial bed of
harder substance must be provided, so as to retain the
continuity of straigbtness of the drain; for this purpose,
in such instances a bed of six inches to one foot in depth
of concrete should be laid under the pipes. It is the
practice, I believe, of most of our leading authorities on
House Drainage, to specify that such concrete shall be
made of Portland cement; but, in my opinion, it may
22 DEAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
sometimes be made of blue lias lime, which will be found,
when such a bed is of considerable length, not only
nearly equally effective, but of less cost.
By some people, the use of glazed stoneware cradles,
as introduced by the late Mr. George Jennings, of Lam-
beth, is advocated ; upon these, both pipe and socket can
be supported, and no doubt there is an advantage gained
by keeping the joint from off the ground, as the workman
is thus enabled to better get at it; but, all considered,
I think, if a bed is required at all, the concrete one is
the best. The soil pipe foot should be connected to the
" house drain " by a glazed stoneware bend, of the same
diameter as the " house drain"'; and, in case there should
be any stoppage at this bend, it should be accessible from
a manhole covered by an iron air-tight cover ; this man-
hole should have an open glazed stoneware channel run-
ning through the bottom of it, similar to the disconnecting
manhole, and, in fact, this manhole should be so similar
to the disconnecting manhole — minus its inspection pipe,
syphon trap, and fresh air inlet (see Figs 3 and 4, Chap.
II.) — that I consider an illustration of it unnecessary. It is
my experience, however, that in the majority of cases,
people rarely have sufficient money to lay out. in order to
have their drainage arrangements efficiently carried out,
and the engineer is much exercised as to what can be best
done for the limited means at command. In such a case,
in my opinion, this manhole may be omitted from the spe-
cification, although it is, undoubtedly, better to have one.
When there is not one, the " house drain " can be cleared
from the disconnecting manhole, and should there be any
stoppage at the bend, then the water, &c., would rise up
the soil pipe, and consequently considerable hydraulic
pressure would be brought to bear on the stoppage, with the
result that the blockage would probably soon be removed.
THE MAIN HOUSE DEAIN, ETC. 23
When the " house drain " has to pass under the house,
no branch drain should, if possible, be connected to it
under the house, and in cases where a branch drain dis-
charges into the " house drain," a manhole should be con-
structed similar to the one just referred to, in the line
of "house drain," and the branch drain should be dis-
charged into the straight open channel in the line of
" house drain," through an opercular or straight open
glazed stoneware channel, unless the branch drain only
be a very few feet in length, when perhaps the manhole
may be dispensed with ; such a manhole admits of the
branch drain being cleared by the rods at any time, in
the event of choking. Whenever a change of direction
of the line of drain is necessary, a manhole should be con-
structed at such a point, somewhat like the one at the
soil pipe foot, only the open glazed stoneware channel
must be curved, and of such a sweep that the centre line
of the drain in each direction from the manhole shall form
a tangent to the centre line of the curved channel ; by
this means the drain, in either direction, can be inspected
and cleared. Such a manhole is more properly termed
a "turning chamber."
An easy and rapid test, as to whether a drain has been
laid straight and to a true and even fall, can be effected
almost at a glance, by looking through a length of drain
from one manhole or turning chamber to another. If the
length of drain has been laid efficiently in these respects,
the disc of light visible at the far end will be circular
(the size of the disc is immaterial, as this is only dependent
on the length of the drain looked through), but if elliptical,
or otherwise than circular, or invisible, the drain will have
been irregularly laid. There is perhaps no simpler test
as to whether a drain is air and water-tight, than by
blocking one end and filling it with water ; if, after being
24 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
left for an hour or two, no leakage is observable at the joints
or elsewhere, the drain may be considered as satisfactory.
Manufacturers make the spigot end of a four-inch syphon
trap of six-inch diameter, which admits of a Y branch of
four-inch diameter, forming part of the trap, for the re-
ception of the inspection pipe, as shown in Fig. 3, and con-
sequently the connecting drain is laid from such a syphon
trap of a diameter of six inches, although, perhaps, a smaller
diameter would quite suffice ; but it must be remembered
that the drain enlarging after the syphon trap will
effectually prevent syphonage of that trap.
The connecting drain is often terminated at the main
sewer end by what is termed a "flap-trap" ; this trap has
a galvanized iron flap which, by the force of gravity, falls
on a seat or bed, and the sewage passing down the drain
to the main sewer, lifts it ; but I am doubtful if it is of
much service, unless it be a prevention against rats enter-
ing the drain.
Towards the conclusion of Chap. II., I refer to a case
in which the diameter of the drain was too large for the
work required of it, and whilst upon the subject of the
drains, reference to their size will not be out of place, as
it is of great importance that it shall be neither too small
nor too large.
The minimum size of a house drain is almost univer-
sally fixed, no doubt empirically, at a diameter of four
inches, the reason being that, after use of a closet,
the solid mass of paper, &c., would probably become
wedged in a drain -if of smaller diameter, although a pipe
of four inches diameter would pass considerably more
liquid sewage, at a good fall, than many houses would
produce. But whilst the minimum size of a drain is fixed,
the maximum may vary in accordance with the size and
nature of the building to be drained.
THE MAIN HOUSE DRAIN, ETC. 25
The following rule, of which Mr. Henry Robinson is
the author, I believe, may be of assistance in calculating
the discharge through a drain : —
x = Area of sewer -r the wetted perimeter in feet.
/=Fall in feet per mile.
v = Velocity in feet per minute.
a = Area in square feet.
c = Cubic feet of liquid delivered per minute.
v = 55 J x + 21'.—
c = V + a.
Another very good method of ascertaining the discharge,
&c., from a drain, will be found at Table VIII. page 49,
in Beard more's Manual of Hydrology, which can be seen
in most professional libraries.
All house drains ought to be laid in such a way that,
not only when half full, but also if only about an inch of
sewage were passing down them, they would be self-
cleansing, and any water discharged from a bath, sink, or
closet into them should pass down the drains en masse, so
to speak, in order to flush them. In case of stoppage, all
drains and pipes should be accessible, if possible, without
having to remove ground, paving, or brick -work. &c.
Glazed stoneware goods are easily obtainable in this
country, and notably amongst the various manufacturers
may be mentioned Messrs. Doulton and Co., of the Lam-
beth Sanitary Engineering Works, and Messrs. Bailey and
Co., of the Fulham Potteries, London, S.W.
The length of this chapter prevents my referring to
automatic flushing, but this subject will form the com-
mencement of Chapter IV.
CHAPTER IV.
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING — SOIL AND VENTILATING PIPE.
The Annular Syphon— The Soil Pipe— The Connecting Soil Pipe-
Lead and Iron for such Pipes — The Ventilating Pipe — The Size
of same — Cowls.
THE automatic flushing of drains was, I believe, first
introduced by Mr. Rogers Field, B.A., M. Inst. C.E., by
his invention of the annular syphon.
The action of this syphon is caused by pneumatic
pressure; the syphon is constructed by a pipe A (see
fig. 5), which forms the longer limb, and by a pipe B
closed at one end, which encases the upper portion of pipe
A, and with it forms the shorter limb; the syphon is
fixed in a tank, supplied with water by a tap or other
means, as shown in the figure, the longer limb passing
through the bottom of the tank into the trapping box, C,
about an eighth to a quarter of an inch below the level of
the weir D, which keeps the water in the trapping box at
the level E, by which means the bottom end of the longer
limb of the syphon is sealed. As the tank fills, the water
rises up the shorter leg of the syphon, and on reaching
the level of the top of the longer one, commences to flow
down it over the lip F, which causes the water to pass
down clear of the sides ; thus a quantity of air is displaced,
and a partial vacuum formed thereby in the longer limb
of the syphon, which is sufficient to create syphonage,
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING; SOIL PIPE.
27
flushing the contents of the tank, to the level of the
bottom of the shorter leg of the syphon at G, with con-
siderable force and velocity into the drains. The sole
licensees and manufacturers of this efficient patent are
Messrs. Bowes, Scott, and Reed, of Westminster, who will,
I believe, readily give any information as to the working
of this syphon, which prevents my going further into
details respecting it, except to add that care must be
taken, when erecting one of these flushing cisterns, that
FIG. 5.
it is fixed " plumb," for if not the " seal " in the trapping
box may be done away with, and the syphonage no longer
able to take place. Of course the frequency of flushing is
regulated by the supply of water to the tank ; the greater
the feed, the more often the tank discharges. Amongst
the numerous other flushing tanks, the one made by
Messrs. Doulton arid Co., of Lambeth, may be noticed ;
28 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
this one, although different in action to the one mentioned
above, is very similar in results. This firm will also, I
believe, willingly give any information, and a tank may be
seen at their show-rooms, so fitted with glass that the
action may be more easily understood, and which, perhaps,
hardly necessitates my explaining its working here. When
automatic flushing has to be employed, the flushing tank
should be placed at the head of the drain, but if a proper
fall can be obtained for the drains, a flushing tank is
unnecessary, and then, if possible, the soil pipe should
form the head of the drain.
The importance which attaches to the careful attention
to all details of house drainage, does .so particularly to the
" soil pipe " ; its close proximity to the house renders it
especially a source of danger, if not fixed, jointed, &c.,
with the greatest caution. The carelessness with which
soil pipes are made, both as regards the material used and
the class of workmanship bestowed on them, makes it a
matter of considerable surprise that more illness does not
emanate from bad drainage than is the case. Wood, zinc,
earthenware, and wrought-iron have been used, no doubt
as soil pipes, but in these more enlightened days any
architect or engineer would condemn such use, it being
now admitted that the two materials most suitable for
use in a soil pipe are lead and cast-iron. Lead has its
superiority over cast-iron, owing to the smoother surface
it presents to the passing sewage, it being more compact
in its molecules ; but otherwise, I am doubtful if it has
any advantage over cast-iron when employed in a proper
manner for use in soil pipes, and it certainly has the
disadvantage of being more expensive. Of course, owing
to the ductile nature of lead, which allows of its being
bent with great ease, in such cases where the soil pipe
has to turn corners and angles, its use is to be advocated,
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING; SOIL PIPE. 29
but I consider such cases ought to be most rare, for if it
is necessary to pass a soil pipe round obstructions, then
the w.c. ought to be removed elsewhere to such a point
where the structural arrangements of the house will
admit of the soil pipe being taken ".plumb down " to the
head of the drains; however, the money to be laid out
on the drainage of a house will not often admit of such
extensive alterations as this, and in such an event I
should recommend the use of lead for the soil pipe. All
soil pipes should be erected in a truly vertical position
outside the house, and fixed so as to ensure their being
thoroughly rigid and stable. It has too often been, and
is too often now, the pernicious custom to fix soil pipes
inside the house. When such is the case, not only are
the joints less accessible for inspection probably, but, in
event of there being any leakage at any of them, the
gases escape into the house, with much less chance of
oxidization before reaching the inmates. It has not only
been the practice to erect soil pipes inside the house,
but actually to build them inside the walls.
I would impress on my readers the great necessity for
careful attention to all these seemingly almost needless
precautions, but I can assure them that it is often such
attention which distinguishes between a well and a badly
drained building. In using the term soil pipe, I do not
refer to the connecting pipe, (although, of course, it is
practically a soil pipe,) which connects the vertical soil
pipe and P trap of the w.c. I shall refer hereafter to
this pipe as the " connecting soil pipe." No soil pipe
should, in my opinion, be less than four inches in
diameter, and it very rarely occurs that it need be more
than four inches, if ever.
A disadvantage attaching to the use of leaden soil pipes
is that rats will sometimes gnaw holes in them, thus
30 DEAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
causing leakage. If lead be selected as the material
to be used, the drawn lead soil pipe should be adopted,
and not the piping made from sheet lead with a soldered
seam all the way down it, it being an admitted fact that,
the solder being of a soft nature, such piping is more
perishable. Drawn lead soil pipe may be obtained, I be-
lieve, in lengths of twelve feet, the weight generally used
being seven pounds to the superficial foot, which lengths
should be joined together by carefully-made " wiped
joints," this class of joint being the one which should
be used throughout in such work. About the point
where the vertical soil pipe passes into the house, a Y
junction should be fixed, with one limb pointing vertically
upwards, to be continued as the ventilating pipe, and the
other pointing into the house to be jointed to the " con-
necting soil pipe," as shown in cast-iron in Fig. 6 ; these
Y junctions are now made in cast-lead, arid are extensively
used, I believe.
Exception is taken to cast-iron for soil pipes on the
score of corrosion, but this may be avoided, at any rate
for some time, if the pipes are properly coated inside and
outside with Dr. Angus Smith's or some similar pre-
paration, or if galvanized ; there is also the treatment
known as the Bower-Barff process for preventing rust;
but I have lately been informed that after a time iron
so treated, scales, flakes of the parts acted on by the
process coming away. Whether this is so or not I cannot
testify to, from practical experience.
Iron soil pipes should not he fixed unless treated in
some way for the prevention of corrosion both inside and
outside. There is no doubt that the best class of joint
for iron socket and Spigot pipes for sanitary work is that
made by caulking tow down into the bottom of the socket,
and then running the socket of the pipe full of lead and
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING; SOIL PIPE.
31
then caulking that well home. I believe the iron filings
and sal ammoniac joint is also resorted to sometimes, but
I give preference to the former. Such joints should not
be made with Portland cement or red-lead.
FIG. 6.
A cast-iron Y junction pipe should be jointed to the
vertical iron soil pipe, as shown in Fig. 6, to connect
it with the " connecting soil pipe," which should be made
of lead.
32 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
I believe the most common method of making the joint
of the " connecting soil pipe " with the cast-iron Y
junction, is by caulking home tow or some fibrous sub-
stance in the bottom of the socket and then filling it
in with red-lead.
A much better, but far more costly joint may be made
by a brass ferrule being fastened on the end of the
"connecting soil pipe," by a wiped joint, and caulked
with lead in the iron socket. The " connecting soil pipe "
should be attached to the P trap by a wiped joint. From
the vertical limb of the Y junction pipe, a pipe should be
carried up vertically to at least six feet above the eaves
of the house, of the same diameter as the vertical soil
pipe, and of the same material (the joints being made
as described above respectively), in order to form a venti-
lating pipe to the soil pipe and drains. It should be
arranged that the ventilating pipe should be removed
as far as possible from any chimneys, windows, or openings
in the roof, or carried at least nine feet above such.
Thus it will be seen that a current of fresh air can be
established right through the drains and soil pipe, from
the fresh air inlet at the disconnecting manhole to the
top of the ventilating pipe. Great importance attaches
to having this ventilating pipe of sufficient size. It is
often the custom to continue the soil pipe upwards as
a ventilating pipe only half the diameter of the soil
pipe, (or even less). But recently, I had great trouble
in convincing a gentleman (even if I have now done
so, although he adopted my suggestions) that a pipe, if
I remember rightly, about three-quarters of an inch
diameter of wrought-iron gas barrel, carried up from
the stoneware drain quite away from the soil pipe was
insufficient and incorrect; such a pipe was fixed in a
wrong place, was too small, and probably blocked with
AUTOMATIC FLUSHING; SOIL PIPE. 33
dirt and rust. It is well to test any piping that comes
on the site, for use as soil piping, by blocking one end
of a length, and standing the pipe upright on the blocked
end, filling it with water, and watching for any leakage
there may be, and having done this, unblocking the end
and doing the same with the other end. Some people
advocate a cowl being fixed on the top of the ventilating
pipe, but most of our leading sanitary experts have now,
I believe, discarded its use. A short time ago, discussing
this question with one of a large and well-known firm of
manufacturers of sanitary appliances, I asked him if he
would guarantee their cowl to pump air? He replied,
" No ; but I'll guarantee it will not admit a down draught."
There should be no persistent down draught in properly-
arranged drains ; if there is, I should say use a cowl, but
think more than a cowl would be required in such a
case, for if there is a tendency to down draughts it is
most probably due to badly-arranged drainage and venti-
lation, which should be re-arranged, cowl or no cowl.
For a proper system of drainage, no cowl, in my opinion,
should be necessary. In order, however, to prevent birds
building their nests in and blocking the ventilating pipe,
it is well to finish it with a wire " balloon," which should
be of an open area, rather larger than that of the pipe.
CHAPTER V.
"w.c.'s."
Disconnection of w.c. Apparatus, &c., from the House Drain and
Soil Pipe, &c.— "P" and "S" Traps— The Pan Closet— The
Container— The "D" Trap— The Long Hopper Closet— The
Improved Hopper Closet — The Valve Closet — Its Overflow Pipe
—The Safe-The "Warning Pipe"— The Hinged Seat— The
Loose Riser— Situation of the w.c.— The Flush— The Waste
Preventer Cistern — The Screw-down Stop-Cock — Cistern Over-
flow Pipes.
IN the same way that it is necessary to separate the house
drain from the main sewer by the syphon trap, so it is
essential to disconnect the w.c. apparatus, rain-water
pipes, sinks, bath, lavatory, &c., from the house drain,
its branches and soil pipe, by suitable traps.
Experience has shown that the form such traps should
assume should be of a s}Tphon nature, of which such class
of traps known as the P and S for use in disconnecting
the soil pipe and drain from the w.c. apparatus are the
result.
The P trap is the more preferable one for this purpose
when it can be used ; it has been shown, I think, in
Chap. II. how effectual the syphon form of trap is, and
it will not be out of place here to remark that nearly
all traps employed in house drainage work should, when
possible, assume this shape.
A P trap may be described as a pipe bent to the shape,
W.C.'S. 35
as shown in Fig. 6 (p. 31), under the floor, fixed between
the w.c. apparatus and connecting soil pipe. It will be
seen that the form of it presents a passage through it,
having practically a circular section throughout, free from
angles, obstructions, or even very sharp bends, so that
sewage matter is unlikely to be arrested or lodged in
it, and admitting the flush to pass through in a body.
For servants' w.c.'s on the ground, such traps are
usually made of stoneware, but for valve or other w.c.'s
(unless the basin and trap are in one piece), they are more
generally made in lead.
The various kinds of W.C. apparatus are so numerous,
many of them most undesirable from a sanitary aspect,
that to discuss all their merits and demerits might alone
easily fill more than one chapter, if not a volume. The
majority of them are unworthy of notice, and their use
is to be deprecated, chief amongst them being the still
much used, but excessively filthy, pan-closet. As nearly
every one who has taken up a pen of late years on the
subject of house drainage has described this baneful class
of apparatus, pointed out its defects, and condemned its
use, it appears to me almost superfluous to give a descrip-
tion of it here, although its much-continued use sorely
tempts one to give an illustration of it, and point out
its defects yet again. I will, however, content myself
with one or two remarks on it. Amongst the objections
to this disgusting w.c. apparatus, the chief is due to
that part of it known as the container ; this is a receptacle
into which the contents of the pan, on its being lowered,
are shot, the consequence being that in time a large
portion of the internal surface of the container becomes
coated with soil. This collection gives off obnoxious gases,
which, whenever the pan is lowered, rise into the house
and face of the user, and in the course of a year or two
36 DBAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
this becomes such an intolerable nuisance that, in the
better class of houses, the apparatus has to be taken to
pieces and the container cleaned and repainted — its
contents being first burnt out. This can only be done
at a cost, I should say, of about £1. Yet people prefer
to go on paying this sum once in every year, or two years,
rather than expend from £6 to £8, once for all, in having
a wholesome valve closet and P trap fixed, and avoid an
inconvenience, risk of danger, and expenditure of the
equivalent of from ten to twenty per centum per annum
on the capital they would thus invest. I think it un-
necessary to say more, except that long ago this class
of w.c. apparatus has been condemned by sanitary experts
as dangerous and filthy, and I can corroborate this con-
demnation. It is in connection with these pan-closets
that D traps have been so much used. A pan-closet,
when fitted with a P trap, is insanitary enough, but
when a D trap is employed it is a filthy and insanitary
arrangement in the extreme. This trap may be charac-
terized as being in effect a small cesspool.
It is a very deleterious form of trap, as it admits of
a gradual accumulation of sewage matter, which the flush
of water coming from the w.c. apparatus cannot displace ;
under no circumstances should one be used.
In most houses where the pan-closet is found in use
up-stairs, a class of closet known as the Long Hopper
closet is found on the ground floor or basement for the
use of servants. This apparatus is almost as disgusting
and filthy as the pan-closet, although perhaps not quite
so dangerous; with the cistern fixed only a few feet
above this apparatus, supplying the water probably through
a pipe of too small a diameter, the flush is inadequate,
which being admitted at one side of the basin, flows
round and round it in such a manner that instead of
W.C.'S. 37
dislodging the contents of the trap they are only whirled
round it. This w.c. apparatus should never be used.
The best kind of w.c. apparatus for servants' use is the
Hopper, of improved shape, with a flushing rim, which
admits the water all round the basin almost at once,
in such a way as to thoroughly scour the internal face
of the basin, and keep it clean, and completely remove
its contents.
This w.c. basin should be trapped by a stoneware " P "
or " S " trap, jointed carefully to the basin by cement.
All w.c.'s for other use in an ordinary house should, in
my opinion, be fitted with that type of apparatus called
the Valve w.c. In this there is a valve, from which it
takes its name, just below the foot of the basin, which
is lowered and raised by a lever, and which always retains
a certain amount of water in the basin when shut; this
valve is technically termed a "batt." Thus in addition
to the flush (when the supply valve is opened), and the
water, which is always standing in the P trap below, there
is, on the " batt " being opened, the water left in the basin
from the previous flush to wash through the P trap. This
W.c. apparatus has also a flushing rim. The P trap that
should be employed in connection with this class of w.c.
apparatus, is the leaden one, and the usual method of
jointing it to the w.c. apparatus is by turning the lead
of the trap over on to the lead safe, so as to form a flange ;
this flange should be covered with red-lead putty, and the
outlet of the w.c. apparatus bedded thereon, which, when
screwed down, should squeeze out the surplus putty,
leaving a good joint.
It should, however, be the duty of those overlooking
the work to ascertain that careless workmen, in placing
the w.c. apparatus over the P trap, have not displaced the
putty, thereby causing a defective joint.
38 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
Amongst the leading manufacturers of this valve closet
class of w.c. apparatus, Messrs. J. Tylor and Sons may be
mentioned. Both the design and the workmanship
bestowed on their apparatus is excellent, and of the many
types supplied by them, I recommend chiefly their patent
clear-way regulator valve closet (Mr. Rogers Field's
pattern). This varies from the majority of valve closets
in not having an overflow pipe leading from the basin,
and, generally, discharging into the soil pipe by a con-
nection with the valve box below the " batt " at the
bottom of the basin. It is usual to bend this overflow pipe
near the bottom in such a manner as to form a syphon
trap, so that the after flush (which should always be
arranged with this type of w.c.) will fill the basin
sufficiently to flow slightly over the inlet of the overflow
pipe. Thus, when the apparatus is in use, the syphon
trap seal is replenished. However, it often happens that
the supply regulator is not so set as to fill the basin
sufficiently for this to take place, and of course without
the seal the trap is useless ; or it may happen when a
W.c. is not much used, that the seal may dry up, thus the
use of an overflow pipe is not to be advocated, for under
such circumstances just referred to, noxious gases may
rise into the house through this pipe, owing to soil having
been splashed into the end of it, or near it in the valve
box, at its connection with the valve box. Another
objection to the use of such an overflow pipe is that
defects in the water supply fittings are not so readily or
easily detected.
Under every w.c. apparatus, (except, perhaps, when it
is fixed on the ground,) a safe should be fixed. A safe is,
as implied by the name, a safeguard against the flooding
and consequent damaging of a house in the event of
overflowing or leakage at the water supply fittings. It
w.c:s. 39
may be described as a tray, with the edges turned up all
round, forming flanges, and when properly made is con-
structed in lead. A waste pipe should be connected with
the safe, and should on no account have any connection
with the soil pipe, or P trap, but should be made to
discharge in the open air through an external wall of the
house, so that in the case of an overflow or leakage,
warning is at once given, by the splashing of water on the
ground, that something is wrong with the water supply
fittings.
From the office they so fulfil, such pipes are often very
properly termed " warning pipes."
A very common mistake is often made in supplying
these pipes, in fixing them of a diameter very materially
smaller than the water supply pipe or valve. They
should be of a rather larger diameter, for it must be
remembered that the water is supplied under a head,
whereas when discharging from a safe, in the case of
overflows, &c., there is comparatively no pressure at all.
When a w.c. apparatus without a basin overflow pipe does
overflow, the water runs into the safe, and thence through
the warning pipe, manifesting to the inmates of the house
that the water is being wasted. If an overflow pipe is
used in connection with a w.c. basin, it should be carried
straight through an external wall of the building, or be
made to discharge over the lead safe near the warning
pipe. But its use seems altogether superfluous, for, in
any event, a safe should be employed. It is a common
practice to terminate the warning pipes outside the house
with a copper flap.
The wooden enclosure of the w.c. apparatus now
demands attention.
It is too often the case that the apparatus is so enclosed,
that an inspection of the lead safe, water fittings under
40 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
the basin, &c., necessitates a workman being sent for to
enable such inspection to be made.
This should not be ; in addition to the hinged seat-
cover, the seat itself should be hinged, and the casing in
the front of the basin termed the " Riser " should be so
arranged that it can be easily taken out, so that the safe,
&c., may be readily examined or cleaned. Another
advantage in the hinged seat is, that, if a w.c. be used
for pouring away slops, the seat may be lifted and the
slops emptied direct into the basin without the chance
of the seat being splashed.
Deeming some of them unworthy of notice, I have not
above referred to every class of w.c. apparatus, but,
before passing from this part of our subject, there is one
which calls for attention as being suitable, perhaps, for
use in boys' schools or by servants. It is one in which
the basin and trap are all in one piece, made of glazed
stoneware or china, and of such a shape that it will
stand unique, and the usual wooden enclosure may be
dispensed with. This class of apparatus is, I believe,
made by several makers, amongst them Messrs. Doulton
and Co., and Messrs. J. Tylor and Sons, the latter
giving theirs the name of " The Torrent." They advocate
the use of as large a down supply pipe as two inches
in diameter, claiming that the flush clears the closet
instantaneously.
They fix to this basin a spring seat, which flies up
when not in use, and leaves the basin for use, either as a
W.C., slop-sink, or urinal. Owing, however, to the basin
and trap being in one piece, there is .some objection to
this form of w.c., for should the basin ever become loosened,
then of course there is no longer any trap to the soil pipe,
and this danger is greater when the basin is situated on
any floor above the basement, for in the case of settlement
w.c:s. 41
of a building, the joint between the basin (with trap,) and
soil pipe is likely to be broken.
With regard to the room forming the w.c. it should,
when possible, always be situated against two outer walls,
being roomy, well-ventilated, and lighted, and an ante-
room, which may be used advantageously as a lavatory,
should intervene between it and the main portion of the
house.
Before concluding this chapter, the very important
question of w.c. water supply must be referred to. No
cistern supplying water for drinking or washing purposes
should furnish the flush for a w.c. ; the cistern supplying
a w.c. should be entirely distinct; the : only other use it
may be put to, is to supply the flush for a urinal, or the
flush (not the draw-off cocks over,) for a housemaid's slop-
sink. In neighbourhoods where the w.c. flush is restricted
by the Water Company, the use of water- waste preventing
cisterns, (of which there are several manufacturers,)
supplied from the main house cistern, is often to be
advocated. Such cisterns, I believe, nearly all work with
a pneumatic syphon action, one action flushing the cistern
practically empty, which has again to be refilled by a ball-
cock, before another flush is available. The quantity of
water such cisterns are generally made to hold is, I believe,
two gallons, which is the limit allowed by the regulations
of most of the London Water Works Companies.
Such a flush is, perhaps, small enough, and people may
do well to await the refilling of the cistern, and supple-
ment the first by a second flush.
I recommend the use of these cisterns, especially in
connection with schools or servants' w.c's, for, when once
the flush has been started, it cannot be arrested : — thus,
careless people who generally release the ordinary lever
immediately they have pulled it, before anything like
42 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
an adequate flush has passed, will, when one of these
cisterns is used, of a necessity cause a w.c. to be well
flushed, if they only just pull the lever. The supply
pipe from the cistern to the w.c. is often too small ; it
should be at least one inch in diameter, but a larger
diameter than this is preferable.
It is, in some cases, valuable to place, at some point in
this supply pipe, a screw down stop-cock, so that the
water may be turned off from the w.c. in the event of
repairs, &c. All cistern overflow pipes should be of
larger diameter than the pipes which supply the cistern,
and should discharge direct into the air through an external
wall of the building as a warning pipe.
In concluding 1 would recall part of the evidence of
Mr. Rogers Field, B.A., M. Inst. C.E., at the meeting of
the sanitary section of the Society of Arts, in 1880. He
related how one of his clients (in whose house a death
had occurred from diphtheria) wrote, " I tell every one there
was formerly always a bad smell about the closet, but now
if I want fresh air, I pay it a visit." Is there any reason
to prevent any householder having his w.c. in a similar
state of sanitary perfection? In this chapter I have not
given illustrations of the various w.c.'s and appliances I
recommend, for I think it unnecessary, as I am sure the
various manufacturers will willingly and courteously show
any intending user, not only illustrations, but the actual
apparatus as used.
CHAPTER VI.
THE UKINAL, SINKS, ETC.
The Urinal \\itli Flushing Kim — Inspection Cap to Traps — Auto-
matic Flushing of Urinals — The w.c. may be arranged for use
as an Urinal — The Slop Sink — Housemaids' and Butlers' Sinks —
Bell Trap — Enamelled Earthenware Sinks — The Space beneath
Sinks— The Gully Trap.
Two other sanitary appliances may be connected to the soil
pipe, besides the w.c., viz. the urinal and the housemaid's
slop-sink. Leaving the latter for discussion later on, the
former may at once command attention. In the majority
of cases, the ordinary lip white ware urinal, with a good
flushing rim, will be found to give satisfaction.
Immediately beneath the urinal basin the trap should
be fixed, and the good sanitary principles and design of
the syphon form of trap, known as the "P " trap, made in
lead, by Messrs. Dent and Hellyer, recommend it.
This trap is of true syphon form, and has fixed in its
base (see Fig. 7), a brass cap, which screws into a brass
socket, soldered in the bottom of the lead trap, forming,
with the aid of a little red-lead, a sound, water-tight joint.
This cap is for the purpose of cleaning or clearing the
trap, and is consequently very appropriately termed the
inspection cap. The waste-pipe from this trap should be
carried through an external wall of the house into the
open air, and made to discharge into a gully trap, which,
44 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
in its turn, should discharge through a short branch drain
and opercular channel into the channel of the main house
drain, in a manhole or turning chamber. It is well to
choose for this purpose a gully trap which has also a bath
or a lavatory waste pipe, or both discharging into it.
If it is quite impossible to discharge an urinal waste pipe
over a gully trap, and if an urinal is really indispensable,
then the waste pipe may be joined to the soil pipe or
FIG. 7.
the connecting soil pipe, so as to discharge into it.
Every urinal should be supplied with its flush by a flushing
cistern, in my opinion ; and for schools, clubs, and public
buildings, an automatic flushing cistern is always to be
advocated.
However, in the majority of private houses, I consider
an urinal to be almost unnecessary, as a W.C., properly
arranged with a lift- up seat and lead safe, may fulfil the
THE URINAL, SINKS, ETC. 45
office ; thus there will be one sanitary appliance less in
the house, an object always desirable when attainable.
For certain pertinent reasons I have not explained the
conclusions arrived at, which suggest the above recom-
mendations. Other kinds of urinals are made, but in my
opinion they cannot lay claim to any advantage over the
one above described, when fitted in the manner suggested,
and will probably be found more expensive.1
A slop sink may be described as a basin, with a flushing
rim fitted with a P or S trap, which should be made to
discharge into the soil pipe. This appliance should be
treated as a w.c. entirely, and I consider one should never
be fixed if possible to do without it, as a W.C., if properly
1 Since writing the above chapters, a trap that has excited
considerable notice, as a substitute for a " P" trap (shown in Fig. 7),
is the Anti-" D " trap, one designed by Mr. Hellyer, of the firm of
Messrs. Dent and Hellyer, and it will be seen by the diagram, Fig.
7 a, that the outlet of the trap is of rectangular form, and of larger
diameter than the bottom of the trap, and the main feature claimed
in regard to this trap, is that it is not so liable to be " unsealed " by
either momentum or syphonage, a fact no doubt indisputable. How-
ever, it must be remembered that in such a trap there are angularities,
and where such occur there is more liability to deposit than would
be in the case of Fig. 5, and frictional resistance must be increased
by such angularity.
46 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
arranged with lift-up seat and lead safe, very well fulfils
the office of a slop sink for the pouring away of slops.
If one is necessary, those made by Messrs. Geo. Jennings
and Co. of Lambeth will be found to be as good as any.
Sinks generally in the past have been sanitary appliances
which, paradoxically, have been most insanitary ones, often
having been a source of ventilation to the drains, admitting
sewer gases directly into the house. Housemaids' and
butlers' sinks should be carefully disconnected from the
drains by having similar traps fitted underneath them,
and their waste pipes discharging over a gully trap in a
similar manner as recommended for the urinal above.
Owing to the numerous small particles of solid matter
which necessarily pass down the waste pipe of a scullery
sink, the excellent form of trap recommended for the
butler's sink and urinal is scarcely suitable, as such a trap
would too frequently become choked. The patent bell
trap, made by Messrs. Geo. Jennings and Co., will be found
to be the most satisfactory form of trap for trapping the
waste pipe of a scullery sink ; and, as in the case of the
above sinks, the waste pipe should be made to discharge
over a gully trap. On no account should any other form
of bell trap but the one above mentioned be used, and
that one only in conjunction with the waste pipes of
scullery sinks. To the old form of bell trap there are
many objections, the chief, perhaps, being that when the
grating covering it is removed, or should the bell of it
become broken, the outlet to the waste pipe or drain is
no longer trapped. Further, the form of it is such as to
readily admit of a collection of filth. Again, the quantity
of water which constitutes the seal of such a trap is so
small, that it is soon dried up by evaporation, and con-
sequently, when such traps are used for trapping drains
carrying off the surface water of areas, &c., the seal of
THE URINAL, SINKS, ETC. 47
them becomes dependent on the state of the weather, and
after but a few days without rain, the seal of these traps
will be found so much evaporated that the drain is no
longer trapped. Messrs. Jennings and Co.'s trap is also
open to this last objection, and hence, in my opinion, it
should only be used in conjunction with the waste pipes
of scullery sinks, down which water is frequently being
passed, to replenish the seal of the trap. Their trap is
so constructed that the grating may be entirely removed
without the trap being in any way interfered with, thus
the grating may be taken up and solid matter removed.
Sinks very suitable for the use of the house or scullery
maid, are now constructed of enamelled earthenware,
the four corners being rounded instead of angular,
thus not affording such a good harbour for dirt, and the
glazed surface will not so readily allow of dust, &c., ad-
hering to it. Butlers' sinks are generally made deeper
than these earthenware sinks are constructed, and are
generally wooden ones lined with lead ; 1 the outlet of the
sink to the waste pipe being closed by a brass plug (of
the same diameter as the waste pipe), fitting in a socket
with a grating, so that the sink can be filled with water
for the purpose of washing glass, &c.
A housemaid's sink may be fitted with a similar plug
and socket, or a brass grating alone may be used. The
space underneath sinks should not be enclosed by a casing,
but left open, in order to prevent a refuge being provided
for the accumulation of dirt and rubbish.
Before proceeding further it may be well to speak of
the gully trap, to which so much reference has been made
in this chapter.
The gully trap is an excellent form of trap consisting
1 Butlers' sinks are now made in white glazed stoneware and
china.
48 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
of a small hopper, discharging through a bent outlet pipe,
together with it forming a syphon form of trap, much of
the more solid matter discharged into it being deposited
at the bottom of the hopper, so that it can be cleared out
at intervals ; it is constructed of glazed stoneware, and
the glazing admits of any fat or grease which may adhere
to the sides of the hopper being easily washed off. This
trap was no doubt suggested by the filthy dip trap of the
past, and now some stoneware traps termed gully traps
are sold, which somewhat assimilate the dip trap; care
should be taken to avoid these, and a gully trap selected
FIG. 8. FIG. 9.
having an easy bend at the junction of the hopper with
the bent outlet pipe, which pipe itself should have its
bends easy.
One of the best gully traps made is that supplied by
Messrs. Bailey and Co., of the Fulham Potteries, and
termed Field's gully trap.
Every gully trap should be covered with an iron grating,
in order to prevent stones, &c., entering them.
Figs. 8 and 9 show a bad and good form of gully trap.
There are other appliances which should be made to
discharge over a gully trap, but these must be treated of
in another chapter.
CHAPTER VII.
THE LAVATORY, RAIN-WATER PIPES, BATH, ETC.
The Tip-up Lavatory Basin — Rain-water Pipes — Their Joints — The
Rain-water Shoe— The Bath— The Safe— The Safe Waste Pipe—
The Area of same— The Outlet from Bath— The Bath Waste
Pipe— The Overflow Pipe— Cisterns— Dustbin— The Portable
Iron Dustbin.
AT the conclusion of the preceding chapter, a good form
of gully trap was illustrated, and previously the method
in which this trap should be made to discharge into the
main house drain was explained ; always when possible
this method should be adopted. It now remains to refer
to the other few appliances, the waste pipes of which
should be made to discharge over a gully trap; these
may be summed up in the lavatory, rain-water pipes, and
the bath.
A gully trap should also be used to receive the stable
drainage, but it may be well to leave this till the stable
drainage is under discussion in a later chapter.
It is a matter of opinion as to what kind of lavatory
basin should be used. In my opinion the convenience of
the tip-up basin, made by Messrs. Geo. Jennings and Co.,
commends its employment.
It is maintained in some quarters, I believe, that in the
course of time, the hopper into which the soapy contents
of the basin are tipped, becomes coated with filth, and
E
50 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
engenders foul gases, but this objection may be over-ruled,
I think, when the ease with which the hopper may be
cleaned is taken into consideration.
Of course in any case where careless negligence is
allowed to' prevail, the result must be filth with its
consequences ; if any sanitary appliance were never
cleaned, the same consequence would result, and the
chambermaid's office become almost a sinecure.
The hopper in question should have fixed immediately
beneath it a similar trap (Fig. 7) as recommended for the
urinal in the last chapter, and when the lavatory is on
the ground floor, the waste pipe from the trap should be
made to discharge in a like manner over a gully trap, as
before recommended, in connection with this trap.
Should the ordinary basin with the brass plug be
adopted, the disconnection should be just the same, and
of course then the above trap should be connected to the
basin itself immediately under it, the waste pipe from the
trap being carried through an external wall of the house
to discharge over a gully trap as above.
The ordinary basin should have an overflow pipe taken
from just beneath the rim of the basin, and such a pipe is
best carried through an external wall, so that it can
discharge into the air as a warning pipe.
It is now almost always the custom to fix rain-water
pipes made of cast-iron with socket and spigot joints.
The sockets, when the pipes are fixed, should be filled
with spun yarn and red-lead, which should be well caulked
home. All rain-water pipes should discharge through a
short bent pipe, termed a shoe (see bottom of rain-water
pipe, Fig. 10), over a gully trap.
In the past, it has been the practice to connect the
rain-water pipes actually to the main house drain, with
the joints above referred to totally devoid of any filling
THE LAVATORY, BAIN-WATER PIPES, ETC. 51
-PLAN -
whatsoever ; thus, these
pipes have filled an office
which should never be de-
manded of them, namely,
the office of ventilating
pipes to the main house
drain, the foul gases flow-
ing up them, and passing
out at any unfilled joint,
in many cases almost im-
mediately beneath a win-
dow.
Rain-water pipes should,
without exception, be dis-
connected from the main
house drain, by being made
to discharge over a gully
trap, as shown in Fig. 10,
and on no account should
a rain-water pipe be fixed
inside a house, but against
an external wall of the
house.
That very important
refa
FIG. 10.
52 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
and luxurious sanitary appliance, the bath, now claims
attention.
Baths are made in various metals and materials, but
probably those ranking amongst the first in superiority
are the copper and iron ones ; and whilst the former
are perhaps to be preferred, the latter are more often
employed owing to the great difference in cost of the
materials, &c.
A similar ulead safe " as that recommended in connection
with the W.C., only in length and breadth an inch or two
greater than the length and breadth of the bath itself,
should be fixed beneath the bath, as a safeguard against
damage to the ceiling, &c., below, in case of an overflow.
From this safe a waste pipe should be carried through
an external wall of the house to discharge into the air so
as to give warning in the event of overflow of the bath.
It is as well to close the end of such a pipe outside the
house with a copper flap, in order to prevent a draught of
air flowing into the house.
Such a pipe should be of an area (I refer to baths with
hot and cold water supply pipes) somewhat exceeding the
area of the supply pipes combined. In older kinds of
baths it has been the custom to make the outlet for
the waste water serve as the inlet for the fresh water, the
result being that hair, soap-suds, and dirt, not having been
entirely washed away from the immediate neighbourhood
of the outlet, are again forced back into the bath on the
fresh water being admitted to fill it.
The supply pipes should have inlets to the bath entirely
apart from the outlet, and the waste pipe should have
fixed in it a valve known as a " Quick Full-way Bath
Waste Valve," such as is made by Messrs. J. Bolding
and Sons, which firm holds one of the foremost positions
amongst those firms who supply baths and bath fittings.
THE LAVATORY, RAIN-WATER PIPES, ETC. 53
As in the case of the lavatory waste pipe, soap is apt to
be deposited on the internal face of the bath waste pipe,
which, on decomposing, becomes offensive, therefore this
pipe should have a trap fixed in it, and of a similar kind
to that advocated for the lavatory, only the inspection cap
should be fixed on the side of the trap instead of under-
neath it, as the trap's close proximity to the floor would
ill admit of the cleansing of the trap by the cap if so
fixed. (See Fig. 10.) A bath waste pipe should be at
least two inches in diameter.
Of course, when a bath is fixed on or about the level
of the ground, the waste pipe may be made to discharge
immediately over a gully trap, but when above the ground
level, it should be made to discharge into a rain-water
head and pipe as shown in Fig. 10.
The waste pipe of lavatories or housemaids' sinks, fixed
above the ground level, should also be made to discharge
in this manner. All baths should have an overflow pipe,
which should be of the same area as the waste pipe of
the safe, over which the overflow pipe may be arranged to
discharge.
A mistake often made calls for remark, that of fixing
overflow and safe waste pipes, of about the same size
only as one of the supply pipes; thus should a bath
be inadvertently left when being filled by both supply
pipes, and an overflow result, considerably more water is
being passed into the bath than the overflow pipe is
capable of carrying off, the result inevitably being damage
to the room below.
Such pipes should be of an area somewhat exceeding
the area of the two supply pipes combined — I say exceed-
ing, because it must be remembered that in most cases
the water is supplied to the bath at a greater pressure
than that at which it will pass from the bath.
54 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
I have already in a former chapter referred at some
length to cisterns, but there is one point in connection
with them that calls for comment; it is the pernicious
custom of fixing them in and under floors ; when so fixed,
they are liable to become the receptacle of much dirt
through the floor boards, &c.
They should be fixed when possible in positions easily
accessible of examination, and should be carefully covered,
and periodically cleaned out.
Perhaps the few remarks it is proposed to make with
reference to the dustbin, will be deemed irrelevant to the
subject of these chapters, but as the dustbin plays such
an important part in the removal of refuse of a house, and
has such a great sanitary bearing in a habitable building,
I may be pardoned for adverting to it.
No dustbin should be built against a wall of a house ; it
should be distinct and apart from the dwelling, being
removed as far as possible from it, consistent with its
convenient use.
It should be the care of the housekeeper to see that it
is regularly emptied, and the internal walls of it being
coated periodically with neat lime mixed with water, is to
be strongly advocated.
Quite recently, owing to illness in a large house in
Kensington, my opinion was sought with reference to the
sanitary state of its drainage arrangements. On arriving
at the house, a most unpleasant stench was observable,
apparently arising from the area below, which no doubt
was caused by the unemptied dustbin. In my opinion
the drainage arrangements were not responsible for the
illness, and the dustbin probably was — although, of
course, one could not say for certain such was the case.
The doctor, however, was strongly of opinion that the
illness arose from sewer or some such gases.
THE LAVATORY, EAIN-WATER PIPES, ETC. 55
The portable galvanized iron dustbins now made, will
be found an admirable substitute for the old-fashioned
buildings from a sanitary aspect.
Fig. 10 will be found to refer to some of those ap-
pliances alluded to in. the last chapter as well as those
mentioned in this.
CHAPTER VIII.
STABLES.
The Nature of Stable Sewage — Flooring — Stable Channels — Special
Flushing of same— The fall of Stable Floors— The Coach-house.
IT has been customary in the past to give but little
consideration to the drainage of stables, but in these more
enlightened days, when sanitary reform is becoming —
although but to a very slight extent — more recognized,
people are commencing to realize that foul gases are
capable of dispensing injury to both man and beast.
Owners of valuable horses are very gradually beginning
to pay that necessary attention to the drainage arrange-
ments of their stables, which no doubt not only decreases
the yearly account of the veterinary surgeon, but preserves
and prolongs the lives of costly horses.
Similarly as it is the successful endeavour of sanitary
reform to exclude sewer gases and to remove as speedily
as possible all sewage from the house, so it should be from
the stables ; the consideration of how best to do this will be
the object of this chapter.
It must be borne in mind that the sewage matter from
the stables is of a very different kind to that which is
passed down the main house drain from the various sanitary
appliances in the house, and that small pieces of straw in
large quantities, and contaminated with sewage matter,
STABLES. 57
with which they have come in contact, pass into the main
house drain.
Again, it must not be forgotten that such straw, and even
the sewage itself discharged from stables is liable to be
deposited, and the greater the length of drain through
which it has to pass, of course the greater will be the
accumulation of deposit, on the sides of the main house
drain, after being discharged into it from the branch drain
receiving the stable sewage, owing to the fresh water flush,
as usually employed in the cleansing of stables, (even in
the best practice,) not passing down the drains in one body,
so to speak.
In the event of there being such deposit, (which would
not be washed away probably until a flush from a W.C.
came down the main house drain, which might not be
before some hours after,) it is patent that it must tend to
lessen the sweetness of the main house drain, and therefore,
in my opinion, the branch drain conducting the stable
sewage to the main house drain should be made to
discharge into it as near the syphon trap as possible ; that
is, such a branch drain should discharge, when possible,
through an opercular channel, (as before described for
branch drains,) into the straight open channel of the
main house drain in the disconnecting manhole.
At the head of this branch drain a gully trap should be
fixed, immediately outside an external wall of the stables,
into which the stable sewage should be passed.
Fig. 11 explains the method recommended for adoption
— only one stall is shown, but this, no doubt, will suffice
for a clear explanation.
The stable bricks, known as bevelled adamantine clinkers,
when set in Portland cement mortar on a bed of concrete,
form an admirable flooring, and if these be not used, care
should be taken that a good hard flooring is made.
58 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
A main channel should be laid along the foot of the stalls,
(see Fig. 11,) and from it a branch channel should run up
the centre of each stall or loose box.
A class of channels for this purpose, which have earned
for themselves much commendation, are the iron ones made
by Messrs. Cottam & Co., termed by them the " Claremont
pattern " ; these are so made that when placed level on the
top they have the necessary fall to rapidly empty, but in
addition to this the top can at any time be removed and
the channels may be swept and cleaned out.
It is well, however, not merely to trust to the fact that
these channels may be cleaned as above, but each of the
branch channels should have introduced into it at its
upper end a fresh water supply pipe, with a full- way screw
down stop-cock situated just under the manger, so that
a stable hand can daily " flush down " the channels by
turning the cock.
A similar pipe and tap should be fixed at the head of
the main channel so that it may also be "flushed " through
to the above-mentioned gully trap, into which it should
discharge, being carried through an external wall of the
stables for that purpose.
The cistern which feeds the flushing pipes "should be
fixed high up, for of course the greater the altitude the
better the flush will be.
The arrows shown in Fig. 11 indicate the direction in
which the floors of stables should be made to fall, but care
must be exercised that the fall given be not too great, for
if this is so a horse is unable to rest properly.
From the head of the stall to the main channel about
three inches, and one and a half inches for each side will
suffice.
The floor of the coach-house may have a slight fall to a
gully trap in the centre, which should be made to discharge
STABLES.
50
through a branch drain and opercular channel also into the
disconnecting or other manhole or chamber.
FIG. 11.
Such a gully trap will be found convenient when
carriages are being washed, &c.
60 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
Stables should be well lighted and airy, but not
draughty.
The method above described of discharging the main and
branch channels over a gully trap is an accepted and
approved one, I believe, but when the cost can be afforded
and water supply admits of it, a system of automatic
flushing of the branch drain which receives stable drainage
is to be advocated.
Those who have valuable horses will do well to pay
heed to the sanitary mode of their living, and the outlay
in the proper drainage of their stables will not be found
to have been money ill spent.
This portion of my subject has not produced a long
chapter, but I think the importance of it justifies there
being one wholly devoted to it.
CHAPTER IX.
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
The Rivers Pollution Prevention Act— The Cesspool— The Float
Indicator — The Overflow Pipes — Removal of Solid Residue —
The Straining Chamber — The Position of the Cesspool — Surface
Disposal— Shuttle and Flap Valves— The Objection to the Dis-
charge of Crude Sewage on the Ground — Sub-Irrigation — Bed for
Sub-Irrigation Pipes — Contour Principle of Irrigation — Sewage
Meter Tank — Sewage Sick— Setting out Ground on the Contour
Principle — Herbage grown on Sewage-fed Land — Tape-worm —
Ventilation of the Connecting Drain.
IN the preceding chapters it has been my endeavour to
show the best method of collecting the sewage from the
various appliances in the house and from the stables, and
how to dispose of it to the public sewer, which being done,
it passes into the hands of other people, and out of the
control of the designer of the house drains. The disposal
of the sewage from the public sewer is a subject to which
a series of articles might be entirely devoted, and it is
hardly one that comes under the present heading at all,
being a subject to be discussed under that of " Main
Drainage," rather than under the present title, so that it
will not be considered here at all, it being only the duty
of the engineer designing a good system of house drainage,
when the house drains are to be discharged into a public
sewer, to see that such drains are properly " disconnected "
from it, &c., as described in earlier chapters. But it often
62 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
happens, in the case of country residences, that there is
no public sewer into which the sewage can be discharged,
and then it devolves upon the householder or landlord to
dispose of the sewage. Properly to discuss the question
of how to do this, would require a small volume, no doubt,
but I trust in the limit of this chapter to treat on two
or three of the best methods for this purpose.
Cases sometimes occur, when a smaller residence has
not sufficient land to admit of a system of irrigation being
carried out, and in such a case the cesspool is the only
resource left, for it must be borne in mind that since the
passing of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act of 1876,
crude sewage may no longer be passed into any river or
stream.
The very mention of the word cesspool is to some
people like the holding of a red lamp to a locomotive
driver on a railway, but a cesspool of proper size and
design, and properly " disconnected " from the main house
drain, when carefully attended to, is not nearly the offen-
sive and dangerous thing so many people think. It should
be noted that I am not advocating the use of a series of
cesspools, the one emptying into the other and so on, but
only of one cesspool of peculiar design, and that only when
the land belonging to a house is so limited as to prevent
the sewage being evenly and shallowly distributed over
the ground from the drains, at a suitable distance from
the residence. The cesspool of the olden days, a mere
hole dug in the ground, from which the liquids percolated
into the earth, and in which the solids disintegrated, was
superseded by an excavation, in which a sort of brickwork
sump or tank was constructed, from which an overflow
pipe is conducted to the nearest ditch, which of necessity
becomes horribly fouled.
Such a tank is rarely, if ever, water-tight, and percolation
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
63
FIG. 12.
64 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
takes place as before. This soaking away of the sewage,
in such cases where a cesspool may be used, is a source of
grave danger, if the water-supply of the residence is drawn
from a well, for the sewage will probably find its way to
the strata containing the water and thus contaminate it.
A cesspool, in my opinion, should be but a small recep-
tacle capable of holding but a few days' sewage discharge,
and should be constructed of a conical or some other form,
so that the top is much smaller than the base, in order
that when it is nearly full but a small area of the sewage
is exposed.
The bottle shape shown in Fig. 12 is such as will, I
think, be found very successful.
When the residence is supplied with water from a well,
and a cesspool must be used, such an one should be of
water-tight construction, cement mortar and concrete
being used.
In such a case no overflow pipes should, in my opinion,
be employed, and a suitable pump should te used to lift
the sewage, which should be distributed by a trough over
the garden, and the householder, who will find he has
thereby a valuable source of manuring, should insist on
this pump being used with such regularity that the cess-
pool is never allowed to so fill, that the sewage rises above
the level of the outfall of the connecting drain. To enable
the master of the house to tell by a glance whether the
cesspool is nearly full or not, it is advisable to arrange a
counterbalance float-indicator, as shown in Fig. 12.
When a house is supplied with water from public water-
works, then overflow pipes radiating from the cesspool
may be fixed, and each of these may consist of about
three lengths of glazed stoneware pipes, continuous from
which for some feet may be laid a land drain of agricul-
tural drain-pipes.
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
65
ECTION OF
Fio. 13.
66 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
These overflow pipes should be situated just below the
level of the outfall of the " connecting drain."
Such a cesspool should be covered by a large grating.
The solid residue should be removed, and the cesspool
cleaned out periodically, as often as possible.
However, if the expense can be afforded, and the fall
admit of it, a small straining chamber may be situated,
with advantage perhaps, in the " connecting drain " imme-
diately before the cesspool is reached, and grilles or gratings
of iron, or formed by thick wires in an iron frame, should
be placed across the chamber to form a strainer and to
intercept the solids. This chamber should be water-tight,
and the bottom may be formed by an invert with concrete
rendered over with cement, and, at the end where the
"connecting drain" leading to the cesspool is fixed, a
gutter may be made of the same " sweep " as the drain and
discharging into it.
The solids thus intercepted should be scooped out
periodically and as often as possible, and having been
distributed over the ground should be dug into it.
The straining chamber may be similarly covered as the
cesspool. It should be noted that this chamber should be
considerably smaller in cubic contents than the cesspool
into which it discharges, say about one-third of the size of
the cesspool.
Although, perhaps, common sense would nearly always
so dictate, yet it is incumbent on me to point out, that a
cesspool should always be situated as far from the residence
as possible, and with this admonition the subject of cess-
pool disposal may be left, and that of discharging sewage
direct on to the land discussed.
When the lands of a house are of sufficient acreage to
admit of the sewage being conducted some 300 or 400
yards at least from the residence, crude sewage is some-
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 67
times distributed direct from the " connecting drain " over
the ground by placing branch drains (running out at the
surface) at intervals in the main line of drain, and in each
of these branch drains close to the junction a flap-valve
is situated, and in the connecting drain immediately below
each branch drain a shuttle valve is fixed.
By these valves the flow of the sewage may be directed
on the ground at any of the branch drains desired, and, of
course, the more numerous these are the more equally the
sewage may be distributed.
In this method of disposal it is necessary for the ground
to fall rapidly away from the main line of drain ; and of
course if ground can be found which admits of a fall on
both sides of it, so much the better.
Perhaps a sudden and sharp gradient is to be desired,
for it will admit of the branch drains running out to the
surface sooner than with a gradual fall.
Reference to Fig. 13 will no doubt assist in explaining
the method referred to.
A portion of the main line of drain is shown with some
of the branch drains.
Supposing the shuttle valves are open and the flap
valves closed down to A, which is open, then sewage can
flow freely to that point, and if the shuttle at B be dropped
into its seat, then the sewage will of course be directed so
as to flow through the open A, and through the branch
drain and over the ground C, and to enable the sewage to
be more widely dispersed, little gutters may be cut in the
ground in the direction it may be desirous to distribute
the sewage.
When this branch drain at C has been in use a little
time, and the ground is barely covered with sewage, then
the valve A should be shut and B opened, and another
pair of valves and branch drains brought into use.
68 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
The discharging of crude sewage over the ground in
this way is, however, objectionable, for the solids are apt
to be lodged on the roots or leaves of vegetables or herbage,
and for obvious reasons the distribution of sewage in the
state it leaves the house must be offensive, if only to the
eye.
The straining, therefore, of the sewage is to be advocated,
and to effect this a straining chamber similar to the one
already recommended in connection with the cesspool
should be fixed, having its position in the main line of
drain at a point just before the irrigating ground is reached.
This chamber may be constructed in a similar manner to
the one forming part of Fig. 15, which will be referred to
later in this chapter.
When a straining chamber is used the master of the
house must make "it his imperative duty to see that it is
regularly cleaned out about every second or third day, as
in that time decomposition of sewage may commence and
danger arise.
If two strainers be employed, the bars of the one nearest
the irrigating ground being of much narrower gauge than
the other, then of course more solid matter may be caught
than with one alone, and when this matter is very offensive
it may, when scooped out, and before being dug into the
ground, be mixed with dry earth, which will be found a
very good deodorizer. The small amount of solid refuse
caught by the strainers in two or three days, even from a
large mansion, will be a matter of surprise to many.
The shuttle and flap valves mentioned above are not
illustrated here, for they will be found well represented
in the catalogue (Figs. 8 — 11) of Messrs. Henry Doulton
& Co., who make them.
The method of sewage disposal known as sub-irrigation
must now claim attention.
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
69
Sub-irrigation can undoubtedly be best employed when
there is only liquid sewage to be dealt with from cottages
and small houses, the grease and fat from larger dwellings
being found to soon choke the irrigation pipes, and if such
a method be adopted for disposing of the sewage from a
large mansion, and also when water-closets are used, the
sewage should be strained before reaching the irrigating
ground.
The process of sub-irrigation is somewhat similar to the
method just described for distributing sewage over the
FROM
NOOSE
9 f
h f
1 C
h
5
L
J L
I
_j — ^
I
.
•
.
A
A
A
A
i
FIG. 14.
surface of the ground, only of course the branch drains are
entirely underneath the ground.
A flushing tank similar to the one shown in Fig. 5
(Chap. IV.) should be placed about the head of the main
house drain, and the liquid sewage discharged from it
down the drain and through the syphon trap to the
irrigating ground.
When this is reached branch drains, as shown at A, Fig.
14, composed of "butt-joint " pipes, should be laid with a
slight fall from the connecting drain about 9 in. or 12 in.
under the surface of the ground.
Chambers marked B, Fig. 14, may be constructed at the
70 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
head of the branch drains in which valves are situated for
the purpose of directing the sewage down any particular
branch drain for the more equal distribution of the sewage.
Thus the sewage being forced down a branch drain finds
its way out at the butt-joints, floods the subsoil, and by
capillary attraction, &c., feeds the vegetation.
It will be found, however, that in time the pipes forming
the branch drains require to be cleaned, and it is therefore
wise to lay them on a permanent bed, which may be
made with half-round drain-tiles laid to a suitable and
slight fall. The pipes can then at any time be dug up,
cleaned and relaid on this bed ; but if a permanent bed be
laid, it will hardly be found necessary to remove all the
pipes for cleansing, as a few, removed at intervals, will
admit of the ones left having a rod passed through them
to clear them. Of course there is the objection to this
system of disposal, that everything is not well in sight,
and all the pipes cannot be freely and readily examined,
and the danger that a careless householder might not
have the subsoil drains frequently enough cleaned, with
the result that they may choke and the sewage " back-up "
through the syphon trap into the disconnecting manhole.
Sub-irrigation is most adapted to residences which have
not sufficient ground attached to them to admit of surface
irrigation being performed, but yet have more than abso-
lutely entails the use of the cesspool, and where the fall of
the ground will not admit of surface irrigation.
It behoves me to write of one other mode of surface
disposal which has been much practised by some of the
civil engineers who have made house drainage a speciality.
It is the practice of discharging sewage over an irri-
gating ground laid out on what is known as the contour
principle.
The sewage passes down the connecting drain from the
72 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
disconnecting manhole, and just before reaching the irri-
gating ground, flows into a receptacle termed a sewage
meter tank (see Fig. 15), which is really nothing more or
less than the flushing tank shown by Fig. 5, Chap. IV.,
on a large scale, with a straining chamber, the tank being
constructed in brickwork, rendered over smoothly inside
with cement ; it is, therefore, deemed unnecessary to
again explain the action of the syphon. When the sewage
rises to about the level shown in Fig. 15, the syphon
acts and discharges the sewage with a rush to the irrigating
ground.
Referring to Fig. 16, it will be seen that the pipe
from the sewage meter tank to the irrigating ground
enters what I will term, to facilitate explanation, a
" direction chamber," in which the sewage may be directed
either by the use of paddle valves or by a piece of turf or
a little clay, either to the right or left, or straightforward
over the irrigating ground. The necessity for being able
to discharge the sewage over various portions of an irri-
gating ground is, that after sewage has been allowed for
some time to flow over land (even when it does so inter-
mittently, as referred to hereafter), it may become too
much charged with sewage, or what is called "sewage
sick."
By Fig. 16 it is my attempt to partially illustrate an
imaginary ground laid out on the contoured system, which
may aid explanation of the following text —
A piece of land falling away slightly from the "direction
chamber " should be selected.
The engineer should then " range " a straight line across
the ground, being a production of the centre line of the
drain running from the sewage meter tank to the " direc-
tion chamber." Lines some 30 ft. apart should be set out
parallel to this line, and lines similarly equi-distant apart
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 73
should also be set out at right angles to the above line.
FIG. 16.
These rectangular lines are shown by the faint dotted lines
74 DEAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
in Fig. 16. Levels should then be taken at the various
points of bisection of these several lines.
Thus a line can be found across the ground at practically
one level, and along this should be dug a sewage carrier
(a grip about 3 in. deep by 5 in.), but of course it is well
that it should have a scarcely perceptible fall on either
side away from the drain, so that the sewage can just flow
along the carrier. A stop can be placed (a lump of clay
or piece of turf will suffice) at any point along a carrier,
and the flow of sewage will be arrested at that point, and
the carrier gradually filling will overflow, and the ground
can thus have the sewage more equally distributed over
it down to the next carrier.
It is a most difficult task to explain clearly on paper
the system in question, and I must claim the indulgence
of my readers.
It will be seen by Fig. 16 that the first carrier (DD)
nearest the " direction chamber " is carried along at the
level reading 51 '30 at the point marked A on the line
DD ; thus a departure up the ground has to be made at
the point B, to find a similar reading (or nearly so), the
actual reading at this point being too small, namely 49 '50,
and similarly a departure down the ground is made at C
to find the proper reading, it being at this point too great.
Carriers may be dug across the ground about the points
F and G, and that portion of the ground brought into use,
when the portion nearer the " direction chamber " tends to
become sewage sick, or it is necessary for it to lie fallow,
&c. A carrier should be cut straight across the ground
to H, down which the sewage can be made to flow from
the " direction chamber," and directed along any of the
carriers situated at E, F, or G.
Agricultural pipes may be laid a foot or so under the
irrigating ground, as shown in Fig. 16, to enable the
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 75
sewage to be more rapidly and evenly distributed in the
ground.
The difference between the two methods of surface
disposal herein described is, that in the case just dealt
with, ground that is nearly flat can be employed, and the
distribution is intermittent, whilst in the former case
(Fig. 13) the ground must have a considerable fall, and
although intermittent disposal may also be employed, yet
this may tend to force the sewage too rapidly (considering
the severe fall generally necessary in such cases) over
the ground, with the result that the bulk of it rushes to
the lowest point on the land, without having effectually
irrigated the highest portions.
In the case of the contoured ground, the sewage is
forced over the ground by the sewage meter tank, and
more evenly spread, and the intermittent action of the
tank admits of the sewage soaking into the land, and the
pores of the soil becoming aerated; for otherwise the
pores of the earth might become clogged by the sewage
slime, which, forming a deposit on the ground, would
prevent nitrification, and lend encouragement to putre-
faction at the surface of the ground.
Thus the value of even and intermittent distribution
can be seen, and such distribution should not take place
oftener than once a day.
Irrigation grounds should be planted with roots, &c.,
that have a tendency to rapid absorption of liquids, and
osiers will be found to imbibe sewage with great avidity,
and are therefore frequently used.
Of course, the more porous the soil is constituting an
irrigating ground, the better ; but sometimes land practi-
cally impervious to water, such as clay, is only available ;
then such ground should be dug up to a depth of a few
feet, and then burned and broken up, which will enable
76 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
the sewage to get away. An acre of land will be found
sufficient to act as an irrigating ground for a very large
mansion indeed.
Thus far it will be seen that it is most desirable that
sewage should be intermittently distributed over a light
loamy or sandy soil, at a distance of some hundreds of
yards from a residence, and when this is properly done,
experience seems to show that there is no danger (or little)
of a nuisance or epidemic being caused by so doing ; but
yet the greatest care must be taken that cattle are not
allowed to eat too soon of herbage which has been fed
with sewage, and that the cabbage, or what not, similarly
manured, is not placed on the table till a suitable time
has elapsed since sewage was distributed on the ground
where it has been grown.
We have it on medical authority that danger may arise
from the consumption by cattle of vegetation which has
been flooded with sewage ; for instance, in the case of
herbage to which has been applied sewage containing
fa3ces from a patient with tape -worm, danger may
exist.
We learn that a man suffering from tape-worm evacu-
ates thousands of ova of tape-worm with his faeces, and
some of these eggs are apt to stick to the herbage, and
thus be eaten by a bullock.
In course of time every ovum consumed by the bullock
is capable of creating a cyst (raeasle) in the flesh of the
animal, thereby producing measly beef, and if such beef
be consumed by the human being in an inefficiently cooked
condition, each cyst is liable to create a tape-worm in the
human body.
It would thus appear that the question to be solved is,
How long will such eggs when clinging to the vegetation
retain their germinating power ? The following quotation
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 77
is from the translation by W. E. Hoyle, M.A., M.R.C.S.,
&c., of "The Parasites of Man/' by Leuckart; referring
to the proglottides (a worm consists of a head and dozens
of proglottides, each proglottis being a procreative
segment containing thousands of ova, and capable of
breeding such ova), he writes : —
"It is not yet possible to tell how long this potency
can be retained ; the period will doubtless vary with the
environment; while Gerlach was able to infect a pig
with decaying proglottides of tsBnia solium five weeks
old.
" In an experiment I made, the eggs of tsenia coenurus
had lost potency after lying in water for eight weeks.1
This follows more rapidly when the eggs are kept dry.
Haubner reports having ineffectually fed a sheep with
tape-worm eggs which had been kept dry for fourteen and
for twenty-four days, and I have had similar experi-
ence in which eggs exposed to an August sun had lost
their power of germinating after four - and - twenty
hours."
It would seem, therefore, from the foregoing that
dryness and heat are essential to the effectual and ready
decay and death of these ova, and that in this country,
even in the hottest weather, the herbage should stand at
least from three days to a week without having sewage
administered to it before cattle are allowed to graze on it,
and in the colder and more humid months at least three
weeks or a month ; and further, it can be gathered that
no vegetables (for human food) should be fed by sewage,
except such as will have to undergo the process of
cooking.
1 Davaine, on the other hand, asserts that he has " kept eggs of
tsenia solium and taenia serrata in water for years, living and un-
altered."—(Mem. Soc. Biolog. t. III., p. 272, 1862.)
78 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
I have not, in this article, at all entered into the
question of the chemical treatment of sewage, for it is
generally accepted — in the case of house drains where
there is no public sewer to receive their discharge — to be
unnecessary, and although so frequently adopted in the
disposal of the sewage collected in public sewers, I believe
I may add that the fact that the sewage created in country
mansions may be distributed over land, as above described,
in its crude state (when such distribution is properly
attended to) without danger or nuisance, is established by
practical experience.
In all cases where possible, the disconnecting manhole
should be well removed from the house, as pointed out
in an earlier chapter, and when the land admits of it, the
irrigation ground (as explained in this chapter) should be
several hundred yards from the disconnecting manhole,
by which it is patent a great length of " connecting
drain " is entailed.
This connecting drain must be thoroughly ventilated,
and should have along its length " inspection manholes,"
situated about every 150 feet (counting from the "dis-
connecting manhole"), which should be covered with
large iron gratings; and whenever there is a change of
direction, a turning chamber should be employed, which
may be similarly covered so as to act as a ventilator, and
practically as a substitute for a manhole (see earlier
chapters).
The length of connecting drain between the syphon trap
and the first of these inspection manholes or turning
chambers should be ventilated by a pipe being carried up
from a large T branch (with the branch vertically, or
nearly so, upwards), situated immediately on the con-
necting drain side of the syphon trap. This pipe should
be finished off a little above the ground level with an
DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 79
iron grating of an open area rather larger than the area
of the pipe. Such a pipe for ventilation should also be
used, in a similar position near the syphon trap, when the
connecting drain discharges into a cesspool.
I cannot close this article without ' acknowledging my
great indebtedness to Mr. T. Nichols, Assistant Director,
and Professor Bell, of the Natural History Museum, for
the kind assistance and courtesy afforded me in my
research into the question of parasites, &c.
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION.
The Preparation of Schemes for House Drainage — Maxims — Rules
for Housekeepers.
A MORE appropriate title for this chapter would be,
perhaps, " Review," for the intention herein is to review
shortly what has already been written in the preceding
chapters, in order that certain deductions may be made
as to some of the more salient points to be remembered.
Both text and illustrations of these articles must, of
course, be taken to a great extent as typical only, as for
different buildings the organization of the drainage ar-
rangements will vary, and no scheme of drainage should
be prepared without the aid of the draughtsman.
A plan should always be prepared, and in many cases a
section showing the fall of the main house drain is of
great value.
It is, I believe, very often the custom for builders to
drain a house, and afterwards prepare a plan, showing
what has been done ; but how much better a scheme
might be produced if a plan of the house were always
consulted and a project designed on it before the works
were commenced, the drainage arrangements being pre-
pared in accordance with design and method instead of
being placed in any position hazarded by conjecture at
the site, and suggested by the false conception that the
CONCLUSION. 81
"main house drain can be very well laid here, and a
branch drain can be run satisfactorily there," &c.
From these articles certain rules may be gathered, and
the following maxims founded on what has gone before
may be advantageously followed.
The main house drain should always be carefully " dis-
connected " by a good form of trap from the public sewer,
irrigating ground, &c. The main house drain and all
branch drains should be laid in absolutely straight lines,
change of direction being effected by turning chambers
only. The soil pipe should be carried up as a ventilat-
ing pipe (and of one area throughout) to a point well
removed from all openings in the house or its roof,
and should assume when completed a truly vertical
line, if possible.
The joints of all pipes should be air and water-tight,
the greatest care being observed that all superfluous
cement is wiped out from the barrel of the pipes in the
case of joints made with cement.
A fresh air inlet should be situated in connection with
the main house drain, on the house side of the trap which
"disconnects" the house drains from public sewer, &c.,
and it should be fixed near this trap, so that fresh air
may flow through the entire length of the main house
drain and up the soil and ventilating pipes which form a
foul air outlet.
w.c.'s are preferable that retain water in the basin, for
the reception of a discharge from an user.
A good form of trap should be fixed immediately under
every w.c. Urinals and housemaid's slop sinks should
never be fixed, if it is possible conveniently to do without
them, and when fixed should always be properly trapped,
the latter being treated as if a w.c. Waste pipes of sinks,
G
82 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
baths, and lavatories should be as short as possible, and
suitably trapped.
All branch drains should be trapped at their head by
a good form of trap.
Cisterns should be fixed so that they can be easily
examined or cleaned out, and should be carefully covered.
Stable floors should have channels, with loose covers,
laid in the flooring, and these channels should be capable
of being flushed, the flush passing to a trapped branch
drain, the trap of which should be situated, when possible,
outside the stables.
If a cesspool is used, it should be smaller at the top
than at the base, and should be capable of receiving only
two or three days' sewage discharge from the residence.
The connecting drain from the trap at the disconnecting
manhole to the irrigating ground or cesspool (when there
is no public sewer to receive the sewage) should be well
ventilated.
As few sanitary appliances as possible should be fixed
in a house, consistently with convenience.
Holders of residences drained on the principles advo-
cated in these chapters should see that the housekeeper
observes the following rules : —
" Once a week the brass plugs of all sinks and lavatories
should be placed in the sockets, and the sinks and lava-
tories filled with water ; the plugs should then be with-
drawn, so that a good flush can pass through the waste
pipes and traps of the sinks and lavatories in order to
scour them.
" The bath should also be filled up with water, which
should then be released, with a similar object in
view.
" The basins of all w.c.'s should be cleaned daily, and
CONCLUSION.
83
PI ffflL-
ig If if 11 i
IH««j».|l,
T °fii
84 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
the underside of all w.c. seats scrubbed once a week. No
refuse should be deposited about the premises except in
the dust-hole, and all vegetable refuse should as far as
possible be burnt in the kitchen range. The dust-hole
should be regularly emptied every few days.
"A good contractor should be employed periodically
(at intervals of six months at least) to generally clean
the manholes, syphon and gully traps, &c., sweep the
drains, &c. Also to remove the inspection cap of sink
and bath traps, and clear such traps, and to coat the dust-
hole internally (unless of iron,) with neat lime mixed with
water. Further to clear out all cisterns at least once a
year, though preferably oftener."
In the past it has often, I believe, been the practice
of architects to design a house completely, without any
regard having been bestowed on the drainage arrangements,
and when the carcass has been completed, or nearly so,
then the consideration of the drainage arrangements has
been entered upon, and the result is that the soil pipe has
but rarely formed the head of the drain, as it should do.
w.c.'s have been placed in any convenient position left
by the previous situation of other rooms, and generally
the architect has said with regard to the drainage arrange-
ments— " Oh ! here is an excellent place for a w.c., a
lavatory can be fitted here, and then we can put the
housemaid's sink in that corner," &c. &c.
In the designing of a house, one of the first thoughts
of an architect, after having found the suitable plot of
ground, and the class and plan of house having been
roughly decided on, should be as to how the proper
drainage may be effected. A well-designed house should
have its drainage arrangements so disposed that the soil
and ventilating pipes form the head of the drain, and the
CONCLUSION. 85
main house drain should be as straight as possible, and
the branch drains as short as can be, the w.c.'s being
situated so that two of the walls are two of the external
walls of the house.
Fig. 17 gives a hypothetical scheme of drainage, in
which it will be seen that a fresh current of air can freely
pass through the main house drain and up the soil and
ventilating pipes.
It will be seen in this particular case a change of
direction has been made in the main house drain, and
this is done in order to illustrate the use of the turning
chamber.
It will be observed that every branch drain can be easily
and freely examined, arid that every w.c. is situated so
that two of its walls are two of the external walls of the
building in which it is placed.
The diagram will, I think, in most other respects be
self-explanatory, in connection with the reference.
Little more is left for me to add ; to one fact, however,
not generally recognized, attention should, perhaps, be
drawn, this fact being that it is not so much the endeavour
of specialists in house-drainage to do away with the foul
gases generated in sewers, &c., as it is to render such gases
as innocuous as possible ; for as long as nature produces
sewage matter, foul gases will emanate therefrom.
In these chapters it has been my chief object to point
out what should be done, rather than what has been done
so badly in the past. Those who are desirous of learning
defects in house-drainage arrangements, will consult with
advantage the excellent pictorial guide, Dangers to Health,
by Mr. T. Pridgin Teale, M.A., Surgeon to the Leeds
Infirmary, which as regards defects proper is admirable,
and from practical experience (although I have not, per-
86 DRAINAGE OF HABITABLE BUILDINGS.
haps, met personally with quite all the examples given
by him), I can quite believe every case is truthful and
unexaggerated.
In closing these chapters, I trust that those whose eye
they meet will say with me, "Quod erat faciendum/' and
I would that I could say, " Quod erat demonstrandum."
INDEX.
AMMONIACAL gas, 5
Annular syphon (Field's), 26
Anti-"D" trap, 45
Area, 25, 46, 52, 53, 54, 79
Arteries, 4
Atmosphere, 3, 4, 5, 10
Auricle, 4
Automatic flushing, 19, 25, 26 sqq.,
44, 60
Bacilli, 7
Ball-cock, 41
Balloon, 33
Basin, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 49, 82
Bath, 34, 49, 52, 55, 82, 84
Batt, 37, 38
Bell-trap, 46
Bend-pipe, 22, 48, 50
Bi-carburetted hydrogen, 5
Blockage, 22
Blood, 4, 6 ; blood-poisoning, 1
Branch drain, 14, 57, 66, 67, 70,
82, 85
Butler's sink, 46, 47
Capillaries, 4, 70
Carbon, 4
Carbonic acid, 3, 5, 6
Carburetted hydrogen, 5
Carrier (sewage), 74
Cast-iron pipes, 21, 28, 30, 31, 50
Cement, 12, 13, 19, 21, 57, 64, 66, 81
Cesspool, 7, 8, 21, 36, 62, 63, 64,
66, 70, 79, 82
Chambers, 14, 23, 59, 68, 69, 72
Channel, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23, 57,
58, 59, 60, 82
Cholera, 2
Cistern, 41, 42, 44, 54, 58, 82, 84
Closet, 25, 35, 36
Coach-house, 58
Cock, 41, 42, 58
Concrete, 12, 21, 57, 64
Connecting drain, 13, 18, 64, 65,
66, 67, 69, 70, 78, 82
Connecting soil-pipe, 31, 32, 35, 44
Container, 36
Contour, 72, 73
Cover (air-tight), 13, 22, 82
Cowl, 33
Cradle, 22
Cuticle, 4
Cyst, 76
Diameter, 14, 15, 24, 32, 36, 39, 41
Diffusion of gases, 6
Diphtheria, 2
Dip-trap, 48
Direction chamber, 72, 74
"D" trap, 36
Discharge, 14, 25, 79, 81
Disconnecting manhole, 8 sqq. , 14,
15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 57, 59, 70, 78
Disposal of sewage, 61 sqq.
Dust-bin, 54, 55, 84
Earthenware, 8, 11, 12, 19, 25, 28,
47
Eaves, 32
Excavation, 18
Excreta, 5
Fall, 19, 24, 25, 28, 58, 67
Flange, 37
88
INDEX.
Flap, 39, 52
Flap-trap, 24
Float indicator, 63, 64
Flush, 15, 16, 57, 58
Flushing rim, 37, 43
Formula, 25
Fresh air inlet, 9, 10, 22, 81
Gases (diffusion of), 6
Gauge, 68
Germs, 7
Glazed stoneware sink, 47
Grating, 47, 48, 66, 78
Grease, 68
Grilles, 66
Gully trap, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49,
53, 57, 58, 59, 84
Heart, 4
Herbage, 67, 68, 76, 77
Hopper, 48, 50
Horses, 56, 58, 60
House drain, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17,
18 sqq.t 21, 22, 23, 25, 34, 44,
56, 57, 81
Housemaid's sink, 47, 53, 81
Hydrogen, 4
Improved hopper closet, 37
Inlet (fresh air) 9, 10, 22, 81
Inspection branch, 13, 24, 84
Inspection manhole, 78
Iron pipe, 21, 28, 30, 31, 50
Irrigation, 62, 66, 68, 69, 70, 75
Irrigation tanks, 7, 8
Joint, 6, 12, 13, 19, 23, 24, 29, 30,
31, 32, 37, 41, 69, 81
Lavatory, 34, 41 sqq., 44, 49, 50,
53, 81, 82
Lead, 28, 31, 32, 39, 47, 52
Levels, 74 -
Lever, 37, 41, 42
Lime, 22, 54
Long hopper closet, 36
Lungs, 4
Main house drain, 17, 56, 57, 81, 85
Manhole, 8 sqq., 13, 14, 15, 16, 22,
23, 44, 57, 59, 70, 78, 79, 84
Marsh gas, 5
Mortar, 57, 64
Nitrogen, 3, 4, 5, 6
Olefiant gas, 5
Opercular channel, 23, 44, 57, 59
Ova, 76, 77
Overflow, 38, 39, 42, 52, 53, 64
Oxygen, 3, 4, 5, 6
Parasites, 76
Pan closet, 35, 36
Pipe (glazed stoneware drain), 19,
21
Pipe (overflow), 38, 39, 42, 50, 53,
62, 64
Pipe (supply), 39, 40, 53, 58
,, (warning), 39, 42, 50
,, (waste), 89, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50,
52, 53, 81
Plug, 47, 50, 82
Pollution of rivers, 62
"P" trap, 29, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37,
39, 43, 45
Putty 37
Rain-water pipe, 34, 49, 50, 51, 53
Rats, 24, 29
Residue, 66
Respiration, 4
Rivers (pollution of), 62
Riser, 40
Rod, 13, 18, 70
Safe, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, 52
Sal ammoniac, 31
Scarlet fever, 2
Scullery sink, 46, 47
Sea (atmospheric), 3
Seal, 12, 27, 38, 46, 47
Sewage (carrier), 74
Sewage (disposal of), 61 sqq.
Sewage meter tank, 7, 8, 70, 71, 72
Sewage sick, 72
Sewer, 7, 8, 10, 17, 18, 25, 54, 56,
81
Sink, 14, 25, 34, 43, 46, 47, 81, 82,
84
Slop-sink, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 81
Socket, 11, 19, 22, 30, 47, 50
INDEX.
89
Soil pipe, 6, 9, 10, 14, 22, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, 39,
40, 43, 44, 81, 84
Spigot, 11, 19, 30, 50
"S" trap, 34, 37, 45
Stables, 56, 57 sqq.t 60, 82
Stall, 57, 58, 59
Stanford joint, 19
Stoneware channel, 12, 14, 16, 22, 23
Stoneware cradle, 22
Stoneware sinks (glazed), 47
Stoneware syphon trap, 8
Stop-cock, 42, 58
Stoppage, 25
Straining chamber, 66, 68
Sub-irrigation, 68, 70
Sulphuretted hydrogen, 5, 6
Sump, 62
Syphonage, 24, 26
Syphon trap, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 24, 34, 38,
43, 47, 57, 70, 78, 84
Syphon (annular), 12, 26
Tank, 7, 8, 26, 27, 28, 62, 69, 72
Tape-worm, 76, 77
Test, 23
Trapping box, 26, 27
"Turning chamber," 23, 44, 78
Typhoid, 2
Urea, 5
Uric acid, 5
Urinal, 40, 41, 43 sqq., 81
Vacuum, 9, 26
Valve, 35, 37, 38
Valve closet, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 52,
67, 70
Valve (flap), 24, 67, 68
„ (paddle), 72
„ (shuttle), 67, 68
Vapour (watery), 3, 5
Vegetable, 5
Velocity, 18, 25, 27
Ventilating pipes, 10, 14, 18, 26,
30, 31, 32, 33, 51, 81, 84, 85
Ventilation, 6, 10, 32, 41, 85
Ventricle, 4
Warning-pipe, 39, 42
Waste-pipe, 39, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49,
52, 53, 81, 82
Weir, 26
Well, 64
W.C., 29, 34, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 52
sqq., 81, 85
Wood, 28
Zinc, 28
Zymotic, 7
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay.
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