yfr fit *~ / 
 
 pt~4
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THIRD EEVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. 
 
 "THE OPEN FIREPLACE IN ALL AGES." 
 
 Quarto, with over 3OO Illustrations. 
 
 PRICE, IN CLOTH, $4.00. 
 
 " This is undoubtedly the most extensive and critical work on this 
 subject in the language. The author takes up the subject of heat- 
 ing and ventilation and treats it in extenso, showing existing de. 
 fects, giving a full historical resume" of the theme, and ends by 
 criticism and practical suggestions." Chicago Journal. 
 
 " A very beautiful book, artistically and practically." Louisville 
 Courier-Journal. 
 
 " It is brimful of good suggestions." N. T. Graphic. 
 
 "The book is excellent from cover to cover, and a real contribu- 
 tion to useful literature." Boston Advertiser. 
 
 IN PRESS. 
 
 SANITARY PLUMBING. 
 
 A Practical Treatise on Modern Sanitary Plumbing. 
 
 12mo, with over 400 Illustrations. 
 
 Republished from the American Architect and Building News. 
 
 " These investigations have been set forth quite fully in illus- 
 trated communications to the American Architect, which papers 
 certainly mark a very important step forward in Sanitary Litera- 
 ture." COL. GEO. E. WAKING, JR., in the Century Magazine for 
 December, 1884.
 
 ["LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF HOUSE DRAINAGE, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 SUFFOLK DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY 
 
 (Section for Clinical Htdicine, Pathology, and Hygiene), 
 AND THE 
 
 BOSTON SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 MASS. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. \ 
 
 J. PICKERING PUTNAM, 
 
 Part I reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 
 Nos. 17, 18, and 19, 1885. 
 
 From the Editor of the Sanitary Jtecord, London. 
 
 I5y permitting me to reproduce these " admirable articles in the 
 Sanitary Record, you will greatly oblige me and serve the cause of 
 Sanitary Science in England." " THE EDITOR. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY. 
 
 1RS6
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 STANLEY AND USHER, 
 BOSTON.
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 [Reprinted from the Boston Medical ami Surgical Journal.] 
 
 As announced in the invitation cards to this lec- 
 ture, a number of the appliances used for illustra- 
 tion are inventions of my own, and some of them 
 are patented. These devices have been clearly 
 marked on the drawings with their name, " Sanitas," 
 and in referring to them they will always be so 
 designated. The object of this is that every one 
 may know when anything of my own is referred to, 
 and be able to assure himself that the subject is 
 treated without bias. My intention is to make no 
 statement which is not founded on facts recognized 
 by all or easily demonstrated, nor to follow any 
 course of reasoning which is not perfectly clear and 
 logical. In order, moreover, to make our meeting 
 as satisfactory and fruitful as possible, it is 
 hoped that every one will make a note of any 
 point which may not be perfectly clear to him, or of 
 any deductions with which he may not be fully in 
 accord, and mention them in the discussion follow- 
 ing the lecture, so that the reasoning leading to 
 these deductions may be reexamined or more clearly 
 stated. 
 
 It is proper to add that the devices are the out- 
 growth of a careful practical study of plumbing 
 made from the unprejudiced standpoint of the 
 architect working for the interest of his client.
 
 4 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 They are the result, and not the cause, of the 
 investigations. 
 
 As plumbing is now practised, the architect or 
 the sanitary engineer is, from the nature of his 
 work, the one upon whom we must depend chiefly 
 for its improvement. Evidently the most important 
 part of an architect's work is that which concerns 
 the health and comfort of his client. 
 
 The arrangement of the plumbing pipes and 
 fixtures influences the entire plan from foundation 
 to roof. 
 
 Some of the rooms, such as the laundry and 
 toilet rooms, are designed exclusively for the plumb- 
 ing, and all are more or less dependent upon its 
 arrangement. The walls and beams must be slot- 
 ted and framed for its reception, and differently for 
 each different kind of fixture or system of piping 
 and for their lighting and ventilating apparatus. 
 Hence, the architect must be familiar with all the 
 details of the work, and upon him lies the responsi- 
 bility, not only for the healthfulness, convenience, 
 and cost of the particular work over which he has 
 immediate charge, but also, in a great measure, for 
 the general status of the art of plumbing through- 
 out the countrv. The plumber, like the architect, 
 may see defects in the methods of plumbing now in 
 vogue, but he has comparatively little interest in 
 promoting reform because the authority lies with 
 the architect.* The plumber has contracted to do 
 a certain amount of work for a certain amount of 
 money and it is not easy for him to alter the con- 
 tract. If he is directed to put into a house a few 
 hundred dollars' worth of piping more than 
 
 * Some architectural linns now employ regularly a Sanitary En- 
 gineer, eithei directly or indirectly connected with their offices, to 
 take charge, in cooperation with the architect, of the department of 
 heating, ventilation, and plumbing. The custom has much to recom- 
 mend in it.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 5 
 
 is necessary or desirable, or set complicated 
 or ill-devised fixtures, it is not his duty to protest. 
 Competition has reduced his profits to so small a 
 figure that the plumber cannot afford to be an active 
 reformer. 
 
 The physician seldom interferes in the details of 
 plumbing work, and the public are, as a rule, pro- 
 foundly ignorant of them. 
 
 The architect, however, acting directly asthe 
 agent of the owner, is bound, when he discovers 
 defects affecting the health as well as the pocket of 
 his client, to use all the influence he possesses to 
 remove them. 
 
 Every sanitarian recognizes the serious defects of 
 our present plumbing methods and apparatus. Our 
 common soil and waste pipes are neither gas nor 
 water tight on account of their defective form and 
 jointing, and they are expensive to lay. 
 
 Our traps either are incapable of retaining their 
 water-seal against the adverse influences affecting 
 them in common use, or they are bulky, unscientific, 
 and expensive. 
 
 Our lavatories are slow emptying, incon- 
 venient, and complicated. Most of the water- 
 closets in use are full of defects and flushed on 
 incorrect principles, and, in short, there is scarcely 
 a single point in which our plumbing is not evidently 
 susceptible of great improvement. 
 
 Let us examine these defects and study the prin- 
 ciples which should guide us in effecting their 
 cure : 
 
 Simplicity. The tendency at present is toward 
 undue complication. The plumbing work is becom- 
 ing each year more elaborate and costly, more 
 difficult to set correctly, and more difficult to com- 
 prehend and repair when correctly set, so that the 
 public are becoming alarmed and confused. They
 
 6 THE PRINCIPLES OV 
 
 despair of being able to understand the intricate 
 system of piping and machinery for the supply and 
 waste of fixtures. The result is a general feeling 
 of insecurity and a tendency to forego the conven- 
 ience of plumbing fixtures wherever their presence 
 is not an absolute necessity. 
 
 Our byword should be "simplicity." Rather 
 than reduce the number of our fixtures, let us reduce 
 the amount of machinery connected with them, pro- 
 vided we can do so without diminishing the security 
 they are intended to afford. 
 
 If we find that our process of simplification 
 actually increases the security of the work, all will 
 be gainers the public as well as the plumber. 
 For what is best for the public by increasing their 
 confidence is also best for the plumbers, though they 
 appear often to lose sight of this fact. 
 
 Accessibility. Another leading principle is that 
 all plumbing work in a house should be everywhere, 
 without exception, accessible and as far as possible 
 visible. 
 
 Pipes should never run behind plaster when it is 
 possible to expose them on walls and ceilings. The 
 pipes both waste and supply as well as the bathtub 
 traps of a bathroom should be placed, if possible, 
 on the ceiling underneath the plaster of the bath- 
 room or china-closet below never between the floor- 
 joists. There is nothing in a neatly arranged line 
 of lead, brass, and iron piping that one needs to be 
 ashamed of. On the contrary when skilfully placed 
 and neatly jointed in a workmanlike manner, as 
 would be the case when the plumber knew they were 
 to be forever exposed to view, these bright metal 
 pipes become quite ornamental when mounted with 
 lead or brass clamps on strips of finished woodwork 
 varnished and symmetricallv arranged in corners 
 or where good taste and judgment direct.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 7 
 
 In the darker ages of architectural art, chimneys 
 were despised and hidden from view. Now they 
 become the most prominent features of a design, 
 suggesting hospitable comfort and healthful ventila- 
 tion within. So should it be with the piping. A 
 knowledge on the part of the house-owner that all 
 the pipes which provide him with the comforts of 
 pure water and safely carry off the foul are in full 
 view and in a sound condition will afford him much 
 solid satisfaction. 
 
 Avoidance of Mechanical Obstructions. A third 
 principle is to avoid all mechanical obstructions, such 
 as valves, balls, gates, and all other impediments 
 to the water-way, and in a system of water-carriage 
 to do all trapping by means of a water-seal alone. 
 
 Mechanical devices form no reliable security 
 against the passage of sewer gas. These valves 
 and balls cannot be made to fit their seats with such 
 accuracy as to exclude liquids and gases, or micro- 
 scopic disease-germs, even when new. They soon 
 become more or less fouled with dirt 
 and corrosion and then their inefficiency 
 becomes evident even to the eye. A 
 sound water-seal, however, properly 
 protected, is found to be entirely re- 
 liable in excluding noxious matters of 
 all kinds. 
 
 Fig. 1 represents a trap having 
 the undesirable mechanical seal in the 
 form of a ball. 
 
 Moreover we are obliged to rely upon 
 a simple water-seal whether we desire 
 to or not, because our water-closet j Thejen . 
 traps or their overflows are , and must nings trap, with 
 be, constructed without mechanical mec1mnical 8eaL 
 obstructions. Evidently if the water-seal is in- 
 efficient we must either construct our water-closet
 
 8 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 traps and their overflows on a different principle 
 or else give up the system of water-carriage alto- 
 gether. It is useless to apply mechanical closures 
 to our smaller traps if we leave the large water- 
 closet traps without them. 
 
 It has been shown by Dr. Carmichael and others 
 that if a water-seal be properly maintained against 
 evaporation and siphonage, or destruction from any 
 cause, the amount of sewer gas that can pass 
 through in twenty-four hours, even under the worst 
 conditions, but with a ventilated soil-pipe, is infini- 
 tesimal and absolutely harmless, and that disease- 
 germs cannot pass at all through water at rest at 
 normal temperatures. Dr. Carmichael also experi- 
 mented with an unventilated soil-pipe, and found 
 here that the quantity of carbonic-acid gas, the 
 largest component of sewer gas, given off from the 
 traps in twenty-four hours was less than that 
 obtained " when a bottle of lemonade was opened," 
 and less than that which is exhaled by a man in 
 five minutes. 
 
 As for the ammonia, sulphuretted hvdrogen, and 
 other gases or vapors which accompany the carbonic 
 acid, their combined amount, even under the un- 
 favorable conditions of a foul sewer and unventila- 
 ted soil-pipe, was hardly equal to the one thou- 
 sandth part of that of carbonic acid, and this 
 amount diffused in twenty-four hours through the 
 atmosphere of a house is evidently absolutely insig- 
 nificant and harmless. With a ventilated soil- 
 pipe the quantity which can pass through the water- 
 seal was found to be about four times less, proba- 
 bly far less than what would come into our city 
 houses through the doors and windows from the 
 ventilating openings in the streets of the public 
 sewers.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 Drs. Carmichael, Pumpelly and Smith, Naegeli, 
 Wernich, Miquel, and others have shown that 
 disease-germs and bacteria generally have the same 
 " mechanical affinity " for water which we observe 
 in all solid particles, particularlv of organic nature. 
 They cannot rise spontaneously from the surface of 
 water at rest, and at the normal temperature of our 
 houses. It is only when the surface is violently 
 agitated, or when gaseous bubbles rise to the top 
 and burst, that these particles are released and 
 dissipated in the atmosphere. With a ventilated 
 soil-pipe no such effervescence in the water of a trap 
 can take place, and the agitation of its surface 
 caused by properly arranged flushing does not throw 
 water out of the trap nor allow of the escape of 
 any germs of disease, for any water which may be 
 washed up on the sides of the trap above the 
 normal water-line is quietly carried down again by 
 the upper flushing stream and swept into the sewer. 
 
 The experiments of Dr. Carmichael resemble 
 absolute demonstrations and may be accepted as 
 conclusive. He concludes his report as follows : 
 " Water-traps are, therefore, for the purpose for 
 which they are employed, that is, for the exclusion 
 from houses of injurious substances contained in 
 the soil-pipe, perfectly trustworthy. They exclude 
 the soil-pipe atmosphere to such an extent that 
 what escapes through the water is so little in amount 
 and so purified by infiltration as to be perfectly 
 harmless, and they exclude entirely all germs and 
 particles, including, without doubt, the specific 
 germs or contagia of disease, which we have already 
 seen are, so far as known, distinctly particulate." 
 
 Tightness of Joints. A fourth principle is that 
 all joints should be permanently tight, and to secure 
 this evident desideratum no material should be used
 
 10 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 in jointing which is injuriously affected by any of 
 the substances brought in contact with them or by 
 movement produced by changes of temperature, 
 concussion, or shrinkage. 
 
 Soundness of Material. A fifth principle is that 
 all the material used be sound, and all pipes of even 
 thickness and capable of resisting a suitable 
 pressure-test. 
 
 Ventilation. A sixth principle is that all the 
 main lines of soil and drain pipes be thoroughly 
 ventilated from end to end. 
 
 Flushing. A seventh principle is that all parts 
 of the waste receptacles and pipes be thoroughly 
 flushed with water from end to end in such a man- 
 ner as to remove all foul matter instantly from the 
 house as soon as it is generated. 
 
 Automatic Operation. An eighth principle is that 
 the working of all parts of the plumbing system 
 should be as far as possible automatic. 
 
 Noiselessness. A ninth principle is that the 
 operation of all parts of the work should be noise- 
 less. 
 
 Economy and Prevention of Water-waste. Finally, 
 all parts of the work should be economical in con- 
 struction and designed in such a manner as to avoid 
 the chances of waste of water through leakage. 
 
 These ten broad principles are not only accepted 
 by all the leading sanitarians, but are self-evident 
 and may be at once adopted as axioms without dis- 
 cussion. In the manner of applying them in prac- 
 tice, however, we do not find the same universal 
 harmony. Where all are in accord I shall make no 
 reference to authorities. But where there is a dif- 
 ference of opinion among experts I shall call atten- 
 tion to the fact, so that each one present may 
 form an independent judgment of his own.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 11 
 
 The first subject we shall consider will be the 
 trap. 
 
 Its form depends upon the nature of the work it 
 is called upon to do ; the form which is suitable for 
 a water-closet being quite unsuitable for other 
 fixtures. 
 
 The agencies which tend to destroy the water- 
 seal and efficiency of traps are : siphonage, evapo- 
 ration, back pressure, capillary attraction, self- 
 siphonage, leakage, and the accumulation of sedi- 
 ment. These agencies must therefore all be con- 
 sidered in the design of our trap. What form 
 shall we give it to enable it successfully to with- 
 stand them ? 
 
 We find that if we adopt 
 the simplest possible form, 
 that of the S trap, which con- 
 sists merely of a bend in the 
 pipe deep enough to make a 
 seal, we obtain a device which, 
 with proper flushing, is suffi- 
 ciently self-cleansing and fur- 
 nishes the easiest outlet for 
 the water. But it is unable 
 to do any more without ex- 
 ternal aid, and quickly loses 
 its seal under the slightest dis- Fi s- 2 - Ordinary s trap, 
 turbance of atmospheric pressure produced by a 
 sudden flow of water through the pipes with which 
 it is connected. 
 
 Three methods have been employed with a view 
 to preventing the destruction of the seal by siphon- 
 age. 
 
 One is to ventilate each trap by connecting it with 
 a special ventilating pipe constructed for the pur- 
 pose.
 
 12 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 A second is to increase the size of the upcast limb 
 of the trap until it becomes a " pot," or " reservoir," 
 trap large enough to accomplish the same result 
 without external aid. 
 
 A third method is to construct the trap in such 
 a manner as to render it both autisiphonic and self- 
 cleansing at the same time. 
 
 The first method adds greatly to the cost and 
 complication of the work. It has given rise to the 
 so-called "trap-vent" law, which rigidly requires 
 every trap, under all circumstances, to be venti- 
 lated. 
 
 In regard to the practical working of trap venti- 
 lation two things have been found : 
 
 First, that it is not always efficient in preventing 
 siphonage. 
 
 Second, that it is always more or less active in 
 destroying the seal through evaporation. 
 
 Nevertheless, this method still has a few advocates 
 of recognized ability. But they now adhere to it 
 chiefly, if not entirely, on account of an alleged 
 indirect advantage produced by the air-current in 
 partially oxidizing foulness in the waste-pipes. 
 
 The second method is both inexpensive and 
 simple and is much more efficient in resisting 
 siphonic action than the first. It has, however, the 
 serious disadvantage of involving the use of cess- 
 pools or filth-retainers in the house, and such re- 
 tention is in violation of a leading principle of sani- 
 tary drainage which calls for complete removal of 
 foul matters from the premises the instant they 
 are generated. 
 
 This method has however a very large number of 
 advocates who consider the retention of a limited 
 quantity of filth in the trap less of an evil than the 
 dangers of difficulties coming from trap-venting.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 13 
 
 They claim that a guard which is only sometimes 
 reliable is worse than none at all as giving a false 
 sense of security, and that the purification of the 
 branch waste-pipes can be effectually accomplished 
 by powerful water-flushing, making the induction of 
 the air-current for this purpose quite superfluous. 
 They find, moreover, that abundant aeration goes 
 on without the aid of the vent-pipe both from 
 diffusion of the air in the ventilated soil-pipe, and 
 from the powerful influx of air induced with, and 
 after, the water-flushing at each usage of the fix- 
 ture. 
 
 The third method is the simplest and least ex- 
 pensive of all. It is more reliable than either of 
 the others in resisting siphonic action, and does 
 away with the serious objection of the second 
 method : that of filth retention. 
 
 It has already the advocacy of many of the lead- 
 ing sanitarians gf the country and promises to be 
 universally adopted as soon as it becomes generally 
 known. 
 
 Let us now examine these three methods carefully 
 in detail, since the question is not only one of the 
 most important and interesting ones in the whole 
 domain of sanitary plumbing, but its investigation 
 will throw light on every other part of the subject. 
 
 Trap-ventilating. Until very lately it was 
 supposed that trap ventilation afforded a reliable 
 cure for siphonage, and under that supposition the 
 trap-vent law was made. This law has been in 
 operation but a very few months and in a few large 
 cities, yet it has been in force long enough to show 
 in the first place that it is by no means able to do 
 what it pretends to even when the vent is newly and 
 skilfully applied, and in the second place that it 
 gives rise to new evils as great or greater than
 
 14 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 those it was intended to obviate, and in the third 
 place that the vent-pipe itself tends to become foul 
 in usage, and that in some cases the accumulation 
 of foulness goes on to such an extent, especially at 
 its point of connection with the trap, as to com- 
 pletely close the air-passage and destroy its oper- 
 ation. 
 
 We will first test the efficiency of the trap-vent 
 when it is new and clean and afterward consider the 
 question of its partial or complete closure by filth 
 accumulation. 
 
 Tests on Traps Newly Ventilated. In making these 
 tests two points have been very carefully followed, 
 and these must be distinctly understood. 
 
 In the first place the apparatus and arrangement 
 used is precisely the same in character as is found 
 most commonly in the best ordinary practice. 
 
 A large number of return bends and a very long 
 stack of piping has been put together in order to 
 permit a variety of different tests to be made with 
 a single compact apparatus. But as openings have 
 been made in the pipe at various points, we are 
 able to cut off one or all of the bends and any part of 
 the length of pipe at will. Hence, the apparatus 
 may be made to correspond with that in any form 
 of house we desire to imitate. 
 
 In the second place, though our tests will be very 
 severe, they will, nevertheless, be no more so than 
 is often encountered in practice. Our object is not 
 to show what usually takes place but what at any 
 time may take place. 
 
 We do not of course pretend to say that a new 
 vent-pipe can never protect a trap, but that it can- 
 not always be relied upon, and that this being the 
 case, it affords a false sense of security, and is 
 therefore worse than nothing, for we can never 
 tell at what moment it will fail in its duty.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 15 
 
 If we are to be forced by the law to put our 
 clients to the great expense and danger of ventilat- 
 
 Fijf. 3. Apparatus used for trap testing. 
 
 ing every trap, we have a right to demand : first, that 
 the means employed shall actually afford us the se- 
 curity it pretends to, and not fail at the first critical
 
 16 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 moment, and second, that no other simpler and 
 better means exist for securing the desired results. 
 
 Our apparatus consists of a stack of four-inch 
 soil-pipe with two ordinary plumbing fixtures ten feet 
 above the wastes of the traps to be tested. On the 
 left is a Jennings closet and on the right a Zane : 
 kinds which have been perhaps until lately the most 
 popular in this country. 
 
 Fig. 3 represents the apparatus used. The dis- 
 tance from the floor to the upper platform which 
 supports the water-closets is fourteen and a half 
 feet. From the floor to the ceiling is seventeen feet. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to explain to the present 
 audience that the smooth bends and returns we 
 have used add but very slightly to the friction. 
 
 Smooth bends of a radius equal to, or greater 
 than, the diameter of the pipe are found to have 
 very little effect in retarding the flow of fluids. To 
 show just the effect such bends produce in the 
 present case we have provided openings at different 
 points in the length of the piping and after experi- 
 menting with all the bends, we will make other tests 
 without them or with only a portion of them, and 
 compare the results. We have used the ordinary 
 two-inch iron pipe for back ventilation. 
 
 Just above the floor of this room we have pro- 
 vided two Y branches for the trap waste-pipes to be 
 tested, using ordinary one and a half -inch bath or 
 basin lead waste-pipe of the average length. We 
 find the length of these branches within reasonable 
 limits does not appreciably affect the siphoning 
 action. 
 
 Experiments on a one and a half-inch S trap. The 
 first test we will make on an ordinary one and a half- 
 inch S trap unventilated. The soil-pipe we leave 
 full length. The seal is two inches deep.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 17 
 
 (Discharge of Z and J together.) We see that a 
 single discharge of the two closets has completely 
 destroyed the seal in a second, leaving scarcely a 
 drop of water in the trap. 
 
 If we shorten the soil-pipe one half by removing 
 the plug at forty-five feet length, we find substan- 
 tially the same result. (Discharge of Z and J 
 together.) The seal is again instantly destroyed. 
 
 This is the simplest possible illustration of the 
 phenomena of trap siphon age, and so far the result 
 is probably familiar to most of the audience here 
 to-night. All are aware that an unventilated lava- 
 tory S trap with even an unusually deep seal pos- 
 sesses scarcely any power to resist siphonage. 
 When the falling water in the soil-pipe produces 
 the partial vacuum behind it as it descends, if the 
 soil-pipe extension above it is short and closed at 
 the top, the action is at its maximum because there 
 is very little air to expand. If the pipe is short 
 and open it is at its minimum. If it is long and 
 closed still the action is powerful, but if it is long 
 and open above, a medium effect is produced, 
 and this is the condition we have to-night in our 
 apparatus. 
 
 Let us next see what the effect of a discharge 
 of a single closet will be, leaving the soil-pipe 
 forty-five feet long. This cuts off three bends, 
 leaving it four. 
 
 (Discharge of Z alone.) The Zane closet alone 
 has siphoned out the trap in a single discharge. 
 Let us try the Jennings alone. 
 
 (Discharge of J alone.) The Jennings alone has 
 also instantly unsealed the trap. 
 
 Thus we see that either a Zane or a Jennings 
 plunger-closet is easily able to destroy the seal of 
 an ordinary S trap under the simplest conditions of
 
 18 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 plumbing. Any other form of plunger-closet or 
 any valve or properly constructed hopper-closet 
 would probably do the 'same. 
 
 Let us now ventilate our trap with a vent-pipe 
 the full size of the bore of the trap. Leaving the 
 soil and vent pipes the full length we will discharge 
 the closets as before. 
 
 (Discharge of Z and J.) The first discharge has 
 reduced the seal from two inches to one and a half 
 inch. It will be observed that our vent-pipe is 
 actually considerably larger than the bore of the 
 pipe which is contracted at the bends, so that the 
 protection afforded by this is greater than it would 
 be in ordinary practice. 
 
 Another dischai'ge has lowered the seal to one fourth 
 of an inch. A third discharge has completely de- 
 stroyed the seal, leaving an open passageway into 
 the house for sewer gas. 
 
 Thus we see that with the long stack of pipe our 
 ventilation has signallv failed. We will now cut 
 off half the bends and half the length both of soil 
 and vent pipe, leaving a medium length of each of 
 forty-five feet. 
 
 A discharge of the closets has lowered the seal 
 to one and one-half inch. Four discharges have 
 destroyed the seal. 
 
 At the last lecture we found it possible to break 
 the seal by discharging only one of the closets at a 
 time. But it required eight repetitions of the dis- 
 charge to do this, and we shall accordingly omit the 
 experiment to-night for want of time and because 
 our subject extends over a wider field than before. 
 Our next experiment will be with an ordinary one 
 and one-fourth inch vent-pipe which is really the 
 size of the trap under consideration. Omitting the 
 tests with a medium length of soil and vent pipe
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 19 
 
 which broke the seal of this trap in two discharges, 
 and also the test with a single closet, we will 
 shorten the ventilation-pipe to fifteen feet by cutting 
 off the two-inch iron pipe and all its bends alto- 
 gether. This gives us a shorter vent-pipe than we 
 should ever be likely to encounter in practice. 
 Hence, if the friction produced in this short length 
 of pipe is enough to prevent the effectiveness of the 
 vent, anything longer than this would certainly de- 
 stroy its power. The soil-pipe is of medium length. 
 
 Discharge ofZ and J. Four simultaneous discharges 
 of the closets have destroyed the seal of our trap, 
 fully vented with a new in the manner required by 
 the law, showing our expensive venting to be utterly 
 untrustworthy, even under the simplest conditions. 
 In the experiments made for the City Board of 
 Health the same results were obtained by the dis- 
 charge of a single plunger-closet. 
 
 Four-inch by four-inch Y. We have, up to this 
 time, used a four-inch by two-inch Y branch to 
 connect our lead branch with the main soil-pipe. In 
 our experiments for the Board of Health we were 
 severely criticized by The Sanitary Engineer for 
 using a four-inch by four-inch Y branch, which, we 
 were told, would produce an action at least four 
 times as powerful as the smaller branch. In order to 
 test this we will connect our waste with a four-inch 
 by four-inch branch immediately below the one we 
 have been using, and repeat the last test under the 
 new conditions. I would caution those of the 
 audience who are seated nearest the trap to hold 
 firmly to their seats, which have been tightly 
 screwed to the floor in order to prevent them from 
 being sucked bodily into the drains by the pro- 
 digious siphonage power of our four by four-inch 
 branch.
 
 20 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 (Discharge of Z and 7.) We find 110 appreciable 
 cliff ereuce in the two Ys, and I think those gentle- 
 men can now safely release their hold upon the 
 furniture. 
 
 We have records of comparative tests made with 
 two such Ys, made in exactly the same position on 
 the apparatus, showing a greater rather than a 
 feebler action produced by the smaller Y. 
 
 Experiments with a Partially Clogged Vent-pipe. 
 When the mouth of the vent-pipe has been partially 
 closed by gradual deposit of sediment, the supply of 
 air through it is proportionally retarded, and it be- 
 comes less and less of a safeguard against siphonage. 
 We have made a great many experiments in this field 
 and found the resistance exactly proportioned to the 
 size of the vent-pipe. 
 
 In the tests for the Board of Health we used a 
 straight stack of pipes without any bends. The 
 siphouic action was somewhat more severe in all 
 the tests. 
 
 Secondary Office of the Vent-pipe. It remains 
 now to examine the secondary office of the trap 
 vent-pipe, namely, the aeration of the branch waste- 
 pipes, pi'omotiug decomposition in them, and carry- 
 ing off the gaseous products of such decomposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Some years ago, before it became customary to 
 ventilate all the main lines of soil and waste pipe, 
 as all sanitary engineers are agreed in recommend- 
 ing now, there accumulated in the upper part of the 
 pipe-system large volumes of dangerous and corro- 
 sive gas generated by the decomposition of the 
 heavy deposits in the large soil-pipes throughout 
 their entire length. These gases, never liberated as 
 they are now by a constant current of fresh air 
 passing through the main pipes, sometimes formed
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 21 
 
 in such large quantities as to eat through the metal 
 and escape into the house. The water-flushing 
 from the feeble pan-closets of that time was quite 
 insufficient to purify the main-pipe lines, and seri- 
 ous difficulties arose. 
 
 Now, however, the case is very different. All 
 our main pipes are thoroughly ventilated, and a far 
 more liberal flushing is occasioned by the use of 
 modern hopper-closets. This comparatively fresh 
 air of the soil-pipe distributes itself by diffusion 
 through the branch wastes, and gases can no longer 
 collect to any harmful degree unless they are of 
 unusual length and insufficiently flushed. 
 
 Consider the case of a short-branch waste-pipe 
 leading from a well-constructed washbasin and con- 
 nected with a well- ventilated soil-pipe. 
 
 Fresh air is constantly passing through the soil- 
 pipe, carrying off the products of combustion as 
 fast as they are formed. If the lavatory be fre- 
 quently used and properly constructed the short- 
 branch waste-pipe is scoured from end to end and 
 kept very free from foul matter. Fresh air is dif- 
 fused easily from the soil-pipe through this short 
 branch as far up as to the trap. If the fixture is 
 rarely used the last thin deposit of soap dries up on 
 the sides of the pipe, and what little decomposition 
 goes on then is inappreciable, and the products are 
 removed by diffusion, or, if they are absorbed in 
 the water of the trap, what could escape from its 
 surface would, as we have seen, be absolutely infin- 
 itesimal and harmless. Not so if we ventilate this 
 short-branch waste, as now required by law. A few 
 days is sufficient to evaporate out all the water from 
 the trap, and soil-pipe air may then enter the house 
 freely. This is no careless assertion founded on 
 theory. It is the result of a series of very careful
 
 22 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 experiments made by myself, and published in the 
 sanitary journals, and it is the experience of ex- 
 perts who have examined the working of the trap- 
 vent law during the short period since its enforce- 
 ment. 
 
 Consider next the long-branch wastes of lavato- 
 ries. We will suppose the fixture to be a washbasin 
 or bathtub used every day. If the outlet be prop- 
 erly constructed the discharge of the fixture will fill 
 the pipe so full as completely to drive out the air that 
 was in it and fill it with a volume of perfectly fresh air 
 from the room. Every one has observed fresh air 
 being sucked into the outlet of a lavatory, at the time 
 of discharge, in volume sufficient to renew the air of 
 the branch waste-pipe many times over, even with 
 basins improperly constructed as they are. 
 
 We will suppose the fixture to be very seldom 
 used, say not oftener than once a week or month, as 
 in a spare room. The last charge of water passes 
 off and the pipe dries up. I believe that what de- 
 composition would then go on in pipes connected 
 with a properly constructed lavatory would be utter- 
 ly harmless ; and more than this, I believe there is 
 no case on record of harmful corrosion ever being 
 found on such branch wastes. It certainly would 
 not do to ventilate the trap of such a fixture left in 
 periodical disuse ; for evaporation would unseal its 
 trap in its intervals of rest, and far greater damage 
 would arise than could come from the unventilated 
 pipe. Those who do not possess this degree of con- 
 fidence have only to arrange their fixtures in such a 
 way as to avoid long-branch wastes, and the diffi- 
 culty will for them be avoided. 
 
 Consider now the question of branch wastes from 
 kitchen and pantry sinks. Every one knows that 
 grease and sediment from these fixtures will at once
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 23 
 
 clog up in time any part of a trap not scoured by the 
 water. We find the upper part of ordinary pot-traps 
 always fouled with grease in such cases. The mouth 
 of the vent-pipe taken from the top of such a trap 
 also becomes similarly clogged, and it is probable 
 that in whatever wav the vent-pipe be attached to 
 the trap of a sink it will surely become clogged and 
 inoperative in time. 
 
 The only case in which trap ventilation can be 
 recommended, as it seems to me, is in connection 
 with certain kinds of water-closets. The consider- 
 ation of this branch of my subject must be left for 
 another time. 
 
 I find, therefore, no advantage whatever in trap 
 ventilation, with the above possible exception. 
 There are several disadvantages, which, summed up 
 briefly, are these : First, it destroys the seal by 
 evaporation when ordinary S traps are used and 
 when the vent-pipe is taken from the crown, as the 
 law in some places requires. I find that if the vent- 
 pipe be taken from some points six inches or more 
 below the crown evaporation does not go on, or it 
 goes on so slowly as to be harmless with traps hold- 
 ing a reasonably large body of water. With S 
 traps, however, it is necessary to ventilate at the 
 crown, if they should be used at all, in order to 
 prevent self-siphonage. 
 
 Second. The vent-pipe does not accomplish its 
 objects, and hence affords a false sense of security. 
 
 Third. It increases the unsecured area of the 
 trap, making it a cesspool. The ventilated S trap 
 is used instead of a reservoir-trap by the advo- 
 cates of trap ventilation for the sake of avoiding 
 an unsecured chamber. But in doing so they add 
 a sediment chamber, which is not only greater in 
 extent of surface, more easily fouled and less easily
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 cleansed, than that in the pot-trap, but one which is 
 far more dangerous, inasmuch as its fouling, even 
 to a limited extent, involves the destruction of 
 the whole system. This chamber is as certain to 
 become inoperative after more or less use as is any 
 reservoir or cesspool in a trap to 
 become clogged with deposit. It 
 is so placed and of such a form 
 that it must inevitably receive spat- 
 terings from the filth-laden waste- 
 water, without benefiting by its 
 scour. I have found, by repeated 
 test, that the water discharged 
 from a washbasin with a large out- 
 let and trap placed a foot or more 
 below is thrown up over ten inches 
 into the vent-flue at every dis- 
 charge. Thus a very large sedi- 
 ment chamber is formed. The de- 
 Fig. 4. Trap vent posit of sediment may be rapid or 
 clogged at the mouth, glow, according to circumstances, 
 in some cases requiring years to reduce the size of 
 the vent-opening to the point of inefficiency. In 
 others this will occur in a few days. 
 
 Fourth. It retards the outflow of the waste- 
 water about thirty-three per cent. This is owing to 
 the friction of the air-current entering with the 
 water during the discharge. 
 
 Fifth. It renders the discharge noisy. The 
 same air-suction which delays the water produces 
 a disagreeable roar when the water discharges 
 rapidly. 
 
 Sixth. It complicates the plumbing and adds to 
 the danger of leakage through bad jointing and 
 increased material. 
 
 Seventh. It aggravates the danger arising from 
 capillary attraction ; and, finally,
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 Eighth. It seriously increases the cost of plumb- 
 ing, an increase which amounts to as much as from 
 five to ten per cent, on the total cost of the 
 
 Fig. 5. Complexity with insecurity. 
 
 plumbing in new work and indefinitely in old work 
 in which the trap ventilation sometimes becomes by 
 far the greatest part of the work to be done. 
 
 Fig. 6. Simplicity with security. 
 
 Figs. 5 and 6 represent three fixtures plumbed 
 by the two different methods, the first with, and the 
 second without, trap ventilation. In the first draw-
 
 26 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 ing the overflow-passage and the house-side of the 
 trap are ventilated as well as the sewer-side, and 
 the loss of the water-seal through evaporation is 
 very rapid. This double trap ventilation is not 
 common, but vet is occasionally carried into execu- 
 tion by some of our more radical enthusiasts for 
 branch- waste venting. 
 
 In the second drawing " Sanitas " traps are used 
 which require no ventilation to prevent siphonage. 
 
 A washbasin, having an outlet large enough to 
 fill the waste-pipe and trap " full-bore," scours them 
 and keeps them free from deposit. 
 
 The use of a urinal is rarely to be recommended. 
 It is only introduced here for purposes of illustra- 
 tion. 
 
 Second Method. Let us now examine the second 
 method of obtaining security against siphonage. 
 This consists in the use of a large unventilated 
 pot, or reservoir, trap. A small pot-trap will not 
 resist siphonic action, but a large one will. Their 
 power of resistance is exact!}' in proportion to 
 their size. Nothing smaller than an eight-inch 
 pot- trap, which I have here, can be relied upon 
 in all cases. A six-inch pot-trap will sometimes 
 be siphoned out by discharges occurring in common 
 practice. A five-inch pot-trap siphons out much 
 easier. An ordinary four-inch trap has very little 
 resisting power unless its seal is unusually deep. 
 Three-inch and two-inch traps are altogether useless. 
 
 We will test practically the action of siphonage 
 on a four-inch pot-trap of the usual depth of seal. 
 (Discharge of Z and J. ) We see that three dis- 
 charges are sufficient to break the seal of this trap. 
 In our last lecture we found that either the Zane or 
 the Jennings closet alone was able to destroy the 
 seal in eight and six discharges respectively.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 27 
 
 Thus we see that only the largest sizes of pot- 
 traps are reliable. To be secure in all cases, if we 
 use pot- traps, we are required to have them as 
 much as six or eight inches in diameter, and con- 
 stantly inspect them to see that they are free from 
 deposit. Traps of this size are veritable cesspools 
 and as such are to be avoided wherever it is pos- 
 sible. They are, moreover, expensive. A plumb- 
 er's scale of charges for these traps is at the rate 
 of one dollar for every inch in the diameter of the 
 trap. Thus a five-inch, six-inch, and eight-inch 
 pot-trap costs $5, $6, and $8 respectively. 
 
 Fig. 7. D trap clogged. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 The pot-trap is, morever, bulky and unscientific 
 in construction. Its cleanout cap is faultily ar- 
 ranged at the top, where, if improperly adjusted, 
 it will allow the escape of sewer gas without 
 warning. The cleanout cap of a trap should always 
 be wholly or in part below the normal level of the 
 standing water in order that if an unsound joint 
 occur it will at once be detected by an escape of 
 water and the defect remedied. It is better to en-
 
 28 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 danger the floors or plastering than the life or health 
 of the owner. 
 
 To ensure tightness the plumber is obliged to 
 screw the cap on so hard that the house-owner is 
 rarely able to unscrew it for examination or cleans- 
 ing. Hence the plumber has to be sent for. Ill- 
 feeling is aroused and the plumber is referred to in 
 terms often lacking in refinement and politeness. 
 
 Under the name " reservoir " traps I include all 
 water-seal traps which are not self -scouring. It 
 includes the old-fashioned D trap (Fig. 7), the 
 Globe trap, and the Bottle trap (Fig. 8). 
 
 Of all the reservoir-traps, the common pot- trap, 
 bad as it is, is the best, as being the simplest. 
 
 Balls, valves, and gates in traps add little or 
 nothing to their power of resisting siphonage, and 
 have no longer any value now that it is customary 
 to ventilate the drain and soil pipes. They serve 
 only as encumbrances and filth collectors. 
 
 We come finally to the third method of obtaining 
 security against sewer gas, of which Fig. 6 forms 
 the general illustration. It is to give the trap 
 such a form as to render it antisiphonic and self- 
 cleansing at the same time. 
 
 ANTI-SIPHONIC TRAPS. 
 
 Let us first examine the action of fluids in traps 
 when they are subjected to siphoning action and see 
 if it is possible to construct a trap in such a man- 
 ner as to accomplish these results. To better study 
 the movement of the fluids we have had a number 
 of S and pot traps constructed wholly of glass. 
 
 We must make use of the natural forces at our 
 command, the superior gravity and adhesive force 
 of water over air, and construct our trap with refer- 
 ence to the laws governing these forces in the move- 
 ment of the two fluids.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 Examining first our pot-trap. Under a powerful 
 siphonage air is driven through the water in the 
 body of the trap in the manner shown in this draw- 
 ing (Fig. 9). A quantity of water is projected out 
 of the trap in advance of the air-column, as shown 
 by the arrows. If the action were continued long 
 enough all the water above the inlet-mouth, even in 
 
 Fig. 9. Movement of fluids in a pot-trap. 
 
 the largest pot- traps, would be expelled. It will be 
 observed that part of the water is forcibly thrown 
 up against the top of the body of the trap, whence 
 it is deflected back in the form of spray in all direc- 
 tions. Part of the spray, however, falls across the 
 outlet-mouth, and is sucked out. One of the prin- 
 cipal reasons why the S trap is so easily siphoned 
 out is that the curve at the top conducts the water 
 directly into the outlet. Some form of reflecting 
 surface should be used to throw the water back into 
 the trap, and let the lighter air escape to supply the 
 vacuum in the soil-pipe. Such a reflecting surface
 
 30 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 is found in the flat top of the pot-trap above the 
 outlet-mouth. We will therefore retain this useful 
 feature, but reject the objectionable one of the ex- 
 cess of sectional area in the body over that of the 
 inlet and outlet arms, and we have our first modifi- 
 cation, as shown in Fig. 10. The reflecting surface, 
 however, should not be ar- 
 ranged as here shown. The 
 pocket increases the un- 
 secured area of the trap. 
 It is true it is no worse than 
 the mouth of a ventilating 
 pipe, which under the present 
 law it is customary to put at 
 this place. But it is just as 
 certain that such a pocket will 
 become clogged in time as it 
 is that grease and filth will 
 deposit a sediment on every- 
 thing with which it comes in 
 contact. The higher or deeper 
 
 Fig. 10. First modification. the pocket the more rea dily 
 
 will the deposit be formed. A shallow pocket might 
 be partially scoured by the force of the water pro- 
 jected upward against it by momentum. In this 
 case a certain portion of each deposit of filth would 
 be washed off by friction and the process of clog- 
 ging would be somewhat retarded. But let the 
 pocket be deep enough and there will then be parts 
 which will be within the reach of the waste-water, 
 but beyond its scouring effect. The spray thrown 
 up by momentum will at this height have lost its 
 power. The drops of dirty water will simply rise 
 to their turning-point, deposit their filth, and trickle 
 back again into the trap. The ventilating outlet 
 forms exactly such a pocket. At a certain height
 
 BOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 above the crown of the trap the inner surface of 
 this flue will receive the spatterings of the filth-laden 
 waste-water, but never receive its scour. Hence 
 the area of the vent-opening must infallibly con- 
 tinue to decrease in size more or less quickly, ac- 
 cording to the usage of the fixture, until the open- 
 ing is too contracted to be of any value in resisting 
 the action of siphonage on the water-seal. More- 
 over, the cool ventilating draught helps to congeal 
 the fatty vapors arising from hot waste-water in the 
 trap and hastens clogging. We will, therefore, 
 simply retain the reflecting sur- 
 face but reject the pocket. Fur- 
 thermore, we will slightly contract 
 the inlet and outlet mouths at 
 their junction with the body. 
 This allows the air rushing 
 through the body of the trap to 
 pass through the water instead 
 of driving it out before it. A 
 very slight contraction is suffi- 
 cient. These two modifications 
 make the second step in our 
 improvement, and are shown in 
 Fig. 11. A trap was constructed 
 in this manner, and proved to be Fi Secondstep . 
 very much stronger in resisting Partial contraction of 
 siphonic action than an S trap of ffi'^dSSt'IT'S 
 equal depth of seal. pocket. 
 
 Still our trap is very far from antisiphonic. Re- 
 ferring to our glass pot- trap, we shall see that the 
 water projected violently upward from the surface, 
 by the air-bubbles rushing through the standing 
 water under the influence of siphonage, is obliged 
 to pass twice by the mouth of the outlet-pipe, 
 once before and once after reflection against the
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 top, and that it is at these moments that it is 
 sucked out and lost. That part of the spray 
 which happens to be thrown farthest from the 
 mouth of the outlet-pipe will be seen to fall 
 back safely into the trap ; but that which passes 
 near this outlet, either in rising or after re- 
 flection, is drawn out by the concentrated and 
 powerful suction at this point and wasted. And 
 we find that one of the principal reasons why 
 a large pot-trap resists siphonage longer than a 
 small one is that in the large trap the spray has more 
 space above the surface of the standing water than 
 in the small one, so that a smaller proportion of 
 the water thrown up by the rushing air-bubbles 
 passes within the influence of the suction at the 
 outlet-pipe. If our reflecting surface could be 
 placed below instead of beyond the mouth of the 
 outlet this loss could be avoided. Our next step 
 must, therefore, consist in so 
 placing the reflecting surface. 
 In Fig. 12 this has been ac- 
 complished, but in an awkward 
 manner. Before this surface 
 can come into service the level 
 of the water must evidently be 
 reduced to the level shown by 
 the shading in the figure. 
 Hence the perpendicular part 
 of the body of the trap above 
 the lower reflecting surface is 
 not placed to ad vantage. Never- 
 theless, this trap will resist a 
 Fig. 12. Third step, very powerful siphonic action, 
 even as it is. The two reflecting surfaces, the lower 
 and the upper, are so effective that this form of the 
 trap has proved more tenacious of its last inch or
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 33 
 
 two of seal than a four-inch pot-trap, although its 
 diameter is nowhere greater than that of the outlet 
 and inlet pipes. 
 
 In this and in the preceding forms the depth of 
 seal is too great to allow of a free and rapid dis- 
 charge of the wastes. The air, in passing through 
 the trap, disturbs nearly all the water in it. Our 
 next step will therefore be to diminish the height of 
 the water-column through which the air has to pass, 
 and thus reduce the disturbance of the water with- 
 out lessening its volume. It may be done by laying 
 the body of the trap horizontal instead of perpendi- 
 cular, as shown in Fig. 13. This immediately 
 
 Fig. 13. Fourth step. 
 
 gives us a very important improvement in resisting 
 power. The area of the trap is no greater than that 
 in Fig. 11, but it is found to offer double the 
 resistance to siphonage. Moreover, while the 
 volume of water is the same as in Fig. 10, the 
 seal is not so deep. Hence the flow of water 
 through this trap is more rapid than in the former, 
 and its scouring effect correspondingly increased. 
 As soon as the water in this trap has been lowered 
 to the point indicated in the drawing, ample space 
 is left above it for the passage of the air. It is 
 evident that a much smaller body of water is dis- 
 turbed by the passage of the air than is the case 
 with the trap shown in Fig. 11.
 
 34 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 Nevertheless, the trap thus made is not yet suffi- 
 ciently antisiphonic. It is, moreover, awkward in 
 form and difficult to set in such a manner that it 
 shall remain firm in place. The long horizontal 
 body is liable to sag and lose its form. Moreover, 
 a single reflecting surface is insufficient to separate 
 the water entirely from the air, and a strong and 
 long-continued siphonic action destroys its seal. 
 Other improvements are evidently necessary. 
 
 A fifth step consists in increasing the number of 
 reflecting surfaces, and in breaking up the long 
 horizontal body by making it 
 return upon itself in a quad- 
 rangle, as shown in perspective 
 in Fig. 14. In this form of 
 the trap we have still further 
 greatly increased the reflecting 
 surfaces and the power of resist- 
 ance to siphonic action, and we 
 are now able to dispense with 
 reflecting pockets, but we have 
 obtained a trap exceedingly 
 difficult to manufacture, awkward in appearance, 
 and troublesome to clean out in case of accident, as 
 when a match or any such foreign substance is 
 dropped into the waste-pipe and becomes lodged in 
 a bend of the trap. This form of trap must be 
 simplified so as to render it practical, without losing 
 any of the advantages we have thus far arrrived at. 
 Figs. 15 to 19 show the manner in which this may 
 be done, and the arrangement forms the final step 
 of our improvement. We have here retained all 
 the reflecting surfaces ; the horizontal body, which 
 allows the air to pass above the water after a small 
 quantity has been driven out, without disturbing the 
 rest ; and the slight contraction of the inlet and out-
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 35 
 
 let pipes at their junction with the body of the 
 trap. We have added a cylindrical cleanout cap of 
 glass, and obtained an apparatus which can be 
 readily cast in lead in moulds of iron. The quad- 
 rangular shape of the horizontal 
 body is retained, but the two 
 parallel cylinders are brought to- 
 gether and merged into a single 
 cylinder having a central partition 
 about two thirds of its length, or 
 extending from one end to the edge 
 of the cleanout cap, which at the 
 other end forms about one third 
 of the total length of the cylinder. 
 
 In ordinary use the waste-water 
 passes through this trap in such Fig. is. sixth step, 
 a manner as to act to the best " Sanitas " trap, 
 advantage in scouring it. The partition wall in"the 
 centre of the body causes the water to scour each 
 side in succession. Thus while in outward appear- 
 ance the body resembles a small pot-trap placed 
 horizontally it has in principle the self-scouring 
 form of the S trap. It must be understood, how- 
 ever, that like the S trap it is only self -scour ing 
 when properly set, namely : with a free outlet from 
 the bowl somewhat larger than the inlet-arm of the 
 trap at its largest part, or at its point of junction 
 with the fixture. If set under a fixture giving a 
 clear water-way of only an inch or of half an inch, 
 this trap will not scour itself, nor will the waste- 
 pipes with which the trap is connected. A good- 
 sized washbasin holds, up to its overflow, about 
 two gallons of water. This will escape through an 
 average length of one and one-half inch waste- 
 pipe, running full-bore and having a good fall, in 
 about three seconds. Hence, through such a pipe
 
 36 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 the water rushes at a rate of more than half a gallon 
 a second and fully scours the pipes. With lava- 
 tories constructed on this principle, the argument 
 for trap ventilation based on the supposition that 
 it is necessary to keep the branch wastes clean 
 no longer holds good. 
 
 Fig. 16. " Sanitas " trap. 2 Jg 
 
 Let us examine now the action of the air and 
 water in our trap under the influence of a very 
 powerful siphonic action. We will suppose the 
 trap to be placed in position under a fixture with 
 the water standing in its normal condition up to the 
 level of the outflow, as shown in Fig. 16. When, 
 
 * This trap is manufactured by the " Sanitas " Manufacturing Co., 
 No. 4 Pemberton Square, Boston, Mass.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 37 
 
 through siphonic action, a partial vacuum is created 
 in the waste-pipe below the trap, the water in the 
 inlet-arm of the trap descends under the influence 
 of the atmospheric pressure on its surface tending 
 to restore the equilibrium, until it reaches the dip 
 
 Fig. 17. Body of trap. 
 
 of the trap. The air then being lighter than water 
 passes into and through the body of the trap and 
 drives a portion of the water, not already driven 
 out, before it into the waste-pipe. The water re- 
 maining in the body falls back and maintains 
 the seal. Subsequent siphonic action cannot re- 
 move this water for the following reasons : The 
 water standing in the inlet-arm after its partial 
 removal from the body of the trap by siphonic
 
 88 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 action, as described, is again lowered by a repetition 
 of the action to the dip. Air again rushes iuto^the 
 body to fill the partial vacuum and passes into and 
 through the water standing therein. This water, 
 though increased in depth by that which enters 
 from the inlet-pipe, is, nevertheless, shallow enough 
 
 Figs. 18 and 19. Glass cap and bridge. 
 
 to give room for its passage. It projects upward 
 a certain quantity of water in its passage, with 
 greater or less violence, according to the strength 
 of the siphonic action produced. This water strikes 
 the under surface of the partition in the body, and 
 is partly reflected backward by it, and partly follows 
 the air-current toward the opening between the end 
 of the partition and the cleanout cap. Owing to 
 the greater weight and momentum of the water 
 over that of the air, the water is reflected back,
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 39 
 
 while the air passes on. A second reflection takes 
 place against the surface of the cleanout cap. 
 More water is thrown back, and a small remaining 
 portion only succeeds in following the air into the 
 passage above the partition. Of this small portion 
 part again is reflected back by the upper inner 
 curved surface of the horizontal body, and under 
 very strong siphonic action a few drops may reach 
 the last reflecting surface at the end of the body 
 opposite the cleanout cap, whence it is once more 
 arrested, and the air alone escapes into the waste- 
 pipe. The spray falling upon the partition and upon 
 the various reflecting surfaces collects at the bottom 
 of the body and increases the depth of the seal. 
 The greater cohesive and attractive force of the 
 particles of water over that of air aids in the sepa- 
 ration, since it causes a quantity of the former to 
 adhere to the reflecting surfaces while the air 
 escapes. This arrangement of the reflecting sur- 
 faces evidently also prevents loss of the water-seal 
 by the momentum of the water descending from the 
 fixture. 
 
 Although the seal is not excessively deep, yet the 
 trap, owing to the considerable horizontal extension 
 of its passages, contains a large enough body of 
 water to protect it from the dangers of evaporation 
 and back pressure. The contraction of the inlet 
 and outlet arms at their junction with the body of 
 the trap renders it secure against self-siphonage. 
 The form also renders loss of seal through capillary 
 attraction impossible, as will be hereafter shown. 
 
 When used where trap ventilation is prescribed by 
 law, this trap can, of course, be ventilated like any 
 other. The vent may be applied at any part of the 
 outgo, either at or below the crown. But since, 
 unlike S traps, its seal cannot be destroyed by self-
 
 40 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 siphonage or momentum, the vent need not be 
 applied at the crown. It may be applied anywhere 
 below the crown far enough away to quite avoid the 
 injurious effects of evaporation. Hence, ventila- 
 tion does not produce the destruction to the seal 
 that it does with other self -cleansing traps, and may 
 be used with impunity. Trap ventilation is, never- 
 theless, in this case, as in most others, absolutely 
 useless, and its installation is a total loss to the 
 house-owner. 
 
 Having now explained the theory of the construc- 
 tion of the " Sanitas" trap, let us make a practical 
 trial of its operation. 
 
 The first discharge of both closets, the soil-pipe 
 extension being forty-five feet, will lower the seal 
 considerably, say to a point below the centre of the 
 glass, but subsequent discharges will have very little 
 further effect upon it, and when the seal has been 
 reduced to about an inch and a half, or in the very 
 severest possible cases long repeated, possibly to an 
 inch and a quarter or eighth, even the most power- 
 ful suction that can be applied with an apparatus 
 used in practice will have no further appreciable 
 effect upon it, even though the siphonic action be 
 strong enough to destroy the seal of a fullv venti- 
 lated S trap or of a six-inch pot- trap. Ordinary 
 siphonic action will simply lower the water in the 
 trap enough to permit the passage of air above 
 it, leaving a seal of two inches or more permanently 
 in the trap. The test which we are about to apply 
 to this trap is severe enough to siphon out com- 
 pletely in a single second a fully ventilated S trap 
 or a four-inch pot-trap. 
 
 (Discharge Z and J.) After this very severe test 
 we find a seal left of one and one-half inch. 
 
 (Repeated.) Only an eighth of an inch has been 
 removed by a second discharge.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 41 
 
 (Repeated ten times or more.) Five repetitions of 
 the discharges have lowered the seal less than an 
 eighth of an inch, leaving a full seal of one and 
 one-fourth inch. Five further repetitions pro- 
 duce no further visible effect on the seal. In our 
 previous experiments we have repeated the test 
 fifty times without apparent diminution of the seal. 
 
 Snow. We will now apply a test stronger than 
 any we have tried this evening. It is a test severe 
 enough, as we found in making the experiments for 
 the City Board of Health, to siphon out a pot-trap 
 eight inches in diameter. 
 
 We will retain the full length of our soil-pipe and 
 stop up the opening above the roof with oakum. 
 Then, by discharging both closets together, we shall 
 produce a suction as great as any which could pos- 
 sibly be produced in practice as when the top of the 
 soil-pipe is closed up by ice or snow. 
 
 The first discharge has left one and one-half 
 inch of seal. At the end of five discharges there 
 is still one and one-eighth inch of seal left and 
 five more produce no further apparent diminution 
 of it. Thus we see the seal of this trap cannot be 
 broken by any siphonic action we can try with or- 
 dinary apparatus used in plumbing. 
 
 Self -cleans ing Property of the " Sanitas" Trap. 
 It remains now to determine if the " Sanitas " trap 
 is actually as self -scour ing as it is claimed to be. 
 
 We have had a " Sanitas " basin and trap set 
 above a waste-pipe of glass in order to examine the 
 scouring action of the water discharged from a 
 basin with a properly proportioned outlet both on 
 the trap and the pipe below it. 
 
 (Discharge of the Basin.) We see that the water 
 rushes through the trap and waste-pipe at a very 
 rapid rate. The basin, when filled to the brim, holds
 
 42 IHE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 about two and one-half gallons. It empties itself, 
 when set with a waste-pipe having a good fall, in 
 about three seconds. Hence, the water flows at the 
 rate of nearly a gallon a second, and has an enor- 
 mous scouring-force on all the branch piping con- 
 nected with it. 
 
 We will now throw various substances into the 
 bowl and trap and see whether they are retained in 
 them or not. 
 
 We will first try a quantity of coarse coal ashes, 
 and, to make the test somewhat severe, we will re- 
 move the strainer and throw into the trap pieces of 
 coal with the ashes nearly an inch in diameter. 
 Filling now the basin we find a single discharge has 
 removed all the dirt and a second discharge has left 
 the trap and waste-pipe as bright as ever. 
 
 I will now form a paste of softsoap and loani. 
 The loam is a mixture of earth and clay. The 
 combination of this and the soap forms in large 
 quantity the kind of waste matter to which wash- 
 basins are most accustomed. 
 
 All this matter is instantly carried through the 
 trap and waste-pipe, and, after a second flushing, 
 it does not leave a stain behind. 
 
 After trying a few other substances we will make 
 a strong solution of soap and dirty water and let it 
 dry on the pipe and then see if it will wash off 
 after drying. 
 
 Large pieces of hair-felt, strings of jute and 
 tow, coarse gravel, pieces of stone an inch in 
 diameter, nails, and matches are all whisked 
 through the trap as easily as if they were nothing 
 but house-flies. In short, every kind of substance 
 likely to be met in usage, and a great many others, 
 are carried through and away with speed and cer- 
 tainty, and the self-cleansing power of the trap is 
 demonstrated.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 We have found the soap dried on the glass tube 
 is completely removed by the strong flushing from 
 the basin. '(This last test was tried on another 
 occasion before the lecture.) 
 
 Capillary Attraction. The seal of a trap is some- 
 times slowly and silently drained off by bits of hair, 
 sponge, or twine which get caught across the outlet 
 of the trap, as shown in Fig. 20, and draws out its 
 
 Fig. 20. Seal of S trap 
 destroyed by capillary 
 attraction. 
 
 Fig. 21. Seal of pot-trap de- 
 stroyed by capillary attraction. 
 
 water by capillary attraction. Numerous experi- 
 ments have been made of late on this insidious ene- 
 my to the life of water- traps, and it has been found 
 that there is a limit to the height which these sub- 
 stances will carry the water above its normal level. 
 We find this limit of height to be within three 
 inches for small quantities of long and fibrous sub- 
 stances such as might get lodged in traps. We 
 must, therefore, form our trap in such a manner
 
 44 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 that the water will have to travel along the fibrous 
 substance more than three inches before its seal 
 can be broken. The " Sauitas " trap has been 
 so constructed (Figs. 22 and 23), and in no 
 
 Fig. 22. " Sanitas " trap re- Fig. 23. " Sanitas." trap re- 
 
 sisting capillary attraction. sisting capillary attraction. 
 
 case has it been possible to destroy its seal by 
 the capillary attraction of substances which could 
 be lodged in it in practice. 
 
 Back Pressure. Back pressure is a force now but 
 little to be feared in plumbing. Before it became cus- 
 tomary to ventilate our waste and soil pipes, pressure 
 in the sewers, either from winds or tides, or the heat 
 of steam or chemical action, sometimes produced a 
 serious back pressure in our house-pipes. Now we 
 no longer encounter the difficulty from these causes, 
 since we are accustomed to have our pipes properly 
 ventilated. It is only under certain rare conditions, 
 such as when a trap is situated near the bottom of a 
 tall stack of pipe and close to a sudden bend, that 
 back pressure is produced by falling water com- 
 pressing the air in advance of it. The bend in the 
 soil-pipe prevents the escape of the air below as 
 fast as it accumulates above under the falling water- 
 plug. 
 
 To resist this pressure it is only necessary to have 
 a sufficient body of water in the trap and to set
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 45 
 
 the trap at a distance below the fixture it serves 
 sufficient for this water to form in the pipe when 
 subjected to back pressure, a column from twelve to 
 sixteen inches long. (Fig- 25.) The weight of 
 such a column is ample to withstand any back press- 
 ure ever now encountered in good plumbing. 
 
 Fig. 24. S trap emptied by back pressure. 
 
 The " Sanitas " trap is made to contain a body of 
 water heavy enough to easily resist any back press- 
 ure it can ever be called upon to bear in modern 
 plumbing work. 
 
 Evaporation. When traps are not ventilated 
 evaporation goes on with such slowness as to be 
 scarcely perceptible. Nevertheless, it is best to 
 have the trap contain as large a body of water as is
 
 46 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 consistent with its self-cleansiug properties. An 
 ordinary one and a half-inch S trap holds about 
 three eighths of a pint of water. A one and a 
 quarter-inch S trap holds less than one fourth of a 
 pint. The " Sanitas " holds one and a half pint, 
 
 Fig. 25. Deep seal S trap resisting back pressure. 
 
 or about as much as an ordinary three-inch pot-trap. 
 This is sufficient to last, under ordinary conditions, 
 over a year without renewal when the trap is un- 
 ventilated. 
 
 Where the trap is ventilated, however, in the 
 manner customary under our present plumbing 
 laws, the seal of an ordinary machine-made S trap is
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 47 
 
 licked up by the air-current in a very short time, 
 varying in my own experiments from four to eleven 
 days. 
 
 Size and Material. Traps for the smaller fix- 
 tures should be manufactured in one size, that is, 
 of a capacity sufficient to fill the usual one and 
 a half or one and a quarter inch waste-pipe full- 
 bore. In other words, the size of the traps should 
 be governed by the size of branch waste-pipes. 
 These pipes should never exceed one and a half 
 inch in diameter, except for water-closets. 
 Waste-pipes should not be less than one and a 
 quarter inch in diameter. Hence, the capacity of 
 the trap should not be less than this at any part, 
 and to be self-scouring should not exceed this 
 capacity at any part. The cleanout cups should be 
 made of glass or of metal. Glass should be 
 used for washbasins only, and then only when a 
 possible fracture will not produce serious damage to 
 frescoed ceilings below. With bathtubs, sinks, 
 laundry -tubs, and all other fixtures metal cups 
 should always be used, since even the best annealed 
 glass is liable to be broken by sudden changes of 
 temperature or by careless usage.
 
 PART II. 
 
 WASHBASINS. 
 
 THE character of our lavatories 
 is a matter of very much greater 
 importance than is usually sup- 
 posed. We have been in the 
 habit of selecting our washbasins 
 and bathtubs purely from a 
 standpoint of convenience, ap- 
 pearance, and economy. Sanitary 
 ? .[25. ordinary considerations have been quite 
 ner ' B1K overlooked, in the belief that they 
 have little or nothing to do with the form of these 
 particular fixtures, so long as their traps and waste- 
 pipes were properly made. 
 
 This is a very serious error, and particularly so 
 in relation to washbasins, in the choice of which 
 sanitary considerations should outweigh all others. 
 We say this advisedly, and for the following 
 reasons : As usually constructed, the outlet is 
 altogether too small in proportion to the size of the 
 trap and waste-pipe. The result is imperfect flush- 
 ing of these pipes, gradual accumulation of filth in 
 them, and the various serious evils to which such ac- 
 cumulations give rise. Fig. 25 shows the actual dimen- 
 sions of the ordinary basin-strainer. It will be 
 found, by accurately measuring these figures, that 
 the amount of water-way is just equivalent to that 
 of a three-fourths inch pipe. A very short usage 
 soon reduces this meagre opening, through the
 
 50 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 collection of sediment and lint, to a still smaller 
 stream. Accordingly we find that by far the greater 
 part of the ordinary basins now in use discharge 
 a stream not over half an inch in diameter. The 
 waste-pipes are usually an inch and a quarter or an 
 inch and a half in diameter, a capacity which is 
 given for the purpose of ensuring the safe removal 
 of the water delivered by two supply-faucets run- 
 ning full force, under medium or high city pressure, 
 and escaping through the outlet and overflow pas- 
 sages combined, together with a possible simultane- 
 ous discharge of the adjoining fixtures entering the 
 same waste. Now a half -inch stream of waste- 
 water, trickling through pipes capable of delivering 
 ten times as much, fouls, but does not scour, them. 
 I have taken out such pipes and found them more 
 than half filled with slime and filth, and in places 
 where the pipe ran nearly horizontal, or made sharp 
 bends, I have found them nearly filled with the 
 putrefying mass. No amount of ventilation can 
 cleanse such pipes. But the sediment was soft and 
 gelatinous, and would easily have been swept away 
 by the powerful discharge of a basin filling the 
 pipes full-bore. 
 
 Besides the important sanitary advantage of a 
 rapid discharge, we have others of economy and 
 convenience. To empty an ordinary basin requires 
 a very considerable amount of time and more 
 patience than the majority of people possess. The 
 result is that people fall into the habit of washing 
 from the faucet rather than from the basin, and a 
 great waste of water is involved. A quick waste 
 and convenient method of operating and controlling 
 it results in a saving of water and very great con- 
 venience in usage. A knowledge that a sudden dis- 
 charge of a basinful of water through the pipes acts
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 as an important sanitary measure, after the manner 
 of a flushing tank, in cleansing them from end to 
 end, leads to a legitimate use of the basin and an 
 economy of water, a consideration which the water- 
 companies and the public in time of drought will 
 not be slow to appreciate. 
 
 WASHBASINS HAVING CONCEALED OVERFLOW- 
 PASSAGES. 
 
 This class of fixture violates one of the first con- 
 ditions of sanitary plumbing. A portion of the 
 apparatus intended to carry off waste-water at the 
 irregular and uncertain intervals of overflowing 
 becomes fouled without the chance of cleansing 
 through flushing action, and is placed in such a 
 position that it cannot be seen or reached without 
 disconnecting the whole fixture. 
 
 Our first subdivision of this class is the ordinary 
 
 PLUG-AND-CII AIN OUTLET-BASIN . 
 
 We see here (Fig. 26) the concealed overflow-pipe 
 constructed of lead and so placed as to be altogether 
 inaccessible. Being 
 above in open com- 
 munication with the 
 air of the room, it 
 taints it with the de- 
 composing soap and 
 filth with which the 
 sides soon become 
 coated. The ordinary 
 washbasin has no 
 proper flange for con- 
 nection with the lead 
 overflow - pipe ; the 
 joint has therefore to 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Ordinary plug-and-chaii 
 outlet-basin.
 
 52 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 be made with ordinary putty, which can never be 
 made permanently and surely tight. The lead pipe 
 must be connected with the main waste-pipes above 
 the trap, and the joint here must be wiped with sol- 
 der. Thus, to set an ordinary washbasin, the plumber 
 has two extra joints to make, which add both to 
 the expense of the work and to the chances of im- 
 perfection and leakage. It is an exceedingly com- 
 mon thing to find the overflow-pipe wrongly con- 
 nected ; it is sometimes entered below the trap, 
 sometimes attached directly to the trap-vent, and 
 sometimes connected with the wastes of other fix- 
 tures in such a way as to open, through the vent- 
 pipes, an indirect avenue into the house for sewer- 
 gas. It forms, in short, an unnecessary and dan- 
 gerous complication to the plumbing, and these 
 basins should never be used. 
 
 Many house-owners stop up the holes in the 
 earthenware leading into the overflow-pipe at con- 
 siderable inconvenience to themselves, in the hope 
 of avoiding the chance of the entrance of offensive 
 or injurious gases into the house through this chan- 
 nel. With defective traps, or with traps whose 
 seal is liable to be quickly destroyed bv evapora- 
 tion, siphonage, or other cause, this precaution 
 against danger would not be useless if the overflow- 
 pipe connections could be made certainly tight, es- 
 pecially when the fixture is left for some time 
 unused. As they are made, however, it is probable 
 that no such precaution would form any reliable 
 security. 
 
 The use of the plug and chain, which charac- 
 terizes this type of basin, is another serious defect. 
 The chain, lying in every successive formation of 
 dirty water, collects gradually in the recesses of its 
 links an unknown quantity and variety of filth,
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 53 
 
 which cannot be entirely removed on account of its 
 irregular form, without the use of special acids or 
 constant scrubbing with a brush, a process never 
 applied to it. The length of wire used in an ordi- 
 nary basin-chain averages six feet, and has a sur- 
 face of about fourteen square inches, a surface 
 which, in consideration of the peculiar adaptability 
 of the form of the links for retaining dirt, presents 
 a very formidable area of pollution. To those per- 
 sons who use their reasoning powers in these mat- 
 ters the idea of washing the face in water defiled by 
 a chain transferred immediately from the dirty 
 water of some unknown predecessor is with good 
 reason exceedingly repulsive. The chain, more- 
 over, frequently breaks, and then the hand must be 
 plunged into dirty water to remove the plug. 
 
 The position of the chain and plug at the bottom 
 of the bowl is, moreover, peculiarly inconvenient, 
 inasmuch as they are in the way of the hands, 
 which should meet a smooth, unbroken surface of 
 earthenware rather than the hard and irregular out- 
 lines of the brasswork. If this latter consideration 
 appear to some trivial, it does so only because 
 habit has rendered us callous to such defects ; the 
 defect none the less exists, and acquires importance 
 through the frequency of its repetition and the con- 
 stant use of the fixture in which it occurs. The 
 fact that it is altogether unnecessary is a sufficient 
 reason for its abolition. 
 
 CONCEALED WASTE-VALVE BASIN. 
 
 Fig. 27 represents a basin fitted with the so-called 
 " Boston Waste," which is very popular. There 
 is probably no form of basin-fitting more faulty in 
 principle than this. It contains two independent, 
 inaccessible, and invisible foul-water passages, one 
 forming the overflow-passage, and the other the
 
 54 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 outlet passageway^ 1 between the strainer and the 
 waste-cock. This latter passage forms an elongated 
 cesspool for the defilement of the clean water en- 
 tering the basin. After using the fixture, the waste- 
 water escaping through this channel deposits part 
 of its dirt, particularly floating matter and soap- 
 suds, all along its sides, and leaves it there to be 
 taken up and applied in a diluted solution to the 
 hands and face of the next comer. Six wiped 
 
 Fig. 27. Concealed waste-valve basin. 
 
 solder joints, one putty joint, and five threaded 
 joints, making twelve in all, are required to adjust 
 the waste-pipes of this apparatus and its trap be- 
 low the basin-slab ! No wonder the plumber is con- 
 stantly in requisition to keep in repair such a com- 
 plicated machine so long as the owner allows it to 
 remain in his house. Not the least of its defects is 
 that the passageway for the waste-water through 
 the ground-cock is usually so small (scarcely a quar- 
 ter of an inch wide) that a small deposit of sedi- 
 ment will entirely prevent the outflow of the water. 
 The ' ' Boston Waste " cannot be too strongly con- 
 demned. The great extent of its use in spite of its
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 55 
 
 high cost shows how little knowledge the public 
 have in these matters, and how important it is that 
 their attention should be called to them. 
 
 THE STAND-PIPE OVERFLOW-BASIN. 
 
 It is not sufficient that every part of our appara- 
 tus should be visible and accessible from without, 
 and devoid of all fouling chambers and corners, but 
 it is above all necessary that, combined with the 
 utmost convenience and simplicity of action and 
 economy of construction, it should be so formed as 
 to ensure the complete automatic scouring of its 
 waste-pipes and trap without detriment to the water- 
 seal of the latter. 
 
 A suitable enlargement of the basin-outlet is all 
 that is necessary to produce the requisite scouring 
 action ; but the force of the out-flowing water-col- 
 umn is so great when the pipes are charged full- 
 bore that it will siphon out and completely destroy 
 the water-seal of an ordinary S trap unless it be 
 fully ventilated at or very near the crown, and it 
 will dangerously lower it even then. This is the 
 action which we have called u self-siphonage." No 
 injurious effect is produced on the seal of an anti- 
 siphon trap by self-siphonage, but the water is some- 
 what reduced in the trap below its normal level. It 
 is therefore desirable, and when S traps must be 
 used extremely important, that such a basin should 
 be so constructed as to enable it automatically to 
 restore the water, and in the following description 
 it will be seen that this has been accomplished. 
 
 The next important point is to obtain the utmost 
 simplicity of form and to provide for an overflow- 
 passage which shall be both visible and accessible. 
 We have established as the second datum of our 
 problem that the basin be fixed and single, and have 
 an independent, visible, and accessible overflow-pipe.
 
 56 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 It is important both for convenience and economy 
 that the opening in the marble slab covering our 
 basin should be circular or elliptic. These open- 
 ings are cut by machinery, and any form other than 
 these requires manual work, and at once increases 
 the cost of manufacture. Moreover, this form of 
 opening occupies the least space on the slab and 
 presents the most agreeable effect. A third datum 
 in our problem is, therefore, that the usual round 
 or elliptical form of the opening in the basin-slab 
 be retained. 
 
 Finally, as the overflow-outlet must be near the 
 top of the basin, some form of passageway which 
 shall extend from the top to the bottom must be 
 provided, and since this cannot be on the outside of 
 a fixed basin without being concealed by the slab, 
 it must be on the inside. Hence, as a fourth 
 datum, our overflow must have the general form of 
 a stand-pipe, and to be completely out of the way 
 of the user it must set in a recess under the slab at 
 the back of the basin, which must be perpendicular 
 at this point to receive it. 
 
 Fig. 28 represents the elevation and plan of our 
 stand-pipe overflow-basin, designed in accordance 
 with these data. The opening in the marble slab is 
 circular or elliptical. A smaller circle represents the 
 stand-pipe in a small recess at the rear of the bowl 
 under the slab. The recess is large enough to allow 
 easy cleansing without moving the stand-pipe ; and 
 yet not so large as to injure the appearance of the 
 bowl. The bottom of the basin pitches slightly 
 from the centre toward the outlet ; enough to thor- 
 oughly drain off the water at each discharge, and 
 yet not so much but that the last part is retarded 
 until the siphon formed by the main body is broken 
 by the air. The result is a restoration of the water- 
 seal of the trap, in case the trap be of a kind which
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 57 
 
 would in basins of ordinary form be destroyed by 
 self-siphonage. 
 
 The diameter of the brass outlet at the bottom of 
 the basin measures 2 inches in the clear, in order 
 to allow for the obstruction caused by the 
 strainer. The stand-pipe is raised and low- 
 ered by a simple weighted cam, arranged as shown 
 
 Fig. 28. The " Sanitas " stand-pipe overflow-basin. 
 
 in Fig. 29. The cam is pivoted close to the rod 
 which raises the stand-pipe, and its bearing sur- 
 face has the form of a parabola. Its proportions 
 and arrangement are such as to enable it to raise 
 the stand-pipe without perceptible friction. The 
 weight of the handle, about 6 ounces, under a 
 leverage of only an inch and a half (the length of 
 the horizontal bar) , is sufficient to overbalance the 
 stand-pipe and hold it raised. When the weight 
 is lifted, the stand-pipe is lowered and the outlet 
 closed. In this position the weight is directly over
 
 58 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 the pivot, so that the plug and stand-pipe overbal- 
 ance the weight and remain closed. Thus a single 
 movement of the hand 
 will open or close the out- 
 let and cause it to re- 
 main in the position in 
 which it is left. 
 
 The stand - pipe rod 
 passes through, and is 
 guided by. a short tube 
 threaded on the lower 
 end and provided with a 
 nut by which the brass- 
 work is secured to the 
 marble slab. This rend- 
 ers the brass work adjust- 
 able, that is, permits it to 
 be used with slabs of any 
 thickness, the slabs be- 
 ing perforated by a sin- 
 gle hole, as is usual for 
 the chainpost of ordinary 
 basins. The centre of the 
 hole in the slab comes over 
 that of the basin-outlet. 
 In order to ensure the plug on the stand-pipe 
 falling always into its socket, the strainer is 
 attached permanently to the stand-pipe plug, as 
 shown in the drawing. It thus serves as a guide for 
 it, and allows its being lifted out at pleasure 
 for cleansing purposes. It is thus possible to 
 remove the strainer, and reach the inner surface of 
 the waste-pipe as far down as to the trap itself. 
 Thus we have an apparatus, every part of which, 
 both inside and outside, is visible and accessible 
 without unscrewing or taking down any part of the 
 set fixture. 
 
 Fig. 29. Brasswork of the 
 " Sanltas " basin.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 .09 
 
 The stand-pipe with its plug and strainer may be 
 lifted out by simply unhooking it from the stand- 
 pipe rod. 
 
 P'igs. 30 and 31 show the appearance of the 
 apparatus in perspective. By these it will be ob- 
 served that the recess in the 
 basin and the stand-pipe are 
 covered by the marble, and do 
 not interfere with the general 
 form seen from above. The 
 stand-pipe measures about 3^ 
 inches in height and 1^ inches 
 in diameter. Hence its exte- 
 3wrior surface measures 13 
 square inches. Its superficial 
 area is, therefore, not so great as that of the ordi- 
 
 Fig. 31. Basin-set " open." 
 
 nary basin-chain. But while the chain cannot be
 
 60 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 cleansed on account of its intricate form, the 
 smooth surface of the stand-pipe, on the contrary, 
 can be surrounded and polished by a single move- 
 ment of a cloth or sponge. Ample room for the 
 scrubbing-cloth is provided between the stand-pipe 
 and the walls of its niche, so that both may be 
 cleansed without lifting out the former. 
 
 WASHBASINS, BATHTUBS, SINKS, ETC. 
 
 The criticisms we have made on washbasins 
 apply equally to bathtubs. No better flushing 
 apparatus could be devised for the branch waste- 
 
 rig. 32. " Sanitas " ball). 
 
 pipes than a properly constructed bathtub with a 
 large outlet. As we have found the case with 
 washbasins, so with bathtubs : the best form of dis- 
 charge and overflow is the open stand-pipe ; and 
 the most convenient method of operating it is by
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 61 
 
 the weighted cam already described. The cut, Fig. 
 32, shows the arrangement in perspective. Part of 
 the floor in front of the bathtub is designed with 
 hinges to lift upward and give access to the trap. 
 
 Fig. 33. Transverse section of tub. 
 
 The stand-pipe sets in a recess at the back 
 of the tub. The whole length of the tub is thus 
 rendered available, and no part of the outlet mech- 
 anism stands in the way of the feet of the bather. 
 In ordinary bathtubs the stand-pipe is set six or 
 eight inches from the back into the tub. It has to 
 be lifted out by hand when the tub is emptied, and 
 a place found for it. This constant shifting of the 
 stand-pipe is not only troublesome but liable to 
 cause injury to the tub itself. In careless handling 
 the heavy pipe is often dropped into the tub, where- 
 by the thin copper is permanently dented and 
 marred. By the "Sanitas" fitting all handling is 
 avoided. The supply-cocks may, of course, enter 
 the upright end of the tub, or be placed above it 
 out of the way as shown in the drawing.
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 Figs. 33 and 34 show the tub in section, and 
 Fig. 3o in plan. The finished wooden top or 
 slab of the tub has the usual form, as shown by the 
 dotted lines in the latter figure. The tub itself has 
 also the usual shape, except as to the semicircular 
 recess for the reception of the stand-pipe. 
 
 In all plumbing work it is of the first importance 
 that every inch should be accessible, and, where 
 possible, every inch visible without unscrewing or 
 undoing any part of the work. Therefore when- 
 ever a bathtub is cased in, all parts of the piping 
 should be accessible through hinged panels. 
 
 Fig. 34. Longitudinal section of tub. 
 
 It will always be found best to follow the custom 
 of many plumbers and builders of raising the bath- 
 tub four inches or more above the floor on pieces of 
 studding, as shown. This renders access to the trap 
 much easier. A bathtub raised six or eight inches 
 would be still better. It should stand 2 feet, 2 
 inches, or 2 feet, 4 inches, above the floor up to the 
 top of the finished woodwork. This would require
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 63 
 
 the use of studs 6 inches or 8 inches thick under 
 the rough woodwork of the tub. The writer 
 has, for many years, used a tub set even 
 higher than this, and finds it equally if not more 
 convenient in usage. 
 
 Fig. 35. Plan of the " Sanitas " tub. 
 
 A small piece of sheet lead, about eight inches 
 square with its edges turned up an inch all round 
 and soldered to form a water-tight tray, may be set 
 under the trap, as shown, to catch the water when the 
 cup is removed for examination of the interior. Or 
 a saucer or dustpan may be used for the purpose. 
 But the best plan is to place the bathtub trap in full 
 sight below the plaster of the ceiling of the bathroom 
 or china-closet below. 
 
 It is not desirable, as some writers on sanitary 
 plumbing urge, that the bathtub should stand open 
 on legs without wooden casing, because the bath- 
 tub must set so near the floor that the space under 
 it if left open would be hardly more than a crack. 
 Dust would collect under it, and though, with 
 prouer care, it would be quite possible to remove it 
 with the proper form of swab or broom, yet we 
 know that places so difficult of access would be 
 neglected bv servants. The very reason which would 
 induce us to leave, in some cases, the washstand 
 without casing would lead us to case up the bathtub,
 
 64 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 that is, to avoid dirt and dust corners. In either 
 case, whether the tub be sheathed in or not, its 
 trap, being wholly or partly under the floor-level, 
 would have to be approached through movable 
 panels, so that no advantage on this score would be 
 gained by leaving the bathtub open. 
 
 Fig. 36. Iron bathtub with "Sanltas " waste. 
 
 In Europe where copper baths are made of metal 
 heavy enough to stand alone without a wooden 
 frame, the custom prevails of allowing them to 
 stand free on the floor. But in this country where 
 tinned and planished copper sheets weighing only 
 from ten to twenty-four ounces a square foot are 
 used, a rough frame is required to support it. 
 This requires a casing of finished wood and the 
 casing should extend to the floor. 
 
 Porcelain baths of English manufacture are also 
 used in this country to a certain extent and gener- 
 ally stand open. Their high cost and great weight 
 prevent their general adoption. They have, more- 
 over, the disadvantage of being cold to the touch 
 and of lowering the temperature of hot water when
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 65 
 
 it is used in them. Porcelain-lined iron tubs are 
 also manufactured here and are made to stand open 
 without casing. The liability to " scaling" of the 
 enamel is their only serious objection. Slate and 
 marble tubs are also made, the slabs being con- 
 nected with cement. 
 
 Fig. 36 represents a porcelain-lined iron bath- 
 tub standing open. 
 
 SHOWER-BATHS. 
 
 Fig. 37 represents a shower-bath. It stands free 
 in the corner of the bathing-room, which has a dished 
 or sunken floor to receive it. Jets are arranged on 
 all sides as well as above and below. 
 
 The shower-bath is an agreeable luxury for sum- 
 mer use ; but for winter houses it is not so much to 
 be recommended. The shock produced by sprays 
 of cold water upon the body standing inactive is 
 dangerous ; and the use of warm water in the 
 shower-bath in winter, without intelligent precau- 
 tions, is also objectionable. For these reasons 
 shower-baths are now seldom used in city houses in 
 the North. 
 
 The usual form of shower-bath consists in a 
 simple rose-nozzle arranged overhead to throw per- 
 pendicular jets downwards. There are, however, a 
 very great variety of forms and arrangements of 
 shower-bath in use. Sometimes, in combination 
 with the simple rose-nozzle above, a lower nozzle is 
 provided with a rubber hose in such a manner that 
 the lower jets may be applied in any desired direc- 
 tion. Sometimes the end of the bath-tub is raised 
 high enough to enclose the shower-bath as in a 
 niche. Lateral as well as perpendicular jets may 
 be used within this niche, in which the bather may 
 sit or stand. Sometimes the rose-nozzle is fur-
 
 66 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 nished with special " needle" outlets throwing 
 strong sharp jets in addition to the drops from the 
 sprinkler. To give varying pressure the cistern is 
 
 Fig. 37. Needle shower-bath. 
 
 sometimes hung in such a manner that it may lie 
 raised or lowered at will bv means of pulleys. 
 
 Fig. 38 illustrates the manner in which the 
 overflow-passage of a bathtub may become foul. 
 Colonel Waring, in his article on " The Principles 
 and Practice of House Drainage," in the November 
 and December numbers of The Century Magazine for
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 67 
 
 1884, speaking of concealed overflow -passages, 
 says : ' ' They are practically never reached by a 
 strong flushing stream, and their walls accumulate 
 tilth and slime to a degree that would hardly be be- 
 lieved ; . . . they are more often than any other 
 part of the plumbing work, except the urinal, the 
 source of the offensive drain-smell 
 so often observed on first coming 
 into a house from the fresh air. 
 ... It will, perhaps, be instruc- 
 tive to illustrate by a diagram 
 the reason why the usual hidden 
 overflow is so objectionable. . . . 
 If we suppose the tub to be filled 
 to the level of the overflow and Fig 38 Colu . eal( , (1 
 its waste-plug to be removed, the overflow, 
 
 water will immediately rise in the overflow-pipe to 
 very nearly its height in the tub. It is, of course, 
 impregnated with the impurities of the water in 
 the bath. Furthermore, the lighter particles of 
 organic matter flowing through the waste will, 
 some of them, rise by their levity into the overflow- 
 pipe. The water rushes up into this pipe with 
 much force, but it descends only very slowly as 
 the level in the bath descends, so that at each 
 operation there is a tendency to deposit adhesive 
 matters to the walls of the pipe. What is so 
 deposited decomposes, and escapes little by little in 
 a gaseous form through the perforated screen into 
 the air of the room. The amount of these decom- 
 posing matters is somewhat increased, though prob- 
 ably not very much, by floating particles passing 
 through the screen when the overflowing is perform- 
 ing its legitimate function." 
 
 "This is the simplest statement of the proposition, 
 and this is, perhaps, the least objectionable form of
 
 68 THE PRINCIPLES OK 
 
 hidden overflow. Where the waste-pipe is closed 
 at the bottom of the overflow by a plug or valve 
 attached to a spindle rising through the overflow- 
 pipe, a very favorite device with some plumbers, 
 the difficulty is in every way aggravated, and the 
 amount of fouled surface is much increased. The 
 inherent defect here illustrated attaches to every 
 overflow of this general character connected with 
 any part of the plumbing work. In the case of a 
 bathtub it may very easily be avoided, as shown in 
 the next diagram." Colonel Waring then illustrates 
 and explains the ordinary stand-pipe arrangement, 
 and says : " Unfortunately such a substitute for 
 the ordinary overflow is not applicable to washbowls 
 as now made. 1 It may be made available for pantrv- 
 sinks if the pipe can be so placed in a corner as not 
 to interfere with the proper use of the vessel. If its 
 universal adoption for bathtubs could be secured, a 
 very widespread source of mild nuisance would be 
 done away with. Fortunately, it is far cheaper than 
 any arrangement for which it is a substitute. It is 
 one of its incidental uses that it enables us to get 
 rid of the dirty chain attached to the ordinary bath- 
 plug." 
 
 The size of the trap for bathtubs should never 
 exceed that of the outlet and waste pipe. A 1 J inch 
 trap is large enough for any bathtub or washbasin. 
 The proper size for traps and waste-pipes of differ- 
 ent fixtures is a matter which is very little under- 
 stood. This ignorance has its origin in the faulty 
 construction of the outlets, which are always entirely 
 too small. A very simple and self-evident rule is 
 that no trap except a water-closet trap should be 
 larger or smaller than the waste-pipe at its most con- 
 
 1 This was written before the " Sanitas " basin was put on the 
 market.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 69 
 
 tracted point and no fixture outlet should be smaller 
 (in its clear water-way) at any part than the trap. 
 In no other way can the pipes and traps be properly 
 flushed or the fixtures emptied with the desired 
 rapidity. Hence, since we find the best size for 
 waste-pipes for all lavatories is 1 inch or 1^ inch in 
 inside diameter, except in certain cases hereafter to 
 be referred to, no trap should be greater or smaller 
 than this. Moreover it is very important to bear 
 in mind that the measure of a trap is the 
 diameter of its inlet and outlet pipes at their smallest 
 part. Traps are arbitrarily measured without regard 
 to their real discharging capacity, but generally 
 from the diameter of the inlet-pipe at its lower end, 
 which is in most cases much larger than the smallest 
 part of the trap. Many traps are sold as IJ-inch 
 traps which are contracted at some point to seven 
 eighths of an inch or even five eighths of an inch. 
 
 The size of a trap, then, is evidently the size of its 
 smallest part, since this part governs its capacity 
 for discharge. 
 
 Guided by these principles we have the following 
 rule : The discharging capacity of the outlet of every 
 fixture should be great enough to fill its waste-pipe 
 "full-bore," and the size or capacity of the trap 
 should equal that of the outlet. 
 
 PANTRY-SINKS . 
 
 Pantry-sinks, like bathtubs, may be classified in 
 the same manner we have done for washbasins ; and 
 here again the open stand-pipe overflow is by far 
 the best and most convenient form. These sinks 
 should be constructed of tinned and planished cop- 
 per weighing from sixteen to twenty ounces to the 
 square foot. Iron and earthenware sinks are made ; 
 but they are objectionable as exposing the dishes
 
 70 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 and glassware to greater danger of breakage. For 
 this reason, also, cherry slabs are preferable to 
 marble. 
 
 Fig. 39 represents an oblong pantry-sink with 
 a stand-pipe overflow set under the slab as has been 
 recommended for bathtubs and washbasins. The 
 whole is set open to allow of easy inspection of all 
 parts. 
 
 Fig. 39. " Sanitas " pantry-sink. 
 
 The waste-pipe should never exceed one and one- 
 quarter or one and one-half inch in diameter ; and 
 the outlet should have a capacity large enough to 
 fill this pipe full-bore. The sink should be trapped 
 with an antisiphon trap of the size of the waste- 
 pipe. 
 
 There are plumbers who still ignorantly insist 
 that a pot-trap is suitable for sinks on account of 
 the formation of grease. Let us examine the man- 
 ner in which a pot-trap deals with this material. 
 Does it collect the grease and preserve it in its 
 body until such a time as it may become convenient 
 to remove it, or does it in some wav alter its chemical
 
 DRAINAGE. 
 
 71 
 
 constitution so as to deprive it of its power to clog 
 the drains? It is evident, upon the slightest reflec- 
 tion, that it can do neither. It isnotlarge enough to 
 materially cool the grease nor to retain any consider- 
 able amount in its receiver. It could not intercept as 
 much grease, even if it were completely stuffed up 
 with it, as would pass through the sink of a large 
 establishment, such as a hotel, or clubhouse, in a 
 day. or of a small house in a fortnight. 
 
 The outlet-arm leaves the body of the trap very 
 near its top, as near as the solder jointing will 
 allow. Hence, since grease is lighter than water, 
 it will rise to the top of the trap and the first that 
 collects there in any large quantity will necessarily 
 obstruct the passage of the 
 water. The trap can only 
 retain in its body the small 
 quantity of grease which 
 would fill the corners remote 
 from the outlet -arm, as 
 shown in Fig. 40. The 
 heavier matters carried into 
 the trap along with the grease 
 fall, on the other hand, to 
 the bottom. These matters 
 consist of bits of meat, bone, 
 and vegetable. They form a 
 
 foul sediment on the bottom of the trap and rapidly 
 putrefy. The force of the water is generally suffi- 
 cient to keep a passageway open for itself for a 
 considerable length of time. Hence, after the 
 corners have become filled with the black and rot- 
 ting mass, the grease will pass through this trap 
 exactly as it would through an ordinary S trap. 
 
 Having no proper tools to unscrew the tightly 
 sticking cleanout cap, the owner, after vainly ham- 
 
 Fig. 40. Pot-trap fouled.
 
 72 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 mering at, and disfiguring, the brasswork with such 
 unsuitable instrument as he can lay hands on, is 
 obliged to send for the plumber. 
 
 In short, it stands to reason, and is borne out in 
 fact, that an ordinary pot-trap has really no merit 
 whatever as a sink or grease-trap. It is neither 
 large enough to cool and retain all the grease nor 
 small enough to let it all pass. To cool the grease 
 enough to harden it before it passes into the waste- 
 pipes beyond the trap requires a large cesspool or 
 regular grease-trap. In many cases it is better to dis- 
 pose of the grease by sudden and powerful flushing. 
 The best apparatus I know of for this purpose is 
 the flush-pot, which is nothing more than a sinkage 
 with strainer in the bottom of the sink, so arranged 
 as to hold the waste-water until it may be be dis- 
 charged, like a flush-tank, to scour the pipes and 
 hurry away the grease in an irresistible torrent to 
 the drains. 2 
 
 Many plumbers are very fond of the pot-trap, 
 just as in old times they were fond of its near kin- 
 dred, the foul D trap, and, until lately, of the 8 
 trap, because they were able to make them by hand 
 in spare moments on a "rainy day." But, in the 
 long run, what is best for the public is best for the 
 plumber. Every additional complication of the 
 plumbing, and everything which detracts from its 
 convenience, safety, and reliability, diminishes the 
 amount of plumbing the public will allow in their 
 houses, casts discredit on the art, and distrust on 
 the plumber. 
 
 Pot-traps, like S traps, are, however, now also 
 made by machinery. Moreover, new conditions 
 have originated new occupation for the plumbers' 
 
 8 The "Dececo" flush-pot is manufactured by the "Drainage 
 Construction Co.," Newport, R. I. An excellent form of flush-pot 
 is described by Wm. Paul Gerhard, C.E., in his " Domestic Sanitary 
 Appliances."
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 73 
 
 spare moments on " rainy days." The use of the 
 flanged iron soil-pipe furnishes him with this de- 
 sideratum. The lead rings for the joints are cast 
 in the plumber's shop as occasion demands in small, 
 simple moulds furnished by the manufacturers for 
 the purpose. The plumber casts in leisure moments 
 a stock of these rings large enough to last him 
 through the busy seasons, and finds no reason to 
 complain of the machine-making of the pot- trap. 
 Ultimately, it is probable that the S trap, except 
 
 Fig. 41. Laundry-tubs. 
 
 for water-closets, and the pot- trap, machine as well 
 as hand made, will disappear from good plumbing 
 work altogether. 
 
 LAUNDRY-TUBS. 
 
 Laundry -tubs are made of wood, soapstone, gal- 
 vanized iron, enameled iron, and porcelain. 
 
 Wooden tubs should only be used in places where 
 their use is constant ; otherwise they shrink in the 
 intervals of disuse and become dirty and leaky.
 
 74 THE PRINCIPLES OF HOIM: DKAIXACK. 
 
 Soapstone sinks are most widely used on account 
 of economy and their general serviceableness. 
 
 The handsomest and best, as well as the most 
 expensive, are the heavy porcelain travs shown in 
 Fig. 41. A single one and a half -inch antisiphon 
 trap is sufficient for an entire set of laundry trays, 
 but no pot- trap should ever be used. 
 
 The discharging capacity or size of the bore of 
 a trap should always be very nearlv as great as that 
 of the waste-pipes to which it is connected, in order 
 that its water discharge may thoroughly scour the 
 pipes. The fixture-outlet should also always be 
 large enough to fill the waste-pipes and trap full- 
 bore, in order to allow of their proper flushing every 
 time the fixture is used, and also to effect a rapid 
 emptying of the fixture. 
 
 When a washbasin is constructed with a very 
 contracted outlet, the discharge will be very slow 
 and the pipes will accumulate sediment. If a trap 
 having a very small outlet, smaller even than that of 
 the basin, be used with such a basin, the discharge 
 will sometimes be more rapid than when a properly 
 constructed trap is used, because the waste-pipe 
 between the basin-outlet and the contracted trap 
 will be filled full-bore and create a strong suction 
 which will assist in emptying the basin. When the 
 plumber is obliged to set a " Sanitas " trap under 
 one of these ill-constructed basins with contracted 
 outlet, and finds the discharge sluggish, the rapidity 
 may be increased by contracting the waste just at its 
 point of junction with the body of the trap, until 
 he trap has a discharging capacity less than that of 
 the basin-outlet. This practice is, however, not to 
 be recommended. It is better to have a full-sized 
 trap, even if the basin discharges slowlv. But the 
 only proper course is to obtain basins which have 
 properly constructed outlets.
 
 WATER-CLOSETS. 
 
 We have used plunger-closets in our tests for 
 siphonage because these closets produce the se- 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
 verest siphoning action. It is probable that some 
 forms of valve-closets would come very near them, 
 however, in this effect. But valve and plunger
 
 7fi 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 closets, like pan-closets and mechanical seal traps, 
 are now condemned by sanitarians as unsanitary 
 and far inferior to simple hoppers. 
 
 Fig. 43. Valve-closet. 
 
 Fig. 42 represents in section the ordinary pan- 
 closet. Enough has been said by all who have any 
 knowledge of, or interest in, sanitary plumbing 
 about the evils of this form of fixture : its large and 
 foul receiver, which never becomes cleansed except 
 when the closet is taken^apart and subjected to ere-
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 77 
 
 mation ; its complicated form and noisy action ; its 
 flimsy construction and its numerous vent-holes for 
 the admission into the house of the unwholesome 
 odors generated in the receiver. All are becoming 
 aware of the dangers arising from these defects, and 
 it is unnecessary for me to dwell upon them. The 
 one single reason why the pan-closet, with its com- 
 plicated machinery and the fifty-one distinct pieces 
 
 Fig. 44. Plunger-closet. 
 
 required to construct it, is sold so much cheaper 
 than other kinds is because these materials are of 
 the thinnest and^ flimsiest character, and no attempt 
 is made to prevent the diffusion of its foul gases 
 through the pan-journal bearings and the opening 
 made by the pan in usage. 
 
 Figs. 43 and 44 represent respectively types of 
 the valve and plunger closets. These closets are 
 equally complicated in construction with the pan- 
 closet and are equally objectionable in the theory 
 of their construction. Practically they are better 
 made, because most of those in use are patented 
 articles. Being of more solid and honest construc- 
 tion they command a higher price ; but they are
 
 78 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 very liable to leak and get out of order, and are no 
 longer recommended by unbiased judges. 
 
 A few years ago, before systematic ventilation of 
 the sewers and soil-pipes became universal, a tight- 
 fitting valve or plunger might have served a good 
 purpose in resisting back-pressure, and, as these 
 closets were at first built without overflows, the 
 valve or plunger performed in a measure an actual 
 service in reducing the chances of sewer-gas leak- 
 age. 
 
 Now, however, the circumstances are altered. It 
 is found that an overflow is necessary in these closets 
 and this overflow-passage is rarely provided with a 
 mechanical closure. Hence any gases which could 
 pass an ordinary water-seal could pass through these 
 closets by way of the overflow-passage quite regard- 
 less of and quite as easily as if the valve or plunger 
 in the trap never existed. Moreover, the ventilation 
 of the sewer and soil pipes renders back-pressure 
 under ordinary conditions impossible, so that the 
 onlv useful office which the valve or plunger could 
 perform in relation to sewer-gas is no longer called 
 for. 
 
 The valve and plunger evidently cannot prevent 
 the loss of water-seal from siphouage, momentum, 
 evaporation, or suction, even where the overflow- 
 passage is closed by a ball, as is the case with some 
 of the Jennings valve and plunger closets ; for 
 siphonage, momentum, and suction act in the 
 direction in which the overflow-ball or valve is 
 opened, and evaporation is chiefly due to trap ven- 
 tilation. Moreover, the tightness of a valve or 
 plunger against its seat can never be implicitly re- 
 lied on. They are always liable to leak, and could 
 never be fitted with such microscopic accuracy as to 
 prevent the passage of any microorganisms the
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 79 
 
 bacteria, or disease-germs, or their spores which 
 might be iu the water, through the minute openings 
 which exist between the particles forming the valve 
 and its seat. 
 
 The only object of the valve or plunger, there- 
 fore, is to retain a certain quantity of water in the 
 bowl so long as they remain in working order. But 
 it is found that this result can be accomplished 
 equally well and much more reliably by simpler 
 means. 
 
 The receiver or container of these closets is open 
 to the same objections as that of the pan, differing 
 only in degree, and the overflow-passage, not 
 required in the latter, forms a second filth-collector, 
 and increases the cost and complexity of the closet. 
 
 HOPPER-CLOSETS. 
 
 For the before - men- 
 Itioned reasons sanitarians 
 are united in condemning 
 all mechanical seal-closets 
 and in recommending the 
 improved hopper - closet. 
 
 The old style of hopper, 
 commonlv designated the 
 
 Fig.45. The 8hort hopper, i. l ong " and short" 
 
 hoppers, are objectionable as providing no sufficiently 
 large body of standing water for the reception of 
 the soil. The sides of the bowl in these kinds be- 
 come rapidly fouled, and this form of hopper is 
 never to be recommended except where the circum- 
 stances require the use of pails for flushing. They 
 are not fit for the better class of houses because the 
 trouble necessary to keep them clean will not be 
 endured ; nor for the poorer class, because the 
 trouble will not be taken and the closet soon be-
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 comes a nuisance in the house. Or if, by exception, 
 cleanliness in this direction be insisted upon, the 
 extra labor and consumption of water soon offsets 
 the saving in first cost. 
 
 IMPROVED HOPPER-CLOSETS. 
 
 There are several forms of improved hopper 
 water-closets, among which the best are the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 a^oi 
 
 Fig. 46. Ordinary " wash-out " closet. 
 
 Fig. 46 represents an ordinary wash-out closet. 
 It contains the large surface of standing water for 
 the reception and deodonzation of the soil. The 
 flushing-stream sweeps across the bottom of the 
 bowl with great force and drives the wastes before it 
 into the trap. Whether or not the trap itself be 
 emptied depends upon the length of time the flush- 
 ing is continued after the bowl is cleared.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 SI 
 
 The objections to this form of hopper are : (a) 
 the presence of the extended pipe surface between 
 the bowl and the trap, and the inaccessibility and 
 invisibility of the latter ; (6) its extravagant con- 
 sumption of water, the waste matters often whirling 
 about some time in the bowl before they are driven 
 out ; (c) its excessive noisiness in action ; and finally 
 (d), the spattering occasioned by the violence of 
 the flushing. 
 
 i ; } Fig. 47 repre- 
 
 sents a closet con- 
 structed with a 
 double trap, one 
 below the other. 
 This water-closet, 
 which is called the 
 "Tidal -Wave," 
 works on the 
 principle of the 
 siphon. The air 
 between the traps 
 is exhausted by 
 the action of the 
 valve and cistern. 
 
 Fig. 47. Uoyle's " tidal-wave " water-closet. -phis unites the 
 
 two bodies of water in the traps and forms the siphon 
 which empties the bowl. This apparatus has lately 
 been considerably improved by its manufacturers, 
 and as now made forms a very excellent closet. 
 
 Fig. 48 represents the " Dececo " closet. This 
 is a simple and effective apparatus, and works on 
 the principle of the Field's flush-tank. 
 
 A weir-chamber is used below the trap to assist 
 in charging the siphon. The weir-chamber is just 
 below the floor. In order to charge the siphon the 
 water is let into the basin through the supply-pipe 
 and the flushing-rim until it overflows the outlet of
 
 82 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 the trap and falls into the weir-chamber below. 
 This closes the inlet of the weir-chamber before it 
 can escape through the outlet and prevents the air 
 from entering the siphon. The air already there is 
 carried out by the current of water and the siphon 
 is formed. As soon as the water in the bowl 
 descends to the bottom of the dip of the trap air 
 follows it and breaks the siphon. 
 
 Fig. 48. " Dececo " water-closet. 
 
 The bowl is then refilled by the afterwash. This 
 closet is an ingenious one ; it is simple and durable, 
 and the later and better forms seem to produce in- 
 variably the siphonic action in the manner described, 
 giving the requisite flushing without spattering or 
 waste of water. It should not be used as an ash- 
 barrel or receptacle for all kinds of rubbish. When
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 properly used it is a closet which never needs 
 repair. 
 
 Compared with the " wash-out" closet of Fig. 40, 
 these points of advantage arc to be noted here : 
 (1) The depth of water in the bowl is much 
 greater where depth is needed to receive and deod- 
 orize the soil. (2) The trap is in sight and the 
 walls of the outlet are under water and are odorless 
 instead of the reverse, as in the " wash-out" closet, 
 (o) The water-seal in the trap is twice as deep 
 and therefore better able to resist the influence of 
 siphonage, etc. 
 
 THE " SANITAS" WATER-CLOSET. 
 
 Figs. 49, 50, and 51 represent in section and plan 
 the " Sanitas " water-closet. The form is absolutely 
 
 Rear: 
 
 Fronf 
 
 Fig. 49. Longitudinal section. 
 
 simple. The bowl and trap are one and the same 
 thing, inasmuch as each forms the other. The 
 Hushing is accomplished without machinery of any 
 kind in the closet, but by the pressure of the water 
 only, and the quantity of water required is reduced 
 to a minimum. The supply-pipe (see Fig. 50) enters 
 the bowl below the normal level of the standing 
 water therein, and stands permanently full of water
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 Fig. 51. Plan.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 85 
 
 up to the cistern- valve. This water is held in the 
 supply-pipe by atmospheric pressure, the pipe being 
 closed at the 'top by the cistern-valve and at the 
 bottom by the water in the closet-bowl. The lower 
 end of the supply-pipe is perforated at two places 
 
 . 52. Front view. 
 
 independent of each other : first, at a point inter- 
 mediate between the overflow of the trap and its 
 dip ; and, second, at the bottom of the trap. The 
 first supplies water to the flushing-rim, and the 
 second furnishes a jet which lifts part of the water 
 out of the trap and bowl by its propelling power. 
 Since both jets enter below the level of a large 
 body of standing water in the bowl, they act noise- 
 lessly, and, as the supply-pipe stands always full, 
 they act instantly, and the flushing of the closet is
 
 86 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 very rapid. The operation is as follows : Upon 
 opening the cistern-valve the water in the supply- 
 pipe is instantly set in motion by the pressure of 
 the atmosphere on the surface of the cistern and 
 escapes through the two orifices in powerful jets. The 
 lower jet removes part of the water from the trap 
 and causes the water and waste matters in the 
 water-closet to sink into the neck of the bowl. 
 Meanwhile the upper jet fills the passage leading to 
 the flushing-rim, and, descending into the neck of 
 the bowl, falls upon and drives out the waste 
 matters collected in the neck without noise or waste 
 of water. The action is almost instantaneous. 
 The cistern-valve being again closed, movement in 
 the supply-pipe immediately ceases, and the water 
 in the flushing-rim and passages leading thereto falls 
 back into the closet and restores the normal level 
 of the standing water in the bowl and trap. 
 
 The form of the closet-bowl is such that the sur- 
 face of the standing water therein is very large. It 
 has the shape best calculated to receive and 
 deodorize the waste matters falling into it. The 
 water is deepest at the back of the closet, and 
 very deep at the point where the wastes strike. 
 All parts of the trap and bowl are easily accessible 
 from the bowl itself, and there is no superfluous 
 space and no surface which is not thoroughly 
 scoured by the flushing-streams in the normal usage 
 of the closet. There is no invisible trap below the 
 bowl, and when the closet appears to be flushed 
 clean it is so. 
 
 This closet can be easily flushed in one second by 
 less than a gallon and a half of water. There are 
 several advantages in having the supply -pipe of a 
 closet enter below the level of the water in the bowl 
 and closed above with a valve without air-pipe so
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 87 
 
 that it shall remain always full of water. In the 
 first place its action is instantaneous and noiseless. 
 The water does not have to fall from the cistern to 
 the closet before it begins to work. In the second 
 place the friction of air in the pipe is avoided and 
 the water exerts at once its full power in discharging 
 the waste matters. Hence a very considerable 
 economy of water is the result. As already stated, 
 the upper orifice is placed below the level of the 
 standing water in the closet-bowl, but above the 
 dip of the trap. This position of the upper jet gives 
 us another very important advantage. Should the 
 water in the closet be lowered by evaporation or 
 siphonage below the upper orifice, air will at once 
 enter the supply-pipe through this orifice and water 
 will then descend from the pipe into the closet 
 through the lower orifice, until the upper orifice is 
 again covered, and the seal of the trap is thus auto- 
 matically maintained by the water in the supply- 
 pipe. This pipe may be made capacious enough to 
 restore the seal as often as it is likely ever to re- 
 quire it. A pipe 1 or If inches in diameter and 
 six feet long will contain water enough to secure the 
 seal against destruction by evaporation for a great 
 many months, even in the dryest and hottest weather. 
 Hence the closet may be left to itself in city houses 
 for the entire summer's vacation, without fear on 
 this score, and the danger of a loss of seal through 
 siphonage is also reduced to a minimum. The seal 
 of this closet is over three inches deep. Such a seal 
 is difficult to break by siphonage, even without the 
 use of our automatic supply-pipe, which I have 
 called the " Sanitas " water-closet supply-pipe. 
 
 It will be observed that the closet is provided with 
 a ventilation opening near the crown of the trap. 
 This ventilation will seldom if ever be required to
 
 88 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 prevent external siphoning action. But it is useful to 
 break the siphon which would be formed in the 
 closet-trap itself during the flushing, and thereby 
 prevent the noise which the formation of such a 
 siphon would occasion in use. 
 
 Hence, where it is desired to have the closet act 
 noiselessly, a short, two-inch vent-pipe should be 
 used to connect the crown of the trap with the soil- 
 pipe immediately on a line with it or with any other 
 convenient point of the soil-pipe near by. Moreover, 
 the law at present in some cities requires every trap 
 to be vented regardless of consequences. So that 
 such a vent-opening may at times be needed to con- 
 form to the requirements of this arbitrary and ill- 
 considered provision. It will also be observed that 
 the closet is provided with a cistern-overflow con- 
 nection which may serve also when desired for a 
 bowl ventilation pipe connection. 
 
 An important advantage in having the trap and 
 bowl of a water-closet combined in this simple form 
 is that they may be easily emptied in winter to pre- 
 vent freezing. This is particularly desirable in the 
 case of summer residences which are closed up in 
 winter. The water may be easily sponged or 
 pumped out of this closet without taking it apart, 
 whereas closets having inaccessible traps under the 
 bowl or floor cannot be emptied or cleansed without 
 taking the apparatus to pieces, and in the case of 
 many forms of wash-out closets where the trap 
 under the bowl is in a single piece of earthenware 
 with the bowl, the emptying or cleansing of the trap 
 is either very difficult or altogether impossible. 
 
 The upper flushing is accomplished without spat- 
 tering because the pressure of the upper jet is 
 relieved at the upper orifice, and the water quietly 
 overflows the rim of the bowl. Fig. 52 gives a 
 front view of the u Sanitas " closet.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 89 
 
 LATRINES AND TROUGH WATER-CLOSETS 
 
 are designed for use in public places where an 
 attendant can be employed to take constant charge 
 of them, and where water is so abundant that its 
 extravagant consumption is no disadvantage. 
 Trough water-closets consist of a long reservoir or 
 trough, inclined toward one end, where a discharge- 
 plug is placed, and having a single or double row 
 of water-closet seats placed over it, so that all the 
 
 Fig. 53. Latrines. 
 
 closets are flushed together, or, in other words, so 
 that the flushing of one necessitates the flushing of 
 all the rest in the series connected with it. They 
 are constructed in different manners, either of 
 brickwork having vertical sides and rounded bottom, 
 or of iron, usually enameled. 
 
 Latrines (Fig. 53) are practically trough water- 
 closets having the trough diminished in size, and a 
 bowl or funnel discharging into it under each seat. 
 The bowls are constructed of earthenware or white 
 enameled iron, and the trough or pipe with which 
 they are connected is made of iron, and has a trap 
 at its end under the discharge-plug. In the figure
 
 90 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 the discharge-plug is hollow, and consists of a 
 stand-pipe with overflow-passage through it. The 
 height of the overflow regulates the position of the 
 standing water in the bowls. The plunger or dis- 
 charge-plug is under the control of the attendant, 
 who flushes the closets as often as he considers it 
 advisable. The bowls are so constructed that the 
 waste matters fall directly into the standing water, 
 and nothing strikes their dry sides ; they are thus 
 partially deodorized. But the liquid and soluble 
 portions of the solid wastes, which are allowed by 
 the faithful attendant to remain for some length of 
 time in the latrines, as well for the sake of 
 economizing water as to enable him to attend to his 
 other duties, soon precipitate a slimy deposit all 
 along the inner surface of the closet, and particu- 
 larly around the plunger-chamber. This is not 
 easily removed, and always forms more or less of 
 a nuisance. In most cases it will be found much 
 better to provide, instead of latrines, a row of good 
 hopper-closets, with treadle, door, or seat attach- 
 ment for automatic flushing, if desired. 
 
 SLOP-SINKS, SLOP-HOPPER SINKS, AND SLOP-HOPPERS. 
 
 Figures 54 and 55 represent two kinds of fix- 
 tures designed for the reception of slops. These 
 have no means provided for the flushing of the 
 walls of the sink. Either may be provided 
 with a flushing-rim for the purpose. But the use 
 of the flushing-rim in private houses is oftener 
 neglected than observed. Servants will not take the 
 trouble to thoroughly cleanse the slop-hopper at 
 every usage, and it soon begins to emit a disgusting 
 odor. In hotels or large clubhouses, where their 
 use is constant and under systematic supervision, 
 where special attendants are detailed to take charge
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 91 
 
 of them, and where each story is independently pro- 
 vided with a separate slop-hopper, their use may 
 be recommended ; but in private houses they should 
 
 Fig. 54. Slop-sink. 
 
 never be allowed. A good hopper water-closet, 
 with a strong enameled iron drip-tray to protect 
 
 Fig. 55. Slop-hopper sink. 
 
 the bowl, is much better, inasmuch as, while it 
 serves the purposes of the slop-hopper equally well, 
 it escapes its objections in ensuring a periodic flush-
 
 92 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 ing. Every time the closet is used for the pur- 
 poses of nature it is thoroughly flushed, and even 
 slops are much seldomer allowed to stand in the 
 bowl, because their pi-esence would be immediately 
 detected by the next regular user of the water- 
 closet, and the damage would be likely to "recoil 
 upon the head of the offender." It is customary in 
 private houses to place the slop-sink in the attic, 
 but no house-owner can give any better reason for 
 its existence than that he had seen it in some other 
 houses. When valve, pan, and plunger closets were 
 used to the exclusion of the more modern hopper, 
 the slop-sink had a certain raison d'etre. In these 
 closets, especially those requiring an overflow-pas- 
 sage, the closure of the outlet is apt to cause an 
 overflow of the slops when a large pailful is poured 
 in quickly. But the modern hopper-closet has a 
 clear, open passageway into the drains, and, being 
 provided with the most improved form of flushing 
 apparatus, is, in fact, the best form of slop-hopper 
 that has been devised. Some persons who have 
 insisted, even contrary to the advice of their archi- 
 tect or sanitary engineer (who now unite in con- 
 demning them), upon having the customary slop- 
 sink duly installed in their attics, wishing to have 
 at least an appearance of a reason for their way- 
 wardness, urge that the virtue of the slop-sink lies 
 in the strainer : this serves to prevent the obstruc- 
 tion of the drain by scrubbing-brushes, rags, large 
 cakes of soap, or other household articles used in 
 scrubbing, capable of clogging the soil-pipe, which 
 a careless servant might throw with the slops into the 
 sink. This office of the strainer is certainly a use- 
 ful one, and if every story in the house contained a 
 slop-sink provided with such a guard, and every 
 water-closet had a movable or portable strainer
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 93 
 
 endowed with sufficient intelligence to close the out- 
 let only when slops were poured in, the soil-pipes 
 might really be protected from the gross careless- 
 ness our friends so much feared. But as such a 
 profusion of slop-sinks and strainers is evidently 
 impossible in private houses, and as slops are col- 
 lected in every story of the house as well as in the 
 attic, and as no servant careless enough to throw 
 scrubbing-brushes into a water-trap would take the 
 trouble to lug slops from the lower stories up to the 
 attic, in order to protect the neighboring water- 
 closet trap from such an accident, or, in other 
 words, mount one or more flights of stairs to avoid 
 the trouble of removing the scrubbing-brush from 
 the slop-pail before emptying the slops into the 
 nearest water-closet bowl, it is evident that the 
 argument of protection to soil-pipes has little 
 weight. 
 
 For hotels and some other public buildings, the 
 slop-sink should have a good flushing-rim. It then 
 becomes the so-called " slop-hopper," and the bowl 
 should be properly protected by a stout iron drip- 
 tray, properly supported, to receive the frequent 
 blows bestowed upon the hopper by the careless 
 pail. 
 
 As they are generally made, urinals are very objec- 
 tionable things in private houses. Urine undergoes 
 rapid decomposition, and gives off a powerful and 
 very disgusting odor. When in this state, it has 
 the power of turning fresh urine into the same con- 
 dition almost immediately, so that unless the urinal 
 is so formed and placed that its surfaces are thor- 
 oughly cleansed after use, it soon becomes a very 
 foul and disagreeable fixture in a house. Fig. 56
 
 94 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 represents the most economical form of urinal as they 
 are now made. The bowl is generally constructed 
 of glazed earthenware, with 
 some form of fan or flushing- 
 rim for spreading the flush- 
 ing stream over its entire 
 interior surface. The urine 
 escapes through numerous 
 perforations in the bottom 
 and back of the bowl, into 
 the waste-pipe. In some 
 forms the trap is made in a 
 single piece of earthenware 
 with the bowl. There are 
 a number of different forms 
 of urinals, both swinging 
 and stationary, and they are 
 flushed either by a stop-cock 
 directly on the supply-pipe, 
 to be turned by hand, or by 
 a special cistern. The for- 
 mer method of flushing is 
 open to the same objection 
 Fig. 56. uriuais. as the direct supply to water- 
 closets, and is now forbidden 
 
 in some places by law. The pressure may be at 
 times insufficient to fill the pipes, and the foul 
 air from the surfaces of the urinal, perhaps contain- 
 ing disease-germs, may be sucked into the supply- 
 pipes on opening the stop-cock. In the figure, an 
 automatic flushing cistern is used, which has within 
 it a tilting vessel arranged to give a periodic flush 
 as it slowly fills under a small faucet kept constantly 
 open. This is perhaps the only certain method of 
 ensuring a sufficient flush for single urinals con- 
 structed in the usual way ; but it involves a great
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 consumption of water and is very wasteful, inas- 
 much as the flushing goes on always, whether it be 
 required by the use of the urinal or not. 
 
 For private houses it is much better to construct 
 the urinal in the manner shown in Fig. 57. It is 
 a simple hopper-closet raised to the height of a 
 urinal. By this arrangement, all of the advantages 
 of a urinal are obtained, without any of the objec- 
 
 Fig. 57. Combined urinal and slop-sink. 
 
 tions. Moreover, by stepping on the steps or foot- 
 rests at the floor in front of the fixture, the device 
 serves equally well as a water-closet. The writer has 
 found by experience that this form of urinal never 
 becomes foul, nor is its use as a water-closet accom- 
 panied by the least inconvenience. He has used it 
 both in public and private buildings with equal
 
 96 THE PRINCIPLES OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 success. The bowl, containing a large body of stand- 
 ing water, dilutes the urine, and prevents it fouling 
 the sides. Habit, with water-closets, leads to its 
 flushing after its use as a urinal at times when the 
 ordinary form of urinal would have been left un- 
 flushed. But should, by any chance, the flushing be 
 neglected, the next use of the fixture as a water- 
 closet would insure its cleansing. Moreover, by 
 combining the two fixtures in one, economy both of 
 space and first cost is obtained, while the offensive 
 appearance and smell of the urinal is avoided and 
 the consumption of water is greatly diminished. Not 
 the least of the advantages of this arrangement is 
 that it is suitable for use by both sexes, a consider- 
 ation of some importance, especially in the hall of 
 a private house, where the want of space limits one 
 to the use of a single fixture. 
 
 In public buildings, however, such as hotels, rail- 
 way-stations, manufactories, school or club houses, 
 where proper and systematic attention may be ex- 
 pected to be given to them, urinals may become not 
 only desirable, but absolutely necessary. Stall 
 urinals should also be constructed in various places 
 in the main thoroughfares, easily accessible to the 
 public, as an important sanitary measure.
 
 PART III. 
 
 SOIL AND DRAIN PIPES. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 The material for our pipes naturally f oi-ms the first 
 subject for consideration, inasmuch as upon it their 
 proportion, treatment, and arrangement in a great 
 measure depend. 
 
 By far the most suitable material yet discovered 
 for soil and house drain-pipes is iron, and the most 
 important matter connected with its use is the for- 
 mation of the joints between the separate pieces. 
 
 Lead has been almost entirely abandoned in this 
 country for soil and drain pipes, on account of its 
 want of strength and rigidity, its comparative high 
 cost, its liability to be perforated by vermin, nails, 
 or corrosion, and of the greater time and labor 
 required to make the joints. Large lead pipes often 
 sag of their own weight and tear away at their 
 points of support. The action of alternating hot 
 and cold water also produces a destructive effect 
 upon the material. In England lead soil-pipes are 
 still used, but it is not customary to use the soil- 
 pipe for the conveyance of all kinds of waste, and 
 hot water from lavatories and sinks is carried into 
 separate pipes, so that the material as used abroad 
 is less objectionable. 
 
 S. Stevens Hellyer, the well-known and popular 
 English writer on sanitary plumbing, says, in speak- 
 ing of the question as to the material most suitable
 
 98 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 for soil-pipes : " This may scein a curious question 
 to ask of plumbers as well ask a shoemaker of 
 what material should boots and shoes be made ! 
 Everybody knows that the latter would say : 
 ' There's nothing like leather,' as the former is sure 
 to say : ' There 's nothing like lead.' . . . Allowing 
 experience to be my schoolmaster, I answer lead, 
 especially for our climate." Mr. Hellyer claims the 
 following points of superiority for lead : its greater 
 smoothness, greater resistance to corrosion, greater 
 ductility for bending to suit the various positions it 
 has to occupy, more perfect jointing, greater adapt- 
 ability for connecting with branch wastes, and 
 greater compactness, which allows it to be placed in 
 slots or niches smaller than those which are required 
 for iron. He admits the following objections : its 
 deterioration under alterations of temperature which 
 tend to work it until it breaks, its sagging, its ex- 
 pensiveness, its liability to be perforated by rats or 
 carpenters' nails, its greater weight, and the require- 
 ment of greater skill in making the joints. 
 
 The advantages which Mr. Hellver claims for lead 
 have within late years lost their force. Improved 
 methods of protecting and jointing other materials 
 have placed them in these respects far ahead of 
 lead, as will be shown hereafter. White enamel is 
 now applied as an inner coat to cast iron in such a 
 manner as to render the inner surface as smooth as 
 that of new lead. But in use lead soon loses its 
 smoothness, the sewage adheres to the surfaces of 
 the pipe to a greater or less extent and roughens it, 
 in time, with a hard deposit of greater or less thick- 
 ness according to the usage of the pipe, so that the 
 difference in smoothness at the outset in favor of 
 lead as compared with an iron pipe, properly coated, 
 is of small consequence after a few years' use.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 99 
 
 The numerous cast bends and fittings now made and 
 adapted to every possible turn or angle liable to be 
 encountered in arranging the pipe renders the duc- 
 tility of the lead pipe no longer of any advantage. 
 Finally, other and more suitable materials are now 
 jointed in such a manner as to render them quite as 
 compact as the lead pipe. 
 
 Stone and brick drains cannot be effectively 
 flushed on account of the roughness of their interior 
 surfaces. Moreover, they are porous to a certain 
 extent, and the cement with which they are laid is 
 always more or less pervious to water. 
 
 Wooden drains soon decompose and leak, and 
 when made of plank must be of such a section that 
 scouring is impossible. 
 
 Copper is easily corroded by the acids of sewage 
 and decomposition, and it is, moreover, too ex- 
 pensive when made heavy enough for the purpose. 
 
 Zinc, tin, and galvanized iron are totally un- 
 suitable, and not to be considered for a moment. 
 In the worst kind of so-called ' ' Gerry buildings " 
 they are, however, occasionally used. 
 
 CAST IRON. 
 
 Cast iron is the material which in this country for 
 the last twenty years has been most generally used. 
 It has in this time proved itself to be a most reliable 
 and excellent material for soil-pipes. It is light, 
 cheap, stiff, and strong, and it corrodes so slowly 
 that, if of the proper thickness and quality of iron, 
 and properly cast, coated, and put together, it will 
 last as long as the house. The inconveniences at 
 present attending its use are not inherent in the 
 nature of the material. As now made, the pipes 
 are often cast of uneven thickness, and they are 
 always improperly jointed. Neither defect is 
 necessary.
 
 100 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 The experiments of M. Gaudin, made in 1851, 
 show the maximum rate of loss by rust of uncoated 
 cast-iron pipe exposed to the action of clean, fresh 
 water on both sides to be a little over an eighth of 
 an inch a century. His experiments extended 
 over a period of thirteen years. With the present 
 methods of protecting iron, its life can be very 
 greatly prolonged ; indeed, even the use of the 
 ordinary bituminous coating (coal-tar pitch) has 
 proved, when it is properly applied, to be able to keep 
 the pipe quite intact for twenty years. The life of 
 a soil-pipe, even when quite thin and uncoated, has 
 been found by experience to be so great that it is 
 not unreasonable to suppose that the greasy matters 
 contained in sewage serve to protect the pipe in a 
 measure from the water and from the corrosive 
 action of the acid components of the sewage. 
 
 JOINTS. 
 
 Equally important with the question of the mate- 
 rial is the manner in which the several parts are put 
 together, inasmuch as upon this depends not only 
 the safety of the work, but also, in a measure, the 
 choice of the material itself. The question of 
 joining or coupling the pipe will therefore next be 
 considered. 
 
 The ordinary joint is neither tight nor permanent ; 
 it cannot be made to resist water or gas under pres- 
 sure, and it is soon destroyed by alternations of 
 heat and cold in the pipes, such as are often produced 
 by the passage through them of hot water or steam. 
 It is expensive both in time and material. It re- 
 quires expert labor to adjust, but defies expert 
 labor to take it apart again without more or less 
 destruction of the piping. Even the process of
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 101 
 
 putting together involves a hammering which en- 
 dangers the integrity of the pipe, and the most 
 experienced and careful workman often cracks it in 
 the process. The safe use of white enameled pipe 
 is out of the question with the calked joint, be- 
 cause the jarring produced by the calking-tool 
 cracks the enamel. 
 
 Fig. 58 shows the ordinary hand-calked joint. 
 It is made with lead and oakum or jute. A gasket 
 of jute or other similar fibre is inserted into the 
 
 , _-L cavity of the bell or hub, and the 
 
 spigot end of the length next above 
 
 it is set firmly down upon it, or the 
 
 II B gasket is rammed in with a tool 
 
 W after the lengths are set up. The 
 
 Bi gasket is used to prevent the lead 
 
 P? from running out of the joint and 
 
 obstructing the bore of the pipe at 
 
 some point below, besides wasting 
 
 ^ the lead. The lead is now poured 
 
 Fig. 58. The ordi- ,, , , i jf 
 
 nary beii-and- upon the gasket trom a ladle and 
 spigot joint. shrinks as it cools. The calking- 
 tool must then be used to expand it again and drive 
 it into the cavities and pores of the iron. A faith- 
 ful and skilful operator can by perseverance suc- 
 ceed in fitting the lead into the iron at all parts of 
 its circumference, so as to make it tight for a time, 
 just as a painstaking dentist can drive the gold by 
 patient labor into the cavities of a tooth, and tem- 
 porarily arrest its decay. But the process in both 
 cases is slow and uncertain. The dentist confines 
 his calking to a single small spot well within his 
 reach, and he labors with extraordinary care. Yet 
 the filling often fails when put to the test. The 
 plumber must work quickly over an extended field 
 often in awkward positions ; he must perform a deli- 
 cate task with clumsv tools.
 
 102 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 The metals to be welded together are often so 
 placed that it is impossible, without the utmost 
 patience and skill, to reach them properly. The 
 result is that when put to the test the joint almost 
 always fails. Extra heavy pipe and hubs are re- 
 quired to withstand the blows of the calking-tool. 
 Lighter pipes cannot be made tight without danger 
 of cracking the iron. It is now generally recognized 
 and acknowledged that a plumber's calked joint is 
 rarely either air or water tight, though a vast 
 amount of lead and labor is spent on them to make 
 them so. When we reflect that the sole aim and 
 object of a soil-pipe joint is to make a gas and 
 water tight connection between pipes, we see that 
 the method commonly employed is an absurdity, 
 and reflects little credit upon human ingenuity. 
 
 Even supposing that, by chance, a calked joint 
 has been made to stand the test which is now prop- 
 erly required of it when new, its tightness is very 
 soon destroyed by the expansion and contraction of 
 the pipes caused by the passage through them of 
 hot water or steam. The expansion of the spigot 
 is in such cases greater than that of the hub, be- 
 cause it is on the inside nearer the heat and not 
 protected like the latter from the hot fluids passing 
 through the pipes. Hence the lead is temporarily 
 compressed between the spigot and hub, and, being 
 inelastic, does not resume its original bulk when the 
 pipes cool again. A minute opening is thus formed 
 all round the spigot, as shown in the lower branch 
 of the pipe in the cut, and the joint leaks. 
 
 The object of requiring the whole system of pipes 
 used in plumbing a house to be filled with water as 
 a test is not only to determine the tightness of the 
 joints in a manner which is impossible with the 
 peppermint or smoke tests, since these can be
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 103 
 
 eluded by a temporary coat of paint or putty, but 
 also to try the quality and thickness of the metal. 
 If a pipe is very defective in casting, its weakness 
 will be revealed by a strong pressure test, and the 
 faulty piece rejected. 
 
 Another serious objection to this joint is the 
 difficulty of disjointing pipes in which it is used. 
 The usual way to take out a pipe, once so put 
 together, is to break it to pieces, and then remove 
 it by degrees. There is, in fact, no practicable 
 alternative ; for to melt off the lead would not only 
 be expensive and dangerous, but involve the dis- 
 jointing of quite a considerable length of pipe in 
 order to enable a single spigot to be lifted two 
 inches, or enough to disengage it from its hub. 
 Now alterations in our plumbing arrangements are 
 necessarily so frequent that this objection becomes 
 a serious one. 
 
 The necessity of using fire in a house in process 
 of construction for melting the lead necessary to 
 make this joint is also a formidable objection to it, 
 on account of the danger of igniting the surround- 
 ing carpenters' litter and burning down the house. 
 
 It is true that lead or solder melting would have 
 to be carried on for other purposes, such as wiping 
 the joints on the smaller pipes, but the less use we 
 have for the solder-pot the less will be the danger, 
 and the less the temptation for the workman to 
 carry on the melting in dangerous places in order 
 to save himself the trouble of running up and down 
 wearisome flights of stairs to a place of safety. 
 
 Still another very serious objection is the tempta- 
 tion this joint opens for fraud. The lead may be 
 partially or even wholly omitted without very great 
 risk of detection, since it is out of sight, and fre- 
 quently immediately covered by a coat of paint.
 
 104 Tin: PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 The calking may be still more easily slighted. If 
 the hydraulic test is not demanded, a coat of paint 
 or a little putty will easily make the joint stand the 
 smoke or peppermint test. A few of the joints well 
 within the reach of the house-owner may be filled 
 with genuine lead, while all those which are covered 
 by floor boards, or are not easily accessible, may be 
 composed of paper and sand, and covered with 
 putty. Possibly a thin coating of lead may be 
 poured on top to present an honest appearance, and 
 satisfy the suspicious and shrewd house-owner who 
 goes about probing the nearest joints with his pen- 
 knife in order to ensnare " the rascally plumber." 
 
 Finally the bell-aud-spigot joint, when faithfully 
 made, is very expensive both in material and labor. 
 The amount of lead required for each joint, includ- 
 ing waste, is estimated at about a pound for every 
 inch in the diameter of the pipe. Thus an ordinary 
 four-inch soil-pipe consumes four pounds of lead in 
 each joint. 
 
 The average length of time required by a skilful 
 pipe-layer to make a single joint is estimated at 
 twenty minutes, not including, of course, the plan- 
 ning of the pipe system or the cutting and general 
 arrangement of the pipe sections for their proper 
 positions, a part of the work which has no connec- 
 tion with the kind of joint used. 
 
 THE " SANITAS" PIPE JOINT. 
 
 Our " Sauitas " joint has been designed to obviate 
 these defects and enable lengths of cast-iron pipe 
 to be securely and economically united. 
 
 In general terms it may be described as an 
 adjustable flanged joint with lead washers or gaskets 
 for packing. It is a steam-fitter's joint, with im- 
 provements which adapt it for use in plumbing.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 105 
 
 The leaden gaskets are star-shaped in cross-sec- 
 tion, and are crushed between the flanges of the 
 
 Fig. 60. Detail of joini. 
 
 Fig. 59. The " Sanitas " pipe. Fig. til. The half-ring. 
 
 pipes to be connected by means of bolts and nuts. 
 Figs. 59 and 60 illustrate the joint. In Fig. 59 
 the lower form of the joint is to be used in con- 
 necting straight pipes, and the upper form in con-
 
 106 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 necting branches and bends with each other and with 
 straight pipes. The latter differs from the former 
 in the addition of a half -ring just above the flange 
 of the bend or branch, and is illustrated on a larger 
 scale in Fig. 60. This half-ring is shown in detail 
 in Fig. 61, and permits the bent or branched pipe to 
 be revolved about its axis in setting, before the 
 bolts are tightened up. The entire pressure is 
 brought upon the ends by the small shoulders on 
 the half -rings in such a manner as to prevent their 
 fracture when the bolts are tightened up. The bolt- 
 heads set in square recesses in the flange ears to 
 prevent them from turning when the nuts are 
 screwed home. 
 
 Fig. 62 shows the lead packing-ring in perspec- 
 
 'ig-. OJ. Lead pa. 
 
 tive, and Fig. 63 shows its star-shaped 
 section in actual size. It is crushed to 
 less than half its thickness by the pres- 
 sure of the two half -inch bolts screwed 
 Fig. 03. sec- up easily by a man of ordinary strength 
 uonofpac ig- w - t k twelve or fourteen inch wrenches. 
 The bolts are left-and-right threaded. Two ratchet- 
 wrenches working in opposite directions are used 
 to correspond with the reversed threading of the 
 bolts. The pressure exerted by one wrench is thus 
 resisted by the other. This avoids the necessity of 
 securing the pipes while the nuts are being screwed 
 up, and causes both sides to be compressed alike,
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 107 
 
 since the wrench which has given and received the 
 greatest pressure ceases temporarily to turn until 
 the other has caught up with it. 
 
 The " Sanitas " wrenches made for this pipe are 
 so formed that the joint may be made in the most 
 
 Fig. 64- 
 
 contracted places, as shown in Fig. 64, where the 
 stack stands at the bottom of a slot a foot deep and 
 only eight inches or one brick in width. 
 
 Fig. 65. " Sanitas " ratchet-wrenches. 
 
 Fig. 65 shows the ratchet- wrenches. 
 
 By the use of these ratchet-wrenches the joint 
 may be thoroughly calked by a single ordinary 
 unskilled workman, after the pipes are once set in 
 place, in less than twenty seconds. To calk an
 
 108 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 ordinary bell-and-spigot joint in the usual defective 
 manner is estimated by good authorities as requiring 
 on the average, when the pipes are once in place, 
 as many minutes. The amount of lead used for 
 calking our flanged joint is about one eighth that 
 required for the ordinary joint. The lead gasket 
 for four-inch pipes weighs half a pound ; and for 
 two-inch pipes, one fourth of a pound, while the rule 
 for calking ordinary joints is to use one pound of 
 lead for every inch in the diameter of the pipe. 
 We also save the fuel, oakum, etc., used in making 
 ordinary joints, and avoid the danger of lead-melt- 
 ing in houses. 
 
 Figs. 66 and 67 show in section and elevation 
 the simple method of connecting lead and iron 
 pipes when the flanged joint is used. With ordinary 
 bell-and-spigot pipes the proper connection between 
 lead and iron is both laborious and expensive, re- 
 quiring the use of 
 brass ferrules. The 
 lead pipe has to be 
 wiped on to the 
 brass ferrule, and 
 the brass must be 
 calked into the iron 
 hub. A double joint 
 is thus required, and 
 this, especially with 
 the larger pipes, in- 
 volves the use Of Fig. 67. Perspec- 
 considerable skill tive vlew - 
 and valuable material. With our flanged joint all 
 this is done away with. The lead is simply 
 flanged out to correspond with the flanges of 
 the iron pipe to which it is to be connected, 
 and bolted to the pipe by means of a cast- 
 
 Fig. 6. Sectior
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 109 
 
 iron ring furnished with the pipe-fittings, and having 
 ears and bolt-holes corresponding with those of the 
 pipe-flanges. The lead packing-ring is used be- 
 tween the lead and iron flanges exactly as if the 
 flanges were both of iron. In this manner a per- 
 manent steam-tight joint is formed between the two 
 metals without hand-calking, brass ferrule, or joint- 
 wiping. 
 
 In bell-and-spigot pipes comparatively few bends 
 and branches are made. Should the angle required 
 to reach a certain fixture in laying the pipe be a 
 different one from that given by the bends fur- 
 nished, the desired direction must be obtained by 
 canting the spigot slightly in the socket, a move- 
 ment different from the axial rotation we have 
 already described and provided for. To accomplish 
 the same result with flanged pipes a greater variety 
 of castings are made, furnishing bends of a larger 
 number of angles, in the same manner as is done in 
 wrought-irou piping when used with screw-joints for 
 plumbing purposes. With the flange-joint a certain 
 play is obtained by screwing up that side of the 
 pipe upon which the greatest inclination is to be 
 given slightly more than the other. But the variety of 
 castings furnished enables every requirement to be 
 met, without resorting to the method of unequally 
 compressing the packing-ring. "We find , , , T X 7 , 
 ^ 7 , and -^ bends corresponding to angles of 90, 
 60, 45, 22, lli, and 5f respectively. By using 
 some one of these bends, or a combination of two or 
 more, any desired direction can be obtained. The 
 half -rings are required only for bends and branches. 
 Straight pipes are screwed together directly, and 
 have ears and bolt-holes at both ends. The straight 
 pipes are manufactured in lengths of 1ft., 2ft., 3ft., 
 5ft., and upward; 10 inches, 9 inches, 8 inches,
 
 110 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 7 inches, and 6 inches. Pieces having a bell or a spi- 
 got on one end and a flange on the other are also made 
 for connection with old bell-and-spigot pipes, or for 
 substituting bell-and-spigot pipes at any point de- 
 sired in case suitable " Sanitas " fittings cannot be 
 obtained at momentary notice or in out-of-the-way 
 places. Moreover, by using these connections, any 
 one desiring to try the " Sanitas " pipe for the pur- 
 pose of comparing it with the ordinary pipe before 
 using it exclusively can incorporate in his piping a 
 few lengths of the " Sanitas " pipe, and observe its 
 action under hydraulic pressure and otherwise, as 
 compared with that of the ordinary pipe, of which 
 the remainder of his work may be composed. Al- 
 though this joint requires less space for setting than 
 any other, it is still always best to give ample room 
 for it, especially if it be set in slots, and particu- 
 larly if the plumber is accustomed to the old bell- 
 and-spigot pipe only. It is recommended never to 
 set soil-pipes in slots. But if it must be done, the 
 slots should not be over four inches deep or less than 
 one foot wide. 
 
 As already explained, the hydraulic test, which 
 should in every house be required before the work 
 can be pronounced safe, is on ordi- 
 nary bell-and-spigot pipes very diffi- 
 cult of application, because there is 
 no easy method of temporarily closing 
 the outlets. Here again our flanged 
 joint presents an advantage of great 
 importance. In order to close the 
 Fig. <>8. cupped P en i n g it is only necessary to screw 
 end. on caps provided with ears and bolt- 
 
 holes corresponding with those of the pipe-flanges, 
 as shown in Fig. 68. The regular packing-ring is 
 used between the cap and flange, so that the joint
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. Ill 
 
 is steam-tight, like the rest of the piping. When 
 the test has been made the caps can be removed 
 and used again and again by the plumber. They 
 are furnished with the rest of the pipe and fittings. 
 The lead rings after use can be used for old lead or 
 recast into new rings. 
 
 It is sometimes required in practice that each pipe 
 used be tested at the foundry before coating it, 
 in order to ensure soundness. With ordinary bell- 
 and-spigot pipes, the application of a pressure test 
 is difficult, if not impossible. The straight lengths 
 can be tested under pressure, but the branches and 
 bends offer serious difficulties on account of their 
 form. Hence the oil test has to be resorted to, and 
 the strength or thickness of the pipe is not by this 
 method made known ; moreover, the oil test is in 
 many other respects obviously inferior to a strong 
 pressure test. A simple machine has been devised 
 to test these flange-pipes. It consists of two plates 
 with rubber disks on one side, which are pressed 
 against the flanges of the pipe to be tested, by 
 means of clamps and wedges of peculiar form, 
 designed for rapid application. One of the plates 
 is perforated and connected with a water-pipe and 
 pressure-gauge. A simple force-pump is added, so 
 that where the water-pressure is subject to consider- 
 able fluctuation, each pipe may be tested under pre- 
 cisely the same pressure. By the use of this device, 
 flanged pipes of any desired size, and all the 
 branches and fittings, may be quickly and accurately 
 tested at the foundry before coating. 
 
 In the case of ordinary bell-and-spigot pipes, the 
 expense and imperfections of the jointing are so 
 great that the pipes are cast very long, in order to 
 save joints as far as possible. The attempt to cast 
 pipes of small diameter, say two-inch, three-inch,
 
 112 THE PRINCIPLES OP 
 
 and four-inch, in lengths of five feet, is almost 
 certain, unless special precautions are taken, 
 to result in an inequality in the thickness of 
 the metal. The writer has found bell-and-spigot 
 pipes of five-feet lengths, made by the best firms 
 ^^p^^ and sold for extra heavy weight, no 
 ^^^ ^^^ thicker than a piece of thick paper 
 J ^ on one side and half an inch on the 
 
 I other. Fig. 69 is an accurate draw- 
 
 ^ J ing of a two-inch pipe which he has 
 
 ^k J recently been obliged to reject, 
 
 ^^i \-^ among a large number of others from 
 Fig. 69. imperfec- the best makers, upon testing them 
 
 tions of long before they were laid by the plumber, 
 castings. j t j g muc ]j more unusual to find pipes 
 of equal than of unequal thickness throughout. 
 This is a very important consideration. The 
 strength and thickness of a line of piping is equal 
 to its thinnest part, as the strength of a rope is equal 
 to its weakest part. Hence all the metal used in 
 the piping of a house beyond the thickness of its 
 thinnest part is thrown away. Of what use is it to 
 pay for extra heavy pipes, when one side of most of 
 them is extra light ? It is not for the strength of 
 the piping that we require the thickness, since they 
 are not used like columns to support floors and 
 walls, but for security against leakage and decay. 
 Now since, as is very well known by plumbers and 
 engineers, the majority of long pipes of small sizes 
 are uneven in thickness, the chances of obtaining 
 only the even pipes throughout an entire stack are 
 obviously infinitesimally small, and it is not proba- 
 ble that one house in a thousand exists in which one 
 or more of the lengths of pipe are not very seriously 
 uneven. The enormous waste of metal and the 
 great danger of leakage which this condition of
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 113 
 
 things implies renders it of the utmost importance 
 to employ some means of remedying this great 
 defect. 
 
 We find a remedy in using short castings as far 
 as possible, and in casting the long pieces with un- 
 usual precautions and in a different manner from 
 the short ones. The plumber would find great 
 advantages to offset the inconveniences in using a 
 variety of short lengths of pipes, instead of fre- 
 quently cutting the usual five-feet lengths to fit the 
 spaces between the floors and fixtures. Cutting 
 cast-iron is an extremely difficult and tedious pro- 
 cess. Were these various lengths manufactured 
 from six inches upward, he would find it possi- 
 ble to avoid cutting entirely, and probably add 
 very few joints to the number now required, for it 
 must be borne in mind that each time a pipe is cut 
 a new joint is necessitated, so that the saving in 
 the number of joints in ordinary plumbing practice, 
 by using no other than five-feet castings, is much 
 smaller than is at first supposed. Now, however, 
 that we have found a simple, safe, and economical 
 joint to take the place of the clumsy, uncertain, 
 and expensive one in vogue, we have no further 
 need of long castings. The saving in pipe-cutting, 
 to say nothing of the other advantages, far more than 
 offsets the labor of making an extra joint or two, 
 and we have a stack of pipes whose thickness can 
 be relied upon as being uniform throughout. 
 
 Where it is found necessary for any purpose to 
 remove a piece of pipe from a stack already set up 
 it is only necessary to place temporary supports 
 under the pipe above the one to be disjointed, un- 
 screw the bolts, remove one of the lead rings by 
 means of a chisel or saw, and slip out the length to 
 be removed.
 
 114 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 To replace a pipe or fitting several methods may 
 be employed, of which the best is that in which short 
 flanged or threaded brass pipes are used. To the 
 lower end of the pipe to which the new piece is to be 
 connected is bolted a piece of short flanged brass pipe. 
 Another short flanged brass pipe is then slipped 
 over the first, being made just large enough to do 
 so, and the fitting to be connected is afterward 
 bolted to its flange, and to the main piping below. 
 The two brass pipes are finally connected bv means 
 of an ordinary wiped solder joint. Or brass pipes 
 may be screwed to iron flanges, to save the more 
 expensive metal. 
 
 Another method is to substitute iron for the brass 
 pieces, one of the pices being provided with a hub, 
 and calk the joints by hand in the usual manner. 
 This latter method, however, has the objections 
 of all hand-calked joints, and is for this reason not 
 to be recommended when the first can be applied. 
 By this means the flanged pipes may be connected 
 with old work in which bell-and-spigot pipes have 
 been used. Or bell-and-spigot pipes may at any 
 place be inserted in the line of flanged pipes in 
 this manner, if desired. 
 
 As we have already explained, the bell-and-spigot 
 joint is incapable of withstanding the effects of 
 sudden and severe variations of temperature. The 
 spigot being nearest the heat expands more than 
 the hub and compresses the surrounding lead, per- 
 manently diminishing its bulk, and forming a 
 passage for the escape of gas. The principle of the 
 construction of our flange-joint is such that this 
 trouble is overcome. The flanges are affected 
 equally by changes of temperature, and the lead 
 packing is never compressed by expansion or con- 
 traction. Thus supposing, when the pipes are cool,
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 115 
 
 steam is suddenly allowed to pass through them. 
 Both upper and lower flanges and the lead firmly 
 imbedded between them expand alike outward 
 under the same degree of heat, and return again 
 unaltered as the pipe recools. 
 
 The bolts expand and contract with the changes 
 of temperature proportionally with the flanges, and 
 do not affect the packing. 
 
 To give these theories a practical test, I have had 
 some four-inch piping connected and closed up at 
 the ends with our flanged joints, and coupled the 
 whole with the boiler of a steam-engine, the steam- 
 gauge indicating about thirty pounds pressure. 
 The steam was left on until the pipe-flanges and 
 bolts had all become thoroughly heated through. 
 The coupling was then immediately transferred to 
 the cold-water supply from the city main, and after 
 the steam had been let out the cold water was 
 suddenly turned on until the piping was filled. As 
 the experiment was performed in midwinter, the 
 test was as severe as possible. The cold watjr 
 was then poured out and steam again immediately 
 applied. This alternating application of steam 
 and cold water was repeated successively a dozen 
 times. During the entire process no sign of 
 a leak either of steam or water was obtained. The 
 bolts had been screwed up in the ordinary manner 
 without extra care. 
 
 It is well known that no bell-and-spigot joint will 
 stand such a test even after the most careful 
 calking. 
 
 The same variations of temperature cause the 
 pipes to expand and contract also longitudinally. 
 But in this direction there is always ample play left 
 in setting the pipes for this action, and the lead is 
 obviously not affected by it. Each packing has
 
 116 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 upon it the weight of all the pipes above it, as well 
 as the pressure exerted by the bolts. The weight is 
 therefore constant, whatever be the temperature or 
 length of the pipes, provided thev are properly set. 
 The expansive force of iron is so great that if free 
 play is not allowed for it in a building, it will make 
 way for itself by tearing away its bonds. Mr. 
 Bayles says : "Insetting up a line of soil-pipe, 
 intelligent provision should always be made for ex- 
 pansion and contraction of the metal resulting from 
 changes of temperature. These changes, however, 
 are seldom sudden or extreme ; but when the pipe 
 is at any point rigidly fastened to the wall it ex- 
 pands in both directions. The amount of motion 
 at the ends is small, but it must be provided for, or 
 it will provide for itself. The power with which 
 iron expands, as its temperature is raised, is practi- 
 cally irresistible. The end of a pipe may not 
 move more than an eighth or sixteenth of an inch, 
 but the power with which it moves that distance is 
 so great that it can only be resisted by a power 
 great enough to crush the metal. This would be, in 
 ordinary cases, equal to about 75,000 pounds per 
 square inch, the strength of cast-iron to resist 
 crushing strains being from 60,000 to 90,000 pounds 
 per square inch. Consequently, we see that unless 
 the fastenings at the ends of aline of cast-iron pipe are 
 of such a character as to admit of slight movement, 
 something must give way, and it is not likely to be 
 the pipe. This, then, must be provided for in the 
 character and position of the fastenings, which 
 must be so arranged that, while allowing for some 
 movement, they shall not develop a tendency to 
 break or loosen the joints. Under ordinary condi- 
 tions the amount of expansion is seldom great 
 enough to give much trouble, but when steam or a
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 117 
 
 great volume of very hot water washes into an iron 
 pipe it is sometimes great enough to loosen joints 
 and even crack the pipe." 
 
 Accordingly, if a line of pipe is rigidly fixed at 
 the bottom, the hooks which hold it against the 
 walls should be placed a short distance away from 
 the flanges, so that the line of piping is free to slip 
 up and down slightly under the influence of expan- 
 sion and contraction. Otherwise these hooks are 
 liable to be loosened from the mortar or woodwork 
 into which they may be driven, since it would be 
 easier for the pipe to loosen the hooks in the mortar 
 or wood than to further compress the packing-rings, 
 or to stretch out the heavy bolts of wrought iron. 
 
 The opportunities furnished by the ordinary bell- 
 and-spigot joint for careless or fraudulent work are 
 avoided in our flanged joints. The entire thickness 
 of the lead is visible from the outside between the 
 flanges. As the lead is the only packing used, and 
 as this is in open view, nothing can be fraudulently 
 omitted. The bolts and nuts are also visible and, 
 moreover, must be of the standard size and strength 
 in order to furnish the requisite amount of com- 
 pression to stand the hydraulic test. 
 
 Thus we find in our " Sanitas " joint all the char- 
 acteristics demanded for plumbing purposes. 
 
 1. It is water, gas, and steam tight, even under 
 heavy pressure. 
 
 2. It is unaffected by the expansion and con- 
 traction of the pipes. 
 
 3. It is capable of resisting severe jars and 
 strains, both compressive and tensile, such as are 
 occasioned by the weight of the pipe, or by 
 settlement and movement in the building. 
 
 4. It requires neither skilled labor nor machinery 
 in its manufacture or in its jointing.
 
 118 THE PRINCIPLES OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 5. It is of such a form and nature as to admit 
 its being as easily taken apart for repairs or alter- 
 ations as it is put together, and this without damage 
 to any part. 
 
 6. Its form and construction are such as to allow 
 it to be made and put together rapidly, to follow 
 easily the irregular contour of the construction, and 
 to be used immediately after fixing in place. 
 
 7. It requires no hand-calking or hammering, 
 which are liable to fracture the pipe or its lining. 
 
 8. It is so formed that any imperfection, either 
 in the materials used or in the manner of putting 
 them together, can easily be detected at a glance 
 from without, without expert aid. 
 
 9. It is compact enough to permit its use in 
 the most contracted spaces. 
 
 10. It causes no obstruction to the water-way, 
 and leaves no appreciable space or pocket for 
 deposit. 
 
 11. It is simple, durable, indestructible, 
 economical, and unobjectionable in appearance. 
 
 It is, therefore, suitable for water, gas, and steam 
 under pressure, as well as for drain and soil pipes.
 
 SIZE AND GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE PIPING. 
 
 HAVING thus described a safe and economical 
 method of jointing our cast-iron pipes, it remains 
 to consider their proportions and general arrange- 
 ment. We shall, as treating of house drainage, 
 confine our attention to the piping of the house 
 proper ; the consideration of the drainage beyond 
 the house limits belonging more properly to the 
 subject of sanitary engineering. 
 
 The size of soil and drain pipes should not ex- 
 ceed four inches. This is ample to carry off every 
 possible form of discharge or combination of dis- 
 charges to be met with in plumbing, even in the 
 largest buildings, except for special hotel, laundry, 
 or manufacturing purposes. It is a mistake to sup- 
 pose that because the fixtures are multiplied, the 
 diameter of the soil-pipe must be multiplied corre- 
 spondingly. It is a rare occurrence, even in a hotel- 
 building, that several water-closets are flushed at 
 exactlv the same instant, and even if they were, 
 their distance from each other and the capacity of a 
 four-inch pipe would give ample room for the escape 
 of the water. The choking of a pipe is far oftener 
 due to its being too large, or to faulty construction, 
 than to its want of sufficient size. The great per- 
 pendicular extension of plumbing-pipes also facili- 
 tates the discharge, and pipes which for land-drain- 
 age would be much too small, will be found ample 
 for plumbing purposes on this account.
 
 120 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 
 
 When we consider how important it is that the 
 soil and drain pipes should be as thoroughly scoured 
 as possible by the discharges sent through them, 
 and remember that the smaller the pipe the more 
 perfect the flushing, we should be inclined to reduce 
 our soil-pipes to a size even smaller than four inches, 
 were it not for the careless usage slop-hoppers and 
 water-closets are so often subjected to. 
 
 The traps of water-closets are very frequently 
 made of pipe as much as four inches in diameter, 
 and large pieces of newspaper are often used where 
 toilet-paper alone is suitable. This, and the care- 
 lessness of servants who will throw into a closet any- 
 thing which is small enough to pass through its trap, 
 would cause a great amount of annoyance and ex- 
 pense if the soil-pipe were smaller than the trap of 
 the slop-hopper or water-closet. Hence we have 
 fixed upon four inches as both the smallest and the 
 largest size of soil and house-drain pipes, and be- 
 lieve that no other size should be used except for 
 rare and exceptional cases. 
 
 All the piping of a house should be in full view. 
 Nothing should be walled in or covered over and 
 rendered inaccessible. One of the first rules of 
 modern sanitary work is to bring everything out of 
 the darkness into light and air, where defects, if 
 they occur, can at once be detected and removed. 
 We are accustomed to running our steam-pipes in 
 plain sight, and rendering them, by gilding or silver- 
 ing, as ornamental as possible. The same custom 
 is now beginning to apply to our plumbing-pipes. 
 Where they pass through parlors or reception-rooms, 
 they should stand behind movable panels or doors : 
 a little ingenuity on the part of the architect 
 will generally enable this to be done with good 
 effect.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 121 
 
 The piping should be arranged to run as direct as 
 possible, and should be concentrated. It will be 
 found very convenient, especially in city houses, to 
 build a broad recess, or slot, in the masonry of the 
 party- wall, on the line of the bath or toilet rooms. 
 for all the plumbing and ventilating pipes which can 
 be collected together in this neighborhood, and, if 
 possible, to run up in this slot the smoke-flue of the 
 furnace, in iron. The heat of the smoke-flue will 
 create a strong circulation in the ventilation-pipe, 
 and at the same time radiate a useful heat into the 
 bathrooms. The brick recess should be enclosed in 
 masonry on all sides where it passes through the 
 floor, and as high as three or four feet from the 
 ground. This serves to protect the woodwork from 
 clanger of overheating. Between this height and 
 the ceiling the recess is open in front, exposing the 
 pipes and admitting the radiant heat from the flue. 
 The various stories are separated from each other 
 by brick platforms, built across the recess on the 
 line of the floors, and made tight around the pipes 
 with cement or mortar. Above the upper bathroom 
 the iron smoke-flue enters a regular brick flue, and 
 the soil-pipe ventilator runs up independently 
 through the roof. The writer has adopted this 
 system in several city houses and found it very 
 satisfactory. The furnace smoke-flue may be con- 
 structed of tile instead of iron, if preferred, for 
 greater durability ; but if iron be used, it may be 
 made heavy enough to last as long as desired. The 
 recess being, moreover, accessible, the pipe may be 
 renewed at any time without difficulty. 
 
 Every stack of soil-pipe should be thoroughly 
 ventilated, by being extended full-size from the 
 bottom to, and through, the roof. No ventilating- 
 pipe running through the roof should be of less
 
 122 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 diameter than four inches, inasmuch as smaller 
 pipes are liable to become clogged in winter by 
 snow and frost. 
 
 The extensions above the roof should not be less- 
 than two feet high and the tops should never open 
 near a chimney - top, ventilating - shaft, dormer- 
 window, or other opening, for obvious reasons. It 
 is generally sufficient to allow the pipes to remain 
 wide open, without return-bends or ventilating-caps, 
 which only serve to obstruct the circulation. Wire 
 nettings may be put over the opening at the top, to 
 prevent objects from falling into the pipe, through 
 accident or malice. 
 
 These iron ventilating and soil pipes form the 
 best possible lightning-conductors, because they 
 are always sure to have a good and moist ground- 
 connection, and are composed of a bodv of metal 
 heavy enough to carry the most powerful charges 
 of electricity without danger of melting ; their 
 presence, therefore, in sufficient number, renders 
 the usual form of lightning-rod superfluous. 
 
 The soil-pipe should be firmly suported at the 
 bottom. The best support consists in the projection 
 of the foundation-wall, or in a stone or brick pier 
 made for that purpose. The junction between the 
 soil and drain pipes should be made with an easy 
 bend, of as large radius as possible, to prevent the 
 accumulation of obstructions and the powerful back- 
 pressure on traps caused by the friction of the air 
 in attempting to pass round a sharp bend in front of 
 a descending column of water in the soil-pipe. 
 
 The main-drain should run along in full view on 
 the foundation- wall, if possible, or supported by 
 piers resting on the concrete, or hung from the 
 joists by strong iron hangers. Clean-out openings 
 should be provided at all places where sediment or 
 obstructions are liable to collect.
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 123 
 
 Sometimes it is found convenient to rest the drain 
 directly on the concrete. In this case it is custom- 
 ary to 'form the concrete in a trench whose bottom 
 pitches with the proper grade to accommodate the 
 drain. The drain should have a fall of half an inch 
 to a foot, if possible, or at least a quarter of an inch 
 to a foot ; of course, the greater the pitch the better. 
 
 The main-drain should be trapped with a running- 
 trap of iron just inside the cellar-wall, or, if this is 
 impossible, outside the house, in a manhole. The 
 trap should always be accessible and should be pro- 
 vided with clean-out caps with air-tight covers. It 
 is a good plan to run a water-conductor into this 
 trap, to ensure its occasional flushing. 
 
 To provide for a complete circulation of air 
 through the soil and drain pipes, a fresh-air inlet of 
 the full size of the drain should enter it just inside 
 (on the house side) of the main-trap above described. 
 The mouth of this inlet should open outside of the 
 house, at some little distance from any door or 
 window. 
 
 Where a fixture is connected with the rigid iron 
 soil-pipe stack, provision must be made for a certain 
 degree of movement or play on the part of the 
 fixture, in such a manner that the movement shall 
 not crack the joint or in any way loosen it. A 
 settlement of the masonry, a jarring or shrinkage of 
 the floors is certain in a new building to alter to a 
 greater or less extent the relative positions of the 
 fixture and its soil-pipe connection. Injury to the 
 joint from this cause may be prevented in two ways. 
 One of these is to use a sufficient length of lead pipe 
 in all cases between the fixture and the iron stack, 
 and the other is to support the fixture directly on 
 the stack itself, and make it entirely independent 
 of the floors and woodwork.
 
 124 THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 The first method is used with cast-iron piping and 
 with all fixtures having waste-pipes of small calibre. 
 Lead piping has so much flexibility that a section of 
 even moderate length will permit of a considerable 
 movement on the part of the fixture without injury 
 to the joint. Where the fixture is a water-closet, a 
 length of lead pipe having a horizontal extension of 
 two feet, or its equivalent, in any inclined direction, 
 will permit the utmost shrinkage of joists or 
 settlement of walls liable to occur in good plumb- 
 ing after the plumbing is connected, without injury 
 to the work. 
 
 The second method, that of supporting the fixture 
 directly on the stack, has been successfully employed 
 with wrought-iron piping. The closet sets on a 
 cast-iron base firmly attached to the piping, so that 
 a shrinkage of the floor may take place without 
 affecting the joint. 
 
 It is important that all angles and bends in our 
 piping should be as smooth and gradual as possible. 
 
 No sharp angles should be allowed. Thus, if it is 
 ever necessary at any point to use T-connections, 
 they should not be formed as they are in common 
 bell-and-spigot fittings, but should be made with a 
 curve at the branch junction. But Y-branches are 
 to be preferred to T-brauches, and it is very seldom, 
 if ever, that T's are required. 
 
 The peppermint and smoke tests are useful for 
 application at any time after the house has been 
 occupied, when it is desired to ascertain if the pipe 
 system has remained sound throughout, especially in 
 places where a leakage of water might not occur. 
 To apply the peppermint test, the vent-openings are 
 first to be closed with plugs. A two-ounce bottle 
 of oil-of-pepermint is then carried up to the roof by 
 an assistant, and its contents poured into the soil-
 
 HOUSE DRAINAGE. 125 
 
 pipe at its mouth above the roof. A pail or pitcher 
 of hot water is immediately poured down after it, 
 and the opening is then plugged up. The assistant 
 remains upon the roof until the examination within 
 the house has been completed ; otherwise the odor 
 clinging to his clothes will be likely to follow him 
 into the house. The peppermint is volatilized by 
 
 Fig. 70. Asphyxiator for applying smoke test. 
 
 the hot water, and should any leak occur it will at 
 once be detected and located by its pungent odor, 
 unless the pipes have been improperly imbedded in 
 the walls or are so covered up that access to them 
 is impossible. If they are set as they should be, 
 everywhere in open view, no difficulty will attend the 
 detection and repair of the minutest defect or leak. 
 The smoke test is applied by means of special 
 bellows manufactured for the purpose (Fig. 70). 
 It enables those whose sense of smell is not acute to 
 operate instead with the sense of sight.
 
 RUSSELL & BURKE, 
 
 No. 18 Howard Street, BOSTON. 
 
 Sectional Steam Boilers, 
 
 WROUGHT AND CAST IRON AND BRASS 
 
 PIPES, 
 
 FOR STEAM, QAS, AND WATER 
 
 PLTJMBINGK 
 
 Tubular and Artesian Wells Sunk. 
 
 Brass and Iron Fittings, Coils. Heaters, Pumps, and all 
 kinds of Steam and Gas Fitters' Tools, Hot Water 
 and Steam Wanning and Gas Lighting Appa- 
 ratus. Also, Plumbing Materials 
 furnished and put up. 
 
 ESTIMATES GIVEN FOR HEATING PRIVATE HOUSES 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC. 
 
 DANIEL RUSSELL, JR., T. F. BURKE, 
 
 Everett. E. Somerville.
 
 PORTLAND 
 
 fftone Vta (Jo. 
 
 SALT GLAZED SEWER PIPE, 
 
 GREASE TRAPS, 
 
 FIRE BRICK, 
 TERRA-COTTA VASES, 
 
 Send for Catalogue and Price-lists. 
 
 No, 8 Liberty Sq,, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 GEO. C. DUNNE, 
 
 General Agent. 
 
 JfiMES TUCKER. FRflNK R. TITUS. 
 
 TUCKER & TITUS, 
 plumber 1 ^ panita) Engineer, 
 
 No. 9 Pemberton Sqnare, 
 
 Orders by Telephone No. 739.
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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