Volume 1
[-162-]
THE HOUSE.-I.
WATER SUPPLY.
THE importance of a regular and sufficient supply of pure and wholesome water
in every house, has been abundantly acknowledged by all intelligent people, has
been proved by experience, and insisted upon by scientific men. Water enters
into the composition of all our food, it is the chief ingredient in all our
drinks, and it is largely present in the air we breathe. Its absence for a short
time only would be followed by the extinction of our very life. In the present
article we shall confine our remarks chiefly to the different qualities of
water, and the modes of treating it in given circumstances. The supply of water
should be constant, as it contracts impurities when stored; and water may be
contaminated readily by any effluvia arising from the sink during the night,
when a kitchen has no air admitted. Pure water is not possible with an
intermittent supply. As to the quality of the water, one must take it as the
water companies provide it, and use the best remedy possible for its
purification for drinking purposes. Dr. Bernays' remark upon the purity of water
is worth observing attentively. He says, "It is a mistake to suppose that
the water supplied by any company is good and wholesome if filtered -
water never occurs in nature in a state of purity; and it is equally a mistake
to suppose, because water from a well appears pure and is not conveyed through
pipes, that it is necessarily fit to drink. Pure water has neither smell nor
taste, is colourless in small quantities, but when viewed in a mass is of a more
or less blue tint; poured into a glass, it should be bright, clear, and crystal,
and sparkle with the gases it contains." The same authority recommends the
use of filtered rain-water for cooking and household purposes, the impurities of
this water being removable by filtration, while the animal and vegetable matter
which it still contains, in spite of this filtration, can be rendered harmless
by boiling the water.
As a safeguard against all impurities in water-lead excepted,
the presence of which is detected by a sweet, mawkish taste - the water should
be boiled in a kettle, allowed to rest, then carefully drawn off from the
sediment into a jug or pitcher, and aerated by being poured three or four times
at a slight elevation from one jug into another.
It is of the most vital importance to health to ascertain the
quality of the well-water if the house depends upon that for its supply. Be
certain that it does not contain salts of lime in excess, which render the water
hard and unwholesome, nor soluble animal matter, either of which may be largely
present, and yet the water be excessively brilliant. If the water but slightly
curdles soap, it is good, but if the lather separates into flakes, the water is
injurious to health if drunk without first precipitating - in the form of rock
or fur in kettles - the lime salts which it contains, and which, when
drunk, are by the heat of the stomach deposited instead of being taken into the
system. Soft water is a solvent of food; hard water, on the contrary, in which
there is an excessive - proportion of salts of lime, occasions indigestion,
though that is a minor evil when compared with the mischief it brings about in
other ways.
Rain-water is, next to distilled and boiled water, the best
for cooking or drinking, because it very readily; dissolves food in the stomach.
If it be filtered, it is then as bright as any other water. Science asserts that
pure water is not at all requisite for maintaining health, only it must have no
putrefactive matter in it to induce disease. It is said that even the presence
of certain animalculae in the water does not injure the system, excepting when
they are dead and putrid. If it be true - and there is no reason to doubt it -
it is a providential arrangement, for millions must take their drink from ponds
and rivers in which animalculae abound.
[-163-] There are numerous
organic impurities, both of animal and vegetable matter, existing in water,
which have their source in the percolations of water through cultivated lands,
and consists of deposits of sewage matter. Their presence can only be detected
by an analytical chemist, excepting when it is found that putrefaction readily
commences if the cistern or reservoir be covered. Matters in a state of decay
possess but little, if any, oxygen; and if deprived of what they have, they form
themselves into new life; but if once the air be freely admitted, the process
often stops, and the deleterious matter passes off in gases. Thames water, when
it is taken to sea in casks, soon becomes intolerably putrescent from the gases
generated in it; but on rocking them, and exposing it to the atmosphere, the
water becomes perfectly sweet and wholesome. All these organic impurities (that
is, those which arise from the growth and decay of vegetable and animal life)
can be rendered harmless or be consumed by the filtration of water through
animal charcoal. Wood charcoal, according to Professor Frankland, has not this
property. Dr. Bernays, on the contrary, asserts that wood charcoal removes both
smell and taste from foul water, and it is therefore well adapted to serve as a
filter. It is a well-known fact that meat which has turned putrid from heat or a
thunder-storm, if it be boiled for ten minutes in boiling water, with a lump of
charcoal, is thereby rendered as good as ever.
Dr. Edward Rivers agrees with Professor Frankland in stating
that "charcoal obtained from animal matter alone appears to possess the
power of removing matter from solution in water to any extent. Wood charcoal
has, however, been very much used, but with the result, consequently, of only
aiding in mechanically filtering the water." But even animal charcoal after
a time loses most of its purifying power, and when this is the case it will have
to be renewed.
In a lecture - one of a series - delivered by Professor
Frankland at the Royal Institution, he stated that lead, poisonous as it was,
did not contaminate hard water, and that "soft water, circulating through
leaden pipes, is soon entirely protected by the formation of an insoluble
coating on the interior of the pipes;" that "tinning the interior of
the pipes is dangerous, inasmuch as abrasions would lead to the formation of a
voltaic circuit, and a more rapid solution of the lead." Dr. Bernays
affirms that spring water may be kept with safety in leaden cisterns, provided
the covers be of wood, unleaded; otherwise the pure water which rises in vapour,
and settles in drops on the lid, would, if it were of lead, slowly dissolve the
latter in small quantities, which would then drop into the water.
It appears, then, that water is best contained in uncovered
cisterns, because the air prevents or annihilates putrefaction; that the
cisterns or reservoirs should not contain much more water than is needed for
daily consumption, or it becomes stagnant from the want of oxygen, and its
organic matter putrefies ; that putrid water can be rendered sweet and wholesome
by filtering it through animal charcoal, made by strongly heating bones in
vessels from which air is excluded; though, according to Dr. Bernays, simple
wood charcoal will purify water equally as well.
Water should never be allowed to stagnate; the air should be
admitted to it freely, by leaving exposed cisterns and reservoirs uncovered.
Water which is hard from excess of carbonate of lime (chalk) can be rendered
soft by long and fast boiling, by sulphate of lime (gypsum), by carbonate of
soda, or by potash added twenty-four hours before the water is needed, or by
exposing it in shallow tanks two or three days to the air. The remedy being so
simple, persons living where the mountain-limestone or chalk abounds need not
use hard water, nor need they drink it where gypsum is found.
Nitrates - that is, combinations of nitric acid with the
other constituents of water - are injurious in drinking- waters. Dr. Lankester,
during a lecture at the Royal Institution, analysed the water from a well-known
favourite pump. It was found to be bright, cool, fresh, and tasteless to the
palate, but, owing to a peculiar combination of nitric acid with the water, upon
a chemical test being applied, it yielded a large amount of deleterious matter.
Nitric acid decomposes all vegetable solutions, and when it exists in impure
water, is highly detrimental to health; nevertheless, in a diluted form, taken
in distilled water, it is not only one of the most refreshing of beverages, but
is also a good tonic, and has been found useful in asthma and hooping-cough.
If a cistern or reservoir of drinking-water be placed in a
scullery, or where offensive smells arise from any cause, it should be closely
covered, for the reason that water quickly absorbs offensive gases, and is
thereby rendered totally unfit for drinking purposes. It is a well-known fact
that if a pail of water be set in a newly-painted room, the smell of the paint
is rapidly absorbed by the water; and in the same way water standing for a night
in an occupied sleeping-room is rendered unwholesome for drinking.
It is always advisable to have the water-pipes and cisterns
brought inside the house, to prevent the water from freezing and the pipes from
bursting. Exposed pipes should be covered with straw bands, which is the least
permanent, effective and troublesome method of protection.
The Board of Health enumerates several qualities which water
should possess-namely, Softness ; freedom from animal and vegetable matter;
aeration by a pure atmosphere; freedom from earthy and mineral matter; medium
temperature ; limpidity or clearness ; absence of special flavour or taste.
These desiderata cannot all be had; but, as we have before observed, most if not
all the evils complained of in water ordinarily supplied or obtained from wells
can be remedied by boiling it for a long time, then aerating it, when cold, by
pouring it at a height from one jug to another; by this means the flatness and
deadness, usually the characteristics of boiled water, will be entirely got rid
of, and the water will be as fresh and bright as ever. The safest, and indeed
the only thorough remedy for all impurities, is distillation but this is of
course a more tedious and troublesome operation.
In a future article it is our intention to give some further
information respecting pipes for the conveyance of water, cisterns for
containing it, and other matters bearing upon our water supply.
[-247-]
DRAINAGE.
IN building or purchasing a house in London and other large
towns, we usually find some system of general drainage, if the roads have been
formed, and therefore we may confine our attention solely to the proper drainage
of the house.
In country places where there is no system of drainage, each
house has to be drained separately, and the subject being more complicated,
professional advice should be taken as to the best mode of disposing of the
drainage.
There are two systems of drainage generally adopted in the
country?viz., by draining into some adjacent water, or by cesspools and liquid
manure tanks. The first mode of getting rid of the drainage is generally
considered preferable to that of cesspools, provided that the water we drain
into is some river or running stream of sufficient depth and velocity to carry
off the drainage ; for if the water be shallow, or merely a pond that is likely
to become stagnant, we are in danger of poisoning not only the water but the air
of the neighbourhood, and so of becoming a serious nuisance to our neighbours.
Cesspools should be carefully constructed of good substantial
brickwork, built perfectly impervious, so as to prevent the possibility of
escape of liquid sewage ; for this reason they should be sufficiently far
removed from the nearest point of any dwelling-house?at least, a hundred
feet?to allow of the cesspool being periodically opened for the purpose of
cleansing or emptying. Care should also be taken that the cesspool is not
constructed near any well, where water might become contaminated by any
percolation of drainage matter from the cesspool. The drain-pipes from the house
in connection with the cesspool should not be laid along the walks in the
garden, or in any position where it may be inconvenient to open up the ground
for the purpose of examining them. If possible, every cesspool should have an
overflow, pipe to take off the surplus liquid matter, which is comparatively
innocuous, and can be drained off into' some neighbouring ditch or water or
liquid manure tank. By this means the contents of the cesspool can always be
maintained at the same level, and all danger of an overflow is avoided;
moreover, the necessity of frequent emptying is obviated, a practice always to
be avoided as much as possible.
The uses of cesspools in conjunction with open privies in
London and other large towns, is, we are thankful to say, now almost unknown ;
and, indeed, where there is a general system of drainage, such a practice is
illegal, and cannot exist. But where such things do still exist, every
precaution should be taken not only that the privy is properly trapped, but that
it should be supplied with water, and the cesspool substantially constructed of
brickwork with an overflow. For cottages in rural districts the cesspool might
take the form of a liquid manure tank, one of which might be made large enough
to serve two or three cottages. The liquid contents can be drawn up by means of
a well and pump, but whether a cesspool or manure tank be employed to take the
soilage, in both; cases the water-closet should be trapped with an ordinary
syphon trap, and if constructed over the cesspool or tank, an extra length of
pipe should be affixed to dip into the sewage. By this means the air of the
cottage in the immediate vicinity is kept comparatively pure.
Construction of House Drains.?House drains are
generally constructed of two materials?viz., of brick, or earthenware and
stoneware. The chief point to be considered in the construction of drains is,
that they should be perfectly air tight and thoroughly efficient-that is to
'say, they should offer no impediment of any kind to the easy passage of any
sewage matter that may have to pass through them. Drains constructed wholly of
brick on this account are unsuitable for ordinary drainage, par-[-248-]ticularly
in small houses, as, from their mode of construction (of rectangular bricks and
mortar or cement) they cannot efficiently fulfil these requirements ; they
cannot be made perfectly air tight, thus allowing the escape of noxious gases
and perhaps liquid matter, and the imperfections and irregularities which
necessarily occur in the construction of the joints, seriously interfere with
the easy and free passage of sewage matter, particularly when it is reduced to
small quantities of semi-liquid matter. There is no portion of ordinary house
building so likely to be neglected and carelessly done as the construction of
the drains and unless the workmen are thoroughly super- intended, constant
mistakes 
will
occur which cannot be rectified after the drains are covered in and the house
inhabited, without great annoyance and discomfort to the inmates ; thus, we have
known instances where drains have become choked up, causing, of course, the most
unpleasant smells in the house (which are very often put down to other causes),
merely through the carelessness of the workmen, who in building the drains, have
allowed large pieces of mortar to tumble into the drain?this is a very common
occurrence in brick drains. For these and other reasons we confidently recommend
pipe drainage as being in every way preferable to brick, particularly for
ordinary sized houses ; great care, however, should also be taken in their
construction. We think the best drain-pipes that are now made are the vitrified
stone-ware ; these are to be preferred to the glazed earthen- ware pipes which
are cheaper, but are neither so strong nor durable as the vitrified, and the
inside is apt to become corroded with the sewage matter, which, when removed,
causes the half-burnt earthenware to absorb the foul water, and thus the pipe
soon becomes decayed and worthless. There can be no falser economy than the use
of inferior materials for drains, for if they are not properly constructed in
the first instance and of good materials, they are sure to become an endless
source of annoyance. Soil pipes from water-closets when possible should be of
lead, not iron or earthenware, the latter are of course cheaper than lead, and
galvanised iron pipes are therefore very commonly used in cheaply built houses.
They are not, however, to be recommended, as they are sure to corrode in the
inside and require repair, which, from the ordinary position of soil pipes
inside houses, either in angles or in chases in the walls, is always to be
avoided as much as possible. Waste water-pipes from sinks may be of lead or
earthenware, though lead are of course preferable ; great care should be taken
that they are not made too small, as from the greasy matters that are sure to
pass through them, they are soon apt to get choked.
Size of Drains.?With respect to the size of drains,
the chief point to be remembered is that, whilst they are made sufficiently
large to ensure an immediate discharge of all the matter that may have to pass
through them, at the same time care should be taken that they are not made too
large to ensure this object. There is quite as much danger in having the drains
too large as too small, as in the former case, when the sewage matter is reduced
in quantity it is apt to become sluggish, and will not pass freely through the
drains, particularly when the fall is very small, as is but too often the case.
Fall.?House drains should not have a fall from their
head to the junction with the sewer of less than one inch in every ten feet, and
more than this where possible; unfortunately, however, from the prevailing
custom, particularly in London, of having all the kitchen offices in the
basement of the house, and below the level of the streets, there is great
difficulty in getting a good fall for the house drains, which are often laid
with little or no fall at all. We think, however, that for small houses
containing from eight to twelve rooms, a six-inch pipe drain (if laid to a
proper fall) will be found amply sufficient, whilst a nine-inch drain will
suffice for houses of the largest size. Pipes of larger size than this can only
be required in very exceptional cases, such as schools, hospitals, and
manufactories, or where there may be large quantities of water used. A five-inch
soil pipe will be found sufficient for water-closets, and from one and a half to
three inches for the waste pipes of sinks. Care should be taken to see that the
joints of the drain pipes are properly executed in cement of the best quality,
and not in clay or mortar, it being of the greatest importance to prevent the
possibility of any escape of effluvia or liquid matter through the joints. The
pipes should be laid with their socket joints in the direction of the fall. In
cheaply built houses it is not an uncommon practice for workmen to connect
together drain pipes of unequal diameter, concealing the ill-fitting joints by
cement. We need not say that such a dangerous practice will be sure to attract
attention sooner or later, as, in truth, all the dodges that may be resorted to
by careless work- men in indifferently built houses. The connection between the
house drain and the public sewer is a matter of such importance that it is now
generally undertaken by the district board of works, under the direction of
their own surveyor and workmen; and in London and most towns it is the duty of
the board of works to see that all house drains are properly constructed and
trapped, and they have power to compel the owners to have the same altered and
improved when not so done. We may add that the level of the drains should always
be kept as high as possible, so that the connection with the main sewer may be
above the invert. It is not an uncommon practice to find houses built in new
districts before the roads are properly formed and the main drainage completed,
and in such cases cesspools are made in the rear of the houses to receive the
drainage until the main sewer is formed; and when the connection is made between
the house drainage and the sewer, the cesspool is apt to be forgotten or not
properly emptied and filled up, thus causing great annoyance.
Traps.?We come now to perhaps the most important
portion of our subject?viz., the trapping of drains or the means that are
generally taken to prevent the escape of foul air from the drains or sewers into
houses or yards. The preservation of the purity of air in every house, and
therefore to a great extent the health and comfort of the inmates, depends very
much upon this apparently simple question. In the first place, as simplicity
should be the [-249-] guiding principle in
everything connected with house drains, so the number of connections that may
have to be formed with the drain should be as few as possible, as each junction
will require to be separately trapped in addition to the connection between the
drain and the main sewer. The traps should be of the simplest form, and the
least expensive ; perhaps the best form of trap and the least liable to get out
of order or require cleaning is the common syphon trap, made of the same
material and of the same length as the drain pipe. One of these traps should be
inserted at the foot of every soil or waste-water pipe where it is connected
with the house drain, and also at the junction with the sewer. Should there be
only one water-closet to the house, it may be situated near to the sink, so that
the refuse water may enter the same trap as the water-closet, and so help to
flush the drain. In all cases, however, the drain should be flushed with water
along its entire course, and where the waste from the sink or a
rain-water pipe may not be sufficient, a supply must be procured from the
cistern by means of the over-flow pipe, of which we shall speak presently. With
respect to the ordinary bell traps for sinks and areas, much objection has been
found in consequence of the facility with which they are apt to get out of order
; this more often arises, however, from their misuse than from any great fault
in their construction. Thus, through the carelessness of servants, the waste
pipes often get choked up with grease and other matter which should not be
allowed to enter the trap at all. The bell trap is then, of course, removed in
order to clear away the obstruction, and put on one side for a time (perhaps
gets broken), allowing, of course, the free ingress of foul air into the house
not only from the house drain, but the sewer. The remedy adopted in some cases
of soldering the top of the bell trap down is, perhaps, worse than the disease,
as this will not prevent the accumulation of grease. Various improvements have
been made in the ordinary bell traps.
The accompanying drawings show the complete arrangement of
the drainage for water- closets, lavatory, sink, and yard for an ordinary house,
in which the chief object has been to collect all the waste-water pipes at the
head of the drain behind the water-closets, in order to flush the drains along
their entire length.
The basement plan, Fig. 4, shows a scullery twelve feet by
eight feet six inches, with copper and sink ; behind this there is a
water-closet for servants ; on the ground floor above, Fig. 3, a smoking or
gentleman's room, with fireplace and lavatory; and another water-closet above
the one below. The other plan, Fig. 2, shows the lead or zinc flat above, with a
cistern to supply the two water-closets, lavatory, and sink, also a small
skylight to light the water-closet. The section, as shown in Fig. 1, is taken
through the two rooms and both the water-closets, and is intended to show the
various soil and water pipes with their connections, &c. The waste pipes
from the lavatory and sink are intended to lead into the water-closets to assist
in flushing the pipes. There is also a junction between the rain-water pipe and
the drain. In addition to this the head of the drain would be ventilated by the
rain-water pipe, of which we shall speak presently. All the traps are indicated
on the plans by the letter T. The water-closet on the ground floor is trapped
with a D trap (as being a superior closet), while the other water-closet in the
basement would have a stoneware pan and syphon trap ; there would be a syphon
trap also at the foot of the rain-water pipe, and there should also be a
cast-lead syphon trap to the lavatory and sink, but no bell traps are used, the
sink having merely a grating to prevent the passage of rubbish. Underneath the
foot of the rain-water pipe, a small brick cesspool about fourteen inches square
should be constructed, covered with a five-hole sink stone to receive all
rubbish that is sure to be washed down the pipe, and which it is desirable to
exclude from the drain. The cesspool can easily be cleaned out by merely
removing the stone covering. A syphon trap is fixed in the same, and connected
with the drain. This arrangement is shown in the illustration, Fig. 4.
The Ventilation of Drains is another matter that is
not so generally attended to as its importance deserves. In most houses the only
mode of ventilating the drains is by means of the rain-water pipes ; when this
is the case, the head of the rain-water pipe should on no account be situated
near any window (as is very often the case), thus allowing the entry of foul air
direct from the drains into the bedrooms. The better plan is to construct a
proper ventilating pipe or shaft direct from the drains, and terminating above
the roof, where the foul air is perfectly harmless ; another plan would be to
utilise tall chimneys as ventilating shafts; in any case the ventilation of
drains is a most important matter, and should be as near the head of the
drain as possible. Traps, however good may be their construction, are always
liable to get out of order, and cannot be implicitly relied upon to prevent the
passage of foul air, as the water in them may become dried up by evaporation.
Inspection of Drains.?In concluding these
remarks upon drainage, we would add that it is most important to have ready
access to the drains for the purpose of inspecting or cleansing them. Most
people are acquainted with the serious inconvenience of being obliged to have
the drains uncovered; thus it is most important, in the first place, that the
drains should be so laid as to cause the least possible inconvenience when this
is required to be done ; and we should very strongly urge every one who rents or
purchases a house to procure from the builder a rough plan, the preparation of
which need cost but very little, showing the complete system of the drainage.
Some people are of opinion that drains should never be laid inside the house at
all, and that all water-closets and sinks should be situated close to an
external wall, so that the soil and refuse water may be [-250-]
discharged into the drain outside the house. No doubt this would be an excellent
plan, as it would, in a great measure, prevent much annoyance to the inmates of
a house ; but, unfortunately for many reasons, it is very difficult to carry
out, more particularly in towns, where the water-closet is often placed in the
yard, or in the rear of the house, and has to be connected with the main sewer
which runs along the street in front. We think, however, that the inconvenience
of the plan now generally adopted in towns, viz., of carrying the drain through
the house, is capable of being reduced to a minimum by simply adopting ordinary
precautions, and seeing that the work is thoroughly and efficiently carried out.
We have endeavoured in these remarks upon drainage to render
the subject as intelligible as possible to our readers. In conclusion, we would
again say that it is a matter that should never be neglected, and we earnestly
recommend any of our readers who may intend purchasing, renting, or building a
house to ascertain that at least three conditions have been fulfilled with
regard to the drainage :?
I. That the house has a separate and distinct drainage,
properly connected with the main sewer.
2. That the house drain is efficiently constructed of proper
stoneware pipes laid to a sufficient fall.
3. That all connections with the drain are properly trap5ed
to prevent' the escape of foul air.
[-257-]
WATER SUPPLY (continued from p. 163).
IT is somewhat strange that, notwithstanding the number of valuable discoveries
in metallurgical chemistry which are day by day brought to the notice of the
scientific world, lead, as a material for the manufacture of water-pipes,
cisterns, conduits, &c., remains unsuperseded. Its unfitness for such a
purpose is beyond dispute, and there can be no doubt that a great number of
obscure ailments and protracted diseases (which, although combated with all the
appliances and remedies at the command of medical science, obstinately retain
their hold on the constitution of the sufferer) might be, by the aid of careful
analysis, traced to minute proportions of the salts of lead held in solution by
the water in common use, and with it passed into the system. The quantities of
metallic salt thus held and borne onwards by water are not unfrequently so
infinitesimal that ordinary tests for its detection fail, until large quantities
of the water to be experimented on are reduced and concentrated by the process
of evaporation. Yet it is by the continued introduction of homoeopathic doses of
metallic poison, that the strongest constitutions are gradually broken down by
causes which lie beyond the ken of friends, or even medical men of average
attainments.
The ease with which the metal lead can be bent, converted
into tubes, fused, cut, soldered, and jointed, tends greatly to induce those
engaged in laymg down a water-supply to make use of it in preference to other
materials, and so long as lead water-pipes can, without a breach of the law, be
cramped to our walls and made to invade our dwellings, so long shall we have to
contend with the evils they bring with them. And here we may repeat a remark
made in a former paper that the widespread notion that filters possess the power
of freeing water from mineral impurities, is entirely erroneous. Gaseous and
some other contaminations are to be removed by carefully-conducted filtration,
but solutions of mineral salts remain as such, and are unacted on by any filter
properly so called. However, it is not our intention here to enter into a
discussion on filters, as their mode of construction and management will be
fully considered as we proceed with our subject. Earthenware, iron, wood, glass
and zinc are all, in addition to lead, more or less made use of as materials for
the manufacture of water-pipes, according to the position, &c., in which
they are to be placed. Hollow bamboos are extensively used in tropical countries
in lieu of artificial tubing, for the conveyance and protection of water for
both domestic and agricultural purposes. In this country much outlay of money,
inconvenience, and uncertainty are saved by the enterprise of public
water-companies, who do that for the householder which, in a colony or
partially- settled district he would have to do for himself - viz., discover a
source from which a supply of moderately pure water can be obtained, and then,
by the use of pipes, tubes, or other contrivances, bring it to his own door.
We will leave a consideration of the sources from which water
is best obtained for a future paper, and deal with a case in which water has
been laid on in the usual manner, subject to the periodical turnings on and off
by the water company's servants. In order that a sufficient supply should be?
collected during the influx to last until the time arrives for a further supply,
cisterns, barrels, tanks, and a whole host of other reservoirs are had recourse
to. In bygone days it was the custom to watch the supply-pipe during the period
of inflow, and when the store vessel was filled, a tap was turned, in order to
prevent overflow, waste, and inconvenience. This system, although efficient
enough when strictly carried out, led to endless domestic strife when neglected.
Water turned on during the absence or slumbers of the watcher overflowed the
barrels or cisterns, deluged the house or court, and caused confusion worse
confounded. The labours of the ingenious were therefore directed to the
manufacture of an automaton, or self-acting water-watcher, which should be
always on the alert and prepared to govern the supply, come when it would. This
important duty is to some extent performed by the common form of ball-cock. This
arrangement, although extremely simple in its mode of action, is so little
understood by the majority of house-keepers, that it may be well to make its
performances and shortcomings clear to even the most unmechanical. In order to
do this, we must refer the reader to Fig. 1 in the annexed illustration. This
shows the cistern at a low ebb, the surface of the water having sunk to a low
level. The hollow metal-ball, A, which floats on and is supported by it, sinks
also and, as it drops lower and lower, its stern or lever n is also depressed,
and, like a long powerful cross handle, gradually turns the barrel of the cock,
or tap, to which it is secured by a square and pin, and thus causes the water to
flow. It will be observed that in Fig. 1 the cistern is shown as nearly
empty, the ball being sunk [-258-] as low as it is
possible for it to go. This tap, C, although placed sideways, is, in internal
arrangement, exactly like a common beer or spirit-cock.
As the supply of water increases in bulk, and height of
surface, the ball, like a metal bubble, forces its way upwards with the rising
tide, until at length, on reaching the position, as shown in Fig. 2, the inward
flow is stopped by the turning of the tap to the shut position. So it will be at
once seen that, high or low, the ball follows the line of surface. This
condition of affairs would be satisfactory enough, provided it would always
last. Unfortunately, however, certain chemical laws step in and upset mechanical
arrangements. Constant exposure to air, moisture, and the acid impurities held
in solution by water, causes oxidation of the metal composing the ball to take
place. Minute pin-hole-like orifices rapidly form, and through these water
freely passes. The ball, instead of a float becomes a sinker, keeping the
supply-tap always open, and if a capacious waste-pipe, as a precaution in event
of accidents, has not been thought- fully provided, not only unnecessary
expenditure of water, but destruction of valuable property by wet may be the
result.
Not only the metal globe, but the tap as well is not
unfrequently so much oxidised as to become inefficient. The barrel of the tap at
times becomes so tight in its cylinder from this cause that the lever is not
powerful enough to turn it. In this case, too much or too little water maybe
suffered to pass through it, just as the orifice in the barrel happened to be
turned large or small when motion ceased. So it will be seen that the ball-cock
is liable to derangement from' several causes, which, being familiar to the
reader, admit, in many cases, of remedy, or at least palliation. Modern
engineering skill has, however, stepped in to the aid of the consumer of water,
and a far more perfect form of both supply and expense tap than that just
described has lately been introduced to our notice. This arrangement,
appropriately named the "Economiser," is represented in the
accompanying illustrations. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the supply- regulating
apparatus. Instead of acting as a tap, the Economiser works as a valve, which
drops by its own weight and is raised by a floating cup, E, placed at the
end of the lever, instead of a hollow ball. The advantages gained over the old
arrangement by the new one are as follows :-Perfect freedom from the chance of
the float becoming a sinker by oxidation and perforation; self-power of closing
the valve in event of the lever being broken; freedom from liability to become
fixed or "stuck" as it is called; and rapidity and delicacy of
regulating power, which is so great that on a decrease of three-fourths of an
inch of water taking place in the cistern the Economiser is in a position to
pour in a supply to the extent of its full-bore capacity as a compensation.
Instead of metal bearing against metal, as in a common tap, the bearing- flange
of the Economiser rests on a thick seating of india-rubber, as shown at D, in
Fig. 3 - which is a sectional view of the Economiser as applied to the inflow -
F, its lever, shown broken on account of its length. Fig. 4 represents the
arrangement as used for drawing off liquids by hand. On the lever, G, being
pressed backward, the valve is opened, and when the pressure is reversed, it
falls back to its closed position by self-action, thus guarding against all loss
by waste.
The subject of cisterns and water-reservoirs, to which
contrivances such as those just described can be applied, will be treated of in
a future paper.
We shall thus exhaust the subject, as far as those of our
readers are concerned who have to depend upon a public company for their water
supply. We shall then pass on to the consideration of wells and pumps, and the
sources from which water is best obtained, both as regards its quantity and
purity.
[-317-]
WATER SUPPLY (continued from p. 258).
THE materials from which water-cisterns are made vary according
to the means, requirements, and fancy of those who employ them - from the humble
and unpretending barrel of the cottager to the costly iron tank of the
manufacturer or theatrical lessee - and there are ample reasons why different
materials and forms of construction should be had recourse to. Cisterns may be
placed at the top of a building, and so arranged that a large body of water may,
in case of accident from fire, be poured rapidly and forcibly downward. In such
a case as this it is highly necessary that great strength, combined with
comparative lightness and facility of attachment, should be possessed by the
arrangement. Galvanised sheet-iron, angled and girdered, is perhaps the best
material that could be employed. It not unfrequently happens that a cavity
excavated in the earth beneath some back-kitchen floor is made use of as a
chamber for the spring-up of water. In such a situation as this, iron would be
inapplicable, and it is therefore usual to employ brickwork evenly covered with
Roman cement. It is a very common custom to place cisterns of moderate capacity
on the outside of dwelling- houses, where they are mounted on brickwork
supports, and protected from the intrusion of foreign substances by a small
roof. This is probably the most common form of cistern used in this country;
and, without question, the best material for its construction is cut and planed
slate, as produced at the Delabole and some other of our great slate quarries.
So admirably is this stone adapted for use in the arts, that it is worked with
the greatest ease with the saw, plane, chisel, and drill. Huge planks - as they
may be called - of clean blue slate are first reduced to the required size and
thickness by saws and planes driven by engine-power. They are then measured,
ruled, grooved at the edges, fitted together with rods, which are nutted and
screwed at their ends. These bars pass through holes, drilled for their
reception, outside the joining groove or rabbet, thus admitting of the five
pieces constituting the cistern (viz., the two sides, two ends, and bottom)
being either put together or taken apart by the use of a common nut-spanner.
Every cistern of this kind has a match-mark cut on each of its pieces, and the
contents in gallons painted on the outside. Lead cisterns we have already
referred to as being highly objectionable as reservoirs for the reception of
water intended for either drinking or culinary purposes. As a lining for a
closet-cistern, or in situations where rain-water is stored up for washing,
gardening, or general cleaning-up purposes, lead answers well enough. Do not,
however, allow water so collected on any pretence to be either made use of in
the kitchen, or given to horses, cattle, poultry, or dogs. When barrels are used
to contain water intended for general household use, they should be first well
scraped [-318-] on the inside, and then be
carefully lined with a thick coating of clean, well-melted pitch. An unpleasant
taste will be communicated to the water for a short time, but this is greatly
decreased by the use of a good-sized cabbage-net full of charcoal. This should
have a stone placed in it, in order to make it sink. Fasten a string to its top
; let it hang at about the centre of the cask ; lay a stick across the top of
the barrel, and fasten your string to its middle; your charcoal-net will thus be
suspended just at mid-water, where it should remain until all taste and smell of
pitch has passed away. No portion of the water-supply arrangements of our cities
and towns is so generally - we might even say, almost universally-defective and
wasteful as that constructed to regulate the flow of water through closets and
it is because the majority of mechanical arrangements made use of for this
purpose are more or less inefficient that householders are compelled, in self-
defence, to fasten up the flush-plug, and allow a large quantity of water to be
expended, when, by proper mechanical adjustment, enough water to meet sanitary
requirements is suffered to run, whilst wasteful expenditure is entirely
prevented.
A modification of the improved water-valve and cup- float, described in our last
paper, has been lately applied to this purpose by a very well-known provincial
firm. This plan is as follows :-A reference to the annexed illustration will
show at a glance the manner in which the whole arrangement is carried out.
Unlike the majority of contrivances constructed for flushing purposes, the new
"Economiser," as it is called, governs expenditure and Influx at the
same time, by a system of both floating and sinking power. The cistern to which
it is attached is constructed in compartments, so that the time (a minute or
thereabouts) which is occupied in restoring the balance of the contrivance,
after pull on the lever-chain, M, is made, must pass before the flushing ceases.
The bulk of the stream thus poured down being regulated by the size of the
orifice X is amply sufficient to clear all the pipes and tubes thoroughly
without allowing the least waste to take place.
A reference to the annexed illustration and the letters used
to indicate the particular parts of the arrangement, will at once serve to
explain the mode of construction and operation of this simple and useful
arrangement :-A is a cast-iron cistern, divided into two compartments; B the
flushing compartment; C the supply: the whole being about 16 inches long, 10
inches wide, and 12 inches deep. In compartment C the "Economiser"
valve D and cylinder E are fixed; while in compartment B a flushing-valve, F,
through which an air-tube, G, passes, is fixed. From this joint a connection is
made with the closet. H is a valve fixed to the partition, and communicates with
the flushing compartment B. Each valve is acted upon by means of the weighted
lever K K. By drawing down this lever at M, the valve F is raised and the valve
H closed. The water in compartment B, passing through the aperture X, flushes
the closet. On releasing the lever, the opposite action takes place - the valve
F closes and the valve H opens, admitting the reserve supply contained in
compartment c into the flushing compartment H, while the "Economiser,"
left to its own free and certain action, supplies the deficiency to the reserve.
By this arrangement it is evident that the lever cannot be fixed in such a
position as to cause a constant flow of water down the flush-pipe into the
closet; before the flush-valve is opened, the valve H is closed, and the supply
from the reserve cut off. To obtain a second flushing, the cistern must be
allowed to fill in the ordinary manner. Our next paper will treat of the supply
of cisterns, &c., so situated as not to be replenished from accumulations of
water stored up by public companies end carried through underground tubes and
pipes.
THE HOUSE.?V.
WATER SUPPLY (continued from p. 318).
THE dwellers in cities and large towns are generally so
well supplied by public companies with good and wholesome water, that little
attention is paid by them to either its obtainment or preservation from
contamination. Those who reside in small towns, villages, the rural districts,
newly-settled countries, or in camp, must, in self-defence, exercise their
ingenuity and powers of resource in the matter of water-collecting and stowing
for use. There are several sources from which a supply of water may be obtained;
some of them so obvious as to need little remark here. Rivers, lakes, and
springs, rainfall, and showers link in one system with the waters of the deep
sea. The moisture-laden clouds, driven landwards by the gale, meet and are
broken by the high rugged peaks of some mountain-chain, or pour out their
contents as they sail onwards. It is at all times desirable, when entering a
dwelling-place, to make proper provision for the collection of rain water. We
have already spoken of the different forms of cisterns and reservoirs in general
use. These, to be of value, must be furnished with a carefully arranged set of
tubes and water-channels, so placed as to receive the water as it flows from the
ridges, and convey it, without loss, to the chamber placed for its reception. It
is somewhat curious, notwithstanding the importance to be attached to a
well-constructed rainwater system as applied to buildings, that so little care
is taken in fitting and adjusting the channels and tubes. The latter are too
commonly so attached to the outsides of the walls, that at the least
interruption to the downward passage of water they overflow, and saturated
bricks and mortar are the result. A variety of causes are in force to produce
obstruction?dead leaves, broken cement, and the thousand and one nameless waifs
and strays which, wind-drifted, at length find a lodgment in the channel,
collect, and gather together as they are carried onward, until at length,
forming a mass, they either fall into the box head of the wall tube and stop the
orifice at its bottom, or form a sort of dam in the channel itself, which causes
the water to flow in a broad stream out, over, and probably ultimately find its
way to the ceilings or paper hangings of apartments. A small perforated zinc
grating or strainer, placed at intervals of ten or twelve feet in the channels
at runways, as shown in Fig. 1, will tend greatly to prevent ponding-up, as no
accumulation of small substances can take place?each grate keeps back its own
share, and prevents gathering together by onward flow. An occasional cleaning
out will keep the grates in a state of efficiency. The end of autumn, after the
leaves have fallen, should be chosen as a time for a general inspection and
clearance of the channels. The construction of the box or funnel heads of the
main downfall tubes in common use is, as a general rule, very faulty in form.
Fig. 2 shows a section of the ordinary tube head, and the manner in which a
collection of leaves, straw, sticks, &c. &c. effectually and quickly choke it.
Tapering rapidly to the escape-hole at the bottom, the impediment concentrates
itself, and becomes impacted by downward pressure of water. Fig. 3 shows a
section of a form of funnel or box head rendered free from the chance of being
choked - A is a piece of tube the same diameter as the main pipe B ; C is a cone
of coarse perforated zinc, soldered to the mouth of the upright tube, like the
head of a sharp-pointed pepper-dredger. All substances entering the box with
water will have a tendency to gravitate to the bottom, where they will remain
far below the holes in the cone. The point being sharp admits of no lodgment ;
and as the water sinks in the box, stray floating fragments of matter will fall
with it. D shows where two or three holes are made in the tube, in order to keep
the bottom of the box dry, by gradual draining through of any matter which may
collect below the holes of the cone. Sparrows are most industrious collectors of
all sorts of odds and ends ; and, therefore, care should be taken to stop
carefully the line of space between the lower border of the roof and the edge of
the water channel, in order to prevent them from gaining an entrance.
It will not unfrequently happen, that although no
surface-water is to be discovered on lands in other respects desirable for
occupation, an abundant store exists below overlaying deposits ; therefore it is
that the well-sinker's aid becomes necessary. There are many methods by which a
well may be sunk, dependent on the nature of the deposit to be penetrated, and
the depth to which the sinkings are to be carried. The simple shaft, sunk in the
earth until water is reached, has been had recourse to from the very earliest
ages. Then the Chinese, discovering that a small orifice produced water freely,
employed a species of shallow pumping borer or bit, which, driven by manual
labour applied to a long bamboo lever, kept pecking at the earth, until it was
filled through an orifice in the bottom. When charged, it was drawn to the
surface, and its contents cast out, and so on, until by the aid of water
occasionally thrown into the newly-made well or hole, it was carried to the
required depth, to reach the buried supply of water. A bamboo, with a split end,
is not unfrequently used to form a small well ; thrust continually up and down
in a hole made in the surface-soil for its reception, it gathers together,
between the split up joints of wood, such gravel, stones, or sand as may oppose
its downward progress. When thoroughly filled, it is lifted from the hole and
beaten until relieved of its burden. Wells in sandy regions may be sunk by first
building a circular wall of stones. The well sinkers then enter the circle and
dig out the sand within, until the wall sinks to the surface level. Another wall
is then built on the first, and so on, until by alternate building and digging
the required depth is reached. This process, although most ingenious, is
extremely tedious.
There are yet several sources from which a supply of water
may be obtained, the consideration of which must be reserved for our next paper.
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