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Page 44
"Of the usual modes of bringing water to our houses to wash away these
things I know but little, because there is but little to be known.
Complications and mysteries are not to my taste. I find no satisfaction
in overthrowing a man of straw, and am comparatively indifferent to the
rival claims of patentees and manufacturers, except as they promise
good material, faithful workmanship and moderate prices.
"The one thing needful, if we adopt the hydraulic method of carrying
away these waste substances, is a smooth cast-iron pipe running from
the ground outside the house in through the lower part and up and out
through the roof. It should be open at both ends, and so free from
obstruction that a cat, a chimney-swallow or a summer breeze could pass
through it without difficulty. I would, however, put screens over the
open ends to keep out the cats and the swallows. The purifying breezes
should blow through in summer and winter without let or hindrance, and
to promote their circulation I would, if possible, place the pipe
beside a warm chimney. Yet if the air it contains should sometimes move
downward it will do no special harm; anything is better than
stagnation. Into this open pipe, which should be not only water-tight
but air-tight through its entire length, all waste-pipes from the house
should empty as turbid mountain torrents pour into the larger stream
that flows through the valley. (Fig. 1.) Now, unless the upward draught
through this large pipe is constant and strong, you will see at once
that the air contained in it (which we must treat as though it were
always poisonous) would be liable to come up through these branches
into the rooms, where they stand with open mouths ready to swallow
whatever is poured into them. It is necessary, therefore, to build
dams across them that will allow water to go down but prevent air from
going up. These dams are called 'traps.' They are intended to catch
only hurtful elements that might seek to intrude. It often happens that
those who set them get caught, for they are not infallible. Whatever
the form or patent assumed by these water-dams, they amount to a bend
in the pipe rilled with water. (Fig. 2.) Sometimes a ball or other form
of valve is used, but the water is the mainstay.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
"Theoretically, this is the whole machinery of safe, 'sanitary'
plumbing: A large open pipe kept as clean and free as possible, into
which the smaller drains empty, these smaller drains or waste-pipes
having their mouths always full, and being able, so to speak, to
swallow in but one direction. Everything can go down; nothing can come
up. That all these pipes shall be of sound material, not liable to
corrosion; that the different pieces of which they are composed shall
be tightly joined; that they shall be so firmly supported that they
will not bend or break by their own weight, or through the changes of
temperature to which they are subject, and that they shall be, if not
always in plain sight, at most only hidden by some covering easily
removed, are points which the commonest kind of common sense would not
fail to observe.
"Practically, there are weak spots in the system, even if plumbers were
always as honest as George Washington---before he became a man, and as
wise as Solomon--before he became discouraged. A water barricade,
unless it is as wide as the English Channel, is not a safeguard against
dangerous invasion. A slight pressure of air, as every boy blowing soap
bubbles can show you, will force a way through a basin full, and the
same thing would happen if there should chance to be a backward current
of air through these pipes, with this difference, that while the soap
bubbles are harmless beauties, these may be filled with the germs of
direful diseases. Still another danger to which this light water-seal
is exposed is that a downward rush of water may cause a vacuum in the
small pipes, somewhat as the exhaust steam operates the air-brakes, and
empty the trap, leaving merely an open crooked pipe. Both these weak
points may be strengthened by a breathing hole in the highest part of
the small pipe below the trap. This must, of course, have a ventilating
pipe of its own, which, to be always effectual, should be as large as
the waste-pipe itself. (Fig. 3.)
[Illustration: Fig 3.]
[Illustration: Fig 4]
"Now, if the water that fills these traps and stops the open mouths of
the drains were always clean, there would be no further trouble from
this source. Unfortunately it is not; and although constant
watchfulness might keep it so, the safety that only comes from eternal
vigilance is an uncomfortable sort of safety--if we have too much of
it life becomes a burden. This particular ill might be remedied by some
contrivance whereby the upper ends of the waste-pipes should be
effectually corked--not simply covered, but _corked_ as tightly as a
bottle of beer--at all times except when in actual use. This would
doubtless be more troublesome, but indolence is at the bottom of most
of our woes: our labor-saving contrivances bring upon us our worst
calamities. Even this thorough closing of the outlet of washbasins and
bath-tubs, as they are usually made, would be of little avail, for they
are furnished with an 'overflow' (Fig. 4), through which exhalations
from the trap would rise, however tightly the outlet might be sealed.
It is also customary and doubtless wise, considering our habit of doing
things so imperfectly the first time that we have no confidence in
their stability, to place large basins of sheet-lead under all plumbing
articles, lest from some cause they should 'spring a leak' and damage
the floors or ceilings below them. One strong safeguard being better
than two weak ones, I would dispense with the 'overflow' and arrange so
that when anything ran over accidentally the lead basin or 'safe'
should catch the water and carry it through an ample waste-pipe of its
own to some inoffensive outlet. This would perhaps involve setting the
plumbing articles in the most simple and open fashion--which ought
always to be done. 'Cabinets,' cupboards, casings and wood finish, no
matter how full of conveniences, or how elegantly made, are worse than
useless in connection with plumbing fixtures, which, for all reasons,
should stand forth in absolute nakedness. They must be so strongly and
simply made that no concealment will be necessary.
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