Modern sanitary engineering / [Gilbert Thomson].

  • Thomson, Gilbert.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern sanitary engineering / [Gilbert Thomson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    162/296 (page 142)
    Safe Trays.—When built-up baths were in use, safe trays were an indispensable part of the installation. The joints of the bath might readily crack and leak; and it was necessary to protect the floor, and possibly the ceilings beneath, from the result of such an accident. The mechanical closets were provided with similar trays, partly to deal with the leakage from valves and journals and partly to deal with unobserved overflow. The same applied to baths with wooden casing. : These trays were formed of sheet lead, forming a sort of carpet over the concealed part of the floor. The water which they collected was supposed to be carried off by a safe pipe, which in the older times was connected (sometimes without a trap) to the soil pipe, but which in later times was discharged through the wall into the open air. In the one case there was considerable danger of foul gases coming up these pipes, or even of foul water being splashed back; in the other the current of cold air which blew in added considerably to the risk of frozen pipes. Flap valves on the outer end were not a satisfactory protection: they might break off or freeze tight. With the modern style of fittings, in which jointed construc- tion is unknown, and where every part is freely visible, safe trays are seldom needed. Accidental splashing is dealt with in the same way as it would be dealt with in any other part of the house—that is, it has to be mopped up instead of having any channel provided for it. Of course there are cases in which sanitary fittings are so placed that any leakage of water would be a serious matter, and provision is made to prevent this reaching, perhaps, an elaborate ceiling below; but this is rather a structural than a sanitary requirement. Small Baths——The smaller class of baths, such as sitz baths, foot baths, children’s baths, and the like should be considered on exactly the same principles. The material, construction, mode of supply and removal of water are not affected by the change of size; and the general rule against the introduction of any. part which cannot be cleaned as part of the ordinary household work should apply. ,