Turner & Robertshaw's patent dividable closet, or improved pail system / Turner & Robertshaw.

This is a 4 page advertising leaflet issued by Turner & Robertshaw, sanitary engineers, of 51 Bury New Road in Manchester advertising their newly improved, patented toilet (with many glowing testimonials dated 1880 and 1881). The original patent (no.3594) was issued in 1879 and the amended one (no.1429) in 1881. There was a large push in the latter half of the 19th century to provide domestic water supply and sewerage in Britain’s towns and cities as well as some sort of toilet or water closet quite often outside (sometimes communal in cramped industrial housing areas) to keep unpleasant smells and germs separate from the general living areas. There were a lot of submissions of newly invented toilets to the Patent Office at this time. This one effectively separated the solid matter from the liquid so that it could be used as manure and additionally prevented bad smells. Waste matter then went down a pipe into the septic tank or sewers.