THE 
ODORLESS 
WATER CLOSET, 
Rt D« Q* Smith/S Patilti* 
February 18, 1873; September 14, 1876; November 
2, 1876. Reissued October 19, 1880. 
B, F. RYDER, New Haven, Conn., 
GENERAL AGENT. TO EVERY INTELLIGENT PROPRIETOR. 
No person of information will now disregard the importance of tin-owing 
every sanitary safeguard around the health and lives of those for whom he 
builds. While the science of sanitary drainage has, under the pressure of 
public attention, made very considerable advances from what was considered 
satisfactory practice a few years ago, all authorities agree that the practice 
of the best sanitary engineers and plumbers still falls short of what is impera- 
tively demanded. 
Mr. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., is probably our best known authority on this 
subject, and the following extracts from his most recent writings will be 
received with attention : 
“ The cardinal fault of all, not even surpassed by the unventilated soil-pipe, is the water 
closet which is in almost universal use all over Christendom. This is known as the “ pan ” 
closet. It probably is not, but it certainly might be, the invention of the devil.” 
“This container becomes splashed, and soiled, and coated, and furred with an accumulation 
of foecal matter and urine, which the mere tilting of the pan, with its cupful of water, is power- 
less to remove, and much of which remains in adhesion to the iron until wasted away by the slow 
processes of a foul and dangerous decomposition, made still more foul and dangerous by the 
entire absence of fresh air.” 
“ When the pan is thrown down, after use, the pent-up gases escape through the seat with a 
stifling whiff familiar to all who have been subjected to it,—as who in a modern city has 
not been?” 
“ During the past few years earnest efforts have been made to produce something less 
objectionable, and two substitutes have attained considerable popularity; one of them is of the 
class known as the Jennings, which holds water in the bowl and discharges through a valved 
outlet placed at the side. This closet at first commended itself to all sanitarians, but experience 
with it has developed a considerable tendency to foulness in connection with the valve, and in the 
restricted space between the valve and the trap below. The other substitute holds its water in 
the bowl by a weighted valve closing tightly against its outlet in place of the pan. This also has 
a second trap below, and the intervening space, while undoubtedly far preferable to the container 
of the pan closet, is still unclean and unventilated, and the closet is by no means free from 
serious objection.” 
“ The separation between a water-closet and the soil-pipe cannot be efficiently secured by any 
mechanical device yet invented. There is as yet in this case no substitute for a good deep water- 
seal.” 
“ While the ventilation of the interior of the soil and waste pipes is of paramount import- 
ance, it is also most desirable to -afford a complete ventilation at the house-side of every trap.” 
Scribner's Magazine, May and June, 1881. 
The lesson taught by the above is, that while the science of sanitary 
drainage has made recent advances, the practice of the best engineers and 
plumbers still falls short of the requirements of the case. The point where 
protection fails is at the house side of the trap, and the subject most urgently 
requiring further improvement is the Water Closet. 
All the closets well known in the market are condemned, and the point of 
condemnation is the absence of ventilation and futile attempts to substitute 
mechanical valves and large quantities of water. 
The remedy for all these evils, though unmentioned by Air. Waring, is 
accessible, and is herein presented to you. It is a Water Closet without 
mechanism, and having its interior spaces completely ventilated. The Odorless Water Closet, 
Invented by R. D. O. SMITH. 
Here is ventilation complete at the house side of the trap—in the 
water closet itself—not over the closet, or under the seat, or by a little hole in 
the side of the bowl, or the enclosure arouud the closet (all of which pre- 
tences to ventilation have been resorted to, and have invariably proved futile) 
but in its very interior; just where the gases emanate; they are there 
subjected to that constant flow of atmospheric air which complete ventilation 
and their removal require. 
The gas-trap, constituted by the space surrounding the lower portion of 
the bowl, with the outlet placed within said space above the lowest part of 
the bowl, enables the inward How of fresh air, however feeble, to deflect the 
gases away from the neck of the bowl and guide them to the flue ; thus 
rendering this closet positively proof against the escape of exhalations or 
sewer gas into the house. 
These closets have been in the market since 1873 ; thousands of them are 
in daily use, and the fact of their efficiency has been most thoroughly 
established, every one having proved entirely satisfactory. It is invariably 
said no smell is found about them not even while being used. 4 
REMARKS. 
All sanitarians agree that ventilation is the great desideratum, and has 
been applied everywhere except at the house side of the trap. In this closet 
this last remaining part is ventilated to the fullest extent. It is therefore 
evident that, ventilation being the essential, this closet must give satisfaction. 
It combines all the merits of other closets, thorough Avash, easy inspection, no 
hidden chambers, simplicity of structure, etc., and in addition to them it has 
all the advantage which can be derived from ventilation. In this particular it 
stands alone, and it is now every where conceded that ventilation is the highest 
essential of them all. 
As a base ventilator it is ever correcting the sanitary condition of the 
room in which it stands. 
It is a modified form of hopper closet. (See Mr. Waring’s recom- 
mendation in Scribner's Magazine, June 1881.) It has no moving parts to 
become deranged ; nothing by which the interior Avails are splashed, spattered 
and coated with soil; no plug, valve or pan to become foul; no interior mech- 
anism or complexity of any sort to give trouble or cause after expense for 
repairs. Once properly set for use, it will last and continue efficient as long as 
the house stands. Water may be introduced with constant stream, sIoav closing 
valve, flush, or by any of the known methods, as preferred. 
While water is used with this, as with any other closet, in such quantity 
as may be desired, yet, it will serve perfectly with less water than any other, 
because water is only used to Avash out the pipes, and the ordinary slop 
water from bed chambers, etc., is sufficient for that purpose. Without water 
service the closet is still usable and odorless. These things cannot be said of 
any other closet. 
All water seals are liable to be destroyed by either siphoning or evapora- 
tion, and this is disastrous with any other closet; but the “ Odorless ” Avill 
still continue faithful. 
With any other closet, warmth in the apartment is a cause for the 
emission of odors from the closet, but with the “Odorless” warmth in the 
room improves the ventilation. This fact alone cannot be overestimated in 
is value to life and health, and it will be specially appreciated by invalids, and 
the aged and feeble. 
The container is mounted upon legs and the plumber is enabled to make 
sure of a tight joint at its connection with the soil pipe. And a conical flange 
descending around the neck of the boAvl holds the putty or cement against 
said neck, and makes a strong union between the boAvl and container. In 
the cut the modern and most approved plan of soil pipe connections is shown, 
but not claimed as especially essential to this closet. 
Ventilating pipes are usually made 3 inches in diameter and are often run 20 
to 60 feet to reach a chimney flue; sometimes, by turning down and running 
under the floor, in other instances folloAving along the Avails, or in new houses 
being built, provision is made in the Avails. If a chimney flue is not desired 
or cannot conveniently be reached, then the pipe may be taken directly up 
through the roof to a height favorable for all breezes. 5 
HISTORICAL REMARK. 
This invention was patented in 1873. At that time there was not a closet 
in the market which provided any pretense of ventilation of the bowl or trap. 
The idea of ventilating these places was scouted as useless and chimerical. About 
1875 a closet quite largely in use provided an outlet neck on the front or 
soil pipe side of the trap for so-called ventilation of the trap. To-day nearly 
every closet in the market has some sort of a vent pipe connection, and 
makes pretense that the closet is ventilated. The Odorless was not only 
the first which provided ventilation of any part of the water closet bowl or 
trap, but it is the only one which has yet provided any true or adequate 
ventilation of these parts. It therefore is the only closet which does or can 
prevent drain odors and sewer gas from escaping into the room. 
What the “Sanitary Protection Association” of Newport think of it. 
At the regular monthly meeting of the Association, held September 13th, 
1881, it was voted to add to the directions relating to household safety, con- 
tained in the “Circular Letter No. 1,” of the Association, a clause calling 
attention to the imperative necessity of ventilating the interior chamber of the 
water closet. It was decided to append it as an additional inquiry to those 
propounded to householders, the wording of which is as follows: 
“ Is provision made for ventilation of the interior of the water closet— 
the so-called'collector or receiver—by a current of air flowing through the 
same to a ventilating pipe or flue extending above the house top, and indepen- 
dent of the soil pipe or its extension ? ” 
This action on the part of the Association is prompted by the successful 
working of the “ Odorless ” closet which has been placed in their residences by 
several of the members. 
[From the Sanitarian, Dee., 1878.] 
The requirements of a good water closet may be concisely stated to be— 
simple in construction, not liable to get out of order, work efficiently with a 
minimum amount of water, and inodorous ; conditions which would unquestion- 
ably condemn nine-tenths of the water-closets commonly found in use, as 
intolerable nuisances. 
One of the earliest and best improvements of the hopper and pan closets 
is the Odorless Water-Closet, invented several years ago by Mr. R. D. O. 
Smith, of Washington, D. C. It consists of an earthenware bowl which 
projects into an iron receiver, which receiver, however, contains no pan or 
working parts within it, being tapered and trapped the same as an ordinary 
hopper closet, and set in the same way ; but the top of it is provided with a 
flat cover, and out of this, by the side of the projecting bowl, springs a 
ventilating tube. Emanations from the foul hopper or trap, by a well known 
property of moving gases, cling to the surface, ascend to the cul-de-sac under 
the flat top between the projecting neck of the bowl and the receiver, then 
find means of escape through the ventilator. It is the best closet in the 
market. 6 
\Tdrom the Metal Worker, Nov. 17, 1874.] 
The escape of poisonous odors and gases of sewage decomposition into 
the habitations of men lias attracted the attention of sanitarians and the 
medical profession everywhere that the modern conveniences of house water 
closets have been introduced. As a source of sickness its effects have been 
well recognized. 
In my estimation, one of the principal causes of the great infant mortality 
of cities is due to the constant poisoning of the air within doors by the 
escape of these poisonous gases through defective sewerage, drainage, and 
plumbing. Almost every physician in the city has recognized this source as 
the cause of serious illness, and even death among his patrons. The applica- 
tion of your improvements offers a remedy for these dangers to health and 
life long sought for. 
The greatest disinfectant yet discovered is an abundance of pure air, and 
the rapid diffusion of poisonous gases into the upper atmosphere is the safest 
and surest method of preventing their disastrous effects. The application of 
this improvement to the water closets, whether in dwellings, stores, hotels, 
public places, tenement houses, or wherever sewerage is deposited by the 
system of water carriage, cannot fail to supply the long needed desideratum. 
For several years, both before and during my official connection with the 
Health Department of this city, I advocated the principle you have so 
admirably applied. Your new application directly to the water closet will 
obviate the escape into the rooms of those poisonous mephitic gases, rising 
through the house drain or soil pipe from the main street sewer. 
Very few are aware of the fact that there is often a hydrostatic force that 
exhausts all the water from the traps in the waste and soil pipes of the houses 
connected with the street sewer. It occurs during showers, when a rush of 
water takes place through the house leaders into the lower portion of the main 
drain pipe. This, as a consequence, makes a free inlet into almost every room 
in the house, thus admitting the lighter offensive and noxious gases, which are 
forced upward and into the rooms by this same hydrostatic pressure. By the 
use of your “ Odorless water closet ” improvement, this is rendered impossible, 
as a means is provided for the free, unobstructed outlet for the escape of these 
gases into the external air, while the water traps remain intact. 
I hope the application of your improvement may be universally made 
wherever such appliances are used, and it would seem almost an imperative 
duty with the health authorities that its use should be compulsory in every 
domicile within their jurisdiction. 
It needs but a moment’s reflection to convince every thinking mind of the 
necessity of applying this simple, cheap and efficient remedy to obviate this 
great danger to the lives and health of a defectively drained and sewer ridden 
city. 
MOREAU MORRIS, M.D. 
Ex-Sanitary Superintendent, New York City. . [From The Home Messenger, Detroit, Sept., 1878.] 
It is now eight months since we introduced into the Home of the 
Friendless Nursery the Odorless Closet, patented by Mr. R. I). O. Smith, 
since which time we have had no diphtheria, no fevers, no dysentery—diseases 
which, in years past, told fearfully upon our little children. Grandma McKenzie 
says “ she cannot tell how it does it, but she never saw anything clean 
smells out of a bathroom like that patent fandango.” When one considers 
that we have but one closet for over thirty very young children, we feel that 
we cannot express too much gratitude for this valuable invention. Our 
attention was called by chance to Mr. Smith’s patent, but we most earnestly 
desire to call the attention of those having school or family closets under 
their control, to the immense sanitary benefit of our Odorless Closet. When 
we put it up, one person after another expressed their own doubts, theories 
and distrusts of its efficiency, but as the proof of the pudding is the eating 
thereof, and we have proved this to our satisfaction, we earnestly recommend 
its adoption in private and public schools, and private families. 
I. G. D. S. 
[From the Metal Worker, Nov. 7, 1874.] 
The novelty of the invention consists in the application of a ventilating 
current which carries off all offensive and unwholesome gases through an 
outlet placed above the highest point at which any such gas can be generated. 
The effect of this arrangement is to make it easier for the gas to escape with 
the current through the outlet, than to force its way against the current and 
up through the hopper into the apartment in which it is placed. While it may 
be difficult, if not impossible to turn back a current of gas, it is easy to deflect 
and control its movements in any given direction. The inventor claims that 
this closet is entirely inodorous, and may be placed in bedrooms or apartments 
without prejudice to health or comfort. Its freedom from mechanical compli- 
cations of all kinds, and the simplicity of its construction, makes it cheaper 
than other forms of water closets which do riot possess its sanitary merits. 
[From the Scientific American, Nov. 20, 1875.J 
Traps are designed to suppress and keep in confinement the gaseous 
products of sewer decomposition. We have repeatedly pointed out, however, 
the defects of the trap system, and expressed the opinion that the best 
precaution is found in properly directed ventilation,,by which the noxious 
exhalations will be harmlessly carried away. We are therefore able to pro- 
nounce favorably upon the invention herewith illustrated, which is based upon 
the ventilating principle, and in which the bowl is directly connected with a 
chimney or other flue, through which a draft of air will be caused to flow 
upward and be discharged above the house top. It will be perceived that this 
arrangement merely constitutes a siphon, the long leg of which is the flue, and 
the short leg the bdwl of the water closet, and that the well known siphon 
must ensue. 8 
10 Set In one row Ventilated hy a Single Fine 
in the Interior Department Building at Washington, D. C.; there are 36 in the 
building. With the closets formerly there and water running constantly, the 
odor was always present in the adjoining hallway ; now there is no trace of 
excremental odor in the apartment itself. 
At Hygcia Hotel, Fortress Honroe, 
there are seventy-five of these closets in use, many of them having been for 
nearly four years. On April 1st, 1881, Mr. Phoebus, the proprietor, in a letter 
to Mr. Smith, said : 
“ In my opinion your closet is without exception ahead of any in the 
market of the United States, and I believe I have had as good an opportunity 
of seeing what good closets are as any man in the country. You have never 
come to see me to see whether they are working right or not, but if you will 
take my word for it, they are all you claim for them ; and I have unhesitatingly 
recommended them.” 
Flue Connections. 
A current of air flowing through its interior chamber is the essential 
requisite for an odorless water closet, and it is for this reason that flues are 
employed ; complete ventilation of the house side of the trap is thus secured. 
All bad smells emanate from the house side of the trap whether they originate 
there or not, and therefore, that is where ventilation is most needed. 
Kitchen chimneys or other inside flues or flues constituted by the ventila- 
ting pipe itself running independently direct through the roof are preferred. 
Artificial heating is not necessary ; though heating gives additional force to 
the draft, that additional force is not required. Any properly constructed 
inside flue terminating above obstructions to the breezes may be relied upon 
for adequate ventilation. If it is necessary to connect with a flue which is 
badly located—one which the wind sometimes blows down, then it is best to 
flx the flue, not that anything specially hurtful can result from it, for it can 
blow only pure air from the skies, but it is not carrying out the plan perfectly. 
Upon reflection it is evident that even if connected with a poor flue this closet 
is infinitely better than those not ventilated at all, though hogsheads of water 
be used instead. 
Its Chief Points. 
1st. Perfect ventilation of the house side of the trap and its interior 
chamber, making it inodorous equally while in use and afterwards. 
2d. Absence of mechanical complications and simplicity of construction. 
3d. Works efficiently with less water than any other closet, yet, is 
capable of using as much as any other. 
4th. Requires less care than others to keep it in cleanly condition. 
5th. In case of siphoning or evaporation of the water in traps it still 
protects the house from soil pipe air, hence, it is a safe closet to leave when 
the house is unoccupied. 
For further information, address the general agent, 
B. F. RYDER, New Haven, Conn. 
Office with the N. H. Pipe Co., 326 Grand Street. 
Sold toy PECKL BROS. CQ1., 
73 Beekman St., New York. 72 Franklin St., New Haven.