ub'AH >irr 
OF 
COMMITTEE ON CONSTRUCTION 
AND 
Management of Privies 
MADE TO THE 
x 
Executive Committee 
Of the 
It, 0, Auxiliary Sanitary Association, 
\PRIL 17th, 1880. 
lVintod by M. F. Dunn % Bro., 72 Camp Street, New Orleans. 2 
future and in accordance with the suggestions presented 
herewith. 
Privies With Vaults 
Location.—Obviously the best location is as far 
from human habitation as possible, and. in view of 
the probability of the erection of new buildings in the 
future, as far from any property line as practicable. 
Under no circumstance in the judgment of this com- 
mittee should the erection of a receptacle for excreta 
be tolerated within six feet of any dwelling, school or 
other buildings in which human beings live or congre- 
gate.—The present pernicious custom of placing a 
vault within the wall of a dwelling should be strictly 
forbidden. From vault to roof a privy should be 
separate from any other building; thus permitting a 
free circulation of air around it and preventing the 
communication through walls and passages, to the 
rooms of the building, of noxious gases. In the case 
of two story privies communication may be had with 
the upper story by means of corridors, roofed, and 
protected from the weather and observation by means 
of blinds and lattice work, never by tight walls. The 
seats in the second story should be so placed as to 
render impossible the soiling of the lining boards. 
Otherwise it will be impossible thoroughly to 
cleanse it. 
Flues.—The necessity of Hues in privies will not 
be questioned by any one who has opened the seat, for 
some time closed, in one unprovided with any other out- 3 
let. I he rush of gases is a convincing argument in 
favor of a flue. 
I he passage in the opinion of your committee should 
he never less than 36 square inches in area and, with 
the size of the vault, it should increase—Its lower end 
should open into the vault at the highest point at which 
the gases will have free access to it. Its height should 
be proportioned to its proximity to buildings. If not 
more than six feet of interval exists between it and the 
nearest building occupied by man, it should certainly 
rise several feet above any opening in such building— 
With the increase of interval there might be allowed a 
less height of due. The securement of a constant up- 
ward current in the due is difficult, if not impossible, 
without the use of artidcial heat. Connection through 
a brick or metal passage with a chimney, or the use ol 
a small jet of gas, will accomplish the object, but such 
remedy is too costly to apply in most tenements. The 
application of the gas jet is very effective and simple. 
It is placed in the due at such height as may be con- 
venient, and, through a pane of glass set in the side of 
the due, may be made to illuminate the closet. It need 
not burn more than y2 foot of gas per hour or 360 feet 
per month. Where this expenditure can be afforded, 
it certainly offers a most excellent remedy for the evil 
of ill smelling vaults. 
A due of sufficient size will at all times prevent any 
accumulation of pressure of gas in a vault and dispose 
of it as fast as generated, though it will not keep it 
filled with pure air. Duplicate dues are recommended 4 
as being more likely to give a draft, for the reason that 
the slightest difference in the action of the sun or wind 
on the two columns of enclosed air, would cause one 
to ascend while the other descended. In large insti- 
tutions,, where partitions divide the privy into two or 
more parts, it would be advisable to make the partitions 
double and utilize the intervening space as a tiue. 
There can be no doubt that the larger the flue, the 
better. As to material, the flue may be of wood, tile 
or metal. Probably metal would be preferable, as 
under the action of the sun it would become heated and 
create a draft. Whatever the material of the remainder, 
it is advisable that the cap be of metal. A form of cap 
used on lighthouse lanterns, and often on chimneys 
having the objeet of preventing a down draft, is recom- 
mended.. 
Vaults.—In the estimation of your committee, 
the three prime requisites to the good sanitary condi- 
tion of a vault, are imperviousness, superficiality, ease 
of access. In insisting on the imperviousness of the 
material from which a vault is built, the idea is, not only 
to prevent leakage into the surrounding soil, but also 
to do away with the nuisance arising from exposure to 
the air, of a surface soaked with foul liquids, every time 
it is emptied. In their search for a material from which 
such a vault could be constructed cheaply, they caused 
to be made a number of experiments, having the ob- 
ject of proving whether or not bricks could be rendered 
water-tight by boiling in coal tar or any of its products. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Fletcher, they were 5 
enabled to investigate this subject at the tar factory 
under favorable circumstances. While they did not 
succeed in finding a means of rendering bricks water 
tight, your committee think they have conclusively 
proved that boiling in tar, pitch or dead oil, adds little 
or nothing to their value for our purpose. Except in 
the case of oil, it was impossible to penetrate the brick, 
and the oil soaked tile immersed in water, absorbed it 
as readily nearly as would the same tile before treat- 
ment, the oil leaving it as the water entered. 
Brickwork rendered inside and out with pitch, or set 
in the same, creasoted lumber, cast iron, glazed earth- 
enware, are the materials most likely to give satisfac- 
tion. When creasoted lumber is used, (undressed) it 
will be necessary to coat it with roofing pitch. This 
will form a glaze easily cleansed, and the importance 
of constructing a vault so that it can not only be easily 
emptied, but as easily cleansed when emptied, can not 
be too strongly insisted upon. If excrement is left 
sticking to the sides, the surface from which gases can 
emanate, so far from being diminished, is actually in- 
creased, the proportionate increase depending on the 
depth of the vault as compared with its floor area. 
From creasoted lumber, probably the cheapest form of 
vault could be made. It would contain in its fibres a 
material in the presence of which, no disease germ can 
exist. Its permanency has been amply demonstrated, 
and from its various good qualities, your committee 
recommend it strongly. 
Pipes of glazed earthenware or cast iron set verti- 6 
cally, one under each seat, would be very easy to empty 
completely, and could be washed with the least ex- 
penditure of water. They would have the important 
advantage of being jointless and therefore tight beyond 
a question. The glaze on the earthenware should be 
that technically known as slip, i. e., porcelain. Either 
this or cast iron, once set would be practically ever- 
lasting. They could without prejudice to their efficiency 
be set any depth in the ground, provided, only that 
their upper ends projected above the surface. 
As to the form of the vault, it would not seem to be 
of importance whether it be round, square or oblong. 
Its size, however, is a matter of great importance. 
The conclusion arrived at on this part of the subject, 
is that no vault should be constructed to hold more 
than six months accumulation, while your committee 
urge the importance of regular inspections by the city 
or Board of Health, to see that every used vault is 
emptied, washed and disinfected every three months. 
Conservancy means nuisance, unless accompanied by 
perfect disinfection, and here it is the committee’s 
desire to record their decided opinion that disinfection 
should not be allowed to cease with the cleansing of 
the vault, but continued, year in and out, until the 
happy time when some effective substitute shall have 
been provided for our present system. 
The size should be regulated by the number of rooms 
in the dwelling, or of persons in the school or factory, 
as the case may be. It is of importance that the vault 
be above the water line in the soil, except in the case 7 
of glazed earthenware or cast iron, as heretofore men- 
tioned, and when small enough to permit it. entirely 
above ground. When so located, there can be no 
possibility of a leak from without, and any leak in the 
opposite direction will be readily detected. 
It would facilitate the emptying and cleansing of a 
vault, if its floor were inclined and provided with a 
pocket. Into this pocket the suction pipe of the ex- 
cavating apparatus could be dropped and the vault 
thus more completely emptied. When built ol bricks 
or tiles, the foundation must be laid on a double layer 
of planks. All vaults should be protected from the 
action of the sun. 
It hardly seems necessary to speak of the import- 
ance of stopping the pernicious practice of connecting 
vaults with street gutters. 
Buildings.—The building over the vault should 
be provided with ventilation by means of a blind or 
lattice work. Every seat must have a hinged cover. 
There should be a window or some opening to admit 
light. 
School Privies,—Should be located not less 
than (i5) fifteen feet from the school, to which they 
should be connected by a covered wap 1 he material 
and size of vault to be in accordance with suggestions 
in other parts of this report. The building, which may 
be double, having seats back to back, must have one 
hole to not more than (25) twenty-five pupils; each 
hole in a separate apartment not less than (20) twenty 
inches wide. Partitions to rise (/%) seven and one 8 
half feet. [Sack partition running- through the building 
to rise to the roof and to be double, the intervening 
space opening into the vault at the level of the seats 
and into the flues at the roof. The building should be 
not less than (io) ten feet high to the eaves. A door 
with fixed blinds, or with transom above to furnish 
light, must be provided in each apartment, though the 
building may be ventilated as a whole. Probably fixed 
blinds would serve better than a transom, as they would 
assist ventilation while not furnishing enough light to 
make the place attractive as a reading room. Where 
possible, the urinals should be separate from the privy 
and connected with the water works. No urinal should 
be tolerated without a full supply of water. The flues, 
and there should be not less than two, must rise above 
the eaves of the school building. The floor of a school 
vault should drain to one end, where, by means of a 
pocket and well, covered ordinarily by a flag or iron 
plate, it can be emptied with less nuisance and incon- 
venience, than through the floor or a seat. 
In conclusion, your committee would urge the neces- 
sity of a strict supervision, by the proper authorities, 
over the privy system. In their opinion, no new 
premises should tte occupied without a permit to be 
issued upon the affidavit of an inspector, that the ordi- 
nance, herein recommended, has been complied with. 
Respectfully Submitted, 
GUSTAVUS DEVRON, M. I)., 
E. HEATH, Chairman. 
WALTON CLARK. 
Committee.