MYSTERY OBJECTS

[chinatyke]

...helps keep the process going... as does the prohibition on biological washing powder ...

Why is biological washing powder a problem? The enzyme that makes the powder "biological" is a bacterial proteinase and would be beneficial to the septic tank process, as would most other common enzymes including those used in the brewing industry. The enzyme itself is not living but it is produced by bacteria. Biological powders tend to be less alkaline than other built detergents because the enzyme has an optimum pH range <10.

[David Whipp]

Afraid I don't know China; that's the advice we've been given, probably going back to when bio washing powder came in...

[Tizer]

At our previous house, built in the 1950s, the front garden was laid to lawn. We decided to plant a small tree and dug a hole - or tried to dig a hole. We hit something solid, like a flagstone; removed it and found a cavity. Looking in, it was like a Roman ruin - a hemisphere built of brick, lovely construction. Presumably there were no sewers when the house was built. It's still there for others to discover!

[Stanley]

Just to keep you going, what's going on here?

[LizG]

Are they slopping bitumen on the walls, or white washing the walls?

[Marilyn]

Laying sewer pipes and recobbling the ditch?

[Stanley]

No, a bit more basic than that!

[chinatyke]

Emptying the night soil.

[David Whipp]

I'll go with China.

[PanBiker]

Agreed, night soil men.

[Tizer]

After all that discussion of septic tanks and detergents I did a search on the Web and there seems to be very little suggesting that biological detergents are a problem. Perhaps it's another urban myth. Like China, I can't see why they would cause any trouble.

[Marilyn]

Wouldn't "night soil men" come in the wee small hours?
This pic seems to be taken during the day!
And why all the sand/broom etc? ( thought they just reached in and swapped buckets)

[PanBiker]

I suppose that job is in the same groove as the child "pure finders" who were tasked with collecting dog excrement for use in the tanning industry. Pity that use is not still valid, unfortunately we still have lots of owners who don't pick up so there is plenty about.

The guys probably took a pride in their work and left a clean street behind them Maz. I remember the old UDC dust carts they had brushes and shovels as well to clear any spillages. Tambour sides on the cart and the galvanised metal bins manhandled and tipped, hard mucky work.

[Stanley]

You're dead right China, the night soil men.
Maz, the name originated because originally the job was done at night so as to cause the least disturbance to inhabitants of the houses nearby. If you look in Harold Duxbury's evidence on the subject in the LTP he was very clear about the smell, he said that windows and doors were always closed when they were collecting. The 'sand' you noted is a powder made of lime and a by-product from the gasworks which is a very strong disinfectant (Nearest equivalent today is Jeyes Fluid or San Izal) Buckets weren't swapped under this system, each toilet had it's own bucket and once emptied a handful of the dust was swirled around the inside to kill the smell. There were inevitable spillages, they were swept up and more of the dust scattered on the street where it had been soiled.
There was a variation that was used in some towns such as Rochdale where the buckets were swapped. A full one was replaced by a clean bucket filled at the depot and lined with dry earth compressed into a thick liner. This dry earth was the end product of the excreta and the earlier bucket linings. This sounds strange but it had been found that if this was done there was a reaction between the treated earth liner and the waste that started the breakdown of the material and reduced the smell. In such toilets there was a container of dry ashes from the fire and a scoopful was scattered in the bucket after use. It was a good system and in the great debate over how to deal with waste it was a strong contender but eventually the water carriage system we still use won the day.
For a rare classic view of the subject see Brassai, 'The Secret Paris of the 1930s' (1976) his famous book of photographs of the seamier side of the city covering the underworld, bar culture and brothels. There is a chapter on the cesspool emptiers. See this LINK for a used hardback at £9. A bargain and full of wonderful pictures!
At the back of my head I seem to remember that the cesspit cleaners in Paris were called les Gongeur but that might be a false memory. I can't find a mention anywhere. I decided it might be 'pompeur ' and looked that up but found it meant something entirely different!!!! Amazing what you can learn out there by chance.....

Next for shaving?

[Stanley]

It's quiet Jim. Too quiet. I don't like it.

[Stanley]

Click to enlarge and then study this image very carefully. See if your observational skills can pick out what got my attention this morning. It's not easy but I shan't string you along for too long. Should be right up Tiz's street.....

[chinatyke]

Rust on the galvanised handle?

[Marilyn]

A man's face with long,thin, curly ended moustache in the stain on the cloth ( RH side)

I see him. I see him. Don't you?

[plaques]

There were still tea leaves in there ever since Bankcroft Mill closed down?

[Tizer]

Should be right up Tiz's street.....

Mmm...nothing immediately comes to mind. I'm not sure if you are asking about the object or something else about the image itself. The towel seems to have a broken pattern of squares. Is the object simply a tea pot or is it connected with dairy products - milk, cream etc?

[Cathy]

Looks to me like a miniature milk urn, adapted so that it can be drunk from and hung.

[Wendyf]

I think it's his coffee pot, but apart from the red stuff on the handle I can't spot anything unusual.

[chinatyke]

I still say it is the rusty handle as a result of oxidation by the atmosphere because the sweat on his hands has removed part of the zinc plating and left the iron exposed. Is that the explanation you were looking for?

I see the face Maz.

[Stanley]

Good response, better than I thought (But Maz...... I'd hate to hear your interpretation of a Rorschach test).
China got the rust that caught my attention straight away. It's my brew can which I use to make my coffee each morning, boiling water on the ground coffee and leave for at least twenty minutes. I never hold the handle and don't have sweaty hands, they are good engineer's hands and don't cause rust on polished metal. China is also right to note that the handle is galvanised. My puzzle is, what caused that localised rusting?

[chinatyke]

Galvanic corrosion? Not sure how that would happen if the brew can is enamelled properly as were the good billy cans.