Ordinary Tennessee, Veined Italian, Hawkins County Tennessee, and Statuary Italian marble, range in cost in the order mentioned. Fancy imported marbles and onyx are much more expensive. Tennessee marble varies in color from grayish brown to very dark reddish brown, uniformly intermixed with light specks. The Hawkins County marble is bright reddish and white-mottled. All the ordinary materials are cut in stock sizes, and may also be had to order, like the more costly, in any size and shape desired.
The type with apron or skirting, shown in Fig. 23, has legs, and the slab is supported contin uously by the skirting. In those supported by brackets or leg-brackets, the strength of the slab is depended upon for support between the bearings.
Legs, brackets, and all other metal trimmings should be in keeping with the character and cost of the stone slab. If brackets are properly spaced, the weight is so balanced as to leave very little sagging strain on the center of the slab. A shelf of marble, or a mirror with marble frame, or both, may be fitted above the back as a part of the fixture.
Porcelain and enameled-iron lavatories have bowl, back apron, and soap-cup in one piece. The pedestal of the lavatory illustrated in Fig. 24 is separate, of course, and no back is required, but the general features of integral construction are shown. There are no joints to open. The only injury possible to them is the marring or fracture of the glaze or enamel. Porcelain and iron lavatories, unlike those of marble, are adapted to pedestal support; and some very desirable patterns are therefore made in these materials only. Neither pedestal nor wall lavatories are suitable for use, except where the wall or wainscoting is of marble, tile, or some other waterproof material.
To provide for leaving the floor clear and free of obstruction, lavatories supported on brackets or hangers, as indicated in Fig. 25, with supply, waste, and ventilating pipes fitted on or into the wall, are best. If found practicable, a neater job results if all pipes leading to and from pedestal lavatories are carried through the pedestal. A supply and waste run to the floor is generally far easier and cheaper to secure than the fitting of all pipes to the wall.
The purchaser seeking iron or porcelain fixtures, has no choice of styles beyond that which the market regularly affords. If he pre fers the workable materials, he should insist upon certain features of design which are essential to the best service. Abrupt edges and sharp corners should be avoided; the slab ought to be at least 11 inches thick, and the back not less than 12 inches high; the general dimensions must be as liberal as space will allow or the service demands (not less than 22 by 32 inches for a 14 by 17-inch bowl); the countersinking must be deep, to } inch; the faucet bosses must not join the gen eral border level at all; the faucets must not be less than 12 inches apart, nor so near the bowl that it will be difficult to secure them to the slab; nor may they be placed so close to the back as to make repair ing troublesome with any type of Fuller faucets; the joint surface of the bowl must be ground to fit the slab, and provided with not less than four well-drilled anchor-holes for clamps to secure it.
Round bowls were formerly quite generally in use, but are now almost relegated to memory. The width of slab needed for a roomy, round bowl is too great; and at best the arms of the user must be cramped in a somewhat vertical and awkward position, while the smaller sizes are very uncomfortable in this respect. The sudden opening of the faucet when the bowl is empty, is likely to ricochet water with annoying results. This is caused by the water striking the curved bowl surface at a tangent, and is not peculiar to the circular bowl; the oval or crescent, or, indeed, any shape of bowl that presents a curved surface to which the faucet stream is tangent, favors the same result; the ovals in integral fixtures are the most annoying. Marble and onyx have an advantage over porcelain and enameled lavatories so far as ricocheting is concerned. The opening in the slab is not so large as the bowl, and thus a horizontal overhanging ledge is formed all around, above the bowl, which generally intercepts the water in a way to keep it off the floor and person. Porcelain and enameled fixtures have not this virtue. The bowl surface, being integral with the slab, is rupted and ous; hence ricocheting is more violent with them than is possible with theseparate bowl. Oval bowls are now in general use on all types of lavatories. They employ slab space to the best vantage, and are the most convenient for use. The crescent or kidney shape, trated in Fig. 26, is, however, as far ior to the simple oval bowl as the oval is to the round. It permits the forearms to lie in a natural and most convenient position when dipping water to lave the face. This form of bowl should be accompanied with a scalloped or recessed front. The D-shaped bowl, and other bowls embracing the prime feature of the D-shape, while not so graceful in appearance, are, without exception, to be preferred, on the score of utter absence of ricocheting when the faucets are properly placed. The D-shape, a transverse section of which is shown in Fig. 27, has a semi-oval front, with the end lines continued parallel some distance past the major axis, and with a straight-line back nearly vertical. This form gives a nearly fiat surface in the bottom between the back wall and major axis, on which surface the stream strikes and breaks when the bowl is empty. A depth of water is quickly formed under the stream, which checks any spraying or spattering.