Patent GB-353543-A (GB)
Title: Improvement in water softening systems
IPC: C02F1/42
Filed: 1930-05-01
Abstract: 353,543. Softening water. FLORIDA WATER SOFTENER, Inc., 1514, Barnett Bank Building, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A. -(Assignees of Dunbar, W. E. ; 119, East Forsyth Street, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.) May 1, 1930, No. 13443. Convention date, May 8, 1929. [Class 46.] In water-softening apparatus of the baseexchange type, a single valve operated by the flow of hard water is used to connect alternately one or other of two treatment tanks simultaneously to the hard water supply pipe and to the soft water service pipe. The apparatus shown comprises treatment tanks 1, 2, and a control valve having a casing 9 and a barrel 10 rotated by gearing from a meter 14 in the hard water supply pipe. The casing is formed with ports arranged in four zones, the barrel having a passageway corresponding to each zone for connecting the ports in the zone. Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically side-by-side cross-sections of each zone corresponding to the same portion of the barrel. In the uppermost zone there are ports 16, 17 connected to the hard water supply pipe 7 and ports 18, 19 connected by the pipes 5, 6 respectively to the upper ends of the tanks 1, 2; corresponding to these ports there is a passageway 15 in the barrel. In the second zone there are ports 20, 21 connected to a soft water service pipe and ports 23, 24 connected respectively to the lower ends of the tanks 1, 2 : there is a corresponding passageway 25 in the barrel. With this arrangement the water is directed for treatment through one or the other of the tanks and owing to the width of the ports there is a slight overlap when the flow is being switched over from one tank to the other so that the supply is properly maintained. Additional ports 53, 26 in the upper zone are connected respectively to the upper ends of the tanks 1, 2 and provide for a downward flush of water through each tank before the main flow is passed therethrough. In the third zone there are ports 75, 35 connected to the hard water supply pipe, ports 65, 30, 44, 57 connected to a waste pipe 90, ports 36, 56 connected to the lower end of the tank 1, and ports 64, 28 connected to the lower end of the tank 2. There is a passageway 29 in the barrel corresponding to this zone. In the fourth zone there are ports 42, 59 connected to the waste pipe, ports 34, 63 connected to a brine supply pipe, and ports 41, 60 connected respectively to the upper ends of the tanks 1, 2. There is a passageway 40 in the barrel corresponding to this zone. The connections described above are such that while the barrel of the plug is being slowly moved through that part of its rotation which corresponds to the period when the main water flow is cut off from the tank 2 and passing through the tank 1, the zeolite in the tank 2 is subjected, first, to an upward flushing flow of water which is supplied from the hard water main, then to a downward flow of brine, and finally to a downward flush of water from the hard water main, the liquid in each case being discharged to waste. The connections also provide for similar treatment of the zeolite in the tank 1 while the main flow is passing through the tank 2. The brine is supplied by water from the hard water main 7 which draws the brine from a tank 48 as it passes through an injecter 46. Modified apparatus is described in which the treatment flow of water through the tanks 1, 2 is upward.. There is in this case no necessity for a reverse flow of water previous to the brine treatment and the apparatus is accordingly simplified by the omission of the corresponding ports and branch pipes.