The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-01-16
ELECTRIC WATER FILTRATION
A TIP TO THE AUSTIN WATER
AND LIGHT COMMITS
SION.
THE LIVELY VOLTS PURIFY WATER.
And Remove From 1t All Germs and
Impurities-All Animacues and
Festive Bacteria Killed
Off Hand

Drinking, water from the Ohio river,
clear as crystal and cleansed of all
germs and impurities by the application
of 100000 volts of electricity is result
that may be attained in Louisville within
year. At least, it is among the posi-
bilities, even probabilities, and the peo-
pie of Kentucky's metropolis need not be
surprised to awake some morning and
find their drinking water purified by the
application of the same agency that hauls
them to and from their business in the
trolley cars.
TEN of filtration the Louisville Water
company has inaugurated series of
competitive tests at the pumping sta
ton four miles east of the city. Four
companies who make speciality of filter
ing the water supplies of cities have en-
tered the contest, and three of them have
their filters at work. By February Is
q new filter will be in the field, proposing
to secure absolute purity of water by
means of electricity and magnets. The
plain is entirely novel, and though tried
with excellent results upon the Passaic
river water in New York State, has
never been tried in the West.
Mr.. John II. Harris of New York, who
proposes to revolutionize water filtration
by electricity, was seen at the office of the
Louisville Water company yesterday.
He was modest, yet confident in his
claims, andGsaid that he would prefer
for. people to see the results attained
rather than to make assertions which
they would be slow to believe.
ITO be brief. l claim to be able to
secure the complete publication of water
by means of electricity applied through
magnets" said Mr.. Harris. "One can
not call my process filtration, for it is
not filtration. strictly speaking. | work
upon the old principle in natural philos-
ophy that magnetic forces either attract
or repel all substances. By running the
water through my apparatus, where it
receives 25O.OOO volts of electricity, ap-
pied by immense magnets with positive
and negative currents, all animacules,
bacteria and impurities are expelled.
The pure water, under heavy pres
sure, rises to the top and flows off
directly into the mains, while the i'm
purities sink gradually to the bottom and
are carried off by another series of pipe.
All impurities, whether in solution or
suspension, are removed. l work upon
the oxygen, the most active of all the
gases, and by subjecting the water to
molecules are shifted; under the action
of the electricity they re-arrange them
selves; the impurities sink, while the
pure water rises. Water NAV be COM
pletely sterilized by this process, though
it would, of course, then become flat as
dishwater."
Mr.. Harris will begin erecting his plant
at once. and says that by the middle of
February he will have it in good work.
bn
all companies that enter the contest to
erect plants capable of filtering 2O,OOO.-
600 gallons of water daily, and that these
plants shall remain in continuous opera
ton for at least eight months. At the
end of this time the filter making the
best showing will be selected. The cost
of making the tests is great, but as the
company which secures the contract will
be amply rewarded, three have already
erected large filters.
The first on the ground was the Jewel
Filter company of Chicago, who have a
gravity filter. The plant has been in
operation for a month or more. and the
company is satisfied with the results at
tanned. The Western Filter company of
st. Louis has two plants, gravity and
pressure filter. They all seem to be Civ
ing satisfaction to those in charge.
The Cumberland Manufacturing COM
pany of Boston has recently put in
gravity filter which, they claim, will dis
count all others. 1t has not been fully
perfected, but is rapidly nearing com
pletion.
In order to facilitate the tests and to
determine which filter gives the best con-
tinuous result, the water company has
fitted out an extensive laboratory at the
pumping station. The laboratory is in
charge of a corps of experts from the
Massachusetts School of Technology,
and tests and analyses, both chemical
and meteorological, are made daily
Louisville Courier-Journal.