IMPROVEMENTS IN SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING WATER
Year: 1846

page_text: PARISH AND ROOTSEY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
HEADLEY PARISH, of Chesham Street, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire,
and SAMUEL ROOTSEY, of Portland Square, Bristol, Esquire, F.L.S., send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of
November, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Henry Headly 'Parish and Samuel
Rootsey, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Henry Headley Parish and
Samuel Rootsey, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Henry Headley Parish and Samuel Rootsey, our exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed,, and in the Islands. of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING WATER;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Henry
Headley Parish and Samuel Rootsey, should cause a particular description of
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
5
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Henry Headley Parish and Samuel Rootsey, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and 1
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention of improvements in supplying and purifying water consists in
the construction and application of certain apparatus and arrangements for
that purpose, as shewn and described with reference to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, of which the following is a description, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS..
Figure 1, Sheet No. 1, represents a plan of a' crescent, and the mode of
collecting, for supplying the water from the roofs, and it may be from other.
surfaces of the several houses or buildings. The same plan or system of sup-
plying purified rain water is equally applicable to squares or other ranges of
houses, or for single houses, and the crescent shown by the Drawing is only
given as an example. Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent the mode of connecting
the several parts of the pipes, in all of which Figures similar letters denote
.corresponding parts. a, a, a, are dip-drop, stack, or rain-water pipes, attached to
the side, back, front, or some other part of each house or houses, and connected
at the upper end with the trough, eaves, or other gutter, in the usual manner,
or by rain-water head or heads. Each of these pipes is connected at the lower
end (in a manner hereafter to be described) with a main pipe sufficiently large
to receive and convey the contents of the several dip-drop, stack, or rain-water
pipes during and after a heavy fall of rain. 6, b, b, represents the main pipe,
which passes round the back or other part or parts of the houses, and is
joined by straight (or other) pipes in front, so as to form one continuous length
.round the several buildings from which the water is to be collected. At
61, 61, 61, there is a sluice cock, with short branch pipes leading to the reser-
voirs c, c, c, placed in front or other convenient situation) in the vicinity of
the dwellings or buildings. Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, which are drawn to a
larger scale, represent one of the modes of connecting the pipes and sluice
]

page_text: cocks, all of which will be understood by the following description, that is to
say:-Figure 2 shews a front elevation of a portion of the length of the
straight pipes (or main) in front of the dwellings or buildings, which pipes,
together with the branch pipes, are below the surface of the ground, as shewn,
1 (or they may be placed upon the ground); Figure 3 is an end view of the.
same length or proportion of pipe, shewing the position of the sluice cock d,
which is of the ordinary construction, and worked by means of a rack and.
pinion, which is well understood, and therefore requires no further description.
€ is a well of brickwork, or other masonry, covered with a flag stone; e¹, a wood
door, in the centre of which is a small hole covered with a metal plate, which
latter can be readily removed, so as to admit of a key being inserted for the..
purpose of closing or opening the sluice cock, and thereby forming a com-
munication with the branch pipe f, and so as to allow the water from the main
pipe b, b, to flow into the reservoirs c, c, c, as the case may be. Figure 4.
represents a plan (view) of the main pipe. 6, well, and one of the sluice cocks..
Figure 5 represents an elevation of a portion of the main pipe b, b, shewing.
the connection of the dip-drop, stack, or rain-water pipes a, a, a, with the
main pipe b, b, which latter is cast with short lateral projecting pipes, suf-..
ficiently large to admit of the end of the drop-dip, stack, or rain-water pipes.
passing into them, and thereby forming a socket joint, the construction of..
which is easily understood.
The Figure or Drawing on Sheet 2, which is drawn to a scale of one-
eighth of an inch to a foot, represents a plan view of a reservoir and apparatus.
for collecting and purifying the water and supplying the same in its pure state
to the several dwellings from whence it has been collected. In this view, c¹, c²,.
represents a reservoir one hundred feet square, more or less, formed of brick-
work or other suitable material. At one end of this reservoir there is a
filtering or purifying apparatus t, u, v, hereafter to be described. h, h, is a..
reservoir for containing the purified water; i is a steam engine, to be employed
in raising the water from the reservoir h.and supplying the houses with the
same; ; is the boiler; ³ is a framework supporting an apparatus for agitating.
the water in the large reservoir, the object being to prevent the water,
becoming stagnant, as well as to remove its disagreeable flavour.
Figure 1, Sheet 3, represents a longitudinal sectional elevation, taken through.
the line A, A. Sheet 2, Figure 2, represents a transverse sectional elevation,.
taken through B, B; and Figure 8 a longitudinal sectional elevation, taken
on the line C, C, to all of which Figures similar letters denote corresponding.
parts, the construction and application of which will be understood by the

page_text: following description, reference being had to the Figures or Drawings upon
Sheets 2 and 8:-
F
The agitator p consists of a rectangular framework, supported at the upper
end by means of a shaft or axle working in plummer blocks or brackets
attached to the wall at K, K', the lower end being supported by a float l, so
that at the level as the water rises or falls it elevates or depresses the lower or
outer end of the rectangular frame. The upper or inner end of the frame-
moves or partly revolves upon its axle m. n is the crank shaft of the engine.
Upon the end of this shaft is keyed a bevil wheel n; upon the opposite end
of this shaft (which it should be observed is in the same plane or centre line
of the axle of the rectangular frame) there is keyed another bevil wheel,
which takes into and drives a bevil wheel keyed upon the shaft, supported in
a suitable manner to the side of the rectangular framing K, K, and to the
opposite end of this shaft there is another bevil wheel, which takes into and
drives a bevil wheel keyed upon the axle of the drum p, partly immersed in
water, supported by bearings P1, P1, attached to the end of the frame k.
The object of this drum, which we propose to construct of a light framework
covered with perforated zinc, linen, flannel, or other fibrous material or wicker
work, so as to keep the water in the reservoir in motion, and may therefore be
caled the agitator.
This agitator may be constructed and applied in a variety of ways, as will
be seen by referring to Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 3, which represent a plan
and elevation of another form of agitator; Figure 4 being an elevation, and
Figure 5 a plan view. This agitator consists of two straight bars of wrought
iron q, q, keyed upon a vertical shaft r. At each end of these arms is bolted
a flat board, similar to the floats of a paddle wheel; the shaft p is supported
in any convenient manner in a vertical position, and rests on a footstep placed
at the bottom of the reservoir, so that the agitator is constantly submerged, or
below the surface of the water. Thus by giving a slow rotatory motion to the
agitator, which may be effected by a pair of bevil wheels, one of which will be
keyed upon the shaft r, the other being keyed upon a shaft driven by the
engine, the body of the water will be kept in constant motion, that is, so long
as the engine is at work. In some cases it may be found necessary to employ
two or more such agitators, and also desirable to have two or more arms to
each, similar to a paddle wheel.
In Sheets 2 and 8 there is a pipes, provided with a sluice cock, worked by
means of a screw and nut, the latter being fixed in the boss of a fly wheel s³,
(see Figure 8, Sheet 3,) by turning which the cock will be opened or closed,

page_text: depending upon the motion of the same, and the water allowed to pass from
the reservoir C into the filterer. This filter is divided into three or more
compartments t, u, v, by means of brick or other walls. The first wall t¹
extends from the top of the filtering chamber to the bottom, at which part
there are several openings t", to allow of the water passing through them from
the first compartment t to the second compartment u, from which it passes.
over the wall u³ into the compartment v, and from thence into the reservoir h,
the flow of water being regulated by a sluice, cock, marked v³, see Sheet 3,
Figure 3. Other compartments of similar dimensions and construction may
be inserted, the partitions being alternately opened and closed at the bottom,
as before described. The water after passing through the filtering chamber or
bed flows over the top of the last partition u³ into the compartment v, from
whence it flows or passes through a pipe provided with a sluice cock, similar to
that last.described, into the reservoir in a pure state fit for domestic purposes.
Below the engine house there are two pumps y, shewn in dotted lines, worked
by a two-throw crank driven by a pair of spur wheels, which receives motion
from the crank shaft of the engine; the pitch lines of the wheels are repre-
sented by dotted lines w, x, see Figure 1, Sheet 3. y' is an air vessel, bolted
upon a rectangular or oblong cast-iron box y¹¹, into which the water is raised
from the reservoir by means of the pumps, the object of the air vessel béing to
regulate the flow of water, and to prevent injurious effects from irregularity in
the delivery.
Having thus described the nature of our Inventions, and the manner in
which the same are performed, we would have it understood that although we
have described certain arrangements of mechanism and combination of parts
for carrying the same into effect, we do not confine ourselves to the precise
proportions or other details of parts herein-before described, as the same will
in many cases require to be altered to suit the position and circumstances of
the place to which they are or may be applied. But what we claim is, the
mode of combining parts and apparatus for the purpose of supplying and
purifying water, as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Headley Parish and Samuel
Rootsey, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-seven.
HENRY HEADLEY (L.s.) PARISH.
SAMUEL
(L.S.) ROOTSEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1847, the aforesaid Henry Headley Parish and Samuel
Rootsey came before our said Sovereign Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-seven.