IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander Manning, of the Inner Templé,
London, Esquire, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF SEWERAGE."
.
Sealed the 5th February 1856, and dated the 7th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alexander Manning
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1855.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE" to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the adaptation or application and use of alum
slate, alum shale, alum schist, alum stone, alum ore, and all or most of the
aluminous minerals and earths; as a precipitating agent for cleansing sewerage
matters. The alum slate or aluminous mineral, under whatever form it may
be used, is available for precipitation of the valuable constituents or solid
matters contained in sewerage matters under various forms of treatment. For
example, it may be calcined and then treated with dilute sulphuric acid, the
fluid or semi-fluid drip from the mass of aluminous matter thus arising being
employed as the precipitating and clarifying agent. But the aluminous matter
may be brought to the condition necessary for the present purpose by other

page_text: means, the special object of this Invention being the employment of the
herein-before described earths or mineral substances in the treatment and
cleansing of sewerage. When applied to a collection of sewerage matter, the
solid matter contained therein is at once precipitated, and s thus made
capable of easy separation from the comparatively pure fluid portion of the
treated mass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Alexander Manning in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th February 1856.
TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One tliousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant 'unto me,
the said James Alexander Manning, Her special license that I, the said
James Alexander Manning, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Alexander Manning, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE,” upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Alexander Manning, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Alexander Manning, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the adaptation or application and use of alum
slate, alum shale, alum schist, alum stone, alum ore, and all or most of the
aluminous minerals and earths, as a precipitating agent for cleansing sewerage
matters. The alum shale or aluminous mineral, under whatever form it may

page_text: be used, is available under various forms of treatment for the precipitation of
all or nearly all the valuable constituents held in suspension or solution in
sewerage waters.
per-
It'
According to one amongst the various systems of treatment that: may be
adopted, the alum shale or slate is exposed for a sufficient length of time
to the action of the atmosphere, and is then calcined in ridges, in the
same manner or nearly so as in the process of ustulation as carried on in
alum works in general. After the roasting or ustulation is completed and the
mass is cool enough for use it is lixiviated, for the purpose of dissolving out
the sulphate of alumina and other soluble components, by means of water,
which may be applied either to the ridges, these being so arranged that the.
liquor may be conducted without loss to the pans or to the burnt material
after this has been transferred to suitable cisterns or steeps formed-with
forated or false bottoms. The liquor resulting from the lixiviation, after
remaining quiescent for eight or ten hours, is drawn. off into evaporating
basins or pans, and is boiled down to a semi-fluid condition, so as to obtain
as great a concentration of the sediment or sludge as is. convenient.
is this sedimentary product or sludge, prepared in the manner herein-before
described, or in any other convenient or suitable manner, which I use in the
treatment of sewerage, taking, according to the process which I prefer, thirty
gallons, more or less, of such sludge, together with two bushels, more or less,
of powdered. lime, and four bushels, more or less, of refuse animal charcoal,
and adding the same to or mixing it with about one hundred thousand
gallons, more or less, of sewerage, contained in a tank or other suitable recep-
tacle or mixing vessel. The sewerage and the said. ingredients being agitated
or well mixed during two or three minutes and then allowed to rest, the
precipitation of matters held in suspension immediately commences, and will
be completed in from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, when the supernatant
liquid, which will be bright and clear, may be drawn off. The tank may be
filled with sewerage four times without renewing the alum sludge, additional
charges of animal charcoal or ivory black and lime being, however, introduced
with each charge of sewerage. The solid matter deposited in the tack from
the sewerage is completely deodorised by the process, and is greatly improved
in value for agricultural purposes by the addition of the alum sludge.
According to another mode of treatment, the aluminous mineral or earth,
after being burnt or calcined, may be subjected to the action of dilute
sulphuric acid, the fluid or semi-fluid drip thus arising from the mass of
aluminous matter being employed as the precipitating and clarifying agent, in
the manner herein-before described in reference to the alum sludge, as obtained

page_text: by other means. It will be obvious to the.. practical chemist that the alum'
sludge or aluminous matter may be obtained, by various modes of treatment,
either in a moist or dry state, fit for use in precipitating sewerage.matters in
the manner herein-before described. Thus it may be found. expédient' to
employ some of the modes. lately.introduced for facilitating the ustulation or
calcination of the aluminous raw material, or it may be found advantageous
to continue the boiling down of the alum liquor until the aluminous matter
reaches a dry.state. Or, again, the boiling down, may in some cases be dis
pensed with; these or other various modes of treatment being selected accord-
ingly as one or other of. them is found more suitable and convenient for the
particular kind or sample of raw material employed. I may here remark;
that the animal charcoal or ivory black and lime are added to the alum.sludge
or aluminous precipitating agent for the purpose of throwing down the
colouring-matter, which the aluminous matter would otherwise give to the
supernatant water. The quantity of lime employed for this purpose, however,
is not sufficient to cause the setting free of, the ammonia; or if any ammonia
is' set free it will be re-absorbed by the animal charcoal, a layer or film of
which encircles the top of the tank.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said.
Invention, and the manner in which, the same is or. may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
application and use of alum slate, alum shale, alum schist, alum stone, alum
ore, and other aluminous minerals and earths, as a precipitating and clarifying
agent for cleansing sewerage matters, as.herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander Manning, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
JAMES ALEX: MANNING. (L.S.)