IMPROVE. MENTS IN APPARATUS. FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Short, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Portioner, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN APPARATUS. FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE."
1
Sealed the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 4th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Short at the:
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th April 1874.
I, THOMAS SHORT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North'
Britain, Portioner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE," to be as follows,-
that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the purifying of sewage by removing
from it the various suspended matters and impurities, so that the water
may subsequently flow into a river, canal, or harbour, without polluting
the water therein.
,

page_text: The improved apparatus is designed for being applied in the course of
any main sewer, a certain length of such sewer being removed for the
reception of the apparatus which it is proposed to construct principally
of cast iron.
is
The apparatus is made with an inlet passage communicating through
separate sluice valves with two depositing chambers, and the sewage
allowed to flow through one of these chambers when the deposits are
being removed from the other. In each depositing chamber there are a
number of baffling plates and gratings which tend to break or arrest the
currents and thereby favor deposition. The gratings are in the anterior
part of the chamber, and are inclined and arranged so that the water has
to move upwards or partly upwards in passing through them. Forward
of the gratings there is in each chamber a pump, by preference of the
kind known as the archimedian or helical pump, and which is placed
vertically or at an inclination in a well or compartment, into which the
water flows through small perforations excluding all by the finest
suspended particles. Forward of the pump the depositing chamber is
continued in a form with diminishing depth, and is fitted with horizontal
or other baffle plates to favor deposition. The water flowing up and
raised by the pump passes on over the top of the forward part of the
depositing chambers towards the continuation of the sewer; it has
however on its way to the sewer to pass through quantities of animal or
other suitable charcoal contained in cages arranged so that they can be
easily removed for emptying and refilling.
In the inlet a water wheel is arranged to be driven by the force of
the inflowing sewage, and this water wheel by suitable gearing and
shafting drives the pump or pumps and also a screw propeller arranged:
in the outlet from the apparatus. With these arrangements the flow
of the sewage is by the action of the water wheel temporarily retarded,
the retardation favoring the deposition of suspended matters; but the
force is utilised by means of the water wheel in working the pump, and
in restoring a large proportion of velocity to the purified water as it
leaves the apparatus.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Short in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SHORT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Portioner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by: Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Short, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas Short, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Short, my executors,
administrators, and 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
APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Short, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Short, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:―
My said Invention has for its object the purifying of sewage by,
removing from it the various suspended matters and impurities, so that
the water may subsequently flow into a river, canal; or harbour without
polluting the water therein.
:

page_text: My improved apparatus is designed for being applied in the course of
any main sewer, a certain length of such sewer being removed for the
reception of the apparatus, which I proposed to construct principally of
cast iron.
The apparatus comprises two chambers or compartments peculiarly
contrived and fitted with the view of promoting the deposition of
suspended matters, and the sewage water is allowed to flow through one
of these chambers when the deposits are being removed from the other."
The water before finally leaving the apparatus is made to pass through
quantities of animal or other suitable charcoal contained in cages.
arranged so that they can be casily removed for emptying and refilling.
The flow of the sewage water in the apparatus is temporarily retarded by
the action of a water wheel which it is made to drive on entering, but the
force imparted to the water wheel is utilised in working a pump and in
restoring a large proportion of velocity to the purified water as it leaves.
the apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing a
modification of my improved apparatus suitable for a main sewer of
about three feet eight inches internal diameter. In these Drawings the
same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts where-
ever they are repeated.
.
Figure 1 is à side view and Figure 2 is a plan, whilst Figures 3, 4, 5,
are transverse vertical outlines, internal parts being indicated by blue
lines in all the Figures.
The apparatus is formed with a flanged inlet 1 at what is represented
as the left-hand end for connection to the main sewer in the course of
which it is to be placed, and just within this inlet there is formed a
chamber or enlargement 2 having fitted within it a paddle wheel 3 which.
the sewage water turns on entering, losing much of its velocity in doing
so. After passing the wheel the water proceeds by a deepening passage 4
to the entrances to two passages 5, 6, commanded by sluices 7, only one
of which is in general open at a time. Most of the chambers and spaces
herein after to be described are in duplicate and separated from cach
other by a longitudinal vertical partition 8 extending almost the entire
length of the apparatus, and it will only be necessary to describe one

page_text: set and the parts appertaining thereto. By the passage 5 (best seen in-
Figure 2) the water enters a depositing chamber 9, the bottom 10, of
which is formed with large openings leading into what may be termed a
mud chamber 11 below. In the chamber 9 there are a number of baffling
plates 12 and gratings 13 which tend to break or arrest thic currents and
thereby favor deposition. The gratings 13 are in the anterior or front
part of the chamber 9, and are inclined and arranged so that the watër,
has to move upwards or partly upwards in passing through them. The
space 14 forward of the grating 13 communicates with a front mud
chamber 15, and there is constructed so as to dip into the intermediate;
space a chamber 16 formed by a back perforated partition 17. which is;
nearly vertical, and by a forward perforated partition 18 which is
inclined and is formed with horizontal baffling plates 19 to favor
deposition. Within the chamber 16 there is an open topped cylindrical
well or compartment 20 into which the water flows through very small
perforations, excluding all but the finest suspended particles, the
chamber 16 being otherwise closed in at the top. In the well 20 thero
is a pump 21 which is by preference of the kind known as the archi
median or helical pump, and which may be placed vertically as shown,
or at an inclination. The mud chambers 11, 15, are formed with
inclined bottoms 22, 23, at the middle of the apparatus to favor tho
lodging of the mud towards the ends, from which parts it is to be
periodically removed by means of pumps arranged to exhaust it through
pipes 24, 25. The central pumps 21 are worked by gearing 26, receiving
motion through a longitudinal horizontal shaft 27, indicated by a red
line, from the water wheel 3. The water flowing up and raised by the
pump 21 passes on over the top of the forward part of the chamber 16
towards the continuation of the sewer; it has however on its way to tho
sewer to pass through charcoal, as hercin-before mentioned. The
charcoal is contained in rectangular iron boxes or cages formed with
close sides and bottoms, whilst the front and back ends are made with
the upper halves of perforated metal plates having half-inch holes about
an inch from centre to centre, and with the lower halves of three-cighths
inch vertical rods with three-quarters inch spaces. The cages are fitted
with antifriction rollers at the corners to bear on vertical guide bars in
spaces 28, 29, formed for them near the forward end of the apparatus
and in the course of the outflowing water. Close fitting doors are pro-
vided in the top of the apparatus over the spaces 28, 29, to admit of the
introduction and removal of the charcoal cages. Finally, in the

page_text: outlet 30 leading to the continuation of the sewer there is a screw
propeller 31 driven by a continuation of the shaft 27, which as herein-
before stated derives its motion from the water wheel 3 at the entrance,
and this propeller restores to the outflowing water some of the velocity
which it had at the inlet.
· Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
'believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for purifying
sewage, substantially in the improved manner herein described and
delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Short, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four..
MITOMÁN SITADT