Improvements in Ventilating Sewers.
Year: 1895

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ventilating Sewers.
I PETER HART of Gransmoor Avenue Fairfield Manchester Chemist do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The gases withdrawn from sewers and the like places by means of ventilating
shafts are before their emission into the outer air caused to pass through a bed or
mass of coke, pumice stone, porous brick, or other suitable material which has been
previously steeped in, soaked in, or saturated with a solution of any soluable salt of
copper, lead, zine or iron or mixtures of these salts.
Dated this 1th dow of Octoba 1905
I PETER HART of Gransmoor Fairfield near Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in the removal of noxious matters from the air withdrawn
from sewers by ventilating shafts or orifices, this I accomplish by passing it previous
to its emission into the outer air through a bed or mass of coke, pumice stone,
porous brick, or other suitable material which has been previously steeped in,
soaked in, or saturated with a solution of any soluable sait of copper, lead, zinc or
iron, and I carry out my invention in the following manner.
In practice I prefer to use coke on account of its lightness and porosity and a
salt of iron, preferably the ferric sulphate or ferric chlorido on account of cheapness
and efficiency.
It is to be understood that in each case where the word coke occurs hereafter it
means also pumice stone, porous brick or other suitable material, and also where the
terms ferric sulphate or ferric chloride are used it means any of the metallic salts
claimed. I take the coke broken into pieces about the size of a hens egg, and place
them into a suitable vessel, preferably an iron pan lined with lead, having a fireplace
attached, the coke is now covered completely with a strong solution of ferric sulphate
or chloride and brought to the boil or nearly so, being kept at this temperature with
occasional stirring for 3 or 4 hours, by this time the air will have been expelled, or
nearly so, from the pores of the coke. The fire may now be withdrawn and the pan
allowed to cool, during which time the solution will be drawn into or sucked into
the pores of the coke and when the whole is cold the coke may be removed in any
suitable manner and is now ready for placing in the receptacle or filter. The filter
may be constructed of any convenient shape either circular or rectangular and may
be made of metal, earthenware or built of common brick. A convenient size and
position, as attached to what is known as the manhole of a sewer, is shewn by
Fig. 1 on the drawing attached hereto. The containing vessel A may be made of
cast iron, earthenware or any suitable material and is provided with a grid or
DQ77

page_text: perforated plate at the lower end B, this supports the prepared coke or other
material C.
The upper portion of this vessel is either perforated with holes or has portions cut
out as shewn at D and is covered with a cap or lid which prevents rain or dirt
entering. The opening at the top of the manhole being closed; the action of the
apparatus is as follows. When the vitiated air of the sewer is set in motion, whether
from expansion or otherwise it is prevented from escaping at the head of the manhole
by the close cover E and passes in the direction of the arrows, through the grating B,
the purifying material U, through the openings at D finally escaping into the outer
air through the open grid F. A modified method of applying this invention is shewn
in Fig. 2.
The vitiated air or gases having as described to pass through this filtering
material all hydrogen sulphide and ammonium sulphide is at once arrested together
with any bacterial germs, these in passing through the tortuous passages between the
pieces of coke become attached and are destroyed by the metallic salt, the air finally
emerging freed from these noxious ingredients.
The description I have given is one of which many modifications may be devised
by the sanitary engineer to suit different positions and conditions, but in all cases
the depth of prepared coke should not be less than 18 inches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is.
The passing of gases withdrawn from sewers and the like places, previous to their
emission into the outer air through a bed or mass of coke, pumice stone, porous
brick, or other suitable material which has been previously steeped in, soaked in, or
saturated with a solution of any soluable salt of copper, lead, zinc or iron substantially
as hereinbefore described.