Improvements in Filters.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 9th Dec., 1893
Improvements in Filters.
A communication from ZEPHANIAH SPALDING, of Kealia, in the Island of Kauai,
Hawaiian Islands, Engincer.
I, JOHN NORMAN SPENCER WILLIAMS, of the London Road Iron Works,
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, 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,
that is to say :-
This invention has for its object to construct apparatus for filtering liquids in an
improved manner, and which, whilst being simple and inexpensive to make, will be
economical and effective in action; the improved apparatus being especially
applicable for the filtering of saccharine juices, or syrups.
In carrying out the invention a tank is employed having in it, at some distance
from the bottom, a main horizontal pipe having a series of smaller pipes branching
from it, with closed outer ends. Suspended from each branch pipe is a frame of
meshed wire covered with a closely woven cloth bag, which is laced tightly over
the pipe. The liquid to be filtered is maintained in the tank at a level above the
pipes, and it, consequently, filters through the cloth bags and passes through the
wire meshing and through the holes in the branch pipes to the main pipe, whence
it is discharged by gravity, or the action of a suction pump, to a receiving vessel.
And in order that the said invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and showing the improved filter.
Figure, 1, of the drawings is a plan, Figure, 2 a perspective view, and Figures, 3,
and 4, are vertical sections as at right angles to each other.
Figures, 5, and 6, are enlarged views of parts hereinafter described.
"
In these drawings the same reference letters are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
When saccharine juice or syrup is to be filtered, it is run by a pipe, A, into a
tank, B, which is made of iron or other suitable material, and is rectangular in
form, being provided with a removable cover, C, to prevent the syrup or juice being
exposed to the atmosphere. To the middle of two opposite ends of the tank, B,
and at some distance from the bottom of it, there is fixed a main pipe, D, which is
horizontal and communicates with a pipe, E, on the outside of the tank, fitted with
a regulating valve, F, and leading to a receiving vessel, or it might be a multiple
effect or other evaporating apparatus. Screwed into the main pipe, D, and
branching from each side of it at right angles and horizontally, are smaller pipes, G,
which are made with small holes, H, and are closed at their outer ends by caps, J,
or by being fixed by flanges to the sides of the tank, it being desirable to have a
few fixed to the tank for strength. From each branch pipe G, on each side of the
main pipe, D, there is suspended by hooks, K, a frame of wire meshing, L, which
is covered by a bag, M, of finely woven cloth, which is passed over the branch pipe
and laced tightly to it in a manner to prevent the juice or syrup from getting to the
pipe otherwise than by filtering through the bag. Instead of the frame, L, of wire
meshing, strong wire cloth may be used, being passed over the pipe and having its
two ends sewn or laced together and being formed into a sort of frame to support
the cloth bags, M, and keep their sides apart. The juice or syrup is maintained in
the tank, B, at a level above the pipes, D, and G, and it filters through the cloth
bags, M, and passes through the wire meshing of the frames, L, and through the
holes, H, and the branch pipes, G, to the main pipe, D, whence it is discharged,
the flow of the juice being regulated by the valve, E. If desired, animal charcoal,

page_text: or other purifying material may be put into the tank, B, care being taken, however
to prevent the holes, H, in the branch pipes, G, from being stopped, and bags, M,
of single or double ply cloth may be used according to the fineness or clearness of
the filtering required.
When it is desired to heat the juice or syrup up to a temperature above_boiling
point, to facilitate its being filtered, a coil heated by steam may be arranged in the
bottom of the tank, B, and a vapour pipe fitted to the cover, C.
The internal parts of the apparatus are easily got at for cleaning or repairing
purposes, the apparatus is effective in action, and considerable waste is avoided
owing to the non-exposure of the juice or syrup to the atmosphere.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is :-
An improved filter consisting of a tank in which is fixed a main discharge pipe
from which branch a series of smaller pipes formed with small holes, the branch
pipes having suspended from them cloth bags in which are frames of wire meshing,
or wire cloth, serving to keep the sides of the bags apart, substantially as and for
the purposes herein before described.
Dated this Twenty-third day of October 1893.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.