Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Sewage.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 15th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 19th Apr., 1892-Accepted, 21st May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Sewage.
I, WILLIAM HENRY MUNNS, of 106, 107, and 108 Victoria Chambers,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London. Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention (a communication to me from abroad by Asher
F. Black, of Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Inventor,) to be as follows:-
This my invention bas reference to certain new and useful improvements in
apparatus for treating sewage, and the object of the invention is to effect such
treatment more effectually than heretofore.
This invention has reference more especially to that class of sewage treating
apparatus in which the mechanism. is enclosed in a closed aerating chamber.
By my said invention I employ suitable sieve belts which are adapted to
convey the more solid matter of the sewage to rotating brushes, and to allow
the fluid and finer matter to fall in a spray, and be subjected to the effect of the
moving air in the said chamber. A powerful current of air is forced through
the sieve belts for the purpose of cleansing them. Suitable rotating brushes are
adapted to cleanse the belts of the coarser matter, and to deliver the same to chutes
which convey
it away.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Sewage.
I, WILLIAM HENRY MUNNS, of 106, 107, and 108 Victoria Chambers,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention (a communication to me from abroad by Asher
F. Black, of Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Inventor,) and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-.
The object of my invention is to so arrange and combine certain mechanisms
that they may, in connection with currents of air and furnaces, to a very large
extent cleanse and deodourize sewage-water. This object I attain by the mechanism
shown in the accompanying drawings, in which―
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my apparatus, the front casing being removed,
so as to show its interior mechanism:
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same.
Fig. 3 is a plan view.
Fig. is a detail.
Fig. 5 shows an alternative form of spray-belt and its supporting pulleys.
Fig. 6 is a plan view of a part of my alternative form of sieve-belt, and is
intended to illustrate the method of forming the parts and connecting them
Fig. 418 a det.
Fig. 5 shows an alternative form of spray-belt and its supporting pulleys.
Fig. 6 is a plan view of a part of my alternative form of sieve-belt, and is
intended to illustrate the method of forming the parts and connecting them
together.
In using my invention the sewage-water is first raised to a sufficient height.
Then it is discharged onto a distributing-grill, from which it falls in a spray onto
the first belt sieve, which allows the fluid and the finer parts of the solid matter
to pass through; but the coarser parts of the solid matter are lodged on the belt
and conveyed by it to a chute by which they (the said coarser parts) are deposited
in a drying-bin, which may be made in any desirable form and style. The sewage
that passes through the first belt sieve, as above stated, drops onto a second sieve,

page_text: which in turn selects the coarser solid. matter and allows the fluid and finer
particles to pass through, the coarse parts that remain on this belt sieve being
delivered through another chute to the drying-reservoir. This action may be
repeated a number of times-that is, the partially-cleansed sewage may be passed
onto and through a succession of belts until cleansing by this means has been done
to an extent that may be satisfactory. After the more fluid part of the sewage
has passed through all the sieves, taking with it the finer parts of solid matter,
it falls into a series of filters, which by themselves constitute a tram of cars, as
shown in Fig. 1, and in passing through these filter-cars from the top to the bottom
of them the finer parts of the sewage are retained by the sand in the said filter-
cars, and the filtered fluid that drips from the cars is so nearly pure as to be
innoxious. The foul gases are removed before the sewage reaches the filter-cars,
as will be hereinafter more fully referred to.
The filter-cars above referred to may be of any suitable construction and adapted
to pass under the sewage-chamber, as shown. The bottoms of the said cars are
made perforated and otherwise adapted to allow of their acting as filters.
The cars are so constructed as to form a continuous filtering-bed, and may be
in constant motion while the apparatus is in operation. The sludge that gathors
on and in the upper part of the sand can be removed without stopping the train of
filtering-cars.
The above-described filtering-cars run on a track that is circular in form, or at
least forms a continuous ring, a sector of which is immediately under the sieve-
belts of my apparatus. The other parts of the track traverse a depositing-field
from which the dripping water can be conveyed into brook or river and the sludge-
gathered from the cars and used as a fertilizer. While the fluid part of the sewage
is descending from the grill and from sieve to sieve, and finally to the filtering-
gravel, it, being in the form of spray, is met in its descent by a blast of fresh air,
which will take up the noxious gases and vapours escaping from the falling spray
of sewage and convey it through an exhaust-fan to a furnace, where it will become
innoxious in the products of combustion.
The mechanical construction of my device is as follows:
A A represent the frame-work to which the casing C CCC C, preferably of
thin metal, is attached. The belt-drums D D¹ are attached to a vertical shaft B,
as shown in Fig. 1, the belts of which run on corresponding drums D³ D*, attached
to the vertical shaft B!. The shaft B also has upon it a third drum D', the
belt from which runs onto the drum D', which is also mounted on a vertical
shaft B. The drums are made to revolve by any suitable motive power. The
sieve belts E E' E' pass between pairs of rolls HH, Fig. 2, the lower ones of
which are concave and the upper ones convex, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the sieve
belts form longitudinal troughs, as shown, which serve to catch and hold the solid
matter of the sewage and to convey it to the vertical revolving brushes K. The
brushes K serve to brush off the solid matter that may adhere to the siere belts
and to cause it to fall into the chutes L L L³, by which it is delivered into a
drying-reservoir, where it may be dried by artificial heat or by the natural process,
.ns may be desired. It will be observed that the sieve belts after they leave the
rollers next to the vertical brushes K gradually assume a vertical position, so as
to cause the solid matter that rests upon or adheres to them to fall off or be brushed
off by the vertical brushes into the chutes L-L' L'.
Air for drying and taking away the moisture and foul gases and vapours enters
the sieve-chamber-that is, the part in which the sieve belts do the work-being
drawn in from the rear chamber M (see Fig. 2) through the openings M' M!,
Fig. 1, and, having passed through the spray in the sieve-chamber, is drawn out
through the exhaust-fan N, Fig. 3, and driven through the pipe N', Fig. 3, to a
furnace, where all of the noxious gases and vapours are consumed and pass off in
an innoxious condition as products of combustion. It will be observed that the
chamber M, Fig. 2, appears to be separated from the main chamber of the
apparatus by two partitions C. C. The inner one is simply a support for

page_text: the rollers H H. The space between these two partitions has no particular
function, but is simply a result of the construction of the casing and supports of the
apparatus.
The rear chamber M, in which the sieve belts pass after they have been freed by
the brush-wheel, Figs. 1 and 2, from the solid matter, is supplied with air from any
desirable source through the pipe T, Fig. 2, the said air serving to dry and purify
the belts and then pass, as has been stated, into the sieve-chamber, where it will
take from the spray the noxious gases and vapours and be sent by the exhaust-
fan N, Fig. 3, into the consuming-furnace.
The operation of my device is as follows: The sewage is raised by pumps or
otherwise to the delivery-pipe R, from which it falls upon the grill R', and is
distributed in a scattered condition upon the first (and coarsest) sieve-belt E. This
sieve belt, moving in the direction of the arrow e, (see Fig. 1,) conveys such of the
solid matter of the sewage that cannot pass through it to the brush-wheel K, by
which it is thrown into the chute L, and from thence that part is deposited in the
drying-reservoir. The part of the sewage that is not detained by the first belt, as
above set forth, is taken by the second belt E' and the coarser parts delivered to
the chute L. The parts of the sewage that pass the second belt E' are acted upon
by the third belt E. The parts of the sewage that pass the third belt E' are
filtered by the gravel or sand in the cars P. During the time that the sewage is
dripping in the form of spray from the top of the sieve-chamber S to the bottom-
that is, to the gravel in the cars P P-a current of air is ascending through it and
freeing it from its noxious gases and vapours, as has been stated.
In the drawings I have not shown any heating or consuming furnace, as almost
any kind of a furnace will do the work. The same is true of a reservoir or pit for
drying the solid matter that is thrown out by the chutes L L' L'.
To insure the thorough cleansing of the siove belts in the chamber M, I have
the nozzle of the pipe T made very narrow and in close proximity to the belt, so
that the blast (which should be very strong) will force itself entirely through the
meshes of the sieve belt and drive out all of the entangled matter, leaving the sieve
belt in as good order as it was at the first time that it entered the sieve-
chamber.
If desirable, a pipe and nozzle like the one shown at T may be used in
connection with each sieve belt.
In Figs. 5 and 6 I shew an alternative form of sieve belt, and I construct it as
follows:-
A warp is formed of two edge cables of wire, one of which is shown at D³, Fig. 6,
and of a series of wires W W. Interwoven with this wire W W', I have thin
flexible metallic.strips C³ C'. This method of forming the sieve belt leaves
openings K K of such a nature that a fluid in passing through will not fall
directly down, but will be deflected, and the resulting streams will conflict with
each other, producing a spray, which effect is quite different from the effect
produced by fluid passing through an ordinary sieve-that is, my belt produces a
spray, while the ordinary sieve belt simply strains the liquid and allows it to
reunite after passing through the meshes, and to fall in a solid stream that is not
sprayed at all, and not in condition to be purified or aerated.
The openings H³ H³, made at or near the warp wires W³, serve to increase the
spraying qualities of the belt, as they, being located near the lowest part of each
section, will serve to check the union of the streams that flow from the
openings K' K, and otherwise have a tendency to increase the spraying action of
the belt..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a device for treating sewage, the combination of sieve belts operating in a
closed aerating-chamber and adapted to convey the more solid matter of the sewage

page_text: to rotating brushes and to allow the fluid and finer matter to fall in a spray and be
subjected to the purifying effect of the moving air in the said chamber, as
described, with rotating brushes adapted to cleanse the said belts of the coarser
matter and deliver the same to chutes, all substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
2. In a device for treating sewage, the combination of a series of sieve belts
operating in a closed aerating-chamber, adapted to separate the solid matter and to
spray the fluid part, as described, with a series of rotating brushes adapted to
remove the said solid matter from the belts and deliver it into ohutes, as described,
and a blast-pipe adapted to force a powerful current of air against and through the
sieve belts for the purpose of cleansing the same, substantially as described, and
for the purpose set forth.
3. In a device for treating sewage, the combination of a series of sieve belts
operating in a closed aerating-chamber, as described, with a movable - filtering
apparatus adapted to receive that part of the sewage that has passed through the
sieve belts and filter the same, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. In an aerating device, a spray sieve belt consisting of a series of flat metallic
strips held in place by wires and arranged, substantially as described, so as to leave
openings K' K', as and for the purpose set forth.
5. In an aerating device, a spray-sieve belt consisting of a series of flat métallic
strips held in place by wires, cach strip having perforations H³ H³, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.