IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WINAMIDE on CORAOD MANURE AND IN ADDARATHS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wicksteed, of Leicester, in the County of
Leicester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
WINAMIDE on CORAOD MANURE AND IN ADDARATHS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wicksteed at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
January 1854.
1, THOMAS WICKSTEED, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWAGE MANURE, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
I construct the reservoirs for the deposition of the precipitate from sewage
water with a gate or series of gates at one end, having openings at various
heights so proportioned and arranged as to cause the flow of equal quantities
of water from all parts of the end of the reservoir, (except a portion at the
bottom which serves for the accumulation of the precipitate,) by which means
a uniform and slow current is produced in the whole of the transverse section
of the water which lies above the precipitate. This current is so slow that it
does not prevent the subsidence of the deposit or precipitate, and I find by
arranging the reservoirs in this continuously acting manner that a much
smaller area of reservoirs is sufficient, than when each reservoir is filled with
a charge of sewage water, and allowed to deposit, and the water drawn off.
'The precipitate is drawn from the bottom of the reservoir into a well, by
means of an endless screw working in an open channel at the bottom of the

page_text: M
reservoir. It is raised from this well by a Jacob's ladder or endless chain,
which is enclosed in a case or box which extends nearly to the bottom of the
well, so as to separate the Jacob's ladder from the water floating above the
precipitate. Or I construct a second well with a sluice or valve in a passage
communicating with the first well, by shutting off which and opening another
sluice or passage at the side of the second well, I am enabled to draw off the
water in the second well, and leave the precipitate at the bottom, whence it is
raised by a Jacob's ladder as before. Or the first well may be omitted, and
that which is described above as the second-well may communicate directly
with the reservoir by means of its sluice. This arrangement of apparatus is
adapted for the precipitation of sewage water by lime, or by lime and charcoal
or by other substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Wicksteed in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WICKSTEED, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Wicksteed, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Wicksteed,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Wicksteed, 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 THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF SEWAGE MANURE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Wicksteed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Wicksteed, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
I mix with the sewage water a portion of lime, either alone or together
with charcoal or other substances, and I cause the mixture to flow slowly and
continuously through a reservoir, which I construct in such manner that a
slow current is produced in the whole mass of water excepting at the bottom,
which serves for the accumulation of the precipitate formed by the lime or
other substances as herein-after described. In order to obtain as uniform and
regular a current as possible, I construct the reservoir of greater length than
width, and I cause the sewage water mixed with the precipitating substance or
substances to flow into it through one or more apertures, or over a weir at one
end of the reservoir, and I construct a series of apertures at regular distances
apart in the opposite end of the reservoir for the exit of the water.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section of
the exit end of the reservoir, showing some of the apertures for the escape of
the water together with a sluice for closing and opening them. Figure 2 is a
view of the interior side of the end wall, showing two series of apertures, one
with the sluice and the other with the sluice removed; Figure 3 is a plan of
the same.
The apertures A, A, are placed in vertical rows, so that each row
may be opened and closed by one long sluice B, with corresponding apertures,
which is raised and lowered by a screw C, working in a nut D, on the sluice.
On the top of each screw C is a worm wheel E, driven by a screw F, on the
long shaft G, which extends along the end wall of the reservoir. By turning
this shaft G the whole of the sluices are simultaneously and equally raised or
lowered. The width of the apertures is made inversely in proportion to the
square root of their mean depth below the surface of the liquid in the reservoir,
so that the lower apertures are of smaller area than the upper ones, in the above
proportion to each other, and will deliver equal or very nearly equal quantities
of water in equal times; thus a regular current is produced in the whole mass
of water in the reservoir excepting in the lower portion H, below the lowest
range of apertures and in which the precipitate accumulates. Any tendency
in the motion of the mass of water to establish a current in this lower part,
may be checked by low transverse partitions if required.
Figures 4 and 5 are longitudinal sections of the exit or outlet end of a
reservoir, shewing another method of obtaining a regular current in it. I, in
Figure 4, is a partition or wall pierced with apertures at regular distances

page_text: apart, and of uniform size in lieu of diminishing towards the bottom; as in the
arrangement herein-before described. This partition may be formed of wire
gauze or canvass supported on a frame as shown at I, in Figure 5; K is a
wall or weir, the top of which is lower than the level of the water in the
reservoir; L is a sluice or slide over which the water flows, and the height of
which may be adjusted by screws or otherwise. By means of the slide L, and
the resistance offered by the perforated partition I, the water in the reservoir
is kept at a somewhat higher level than that of the water between I and K.
Whatever this difference may be, there is the same difference of pressure on
every part of the partition I, situated below the level of the water, between I
and K, and consequently there is an equal flow of water through all the aper-
tures.. As the difference of level or head of water is less in this arrangement
than in that first herein-before described, the apertures should be more
numerous, or of larger area than is required for the first arrangement. It is
not absolutely necessary to apply the slide or sluice L, as the liquid flowing
into the reservoir will rise in level as it accumulates until it has acquired a
sufficient head or altitude above the level of the weir K, to enable it to flow
out as fast as it enters.
As the sewage water flows slowly through the reservoir, the precipitate
subsides to the bottom which is inclined towards a central trough, as shown in
Figure 6, Sheet II., which is a transverse section of the reservoir; M is the
trough in which is placed a long screw shaft which conveys the precipitate into
a well. Two or more of these troughs and screws may, if desired, be placed at
the bottom of the reservoir, which is then made to slope towards them, forming
two or more valleys in lieu of one, as shewn in Figure 6.
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section on a smaller scale of the entrance or inlet
end of the reservoir; and Figure 8 is a plan of the same. O is a cistern or
well containing an agitator P, and communicating at its lower part with two
other cisternis Q, Q, also furnished with agitators. The sewage water mixed
with the lime or other precipitating materials is conducted into the cistern O,
where it is mixed by the agitator P, and enters the cisterns Q, Q, at or near
their bottoms. It rises through these cisterns where it is again mixed by the
agitators, and it then overflows from the tops of these cisterns into the reservoir.
Or the liquid mixture may be allowed to enter at the bottoms of all three
cisterns and overflow from all of them into the reservoir.
A perforated partition similar to those shown at I, in Figures 4 and 5, may
be placed across the entrance or inlet end of the reservoir to distribute the
entering liquid as uniformly as possible.
The apertures, however, should not be very small, otherwise they will become

page_text: obstructed by the precipitate; R is a screw working in the trough M, at the
bottom of the reservoir, and conveying the precipitate under the cistern O, into
the well N. In this well is a Jacob's ladder, or endless band or chain of
buckets Z, which passes round a pulley S at the bottom of the well, and
round another pulley S¹ at the top of the well. This Jacob's ladder is
enclosed in a trunk or case T, which descends into the thick mud or pre-
cipitate at the bottom of the well, and the top of which trunk passes up through
a trough U.
The precipitate is raised by the Jacob's ladder Z, and thrown into the trough
U, whence it is conveyed away to be dried by centrifugal machines, or by
exposure to air or any suitable means. The trunk or case T prevents the
precipitate in the buckets from coming in contact with and being diluted by
the water which floats above the precipitate in the well, as in the apparatus
hitherto employed for this purpose.
The spindle of the pulley S¹ carries another pulley V, which drives a pulley
on the screw shaft R, by means of a band. A second well Y may be con-
structed by the side of the well N, and communicating with it by a valve or
sluice at or near the bottom of the first well N, as shewn in the longitudinal
section, Figure 9. The Jacob's ladder is then placed in the second well Y.
When the screw has brought a considerable quantity of precipitate into the
well N, the sluice is opened so as to allow the thickest portion of this pre-
cipitate to flow into the second well Y. The sluice is then closed, and the
precipitate is allowed to subside and consolidate in the second well. The water
which rises to the top is drawn off by another sluice in the side of the second
well, and the precipitate is then raised by the Jacob's ladder. This well Y
may communicate directly with the reservoir without the intervention of the
well N, in which case the screw propels a quantity of precipitate into the well,
and the sluice is then closed. The precipitate subsides and consolidates, and
the supernatant water is then drawn off by the lateral sluice, and the precipitate
raised by the Jacob's ladder as before.
By these arrangements the precipitate may be obtained more solid and
freer from water than when raised directly from the well N. By proceeding
in the manner herein-before described, the process of manufacturing the
sewage manure is rendered continuous, and I find that a smaller area of
reservoirs is sufficient than is required when each reservoir is filled with
a charge of sewage water and lime, and allowed to deposit, and the water
drawn off.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim

page_text: generally the manufacture of sewage manure by mixing lime with the same;
but what I claim is,-
Firstly, the manufacture of sewage manure by causing a mixture of sewage
water and lime, either alone or together with other substances to flow con-
tinuously through a reservoir so that the precipitate may be separated from the
water by a continuous process as above described.
Secondly, the constructing reservoirs for the manufacture of sewage manure
with a series of apertures at one or both ends arranged so as to produce a con-
tinuous current through the, mass of the liquid (excepting a portion at the
bottom), in manner herein-before described.
Thirdly, the construction and application in connection with a reservoir for
the manufacture of sewage manure of a Jacob's ladder or endless chain of
buckets inclosed in a trunk or case, whereby the precipitate is raised without
contact with the supernatant water, in manner herein-before described.
Fourthly, the combination of a reservoir and screw, and Jacob's ladder
constructed and arranged in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wicksteed, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
CHARLES THOMAS WARD,
7, Market Street,
Leicester.
THOS WICKSTEED. (L.S.)