Improved Apparatus for Filtering Sewage and Impure Liquids.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1896
Complete Specification Left. 4th Feb.. 1897-Accepted, 3rd Apr., 1897
Improved Apparatus for Filtering Sewage and Impure Liquids.
I WILLIAM BIRCH of Milton Street Iron Works, Lower Broughton, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
.
This invention relates to machines in which an endless felted filtering cloth or
fabric is used as the filtering agent dipping into a trough or vessel and passing
over a suitably formed gridded or false bottom, the said filtering cloth being
cleansed by the intermittent rush of a roller over its surface.
The bottom of the trough to contain the water to be filtered, is composed of a
series of rollers carried by side pieces or beams and forms a concave surface.
The filtering cloth passes round a drum which is capable of turning freely on its
axle.
According to my invention instead of using felt as usual for the filtering cloth,
I make this filtering cloth of a strong cotton woven fabric, with a pile raised upon
one side thereof, and at intervals I throw in a weft of crimped or other wire
across the same to keep it to its proper width and flat. Instead of these wires
I sometimes fix across the cloth narrow steel plates for the same purpose, and the
ends of these wires or plates working between two fixed guide plates will keep the
filtering cloth in a central position and prevent it from diverging in a lateral
direction.
•
A small cleaning roller carried by a lever is mounted on the axis of the said
drum. This lever is raised by a cam acting on a bowl on a slotted link and is
pulled down when released by the said cam by means of a weight fixed by a cord
or otherwise to a quadrant. A spring receives, through a strap, the shock of the
fall of the said weight.
I mount the cleaning roller upon a small link pivotted to the above mentioned
lever. This link is made with a finger or projection against which a spring fixed
to the said lever acts, and presses the clearing roller hard against the surface of
the filtering cloth holding the small link at an angle, but when the said lever has
been raised by the cam and link, the small link above named is drawn by a loose
curved arm the end of which passes through an eye fixed to the frame.
This curved arm is so formed that as the lever rises it is pressed by the boss
of the lever (or by a similar projection) hard against the bottom of the eye or slot
of a bracket and such boss or projection acting as a fulcrum causes the curved arm
to become a lever, and draw down the link overcoming the action of the spring
fixed to the lever. This removes the cleaning roller from the filtering cloth, so
that water issuing from a spirt-pipe will run down the surface of the cloth and
moisten the same ready for the downward rush of the clearing roller when released
by the cam. I arrange a second spirt pipe at the other side of the drum which
supplies water to the other surface of the filtering cloth, and as it passes round the
drum this water is pressed through the cloth and helps to loosen the dirt or deposit
on the surface presented to the action of the clearing roller.
To facilitate this action I cover the drum with a coating of thick felt or other
resilient and absorbent material which will retain a considerable quantity of water
and allow the clearing roller to force the same out through the filtering material
each time that it descends.

page_text: The spirt pipes are supplied continuously by piping from a pump which is worked
by a lever and a revolving disc carrying three crank pins, the lever g* being
weighted.
Thus both surfaces of the filtering fabric are supplied continuously with water
close to the point where the said fabric is to be cleaned by the roller and the
impurities are thus loosened from the said fabric and more easily removed by the
said roller.
The space between the ends of the rollers in the trough and the side pieces
before named is covered as nearly as possible by long strips or laths of wood or
metal upon which the edges of the filtering fabric rest and the said edges are held
in curved form by strips of lead or other suitable material connected together by
cross bars at suitable intervals.
Dated this 2nd day of May 1896.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.
Improved Apparatus for Filtering Sewage and Impure Liquids.
I WILLIAM BIRCH of Milton Street Iron Works, Lower Broughton, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to machines in which an endless felted filtering cloth or
fabric is used as the filtering agent, dipping into a trough or vessel, and passing
over a suitably formed gridded or false bottom, the said filtering cloth being
cleansed by the intermittent rush of a roller over its surface, as described in the
Specification of Letters Patent No. 4732 A.D. 1890 granted to myself.
My invention will be readily understood from the following description on
reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved filtering apparatus drawn partly in
section, Figs. 2 and 3 are detached views hereafter more particularly referred to.
a is the trough to contain the water to be filtered, the bottom of the said trough
being composed of a series of rollers a' carried by side piece or beams a 2, as seen
on the detached transverse section Fig. 3, and forming a concave surface as seen
at Fig. 1; 6 is the filtering cloth passing in the direction indicated round a drum c
which is capable of turning freely on its axle.
According to my invention instead of using felt as usual for the filtering cloth b
I make this filtering cloth of a strong cotton woven fabric with a pile raised upon
one side thereof, and at intervals I throw in a weft of crimped or other wire across
the same to keep it to its proper width and flat. Instead of these wires I some-
times fix across the cloth narrow steel plates for the same purpose, and the ends of
these wires or plates working between two fixed guide plates Fig. 1, will keep
the filtering cloth in a central position and prevent it from diverging in a lateral
direction.
d is the small cleaning roller carried by a lever e which is mounted on the axis
of the drum c. This lever e is raised by the cam el acting on a bowl e² on the
slotted linke in the manner described by the aforesaid specification and is pulled
down when released by the cam e1 by the weight e4 fixed by a strap or cord e
or otherwise to the quadraut e 6. The spring e7 receives through the strap e 8 the
shock of the fall of the weight e4.
I mount the roller d upon a small link dl pivotted to the lever e; this link d I

page_text: is made with a finger or projection (as seen dotted at Fig. 2) against which a
spring d2 fixed to the lever e, ancts and presses the roller d hard against the surface
of the cloth b holding the link d 1 at an angle as indicated by the dotted positions.
in the enlarged detached view (Fig. 2) but when the lever e has been nearly raised
by the cam e1 and link e3 to the position shewn by the full lines on Fig. 2, the
link d 1 is drawn down by a loose curved arm d3 the end of which passes through.
an eye d4 fixed to the frame.
This arm d 3 is so formed that as the lever e rises it is pressed by the boss e of
the lever (or by a similar projection) hard against the bottom of the eye or
slotted bracket d4 and such boss or projection acting as a fulcrum causes the
arm d3 to become a lever, and draw down the link dl overcoming the action of
the spring d2. This removes the roller d from the cloth b, so that water issuing
from a spirt-pipe g will run down the surface of the cloth and moisten the same
ready for the downward rush of the roller d when released by the cam 1.
I arrange a second spirt pipe 21 at the other side of the drum c which supplies.
water to the other surface of the cloth b and as it passes round the drum c this
water is pressed through the cloth and helps to loosen the dirt or deposit on the
surface presented to the action of the roller d.
To facilitate this action I cover the drum c with a coating of thick felt or other
resilient and absorbent material c' which will retain a considerable quantity of
water and allow the roller d to force the same out through the filtering material
each time that it descends.
The pipes 9 and 91 are supplied continuously by the piping 9 2 from a pump 73.
which is worked by a lever g4 and a revolving disc g 5 carrying three crank pins,
this lever g4 being weighted as shewn.
Thus both surfaces of the fabric bare supplied continuously with water close
to the point where the said fabric is to be cleaned by the roller d, and the
impurities are thus loosened from the said fabric and more easily removed by the
said roller.
The space between the ends of the rollers al and the side pieces a 2 is covered.
as nearly as possible by long strips or laths a 3 (see Fig. 3) of wood or metal upon
which the edges of the fabric b rest, and the said edges are held in curved form by
strips a 4 of lead or other suitable material connected together by cross bars a 5 at
suitable intervals.
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 :-
1. An endless filtering cloth or fabric of woven cotton having a raised pile
surface and occasional cross wires or plates, substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
2. In an apparatus for filtering impure liquids, the combination of an endless
filtering cloth or fabric of woven cotton having a raised pile surface and occasional
cross wires or plates with guides against which the wires or plates act, all substan-
tially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. In a filtering apparatus, the combination of an endless filtering cloth, and a
cleansing roller, with a drum around which the cloth passes and over which the
cleansing roller works, the said drum having a covering of thick felt or other
absorbent and resilient material alternately taking up and parting with cleansing
water or fluid supplied by a spirt pipe all substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
4. In filtering apparatus, the combination of an endless filtering cloth, a
cleansing roller and a drum around which the cloth passes and over which the
cleansing roller works, with a cam shaft, water pipes and a pump actuated by the
cam shaft for giving a continuous supply of water to both sides of the filtering
cloth, substantially as set forth.
5. The combination of an endless filtering cloth with a drum around which the

page_text: cloth passes and over which a cleansing roller works, the cleansing roller being
carried by a link at the end of a lever, a spring acting on the link for holding the
cleansing roller to the surface of the cloth, a cam shaped arm carried by the link
and passing through a fixed eye, and a projection on the lever aforesaid to act
as a fulcrum for the said arm when the cleansing roller has been raised to remove
the roller from the surface of the cloth, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
6. In a filtering apparatus, the combination of an endless filtering cloth, and a
trough, the bottom of the trough being composed of a series of rollers, with
strips a 3, strips a 4, and cross bars a 5 connecting the strips a 4, all substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 3rd day of February 1897
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.