IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING SEWAGE AND OTHER MATTERS AND DESTROYING NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING THEREFROM
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bright, of Leamington, in the County
Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR DRYING SEWAGE AND OTHER MATTERS AND DESTROYING
NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING THEREFROM.”
Sealed the 17th November 1871, and dated the 30th August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
80th August 1871.
I, HENRY BRIGHT, of Leamington, in the County Warwick, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING SEWAGE AND OTHER MATTERS AND DESTROYING
NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING THEREPROM," to be as follows:-
My Invention has principally for its object the drying of sewage and
other offensive matters in such manner that the offensive smell of the

page_text: vapours given off therefrom during the process of drying shall be entirely
destroyed before the vapours pass into the atmosphere; it consists
mainly in causing heated air to pass over a layer of the substance to .be
dried, which air after taking up moisture is then withdrawn at one or
more points in proximity to the surface of the material, and is caused
to pass through a furnace or fire-place so as in entering into combustion
with the fuel to entirely destroy the noxious vapours carried off by the
air.
For this purpose I prefer to employ apparatus of the following
arrangement:-I construct a drying room or shed of any convenient
shape, which can be closed as nearly air-tight as possible, with the
exception of the openings herein-after mentioned, through which the
current of air is admitted and extracted. In connection with such room
I crect a stove or "cockle" (by preference Whittaker's convoluted stove),
surrounded by an enclosed space or jacket which communicates at the
bottom with the surrounding atmosphere and at the top with the upper
part of the drying room, so that the air in passing into such jacket
becomes heated by contact with the stove, and then passes into the
upper part of the room. The fire-box of the stove is closed in front,
with the exception of the necessary openings for feeding and cleaning,
and communicates below the grate with a flue leading to a number of
openings in or near the floor of the drying room, while the top of the
fire-box communicates with a flue leading to a chimney shaft.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The sewage or other
matter to be dried is spread on the floor of the drying room, the door of
which is then closed as air-tight as possible, and a fire is then lighted in
the stove. The heated fresh air passes from the jacket of the stove into
the room, raising the temperature therein rapidly, and at the same time
the suction resulting from the draught of the stove causes the air that is
in close proximity to the layer of sewage, and that is charged with the 8
noxious vapours evaporated from the latter, to be drawn off through the
before-mentioned openings and to be passed through the fire of the
stovo, whereby any noxious smell of such air is entirely destroyed before
it passes into the chimney. The fresh air newly heated always rises.to
the top of the chamber, and in descending replaces that which has
become cooled by contact with the moist surface of the sewage or other
material, and which being heaviest and nearest the floor is sucked away
by the draught of the stove. This constant current of hot air over the

page_text: wet material soon dries the latter, and by this arrangement a heat of
from 100 to 200 degrees Fahrenhoit can be rapidly got up in the room,
and can be cooled down again as quickly for the removal of the dried
material and the introduction of a fresh charge. The degree of heat in
the room and the rapidity of the circulation of the air is regulated by a
damper in the chimney.
Although the above-described apparatus is principally intended for
drying sewage and other materials giving off offensivo vapours, yet it
may also be applied with advantage for drying other substances that do
not give off offensive smells.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bright in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BRIGHT, of Leamington, in the County of Warwick, send greeting. .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, tho said Henry Bright, Her
special licence that I, the said Henry Bright, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bright,
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, exerciso, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING SEWAGE AND OTHER
MATTERS AND DESTROYING NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING THEREFROM," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bright, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bright, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My Invention has principally for its object the drying of sewage and
other offensive matters in such manner that the offensive smell of the
vapours given off therefrom during the process of drying shall be entirely.
destroyed before the vapours pass into the atmosphere; it consists 1
mainly in causing heated air to pass over a layer of the substance to be
dried, which air after taking up moisture is then withdrawn at one or
more points in proximity to the surface of the material, and is caused to
pass through a furnace or fire-place so as in entering into combustion
with the fuel to entirely destroy the noxious vapours carried off by the 1
air.
For this purpose I prefer to employ apparatus of the following
arrangement:-I construct a drying room or shed of any convenient
shape, which can be closed as nearly air-tight as possible, with the
exception of the openings herein-after mentioned, through which the s
current of air is admitted and extracted. In connection with such room
I erect a stove or "cockle" (by preference Whittaker's convoluted stove),
surrounded by an enclosed space or jacket which communicates at the
bottom with the surrounding atmosphere and at the top with the upper
part of the drying room, so that the air in passing into such jacket
becomes heated by contact with the stove, and then passes into the
upper part of the room. The fire-box of the stove is closed in front,
with the exception of the necessary openings for feeding and cleaning,
and communicates below the grate with a fluo leading to a number of
openings in or near the floor of the drying room, while the top of the a
fire-box communicates with a flue leading to a chimney shaft.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The sewage or other
matter to be dried is spread on the floor of the drying room, the door of
which is then closed as air-tight as possible, and a fire is then lighted in
the stove. The heated fresh air passes from the jacket of the stove into

page_text: the room, raising the temperature therein rapidly, and at the same time
the suction resulting from the draught of the stove causes the air that is
in close proximity to the layer of sewage, and that is charged with the
noxious vapours evaporated from the latter, to be drawn off through the
before-mentioned openings and to bo passed through the fire of the
stove, whereby any noxious smell of such air is entirely destroyed before
it passes into the chimney. The fresh air newly heated always rises to
the top of the chamber, and in descending replaces that which has
become cooled by contact with the moist surface of the sewage or other
material, and which, being heaviest and nearest the floor, is sucked away
by the draught of the stove. This constant current of hot air over the
wet material soon dries the latter, and by this arrangement a heat of
from 100 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit can be rapidly got up in the room,
and can be cooled down again as quickly for the removal of the dried
material and the introduction of a fresh charge. The degree of heat in
the room and the rapidity of the circulation of the air is regulated by a
damper in the chimney.
Although the above-described apparatus is principally intended for
drying sewage and other materials giving off offensive vapours, yet it
may also be applied with advantage for drying other substances that do
not give off offensive smells.
A convenient arrangement of the before-described apparatus is shewn
in the accompanying Drawings, in which the floor C, upon which the
sewage material to be dried is spread, is made of sheet iron, the hot air
passing from the stove D being made to travel along flues E underneath
such floor before ascending into the chamber F above the same through
the apertures B, B. From these apertures the hot air is made to pass
over the surface of the sewage material in the direction of the arrows,
and is eventually drawn down through the apertures A, A, into the fire-
box of the stove. The chamber F is closed in at a short distanco
above the floor C by means of hinged doors G, which, for introducing
the material to be dried and for removing the same when dried, are
opened as indicated in the Drawing, but which, when the apparatus is in
operation, are closed down to the dotted line G, so as to keep tho
3 current of hot air in close contact with the material to be dried.
•
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and how the same is to be performed, I wish it to bo

page_text: understood I make no claim for any of the apparatus taken separately,
and that what I do claim is, the process or means, and the apparatus
herein-before shown and described, for drying sewage and other matters,
and destroying noxious vapours arising therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bright, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of February Ono
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.