IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND STORING WATER FOR THE SUPPLY OF TOWNS, VILLAGES, DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND CHEMICAL OR OTHER PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bessemer, of Queen Street Place, Cannon
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND STORING WATER FOR THE SUPPLY OF
TOWNS, VILLAGES, DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND CHEMICAL OR OTHER
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bessemer at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th September 1874.
I, HENRY BESSEMER, of Queen Street Place, Cannon Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND STORING WATER FOR THE
SUPPLY OF TOWNS, VILLAGES, DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND CHEMICAL OR
OTHER WORKS, AND FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object sought to be accomplished by these several improvements
is a constant supply of almost chemically pure water in all parts of the
kingdom, but more especially in those localities to which the pipes of
A

page_text: The present supply of water for domestic and other purposes is for the
most part obtained from one or other of the following sources, viz., from
rivers and small streamlets or pools, from the watershed of high lands
and lakes, from deep and shallow wells, and from the roofs of houses
and other buildings, in all of which cases the water which falls from the
clouds (in almost a chemically pure state) is more or less contaminated
by absorption or admixture with impurities of a more or less unwholesome
or deleterious character.
Firstly. With reference to the supply of water from rivers, it is well
known that almost every river in the vicinity of large towns or cities is
more or less contaminated with town sewage, in addition to the foul
water from factories, chemical works, and from numerous other sources
of impurity.
Secondly. The supply obtained from small streamlets or pools in
country districts is frequently contaminated with large quantities of
decayed vegetable matter, teeming with insect life, and in may cases
stagnent and unwholesome.
Thirdly. The supply from the watershed of high lands and the water
in lakes generally drains through masses of decayed vegetable matter,
carrying with it the soluble portions of the manure of the lower lands
and the animal matter always present in pastures and cultivated fields;
it is nevertheless much purer than water obtained from rivers in the
neighbourhood of large towns.
Fourthly. The supply of water obtained from shallow wells is chiefly
derived from surface drainage, and in many cases is very impure and
unwholesome, while that obtained from deep wells not only contains
more or less of the impurities incidental to surface drainage, but is
generally hard, and contains much lime and other mineral, metallic,
or saline matters of various kinds.
Fifthly. The supply of water obtained from the roofs of buildings is
generally more or less impregnated with the oxides or salts of lead from
the constant action of the atmosphere and water on that metal where
used as flats, gutters, or ridges of the roofs, and sometimes also, it
contains whitelead derived from the decomposition of paint or putty

page_text: used in skylight frames, &c., also the decomposition of lichens or mosses,
the refuse of birds and insects, and soot from chimneys each shower
washes down, not unfrequently into a “water but" exposed to the sun,
and here insect life revels to the fullest extent.
Now the object of these improvements is the collection and storage of
pure rain water for domestic and other purposes in such a way that it
shall be for the most part free from the impurities found in water
obtained from either of the five sources before mentioned. For this
purpose I cause the falling rain to be intercepted in its passage to the
earth (on which it is not allowed to fall), and from which it conse-
quently can receive no impurities, but I receive it on prepared surfaces
or in shallow vessels composed of non-absorbent materials, which are
also practically if not absolutely insoluble in pure water, and which do
not encourage or permit of the growth of vegetable matter upon them,
and I protect such vessels or surfaces from access of animals, and more
or less from insect life. The water as soon as collected passes off the
collecting surface, and through a thin layer of sand, granulated charcoal,
or other filtering media, and is received in a close chamber or receiver,
all the surfaces with which the water comes in contact being formed by
preference of glass or a material of a vitreous character. The size,
material, and form of the collecting surface employed may however be
considerably varied, depending on the quality and quantity of water
required, and the relative cost of materials in different localities. When
however such receiving surfaces are situated in or near large towns, or
where the atmosphere is so impure as to deposit soot or other impure
matter in any notable quantity, I employ a small tipping vessel mounted
on axes and divided into two compartments, and so arranged as to over-
balance whenever a certain weight of water is received into what may
be called the waste water compartment, so that at the commencement
of a shower the collecting surface is first washed down, the dirty water
running into the waste water compartment, which should vary in size
in proportion to that of the collecting surface to be cleansed. When a
certain and determined amount of water has thus been received the
vessel tipples over on its axis, and then the stream from the collection
will be received in the other compartment of the vessel, and from thence
be conveyed to the filter and receiver, while the first portion of water
which had been rendered impure by washing down the collecting surface
will escape from its compartment very slowly through a small hole,

page_text: T
occupying some 12 or 24 hours, as may be desired, when the apparatus,
in consequence of the loss of weight, will again overbalance and return
to its former position, presenting the waste water chamber in the proper
position to receive the water from the next rains whenever it may fall.
I will now give a few examples by way of making the several modifi-
cations of apparatus which I prefer to employ more clearly understood.
Firstly. Then with reference to a means of supplying a single family
'with pure water for drinking purposes,-In this small apparatus I
employ a sheet of "rough plate glass" say 6 feet 3 inches square, that
*is to be bent or dished in an oven in the way usually practiced by "glass
benders," so that its central part may be sunk about 6 inches lower than
the external edges, thus forming a regularly inclined surface, about one
inch or so of the external edge being turned up nearly at right angles to
the inclined bottom of the dish or vessel thus formed. The central part
of the square piece of glass is pushed downward while still hot in the
glass bender's mould, and thus formed into a short neck or spout having
a hole of about 1 inch in diameter made therein, thus a shallow square
glass dish or collector will be formed having a surface area of 36 square
feet; I by preference support this dish on a square wooden frame at a
height of about 6 feet above the ground, and I enclose with a double
boarding the space beneath the dish or collecter, and on a shelf within
the enclosure thus formed I place a large vitreous stoneware jar or
receiver, having by preference a stoneware stop-cock to draw off the
water from it; the space surrounding the receiver I fill with sawdust or
other slow conducter of heat, so as to keep the store of water cool in
summer, and prevent its freezing in winter. Beneath the orifice of the
collector a small stoneware vessel is also fixed, in which silver sand,
granulated charcoal, or other filtering media is placed. A glass or
stoneware pipe leads from the filter into the closed mouth of the
receiver, this conveys the filtered water to the receiver, when it is stored
for use.
Around the top of the wood frame before referred to I form a small
groove or channel into which I put oil or some other fluid matter,
which will prevent any crawling insects from gaining access to the
collecting surface, and I surround the edge of the collector with a row
of fine wire spikes standing vertically upward from the woodwork, for
the purpose of preventing birds from perching on its edge, and I am

page_text: thus enabled to keep the glass surface clean and free from animal
contaminations, while the impossibility of vegetable matter growing on
the collector is insured from its being made of glass. The filter will
prevent any accidental animal life or vegetable seeds from passing into
the stoneware receiver, from which a limited but known supply of pure
uncontaminated water can always be obtained.
In situations where the rain fall is only 28 inches per annum, about
520 gallons will be collected annually by this small apparatus, equal very
nearly to 6 quarts per day, in order to insure an unfailing supply it is
necessary that the receiver should hold a three or four months supply,
or one-third or one-fourth of the annual rain fall; it will be obvious that
where a family require a larger supply than 6 quarts per day for
drinking purposes, that a larger apparatus similarly constructed may be
employed, or two or more of the small square collectors may be
employed in one frame; I prefer to place the collector in a garden or
meadow at some distance from the house; it will be obvious that the
receiver if preferred may be placed underground or in a cellar of the
house, the collected water being conveyed thence by a pipe.
It will also be understood that the receiver (when of large dimensions)
may be made of slate, stone, or other material incapable of injuriously
affecting the water it contains.
In some cases also while still retaining glass as the collecting surface,
flat sheets with bent up edges may be arranged similar to pantiles, or
the glass sheets may be employed, after the manner of slates, arranged
on laths or on a boarded surface. So in like manner slate slabs may be
joined up to form the collecting surface or ordinary slates arranged on
an inclined surface with slate or stoneware gutters, avoiding altogether
the use of lead, putty, or whitelead paint in such structure.
The facility with which large circular sheets of glass are made by the
prcess known as crown glass blowing affords a ready means of
obtaining shallow circular dishes of 3 feet in diameter and upwards,
with a raised edge and depressed perforated centre, a group of seven such
circular collectors of 3 fect diameter placed on one frame would be
capable with a rain fall of 28 inches of collecting about 7 quarts per
day; this kind of circular glass collector obviously may be so increased
in number and arranged so as to collect much larger quantities than the
small group of seven lastly referred to, and although I prefer to collect

page_text: from glass surfaces it is obvious that frames covered with plaster, or
cement of various kinds may be employed, and the surface rendered non-
absorbent by the application of bituminous matter, oil, &c., and so
likewise iron enamelled or japanned, or surfaces covered with tinfoil or
even painted surfaces may also be employed for collecting without
departing from the principle of the Invention. When however it is
desired to supply all the wants of a family with pure soft water by
collecting rain on clean non-absorbent surfaces, and storing the same in
such quantities as to make the supply continuous, I construct the
collecting surface and receiver for storing in a different manner, but
involving the same general principles as that herein-before described, as
applicable for collecting water for drinking purposes only.
As an example I may take the case of a suburban or country residence
requiring a continuous supply of 100 gallons of pure water daily in a
Jocality where the yearly average rain fall is only 28 inches, I should in
such a case first clear a space in the garden or meadow of, say 20 yards
long by 14 yards broad; this space may partake of the natural incline of
the land (if it be inclined), or it may if level have a slight inclination
given to it, or it may be arranged in the form of a series of shallow
ridges and furrows; in either case I enclose the area required by a dwarf
wall rising about 1 foot above the land level, and I fill this space with
good lime concrete to the depth of about 1 foot, preserving the slightly
inclined face or the ridge and furrow form as the case may be. I form
a gutter along the lower side of the inclined surface from which a glazed
earthen pipe will lead the collected water to a reservoir formed under-
ground for its reception, the concrete surface is to be covered with a
good coat of Portland, selenite, or other cement, or it may be covered
with square glazed tiles set in cement, or the collecting surface may be
covered with glass, slate, or other insoluble non-absorbent substance
incapable of contaminating the water received thereon. A reservoir
capable of holding three or four months supply of 100 gallons daily
should be made to receive the collected water.
I prefer to employ stone for the interior of the tank, or bricks that are
glazed on the face they present to the interior, or I line the tank with
white glazed tiles, slate, cement, or other substance that will not affect
injuriously the quality of the water stored therein.
I prefer to brick over the tank and cover it with earth some two or
three feet in thickness, and to plant shrubs thereon with a view of

page_text: keeping the external heat or cold from effecting any considerable
change in the temperature of the water stored therein.
In all cases where convenient I prefer to form the collecting surface
and place the tank on ground sufficiently elevated to cause the water to
rise in the house by gravitation and thus avoid the necessity for
pumping.
For the purpose of conveying the water from the tank to the house I
prefer to use glazed vitreous earthen pipes, and to put them in a trench
sufficiently deep to allow of a good bed of concrete for them to lie upon,
and by which material they will also be covered, thus embedding the
pipes in a mass of material capable of protecting the pipes, or I build
the pipe in a low strong brick wall built underground for their pro-
tection. Iron pipes may however be employed, in which case I prefer
to glaze or enamel their interior surface or to line them with Ransome's
silicious artificial stone, or with a thin baked earthen pipe cemented
therein. But the most important application of this principle of
obtaining pure water from the rain fall without allowing it to sink into
the ground is its adaptation to the collection of water for the supply of
towns and villages, and in factories where pure water is essential, and
where the daily consumption of water is considerable. For this purpose
I choose by preference a piece of land, otherwise of little value, situated
on some elevated ridge and preferably within a few miles of the town to
be supplied, and where practicable I make use of the natural slope or
inclination of the ground by rounding off small abrupt eminences if such
exist, and filling up any deep or uneven depressions so as to favor the
quick and easy flow of the collected water. I prefer to cover the surface
so prepared with concrete, and to render the surface as near as may be
impervious by a coating of Portland or other cement, plaster, asphalte,
slate, Ransome's silicious stone, bituminous matter, or other non-
absorbent or insoluble material, the nature of which will to some extent
depend on local supply.
I also employ by preference covered tanks below ground for storage
of the collected water; these tanks or reservoirs I prefer to make some-
what like a railway tunnel. I excavate the ground by an open working,
leaving the bottom of the trench semicircular, I then cover a segment of
this trench with concrete, and upon this I place an iron centering
capable of collapsing when necessary, and on this I complete the arch of

page_text: concrete, thus giving a circular section to the tunnel for the whole
length of the centering.
The partial collapse or closing of the centering on proper joints will
admit of its endway movement without disturbing the work already
done; the centering is then brought back by proper screws to its true
cylindrical form and another portion of the concrete is proceeded with,
and so on for any desired length; when the concrete is hardened the
space above it may be filled in level with the surrounding land which
may then be used as before for agricultural purposes; the interior of the
long reservoir thus made may be rendered water-tight by proper cement,
as herein-before mentioned in reference to the collecting surfaces. The
reservoir so formed is to be provided with such conduct and overflow
pipes and sluces as may be necessary for regulating the supply. I
prefer to employ either vitreous pipes, or where iron is used to glaze or
enamel their interior surfaces, and thus as far as practicable to avoid
bringing the water in contact with metallic or other surfaces capable of
injuriously affecting the quality of the water. It will thus be obvious
that no portion of the water thus collected for the supply of towns will
be allowed to fall on the bare earth or to sink into the depths of the soil
and become impregnated with the impurities there met with, but will be
received on clean surfaces and be passed through a pure and cleanly
filtering material into the receiving tanks ready for immediate dis-
tribution in practically the same pure state as that in which it falls from
the clouds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bessemer in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BESSEMER, of Queen Street Place, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bessemer, Her
special license that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bessemer,
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 APPARATUS POR COLLECTING AND STORING WATER FOR THE
SUPPLY OF TOWNS, VILLAGES, DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND CHEMICAL OR
OTHER WORKS, AND FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said Henry Bessemer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object sought to be accomplished by these several improvements
is a constant supply of almost chemically pure water in all parts of the
kingdom, but more especially in those localities to which the pipes of
public water companies do not at present extend, or where purer water
than such companies supply is desired, as for example, in cases where
dwelling houses or factories require a supply of very pure water for
chemical purposes for which the supply of the present water companies
is unfit, and so in like manner a limited supply of pure water for drinking
and culinary purposes may be conveyed by pipes to dwelling houses and
other buildings which are or may be supplied by public water companies
with water for general use.
The present supply of water for domestic and other purposes is for the
5 most part obtained from one or other of the following sources, videlicit,
from rivers and small streamlets or pools, from the watershed of high lands
and lakes, from deep and shallow wells, and from the roofs of houses and'

page_text: other buildings, in all of which cases the water which falls from the
clouds (in almost a chemically pure state) is more or less contaminated
by absorption or admixture with impuritics of a more or less unwholesome
or deleterious character.
Firstly. With reference to the supply of water from rivers it is well
known that almost every river in the vicinity of large towns or cities is
more or less contaminated with town sewage, in addition to the foul
water from factories, chemical works, and from numerous other sources
of impurity.
Secondly. The supply obtained from small streamlets or pools in
country districts is frequently contaminated with large quantities of
decayed vegetable matter teeming with insect life, and in many cases
stagnant and unwholesome.
Thirdly. The supply from the watershed of high lands and the water
in lakes generally drains through masses of decayed vegetable matter,
carrying with it the soluble portions of the manure of the lower lands
and the animal matter always present in pastures and cultivated fields;
it is nevertheless much purer than water obtained from rivers in the
neighbourhood of large towns.
Fourthly. The supply of water obtained from shallow wells is chiefly a
derived from surface drainage, and in many cases is very impure and
unwholesome, while that obtained from deep wells not only contains
more or less of the impurities incidental to surface drainage, but is
generally hard, and contains much lime or other mineral, metallic, or
saline matters of various kinds.
2
Fifthly. The supply of water obtained from the roofs of buildings is
generally more or less impregnated with the oxides or salts of lead from
the constant action of the atmosphere and water on that metal when
used as flats, gutters, or ridges of the roofs, and sometimes also it
contains white lead derived from the decomposition of paint or putty 3
used in skylight frames, &c,; also the decomposed lichens or mosses, the
refuse of birds and insects, and soot from chimneys which each shower
washes down, not unfrequently into a "water butt" exposed to the sun,
and where insect life revels to the fullest extent.
In large cities and manufacturing towns the air is so impregnated 3
with gaseous and other impurities as greatly to affect the purity of rain

page_text: falling over the town, hence the water for its supply should be collected
at a few miles distant.
Now the object of these improvements is the collection and storage of
pure rain water for domestic and other purposes in such a way that it
shall be for the most part free from the impurities found in water
obtained from either of the five sources before mentioned. For this
purpose I cause the falling rain to be intercepted in its passage to the
earth (on which it is not allowed to fall), and from which it consequently
can receive no impurities, but I receive it on prepared surfaces, or in
shallow vessels composed of non-absorbent materials, which are also
practically if not absolutely insoluble in pure water, and which do not
encourage or permit of the growth of vegetable matter upon them, and
I protect such vessels or surfaces from access of animals and more or
less from insect life. The water as soon as collected passes off the
collecting surface and through a thin layer of sand, granulated charcoal,
or other filtering media, and is received by preference in a close chamber
or receiver, all the surfaces with which the water comes in contact being
formed by preference of glass, or a material of a more or less vitreous
character. The size, materials, and form of the collecting surface
employed may however be considerably varied, depending on the quality
and quantity of water required, and the relative cost of such materials
in different localities. When, however, such receiving surfaces are
situated in or near large towns, or where the atmosphere is so impure
as to deposit soot or other impure matter in any notable quantity, I
employ a small tipping vessel mounted on axes and divided into two
compartments, and so arranged as to overbalance whenever a certain
weight of water is received into what may be called the waste water
compartment, so that at the commencement of a shower the collecting
surface is first washed down, the dirty water running into the waste
water compartment, which should vary in size in proportion to that of
the collecting surface to be cleansed. When a certain and determined
amount of water has thus been received the vessel topples over on its
axis, and then the stream from the collector will be received in the other
compartment of the vessel, and from thence be conveyed to the filter.
and receiver, while the first portion of water which had been rendered
impure by washing down the collecting surface will escape from its
compartment very slowly through a small hole, occupying several hours,
as may be desired, when the apparatus in consequence of the loss of

page_text: weight will again overbalance and return to its former position, presenting
the waste water chamber in the proper position to receive the water from
the next rains whenever it may fall.
And in order that the action of this apparatus may be fully understood
I have shown the tipping vessel in section in Figures 4 and 5, and in
plan at Figure 6, Sheet A, of the annexed Drawings; in Figure 4 the
tipping vessel is shewn in the position it assumes prior to the com-
mencement of a falling shower; a is the lower spout of the collecting
surface a*, from which water is falling into the chamber 6 of the
apparatus, which is heaviest at the end c, and is in this Figure supported
on the stop d; the accumulation of water in the chamber will over-
balance the apparatus on its axis e, and it will then assume the position
shewn in Figure 5, where the falling shower having washed down the
collecting surface, and the apparatus having toppled over, the water will
fall then into the chamber f, while the water occupying the chamber b
will be gradually emptied through the small opening *; the accu-
mulation of water at the end f* of the chamber f will retain the
apparatus in this position so long as it continues to receive water from
the spouta, the overflow from the chamber ƒ falling into a fixed gutter g,
which conveys it to the reservoir for use; as soon however as the supply
of water ceases to flow from the spout a the remaining water in the
chamber will slowly find its way out by the opening h, the loss of
weight from the end f* of the chamber f will cause it again to topple
over into the position shown in Figure 4, where the chamber b will bo
again in readiness to receive the first portions of a future shower of rain
from the spout a.
I will now give a few examples by way of making the several
modifications of apparatus which I prefer to employ more clearly
understood.
Firstly then with reference to a small apparatus for supplying a
single family with pure water for drinking purposes, and which is
especially applicable to country or suburban residences where there has
not been established any organized system of pure water supply by pipes'
leading from more extensive collecting surfaces. In constructing this
small apparatus I employ a sheet of "rough plate glass," say, 6 feet
3 inches square; this is to be bent or dished in an oven in the way
usually practised by "glass benders," so that its central part may be
sunk about 6 inches lower than the external edges, thus forming a

page_text: regularly inclined surface, about one inch or so of the external edge
being turned up nearly at right angles to the inclined bottom of the
dish or vessel thus formed. The central part of the square piece of glass
is pushed downward while still hot in the glass bender's mould, and thus
formed into a short neck or spout, having a hole of about one inch in
diameter made therein, thus a shallow square glass dish or collector will
be formed, having a surface area of 36 square feet. I by preference
support this dish on a square wooden frame at a height of about 6 feet
above the ground, and I enclose with a double boarding the space
beneath the dish or collector; and on a shelf within the enclosure thus
formed I place a large vitreous stoneware jar or receiver, having by
preference a stoneware stop-cock to draw off the water from it. The
space surrounding the receiver I fill with sawdust or other slow con-
ductor of heat, so as to keep the store of water cool in summer and
prevent its freezing in winter. Beneath the orifice of the collector a
small stoneware vessel is also fixed, in which silver sand, granulated
charcoal, or other filtering media is placed. A glass or stoneware pipe
leads from the filter into the closed mouth of the receiver; this conveys
the filtered water to the receiver, where it is stored for use.
Around the top of the wood frame before referred to I form a small
groove or channel, into which I put oil or some other fluid matter which
will prevent any crawling insects from gaining access to the collecting
surface; and I surround the edge of the collector with a row of fine
wire spikes standing vertically upward from the woodwork for the
purpose of preventing birds from perching on its edge, and I am thus
enabled to keep the glass surface clean and free from animal con-
taminations, while the impossibility of vegetable matters growing on the
collector is ensured from its being made of glass. The filter will prevent
any accidental animal life or vegetable seeds from passing into the
stoneware receiver, from which a limited but known supply of pure
uncontaminated water can always be obtained.
In situations where the rainfall is only 28 inches per annum, about
520 gallons will be collected annually by this small apparatus, equal
very nearly to 6 quarts per day. In order to ensure an unfailing supply
it is necessary that the receiver should hold a three or four months'
supply, or one-third or one-fourth of the annual rainfall on the collecting
surface; it will be obvious that where a family requires a larger supply
than 6 quarts per day for drinking purposes that a larger apparatus

page_text: щоте от иде Sman
square collectors may be employed in one frame. I prefer to place the
collector in a garden or meadow at some distance from the house. It
will be obvious that the receiver, if preferred, may be placed under
ground or in a cellar of the house, the collected water being conveyed
thence by a pipe.
It will also be understood that the receiver (when of large dimensions)
may be made of slate, stone, or other material incapable of injuriously
affecting the water it contains.
On Sheet A of the annexed Drawings I have shewn one of these
small domestic water collectors, Figure 1 being a vertical section and
Figure 2 an elevation of the same. The glass collector i is supported
on a wood framework j, in which the large stoneware receiver k is
enclosed, and surrounded by some bad conductor of heat, as before
described. The bending into form of the glass collector will be facilitated
by cutting away the angles, as shewn at 1, Figure 3. A central hole n
cut through the plate before bending will also facilitate the formation of
the central depression of the collector. In the mouth of the receiver k
I prefer to place a small stoneware vessel m, shewn on a larger scale at
Figure 7. A groove p is formed around the lower part of it, and into
the recess so formed a cap of fine wire gauze q is cemented around its
lower edge; the vessel m may then be filled with granulated charcoal,
sand, or other suitable filtering media in order to prevent any particles
of animal or vegetable matter from being accidentally carried into the
receiver kc.
In some cases also while still retaining glass as the collecting surface
flat sheets with bent-up edges may be arranged in a manner similar to
the pantiles used for roofs of outhouses, &c., and which will be readily
understood on referring to Figure 1, Sheet B, which is a perspective view
of a portion of a collecting surface formed with these glass sheets, having
their edges bent and overlapped, as shewn. Such glass tiles may be
arranged on any inclined surface, say at an angle of 30 degrees to the
horizon. The lower end of the incline or inclines delivers the collected
water into a gutter, preferably also of glass, and from this the water will
run into the receiver; or in lieu of these sheets of glass with turned-up
edges ordinary flat glass sheets may be employed after the manner of
slates arranged on laths or on a boarded surface, So in like manner

page_text: slate slabs may be joined up to form the collecting surface or ordinary
slates arranged on an inclined surface with slate or stoneware gutters,
avoiding by preference the use of lead, putty, or white lead paint in all
such structures.
It will be readily understood that many other materials may be em-
ployed and different forms given to these collecting surfaces without
departing from the general principle of this Invention.
The facility with which large circular sheets of glass are made by the
process known as crown glass blowing affords a ready means of obtaining
shallow circular dishes of 3 feet in diameter and upwards, with a raised
edge and depressed perforated centre, as shewn in section at Figure 13 and
in plan at Figure 14, Sheet B. A group of seven such circular collectors
of 3 feet diameter placed on one frame, as shewn at Figure 15, Sheet B,
would be capable with a rainfall of 28 inches annually of collecting
about 7 quarts of water per day. These circular glass collectors
obviously may be increased in number and arranged so as to collect
much larger quantities than the small group of seven lastly referred to;
and although I prefer to collect from glass surfaces it is obvious that
frames covered with plaster or cement of various kinds may be employed
and the surface rendered non-absorbent by the application of varnish,
bituminous matter, oil, &c., and so likewise iron enamelled, tinned, or
japanned, or surfaces covered with tin foil, or even painted surfaces may
also be employed for collecting water without departing from the
principle of the Invention. When however it is desired to supply all
the wants of a family with pure soft water by collecting rain on clean
insoluble non-absorbent surfaces, and storing the same in such quantitics
as to make the supply continuous, I construct the collecting surface and
receiver for storing in a different manner, but involving the same general
principles as that herein-before described as applicable for collecting
water for drinking purposes only.
As for example, I may take the case of a suburban or country
residence requiring a continuous supply of 100 gallons of pure water
daily in a locality where the yearly average rainfall is only 28 inches, I
should in such a case first clear a space in the garden or meadow of say
20 yards long by 14 yards broad. This space may partake of the natural
incline of the land (if it be inclined), or it may if the land be level have
a slight inclination given to it, or it may be arranged in the form of a

page_text: series of shallow ridges and furrows. In either case I enclose the area
required by a dwarf wall, rising about 1 foot above the land level, and
I fill the space so enclosed with good lime or cement concrete to the
depth of about one foot, making a smooth face to the slightly inclined
surface or to the ridge and furrow as the case may be. I form a gutter
along the lower side of the inclined surface, from which a glazed earthen
pipe will lead the collected water to a reservoir formed underground for its
reception. The concrete surface is to be covered with a good smooth coat
of Portland cement, selenitic mortar, or other cement, or it may be covered
with square glazed tiles set in cement, or the collecting surface may be 1
covered with glass, slate, or other insoluble non-absorbent substance
incapable of contaminating the water received thercon. A reservoir
capable of holding three or four months' supply of 100 gallons daily
should be made to receive the collected water.
I prefer to employ stone for the interior of the tank, or bricks 1
that are glazed on the face they present to the interior; or I line the
tank with white glazed tiles, slate, cement, or other substance that will
not affect injuriously the quality of the water stored therein.
I prefer to brick over the tank and cover it with earth some two or
three fect in thickness, and to plant shrubs thereon, with a view of 2
keeping the external heat or cold from affecting any considerable change
in the temperature of the water stored therein.
In all cases where convenient I prefer to form the collecting surface
and place the tank on ground sufficiently elevated to cause the water
collected and stored therein to rise in the house by gravitation, and thus 2
avoid the necessity for pumping.
For the purpose of conveying the water from the tank to the house I
prefer to use glazed vitreous earthen pipes, but when earthen pipes are
employed to convey water to great distances I prefer to put them in a
trench sufficiently deep to allow of a good bed of concrete for them to 3
lie upon, and by which material they will also be covered, thus em-
bedding the pipes in a mass of materials capable of protecting them; or
I embed the pipes in a low strong brick wall built underground for their
protection. This mode of laying glazed earthen pipes in a mass of
concrete or in an underground wall is shewn in section at Figures 2 and 3 3
on Sheet B of the annexed Drawings. The pipe r, Figure 2, is sur-
rounded by cement or concrete and embedded in a hollow dwarf wall 9.

page_text: below the ground level, or the pipes may be enclosed, as shewn at
Figure 3, in a trench formed below ground, the space around the pipe t
being filled in with good concrete, as shewn at u. Pipes so protected are
suitable for conveying water under pressure through soft land or under
public roads where great weights may pass over them. Iron pipes may
however be employed for this purpose, in which case I prefer to glaze or
enamel their interior surface in the manner usually practised in glazing
or enamelling iron, or to line them with Ransome's silicious artificial
stone, or with a thin baked earthen pipe cemented therein. But the most
important application of this principle of obtaining a constant supply of
pure water direct from the rainfall without allowing it to sink into the
ground and there become impregnated with various impure matters is its
adaptation to the collection and storage of water for the supply or
partial supply of towns and villages, and for use in factories where pure
water is essential, and where the daily consumption of water is consider-
able. For these purposes I choose by preference a piece of land, other-
wise of little value, situated on some clevated ridge, and preferably within
a few miles of the town to be supplied, and where practicable I make
use of the natural slope or inclination of the ground so to be utilized by
rounding off any small abrupt eminences, if such exist, and filling up
any deep or uneven depressions so as to give such a form to the surface
as will favor the quick and easy flow of the collected water. I prefer
to cover the surface so prepared with a bed of concrete, and to render
the surface as near as may be impervious by a coating of Portland or
other cement, plaster, asphalte, slate, Ransome's silicious stone, bitu-
minous matter, or other impervious non-absorbent or insoluble material,
the nature of which will to some extent depend on cost and local supply.
Such collecting surfaces may also be formed on flat or nearly level
ground by forming them into a ridge and furrowed surface so as to
facilitate the flow of water and conduct it to the main culverts leading
to the reservoir or underground store.
In some cases if the land is very firm it will be sufficient to well ram
it all over and work the face in this manner to the desired shape, and
.to then cover it with common bricks laid flatwise and bedded with good
cement. This layer may be crossed by a second one laid also in cement
in the reverse direction so as to "break joint," thus forming a firm
bed, which may then be coated with cement to form the collecting
surface, or it may be covered with vitreous tiles or other of the covering
B

page_text: materials before referred to. But if the land is not very firm 1 prefer
to employ a bed of concrete and to cover this with a single layer of
bricks before putting on the vitreous tiles or other material, which is to
form the collecting surface.
When York flags or similar stone or slate in slabs, grooved and tongued,
are used, the layer of bricks may be omitted.
When collecting surfaces are formed into ridges and furrows, the tops
of the ridges and the bottoms of the furrows may be made with curved,
glazed, or vitreous tiles, as shewn in section in Figures 4, 5, and 6,
Sheet B, where A represents the gutter tile, and B the ridge tiles, the
spaces C being filled with other tiles or with cement as may be desired.
A small collecting surface in which such ridge and gutter tiles are
employed is shewn in vertical section at Figure 7, and in plan at
Figure 8, Sheet B, where D is the low external wall, E a bed of concrete
on which the tiles G are laid; the side marked D* should be raised so
as to form a gradual slope downwards towards the opposite side, which is
made slanting, so as to favor the flow of the collected water to the mouth
of the pipe H, when the land on which such small collecting surfaces
are formed slopes sufficiently to cause the water to run quickly from a
plain inclined surface it may be formed in the same plane as the land,
as shewn in Figure 9, but when the land is nearly horizontal the col-
lecting surface should be inclined as before mentioned in reference in
Figures 7 and 8, and which inclination is shewn in the section at
Figure 10, where the wall K rises to a higher level than the wall L,
giving the collecting surface a sufficient angle of inclination. I have
shewn at Figure 11, on Sheet B, a vertical section of a receiver suitable
for storing the collected water for the supply of a single household; it is
circular in form with a domed roof M, built by preference of bricks,
with the side or ends glazed that come next the water; the side walls N
may be also of brick or faced with other materials, as herein-before
described. An opening is made at P, giving access when necessary to
the receiver, and which also serves for ventilation. The collected water
is conveyed by a culvert and pipe R to the receiver, from which it flows
through a centre opening at S, but as herein-before stated I prefer to
construct reservoirs or stores for water for the supply of towns and
villages by forming long circular tunnels in concrete, as shown in
section at Figure 12, Sheet B, and which consists simply of a long exca-

page_text: vation with a semicircular bottom lined and arched over with concrete,
and rendered water-tight with cement on the interior surface.
In some cases small drain tiles will be found necessary beneath the
collecting surface for the purpose of conveying away any natural
undergroud supply of water or any accidental leakage that may result
from cracks or imperfections in the collecting surface, and in situations
where such collecting surfaces may be exposed to severe winter frosts,
they may be protected by a covering (for a few inches in depth) of clean
sand, fine sea beach shingle, or other loose substance that will not
injuriously affect the quality of the collected water. In situations such
as the chalk hills or Downs near Brighton or Dover great facilities are
afforded for making these large collecting surfaces; the chalk of the hills
and the sea beach shingle supply readily the materials for concrete, while
the land on these heights is of small value for agricultural purposes, and
will thus favor what may be called water farms where different
proprietors might collect and supply an desired quantity of water to a
company for distribution; thus assuming a low rain fall of only 25 inches
annually, there would fall on a farm of 1000 acres about 566,280,000 of
gallons in each year. If the water so collected was made to supplement
the ordinary water supply, and be used in each household for all drinking
and culinary purposes, this one farm would yield a supply of 20 gallons
daily to no less than 78,942 houses, and if sold to the consumer at one
penny for 20 gallons or one penny per day per house, the gross value of
the water crop from a farm of 1000 acres would reach the sum of
£117,975 per annum, by simple means (which however are not embraced
in this Patent) it will be obvious that pure water so collected for
distribution may be aerated, cooled, and supplied in any quantity by
metre.
I desire it to be understood that throughout this Specification and the
claims attached thereto, wherever the terms impervious, insoluble, or
non-absorbent surfaces or materials have been used, I intend that such
terms shall not be understood in their strict and absolute sense, but as
signifying surfaces or materials that are so far insoluble, impervious, and
non-absorbent that the rain falling on them shall not be capable of
dissolving such material to an injurious extent, and that these materials
shall be incapable of allowing any serious amount of loss of water to pass
through them or become absorbed.

page_text: I also employ by preference covered tanks below ground for the
storage of water so collected. These tanks or reservoirs I prefer to make
somewhat like a railway tunnel. I excavate the ground by an open
working, leaving the bottom of the trench semicircular, I then cover a
segment of this trench with concrete, and upon this I place an iron
centreing capable of collapsing when necessary, and on this centreing
I complete the arch of concrete, thus giving a circular section to the
tunnel for the whole length of the centreing. The partial collapse or
closing of the centreing on proper joints will admit of its end way
movement without disturbing the work already done; other modes of
forming a centreing for such reservoirs may be employed if preferred,
and I desire it to be understood that I lay no claim to the construction
of the iron centreings hercin-before described. The centreing is then
brought back by proper screws to its true cylinderical form, and another
portion of the concrete may then be proceeded with, and so on for any
desired length; when the concrete is hardened the space above it may be
filled in level with the surrounding land, which may then be used as
before for agricultural purposes; the interior of the long reservoir thus
made may be rendered water-tight by proper cement as herein-before
mentioned in reference to the collecting surfaces; the reservoir so formed
is to be provided with such conduit and overflow pipes and sluices as
may be necessary for regulating the supply in a manner well understood
for the supply of dwelling houses. I prefer to employ either vitreous
pipes or where iron is used to glaze or enamel their interior surfaces, and
thus as far as practicable to avoid bringing the water in contact with
metallic or other surfaces capable of injuriously affecting the quality of
the water. It will thus be obvious that no portion of the water thus
collected for the supply of towns or villages will be allowed to fall on
the bare earth or to sink into the depths of the soil and become
impregnated with the impurities there met with, but will be received on
clean surfaces and be passed through a pure and cleanly filtering
material into the receiving tanks ready for immediate distribution in
practically the same pure state as that in which it falls from the

page_text: varied without departing from the nature of my Invention, nor do I
claim the collection and storing of water that falls on natural or
unprepared surfaces, nor the use of any kind of tank, cistern, reservoir,
or other collector of water in which the water so collected is retained
and stored on or above the surface on or over which it falls in the form
of rain, nor do I claim the use or employment of any collecting surfaces
that are actually and bona fide used for other purposes than the
collection of rain water for use, such for instance as the roofs of houses
and other buildings; but what I do claim as my Invention, and desire to
secure by these Letters Patent is,―
A
Firstly. I claim the construction of apparatus for collecting and
storing rain water, represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, on Sheet A of the
annexed Drawings.
Secondly. I claim the employment of tipping chambers or vessels,
constructed in the manner described for separating the first portions of
rain water falling after an interval of fine weather on surfaces prepared
for its collection.
Thirdly. I claim the collecting and storing of rain water for the supply
of houses, factories, chemical, or other works, in the manner described
and shewn in Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, on Sheet B of the annexed
Drawings.
Fourthly. I claim the means of supply or partially supplying of towns
and villages with rain water collected over land that has been artificially
prepared by a covering of concrete, bricks, tiles, slate, asphalte, cements,
stone, or more or less non-absorbent, insoluble, or impervious materials,
in order to prevent the rain water which falls thereon from sinking into
the earth, and thus collecting the rain water in nearly the same state of
purity as that in which it falls from the clouds.
Fifthly. I claim covering portions of hill tops, slopes, and valleys,
with a more or less impervious coating of concrete, bricks, tiles, slate,
asphalte, cements, stone, or other suitable materials for the purpose of
preventing the rain falling over the area thus prepared from sinking
into the earth, and connecting such covered surfaces with reservoirs
suitable for storing such rain water for use.
Sixthly. I claim the mode herein described and shewn at Figure 12,
Sheet B, of constructing underground reservoirs for storing rain water
collected on prepared impervious surfaces, as herein-before described.

page_text: Seventhly. I claim the construction and employment of rain water
collectors, having a ridge and furrow surface as described.
Eighthly. I claim the construction and employment of circular glass
vessels as herein described for collecting rain water for drinking and
other purposes.
Ninthly. I claim the mode herein described of lining iron water pipes
with vitreous stoneware or concrete stone for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bessemer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
TTRADY
גוTACT
HENRY BESSEMER. (L.S.)