IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat, of Marseille,
(France,) Rue des Petits Pères, No. 50, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
Sealed the 18th January 1868, and dated the 14th July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Paul Antoine Lucien
Canonicat at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th July 1862.
I, PAUL ANTOINE LUCIEN CANONICAT, of Marseille (France), Rue des
Petits Pères, No. 50, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREI," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to filtering water by ascension. The water to be
filtered is taken from a river, canal, or other source, from which it is led by
pipes or passages into a first filtering basin; each end of the pipes is, fitted
with a filtering apparatus consisting of a frame. made of galvanized iron or
other suitable material, and cross bars hinged or united together in such
manner as to be capable of expanding or contracting on pressure being
applied thereto, sponge or other filtering agent being placed in the frame

page_text: between the bars. When the sponges become charged with impurities the
bars are made to approach towards each other by means of rods leading above
the level of the water. The sponges have thus the impurities squeezed out
of them, which sinking in the first filtering basin, the bottom of which is set
at an incline, are drawn off through passages or chanuels at the end thereof.
There are passages leading from the basin, before mentioned, to a second or
to several other filtering basins, the said passages being fitted with finer
filtering agents than those employed in the frames first mentioned. This
second basin or basins is or are divided horizontally by a wall or partition,
through which a series of vertical tubes are led, fitted at bottom and top with
filters, those at the bottom being in the lower compartment, and those at the
top in the upper. The lower filters contain filtering agents consisting of, say,
spongo resting on some elastic material, and a charcoal bed with apertures in
the under side. Water enters at the bottom through these apertures, passes
up through the filters in the lower compartment, and ascending the pipes
enters through perforations in the sides thereof; the filters in the upper com-
partment, which contain finer filtering agents than the lower, and issuing
through apertures in the sides of the upper filters, fills the upper compartment
with pure water to the level of the water in the first basin.... The filtered
water may be drawn off by sluices or otherwise. Holes are formed in the
basin walls for the purpose of preventing air opposing the ascent of the water;
they also afford a means of access to the lower compartments or basins. To
clean the basins the apertures leading from the supply to the first basin are
closed, then valves fitted to the lower part of the second basin or basins, and
opening into the passages or channels before mentioned are opened, the water
then contained therein descends through the filters in the reverse direction,
conveying all impurities with it to the said passages or channels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PAUL
ANTOINE LUCIEN CANONICAT, of Marseille, France, Rue des Petits Pères,
No. 50, Civil Engineer, send greeting. .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord,

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat, Her special licence that I, the said Paul
Antoine Lucien Canonicat,my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such,
others as I, the said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 FILTERING WATER, AND IN APPA-
BATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that. I, the
said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat, my executors or administrators, 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 I, the said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat; 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to filtering water by ascension.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section, and Figure 2
is a horizontal section of the apparatus. The water to be filtered is taken
from a river, canal, or other source A, from which it is led by pipes or
passages D, D, into a first filtering basin or basins B, B; each end of the
pipes D, D, is fitted with a filtering apparatus C, a detached view of which is
given at Figure 3, consisting of a frame made of galvanized iron or other
suitable material, and cross bars hinged or united together in such manner
that the frame is capable of being expanded or contracted on being pressed or
pulled; sponge or other filtering agent is placed in the frame between the
bars. When the sponges become charged with impurities the bars are made
to approach towards each other by means of rods e, e, leading above the level
of the water. The sponges have thus the impurities squeezed out of them,
which. sinking in the first filtering basin, the bottom of which is set at an
incline, are drawn off through passages or channels F, F, at the end thereof.
G; G, are passages leading from the basin, before mentioned, to a second or to

page_text: several other filtering basins I, II, the said passages being fitted with finer
filtering agents C', 'C', than those employed in the frames first mentioned.
The basins are divided by a horizontal partition into two stages, a lower H and
upper H'. Perforations or apertures are made in the partition for the reception
of tubes K, carrying filters a at each end. These filters consist of two vessels
communicating through the tube; a 'detached view of one of these double-
vessel filters is given at Figure 4;. the lower portion J of the filter. dips into
the lower stage II, while the upper portion J' extends into the upper stage H'.
The vessels J, J', and tube K of each filter are. made of. galvanized sheet
iron or other suitable material. The lower vessel J is fitted with filtering
agents, and the water enters and ascends through a number of holes formed
in the bottom thereof. The filtering agents are composed, by preference,. of
spongo resting on some elastic material and a charcoal bed. Water entering
at the bottom ascends through the filtering agents in the vessel J into the
tube K, which extends to the top of the upper vessel J', packed with fine
sponge. The tube K is perforated along its whole length in the upper vessel,
and the water entering through those perforations into the vessel J¹, after
passing through the sponge therein issues filtered into the upper stage H'.
Manholes are formed in the basin walls, in order that air may not oppose
the ascent of the water; the manholes at the same time afford means of
access to the lower stages of the filtoring basins. The water meeting with no
obstacle rises first into and through the lower filtering vessels J, then into and
through the upper vessels J' into the upper. stages H' of the filtering basins,
from whence it may be drawn through the sluices M, M, into a conduit N.
To clean. the filters and basins the apertures leading to them. are closed, a
valve P fitted to the lower part of the basin is opened, the water in the lower
stage first runs away, then the filtered water in the upper stage H descends,
first through the upper vessels J', then through the lower vessels J, and out
of the basin, taking with it. all impurities; the valve P is closed, and the
filters and basins are again ready for use.
And having now described the. nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Filtering Water, and in Apparatus employed therein,"
First, filtering water by ascension by means of basins and filtering vessels,
constructed and acting substantially in manner herein-before described.
Second, the employment of filtering agents increasing in fineness as the
filtering proceeds, as herein-before described.
Third, the employment of filtering apparatus set at the apertures to the

page_text: pipes for conveying the water from one basin to another, acting substantially
in manner and for the purposes described and illustrated at Figure 8 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Fourth, the method of cleansing filtering apparatus herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Paul Antoine Lucien Canonicat, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
P. A. L. CANONICAT. (L.s.)
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Jo.,
Ing. Civil, Boulev*. de Strasbourg,
No. 28, à Paris.