IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE THEREFROM
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Fritz Hillé, of Flora Villa, Brentford, in the
66
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
THEREFROM."
Sealed the 23rd April 1872, and dated the 15th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Fritz Hillé at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1872.
I, FRITZ HILLÉ, of Flora Villa, Brentford, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF
MANURE THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements on the Invention for which
Letters Patent have been granted to me, dated the 2nd day of December
1870, No. 3167. By these improvements I am able to treat sewage
waters more advantageously, and to obtain a manure of greater com-
mercial value.

page_text: There is added to the sewage by preference whilst it is still flowing
through the sewer a mixture consisting of 5 cwt. of quicklime, 1 cwt. of
chloride of magnesium, and 40 lbs. of gas tar. These materials should
be thoroughly ground together and added to the sewage in the proportion
of 1 lb. of the mixture to 100 gallons of sewage of the ordinary strength
of town sewage.
The sewage is then run into depositing tanks, where
carbonic acid gas from lime kilns is passed through it, and it lets fall a
precipitate. The clear liquor is run from the precipitating tanks on to a
filter bed of sand, covered with a layer of the spent charcoal from sugar
refineries, together with seaweed or other charcoal. The liquid which
has passed through this filter is so pure that it may without objection be
admitted into a river or stream; or when convenient the clear liquor
from the depositing tanks may be used to irrigate land. The sludge is
run from the depositing tanks, and mixed with clean water is again used
to precipitate another quantity of sewage.
The sludge resulting from a second deposition is mixed with the
charcoal, which is removed from the filtering bed when it has become
saturated with ammonia, and dried for use as manure; and I increase its
manurial value by adding to it to the extent of from 8 to 10 per cent.
the impure salt resulting from saturating the ammoniacal liquor of gas-
works with sulphuric acid, and evaporating to dryness. In this manner
I simultaneously deodorise sewage waters, and render them innocuous
and produce a manure of considerable commercial value.
Sometimes I precipitate the sewage first with a mixture of 5 cwt. of
sulphate of alumina and 1 cwt. of chloride of magnesium. I in this case
add milk of lime in one of the depositing tanks.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Fritz Hillé, Her special license
that I, the said Fritz Hillé, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Fritz Hillé, 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 TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Fritz
Hillé, 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 Fritz Hillé, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the treatment and
utilization of sewage, and in the manufacture of manure therefrom.
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn a system of
depositing tanks and apparatus for treating the sewage of towns arranged
according to my Invention.
Figure 1 is a plan view, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section taken on
the line A, B, in Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on
the line C, D, in Figure 1.
Z is the inlet sewer which leads the sewage to the mixing chamber.
On both sides of this sewer, or at such place near the sewage works which
is best fitted for their erection, are impounding reservoirs A, A, con-
structed to provide storage room for any excess of sewage water during

page_text: storms or heavy rainfalls, or at night time. The sewage entering the
works, or about some 50 yards before it enters the works, receives part
of the disinfecting compound in a liquid form, namely, a solution of
chloride of magnesium. The sewage enters into chamber B. Here the
sewage receives an addition of milk of lime, and this milk of lime decom-
poses the chloride of magnesium, producing a bulky precipitate, which
quickly subsides and carries down with it all the suspended matters and
part of the matters held in solution in the sewage. This precipitate
contains all the phosphoric acid and part of the nitrogenous matter of
the sewage.
The supernatant liquor in the deposit tank is entirely free
from smell, and may most advantageously be employed for irrigation
purposes, as it still holds many fertilizing ingredients, which if the liquid
in the deposit tanks is not used for irrigation will subsequently be com-
pletely purified on its passage through the artificial filter provided in the
system. In the chamber B there is a revolving agitating wheel, driven
continuously in any suitable manner, so that the sewage and disinfectant
are here most intimately mixed one with the other. From the mixing
chamber B the mixed sewage and disinfectant flows through either one
or the other of the channels C, C, into the depositing tanks D, D. These
depositing tanks have been peculiarly arranged as follows:-They are
divided by transverse partitions into three compartments, so as to impede
and obstruct the flow of the sewage, and allow the almost complete
settlement of the solid matters held in suspension. The arrows in the
Drawing shew the flow of the mixed sewage. In the third compartment
of the deposit tanks are provided self-acting floating outlets E, E, through
which at a regulated flow the purified sewage is led away through sluice
valves to the outlet chamber G, and thence to the artificial downward
filters H, H, which are of peculiar construction, acting both as a chemical
and a mechanical filtering medium. F, F, are wash-out pipes passing
direct from the reservoirs D to the outfall; and F¹, F¹, are irrigation
outlets. The filter beds are constructed as ordinary filter beds of water-
works, broken bricks at the bottom, then coarse gravel and fine gravel,
then coarse sand and fine sand, and between the top layer of small white
stones a layer varying in thickness of the spent charcoal from sugar
refineries mixed with seaweed or any other vegetable charcoal. This
chemical filter, i.e., the layer of mixed charcoal, absorbs all the impure
matters suspended or in solution which are left in the purified sewage
after having undergone the chemical precipitation process. Before the
purified sewage is allowed to flow on to the filters carbonic acid gas is

page_text: forced into it in the outlet chamber at all such sewage works where the
lime is burnt on the premises, this carbonic acid gas being a waste
product from the lime burning process. The addition of this carbonic
acid gas produces an extraordinary purification of the sewage, inasmuch
as any excess of lime contained in the purified liquid will at once be
precipitated to the bottom as carbonate of lime, thus avoiding the
purified water having an alkaline reaction. Where the lime is not
burnt on the premises, then for the purpose of effecting the same amount
of purity a small quantity of perchloride of iron by preference is added.
to the purified sewage water. The liquid which has passed through the
artificial downward filter is sufficiently pure to be admissible into any

page_text: purified water from the deposit tanks will flow away from the filters
perfectly purified.
Sluices F¹, F', are provided from the first outlet chamber to conduct
the purified sewage on to the land through proper channels; or the
purified sewage from the deposit tanks, after passing through the first
outlet chamber G, and then after having passed through the artificial
filters, may enter a second outlet chamber, from which it is carried off
by self-acting floating outlets, like those shewn at E, E, fitted with
valves, by opening or closing which the speed of filtration can be regu-
lated. I is the channel for conveying the filtered sewage water. K
designates the sand washing machine used for the cleaning the sand;
when the filters are renewed for washing the sand the effluent water
may be used. L, L, are lime kilns; M, coal store; N, boiler room;
O, engine room; P, the drying room; Q, the sludge pumps; and R, the
sludge well where the sludge is collected by means of the sewer in the
divisional wall between the depositing tanks. The depositing tanks being
inclined towards the sewer, and being fitted with valves respectively,
sluices provide an easy method of conveying the sludge accumulated in
them to the said sewer. Qis the pumping apparatus connected with
the pumping engines for raising the accumulated daily sludge from the
sludge well on to the drying floor, which by preference is so constructed
as to use the air as drying medium after by straining or the use of hydro-
extractors the greatest part of the water contained in the sewage residue
has been separated.
Passages not shewn in the Drawing are arranged along the two outer
sides of the systems of deposit tanks, so that when any of the three
compartments may require cleaning, the sewage, instead of passing into
such compartment, may be led into the compartment next to it.
By this arrangement the system of tanks can never be out of working
order. These deposit tanks are as above stated cleaned daily, and this
construction enables me to use the precipitate produced by the addition
of the chemical mixture to the sewage a second time for the same
purpose, effecting hereby, in the first place, a most considerable saving
of the chemicals required for purifying the sewage; and, secondly,
enabling me to produce a precipate much richer in fertilizing ingredients
for the manufacture of manure.
The disinfecting compound I prefer to use consists as before described

page_text: of a solution of chloride of magnesium in combination with milk of lime
or of zinc, or in very hot weather a mixture of lime and tar dissolved in
water; or chloride of magnesium dissolved in the proportion of about
15 to 1, that is, 15 parts in weight of water to 1 part in weight of
chloride of magnesium. With this solution lime or lime and tar mixed
together is also used as above mentioned. It is added in a subsequent
tank or in the mixing chamber B. I manufacture the disinfecting com
pound for use as a dry compound, with addition of spent charcoal, in
casks or cakes, the size of which depends on the quantity of sewage I
have to deal with or on the effect I intend to produce. The solution of
disinfectant is allowed to drop or flow into the sewage, and is thoroughly
mixed therewith by means of an agitating wheel. The water employed
to dissolve the disinfectant may be the water resulting from the purified
sewage. I prefer to use the disinfectant in form of bricks of different size
around the inlets to the storing reservoirs at A*, A*. It is also useful in
the form of powder for urinals, closets, and such like at railway stations,
closets in private houses or public buildings, such as military barracks,
hospitals, theatres, hotels, and the like; and a considerable advantage
may be obtained by the employment of my disinfectant in the holds of
ships for transport of cattle or other living freight. The following is the
manner in which it is preferred to manufacture the disinfecting agent :-
I use the best chalk lime slacked with sufficient water to produce a kind
of paste, and to the slacked lime such other ingredients as chloride of
zinc or salts of magnesia, such as chloride of magnesia, may be added as
are readily obtained in the locality. This addition either in a dissolved
or undissolved state should be made at the highest temperature of the
lime, so as to produce the greatest possible efficiency of the disinfectant ;
if tar or carbolic acid be added it has to be done when the slaked lime is
at its greatest heat. The quantity of the disinfectant and purifying
compound required for complete, effective, and lasting deodorization of
sewage or other impure waters depends upon the quantity as well as the
quality of such waters, and averages from half a pound or more of dis-
infecting compound for every 1,000 lbs. of sewage water to be purified,
according to the more or less putrified state of sewage and its organic

page_text: for the purpose of completely purifying the liquid from the deposit tank,
inasmuch as the charcoal absorbs the still remaining impurities, and thus
becomes much richer as a fertiliser. The spent charcoal, after having
been used twice in sugar refineries, is a cheap article, is very porous, and
has great absorbing power. When the charcoal has purified the water,
then it is mixed with the precipitate from the deposit tanks, and this
mixture forms in itself a very good manure; but to increase the contents
of ammonia in this manure I add to it to the extent of from 8 to 10% of
the impure salt resulting from treating the ammoniacal liquor of gas-
works with sulphuric acid, and evaporating it to dryness. In this
manner I simultaneously defecate sewage waters and render them inno-
cuous, and produce a manure of considerable commercial value.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,
the method and arrangement of apparatus for the treatment and utiliza-
tion of sewage, substantially as described.
I also claim the manufacture of artificial manure from sewage, sub-
stantially in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Fritz Hillé, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.