MY NEW INVENTED IMPROVED MACHINE FOR FILTERING AND PURIFYING OF WATER
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
STEPHENSON, of Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, in the Parish of Saint
Marylebone, in the County of Middlesex, Plumber, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
Ilis Letters Patent under the Great Sea of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the fiftieth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Stephenson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence that I, the said Joseph
Stephenson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, "MY NEW
INVENTED IMPROVED MACHINE FOR FILTERING AND PURIFYING OF WATER;" in
which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Joseph Stephenson, under my hand and scal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Stephenson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in manner and form following, that is to say :-

page_text: The body or lower part of the said improved machine for filtering and
purifying of water is a water-tight vessel, which may admit of various forms;
but I prefer as being generally the most convenient the form of a chest, whose
length is twice its breadth or nearly so, and whose depth is the same as its
width or nearly so. In this body or lower part there is placed from the one
side to the other a division, going from the upper face or cover of the said body
down to within about one inch of the bottom, and joined to the foresaid top
or cover, and to the foresaid sides in such an effectual manner that water cannot
pass from the one compartment of the of the said body or lower part into the
other compartment thereof, but only through the space left at the bottom of
the said division. In the foresaid upper face or cover there are two openings,
that is to say, one over each of the two before-mentioned compartments.
Through each of these holes are to be introduced into the said compartments,
first, a level stratum or layer of sand, previously washed, to seperate any clay,
mud, or other soluble matter that may be mixed with it. Over this stratum or
layer of sand is to be put a level layer or stratum of grossly pounded charcoal,
or charcoal in small pieces, and over this another stratum or layer of sand.
The thickness of these strata depends upon the size of the apparatus, but each
of the strata of sand should be at least four inches thick, and the stratum of
charcoal in each compartment should not be less than two inches in thickness,
and after all the foresaid strata are in their places there should be a void space
left in the body or lower part, between the upper surface of the upper stratum
of.sand and the lower surface of the foresaid upper face or cover of the said
body, of about one and one half inch in height. Things being thus disposed
into one of the two openings of the upper face or cover before mentioned, is to
be inserted, water-tight, and vertically, a hollow vessel, of from eighteen to
twenty inches in height above the said upper surface or cover, and descending
through the said cover down nearly to the upper surface of the upper stratum
of. sand in the compartment below. The said hollow vertical vessel may be
cylindric, or a four-sided prism, or of any other simple and easy constructed
form; but the form I find most convenient in practice is that of an inverted
cone, having its lower aperture about two or from two to three inches in
diameter, or more or less, whatever form be adopted. The lower part should
be conical or pyramidal, for a reason which will immediately be made apparant.
This vertical hollow vessel receives the water that is to be filtered.. Into the
lower part of the said vertical hollow vessel is to be placed a piece. (or different
pieces) of spunge, which is to be pressed down towards the lower orifice. By
this pressure the place that receives the piece or pieces of spunge, as aforesaid,
being smallest at the lower orifice, the said spunge becomes depressed in all its

page_text: dimensions to any required degree. The use of the compressed spunge is to
keep back the gross and foul matter that may be in the water, and subjected
to filtration, which it does most effectually. This vertical hollow vessel I call
the descending branch of my improved filtering machine; its upper orifice is
covered with a moveable lid, and where there is the convenience of a reservoir
to supply the water it is also furnished with a common floating ball cock to
regulate the quantity of water admitted into the machine. To the other of the
two foresaid openings in the upper face or cover of the body of the machine is
joined, also water-tight and vertically, another hollow vessel, which I call the
ascending branch of my said improved filtering machine. This branch should
be of the same height or nearly so as the descending branch already described,
and of any convenient form; but the form which I prefer is that of a cone
standing on its base. No part of this ascending branch goes down within the
body of the machine like the descending branch; it is merely secured water
tight in the upper face or cover of the body of the machine, and at its upper
orifice is furnished with a moveable cover to keep out dust. The compartment
to which the descending branch is attached has also inserted through its upper
face an air pipe of any convenient diameter, and of a height equal to that of
the branch itself, for the purpose of giving a passage for the air in that com-
partment to escape when the water is admitted.
The improved filtering machine just described may be made of any of the
materials commonly used in making water cysterns, as of wood properly joined,
or of lead, or of cast-iron; but the materials which I have found most con-
vonient are for the body wood lined with sheet lead or milled lead, and for the
descending and ascending branches sheet lead or milled lead without any wood.
The use of lead in the construction of these machines affords great facility in
making all the joinings perfectly water-tight by means of soldering; but the
descending branch is not fastened to its compartment by solder, but by a flanch
and screws (to admit of its being taken off when a change of sand or charcoal
may be necessary, as shall be noticed more particularly hereafter). I make
the descending and ascending branches of such strength of lead that for common
purposes they need no covering of wood; but when filtering machines may be
wanted for situations in which it may be thought that they are exposed to the
possibility of more than common rough usage, they may be defended with
wood. From the foregoing description the process performed in the machine
may be easily conceived. The water received into the descending branch
descends through compressed spunge through a stratum of charcoal, and then
through another stratum of sand, when it reaches the bottom of the compart-
ment under the descending branch, whence it passes through the opening at

page_text: the bottom of the middle division into the other compartment, and then ascends
through a stratum of sand through a stratum of charcoal, and through another
stratum of sand, and rises into the ascending branch, which serves as a reservoir
for the filtered water. In the last-mentioned compartment a cock or pipe, as
may be required, is inserted above the upper face of the upper stratum of
sand, for the purpose of drawing off the filtered water as it may be wanted for
uše. I have not mentioned any particular dimensions for these improved
filtering machines because this admits of great latitude; but to give some idea
of the quantity of water which may be filtered by them, I shall here state the
quantity filtered by one of given dimensions in a given time:-Let the body of
the machinė be twenty inches long, cleven inches and one half inch wide, and
twelve inches deep inside: let the descending branch be ten inches and one
half inch diameter at its upper orifice, two inches diameter at its lower orifice,
and nineteen inches high, mensuring from the upper face or surface of the
body: and let the ascending branch be ten inches and one half inch diameter
at its lower orifice, five inches diameter at its upper orifice, and of the same
height as the descending branch; such a machine with a regular supply of water
will deliver about three hundred gallons of filtered water in twenty-four hours.
I have already montioned that my improved filtering machine may be made
of various forms. The following is perhaps the most simple that can be
imagined: Make a hollow vessel or chest like a common water cistern, but
deeper in proportion, say, for example, twenty inches in length, twelve inches
wide, and thirty-one inches in height; divide this into two compartments by
a division going from the top down to within about one inch of the bottom, and
join the said division to the said sides in such an effectual and secure manner
that water cannot pass from the one of the said compartments into the other
but only through the space left at the bottom of the foresaid division into cach
of the said compartments; put, first, a stratum or layer of washed sand, then a
stratum or layer of grossly pounded charcoal or charcoal in small pieces, and
then another stratum or layer of sand; each of these strata may be of the depth
of about five inches, but this admits of some latitude, and the whole may occupy
about one-half of the whole height of the hollow vessel or chest; but this also
admits of some latitude. Into that compartment which is to receive the water
that is to be filtered introduce a grating or a shelf perforated with holes, resting
on a ribet or flanch within about one inch of the upper surface of the upper
stratum of sand; on this grating or shelf pieces of sponge must be so dis-
posed so as to cover it like a kind of pavement, being put so close together that
no water can pass but through the pores of the spunge; over this stratum of
spunge place another grating or perforated shelf to prevent the pieces of spunge

page_text: rom being moved or disturbed. [In place of these gratings a conical cup or
conical cups with or without perforated bottoms may be fitted to the flanch to
receive the pieces of spunge, or the pieces of spunge may be placed on a stratum
of clean gravel laid upon the upper stratum of sand, and covered with two or
three inches of clean gravel. In a word, it matters not in what way the stratum
of spunge is secured provided it be secured in its place.] This compartment or
descending branch should be furnished with an air pipe, rising from the lower
side of the lower grating or shelf before-mentioned through the upper grating to
the top of the said descending branch, to allow the contained air to escape when
the water is admitted; and the other compartment, or the ascending branch,
should have a cock or pipe inserted above the upper stratum of sand, for the
purpose of drawing off the filtered water. It is not necessary that I should
describe other forms in which my improved filtring machine may be made, as
from the foregoing descriptions any competent workman will find no difficulty
in devising or contriving other forms suited to circumstances, and to the place
in which the filtre is to stand. I beg, however, not to be understood as having
meant to state that the use of sand and charcoal for the purpose of filtring
water is my Invention, or that filtration by ascent as well as by descent is n
new Invention, but as having simply described that kind of arrangement which
I have found well suited to give efficacy to the additional aid which my im-
proved machine for filtring and purifying of water derives from the use of
compressed spunge, as before described, which compressed spunge answers the
useful purpose of keeping back a large portion of mud and other impurities,
which in the methods hitherto most commonly followed being allowed to come
without impediment to the materials employed as a filtre soon fill up the
interstices, and consequently lessen and at last destroy their property of allowing
the water to be transmitted through them. It is only necessary farther to add,
that from time to time the spunge should be taken out and cleansed by washing,
and then be put again in its place. This is done without separating any parts
of the machine, by merely taking off the loose cover of the descending branch
and putting down the hand to the place where the spunge is placed. It is also
necessary, especially where the machine is employed to purify very focted water,
that the charcoal should be taken out and replaced twice or thrice a year with
fresh charcoal, for through time the charcoal becomes saturated with the
offensive matter, and loses its purifying property. When this is necessary, the
descending branch of the construction first described must be taken off from
the body (by undoing the screws with which it is made fast) to get at the strata
of sand and charcoal. The ascending branch is wide enough to allow the sand
and charcoal to be taken out without removing it. When the second described

page_text: construction is adopted, or any similar construction, the perforated shelf or grating
with the stratum of spunge, and the strata of sand and charcoal can be got-a
by the hand with great facility as often as it may be necessary to renew the
charcoal, it is also advisable that the sand should be washed before it is again
put into the machine, or the sand itself may also be renewed where it can be
done with convenience.
construction is adopted, or any similar construction, the perforated shelf or grating
with the stratum of spunge, and the strata of sand and charcoal can be got.a
by the hand with great facility as often as it may be necessary to renew the
charcoal, it is also advisable that the sand should be washed before it is again
put into the machine, or the sand itself may also be renewed where it can be
done with convenience.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Stephenson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and ten.
done with convenience.
UI
may also be renewed where it can be!
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Stephenson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and ten.
JOSEPH (L.S.) STEPHENSON.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being first duly
stamped), in the presence of
F. BRIGGS, Clements Inn.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fifth day of April,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Joseph Stephenson came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Imrolled the same Twenty-nith (lay of April, in the year above written.