Improved Means for the Purification of Water.
Year: 1884

page_text: 'Improved Means for the Purification of Water.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVED
MEANS FOR THE PURIFICATION OF WATER" which Invention has been communicated
to me from abroad by Albert R. Leeds Professor of Chemistry at the Stevens
Institute of Technology Hoboken New Jersey United States of America to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to purify water by a rapid and powerful method
of aëration with Oxygen to replace the Oxygen which has been lost by foul and
unwholesome water and also to utilize the power which Oxygen has of destroying
deleterious substances and thus purify and sweeten the water treated according to
this Invention.
To effect the saturation of the water with Oxygen the water while in motion
and under pressure is caused to come into contact with, compressed air also in
motion-An apparatus for this purpose arranged according to this Invention
consists of a pipe or passage through which water is lifted to a receiving reservoir
by means of pressure applied to it by pumping engines or by other equivalent
means. The said pipe or passage has an outwardly closing inlet valve which
prevents back flow of water and beyond this is a separate inlet through which air
is passed by means of pumps (or other means of supplying compressed air) the said
inlet having also an outwardly closing valve for preventing back flow or escape
of water. The said pipe or passage at its other end dips into the receiving
reservoir and preferably terminates in a bell or expanded mouth (or several such
terminations may be used). The said pipe or passage thus constitutes part of a
closed system and it has at intervals upward bends each provided with automatic
air valves in communication with the interior of the said tube or passage-These
valves are provided with a ball situated between seatings on passages forming ·

page_text: respectively an inlet to and an exit from the valve casing-All excess of air
pumped into the pipe or passage over and above that which the water can dissolve
is detained in the pipe or passage until it finds its way together with the gaseous
products of oxidation into the said automatic valves by raising the ball thereof
and making its escape but as the water enters the valve it floats the ball up until
it closes the outlet from the valve and prevents the escape of water thereat.
may use either the Oxygen contained in atmospheric air or pure Oxygen or
Oxygen in other form in which it may be available for example the allotropic forin
of Oxygen called Ozone.

page_text: I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
FOR THE PURIFICATION OF WATER" which Invention has been communicated to
me from abroad by Albert R. Leeds, Professor of Chemistry at the Stevens Instituto
of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, United States of America, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:—
In Nature water is preserved in a state of sweetness and purity by holding in
solution the normal amount of oxygen gas which it is capable of dissolving at
common temperatures and under ordinary atmospheric pressure but when by
means of storage in reservoirs wells and cisterns water is prevented from moving
and when by a [covering of Ice or by other means it is kept out of contact with
the atmosphere when it contains organic or other matters capable of undergoing
oxidation, under these circumstances water loses its proper amount of Oxygen and
rapidly becomes foul and unwholesome.
The object of this Invention is to provide means practically applicable to a
water supply system whereby the water is purified by a rapid and powerful method
of aëration with Oxygen to replace the Oxygen which has been lost by foul and
unwholesome water and also to utilize the power which Oxygen has of destroying
deleterious substances and thus purify and permanently sweeten and improve the
water treated according to this Invention.
In all the various processes which have been proposed heretofore for effecting
the purification of water for domestic use by means of artificial aëration the air
employed for this purpose has been made use of after it has been submitted to
pressure in order to enable it to pass through the water to be aërated but in these
previous processes the application of pressure has been limited to the air and the
air only for the water itself has been subjected only to the natural or ordinary
atmospheric pressure of about fifteen pounds to the square inch of surface. More-
over during the process of aëration the water has been confined within wells
cisterns or reservoirs but the object of the process to which this Invention relates
is altogether different. It is to place the water which is undergoing aëration under
great artificial pressure, and also to maintain the pressure upon the water throughout
the entire system or apparatus wherein the aëration is effected, allowing of the
escape of the gaseous products of oxidation nitrogen and other gases and of air in
excess of that which the water can dissolve while under the said pressure and in
motion whilst not allowing of the escape of water, causing the water to dissolve the
maximum amount of Oxygen possible under the conditions given. By this method
of procedure this Invention makes use, for the first time as applied to the purifica-
tion of a water supply, of the Physical Law, that when air and water are brought
together under artificial pressure the relative increment in the co-efficient of
solubility of the oxygen gas for each increment of pressure is greater than the
increment in the co-efficient of solubility of the Nitrogen and by the operation

page_text: of this physical law the remarkable result is achieved that when air and water
are brought together whilst both are subjected to great artificial pressure the
oxygen in the compressed air will at a certain stage of the operation go into
solution in the water to the entire exclusion of the nitrogen. For example under
a pressure of one hundred and twenty pounds per square inch water will dissolve
97-3 per cent of the oxygen of the air with which it is in contact and only 27 per
cent of its nitrogen. Under ordinary atmospheric pressure on the contrary it is
the nitrogen which goes into solution in excess water then dissolving sixty five per
cent of this inert gas and only thirty five per cent of the oxygen.
It will be observed that the composition of the air which is forced into solution
by the conditions prescribed by this Invention is necessarily altogether different in
character from that which is brought into solution by the methods hitherto proposed
for while by previous methods the water is aërated with air in which the propor-
tion of oxygen is smaller than that of the nitrogen it is a necessary result of the
process according to this Invention as applied to a system of water supply that
the air which is by the said process caused to enter into solution contains a propor-
tion of oxygen much greater in amount than that of the nitrogen The relativo
amount of oxygen in the dissolved air is far greater when the auration is effected
by the process according to this Invention for while the air which can be made to
enter into solution at ordinary temperatures and atmospheric pressure is only about
6-3 cubic centimetres per litre, that which can be made to enter into solution under
a pressure of one hundred and twenty pounds per square inch or eight atmospheres
(which pressure is equivalent to that of a column of water two hundred and seventy
two feet in height) is more than fifty cubic centimetres and while the 63 cubic
centimetres dissolved in the first case contains only 2-2 cubic centimetres of oxygen
and 4-1 cubic centimetres of nitrogen the air dissolved by the method according to
this Invention contains forty nine cubic centimetres of oxygen and only one cubic
centimetre of nitrogen.
I am aware that the physical law above explained and which this Invention
first enables to be applied practically to a system of water supply has been pre-
viously applied to the preparation of highly oxygenated air but in the latter
case the water is kept in a state of rest in the vessel employed to confine it.
With the process according to this Invention the water at the very outset of the
operation is itself put under great artificial pressure and this pressure is applied
to it independently of the pressure to which the air is subjected. In the process
for the preparation of highly oxygenated air the conditions are reversed the air
only being subjected to artificial pressure at the outset of the operation the only
pressure to which the water is subjected being that which reaches it (as a subsequent
and merely incidental fenture of the operation) by transmission through the air.
I am aware that processes of aürating liquids (the air employed in these cases
being carbonic acid gas) have been employed heretofore wherein there is used
artificial pressuro and a closed system of pipes and air chambers but in these
processes the water is in a state of rest in closed vessels whilst in the process
according to tho present Invention the water is in a state of motion. In these
processes of aëration with carbonic acid gas the liquids are not submitted to
pressure at the beginning nor is independent pressure applied to them at any
time during the operation of charging with gas. In other words the pressure on
these liquids in the processes referred to is a secondary result due entirely to the
pressure to which the gas (and the gas only) is subjected in the first instance. This
pressure thus transferred to the liquid as a secondary result is always equal to
the pressure applied to the gas whilst in the process according to the present
Invention however great may be the pressure to which the water is subjected it
must always be less than that applied to the air or gas.
To recapitulate-To effect the saturation of the water with oxygen according
to this Invention the water whilst in motion and under artificial pressure is caused
to come into contact with compressed air also in motion whilst the escape of surplus
air or gases is provided for without permitting the escape of water as it has been

page_text: discovered by my correspondent that the benefits arising from the oxidation of
dissolved impurities in the water by means of water under pressure are best
attained by permitting the gaseous products of oxidation to pass off whilst main-
taining at the same time a state of pressure upon the moving water throughout
the entire apparatus or system-An apparatus suitable for carrying this Invention
into effect is represented diagramatically in the accompanying drawing-It consists
of a pipe or passage D L. O. R, through which the water under treatment is con-
tinuously moved under pressure finally reaching a receiving reservoir T by means
of pressure applied to it by pumping engines or by other equivalent or suitable
means In the event of there being too little difference of level between the positions
at which the pressure is applied and the air enters the amount of pressure in the
pipe is regulated by an escape valve near S as required-The said pipe or passage
has an outwardly closing inlet valve E fitted to the valve seat F which valve
prevents the backflow of the water and beyond this is a separate inlet G through
which air is passed by means of pumps (or other means of supplying compressed
air) the said inlet having also an outwardly closing valve H fitting against a valvo
seat I for preventing back. flow or escape of water The said pipe or passage at its
other end dips into the receiving reservoir T and preferably terminates in a bell or
expanded mouth S. (or several such terminations may be used) The said pipe or
passage D. L. O. R thus constitutes part of a closed system since the water cannot
flow back at its lowest point being prevented by the valve E it must be discharged
into the reservoir T which for illustration is represented as being at a higher level
and this closed system has at intervals upward bends or "summits" each provided
with an automatic air valve (A. B and C) in communication with the interior of
the said tube or passage at J. K M. N and P. Q. Each of these valves is provided
with a ball W (preferably of India rubber) situated between seatings or passages ZY
forming respectively an inlet to and an exit from the valve casing. All excess of
air pumped into the pipe or passage D. L. O. R. over and above that which the
water can dissolve is detained in the pipe or passage until it finds its way together
with the gaseous products of oxidation Nitrogen and other gases into the chambers
enclosed by the casings of the said automatic valves by raising the balls thereof
and making its escape with the said gaseous products out-from the valve casing
but as the water enters the valve casing it floats or moves the balls up and they
close the outlets from the valve casings and prevent the escape of water thereout.
I am aware that similar automatic valves operating upon the same principle as
applied to different apparatus and purposes are well known and I do not claim
them in themselves alone and except in combination with the other parts of
the apparatus shewn and described and for the purposes of the process according to
this Invention. By repetition of mechanical appliances similar in principle to
those herein before described the process can be carried out to any desired extent.
I do not limit myself to the use of any particular. number of bends and automatic
valves upon the herein before described "closed system" and I may use for the
purposes of this Invention either the oxygen contained in atmospheric air or
pure oxygen or ozonized oxygen.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First. The process of purifying water by saturating it with oxygen by intro-
ducing into the water whilst it is in motion and under artificial pressure compressed
air oxygen or ozonized oxygen also in motion in the practical application of the
process to a system of water supply substantially as hereinbefore described."
Second. In an apparatus for the purification of water according to the berein-
before described and claimed process a supply pipe (D) having a valve (E) and a
supply pipe (G) having a valve (H) and adapted to be connected to an air pump
or forcer, combined with the chamber (A) and its valve (or several such chambers
or valves) and reservoir T and outlet pipe between the said chamber or chambers

page_text: and valve or valves and reservoir substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described.
Third. In an apparatus for the purification of water according to the herein-
before described and claimed process a series of automatic valves (as A B) attached
to the "summits" of a pipe or passage or what has been herein before termed a
"closed system" in combination with a water supply pipe (D) and an air supply
pipe (G) substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
Dated this tenth day of Ananet 1885