IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fox, of No. 3, Navarino Grove, West Hackney,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERS."
Sealed the 10th September 1867, and dated the 12th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fox at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th March
1867.
I, JOHN Fox, of No. 8, Navarino Grove, West Hackney, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FILTERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct an apparatus which not only
effectually filters water or other fluids but prevents the entry of a considerable
portion of those foreign matters usually held in suspension in water, and
thereby obviates that rapid fouling of the filtering medium which takes place
in other filters. I construct my filtering apparatus in such manner that it
shall float on the surface of the fluid to be filtered, and when desirable it may
form a lid or cover to the vessel containing the liquid. The upper portion of
the apparatus consists of an air-tight case made of any suitable material,
such as wood or metal, or it may be a solid block of material of sufficient
floating capacity. To the under side of this case I attach another box or
case containing the filtering medium, by preference animal charcoal; this
case is perforated on the under side with minute holes to admit the liquid to

page_text: be filtered to pass through. The filtered liquid passes upwards through the
top case, and over the side of the vessel containing the fluid; and that portion
of the tube or tubes which connects the filter with the tube on the outside of
the vessel is made of elastic material to allow the filter itself to rise and fall
with the fluid in the vessel. To put the apparatus in action it is necessary
to extract the air from the tube when the filtered fluid flows over the side of
the vessel after the manner of an ordinary syphon, the
being controlled by a stop-cock fitted to the end of
clearest portion only of the fluid to be filtered passes into
it enters some distance below the surface the scum and lighter particles
which float on the surface are avoided, while the heavier impurities fall by
gravitation to the bottom.
rate at which it flows
the tube; thus the
the apparatus, for as
My improved filters are constructed so as to float in cisterns, reservoirs, or
water butts, and may be used to filter water from a running stream, and
they are also placed in stoneware or other suitable cases, when they resemble
exteriorly, and may be used in the same manner, as ordinary domestic
filters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filel
by the said John Fox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN Fox,
of Number 3, Navarino Grove, West Hackney, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Fox, Her special licence that I, the said John Fox, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Fox, my exe-
cutors, 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 FILTERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Fox, 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 Inven-

page_text: tion, 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 nex
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Fox, 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:
The object of this Invention is to construct an apparatus which not only
effectually filters water or other fluids but prevents the entry of a considerable
portion of those foreign matters usually held in suspension in water, and
thereby obviates that rapid fouling of the filtering medium which takes place
in other filters.
I will now proceed to describe the manner of carrying my Invention into
effect, referring to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure is a sectional elevation of a domestic filter constructed according
to my Invention, the case or vessel which may be made of any suitable
material, as earthenware or metal, is divided into two compartments, the
upper compartment A which contains the filtering apparatus and the fluid
to be filtered, and the lower compartment B into which the fluid flows and
is stored after filtration. In this Figure the different parts of the apparatus
are shown in the positions they relatively occupy when the top compartment
is full and the apparatus just set in action; Figure 2 is a vertical section of
the same parts when the upper compartment has been emptied and the action
of the apparatus stopped by means herein-after described; Figures 3 and 4
are plan views of the same. C and Ct, Figures 1 and 2, is an air-tight double
case or float made of metal or other suitable material; C is the lower part
which contains the filtering medium, having a moveable bottom D which is
perforated with small holes to admit of the fluid to be filtered passing through
it, whence the fluid finds its way into the lower compartment B through the
conical tube E (which passes air-tight through the upper case C), the elastic
tube F, and the stop-cock G; H is a lever made in the form of a long narrow
link, its long end is attached to the float or air-tight case C by means of a
short chain, or its equivalent, as shewn; its short end is forked. One part of
the fork passes through a slot in the side of the filter case, the other extends
downwards about an equal distance, is attached loosely like a joint to the
inside of the filter body, and forms the fulcrum upon which the lever works.
The tube F passes upwards from the filtering apparatus C, through the long
end of the lever H, and down again outside the filter through its short end, as
hown at I, to the stop-cock G. The effect of this arrangement is that when the

page_text: upper compartment A is full and the various parts are in the positions shewn
in Figure 1 the tube F is open, as shown at I, Figure 1, and the apparatus
being set in action the fluid flows through the filtering apparatus and through
the tube into the compartment B, but as the top compartment becomes
gradually empty the lever being pulled downwards by the descent of the
filtering apparatus to which it is attached by the chains gradually closes the
tube F by compressing it against the side of the filter case, as shown at I,
Figure 2, thus stopping the action of the apparatus before it reaches any
sediment which may rest at the bottom of the compartment, and obviating the
rapid fouling of the filtering medium; some of the matters held in suspension
in the fluid gravitate downwards and do not enter the filtering apparatus.
The manner in which the apparatus acts is as follows:-The compartment
A being filled with water or other fluid the filtering apparatus C at once
floats on the surface, and lifting with it the lever I allows the tube F to open
as shown at I, Figure 1; the stop-cock G is then opened, and the air sucked
from the tube F, when the filtered fluid flows through the tube into the lower
compartment B, whence it is drawn as required through the tap K; these
filters may be adapted to a variety of purposes by simple variations in form
and size, for example, the apparatus may be made rectangular in plan and
adapted to form at once a cover to and filter for the ordinary house cistern, or
they may be made on an enlarged scale and divided into a number of com-
partments, each compartment having a separate filtering apparatus, so that
the filtering medium of one compartment might be changed whilst the others
remained in action; they might thus be employed with great advantage for
filtering the water supply of manufactories or towns.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and how the same
is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to
the precise details set forth, and that while by preference I use animal
charcoal as the filtering medium I may use any other suitable material, and
that what I claim as new is the combination of parts berein-before shown
and described for the purposes herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.