IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTER PRESSES
Year: 1884

page_text: We JOHN HENDERSON PORTER and JOHN PORTER both of Tudor Street
Blackfriars in the City of London Engineers do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTER PRESSES" to be as follows:-
As the slimey or viscous character of some fluids renders them very difficult of
filtration through the cloths or other filtering medium employed in pressure filters
particularly when under treatment with lime as in the Porter-Clark process or
with other chemical reagents employed for their purification or clarification. The
object of this Invention is to provide pressure filters which will by continuous
friction separate more or less completely from the fluid it is desired to clarify the
matters suspended therein. With this object according to this Invention a series
of projections or of continuous ribs are formed upon the surfaces of the filter press
plates, not as commonly arranged so as to form grooves for the support of a cloth
or of a perforated plate sustaining the cloth but so arranged that the projections or
the ribs of one plate shall be opposed to and some times extend within the spaces
formed by the projections or the ribs of the adjoining plates there being such
intervals and such freedom of passage between the projections or ribs of the one
plate and those of the adjoining plate as the character of the fluid under treatment
or the degree of pressure to which it is to be subjected may require.
The most convenient form and arrangement of the projections or the ribs in
relation to the inlets and outlets of the several compartments of the filter press
may be varied according to circumstances. For some purposes it will be best to
arrange them concentrically whilst for others they may be arranged in horizontal
or in vertical lines for the more convenient removal of the matter arrested and as
it may in some cases be desirable to prolong the course of the fluid by causing it
to pass from one to another throughout a series of compartments of the filter press
it may be useful for this purpose to vary the arrangement or the spacing of the
projections or ribs in these compartments.
The desired friction may also be obtained by disposing the ribs in the form of a
grating and alternately more on the one side than on the other so that the fluid in
passing from the inlet to the outlet would be compelled to take a zig-zag course.

page_text: It may be convenient to make these gratings (or even the projections or ribs
herein before referred to) separate or removable from the frames or plates of the
filter press and then a material may be used for the gratings projections or ribs
different from that used for the plates.
To render the clarification or purification of the fluid more perfect it may be
useful in certain cases to place some finer obstruction as sand or other suitable
animal vegetable or mineral material within the spaces or some of them formed by
the gratings projections or ribs.

page_text: We JOHN HENDERSON PORTER and JOHN PORTER both of Tudor Street
Blackfriars in the City of London Engineers do hereby declare the nature of said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTER PRESSES" and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:―
As the slimy or viscous character of some fluids renders them very difficult of
filtration through the cloths or other filtering medium employed in pressure filters
particularly when under treatment with Lime as in the Porter-Clark process or
with other chemical re-agents employed for their purification or clarification, the
object of this Invention is to provide pressure filters which will by continuous
friction separate more or less completely from the fluid it is desired to clarify the
matters suspended therein. With this object according to this Invention a series
of projections or of continuous ribs are formed upon the surfaces of the filter press
plates not as commonly arranged so as to form grooves for the support of a cloth
or of a perforated plate sustaining the cloth but so arranged that the projections or
the ribs of one plate shall be opposed to (and if desired also extend within) the
spaces formed by the projections or the ribs of the adjoining plates there being such
intervals and such freedom of passage between the projections or ribs of the one
plate and those of the adjoining plate as the character of the fluid under treatment
or the degree of pressure to which it is to be subjected may require. The form and
arrangement of the projections or the ribs in relation to the inlets and outlets of
the several compartiments of the filter press may be varied according to circum-
stances. For some purposes it will be best to arrange them concentrically whilst
for others they may be arranged in horizontal diagonal or in vertical lines for the
more convenient removal of the matter arrested and as it may in some cases be
desirable to prolong the course of the fluid by causing it to pass from one to
another throughout a series of compartments of the filter press it may be useful
for this purpose to vary the arrangement or the spacing of the projections or ribs
in these compartments.
The desired friction may also be obtained by disposing the ribs in the form of a
grating and alternately more on the one side than on the other so that the fluid in
passing from the inlet to the outlet would be compelled to take a zig zag course.
It may be convenient to make these gratings (or even the projections or ribs herein-
before referred to) separate or removeable from the frames or plates of the filter
press, and then a material may be used for the gratings projections or ribs different
from that used for the plates.
Figure 1 represents in elevation a portion of a rectangular filter press plate
constructed according to our Invention and Figure 2 is a sectional view of two of
the plates arranged side by side shewing the relative positions of the projections
or ribs on one plate to those on the plate or plates next to it. Figures 3 and 4 are
views similar to Figures 1 and 2 but illustrating a modification in the form of the
plates.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 A is the web or body of the plate surrounded by a
rim B, a space or opening being left between the rim and the web A at one end of

page_text: the plate as shewn at a to admit of the fluid being clarified passing from one side
of the plate to the opposite side thereof. On both sides of the web A are ribs or
projections C which may be of an angular form in section as shewn or of any other
suitable form. The ribs on each plate are arranged so as to project opposite or into
the spaces between the ribs on the adjacent plate or plates when a number of the
plates are combined to form a filter press. The openings or passages a are so
arranged that the opening in one plate is at the opposite side or end to that or
those in the adjacent plate or plates by this means the liquid or fluid under
treatment is caused to travel in a zig zag or circuitous direction over and between
the plates and ribs or projections and thus is subjected to frictional contact with
an extensive surface whereby the solid impurities in the fluid are arrested and
deposited.
The gratings or even the projections or ribs may be made separable or removeable
from the frames or plates of the filter press so that gratings or projections or ribs
of different materials may be used according to the character of the liquid to be
treated.
The plates may be arranged in the press in any convenient position such for
example as with the projections or ribs C in a vertical direction, the fluid to be
clarified being made to travel in a zig-zag direction from side to side of the press
or the plates may be arranged with the ribs or projections horizontally disposed
the fluid being caused to flow in a vertical zig-zag direction.
Figures 3 and 4 represent respectively in elevation and section a modification in
which the ribs and recesses are of an angular form the ribs or projections of one
plate being arranged opposite the recesses in the adjacent plate or plates An
opening or passage a may be left between one end of each of the webs and the rim
or frame B the opening in cach adjacent plate being arranged at opposite sides or
ends of the filter press so as to cause the fluid to pass through the press in a zig-
zag course in the manner hereinbefore described with reference to figures 1 and 2.
To render the clarification or purification of the fluid more perfect, it may be
useful in certain cases, to place some finer obstruction, such for example as sand,
animal or vegetable charcoal or other suitable animal vegetable or mineral material
within the spaces or some of them formed by the gratings projections or ribs or
between the plates but we do not claim the use of such materials as a feature of
our Invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
First. Filter presses wherein in place of using ordinary cloths or strainers the solid
matters in suspension in the fluid under treatment, are arrested by means of
frictional contact such as is obtained by means of the plates with ribs or projections
or the equivalents thereof arranged substantially as herein before described.
Second. Filter presses provided with plates constructed and arranged as herein-
before described and illustrated in the several Figures of the accompanying
drawings for the purpose described.
Dated this 21th dor of January 1885