IMPROVE- MENTS IN FILTERING AND PURIFYING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Squier Cheavin and George Cheavin (his son),
both of Boston, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FILTERING AND PURIFYING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
Sealed the 22nd August 1862, and dated the 26th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Squier Cheavin and
George Cheavin, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 26th April 1862.
We, SQUIER CHEAVIN and GEORGE CHEAVIN (his son), both of Boston, in
the County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERING AND PURIFYING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in filtering and purifying
water, and in apparatus employed therein. On the 5th December 1853, a
Patent, No. 2820, was granted to one of us for "A Double-action or Belt
Filter," and the construction of this filter was fully described in the Specification
of the said Patent. The filter, as there described, has a bowl or vase at the
top; this in practice we find difficult to construct; according to our present
Invention we do not employ this bowl, but in place thereof we carry up the
body of the filter (which may be cylindrical or of other form) higher
than before, and the upper part thereof we employ in place of the bowl, this
portion being divided off by a partition, through which passes the small

page_text: perforated cylinder, employed as before to contain sponge or similar material.
Around this small cylinder we pack the filtering or purifying material, with
which the water first comes in contact, and below this there is, as before,
another bed of filtering material, contained between two perforated plates;
and for facility of renewing this material, as well as to facilitate the original
construction of the filter, we make the central portion of the exterior vessel
where this filtering bed comes, separate from the upper and lower parts of the
same vessel; the parts fit together with flanges, and are secured by screws or
bolts; this arrangement allows of ready access to the filtering material. In
order to cleanse the filter from time to time, when it is not necessary
to change the filtering materials, we introduce a plunger or piston into the
inner perforated cylinder, and work it up and down as a pump; to facilitate
this, we arrange the exterior vessel, so that a lever like a pump handle may
be connected with it by a pin or axis, and to this lever the rod of the piston
or plunger is also jointed; this method of cleaning is more especially
applicable to filters of large size; there is a passage made for the escape of
the water employed in cleaning at a point over the filtering beds, as well as
below, as is described in the former Specification. In filters or purifiers of
large size, several of the inner perforated cylinders may be employed. For
the purpose of filtering and purifying water in this and other apparatus, we
employ coal either prepared by washing it with acid, or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Squier Cheavin and George Cheavin in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SQUIER
CHEAVIN and GEORGE CHEAVIN (his son), both of Boston, in the County of
Lincoln, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Squier Cheavin and George Cheavin, Her special licence,
that we, the said Squier Cheavin and George Cheavin, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Squier Cheavin
and George Cheavin, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully night
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-"
MENTS IN FILTERING AND PURIFYING WATER, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Squier Cheavin and
George Cheavin, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us or them, 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 George Cheavin, on behalf of myself and
the said Squier Cheavin, 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 filtering and purifying water,
and in apparatus employed therein. On the 5th December 1853, a Patent,
No. 2820, was granted to one of us for "A Double-action or Belt Filter,"
and the construction of this filter was fully described in the Specification of
the said Patent. The filter as there described has a bowl or vase at the top;
this in practice we find difficult to construct; according to our present
Invention, we do not employ this bowl, but in place thereof we carry up the
body of the filter (which may be cylindrical, or of other form), higher than
before, and the upper part thereof we employ in place of the bowl, this portion
being divided off by a partition, through which passes the small perforated
cylinder employed as before, to contain sponge or similar material. Around
this small cylinder we pack the filtering or purifying material, with which the
water first comes in contact, and below this there is, as before, another bed of
filtering material, contained between two perforated plates; and for facility of
renewing this material, as well as to facilitate the original construction of the
filter, we make the central portion of the exterior vessel where this filtering
bed comes separate from the upper and lower parts of the same vessel; the
parts fit together with flanges, and are secured by screws or bolts; this
arrangement allows of ready access to the filtering material. In order to
cleanse the filter from time to time, when it is not necessary to change the
iltering materials, we introduce a plunger or piston into the inner perforated
ylinder, and work it up and down as a pump; to facilitate this, we arrange
he exterior vessel so that a lever like a pump handle may be connected with
t by a pin or axis, and to this lever the rod of the piston or plunger is also

page_text: jointed; this method of cleaning is more especially applicable to filters
of large size; there is a passage made for the escape of the water employed
in cleaning at a point over the filtering beds, as well as below, as is described
in the said former Specification. In filters or purifiers of large size, several
of the inner perforated cylinders may be employed. For the purpose
of filtering and purifying water in this and other apparatus, we employ coal
either prepared by washing it with acid, or otherwise.
The annexed Drawing shews apparatus for filtering and purifying water
constructed according to our Invention. a is the upper part or section of the
apparatus, which serves the purpose of the bowl, mentioned in the Specifica-
tion of the former Patent herein-before mentioned; the part or section a is
made separate from the central portion b, but is secured thereto by means of
the flanges with which the parts are formed, and screws and nuts passing
through the flanges or other fastenings may be employed; c is a partition
separating the parts or sections a and b; and d is a small perforated cylinder
passing through the partition c; e is a perforated plate to which the cylinder d
is fixed; this plate is secured to the sides of the central portion or body b; f
is the bottom section or part of the apparatus; it also is made separate from
the central portion, but it is connected thereto in the same manner as the top
a, and g is a perforated plate between the parts 6 and f; at-h there is an air
pipe, to allow the air to enter and escape freely from the bottom portion of
the apparatus. The water to be filtered is poured into the top portion a of
the apparatus, and enters the cylinder d, which is filled with sponge; having
percolated through this sponge, and the larger impurities having thus been
stopped, the water escapes through the perforations in the cylinder d into the
filtering beds, which are enclosed between the perforated plates c and g. The
filtering and purifying beds are preferred to be animal charcoal and coal,
prepared in the manner herein-after described; these materials are sorted into
grains of different sizes, and are arranged in layers, coarser layers being
placed at the top and finer below. The water passes through the purifying
beds, and descends gradually into the bottom section of the apparatus, from
whence it is drawn off for use by the cock i. When it is required to clean
the apparatus, the lever handle and piston k are applied, the sponges
removed from the cylinder d, and by working the piston up and down, water
is forced through the purifying beds; l, l, are screw plugs which are removed
whilst cleaning, and when it is desired to run the apparatus dry. In
apparatus of large size, we employ more than one of the cylinders d.
In preparing coal to be used in apparatus such as above described, and
otherwise for purifying water, it is preferred to take the description of

page_text: coal known as pit coal or hard coal, and by crushing and sifting it is obtained
in grains, without either dust or large pieces; these grains are thoroughly
washed in water, rendered acid by means of sulphuric acid; the acid water is
allowed to stand in contact with the coal for about half an hour, the whole
being stirred up from time to time; afterwards, the acid water is run off, and
the coal washed with water. Although it is preferred to employ acid to wash
the coal, this is not essential; water only may be employed, and it should be
remarked, that the purifying water by causing it to percolate through
granulated and washed pit coal, is an important feature of our Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Cheavin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
G. CHEAVIN. (LS.)