Improvements in or relating to the Bacterial Purification of Sewage.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Bacterial Purification of Sewage.
1, WILLIAM DUNDAS SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, of 14, Victoria Street, Westminster,
S.W., Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
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This invention has relation to certain improvements in or relating to the bac-
terial purification of sewage & has for its special object the provision of a simple
& novel method of supplying highly oxidising conditions to what are now
generally spoken of as bacterial beds or filters. With this object in view I arrange
dimensions of the filters preferably with a length much greater than their
width (though the invention is applicable to every shape of bed) and I allow the
discharge of the filtrate from the bottom of the bed to take place preferably in a
lateral direction, that is to say, in a bed 100 yards long and 5 yards wide the
liquid discharge would take place at the bottom, on one or both sides along the
line of greatest length in preference to the ends. Preferably along the entire side
of a bed I construct a passage from one end to the other and this may serve to take
the discharge from one bed or from two beds constructed along both sides of the
said passage and communicating with the same by openings along the bottom of
the beds preferably on one side of one or of one side of each only.
This continuous chamber is made of any dimensions suitable for its use as an
air conduit to the beds or filters and a novel feature of my present invention is
that I utilise these chambers or air-ducts so as either to exhaust the air from them
and so insure the passage of a continual air current down through the beds & out
of the air-ducts, or through the air-ducts or passages by air being forced into them
and so up through the beds. The arrangement of an air-duct as described for the
purpose of maintaining a partial vacum and a continuous air current through the
beds downwards has the advantage of removing accumulation of carbonic acid
and other gases unfavourable to the work of oxidising and nitrifying organisms
as these gases are formed and this is I believe a novel and useful invention
especially for work upon a large scale. But if this arrangement is novel there is
good reason to believe that the alternating arrangement of the air current is also
novel and as this may prove useful in cases of frost when air could be heated and
passed through the beds from the bottom upwards instead of being extracted from
them as already described I include this provision for alternation of current in
my present invention.
1
1 1
a
1000

page_text: improvements in or relating to the bacterial rurincation ci sewage.
I, WILLIAM DUNDAS SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, of 14, Victoria Street, Westminster,
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention has relation to certain improvements in or relating to the bac-
terial purification of sewage and has for its special object the provision of a simple
and novel method of supplying highly oxidising conditions to what are now
generally spoken of as bacterial beds or filters. With this object in view I arrange
the dimensions of the filters preferably with a length much greater than their
width (though the invention is applicable to every shape of bed) and I allow the
discharge of the filtrate from the bottom of the bed to take place preferably in a
lateral direction, that is to say, in a bed say 100 yards long and 5 yards wide the
liquid discharge would take place at the bottom, on one or both sides along the
line of greatest length in preference to the ends of the filters. Preferably along
the entire side of a bed I construct a passage from one end to the other and this
may serve to take the liquid discharge from one bed or it may be from two beds
constructed along both sides of the said conduit or passage and communicating with
the same by openings along the bottom of the beds preferably on one side of one
or of one side of each only, proper traps or syphons being provided to avoid the
passage of air where the liquid escapes from the conduit.
This continuous chamber made of any dimensions suitable for its use as an
air conduit to the beds or filters and a novel feature of my present invention is
that I utilise these chambers or air ducts so as to exhaust the air from them by
means of fans or other suitable mechanism, and so insure the passage of a con-
tinual air current down through the beds and out of the air ducts. The arrange-
ment of an air-duct as described for the purpose of maintaining a partial vacuum
and a continuous air current through the beds downwards has the advantage of
removing accumulation of carbonic acid and other gases unfavourable to the work
of oxidising and nitrifying organisms as these gases are formed, and this is, I
believe, a novel and useful invention especially for work upon a large scale.
The accompanying drawings represent a bacterial filter bed constructed in
accordance with my invention, Figure 1 being a transverse section and Figure 2
a part plan.
a is the filter bed proper of any ordinary or convenient construction and filled
to a suitable height with broken Hint or other suitable filtering material b. Along
one side of the filter bed runs a closed passage or conduit d, into which the liquid
which percolates through the filtering material bis drained by a series of trans-
verse perforated inverted half channel pipes e or the like laid across the bottom of
the filter bed in rows at suitable distances, say 3 feet, apart and discharging into
the lateral conduit d. At a convenient point an aperture e is provided in the
crown of the conduit d and a fan f and adapted to draw air down through the filter
bed is mounted in said aperture. Any desired number of such fans may be fitted
in the conduit d as described according to the size of the filter bed or other
requirements.
From the conduit d the filtered liquid passes off by a pipe or pipes (not shown)
which as before described, should be provided with traps or syphons to prevent the
passage of air where the liquid escapes from the conduit. is a manhole to allow
of inspection and cleansing of the conduit d.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
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1. The construction of filter beds with air conduits substantially as and for the
purpose described.
->
2. Drawing air downwards through bacterial filter beds so as to extract carbonic
acid gas and other gases as they are formed by the organisms and removing such
gases by fans or other suitable mechanism substantially as described and illus-
trated.
י
1000
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Chartered Patent Agents.
Dateu ше
Tull day of y
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Chartered Patent Agents.