A MODE AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FLOW OR PASSAGE OF SEWAGE INTO RIVERS OR STREAMS FROM THE SEWERS, DRAINS, AND OTHER CHANNELS, AND RETAINING THE SEWAGE MATTERS FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Richard Dover, of No. 5, St. Stephen's Road,
New Road, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "A MODE AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FLOW OR
PASSAGE OF SEWAGE INTO RIVERS OR STREAMS FROM THE SEWERS, DRAINS, AND
OTHER CHANNELS, AND RETAINING THE SEWAGE MATTERS FOR AGRICULTURAL
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 23rd June 1871, and dated the 24th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Dover at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March 1871.
I, RICHARD DOVER, of No. 5, St. Stephen's Road, New Road,
Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A MODE AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING
THE FLOW OR PASSAGE OF SEWAGE INTO RIVERS OR STREAMS FROM THE SEWERS,
DRAINS, AND OTHER CHANNELS, AND RETAINING THE SEWAGE MATTERS FOR
AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-

page_text: permanently intercepted or converged into expressly contrived reservoirs
and apparatus or works, and its putrefaction or decomposition arrested
summarily and inoffensively therein by such chemical admixtures
as salubriously fix or concentrate its ammoniacal and nitrogenous
components.
1
The apparatus to be used efficiently to realise my said Invention
consists of the requisite number of especially contrived reservoirs and
filters, according to the quantity of sewage. Each reservoir will fill
in consecutive order, and within a limited time empty itself by gravi-
tation, in the like order. By this contrivance 24 reservoirs each of
500 gallons capacity, severally filling and emptying within 1 hour
will purify, and the filters in simultaneous action filter off clean and
salubrious the aqueous portion of 288,000 gallons of sewage each day
of 24 hours. The sewage matters- & admixtures being all retained in a
portable, inodorous, and innocuous condition for agricultural purposes.
The chemicals employed are the antiseptic and fertilising acids and
salts which arrest and fix the putrescent powers of sewage, viz.,
muriatic or hydrochloric or any other alike efficacious acid. The salts
are chloride of sodium, or calcium, or magnesium, or any other may be
used, and protosulphate of iron, or the sulphate of the peroxide of iron;
and when necessary to fix more effectually the putrescent qualities of
the sewage to these salts may be added portions of protochloride or
muriate of iron, or oxide of iron to any muriatic acid. The quantities
of these chemicals for each ton of liquid sewage vary as much as
100 p. cent. according to its more or less foul condition, and can
be determined only by analysis or practise, consequently the acids vary
from three to six pounds, the protochloride or muriate of iron varies
from half to one pound, and the metallic salts also vary from two to
six ounces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Richard Dover in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD *
DOVER, of No. 5, St. Stephen's Road, New Road, Hammersmith, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
3

page_text: And the manner in which the same is to be performed is by such
combined mechanical and chemical action as will realise effectually my
said Invention, and enable the diurnal sewage of such populous places.
to be both expeditiously and continuously purified.
The works and apparatus are contrived for the uninterrupted reception
and treatment of the diurnal sewage ection estimated to flow through or
be discharged by or from the sewers, drains, pipes, channels, cuts, docks,
canals, watercourses, &c. of populous places, in order to all the feculent
or-putrescent-and other-ammoniacal or nitrogenous matters therein being
effectually and permanently arrested and retained in a portable, inodorous,
and innocuous but valuable condition for agricultural purposes, its
aqueous portion rendered salubriously useful and valuable, also for such
public purposes as street watering [because it counteracts dust], flushing
stagnant sewers, and washing down urinals, and the residuum retained
without either olfactory or visual offence. This mode and means for
preventing the flow or passage of sewage into rivers or streams from the
sewers, drains, and other channels, and retaining the sewage matters
for agricultural purposes consists in converging it into an appropriately
constructed and provided tank [or tanks] of circular form with concave
floor and agitators, for the reception and detention of the sewage of
Sundays, separation of all extraneous bodies or matters, equalisation of
its condition, and disintegration of the fecal portions, to enable the
chemical agents to act upon them more readily. From the converging
tank [or tanks] the sewage flows into a pumping well, and from
it is raised, upon the most improved hydraulic principles, without any
offensive emanation into the deodorizing reservoirs.
For the deodorization of the diurnal sewage of a town discharging
fifty to sixty tons per hour on the average, the works [as per plan
annexed] consist of twenty-four deodorizing reservoirs, numbered 1 to
24, each to hold about 500 gallons of sewage [or if more convenient for
the locality a fewer number of 1,000 gallons each] and capable of
receiving, deodorizing, and filtering off uninterruptedly the aqueous
portion of the diurnal sewage of 20,000 to 25,000 persons. Each of the
24 deodorizing reservoirs is to fill and empty in an hour, i.e., 24 times
in 24 hours multiplied by 500 give 288,000 gallons, of sewage disposed
of, with great sanitary benefit, as well as public utility, each day of 24
hours. I have contrived them of cast iron, of cubical form, with angular

page_text: bottoms, on account of their being most rapid in action, largely self-
acting, least costly, most compact, easily kept clean, and the facility.
with which they can be placed at, over, or conveniently adjacent to any
sewer, drain, or other channel. The distribution of the sewage into the.
said reservoirs may be in various ways, in some localities it can be
effected most conveniently through an intervening tank with conduits.
The reservoirs will fill consecutively, and whilst the sewage is flowing
into them the chemical agents are added, and both commingle thoroughly
by the continued pouring in of the sewage. So soon as a reservoir is full
a tap or valve in a siphon conduit admits the deodorized aqueous portion
of the sewage through an interceptor into a 1st filter charged with
animal or vegetable charcoal, peat, or such other filtering media as will
separate the deodorized aqueous portion of the sewage from the matters
in a purified condition, and neutralize and arrest whatever putrescence
may be therein in solution or suspension. The filtering materials [in
the filters] are guarded and covered by perforated plates and strainers,
through which the aqueous portion [of the sewage] filters itself, on the
ascending principle, freed from the sewage matters and perfectly whole-
some. The conduit from each reservoir to each 1st filter, upon the
siphon principle, enables a greater quantity of the effluent water to
discharge itself than it could if not so contrived. The mouth of each
siphon conduit has a guard to prevent clogging. From the 1st filter
the purified water gravitates into a 2nd filter, constructed on either
ascending or descending principles, as most convenient [and similarly
guarded and covered], its filtering media, sand, gravel, marl, clay,' or
earth, with the requisite quantity of lime or lime water; the only
purpose of this 2nd filter being the further purification of the effluent
water which flows from it limpid and fit for discharge into any river
or stream. In the event of any conservancy board or other river
authority requiring the effluent water to be aerated, it can very easily
gravitate from the 2nd filter into a 3rd, or even more filters, and also
over or down an intervening cascade. The reservoirs having emptie:1
themselves consecutively of the effluent water the residuum of each
gravitates consecutively also through its exit into an under filter in a
very few minutes in a semi-fluid state void of offensive smell. The filters
are of cast iron, oblong in form, and contrived also upon mechanical
principles to guard against their action being either delayed or impeded,
as well as derangements of their filtering media. The under filters into

page_text: which the residuum descends by gravitation also may be of wood on
account of their being of necessity moveable; their filtering media,
animal or vegetable charcoal, peat, or such other materials as will fix
and retain every valuable component, but neither lime in any form, nor
other like caustic materials are to be used in them. The strainers in
all the filters are of metal or wood, with cocoa-nut matting, and in the
interceptors of metal with sponge.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed Figure 1 is "plan [superficial] of
works for receiving, deodorizing, and filtering fifty to sixty tons of
sewage per hour;" and Figure 2 is "front elevation of 1st row of
reservoirs 1 to 6, 1st and 2nd filters, conduits, interceptors, &c. and
under filters."
A are taps, which may be either handle, lever, or self-acting; B are
interceptors with vents; C and D are conduits;
strainers;
E, exits for effluent waters.
=
At the centre of each angular bottom there is an exit for the residuum
covered by a male screw. All the filters have taps or valves to free
them from stagnant water, and there are all the required drains in the
works for the effluent waters."
To arrest the putrefaction and further decomposition of the sewage I
employ the chemical agents which deodorize, disinfect, and concentrate
or fix its feculent, putrescent, and other organic components, and increase
their fertilising powers, viz., muriatic or hydrochloric or any like effi-
cacious acids with oxide of iron and protosulphate of iron, or the sulphate
of the peroxide of iron in combination with chloride of magnesium or
calcium, or potassium, or sodium, or any other of the like salts, and
whenever necessary to concentrate and fix the casually intense putrescent
qualities of the sewage the quantities of the chemical agents have to
be proportionately increased or varied.
It is necessary to be clearly understood that the condition of the
sewage does vary very much from atmospheric influences, and so very
frequently also in its composition from other causes, that the quantities
of the chemical agents for each ton of liquid sewage have to be varied
as much as a hundred per cent., according to its more or less foul con-
dition, which can be determined by practise or analysis only, conse-
quently the quantities of acids will vary from three to six or more
pounds, the oxide of iron will vary from about half to one pound, the

page_text: protosulphate of iron and metallic salts will vary from two to six or
more ounces. These chemical agents are compounded in the usual
manner and do not require more than ordinary care, prudence, or labour
in their preparation and application to develope in combination with
sewage their inherent antiseptic, prophylactic, and valuable fertilising
qualitics.
Sewage in the ordinary condition, and containing the average quan-
tities of feculent and other ordinary discharges from the habitations of
a populous place, but uncontaminated with such extraneous refuse as
those of dyeworks, paper mills, or other like noxious, valueless, and
detrimental elements can be deodorized, its matters concentrated, and
the aqueous portion filtered therefrom clean and wholesome, by the
admixture of about three pounds of muriatic, or hydrochloric, or any
other like efficacious acids, about four ounces oxide of iron, about three
ounces protosulphate of iron, and about three ounces of chloride of
magnesium, or the other chlorides diluted in about six pounds of water
for a ton of such " average sewage." Quite ninety-five parts in each
hundred of the sewage after treatment according to my Invention
gravitate away clean and wholesome water, and leave the residuum
inodorous and innocuous, but very valuable in its fertilising qualities.
This residuum dries readily without artificial heat, and if kept dry in
any airy floor, loft, or warehouse, its valuable fertilising properties
are not deteriorated by either time or atmospheric action. It is very
valuable also as the basis of a manure for cereal cultivation, and when
compounded with the organic, ammonical, and nitrogenous refuse
abounding in all populous places is doubly valuable to agriculturists on
account of its concentrated condition rendering it available at all seasons
and for every locality or soil; added to all which it is entirely free from
any of the germs of the parasitical weeds which are inherent in all
farmyard and stable manures.
The rapid and complete separation of the aqueous portion of the
deodorized sewage from the matters is an all important part of the dis-
posal of the diurnal discharges from every populous place; of necessity,
therefore, the action of the filters must be equal to the purification of
those diurnal quantities.
The filtering capability of the water companies downward system is,
in the 12th Report of the Privy Council on the public health under

page_text: thirty gallons per square yard per hour, consequently that system is
not adequate to the sewage requirements.
My contrivances for filtering off the aqueous portion of the diurnal
sewage is by ascent, with such guards [to prevent clogging] as every
intelligent practical man will understand, see the use of, and therefore
provide, together with all the necessary conduits, taps or valves, vents,
and other permanent adjuncts.
,
The Patent Act, Vict. 15-16, chap. 83, prescribes that the petitioner
shall state in his petition to Her Majesty for a Patent, that "he believes
his Invention will be of great public utility;" in testimony of that
required expression of belief I declare that even beyond the public
bencfits herein-before stated, this my said Invention will enable all the
orders and enactments under the several Acts of Parliament [Vict.
29-30, chaps. 89 and 90; Vict. 30, chap. 101; Vict. 30-31, chap. 113;
Vict: 33-34, chap. 1870], to be fully and readily carried out alike
in spirit as in the letter; will also enable the immediate and beneficial
realization of the publicly important suggestions of Lt. Col. Ewart, R.E.
to the Home Office, on the "separate system or proper principles of
drainage in the towns of Oxford, Eton, Windsor, and Abingdon;" will
annihilate the causes of the sewage gases which poison the atmosphere
in so many streets in populous places and generate cholera and the other
alike infectious epidemics; will relieve all the towns from the impending
onerous pollution penalties; supercede all rates levied for sewage pur-
poses; and enable municipal authorities to acquire very large annual
revenues from the rational utilisation of their sewage [it being well
known that "sewage contains the elements of the most valuable manure
in the world," and is worth intrinsically ten or more shillings per head
per annum of the population], instead of, as now, poisoning the water
used by so many millions of people for culinary and all other domestic
purposes; and will enable every populous place to give any desirable
declivity to all their sewage drains, however level their localities
may be.
er
Having thus disclosed the nature of my Invention, and explained the
manner or best mode and means known to me for carrying the same
into the most beneficial effect, I conclude by declaring that I claim this
"mode and means for preventing the flow or passage of sewage into
rivers or streams from the sewers, drains, and other channels, and

page_text: retaining the sewage matters for agricultural purposes," or any mere
modifications of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Dover, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
RICHARD DOVER. (L.S.)