IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS FROM SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Oxley, of Frome, in the County of Somerset,
Brewers' Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
SEPARATING LIQUIDS FROM SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 28th April 1863, and dated the 18th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Oxley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
18th November 1862.
I, JAMES OXLEY, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Brewers' Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS FROM SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
..
The substances to be operated on are placed in an air-tight vessel
made of iron, copper, or other material. I connect an air pump to
this vessel and force. atmospheric air into the top part thereof, the air
being thus compressed above the semi-fluid substances gradually drives
the latter through a pipe leading from the lower part of the vessel to.
a wooden or metal box or chamber placed near. In this box or chamber
are a number of cloths, folded like bags, having wire sheets or perforated
plates or both between them so that each pair of cloths is separated
from others by the wire sheets or perforated plates. The effect of this
arrangement is that the semi-fluids flow under the pressure of the com-*
pressed air into the centre of the cloths or bags, and by means of this pressure
the liquid is expelled through the texture of the cloth so that it runs away by
the wire sheets or perforated plates and out through the bottom of the box,
leaving behind the solid residuum in the cloths.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Oxley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, JAMES
OXLEY, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Brewers' Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Oxley, Her special licence that I, the said James
Oxley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Oxley, my executors, 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 APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS.FROM
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Oxley, 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Oxley, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
The substances to be operated on are placed in an air-tight vessel
made of iron, copper, or other material. I connect an air pump to this
vessel and force atmospheric air into the top part thereof, the air being
thus compressed above the semi-fluid substances gradually drives the
latter through a pipe leading from lower part of the vessel to a wooden
or metal box or chamber placed near. In this box or chamber are a
number of cloths folded like bags, having wire sheets or perforated
plates, or both between them, so that each pair of cloths is separated
from others by the wire sheets or perforated plates. The effect of this

page_text: arrangement is, that the semi-fluids flow under the pressure of the
compressed air into the centre of the cloths or bags, and by means of
this pressure the liquid is expelled through the texture of the cloth
so that it runs away by the wire sheets or perforated plates and out
through the bottom of the box, leaving behind the solid residuum in the
cloths.
:
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The form of the vessel which I prefer to employ is cylindrical and of
strength sufficient to resist the greatest pressure which may be required to be
used therein; on this vessel à safety valve is fixed capable of being weighted
or pressed on to the extent desired in order that any excess of pressure over
what is required to be exerted in any case may not be exceeded when at
work. This vessel is also formed with a manhole to facilitate the cleansing
of the interior. In communication with this vessel is an air pump by which
a constant pressure of air is kept up. The pipe from the air pump is by
preference connected with the upper part of the vessel. The pressure of the
air forces the semi-fluid out of the vessel through a pipe leading from the
bottom of the vessel to the filter cloths and the apparatus used therewith.
The semi-fluid matters to be treated may be supplied to the vessel by a force
pump or be run from a cistern or otherwise into this vessel by a suitable pipe,
in which case an air cock or valve may be used for the purpose of allowing
the air to escape from the vessel when it is being filled with the semi-fluids.
It is preferred that each filter cloth should be of such dimensions as to be
folded into the shape of a bag, though each bag may consist of two cloths laid
together. The bags so formed should be left unsewed or unseamed at the
edges with a view that the cloths may admit of being readily unfolded and
opened out in order that the contents may be at once removed after the cloths
have been used. The end of the pipe leading from the bottom of the vessel has
as many nozzles or outlets as there are bags, and the end of each nozzle is
inserted into the end of a bag between the two surfaces of cloth of which each
bag is composed. Between each pair of neighboring bags a sheet of open
wove wirework, or of other material, or a perforated plate is placed so as to
separate the bags one from the other, or a perforated plate and wirework may
be both used, and thus allow of the fluid which passes through the cloths of
which the bags are composed flowing away through the interstices of the
open wove wirework, and thence into the lower parts of the chambers in
which the bags are contained, whence the fluid is allowed to run into any
receptacle that may be placed for the purpose. It is preferred that the

page_text: plates of wirework or the perforated plates used between the bags should
have a frame or thickened margin formed around them, or that the edges of
the cloths should be slightly folded inwards. This arrangement serves to
keep the cloths or bags when set up in their places and to divide out the
space intended for and allotted to each. The bags when shut within the
box or chamber are to be securely fastened therein in order that they may
be capable of resisting the internal pressure caused by forcing the semi-
fluids into them. In order to save time in the working of these machines, I
place a strong division in the box or chamber between the bags so as to divide
the chamber into two compartments to enable the workmen to remove the bags
from one part whilst the pressure from the cylinder keeps the bags or other
part in operation. It is preferred that the bags should be placed vertically,
as by such arrangement the fluid can more freely descend between the
neighboring bags. By these means the more solid residuum will be left
in the bags, the fluid escaping through the cloths of which the bags are
composed. The thickness of the cakes of the solid or residuum matters
will vary according to the nature of the substances to be operated on.
Having thus described the nature. of my Invention I would state that
I am aware that cloths have been before folded into the form of bags and
they have had open woven wirework. or other material or. perforated plates
placed between them, and that semi-fluids introduced into such cloths have-
been subjected to pressure so as to separate the fluid from the more
solid parts of the matters so treated, and I am also aware that vessels have
been before arranged to receive fluids and to have the same driven out
therefrom by the pressure of air, I do not therefore claim either of these
arrangements separately, but what I claim is the method above described
of separating liquids from solids by supplying and forcing the semi-fluids into
the filtering apparatus by the pressure of air acting within the vessel from
which the same are forced into such apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Oxley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JAMES OXLEY. (L.S.)