IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE EXCRETA OF Towns
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph James Coleman, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Fellow of the Chemical Society,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE
EXCRETA OF Towns."
Sealed the 16th November 1875, and dated the 28th May 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph James Coleman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th May 1875.
I, JOSEPH JAMES COLEMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Fellow of the Chemical Society, do hereby déclare the
nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
THE EXCRETA OF Towns," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The excreta of towns which are removed by water carriage in the
form of sewage I treat as follows:-I filter the sewage through a bed of
mineral oil works' spent shale, which not only retains the solid matter,
but also deodorizes the liquid portion which percolates through the

page_text: shale and prevents the same from subsequently generating injurious gases
when mixed with running streams.
In dealing with such portion of the excreta of towns as are not
removed by water carriage I cause them to be mixed with disintegrated
mineral oil works' spent shale at the residences of the inhabitants by the
dry closet system, 'and also if necessary with a further quantity of
crushed mineral oil works' spent shale (either alone or combined with
calcic salts) the combined product forming a valuable manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph James Coleman in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 26th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Josepu
JAMES COLEMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Fellow of the Chemical Society, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph James Coleman, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph James Coleman, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph James
Coleman, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 THE TREATMENT OF THE EXCRETA OF TOWNS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph James Coleman,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describo 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph James Coleman, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
My improvements in dealing with the excreta of towns consists in
treating the said excreta with the spent shale of mineral oil works in
the manner hercin-after described.
The spent shale which I employ for the purpose of dealing with the
said excreta is the residuum remaining in either the vertical or hori-
zontal retorts of mineral oil works after carbonaceous oil shales, either
en masse, or crushed have been distilled therein, cither with or without
steam, such residuum being at present a waste material and stocked in
"waste heaps."
I do not find that it is necessary to the success of my Invention that
tar or any substance other than shale should have been distilled in the
retorts from which the spent shale is a product. Such spent shale
consists chicfly of silica and alumina associated with from 5 to 10 per
cent. of finely divided carbon, and having traces of other substances
therein such as phosphoric acid, magnesia, and lime, and I use it for
treating the excreta of towns in the following manner, or in manner
substantially the same.
I treat the fluid or semi-fluid excreta of towns removed by water
carriage and commonly called sewage in the following manner :—I
filter the sewage through a bed or layer of the aforesaid spent shale of
mineral oil works, by which means the fluid or semi-fluid sewage is
purified or deodorized sufficiently to be fit to run into streams of
water.
I now proceed to describe methods by which [the sewage of towns
may be purified by filtration through the spent shale of mineral oil
works as follows:-At a point some distance from the sewage works I
introduce into the main sewer the aforesaid spent shale in a ground or
finely divided state, a sufficient fall being allowed to cause an intimate
mixture of the shale with the sewage by the motion of the mass. By
this means the sewage is fairly deodorized upon its arrival at the out-
fall. I then allow the sewage to subside in tanks for some time, or not

page_text: less than one hour, during which time the sewage mud (which would
otherwise clog the filters) combined with the spent shale powder falls to
the bottom of the tanks.
The supernatant liquid partially purified I allow to overflow on to
filters of coarse spent shale, that is to say, in lumps, or not finely
divided, by which means the purification is completed.
I remove the mud periodically from the bottoms of the tanks, the
process or treatment herein-before described having produced it in an
innocuous condition, and I then dry the mud for manure, or otherwise
dispose of it.
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended is shown an arrange-
ment of apparatus for carrying out this part of my Invention.
In the Drawings Figure 1 is a plan; Figure 2, a section on the
linc a, a, Figure 1; and Figure 3, a section on the line b, b,
Figure 1.
At the point A, or at any other suitable position, is placed a pan mill
or other mechanism for grinding the aforesaid spent shale to powder.
The sewer, marked B, is the outfall, and from it there branch out a
number of smaller sewers or channels C leading to the tanks D. Disin-
tegrated or pulverized spent shale is introduced into the sewer B, and
mixing with the liquid or semi-liquid sewage therein is carried to the
discharge valves, placed at any desired intervals but not shown on the
Drawings, in those parts of the pipes or channels C which are situated
over or above the settling tanks D.
When the tanks D have been filled with sewage in the manner
described, the liquid is allowed to overflow the sides of the tanks
opposite to that at which it entered and percolate through the beds of
coarse spent shale constituting the banks F at the side of each tank,
the liquor is thus further purified, and running into the gutters G
becomes, if desired, still further purified by percolating or filtering
through the further beds of spent shale, marked H, preferably by
running along the gutters formed in the upper part of each side
thereof, and percolating through the larger or wider portion of the
ridges below out of the spaces, between which it runs off to any desired
exit, as purified water.

page_text: When a sufficient deposit of sewage has been in the tank this is
shovelled out into trucks which are drawn up on the line of rails at the
side thereof, as shown at x in the plan, Figure 1, and section, Figure 2,
turntables I being provided for travelling the trucks as required.
Another method of carrying out my process with fluid or semi-fluid
spent shale is to select a sandy tract on the banks of a stream or river,
or within convenient distance of such, and to mix the aforesaid spent
shale with the sewage, as herein-before described, and then to allow
the mixed sewage and spent shale to gradually spread itself over the
sandy tract, by which the purifying material can be evenly diffused over
a great extent of surface, and from time to time ploughed or dug in,
or otherwise treated, so as to form a soil capable of cultivation or other-
wise.
Although preferring to employ the spent shale introduced in the state
of powder into the sewage itself before its outfall, this process may be
modified by merely preparing large tracts of sand or sandy soil for
the purification of sewage by top dressing them with the spent shale in
suitable mechanical condition so as to avoid the waterlogging of any
portion of the surface.
Upward or downward filtration may be resorted to in place of the
process herein-before described in dealing with the sewage. Precautions
being taken to use the spent shale coarse, and to replace it periodically
when saturated with sewage mud.
In dealing with the sewage of towns on the dry system I treat the
semi-solid excreta deposited in dry closets, public, and other privies,
slaughter houses, and cesspools, by mixing such semi-solid excreta with
the spent shale of mineral oil works, previously ground to powder or
coarse grains in a grinding mill or get into the state of coarse powder
by other mechanical means preferably in the proportion of equal parts
of the ground spent shale and semi-solid excreta, but a less proportion
of the latter may be used, and if, when used for dry closets of private
houses, such ground spent shale be found dusty I combine with it a
small quantity of a deliquescent salt, such as chloride of calcium, such
addition, however, not being absolutely necessary.
1
During the admixture of the excreta with the ground mineral oil
works' spent shale the mass gradually becomes deodorized and
inoffensive, and I then remove the mixed mass without nuisance to the

page_text: JOSEPH JAMES COLEMAN. (L.S.)