Improvements in Apparatus for use in Washing Sand and other Granular Matters.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 24th May, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 24th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 28th Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for use in Washing Sand and other
Granular Matters.
I, ALEXANDER THOMSON WALKER, of the Reading Corporation Water
Works, Bath Road, Reading, in the County of Berks, Manager of the said
Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The apparatus heretofore ordinarily used for washing sand and other granular
matters for filtering and other purposes consists of a cylindrical or rectangular
vessel having a perforated bottom to which vessel water is admitted through the
perforations in the bottom. In using this apparatus the sand or other matter to
be washed is placed in the said vessel and water is caused to pass through the
perforated bottom and to rise through the sand or other matter and to pass off
from the upper part of the vessel the sand or other matter therein being mean-
while stirred by means of implements worked by hand in order to cause the
matters which are required to be separated from the said sand or other matter
to pass from the vessel with the water.
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in such
apparatus the objects of my said improvements being principally to dispense with
the stirring of the sand or other matter by manual labour while it is being acted
on in the said apparatus and to effect the cleansing of the said sand or matter
with a less quantity of water than is ordinarily required.
According to my said invention I make the vessel in which the sand is to be
treated of conical or pyramidical form and I mount the said vessel with the apex
downward on trunnions on suitable supports and I connect the apex of the said
vessel with a supply of water under pressure by means of a pipe or tube furnished
with a valve or stop cock.
:-
The
The method of using and the action of my improved apparatus are as follows:
The sand or other matter to be washed is placed in the conical or pyramidical
vessel and water is admitted thereto by opening the valve or stop cock.
stream of water thus admitted rises in the said vessel and continuously displaces
and drives upward a column of the sand or other matter in the middle or axial
portion of the said vessel and thus causes the continuous descent of the sand or
A thorough
other matter at and near the peripheral part of the said vessel.
agitation or circulation of the sand or other matter under treatment in addition
to the thorough cleansing thereof is thus effected by the action of the water
alone. The impurities present in the sand or other matter are carried off by
the water which passes from the vessel by a lip or shoot at the upper part thereof.
When the sand or other matter with which the vessel is charged has been cleansed
the water is shut off and the cleansed sand or other matter is discharged by
turning the vessel on its trunnions the said vessel being provided with a handle
or handles for facilitating the said operation. In order to admit of the sand or
other matter being discharged from the vessel without disconnecting it from the
water supply I prefer that the pipe or tube by which the water is conducted to
the said vessel shall consist in part or entirely of india rubber or other suitable
flexible material.
Dated the 24th day of May 1890.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for use in Washing Sand and other
.Granular,.Matters.
I, ALEXANDER THOMSON WALKER, of the Reading Corporation Water
Works, Bath Road, Reading, in the County of Berks, Manager of the said
Works, 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:-
per-
The apparatus heretofore ordinarily used for washing sand and other granular
matters for filtering and other purposes consists of a cylindrical or rectangular
vessel having a perforated bottom to which vessel water is admitted through the
perforations in the bottom. In using this apparatus the sand or other matter to be
washed is placed in the said vessel and water is caused to pass through the
forated bottom and to rise through the sand or other matter and to pass off from
the upper part of the vessel the sand or other matter therein being meanwhile
stirred by means of implements worked by hand in order to cause the matters
which are required to be separated from the said sand or other matter to pass from
the vessel with the water.
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in such
apparatus the objects of my said improvements being principally to dispense with
the stirring of the sand or other matter by manual labour while it is being acted on
in the said apparatus and to effect the cleansing of the said sand or matter with a
less quantity of water than is ordinarily required.
According to my said invention I make the vessel or receptacle in which the
sand is to be treated of conical or pyramidical form and I mount the said vessel
with the apex downward on trunnions on suitable supports and I connect the apex
of the said vessel with a supply of water under pressure by means of a pipe or tube
furnished with a valve or stop cock. I provide the said vessel with a lip or shoot
at its upper part by which overflow water passes from the apparatus and I also
provide the said vessel with a handle or handles for the purpose of facilitating
the discharge of the sand or other matter from the said vessel when necessary.
I will further describe my invention with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Figures 1 and 2 of the said drawings are elevations taken at right angles to each
other of apparatus constructed according to my invention for use in washing sand
and other granular matters the form of the vessel shown being conical.
Figure 3 is a plan of the vessel alone and
Figure 4 is a central vertical section of the said apparatus connected to a water
supply.
a is the vessel into which the matter to be washed is placed bb are the supports
on which the said vessel is mounted and c c are the trunnions secured to the said
vessel which trunnions rest in depressions formed in bands of metal d d affixed to
the upper ends of the supports bb (see Figure 4). e is the water supply provided
with a stop cock ƒ and g is the tube by which the water from the supply pipe e is
connected to a nozzle secured in the apex of the vessel a. is the lip or shoot
by which overflow water passes from the said vessel a and i is the handle which is
provided to facilitate the turning of the vessel a on its trunnions when the matter
contained therein required to be discharged.
The method of using and the action of my improved apparatus are as follows:-
The vessel a is charged to nearly the level of the lip with the sand or other
matter to be washed and water is admitted to the said vessel by opening the stop
cock. The stream of water thus admitted rises in the vessel a and continuously
displaces the sand or other matter in the lower part of the said vessel and drives it
upward in a column in the middle or axial portion of the said vessel and thus
causes the continuous descent of the sand or other matter at and near the outer

page_text: or peripheral part of the said vessel. A thorough agitation and circulation of the
sand or other matter under treatment in addition to the thorough cleansing thereof
is thus effected by the action of the water alone. The impurities present in the
sand or other matter are carried off by the water which passes from the vessel a by
the lip or shoot h. When the water thus passing from the said vessel is free from
impurities the cleansing of the sand or other matter with which the vessel a is
charged is completed. The water is then shut off by turning the stop cock /' and
the cleansed sand or other matter is discharged by turning the vessel a on its
trunnions c c by means of the handle i. In order to admit of the sand or other
matter being discharged from the vessel without disconnecting it from the water
supply I prefer that the tube g shall consist in part or entirely of india rubber or
other suitable flexible material.
In cases where it is necessary or desirable to arrange the vessel a so that the
apex thereof is at a higher level than the water supply e or the cock by which the
supply of water to the said vessel is controlled I arrange a ball valve in the lower
part of the said vessel a by which valve the mouth of the nozzle a¹ is closed when
communication between the water supply e and the vessel a is cut off by turning
the cock f. The object of the said valve is to prevent access of sand to the said
cock f. This arrangement is represented in Figure 5 of the accompanying
drawings in which figure the ball valve is marked j.
The size of the vessel a most advantageous in any given case is governed by the
pressure of water available for supply to the said vessel and by the sectional area
of the supply pipes or passages by which the water is conveyed to the said vessel.
I have found that a vessel capable of containing five hundred weight of sand may
be used with advantage where a water pressure of twenty pounds to the square
inch is available and the minimum sectional area of the said passages is that of a
circular pipe one inch in diameter.
I prefer to make the vessel a of conical or pyramidical form as vessels of such
forms are simple in construction and I have found them answer well in practice.
The said vessels may however be of any other form which will meet the following
requirements namely:-The water inlet is required to be situated in or near the
middle of the lowermost part of the said vessel in order that water entering the said
vessel under pressure may rise in a column in the middle thereof. And the lower-
most part of the vessel is required to be of such sectional area relatively to the
water inlet that the water entering the said part will displace the whole of the
sand or other matter within the vessel at the said part and drive it upward in
the middle of the said vessel. And the upper part of the said vessel is required
to be of so much greater sectional area than the lowermost part as to permit the
sand or other matter driven up in the middle of the vessel by the entering water to
pass at or near the upper part of the said vessel out of the upwardly moving
column of water towards the sides of the vessel. And the vessel is also required to
be of such form at the intermediate part or parts that the whole of the sand so
passing outward from the middle of the vessel at the upper part will return to the
lowermost part to be again driven upward by the entering water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe
that I am aware that for the purpose of washing sand apparatus has been used
consisting of receptacles with parallel or nearly parallel sides and furnished at the
lower part with perforated screens and connected below the said screens with a
supply of water under pressure which rises with equal or nearly equal force through
all the perforations in the screens and I make no claim to such apparatus but I
declare that I claim as my said invention:-
First Apparatus for use in washing sand and other granular matter con-
structed and acting substantially as hereinbefore described that is to say apparatus
consisting essentially of a receptacle for containing the sand or other matter to be
washed and provided at the lower part with a water inlet so arranged that water

page_text: under pressure passing through the said inlet into the said receptacle will rise in or
about the middle thereof in the form of a column the said receptacle being of so
much greater sectional area at the upper part than at the lower part and being at
the part where the water inlet is situated of such form and of such sectional area
relatively to the said inlet that inflow of water at the said part causes the sand or
other granular matter in the said receptacle to pass in a continuous stream upward
in the middle thereof and downward at the sides thereof.
Secondly-The apparatus for use in washing sand and other granular matter
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 23rd day of February 1891.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.