IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND UTILISING SEWAGE AND OTHER REFUSE OR WASTE MATTERS, ALSO IN APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR, AND ALSO IN MAKING PREPARATIONS OF LIME THEREFOR, AND APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Gray, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING AND UTILISING SEWAGE AND OTHER REFUSE OR WASTE MATTERS,
ALSO IN APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR, AND ALSO IN MAKING
PREPARATIONS OF LIME THEREFOR, AND APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 20th November 1877, and dated the 22nd September 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Gray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd September 1877.
JAMES GRAY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing
Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND UTILISING SEWAGE AND OTHER
REFUSE OR WASTE MATTERS, ALSO IN APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR,
AND ALSO IN MAKING PREPARATIONS OF LIME THEREFOR, AND APPLICABLE TO
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
This Invention has generally for its objects the purification of towns and other
inhabited places, the prevention of injury to health by exhalations and other
derivatives from sewage or other refuse or waste matters, and the effecting of such
desirable results in an economical and profitable manner, by saving, collecting, and
fixing the valuable regenerative ingredients in a condition in which they can be
advantageously applied to their proper purpose of fertilising the soil.
In carrying out the Invention a new or improved preparation. of lime is made
and employed, and is better adapted for numerous useful applications than lime,
slaked in the ordinary way, or other alkaline substances. This preparation of lime
is formed by pouring boiling, or nearly boiling water upon fresh burned lime,
instead of slaking the lime in the ordinary way with cold water. A second
preparation of lime is formed by treating the lime with hot water in which
alum is dissolved, or by adding a solution of alum to the lime slaked with hot
water.
Either preparation of lime or a mixture of both is to be compounded with animal

page_text: or vegetable charcoal or coke, or other carbonaceous matters, also if convenient with
various waste or inexpensive matters of a nature not liable to ferment or putrefy,
to form what it is intended to call the "restorer and regenerator," which compound
when mixed with the solid constituents of sewage will form a dry and inodorous
material, rich in fertilising properties. Amongst the various materials that may
usefully enter into the composition of the "restorer and regenerator" are refuse
matters from soap works, dye works, print works, oil refining works, mineral oil
works, gas works, acetic acid works, sugar works, engine ashes, waste coal dust,
charcoal riddlings, and similar materials.
The various earths, such as baryta, strontia, magnesia, and alumina, also silica,
may be utilised in forming the compound where obtainable at a low cost; and
sulphuric, phosphoric, boracic, and other mineral acids, also any inexpensive organic
acids may be used with advantage when the sewage or other matters to be treated,
deodorised, or disinfected, are in an alkaline condition. The acids may be added in
their free state, or combined with any of the earths or alkalies.
The sweepings of streets and roads may also be used, but should be dried before
being compounded with the other ingredients.
A compound consisting of equal parts of the lime preparation and of charcoal or
other carbonaceous matter will be found to answer well in many cases, but the
different ingredients and their respective proportions may be considerably varied in
different cases, and particularly so to adapt the fertilising product or artificial
guano for particular soils or crops.
Each
The apparatus and arrangements for dealing with sewage comprise a system of
piping to be connected to the lower end of a sewer in a convenient locality outside
of a town, such piping having a number of branches for distributing the sewage
into a number of specially constructed trucks. The trucks run on a number of
lines of railway, arranged parallel to each other, or in any convenient way, so that
different sets of the trucks can run under the distributing branch pipes, and then be
moved to another part of the works where the contents may be operated on.
truck is formed with an outer tank shell or casing of sheet iron or other suitable
material and with an inner shell, which inner shell is perforated with fine holes.
The branch pipes from the sewer deliver the sewage into the inner shells of the
trucks, and the liquid passes through the perforations to the space between the
inner and outer shells, whilst the solid constituents of the sewage are retained in
the inner shell.
Discharge cocks or sluices are fitted to the outer shell, and by them the liquid is
periodically or continuously run off into gutters or ducts provided for the purpose.
When the liquid rich enough in fertilising or chemical ingredients to make it
worth while to recover these, it may be run into stills or other apparatus for
that purpose; otherwise it may be allowed to run into a river or the sea.
The trucks containing the solid materials deposited from the sewage are moved
away from the distributing pipes, and the "restorer and regenerator" is mixed into
the materials by means of hand tools until a dry or nearly dry compound is formed,
which compound may then be tipped into storing pits; or it may at once
be transferred to carts or wagons to be conveyed to the farms where it is to be
employed
The "restorer and regenerator" may
sewage or excreta of a single house as
other inhabited place.
with equal advantage be applied to the
well as to the entire sewage of a town or

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th March
1878.
JAMES GRAY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing
Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND UTILISING SEWAGE AND OTHER
REFUSE OR WASTE MATTERS, ALSO IN APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR,
AND ALSO IN MAKING PREPARATIONS OF LIME THEREFOR, AND APPLICABLE TO
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
My said Invention has generally for its objects the purification of towns and
other inhabited places, the prevention of injury to health by exhalations and other
derivatives from sewage or other refuse or waste matters, and the effecting of such
desirable results in an economical and profitable manner by saving, collecting, and
fixing the valuable regenerative ingredients in a condition in which they can be
advantageously applied to their proper purpose of fertilising the soil.
In carrying out my Invention a new or improved preparation of lime is made
and employed, and is better adapted for numerous useful applications than lime
slaked in the ordinary way or other alkaline substances. This preparation of lime
is formed by pouring boiling or nearly boiling water upon fresh burned lime,
instead of slaking the lime in the ordinary way with cold water.
A second
preparation of lime is formed by treating the lime with hot water in which
alum is dissolved, or by adding a solution of alum to the lime slaked with hot
water.
Either preparation of lime or a mixture of both is to be compounded with animal
or vegetable charcoal or coke, or other carbonaceous matters, also if convenient with
various waste or inexpensive matters of a nature not liable to ferment or putrefy,
to form what it is intended to call the "restorer and regenerator," which compound
when mixed with the solid constituents of sewage will form a dry and inodorous
inaterial, rich in fertilising properties. Amongst the various materials that may
usefully enter into the composition of the "restorer and regenerator" are refuse
matters from soap works, dye works, print works, oil refining works, mineral oil
works, gas works, acetic acid works, sugar works, engine ashes, waste coal dust,
charcoal riddlings, and similar materials.
The various earths, such as baryta, strontia, magnesia, and alumina, also silica,
may be utilised in forming the compound where obtainable at a low cost; and
sulphuric, phosphoric, boracic, and other mineral acids, also any inexpensive organic
acids may be used with advantage when the sewage or other matters to be treated,
deodorised, or disinfected, are in an alkaline condition. The acids may be added in
their free state or combined with any of the earths or alkalies.
The sweepings of streets and roads may also be used, but should be dried before
being compounded with the other ingredients.
A compound consisting of equal parts of the lime preparation and of charcoal or
other carbonaceous matter will be found to answer well in many cases, but the
different ingredients and their respective proportions may be considerably varied in
different cases, and particularly so as to adapt the fertilising product, or artificial
guano for particular soils or crops.
My apparatus and arrangements for dealing with sewage comprise a system of
piping to be connected to the lower end of a sewer in a convenient locality outside
of a town, such piping having a number of branches for distributing the sewage
into a number of specially constructed trucks. The trucks run on a number of
lines of railway arranged parallel to each other, or in any convenient way, so that
different sets of the trucks can be run under the distributing branch pipes, and then
be moved to another part of the works where the contents may be operated on.
Each truck is formed with an outer tank shell or casing of sheet iron or other
suitable material, and with an inner shell, which inner shell is perforated with fine
holes. The branch pipes from the sewer deliver the sewage into the inner shells of

page_text: the trucks, and the liquid passes through the perforations to the space between the
inner and outer shells, whilst the solid constituents of the sewage are retained in
the inner shell.
Discharge cocks or sluices are fitted to the outer shell, and by them the
liquid is periodically or continuously run off into gutters or ducts provided
for the purpose. When the liquid is rich enough in fertilising or chemical ingre-
dients to make it worth while to recover these, it may be run into stills or other
apparatus for that purpose; otherwise it may be allowed to run into a river or
the sea.
The trucks containing the solid materials deposited from the sewage are moved
away from the distributing pipes, and the "restorer and regenerator" is mixed into
the materials by means of hand tools, until a dry or nearly dry compound is formed,
which compound may then be tipped into storing pits, or it may at once
be transferred to carts or wagons to be conveyed to the farms where it is to be
employed.
The "restorer and regenerator" may with equal advantage be applied to the
sewage or excreta of a single house as well as to the entire sewage of a town or
other inhabited place.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that what I believe to be novel and original, and
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
1. The preparation of lime made by slaking fresh burned lime with hot water,
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
2. The preparation of lime made by slaking fresh burned lime with hot water
having alum dissolved in it, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
described.
3. The various modes, herein-before described, of making the "restorer and
regenerator."
4. The improved general arrangement or combination of apparatus for dealing
with sewage; that is to say, the branch distributing pipes, the railway lines, the
special filtering or separating trucks, and the lateral gutters or ducts for leading
away liquid, all substantially as herein-before described.
5. The special filtering or separating trucks, each consisting of an outer and an
inner shell, the latter being perforated, substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
6. The conversion of the more solid portions of sewage separated from the liquid
by the double-shelled trucks, or by equivalent apparatus, into manures or fertilising
agents, by mixing the same with any suitable modification of what is herein-
before termed the "restorer and regenerator," substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Gray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sorranty night
JAMES GRAY. (L.S.)