IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander Manning, of the Inner Temple,
London, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF SEWERAGE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alexander Manning
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th March 1854.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the treatment of sewerage, so as to obtain certain
valuable products contained therein suitable for manures, &c. The improve-
ments consist in the employment of the waste products arising from the
concentration of the crude solutions of sulphate of alumina in the manufacture
of alum from alum shales, &c., by which treatment certain constituents of
sewerage available for manure are rapidly precipitated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Alexander Manning, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th September 1854.
TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Alexander Manning, Her special license that I; the said
James Alexander Manning, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Alexander Manning, my executors, administrators,
or 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 THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Alexander Manning, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Alexander Manning, 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, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the treatment of the sewerage and drainage
waters of cities and other localities, in such manner as to precipitate certain
valuable constituents or solid matters therein contained, the deposit so produced
being available as a manure or fertilising agent. The precipitating agent which
I employ in this system of treating sewerage and drainage waters is the de-
posited matter obtained from the first boiling down of the alum liquor, or rough
solution of sulphate of alumina, in the manufacture of alum from alum shales
and other crude matters. This deposited matter is technically and commercially
known as "soft sludge," and it consists essentially of basic and other sulphates
of alumina and iron. The defecation of sewerage and drainage waters or other
polluted liquids may be effected under various routines of treatment, but it is
preferred to employ a mixing tank or reservoir, such, for example, as that
described in the Specification of British Letters Patent already granted to me,
and bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November, One thousand' eight
hundred and fifty-three. The sewerage matter or other polluted liquid to be
defecated is to be received into this tank or holder, and to every one hundred
thousand gallons of sewerage therein received there are added in such tank
fifty gallons of "soft sludge," or the aluminous matter herein-before referred to.
This proportion is given as one generally applicable in the working out of my

page_text: "
process. The tank only requires to be charged with this quantity of "soft
sludge every fourth time, as the fifty gallons are sufficient for four charges of
one hundred thousand gallons each. On adding the "soft sludge" the contents
of the reservoir are to be agitated, and whilst the agitation is going on, a
mixture consisting of one bushel of powdered caustic or unslacked lime and
ten pounds of refuse animal charcoal, more or less, is to be thrown into the
tank, and this is to be done every time the tank is filled, as it accelerates the
clarification of the water, the general manipulation being conducted either as
described in my earlier Specification, to which I have herein-before referred, or
otherwise. The constituents thus separated by the action of the "sludge" are
allowed to deposit, when the supernatant liquid may be run off, leaving the
deposit free for use, as may be required. The solid deposit obtained in this
manner may either be employed direct as a fertilizing agent, or it may be mixed
with other matters suitable for manures, such as lime slaked with the refuse
brine from the fish curers, refuse animal charcoal, or the refuse from the
prussiate of potash manufacture.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
The employment of the "soft sludge" from the alum works, that is to say,
of the deposit which is formed during the first boiling down of the rough
liquors obtained from alum shales in the manufacture of alum, and which
deposit consists essentially of basic and other sulphates of iron and alumina, as
a means of separating from sewerage and other polluted liquids certain valuable
fertilizing constituents contained therein.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander Manning, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING. (L.s.)