IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Jones, of Ealing, in the County of
Middlesex, Surveyor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF SEWAGE."
Scaled the 11th May 1869, and dated the 13th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Jones at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th November 1868.
I, CHARLES JONES, of Ealing, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyor,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the purification, deodourisation, and
utilisation of sewage, and consits in first precipitating the matters in
the sewage by the application thereto of a mixture of slaked lime and
shale oil, petroleum, or other hydrocarbons. I have found that one.
bushel of slaked lime to two gallons and a half of shale oil or other.
hydrocarbon will be sufficient for precipitating the solid contents of

page_text: 100,000 gallons of ordinary sewage, these proportions will however vary
according to the greater or less per-centage of solid matter in the sewage.
At the time of introducing the above mixture, or directly after, I some-
times introduce, according to the particular character of the manure
required, either a solution of chloride of zinc, sulphuric acid, burnt clay,
or magnesium, or a combination of any two or more of them.
In practically carrying out my Invention I prefer to introduce the
precipitating agents into the sewage just before it falls into the
depositing beds, where the solid matters collect at the bottom, whilst
the comparatively clear liquid passes through one or more filtering beds,
by preference constructed to filtrate by ascension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JONES, of Ealing, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Jones, Her special license
that I, the said Charles Jones, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Jones, 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 TREAT-
MENT OF SEWAGE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-.
tain 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 Charles Jones, 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
My said Invention has for its object the providing a method of
obviating in a cheap and efficient manner the nuisance and danger
attendant upon the discharge of fluid sewage into rivers, and also the
utilizing the solid residuum as a manure.
Deodourization of sowage has never hitherto been perfectly arrived
at, or has been abandoned on account of expense. The lime process
alone is merely a temporary expedient, as the water flowing off after the
partial precipitation of the solids speedily undergoes changes and evolves
footed gases.
Other materials, such as metallic salts, and more particularly per-
chloride of iron, have been strongly recommended as deodourizers and
have been considered far more successful than many others that have
been used, but their great expense has proved a serious obstacle to
their use.
Now my Invention consists in effecting precipitation and deodouri-
zation of sewage by the use of slaked lime combined or mixed with
hydrocarbons, such, for example, as petroleum, or, which I prefer, with
the acid tar or such residual product as is obtained in the treatment of
tars for and in the production of oils or other volatile liquid hydro-
carbons, such mixture or compound being introduced into the sewage
just before it falls into a. depositing tank. By this means I obtain
results as thoroughly satisfactory both as regards the precipitation of the
solids and the deodourization of the sewage water as by the more
expensive salts hitherto used. Precipitation and deodourization having
been obtained I sometimes introduce, according to the particular
character of the manure required, either a solution of chloride of zinc
or of sulphuric acid, or burnt clay, or magnesia, or a combination of any
two or more of them.
In carrying out my Invention for every one hundred thousand gallons
of ordinary sewage I take one hundred pounds of lime, and having
slaked the same, I add to it at the time of its highest temperature about

page_text: twenty per cent, of petroleum, or the refuse matter known as "acid
tar;" the compound is then properly incorporated, and a one hundred and
twenty-five gallons of water are added thereto; the mixture thus formed
is ready for use, but must be kept in a state of agitation whilst being
applied to the sewage; it should be introduced moreover into the sewage
just before it falls into the depositing tanks, where the solid matters
collect at the bottom, whilst the comparatively clear liquid passes
onwards through one or more filtering beds. I have found in practice
that a good result is obtained by introducing the said mixture into
the sewage at a distance of from sixty to one hundred feet from the
depositing tank.
The annexed Sheet of Drawings illustrates the mode of applying my
Invention, and represents in vertical and horizontal section at Figures 1
and 2 respectively a complete duplex system of depositing tanks and
filter beds with inlet and outlet sewers.
A, A, are the depositing tanks, and B, B, the filter beds, which I
construct by preference so as to filter by ascension; C is a tank or
cistern provided with any suitable mechanical stirrer or agitator D,
which may be worked by the flow of the sewage itself along the sewer E
through the intervention of a pallet wheel or otherwise, as will be readily
understood. Into this tank C I introduce the mixture of slaked lime
and petroleum or "acid tar," with the required proportion of water,
according to the quantity of sewage to be operated upon. Whilst this
mixture is kept in a state of agitation I allow it to run into the sewer
at a point in moderate proximity to the depositing tank, and I prefer
that the sewage itself should be well agitated at the point where the said
mixture is introduced, for which purpose a small rotatory stirrer in the
form of a paddle or pallett wheel F may be erected inside the sewer,
as shewn clearly in Figure 1, and turned by the action of the flow of
the sewage. The clear and deodourised-liquid, after passing-up-through-
the filtering medium flows off by the outlet sewer G. When I employ
the herein-before mentioned solutions of chloride of zinc, or of sulphuric
acid or powdered burnt clay, a magnesia, or combinations of the same,
I introduce such solutions or substances into the sewer through the
mouth of an opening H at the point of discharge into the depositing
tanks.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be

page_text: used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that 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,-
First. The peculiar mode of treating sewage for the purpose of
deodourising the same, and for precipitating the solid matters contained
therein, as herein-before described.
Second. The peculiar mode of treating sewage for the purpose of
rendering the precipitated matter more useful as a fertilizing agent, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Jones, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the 13th day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CHARLES JONES. (L.S.)