A NEW METHOD FOR THE FILTRATION OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH WOULD BE OF GREAT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UTILITY
Year: 1791

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PEACOCK, of Finsbury Square, in the Parish of Saint Luke, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-third day of December, in the thirty-second of His reign,
did grant unto me, the said James Peacock, His special licenco that I, the said
James Peacock, during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the Kingdom
of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD FOR THE FILTRATION
OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH WOULD BE OF GREAT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
UTILITY;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said James Peacock, to cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majestie's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Peacock, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention for
filtration of water and other fluids applicable to heads of water of various
magnitudes or extents, for public service reserviors or cisterns for private use,
and for other purposes of filtration, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, is described as follows, that is to say :-

page_text: My method for the filtration of water and other fluids is by impelling the
ascent of the fluid through the filtering medium instead of the common
method by descent. It is applicable to all heads or bodies of water of various
magnitudes or extents, and also to all reserviors and cisterns of water or other
fluids by which it is adapted for public service and also for private use. The
medium of filtration may consist of particles of sand, sandy gravel, broken or pul-
verized glass, or other substances where the pieces or particles of the substance
are of various sizes and magnitudes. The sand, gravel, or other substance must
be prepared by repeatedly and carefully washing it until it shall be perfectly freed
and cleared from all foul, extraneous, or foreign matter, which will be known
when pure water will pass through it as clear as when poured on, and after-
wards it is to be spread out, in order to be dried. The particles of the sand,
gravel, or other substance thus dried, must be classed and sorted according to
their sizes, by passing the same repeatedly through screens or sieves of various
dimensions made in the usual form, or by means of one square moveable seive
composed of four pieces of wood or other proper materials of equal sizes, con-
nected together by moveable joints at their ends, with parrallel bars of wood,
iron, or other proper materials to move on pivots at each end, so that the
interestices thereof may at first be of any given dimensions, but to be capable
of being contracted by degrees to the smallest size possible. By either of
the above methods the larger particles of the sand, gravel, or other substance
may be successively separated, and must be set apart from the smaller, and
after passing through the screens or sieves above described, will form as many
distinct parcels of different sizes as the process is repeated, and which should
be repeated until the remaining particles are reduced to as small a size as
possible; and if the remaining particles are not sufficiently fine, they must be
rendered so by trituration or pulverization. A vessel, made of wood, lead, or
other proper materials, must then be prepared, of any shape or dimension
required, but sufficiently large to contain such parcels of the sand, gravel, or
other substance before mentioned as shall be selected to form the different
strata of the filtering medium, made water-tight at the sides, having an hori-
zontal division pervorated, or in the form of a grate, fixed near the bottom,
leaving a space of six inches, more or less, therefrom, and which division or
grate may also be of lead or other proper materials. In this vessell the several
classes of the sand, gravel, or other other substance before mentioned, must
be regularly and evenly laid in strata, the particles whereof are to be nearly in
a subduple ratio to each other, begining with the particles of the largest size
proper to be used, and proceeding in regular order nearly in the ratio above
mentioned to the smallest size; until all the strata are regularly placed, and

page_text: which may be carried to any heighth required, or afterwards clear unsorted
sand or gravel may be added to give the height required to the filtering
medium. During this process pure water may be repeatedly poured through
the strata to condense the particles. The filtering vessell thus prepared may
be applied to any head of water or fluid, or to any reservior or cistern, exter-
nally or internally. If applied externally, it must be placed so as to have a
communication, by a pipe, tube, or otherwise, with the reservior or cistern or
other body of water or fluid, through which pipe or tube the water or fluid
must flow freely into the space between the grate or division and the bottom
of the filtering vessell. If applied internally, it must be placed on a division
of the reservior or cistern, made by a convenient partition for that purpose,
contiguous to the body of water or fluid, leaving a like space between the
grate or perforated division of the filtering vessell and the bottom of the reser-
vior or cistern. The partition being taken away, or perforated in that part
between the bottoms of the filtering vessell and the reservior or cistern, will
afford a like communication with the water or fluid contained therein. By
either of these means the pressure of the incumbent water or fluid in the con-
tiguous vessell or division will force it to ascend through the filtering medium
to its level in the contiguous vessel; or if the body of water or fluid in the
contiguous vessel or division be higher than the upper surface of the filtering
medium, which it should in all cases be, then the water or fluid, after passing
through the medium, will rise above it in a filtered state, and will flow over,
and may be received into another division or vessel to be made or placed for
that purpose, and kept for use. The quantity of water or fluid which may be
thus filtered will equal the quantity of water which is contained in that part
of the contiguous vessel placed above the upper surface of the filtering medium
or nearly; for which reason it will be necessary to form the contiguous vessel
in such manner as to contain a sufficient quantity of water or fluid for the
purpose of filtration, or to provide for a constant supply. The receiving vessel
may be either a separate vessel having communication with the filtering vessel
at the top, or may be placed in a reservior or cistern so as to form a third
division, having the filtering vessel between the body of water and the receiving
vessel. In cases of external application the communicating pipe or tube may
be of any length so as to extend from one apartment or place to another, and
the filtered water or fluid may also, by means of similar pipes, be conveyed
into other vessels at a distance in like manner. The sizes and shapes of
vessels will be various to suit the several different purposes, and may be made
of different materials as best adapted to the uses required. The mediums of
filtration will also be of such materials as will be most appropriate to the

page_text: nature of the fluid to be filtered. The filters will be cleansed by drawing out
the head or body of water or fluid, by which the water or fluid will descend
in the filter, and carry with it all foul and extraneous substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Peacock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1792, the aforesaid James Peacock came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing, therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.