IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FILTER PRESSES, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO THE FILTRATION OF BREWERS' WASTE' AND YEAST
Year: 1881

page_text: "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Gordon Salamon at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th November 1881.
ALFRED GORDON SALAMON, of Clapham Park, in the County of Surrey,
Associate of the Royal School of Mines, and Fellow of the Chemical Society.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FILTER PRESSES, ESPECIALLY
APPLICABLE TO THE FILTRATION OF BREWERS' WASTE' AND YEAST."
This Invention relates to a novel construction of filter press suitable for the
filtration of such residual products as "brewers' waste" and yeast.
The filter presses at present in use are unsuited to the filtration of liquids
containing much body, inasmuch as when a pressure sufficiently high to solidify
the matters contained in the liquid is employed, exudation of the liquid takes
place between the several pairs of plates, and the filter cloths are liable to become
clogged with solid matters and pressed into the grooves of the plates.
This result is chiefly owing to the fact that the said plates are grooved vertically,
and that the flow of liquid takes place in a downward direction only towards a
single outlet formed in the bottom of the plate.
In constructing a filter press according to my Invention, I provide a rapid outlet
for the filtered fluid in all directions, thus utilizing the entire surface of the grooved
plates or perforated backing for the filter cloth.
My improved filter press consists of two main parts, the upper part, which may
be cylindrical, conical, hemispherical, or dome shaped, being made with double
concentric walls, the inner one of which is perforated to serve as a backing plate
for the filter cloth. The top of the dome is pierced to receive the inlet tube from
the pump and the connection between the interior of the press, and the said tube
is inade perfectly tight. The lower part of the press, which is made detachable
to allow of easy access to the interior of the upper part, consists of a perforated or
grooved plate or disc surrounded by a solid rim which is fitted over the mouth of
the dome shaped upper part, and is secured thereto by screws, hinges, or pivot pins
in any convenient manner. The lower part of the press consists of two concentric
shells of metal curving downwards and inwards to form an outlet nozzle for the
filtered liquid. These concentric shells are formed in one with the solid rim of the
Price 9d1

page_text: grooved or perforated plate, and the space between them is brought into communi-
cation by drilled holes with the space between the inner and outer walls of the
upper dome shaped part.
The filter cloths will be of a shape corresponding to the backing plates against
which they are to be placed, that for the upper part being dome or beh-shaped,
and that for the lower part being flat and circular. The lower part of the press
will be clamped to the upper part by means of screws, bolts, cam levers, or equivalent
means for ensuring a perfectly tight joint. The liquid to be filtered will then be
pumped under pressure into the interior of the upper part of the press, and will be
forced through the cloths in all directions, the filtered liquid passing through the
perforations in the press and flowing rapidly away between the double walls
thereof.
In adapting this principle to yeast presses of the ordinary construction, I divide
the surface of the filter plates into several sections (preferably four equal ones) by
main channels radiating from the central inlet, and I groove each section of the
plate with V shaped or other grooves running from the main channels towards the
rim or border of the plate. The said. rim I cast or make hollow and connect the
channel thus formed with each one of the grooves by holes drilled from their outer
ends into the said channel.
The liquid when forced through the cloths will thus have a ready outlet all
round the plate instead of at the bottom edge only, as is at present the case.
A modification of this form of construction, but embodying the same principle of
affording an unobstructed exit for the filtered fluid directly it has passed through
the cloth, consists in casting or making the centre of the filter plate_hollow,
-and-forming-in-its-faces-grooved channels radiating from the central inlet, such
channels being connected by perforations with the hollow centre of the plate, a
passage being drilled through the lower part of the rim to carry off the filtered
Auid. The cloths would be applied in the usual manner, a neck of cloth serving if
necessary to connect the two faces thereof.
In some cases it may be found desirable to groove each of the faces of the filter
plates with a single spiral groove connected by numerous holes as above explained,
with the hollow centre of the plate.
"
In treating liquids containing much substance under a high pressure, it is found
that particles of matter are liable to be forced through the filtering cloth and carried
off in the filtered liquid. In order to strain off these impurities I provide an
adjunct to my improved filter press in the form of a clarifyer," which I propose
to attach to the outlet pipe or pipes thereof. This consists of a pendent metal or
wooden case having an inlet for the fluid at the top and an outlet at the bottom.
The said case is divided horizontally by two narrow slits for the alternate
reception of two or more rings or diaphragms over which a cloth or its equivalent
is strained, and through which the fluid is caused to pass as it is run off. These
straining diaphragms are so hinged or pivotted that as the one becomes charged
with matter it may be slipped aside and be replaced by a clean one. This
clarifyer" it is obvious may be used as an adjunct to filter presses of the
ordinary construction.
"