Means or Apparatus Employed therein.
Year: 1887

page_text: Means or Apparatus Employed therein.
JOHN EBENEZER WARREN, Agent, of Cumberland Mills, Maine in the United
States of America do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in the filtration of water or other fluids and
in means or apparatus employed therein, and has for its object to provide a filter
wherein the impure foreign or sedimentary matter may be removed from the filter
during the process of filtration, without stopping or in the least retarding the said
process, thus enabling the filter to be used continuously.
My invention therefore consists essentially in the art or method of filtration which
consists in passing the liquid substance through a filtering bed in one direction, and
simultaneously taking, from, at or near the surface of the filtering bed but in a
direction opposite to the travel of the main body of liquid to be filtered, the slimy or
sedimentary matter constantly accumulating at the surface of the said bed, and
discharging the said slimny or sedimentary matter separate from the filtered liquid.
Also in a filtering apparatus, a tank or vessel, a hollow shaft or plunger, one or
more pipes connected therewith and located in said tank, combined with a branch pipe
connected to the said pipe and provided with a foot portion having perforations to
admit of the passage of slime or sediment or other matter into the said branch pipe,
all substantially as will be described.
Other features of my invention will be pointed out in the claim at the end of this
specification.
Figure shews in elevation and section a filtering apparatus constructed in
accordance with this invention, the cistern or tank being broken out to show the
interior construction of the apparatus, and,
Figure 2 is a sectional detail to be referred to, the section being taken on line --,
Figure 1.

page_text: The cistern or tank A may be of any convenient or desired capacity it being herein
shown as closed by the cover A¹, and having its bottom A supported upon legs or
standards A², the said cistern or tank being provided with the inlet pipe B and
outlet pipe B¹.
The cistern or tank has a false bottom composed, as herein shown of slats C
separated from one another, the said slats supporting, as shown, a perforated metal
plate Cupon which rests the bed C2 of filtering material, which may be any of the
well known substances employed for filtering purposes, such for instance, as gravel,
sand, charcoal, bone, &c.
The cistern A supports the standard or upright B² forming bearings for the shaft a
having mounted thereon the fast and loose pulleys a', a², respectively, and the said
shaft is provided at its end with the pinion a³, meshing with the gear a secured to
the shaft a³.
The shaft a in the present instance is hollow, and at its lower end within the
cistern A, the said hollow shaft is provided with a fitting a having radial arms a³,
herein shown at right angles to each other.
Each arm a', has fitted to it a pipe b, and each pipe b has, as shown, a series of
independent branch pipes 6', which are shown by dotted line Figure 1, as extended
through a beam 62, located below and substantially in line with the pipe b.
Each depending branch pipe, as herein shown, has cooperating with it a
strengthening rib or bar 65, fastened as shown by bolts 40 to the beam 62, the said rib
or bar having an enlarged hollow foot portion 63, constituting a chamber into which
the lower end of the branch pipe b' is fitted.
The sides of the enlarged foot portion or chamber are provided with perforations b
for a purpose to be described, the said foot portion and pipe & connected therewith being
best shown in Figure 2.
The hollow shaft a las secured to it by a spline connection a sleeve e provided al
opposite sides with racks, which are engaged by pinions c¹, c², on shafts c³, c^,
respectively, supported in brackets c, c, the said shafts also having the gears c', c³, in
mesh with each other.
The shaft chas mounted on it a worm gear d in engagement with a worm e¹ on a
spindle e having bearings in brackets c, c, secured respectively to the uprights B3, B³,
the said shafts also having the hand-wheel e².
The hollow shaft as is provided at its upper extremity with a stuffing box or gland
into which is fitted the end of a stationary pipe f' supported in an arm
the said stationary pipe above the said arm being connected to a pipe
a valve f", the said pipe f3 being shown as supported by a bracket f
discharge into a larger pipe f
of the bracket c
provided with
and adapted to
In the operation of my improved filter, the water or other fluid to be purified is
discharged into the cistern A through the inlet pipe B, the said fluid percolating
through the filtering bed, and flowing from the said cistern through the outlet B¹.
In the process of filtration, the surface or upper layer of the filtering bed receives
and retains all or the greater part of foreign or impure matter contained in the fluid
to be filtered.
This foreign or impure matter exists principally in the form of a slimy sediment
resting upon or loosely held by the surface of the filtering bed..
In accordance with my invention the slimy sedimentary matter referred to, may be
removed without necessitating the stopping of the filtering process by means of a suction
engine or pump E, connected, as shown in dotted lines, by pipe to the mouth of the
pipe, by which fluid is drawn up through the pipes and 62, and hollow shaft as,
and thence through the pipes 3, and pump E, it being discharged from the said
pump into the pond from which it is taken, or to any other desirable receptacle, or it
may be permitted to run to waste, the fluid and slimy matter passing from the
cistern into the pipes & through the perforations in the walls of the foot or chamber 63.
Instead of employing the pump E, the internal pressure of the water upon the
filtering bed in the covered tank A may be depended upon the force the fluid
containing the sedimentary matter up the hollow shaft a, from which it is

page_text: discharged into the pipe *, connected, it may be, with any suitable reservoir or
receptacle.
It will be noticed that the process of removing the slimy matter is supposed to take
place with the agitator at rest, but it is evident the said process may, and in practice
will mainly, take place while the said agitator is being revolved, and at the same time
made to travel in a vertical path within a limited range.
When it is desired to rotate the hollow shaft as, a belt, not shown, is slipped from
the loose a to the fast pulley a', thereby rotating the shaft a and pinion a³, the latter
rotating the gear a' and hollow shaft a³.
The agitating device may be raised and lowered from above or near the surface to
near the bottom by turning the hand wheel e², causing the sleeve c to be moved
up or down through the gearing described.
While the slimy matter is being removed, as shown in the drawing, the process of
filtering is going on, as indicated by the arrows 20.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. That improvement in the art of filtration, which consists in passing the liquid
substance through a filtering bed in one direction, and simultaneously taking, from
at or near the surface of the filtering bed but in a direction opposite the travel of the
main body of liquid to be filtered, the slimy or sedimentary matter constantly
accumulating at the surface of the said bed, and discharging the said slimy or
sedimentary matter separate from the filtered liquid, substantially as described.
2. In a filtering apparatus, a tank or vessel, a hollow shaft or plunger, a pipe b
connected therewith and located in said tank, combined with a branch pipe connected
to the said pipe and provided with a foot portion ³ having perforations to admit of
the passage of slime or other sedimentary matter into the said branch pipes, substantially
as and for the purpose specified.
3. In a filtering apparatus, a tank or vessel, a hollow shaft or plunger, one or more
pipes connected therewith and located in said tank, combined with branch pipes
connected to the said pipes and provided with a foot portion having perforations to
admit of the passage of slime or other sedimentary matter into the said branch pipes,
and with a strengthening rib for said branch pipes, substantially as described.
4. In a filtering apparatus, a tank or vessel, a vertically moveable hollow shaft or
plunger, a pipe 6 connected therewith and located in said tank, combined with a
branch pipe connected to the said pipe and provided with a foot portion 63 having
perforations to admit of the passage of slime or other sedimentary matter into the
said branch pipe, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
5. In a filtering apparatus, a tank or vessel, and a branch pipe provided with an
enlarged foot portion having perforations to admit of the passage of slime or other
sedimentary matter into the said branch pipe, combined with a pipe connected to the
said branch pipe and communicating with the outside of the vessel or tank, substantially
as described.