An Improved Appliance for use in connection with the Ventilation of Sewers.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by ROBERT MCKENZIE, of Sydney, in the Colony of
New South Wales, Chief Sanitary Inspector to the Board of Water Supply
and Sewerage.]
An Improved Appliance for use in connection with the Ventilation
of Sewers.
I, HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of The Office for Patents, 6 Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane in the County of London, Patent Agent, 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 :-
It has been customary for sewerage engineers to ventilate sewers from their
upper or more elevated extremities or ends. This mode of ventilation would be
effective, were all sewer gases of less specific gravity than atmospheric air, but this
is not the case, many forms of sewer gas gravitating towards the lowest part of the
sewer, thus defeating the object the engineer had in view.
The object of this invention is to ventilate sewers from their lower grades, and at
the same time, destroy, by heat, any deleterious sewer gases, and the germs con-
tained therein. This is effected by means of an appliance of peculiar construction,
that is placed near the base of an uptake shaft, up which the objectionable gases
are drawn by the action of the apparatus.
In the accompanying drawings,-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an oviform sewer, from the crown of which springs
an uptake shaft, and shewing the apparatus contained within a chamber in the
shaft, in elevation.
Fig. 2 shews the ventilating appliances and connections in vertical section.
Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the ventilating appliance, the section being taken on
the line 1-2 of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is also a sectional plan of the same, the section being taken on the
line 3-4 of Fig. 2.
A A is an oviform sewer, from the crown of which springs the uptake shaft B,
which may be bulbed at C, so as to form a chamber to contain the ventilating
apparatus. The uptake shaft B may be continued upwards to any suitable height.
Within the chamber C is placed, centrally, a perforated shell D, spherical in
form, as shewn in Figs. 1 & 2.
This shell D may be constructed of fire clay, or other material that will resist
the action of intense heat, its upper part being formed as a lid D'. A grating or
perforated false bottom E covers the bottom part of the interior of the shell D,
forming a chamber below the false bottom, to receive a gas burner or burners F,
the form of burner shewn in the drawings being a ring burner with radial slits, and
is of that type of burner known as a "Bunsen burner," the air being supplied to
the burner from without the shaft, in the manner shewn in Fig. 1. The space within
the shell D, between the false bottom E and the cover D', is loosely packed with
asbestos. A gas meter G is shewn in the recess G. A similar recess G' is placed
on the opposite side of the uptake shaft B, the shaft being provided at that point
with a hand hole g, for convenience of manipulation and inspection. The chamber C
is also provided with an opening c, sufficiently large to introduce or remove the
shell D; this opening will also be used to introduce the light to the "Bunsen
burner."
The opening c will be closed by a firebrick c', or by any other suitable
fireproof material. In order to prevent radiation, the chamber C should be enclosed
in fireproof non-heat-conducting material. This is shewn in the drawing as a block
of concrete H, in which are formed the several recesses G', G³, and c, for the
purpose hereinbefore stated.

page_text: In the drawing, the uptake shaft B is shewn springing direct from the crown of
the sewer A, for convenience of illustration, but it is obvious that the shaft may be
placed in any convenient position in relation to the sewer which it is desired to
ventilate.
The modus operandi is as follows:-Assuming that all the parts are in position
as shewn in the drawing, the gas burner is lighted through the opening c, and the
opening closed; the intense heat from the "Bunsen burner" will quickly bring
the asbestos contained within the shell D, to an incandescent state, thereby causing
a heated updraught to ensue, thus drawing the foul gases upwards from the sewer.
As the foul gases pass round the shell, which, by this time is a ball of fire, they
will become decomposed by the intense heat to which they are subjected, and all
noxious germs consumed, the products of combustion passing upwards through the
shaft B, into the outer atmosphere in a harmless condition.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed (as communicated to me
from abroad), I declare that what I claim is :-
The means above described for inducing an upward current of sewer gases in a
sewer ventilating shaft and for destroying the noxious germs, and consisting of a
perforated shell (placed in the uptake shaft) provided with a false bottom, below
which is introduced a gas jet or burner, and filled with asbestos or other incombus-
tible material, the whole appliance to be brought to an intense heat by the action
of the gas burner when lighted, as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 29th day of March 1892.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.