A NEW APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING AND IMPROVING WATER AND OTHER LIQUORS BY FILTRATION
Year: 1805

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
EDWARD WITHERBY, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
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
Westminster on or about the Nineteenth day of July, in the forty-fifth year
of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Henry Edward Witherby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Edward Witherby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
the Invention therein mentioned, to wit, "A NEW APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING
AND IMPROVING WATER AND OTHER LIQUORS BY FILTRATION," within that part
of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said Henry Edward
Witherby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should seem meet, to
have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and
advantages therein granted or mentioned to be granted unto me, the said
Henry Edward Witherby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and

page_text: during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years therein expressed;
in which said Letters Patent there is, amongst other things, contained a
proviso that if I, the said Henry Edward Witherby, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed; by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become
void, as in and by the said recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Edward Witherby, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as
follows, that is to say-
'
The nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing the same, will
appear in the following description thereof :-
The nature of my Invention consists in employing the process of filtration
by means of an apparatus by me contrived and invented, to remove the impu-
rities of water and other liquors, thereby rendering the same more agreeable
and useful for a great variety of purposes applicable to domestic occasions, and
to sundry arts and manufactures. The manner of performance is by the said
apparatus, which consists of two general parts, one of which I denominate the
fountain, and the other, which includes a syphon, as below described, I call
more particularly the filterer. The former supplies the liquor very gently and
gradually as the filterer drains it off without disturbing the sand, &c. through
which it passes. The peculiar combination of these two parts constitute my
Invention. For I desire it may be distinctly observed that I do not pretend
to be the Inventor of any of the articles specified below separately and apart
from that combination thereof, for the purpose of filtration, in which my
Invention consists.
...
1st, the Fountain.-A, Fig. 1, is a vessel to contain the water or other liquor
to be filtered. B is a funnel by. which the vessel A is to be filled. Fig. 2 is
the plan of a vessel having another vessel G, Fig. 3, about one inch deep, to
fit into the top of it, as seen at C, Fig. 4, which is a section of the same
vessel. D, D, D, D, are four supporters to keep C, Fig. 3, in its place, so that
its edge may be even with the edge of the vessel, Fig. 2, as may be seen in
the section, Fig. 4, at C. This part of the apparatus is so constructed that
when the vessel A, Fig. is reversed and placed in its legs, as it appears at

page_text: Fig. 5, the pipe E of the vessel A dips into the vessel C, Fig. 4,-about half an
inch, and by that means forms the fountain. It is, therefore, necessary that
the vessel A should be reversed and placed as it appears at A, Fig. 1, every
time it is to be filled; and when filled put one of your fingers over the mouth
of the pipe E, and having reversed it again, place it as it appears at A, Fig. 5,
so that the pipe E may dip into the vessel C; and when you remove your
finger from the mouth of the pipe E, the water or other liquor descends into
the vessel C, so as to fill it to the mouth of the pipe E, and very little higher,
provided the vessel C be of a sufficient diameter to contain the water that
descends into it. The mouth of the pipe E should have a little notch in it,
or else should be made so as to form a small angle with the surface of the
water, in order that the air may pass the more freely into the vessel A,
whereby the necessary descent of the water will be facilitated.
2d, the Filterer. Fig. 2 is the plan of the vessel to contain 'the sand, &c.;
as hereafter described. It may be constructed of any size; either circular or
square. The larger this vessel is the more expeditiously the filtration will
be performed; it may be about six inches deep by a foot diameter. F' is a small
pipe in the bottom of the vessel, Fig. 2, for the water to pass through:
G, G, G, G, is a rim or cavity in the bottom of the vessel; Fig. 2, similar to
the hollow in a plate, about an inch deep and an inch from' the sides, as seen
in the section, Fig. 4, at G, G. The hollow drain is to be formed by filling
the whole of the cavity within the rim G, G, G, G, with well-washed pebble
stones, or anything that is clean and not dissoluble, and at the same tim
easily pervious, so as to answer the purpose of making "hollow drain, aš
shewn in the section, Fig. 4, by the part coloured red. (Note: If, instead
of pebble stones, hair cloth should be used, care must be taken to have it of
sufficient thickness, either in one piece or by several placed upon each other',
to prevent the sand from passing through the pores or interstices of the hair
cloth; and this point being carefully attended to, the cavity G, G, G, above
described, and also the flannel, will he the less necessary, or even maybe intirely
dispensed with.) Then cover the whole of the hollow drain with flannel cut
exactly to the size of the top of the vessel, Fig. 2, which to be laid over the
said drain, and will lap about an inch over G, G, G, G (ifia), as shewn in
the section, Fig. 4, by the part coloured yellow, which prevents the sand
that is to be laid over the flannel from being washed through The whole of
the flannel is then to be covered with fine well-washed sands shown in the
section, Fig. 4, by the part coloured black, about two or three inches deep, or
according to the depth of the vessel, Fig. 2, so that there dhe room for the
vessel C to be placed on the top of the said vessel, Fig. 2, ashfore described.

page_text: (Note, Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 4 is a section of the same vessel.) The
vessel A, Fig. 1,, is then to be filled and placed on its legs, as it appears at
Fig. 5, so that the pipe E may dip into the vessel C, as before described. The
filterer and the fountain are then to be connected from the vessel C by apply-
ing a sufficient quantity of sponge or flannel, as seen at H, Fig. 4, which is to
be cut in proper lengths, so that one end may be laid on the bottom of the
vessel C, and the other end on the top of the sand in the vessel Fig. 2, as
appears in the section, Fig. 4. This sponge or flannel acts as a syphion, and any
other thing that will holdwater as sponge or flannel does,andwill act as a syphon
may be used for this purpose. Whatever the substanee be, it is first to be
filled with some of the water or other liquor to be filtered and then applied.
Fig. 6 is drawn to have in part the appearance of glass, as seen at C and I,
in order that the principle of the Invention and the effect thereof may be
better understood; but it is not to be collected from thence that in practice,
of
and for actual use, only one piece of sponge is to be employed by way
syphon when a considerable quantity of water is to be filtered. H is the
syphon, the part coloured blue at K is to represent the water. H, acting as a
syphon, keeps up a constant supply from the fountain at the vessel C, until the
whole of the contents of the vessel A is filtered by passing through the sand,
as represented at L, and so through the hollow drain formed as before
described, L, M, and N being the sand, flannel, and pebbles), and from thence
through the pipe, as represented at O, into the vessel that is to receive the
There is to be a hole in the table
water when filtered, as shewn at Fig. 7.
upon which the apparatus stands, for the pipe of the vessel I to go through;
but a more convenient method of fixing this apparatus would be to have two
shelves fixed against a wall, one under the other, the upper one to support the
apparatus, and the lower one for the vessel to stand upon to receive the water
when filtered. In constructing the filterer as above described at Figs. 2 and 3
I prefer earthenware. The vessel A may be constructed either of tin o
earthenware, but as it is to be removed every time the vessel A is to be filled
I think it would be most adviseable to have it constructed of tin; but these
are points to be left to discretion.
Fig. S is a representation of the apparatus in another shape and on a large
scale, in which the parts that require explanation are the cocks P and Q, o
which is to be shut and P opened when the barrel is to be filled with th
liquor to be filtered, and P is to be shut and Q opened when the liquor is t
run off towards the filterer. R, R, is an air pipe passing up to near the to
of the upper barrel in the inside, and reaching down to the surface of th
liquor in the vessel C. By means of this pipe the air passes out of the barr

page_text: as the liquor comes in from the funnel, and after the barrel is sufliciently filled
there is through the said pipe a constant supply of air passing upon the surface
of the liquor and forcing the same downwards from the upper barrel to the
Nessel C.
Fig. 9 is a plan of a vessel with the syphons as before described at Fig. 4.
Fig. 10 is an apparatus slung upon chains, to shew how this Invention is to
be used in a convenient manner on board of ships. In the space marked S, S,
the syphons and hollow drain, &c. are to be placed as in Fig. 8. One of the
conveniences of this apparatus is the great facility with which it may be
cleansed from time to time by squeezing and washing the sponges, or what-
ever else is made use of to act as syphons, and by removing the sand, &c., and
supplying fresh materials of the same kind. A principal advantage also is the
dispatch with which the muddiest or most impure liquor may be made per-
fectly bright and clear. This may be effected very rapidly, and in a large
running stream in an apparatus upon an enlarged scale, and as the thickness
of the liquor is a very little hindrance to the filtration, it may be used in many
cases to mix some suitable substances in the liquor intended to be purified, in
order that such liquor may, by adhesion with the substances so added, be the
better and more effectually cleared of its impurities.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Edward Witherby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and five.
H. E. WITHERBY. (L.S.)
H. E. WITHERBY. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourteenth day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Henry Edward Witherby
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fourteenth day of August, in the year above written.