IMPROVEMENT ON AN INVENTION OF A CISTERN OR RESERVOIR FOR FILTERING, CLEANSING, AND PURIFYING FOUL AND OFFENSIVE WATER, AND RENDERING IT FINE AND CLEAR, BY THE MOST SIMPLE AND EVIDENT MEANS, AND WHICH WERE NEVER HERETOFORE PUT IN PRACTICE
Year: 1792

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
COWEN, of the City of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Glazier and Print-
seller, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Twenty-
eighth day of November, in the thirty-third year of His reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said George Cowen, His especial licence that I, the said
George Cowen, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "IMPROVEMENT ON AN INVENTION OF A CISTERN OR
RESERVOIR FOR FILTERING, CLEANSING, AND PURIFYING FOUL AND OFFENSIVE WATER,
AND RENDERING IT FINE AND CLEAR, BY THE MOST SIMPLE AND EVIDENT MEANS, AND
WHICH WERE NEVER HERETOFORE PUT IN PRACTICE;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George Cowen, under my
hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and how the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within nine calendar months next after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Cowen, do hereby declare that my said Improvement on an Invention
for the Construction of a Cistern or Reservoir with such Materials for Fil-
tering, Cleansing, and Purifying Foul and Offensive Water, and Rendering it
Fine. and Clear; is by the means of a cistern or reservoir, of any dimensions or
shape, composed of lead, brick, stone, or wood, or any other material capable
of containing water, with a division in the inside of such cistern or reservoir,
either across or lengthways from the top to the bottom, so as to make the
cistern or reservoir into two divisions of any dimensions, and afterwards per-
forate the bottom of such partition as high up as necessary, so as the water
can have a free communication from one side of the cistern or reservoir to the
other; or by leaving an open space, of any height, from the bottom of the
cistern to the bottom of such partition, so as to admit the like communication
between the compartiments with another partition on one or both sides of the
said division above described, at any given distance from such division, rising
one inch or upwards, forming like a box, to contain a quantity of sand, or any
other filtering materials, well washed, to be filled in on each side the first
partition already explained, of any depth necessary, so that the foul water
which is let into one of the compartiments be obliged to pass down through the
sand or filtering materials on one side, and so either through the perforated or
under the partition first described, and rise through the sand or filtering
materials on the other compartiment in a filtered state. Or there may be a
bed of sand laid all over the bottom of the cistern or reservoir, of any depth
necessary, without the division on either side the first partition described, and
by which simple process the most foul and offensive water is rendered perfectly
fine and clear; and by a cock, placed above the sand or filtering materials, the
water so fined and cleansed may be drawn off. There may be also a cock
placed in the other compartiment, to draw off the foul water for common use;
and in case the sand or filtering materials at any time, from frequent use,
become saturated with the sediment of the foul water, it is to be cleansed by
stirring up, when there is a quantity of water in the cistern or reservoir, and
.letting it run off either by the cock or washer.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Cowen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.
GEORGE (L.S.) COWEN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-sixth day of
January, in the year above written, the aforesaid George Cowen came before
our Lord our King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing 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.