IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS AND MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN FILTERING AND CLARIFYING WATERS AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PONTIFEX, of Shoe Lane, in the City of London, Coppersmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of December, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Pontifex, Her especial licence that I, the said William Pontifex, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Pontifex,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS AND MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN FILTERING AND CLARIFYING
WATERS AND OTHER LIQUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said William Pontifex, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: bevilled edges, for the purpose of retaining the filtering medium, turned
perfectly true on the inside, with projecting rims d, d, d, d, the purpose of
which is to cause a greater pressure on the filtering medium round the edges
than in the centre, and thus prevent the fluid passing out at the sides instead
of through the perforations intended for its escape. The rims of these plates
may be furnished by extending them with screw bolts and nuts, as shown by the
dotted lines, and both plates are perforated, as shewn in plan at Figure 2.
Suppose the filtering medium to be what is usually called carded waste silk, I
place the silk, which I first damp, in the cylinder A, Figure 3. I put on the
top a, and apply the. screw, hydraulic, or other press, till I have given the
required pressure, determined by the degree of purity required for the par-
ticular fluid to be clarified, and which can only be ascertained by experiment.
Having obtained this degree of pressure, I take out the silk, which retains its
compressed form, and place it between the plates in Figure 1, and solder their
bevilled edges together; or by extending the plates form flanchies, and connect
them together by bolts and nuts, as described; or in case I use a material of a
nature too elastic to retain its compressed form, as aforesaid, I apply the
hydraulic or other press to the plates, Figure 1, until I have soldered them
together, or fixed them by bolts and nuts, as aforesaid. In this manner I
arrange and prepare the filtering medium, and by soldering or otherwise
fastening these plates into a vessel, as shown at Figure 4, I obtained an
improved apparatus and material for filtering.
Figure 4 represents a strong iron or other metal cylindrical vessel, the
plates in this case being soldered to its sides at b, b, b, b, with the compressed
silk a between them; c is a pipe leading to a force pump, or to a high column
of the fluid to be filtered, and the fluid being thus forced upwards flows off in a

page_text: pure state by the pipe e; the cap and screw d is a waste vent for draining off
the thick refuse or waste.
Now, whereas it is evident that my Invention, as regards subjecting the
filtering media to powerful mechanical compression, is applicable to all fibrous
and compressible substances, such as cotton and other wool, silk, flax, and the
like, and the same, when compressed and maintained in any suitable way in a
compressed state, may be applied in various ways to filtering apparatus.
But whereas I claim as my Invention improving fibrous and compressible
materials, when used as media for filtration, by subjecting them to mechanical
pressure, as aforesaid, and retaining them in that state of pressure while intro-
duced into apparatus (thus constituting improved apparatus) for filtering and
clarifying water and other liquids, as herein-before described; and such my
Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new and never
before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain called England, Her Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that
I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully
and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim exclusive
right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pontifex, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.