Year: 1885

page_text: I ANDREW BELL of Lower Broughton Road Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
My. Invention relates to the treatment of hard water containing lime or mineral
matters which it is desirable to eliminate. In the treatment of such waters
chemicals are added which will combine with the matters which are to be removed
and will form therewith an insoluble precipitate. The object of my Invention is
to obtain an apparatus which will efficiently separate the insoluble matters from
the water.
In my improved apparatus the water to which a suitable chemical solution has
been added as is usual is caused to flow over and between inclined partitions, plates
or shelves which are ribbed, corrugated or fluted and are so arranged as that the
water is caused to flow up and down or to take a serpentine course when
passing between the said partitions whereby the precipitation of the matters to be
eliminated is promoted the inclination of the plates and of the ribs or flutes causing
the precipitated matters to determine to one corner or side of the apparatus.
I prefer to convey the water in the first instance to the bottom of the system.
The partitions which I will term plates by preference slope from all parts to one
corner supposing the plates to be rectangular and for the sake of compactness
I make all the plates to slope in the same direction. Upon both sides of each
plate are ribs which are by preference arranged upon the plates at such angles as
will 'increase the tendency of the precipitate to gravitate toward the lowest corner
or point of escape. These ribs are so arranged as that the lower ribs on one plate
enter between the upper ribs on another contiguous plate so that the water is
caused to take a circuitous course. The often repeated change of direction of the
flow of water from downward to upward facilitates the precipitation of the foreign
matters in the form of a sediment which gravitates to the lowest part of each
plate and the separation is also promoted by the trapping of the said matters
by the ribs and by their falling into the comparatively still water in the corners,
D

page_text: .
From the lowest corner or part of each plate a passage leads into a sediment or
slush pipe or conduit into which all the sediment outlets discharge. This pipe
may lead into a settling chamber which can be emptied at intervals or the pipe
may be emptied or washed out at intervals by opening a valve or there may be
a constant regulated discharge from the said pipe. When employing corrugated or
fluted plates they. may be stamped, pressed, moulded or cast with flutes or with
corrugations so arranged as that the elevation on one plate comes opposite to the
depressions on a contiguous plate so as to have the described effect upon the
currents of water.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Use in Softening and Purifying
Water.
I ANDREW BELL, Engineer of 298 Lower Broughton Road, Manchester, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
USE IN SOFTENING AND PURIFYING WATER and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
.
A is a funnel shaped pipe in which the water to be softened flows, and the
chemical liquid which is necessary to produce the requisite chemical change in the
water also enters the said pipe A and both the water to be softened and the chemical
liquid run down the said pipe entering a tank B at C. The water then rises in
the said tank flowing over a number of plates D, which said plates are made of
cast or wrought iron, brass, bronze or any other suitable material, and are fixed.
in the said tank at a given angle with the horizon in two directions when the
sides of the tank are vertical to the horizon. On the surface of the said plates
I cast or fix a number of ribs which rise at right angles or perpendicularly or
at any other angle from the top of the said plates, or which descend in a similar
manner from underneath the said plates. The plates are placed in the said tank one
above another in the manner aforesaid and so as to allow the passage of the water
over and under the said ribs and between the said plates. The number of the
plates in a given tank may vary as may be found necessary. The height of the
ribs or the depth of the ribs from the upper or lower surfaces of the plates may
also vary and the height of the tank itself may also vary as may be thought
desirable, and also as may be deemed requisite from the nature and condition of
the water to be softened and purified and other circumstances.
"
By means of the said arrangement of the said plates with ribs the water is
caused to flow in a tortuous manner and the said ribs arrest and keep back the
chemical combinations which arise from the admixture of the chemical liquid with
the water and which would, were the water still, become precipitated to the bottom
of the tank. These precipitants or chemical combinations now become arrested
as aforesaid by the said arrangement of plates with ribs, and having become
arrested by the said ribs slide down the said plates on account of their position to
the corner of the plates next to the pipe E into which they (the precipitants) go
and whence they are from time to time blown out. The said pipe E is connected
to the said tank by a number of branch pipes by means of which intercommuni-
cation between the said pipe E and the said tank B is established at the height of
each of the several plates aforesaid. Moreover each branch pipe is provided with
a valve. Hence the water as it rises in the tank is forced to part with the
impurities it contains and becomes by degrees soft and pure coming out ultimately
through the pipe F, by which it may be conveyed whither it is required. In
describing my invention as above I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described but that they may be more or less varied to attain the objects
in view.
.

page_text: 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° The arrangement and construction of the plates having ribs on both the
under and upper sides placed in such manner and at such intervals as may be
deemed desirable substantially as aforesaid.
2° The position of the said plates in regard to the horizon when the sides of the
tank are vertical to the horizon whereby the motion of the precipitants is at an
angle with the motion of the water.