IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERS FOR FILTERING WATER.
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bartlett, of Dulwich Road, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FILTERS FOR
FILTERING WATER.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bartlett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th December 1876.
GEORGE BARTLETT, of Dulwich Road, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FILTERS FOR FILTERING WATER."
My Invention has for its object the rendering of filters for potable water self-
cleansing.
Ordinarily filters are so constructed that the impurities separated from the
water by filtration remain in or upon the filtering media employed until the filter
is taken to pieces and the filtering media is cleansed or renewed, a process usually
carried out at long intervals only, and sometimes necessitating the sending of the
filter to the maker; hence such filters rather assist in polluting water than in
purifying it.
I construct my filter, which may be made of earthenware, porcelain, or of metal,
in four separate compartments. The top compartment is the feeder, into which
the water to be filtered is poured; from this chamber or vessel the water descends
through a pipe (which pipe may be partly inside and partly outside the filter) into
the lowest compartment or chamber, whence it is forced through a filter bed and a
perforated disc or plate into the store compartment or chamber, where it remains
until drawn off for use. An air pipe passes through the feeder open to the external
atmosphere, and another air pipe on the opposite runs through the whole length of
the apparatus down to the lowest or refuse chamber. There is a waste cap at the
bottom to be closed when the filter is in use, and opened when the filter is to be
cleansed.
There is a draw-off cock or tap in the store compartment for drawing off the
filtered water. The filter can be daily cleansed by opening the waste cap, when
the water in the filter will pass through the perforated disc and the filtering

page_text: media, and carry with it to the refuse pan at the bottom any impurities that may
be lodged in the filtering media,
I use as filtering media, charcoal, sand, or grit; thus this filter is a circulating,
ascending, and self-cleansing one.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Bartlett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th June
1877.
GEORGE BARTLETT, of Dulwich Road, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FILTERS FOR FILTERING WATER:"
My Invention has for its object the rendering of filters for potable water self-
cleansing.
Ordinarily filters are so constructed that the impurities separated from the
water by filtration remain in or upon the filtering media until the filter is taken
to pieces and the filtering materials cleansed or renewed, a process usually carried
out at long intervals only, and sometimes necessitating the sending of the filter
to the maker; hence such filters rather assist in polluting water than in puri-
fying it.
-
Now my Invention is intended to completely and effectually, obviate these serious
disadvantages, which have frequently been found to be the active cause in producing
fever and other disease.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in filters may be properly
understood and readily carried into practical effect, I will now.proceed to describe
the same more particularly, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
illustrative Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say
The Figure delineated on the Drawing is a sectional elevation of one form of
arrangement of my improved filter. The filtering vessel is made either of earthen-
ware, porcelain, metal, or other suitable or convenient material, and by preference
is made to form four separate internal compartments. The upper compartment A
forms a holder or reservoir for the water as it is supplied from the main or other
source of supply, or the water may be simply poured in or supplied from day to
day as it is required. The upper compartment is divided off from the compartment B
immediately below it by the horizontal partition or diaphragm C; such compart-
ment is arranged above the filter bed and forms the reservoir for the filtered water,
which is drawn off as required for use by means of a tap or cock fixed in the
opening D, made for the purpose at the lower part of the compartment B. A per-
forated partition or diaphragm E separates the compartment B from the lower
compartment F, in which the bed of filtering material is placed; and for this purpose
either charcoal, sand, grit, or other suitable substance may be employed. The filter
chamber F is nearly filled with the filtering media, and on the surface thereof a
perforated plate Fl of earthenware or other suitable material is placed for the
purpose of retaining the filtering substance in a compact and thoroughly efficient
mass. The floor of the filter chamber is formed of a perforated plate G, the aper-
tures in which serve to convey the filtered impurities into the refuse chamber H,
which forms the base of the filter and the lowest compartment of the four previously
referred to. The refuse chamber H has in it an opening I, which is closed by a
cap or other equivalent therefor, so that the chamber may be cleansed of its con-
tents as frequently as may be desired. The water from the reservoir or feeder A,
which is furnished with a lid of the usual kind, is conveyed down by the pipe K
into the chamber H, from whence it rises up through the perforated floor G and
the filter bed in the compartment F; thence it rises through the perforated
diaphragm E, and is stored in the compartment B to be drawn off as required from
the tap at D. Opposite to the pipe K, and on the other side of the filter, is an air

page_text: pipe I, which extends from the upper part of the first compartment A downwards
through the intervening compartments and opens into the lower chamber H, into
which it serves to convey air. A second air pipe M is fitted vertically in the
centre of the upper compartment A, and is open to the external atmosphere, its
lower extremity terminating a short distance below the diaphragm C, and thus
serving to convey air into the compartment B to admit of the flow of filtered
water therefrom.
The filter bed in the compartment F may be thoroughly cleansed as frequently
as desired by simply removing the cap from the outlet opening of the refuse
chainber H, immediately on which the body of water contained in the compart-
ment B descends through the filter bed, its rapid flow tending to cleanse the
filtering material in a very effectual manner.
These improved filters may also be readily adapted for use in ordinary cisterns,
so as to receive a self-acting supply of water, and thus afford an abundance of
filtered water for household use.
By means of my improved filters it will be obvious that a copious supply of pure
filtered water may be constantly obtained, and at the same time absolutely free
from the contamination which arises from contact with organic refuse matters, as is
the case with all filters as hitherto constructed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is or may be used and carried into effect, I
wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details of
arrangement of the filter I have herein-before described and shewn in the accom-
panying Drawing, as the same may be varied to some extent without departing
from the principle of my Invention, but what I do claim as my Invention and con-
sider to be novel is,-
First. The general arrangement, construction, and combination of parts forming
my improved filter, substantially as herein-before described and shown in the
accompanying illustrative Drawing.
Second. The system of constructing filters in which the bed of filtering material
or materials is arranged below the chamber or compartment in which the filtered
water is received, both for the purposes of avoiding any contamination of the pure
water and of affording means for rapidly and effectually cleansing the filtering
bed at any moment, as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying
Drawing.
Thirdly. The constructing and arranging filters with a chamber or receiver at
the lower part to receive and retain the refuse products as they are separated from
the water by the filtering media, as hercin-before described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bartlett, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
GEORGE BARTLETT. (L.S.)