IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE DEPOSITS AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Young Darracott Scott, of Ealing, in
the County of Middlesex, Major-General, C. B., for the Invention
of "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE
DEPOSITS AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 9th May 1873, and dated the 11th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Young Darracott
Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th November 1872.
I, HENRY YOUNG DARRACOTT SCOTT, of Ealing, in the County of
Middlesex, Major-General, C. B., do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE TREATMENT OF
SEWAGE DEPOSITS AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the drying of sewage deposits, mud,
and other wet substances of analogous consistency, such as pottery clays,
in an expeditious and economical manner.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I subject the wet material to heat in
an apparatus of novel construction.
This apparatus consists of a drying floor of a corrugated or indented
form, but with the elevations on the upper side so sloped as not to
allow of permanent lodgements of matter upon them. In the hollows
on the upper side archimedean screws are kept in rotation, and by so
doing they constantly thrust forward the material to be dried. These
screws need not have their threads continuous, but the threads may be
arranged with intervals so as to allow of the introduction of prongs or
tongues to prevent the screws from clogging. These prongs or tongues
are attached to the fixed part of the bed, and are therefore stationary
while the screws rotate.
The material to be dried is supplied from a hopper or vessel made of
perforated metal, or other suitable material covered with canvas or other
porous substance, so as to act as a filtering as well as a feeding appa-
ratus, whereby much of the water may be got rid of before the sewage
deposit, mud, or other material reaches the drying plate or bed.
Beneath the drying bed a flame or heated air is made to play on the
under surface, and the gases formed or introduced under the corrugated
floor are either allowed to escape at the end of the apparatus or are 2
brought back over the upper side of the floor, so as to expedite the
evaporation of the moisture.
At the far end of the apparatus the material is pushed out by the
action of the screws, either in a dried pulverulent condition or sufficiently
freed from moisture to bear making into bricks.
The brick form I prefer to give by dies adapted to the exit apertures
of the apparatus, and when made into bricks or other suitable shape, the
material can be readily further desiccated in kilns, or on ordinary drying
floors, or by being stacked in the open air.
2

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Young Darracott Scott in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
YOUNG DARRACOTT SCOTT, of Ealing, in the County of Middlesex,
Major-General, C.B., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Young Darracott Scott, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Young Darracott
, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Young
Darracott Scott, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE TREATMENT OF
SEWAGE DEPOSITS AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Young Darracott Scott, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the dato
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Young Darracott Scott, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The object of this Invention is the drying of sewage deposits, mud,
and other wet substances of analogous consistency, such as pottery clays,
in on
arnaditious and sonomical

page_text: In carrying out my Invention, I subject the wet material to heat in
an apparatus of novel construction. This apparatus is shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical
section of the drying apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section
of the same.
The apparatus consists of a drying floor of a corrugated or indented
form. This floor is constructed of any convenient number of semicircular
or concave iron or other troughs or gutters a, a, a, arranged parallel
to each other, the narrow spaces between them being covered over with
inverted tiles or gutters b, b. The upper side of the drying floor is so
sloped or inclined, as shewn in the Drawing, so as not to allow of
permanent lodgments of matter upon them. In the hollows on the
upper side of the troughs a, a, are placed archimedean screws c, c,
which are kept in rotation by means of worms d, Fig. 1, which gear
into worm wheels c¹ on the outer ends of the archimedean screw shafts.
Rotary motion is communicated to the worm shaft d in any convenient
manner, and by so doing the screws c will constantly thrust forward
the material to be dried. These screws need not have their threads
continuous, but the threads may be arranged with intervals so as to
allow of the introduction of prongs or tongues to prevent the screws
from clogging. These prongs or tongues are attached to the concave
troughs a, a, or any other fixed part of the drying bed, and are therefore
stationary while the screws c rotate.
The material to be dried is supplied from a hopper or vessel e which
may be made of perforated metal or other suitable material covered with
canvas or other porous substance, so as to act as a filtering as well as a
feeding apparatus, whereby much of the water may be got rid of before
the sewage deposit, mud, or other material reaches the drying plate
or bed. The mud or sludge will fall from the open end of the hopper e
on to the upper end of the screws and troughs, and will be carried slowly
along the latter by the rotation of the screws.
Beneath the drying bed a flame or heated air from the furnace or
fire-place is made to play on the curved or corrugated under surface
of the drying floor. The gases formed or introduced under the corru-
gated floor are either allowed to escape at the end of the apparatus,
or by removing some of the inverted tiles at the outer end, the gases

page_text: and heat may be allowed to pass up between the concave troughs, and
the heat will then be brought back over the upper side of the floor, as
shewn in Fig. 1, and will expedite the evaporation of the moisture from
the mud or sludge. The gases finally pass from the drying chamber into
the flue or chimney 9, and escape from thence into the atmosphere.
The mud or sludge is pushed out at the far end of the apparatus by
the action of the screws c, c, either in a dried pulverulent condition,
or sufficiently freed from moisture to bear being moulded or made into
bricks. When discharged from the drying floor the dried or partially
dried mud or sludge is deposited on a table, from which it may be moved
by hand and moulded into any desired form; or it may be deposited
on a travelling endless cloth and be conveyed away and dropped into any
convenient receptacle.
The partially dried substance may be moulded into the form of rough
bricks by means of dies adapted to the exit aperture of the apparatus ;
and when made into bricks or other suitable shapes the material can be
readily further desiccated in kilns, or on ordinary drying floors, or by
being stacked in the open air, and may then be burned or calcined in
kilns if desired.
The chimney is provided with a damper h, by opening which the
gases from the fire-place may pass direct to the chimney until the fire
is well lighted.
Instead of deriving the heat (for drying the sludge) from a fire-place
specially constructed for the purpose as shewn in the Drawing, I prefer
for economical reasons to make use of any waste heat that may be
available, as from steam boiler furnaces, kilns, or other sources; I then
conduct the heated gases obtained from such sources to the under side
of the drying floor in the way already explained.
When waste heat is not available, I provide a special fire-place as
above set forth.
Having now described my Invention of improved apparatus to be
used in the treatment of sewage deposits and other like substances, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim
as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, con-
structing the floors of the drying chamber of a corrugated or indented

page_text: form, or of separate semicircular or concave troughs, so as to present
an extensive heating surface, as herein set forth, in combination with
slowly rotating screws or other equivalent device for conveying the mud,
sludge, or other material to be operated upon along the drying floor
to the exit aperture, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Young Darracott Scott, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
HENRY Y. D. SCOTT. (L.s.)