IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING EVERY KIND OF WATER AND REN- DERING IT DRINKABLE, AND FOR RENDERING SEA WATER FRESH AND DRINKABLE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edouard Andries, of Schaerbeek, near Brussels, in
the Kingdom of Belgium, Plumber, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING EVERY KIND OF WATER AND REN-
DERING IT DRINKABLE, AND FOR RENDERING SEA WATER FRESH AND
DRINKABLE."
Sealed the 16th December. 1864, and dated the 18th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edouard Andries at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
August 1864.
I, EDOUARD ANDRIES, of Schaerbeek, near Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING EVERY KIND OF WATER
AND RENDERING IT DRINKABLE, AND FOR RENDERING SEA WATER FRESH AND
DRINKABLE," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to means or apparatus for purifying and rendering
drinkable every kind of water, whether the same be unwholesome from contact
with organic matters, such as weeds, or plants, or insects, or other bodies in a
more or less corrupt state, or from inorganic matter, or whether the water
be combined with salt, as is the case with sea water.
My said improvements consist in causing the water to traverse layers of
animal black (carbonized bone), charcoal, coarse sand, and coal, or other

page_text: suitable substances arranged in parallel layers between the surfaces of two
cases or chests made of perforated metal, the one placed within the other
around the suction or other pipe, through which the water is to be drawn off
for use.
I place round the end of the pipe, through which the water is to be
drawn off, a case or chest of any convenient form and size made of perforated
metal, and I surround or coat this chest on the outside with parallel layers of
carbonized bone, charcoal, coarse sand, and coal, or other suitable filtering
matters, and I enclose the said inside chest and the said layers of filtering
matter in a second outside metallic perforated casing, the outside surface of
the inner metallic perforated casing and the inside surface of the exterior
perforated casing may be lined with linen or canvas or similar material. The
water passes through the two perforated cases, the linen or other lining
thereof, and the filtering matters inclosed between them to the inside of the
interior chest, and is drawn off for use through the pipe or pipes penetrating
into the said inside chest or cistern. At the bottom of the said pipe is a small
metallic perforated chest containing a sponge or other suitable porous sub-
stance, through which the water has to pass on being drawn off, the said sponge
depriving it of any impurities which might have found their way into the
inner chest. The pipe through which the water is drawn off may be passed
into the apparatus through a second pipe of larger diameter, attached to the
said filtering apparatus and passing into the inner chest or cistern thereof, in
order to the said water pipe being easily removed from the apparatus when
desired.
12
My filtering or purifying apparatus may be applied to ordinary pumps in
ordinary cisterns or wells, or it may be placed in ships, boats, rivers, canals,
or ponds, or in sea or other water. The said apparatus may also be constructed
in a portable form for the use of military men or travellers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edouard Andries in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
ANDRIES, of Schaerbeek, near Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Plumber,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edouard Andries, Her special. licence that I, the said Edouard
Andries, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others-as-I, the
said Edouard Andries, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING EVERY KIND OF
WATER AND RENDERING IT DRINKABLE, AND FOR RENDERING SEA WATER FRESH
AND DRINKABLE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edouard Andries, 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 date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edouard Andries, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bė
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements relate to means or apparatus for purifying and rendering
drinkable every kind of water, whether the same be unwholesome from contact
with organic matters, such as weeds, or plants, or insects, or other bodies in a
more or less corrupt state, or from inorganic matter, or whether the water be
combined with salt, as is the case with sea water.
:
My said improvements consist in causing the water to traverse layers of
animal black (carbonized bone), charcoal, coarse sand, and coal, or other
suitable substances arranged in parallel layers between the surfaces of two.
cases or chests made of perforated metal, the one placed within the other
around the suction or other pipe, through which the water is to be drawn off
for use. I place round the end of the pipe through which the water is to be
drawn off a case or chest of any convenient form and size made of perforated
metal, and I surround or coat this chest on the outside with parallel layers of
carbonized bone, charcoal, coarse sand, and coal, or other suitable filtering
matters, and I enclose the said inside chest and the said layers of filtering
matter in a second outside metallic perforated casing; the outside surface of
the inner metallic perforated casing and the inside surface of the exterior

page_text: perforated casing may be lined with linen or canvas or similar material. The
water passes through the two perforated cases, the linen or other lining
.thereof, and the filtering matters enclosed between them to the inside of the
interior chest, and is drawn off for use through the pipe or pipes penetrating
into the said inside chest or cistern. At the bottom of the said pipe is a small
metallic perforated chest containing a sponge or other suitable porous sub-
stance, through which the water has to pass on being drawn off, the said
sponge depriving it of any impurities which might have found their way into the
inner chest. The pipe through which the water is drawn off may be passed
into the apparatus through a second pipe of larger diameter attached to the
said filtering apparatus, and passing into the inner chest or cistern thereof, in
order to the said water pipe being easily removed from the apparatus when
.desired.
My filtering or purifying apparatus may be applied to ordinary pumps in
ordinary cisterns or wells, or it may be placed in ships, boats, rivers, canals,
or ponds, or in sea or other water. The said apparatus may also be constructed
in a portable form for the use of military men or travellers.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed with reference to
the accompanying Drawings, in which my Invention is represented applied
to an ordinary well or cistern.
Figure 1 represents a transverse section of the apparatus and well;
Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
A represents the suction pipe or pipe through which the water is drawn off
by the pump or other means; B is a pipe of larger diameter affixed to my
apparatus, and in which passes the pipe A. Around the lower part of the
pipes A and B, I place and affix a metallic perforated case or vessel D, which
may be cylindrical and flat at the top and bottom, the pipes A and B
passing through the top, or it may be of any other convenient shape. The
outside of the said case may be lined with linen, canvas, or other like
material, and thereupon I place a layer of carbonized bone H. Over this
layer of carbonized bone I place a layer of charcoal I, and over the charcoal
I place a layer of coarse sand K, upon which I place a layer of coal L. I
envelope these parallel layers of filtering matter with a perforated metallic
chest C, the inner surface of which may be covered with a lining of linen, canvas,
or other suitable similar material. The space between the two perforated
metallic cases C and D is thus filled with carbonized bone, charcoal, coarse
sand, and coal arranged in parallel, horizontal, and vertical layers H, I, K, L,

page_text: as shown. The water to be purified or filtered passes instantly and con-
tinuously through the perforated cases C and D, and the layers of filtering
material L, K, I, H, and the linen or other lining of the said perforated
cases, and penetrates in a purified state into the inner case or chamber G,
from thence it passes through the sponge or other suitable porous substance E
at the bottom of the pipes A, B, and is sucked up or otherwise drawn off
through the pipe A for use. The sponge E deprives the water of any impurity
which may have passed into the inner chamber G, such impurity falling into
the part F under such sponge E. M, M, are the walls of the well, and N, N,
represent the water contained in the well. I have not thought it necessary
to describe particularly the other modes of applying my said Invention, as the
same will be readily understood from the above description of my apparatus
applied to an ordinary well.
My apparatus may be made of any size or shape to supply any required
quantity of water, and one apparatus may be made to supply five or six pumps
with water.
Or my said apparatus may be made of a portable form for the use of
military men or travellers, and I have found in practice that a small apparatus
constructed according to my Invention, about five inches high and four inches
in diameter with a suction pipe of about half an inch in diameter, will enable
individuals to procure wholesome and pure water from stagnant or otherwise
impure ponds or swamps.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be well understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein-before described and illustrated in the
Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
said Invention, and although I prefer in my apparatus to make use of parallel
layers of carbonized bone, charcoal, coarse sand, and coal placed in the order
above described, the same may be changed, or other suitable filtering matters
may be used in place of those above described when found more suitable to
the purpose; but what I claim as my Invention is, -
Firstly, the mode of purifying or filtering water berein-before described, that
is to say, causing it to pass through parallel, vertical, and horizontal layers of
different filtering materials to a chamber in the middle of the filter, from which
it is drawn off in a purified state by suitable means.
Secondly, the construction and arrangement of the parts of filtering appa-
ratus berein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, enclosing parallel layers of filtering materials between two
perforated metallic chests or cases lined with linen or other fibrous material,

page_text: the inner chest forming an inside chamber containing the end of the pipe,
through which the water is drawn off in a purified state for use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edouard Andries, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
EDOUARD ANDRIES. (LS.)