IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF SOLID MATTERS CONTAINED IN LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS POR THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF SOLID MATTERS CONTAINED IN
LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS POR THE SAME."-A communication from
abroad by Lucien Henri Blanchard and Louis Léon Henri Provost,
both of 13, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 30th April 1869, and dated the 7th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th November 1868.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF SOLID
MATTERS CONTAINED IN LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," to be as
follows:-
The object of these improvements is the separation of the greater part
of the utilizable matters contained in large quantities of water by way
of filtration. I obtain this result in a closed vessel under the pressure

page_text: of a column of liquid varying in height according to circumstances.
The apparatus is arranged with a view to multiply the filtering surfaces
as much as possible. The filtering plates are made movable so as to
enable them to be readily replaced after cach cleansing of the apparatus
and permit of the operation being carried on almost without inter-
ruption.
The matters employed for the filtering consist of river sand, vegetable
and animal charcoal, coke either separately or mixed, or bricks of
porous stone. The sand and charcoal, either pure or mixed together,
are closely packed into a receptacle forming the envelope of the
filtering plate,. to be herein-after described, so as to form a compact
pervious mass. The size of the grains of sand or charcoal varies
according to the rapidity and facility which is to be afforded for the
flow of the liquid. Bricks of porous stone are used for filtering waters
but slightly charged with matters in suspension:
DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS.
B is a water-tight reservoir receiving the liquid at the upper part À,
and hermetically closed. The apparatus is provided with an ascending
pipe, by means of which it may be operated at a pressure suited to the
requirements of the service. The front portion of the reservoir B is
divided into two parts, the panels or sides of which form the filtering
surfaces. These panels are composed of movable filtering plates super-
posed in grooved frames as at P, P; these plates are filled with sand firmly
compressed, and then closed by means of covers of wood or metal with
india-rubber joints. The envelope of which these plates are composed
is in the form of a parallelopiped of wood or metal open at one end in
the direction of its length, the other end being closed. The sides are
filled in with a kind of latticework, on which wire cloth is adjusted by
means of screws, the meshes being adapted to the kind of sand to be
placed thereon. The upper side of the front part of the apparatus. is
tightly closed, the bottom being divided into three parts; this bottom is
of great strength and bears with force on each panel so as to hold the
superposed filtering parts firmly together. The action of the apparatus
is very simple. The liquid enters under pressure at the upper part, and
is forced to pass through the filtering panels, in which or in the apparatus
it deposits the matters it contains in suspension before passing out.
When the flow slackens as an indication that the apparatus is choked

page_text: the supply is cut off by closing. the. inlet cock or sluice; after which the
apparatus is cleansed and the filtering plates changed for a fresh
operation, the matters being first removed at orifice X.
PECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patcut,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Scal
Patent Office on, the 6th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Hor
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for- Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term thercin
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 THE
SEPARATION OF SOLID MATTERS CONTAINED IN LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS FOR
THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad by Lucien Henri Blan-
chard and Louis Léon Henri Provost, both of 13, Boulevart St. Martin,
Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
Melville Clark, 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 Alexander Melville Clark,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say)
The object of these improvements is the separation of the greater part
of the solid matters contained in large quantities of water, more especially
.sewage waters, for the purpose of retaining and utilizing the same. For
this purpose I subject the liquids to a filtering process in a closed vessel
under the pressure of a column of liquid varying in height according to.
circumstances. A series of apparatus is employed arranged with a view
to multiply the filtering surfaces. The filters are made movable so as to,
enable them to be readily replaced after each cleansing of the apparatus,
and permit of the operation being carried on almost without inter-.
ruption.
The matters employed for the filtering consist of river sand, vegetable
and animal charcoal, coke, either separately or mixed, or blocks of porous.
stone. The sand and charcoal, either separately or mixed together, are
closely packed into the receptacle forming the envelope of the filter to.
be herein-after described, so as to form a compact and pervious mass.
The size of the grains of sand or charcoal varies according to the
rapidity and facility which is to be afforded for the flow of the liquid.
The blocks of porous stone are used for filtering water but slightly
abowend with solid matters.

page_text: filters are composed is in the form of a parallelopiped of wood or metal
open at one end in the direction of its length, the other end being closed.
The sides are filled in with a kind of latticework, on which wire
cloth is adjusted by means of screws, the meshes being adapted to the
kind of sand to be placed therein. The upper side of the front part of.
the apparatus is tightly closed, the bottom being divided into three
parts. This bottom is of great strength, and bears with force on each
panel so as to hold the superposed filters firmly together. The action
of the apparatus is very simple. The liquid enters, under pressure at the
upper part, and is forced to pass through the filtering panels, as
indicated by the arrows in Figure. 3, in which filters or in the apparatus
it deposits the matters it contains in suspension before passing out.
When the flow slackens as an indication that the apparatus is choked
the supply is cut off by closing the inlet cock or sluice, after which the
apparatus is cleansed and the filters changed, for a fresh operation, the
matters being first removed at orifice X.
The apparatus herein-before described is made preferably of cast or
other iron, the fixed part or framing and movable filters being cast, and
the chamber formed of iron plates rivetted together. The movable filters
may either be arranged to slide in guides or grooves made in the framing,
or they may be bolted thereto and also at top and bottom; these
movable filters may also be made of a box or rectangular parallelopiped
form, as seen in Figures 6 and 7, cast in a single piece, and provided
with a cover at one side serving to close the same. The two sides are
provided with perforations formed in casting, and covered with wire
gauze attached by means of screws or otherwise. These boxes are filled
with filtering matters well packed therein, and the covers then applied
so as to close them, the matters being further compressed by means of
bolts fixed in the interior so as to leave the outside of the filters perfectly
smooth for attachment to the fixed part of the apparatus. It will be
understood that by increasing the length of the bolts and adding a
frame or case of similar dimensions the filters may be increased in thick-
ness while using the same cover, or by having two covers two distinct
cases may be formed in juxtaposition, each containing the matters which
are separated by a diaphragm provided with perforations and covered
with wire gauze, which is always in direct contact with the filtering
matters. I particularly reserve the use of the above arrangement. In
addition to the filtering apparatus before described I may employ
apparatus of a similar nature containing coarse filtering matters, such as

page_text: gravel, refuse sponge, felt clippings or shearings, serving to arrest the
passage of the coarser matters in suspension in the liquids under
treatment before passing through the filtering apparatus previously
described.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
combination and arrangement of reservoir B and panels P, P, composed
of filtering cases or boxes, substantially as shown and described, serving
as filtering apparatus for extracting the solid matters in suspension in
liquids more especially for purifying sewage and other foul liquid
matters.
I also claim multiplying the filtering surfaces, as also the
arrangement of adjustable panels, all in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)