IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF TREATING SEWAGE AND SEWAGE DEPOSITS TO OBTAIN GAS, MANURE AND BRANKAMA
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Howard Kidd of Wrexham in the County of
Denbigh Engineer and Thomas John Barnard of Tower Chambers Moorgate
in the City of London for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF TREATING SEWAGE AND SEWAGE DEPOSITS TO OBTAIN GAS, MANURE AND
BRANKAMA
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Howard Kidd and:
Thomas John Barnard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
22nd March 1883.
JOHN HOWARD KIDD of Wrexham in the County of Denbigh, Engineer, and
THOMAS JOHN BARNARD of Tower Chambers, Moorgate, in the City of London
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF TREATING SEWAGE AND SEWAGE DEPOSITS TO
OBTAIN GAS, MANURE, AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM."
The object of this invention is to treat sewage and sewage deposits for the
recovery of the valuable constituents thereof in a more economical manner than
heretofore.
'
To this end we propose to erect some six or more tanks in the neighbourhood.
of the outfall, each capable of holding a certain number of hour's supply of the
daily flow of the sewage, so that one can be filling, one or more settling, while
there is one always in readiness for cleansing.
These tanks we provide with flood gates for running off the supernatant liquid
preparatory to removing the deposit or sludge from the tanks. By this means we
are enabled to get rid of a large percentage of liquid and bring the material to be
operated upon for the production of manure and for other uses, within a manageable
compass, and at comparatively little cost. The further to secure this result after
removing the sludge from the tanks, we spread the sludge on the floor of a covered
shed erected by the side of the tanks, and by preference open on all sides to the
weather.
This floor should be asphalted, cemented, tiled or flagged, and should slope
towards the tanks, so that a large portion of the water contained in the sludge may

page_text: drain into them. After remaining several days on the floor, we remove the sludge
further back in the building, and throw the same into heaps to consolidate and
part with a further per-centage of the water it contains. We then place a further
lot of sludge in the place the other occupied. This method of draining off the
liquid will be found far preferable to the use of porous or open draining beds, which
soon get fouled.
In dry summer weather, if a portion of this heap, chopped fine with a spade, be
spread in thin layers in the open air exposed to the heat of the sun, and again
thrown into a heap under cover, it will greatly increase in temperature, and when
cut through with a spade, it will emit volumes of steam, and will soon be fit for
removal to the drying machine to be hereafter described.
In winter weather we prefer to chop up the consolidated sludge and remove
it to a steam drying chamber or floor covered with a continuous length of steam
pipes.
The drying chamber is provided with large doors, and a flue is connected with
the chimney stack to convey into it the steam arising from the heated sludge.
When sufficiently heated through, the now consolidated sludge is removed to the
drying machine, which consists of a plain cylindrical shell divided into two
compartments, into one of which steam is admitted, and can circulate as in the
drying chamber.
In one compartment of this shell (felted to keep in the heat) are 6 or more tubes
in which revolve a number of cast iron screw blades, which push and break up the
sludge during its passage through them.
The steam or vapour given out from the sludge is conveyed from the second
compartment to the chimney. After passing through this machine, the sludge,
when stored, will lose a further percentage of its moisture, and dry down to the
condition of a finely pulverized mould ready for mixing with other ingredients to
form a concentrated and highly valuable manure. By adopting this process, it is
only necessary to evaporate about 20 to 25 per cent of the moisture originally
contained in the sludge.
In some cases we propose to take the dried sludge direct from the drying
machine, and mix it with shoddy refuse, or other nitrogenous materials, and
petroleum oil, and then carbonize the same in retorts, using the residuum för
mixing into manure or into, mortar.
Or the dried sewage and other nitrogenous materials can be put into a retort,
and the petroleum oil added drop by drop during the process of carbonization.
Or the dried sludge and other nitrogenous materials can be carbonized in one
retort, and the petroleum oil converted into gas in another retort, and the two
gases afterwards mixed in suitable proportions. Or dried sewage and other
nitrogenous materials can be mixed with cannel coal to produce a richer gas.
When chemicals are used for deodorizing the effluent waters, they should be
added at the end of the process, and not at the commencement ;. the clarified water
can then be pumped or run by gravitation over a limited area of ground for further
purification, and subsequently turned into the nearest watercourse.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Howard Kidd and Thomas John Barnard in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st September 1883.
JOHN HOWARD KIDD of Wrexham in the County of Denbigh Engineer and
THOMAS JOHN BARNARD of Tower Chambers Moorgate in the city of London
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF TREATING SEWAGE AND SEWAGE DEPOSITS TO
OBTAIN GAS MANURE AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM
">
The object of this invention is to treat sewage and sewage deposits for the
recovery of the valuable constituents thereof in a more economical manner than
heretofore To this end we propose to erect some six or more tanks in the
neighbourhood of the outfall each capable of holding a certain number of hours
supply of the daily flow of the sewage so that one can be filling, one or more
settling, while there is one always in readiness for cleansing.
These tanks we provide with flood gates for running off the supernatant liquid
preparatory to removing the deposit or sludge from the Tanks. By this means we
are enabled to get rid of a large percentage of liquid and bring the material to be
operated upon for the production of manure or for other uses within a manageable
compass and at a comparatively little cost.
The further to secure this result after removing the sludge from the Tanks we
spread the sludge on the floor of a covered shed erected by the side of the Tanks
and by preference open on all sides to the weather
:
This Hoor should be asphalted, cemented tiled or flagged, and should slope
towards the tanks so that a large portion of the water contained in the sludge may
drain into them. After remaining several days on the floor we remove the sludge,
further back in the building and throw the same into heaps to consolidate and
part with a further percentage of the water it contains. We then place a further.
lot of sludge in the place the other occupied. This method of draining off the
liquid will be found far preferable to the use of porous or open draining beds
which soon get fouled. In dry summer weather, if a portion of this heap, chopped
fine, be spread in thin layers in the open air exposed to the heat of the sun, and
again thrown into a heap under cover it will greatly increase in temperature and
when cut through with a spade it will emit volumes of steam and will soon be fit
for removal to the drying machine to be hereafter described
In winter weather we prefer to chop up the consolidated sludge and remove it
to a steam drying chamber or floor covered with a continuous length of steam
pipes The drying chamber is provided with large doors and a flue is connected
with the chimney stack to convey into it the steam arising from the heated sludge.
When sufficiently heated through, the now consolidated sludge is removed to the
drying machine which consists of a plain cylindrical shell divided into two
compartments into one of which steam is admitted and can circulate as in the
drying chamber In one compartment of this shell (felted to keep in the heat) are
six or more tubes in which revolve a number of screw blades which break up the
sludge during its passage through them and pass it several times through the
beated surfaces of the machine as hereafter described-The steam or vapour given
out from the sludge is conveyed from the second compartment to the chimney.
After passing through this machine the sludge when stored will lose a further per
centage of its moisture and dry down to the condition of a finely pulverized
mould ready for mixing with other ingredients to form a concentrated and highly
valuable manure. By adopting this process it is only necessary to evaporate about
20 to 25 per cent of the moisture originally contained in the sludge In some cases

page_text: we propose to take the dried sludge direct from the drying machine and mix it with
the shoddy refuse, stable manure or other nitrogenous materials or petroleum or
other hydrocarbon oil and then carbonize the same in retorts using the residuum
for mixing into manure or into mortar. Or the dried sludge and other nitrogenous
materials can be put into a retort and the petroleum or other oil added drop by
drop during the process of carbonization Or the dried sludge and other nitrogenous
substances can be carbonized in one retort and the petroleum or other oil converted
into gas in another retort and the two gases afterwards mixed in suitable propor-
tions or dried sewage and other nitrogenous materials can be mixed with cannel coal
to produce a richer gas.
When chemicals are used for deodorizing the effluent water they should be added
at the end of the process and not at the beginning, the clarified water can then be
pumped or run by gravitation over a limited area of ground for further purification
and subsequently turned into the nearest water course.
In order to more fully explain the drying machine we will describe it in connec-
tion with the accompanying sheet of Drawings where Fig 1 is an elevation of the
drying machine which consists of a plain cylindrical shell divided into two
compartments a and b The compartment a contains a number of tubes in each
of which revolves a screw blade or a series of screw blades; The partly dried
sludge is fed into hoppers c c and carried by the screws to the far end of each tube
when it drops into those immediately beneath them and so on until it is discharged
through an opening d in the compartment b. The vapour arising from the sludge
may be conveyed to the chimney e or into a condenser and the residual products
abstracted in the usual way The compartment a is connected with the Boiler f
by the pipe g through which steam is admitted and the condensed water is returned
to the boiler by the pipe Fig shews the arrangement at the feeding end and
fig 3 the mode of driving and discharging the contents.
Having now particularly described this our invention and the means whereby
we prefer to carry it into effect we declare that we claim the treatment of sewage
deposits substantially in the manner and by the arrangement and apparatus herein
described and illustrated
In witness whereof we the said John Howard Kidd and Thomas John Barnard
have hereunto set our hands and seals this eleventh day of September One
thousand eight hundred and eighty three
JOHN HOWARD, KIDD
THOMAS JOHN BARNARD
(L.S.)
(L.S.)