A NEW OR IMPROVED CHARCOAL TO BE USED FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER FOUL WATERS, AND FOR DISINFECTING AND DEODORISING PURPOSES."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robey, of the City of Manchester, Sugar
Refiner, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED CHARCOAL TO BE
USED FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER FOUL WATERS, AND FOR DISINFECTING
AND DEODORISING PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Robey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th January 1873.
I, JAMES ROBEY, of the City of Manchester, Sugar Refiner, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED CHARCOAL
TO BE USED FOR PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER FOUL WATERS, AND FOR DISINFECTING
AND DEODORISING PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
In the purification of sewage by what is termed the precipitating
process it is the practice to mix the sewage with certain precipitating
agents, and then to pass the mixture into a tank or reservoir (or the
mixture is made in the tank or reservoir itself) where the whole is

page_text: allowed to stand until the suspended impurities contained in the sewage
together with the precipitant have settled to the bottom. The super-
natent liquid is then drawn off, leaving the solid matter technically
called sludge at the bottom of the tank or reservoir. I take this sludge
or precipitate, as produced by the Native Guano Company, Limited,
when working according to either of the two Patents granted to
Messieurs Sillar and Wigner, bearing date the 15th June 1868, No. 1954,
and to W. Wigner, bearing date the 12th May 1870, No. 1354, in both
of which Patents clay is the principal precipitant, or I take the sewage
precipitate or sludge produced by other precipitating processes in which
clay is used, and after drying such sludge I char the same in closed
vessels at a red heat; the mode usually adopted in animal charcoal
manufactories may be used, and thus I produce a charcoal which can
be used for purifying sewage or other foul liquids, or for improving the
effluent waters from sewage precipitating processes, and which charcoal
has a considerable power of absorbing free or albumenoid ammonia from
substances filtered through it, and is also useful for disinfecting and
deodorising purposes.
I also produce a similar charcoal and having similar properties by
taking the refuse carbonaceous matter produced in prussiate of potash
manufactories, and mixing it with common clay in the proportion by
weight of about two of clay to one of refuse, both by preference in a wet
state. This mixture I dry and then char it in closed vessels, as before
described.

page_text: thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Robey, Her special licence
that I, the said James Robey, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Robey, 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 nake, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED CHARCOAL TO BE USED FOR
PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER FOUL WATERS, AND FOR DISINFECTING AND
DEODORISING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Robey, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
.

page_text: can be used for purifying sewage or other foul liquids, or for improving
the effluent waters from sewage precipitating processes, and which
charcoal has a considerable power of absorbing free or albuminoid
ammonia from substances filtered through it, and is also useful for
disinfecting and deodorising purposes. If I find the charcoal produced
from sewage precipitant as herein-before described to be too friable,
I prefer to intimately mix a sufficient quantity of clay with such
precipitant previous to charring, and thus increase the compactness of
the charcoal made therefrom to any desired extent and also add to its
specific gravity.
I also produce a similar charcoal and having similar propertics from
the carbonaceous refuse produced in prussiate of potash manufactories.
This carbonaceous refuse is a well-known powerful disinfectant deodoriser
and decolorer of foul liquids, as well as a good absorbent of ammonia
and soluble salts. So far back as the year 1854 its application for
deodorising sewage was described by Mr. Thomas Wicksteed in the
Specification of Patent No. 193, but its use as a filtering medium has
hitherto been discouraged owing to its extremely fine state of division.
The difficulty of filtering through this material has been attempted to bo
overcome by the admixture with it of various substances, such as gravel,
coarse sand, cinders, or other material to render it more open, and thus
facilitate the passage through it of the filtrate.
Although filtration through the said prussiate of potash refuse has
thus been accomplished, yet the admixture of so much inert matter is
very objectionable, especially when it is desirable to restore its power
after exhaustion, which could otherwise be most rapidly and economically
accomplished by heating to redness in closed vessels, as is practised so
extensively in the revivification of the animal charcoal used by sugar
refiners.
It is obvious that the presence of the necessarily large amount of
gravel, coarse sand, cinders, or other material alluded to, would add
much to the expense of such a process of revivification, inasmuch as a
large quantity of inert matter would thus require to be dried and made
red hot or otherwise manipulated. The gravel, sand, or other material,
it is true, might be sifted out, but as after use for filtering purposes the
mixture would be a wet mass, this itself would be an expensive
oneration on the large scale and even if economically and satisfactorily

page_text: accomplished the resulting charcoal is in so very fine a state of division
as to present serious practical obstacles to the process of revivification
by heating to redness in closed vessels. My object is therefore, first, to
avoid all these difficulties in using such refuse as a filtering medium
whilst retaining its full powers as a deodoriser, and secondly, to produce
a material useful for precipitating the suspended and soluble impurities
contained in sewage and other foul liquids. For these purposes, I
intimately mix clay with the prussiate of potash refuse, and afterwards
char the mixture at a red heat in closed vessels. Clay being a powerful
absorbent of ammonia, and soluble salts is itself very useful as a filter for
foul liquids, especially when calcined at a low temperature, and when so
treated after mixture with the carbonaceous refuse herein-before described;
it is very porous and presents in addition the still more powerful
absorbent of impurities, the carbonaceous refuse of the prussiate of
potash manufacture, in finely divided particles in a porous body to the
fluids filtering through it, in this respect resembling closely in its
physical condition the animal charcoal of the sugar refiner, but con-
taining more carbon.
The quality and fine state of division of the varying carbonaceous
refuses will require varying proportions of clay to secure the maximum
amount of the former in the prepared charcoal, but a useful proportion
I find to be about one to two parts by weight of dry clay to one part by
weight of the dry carbonaceous refuse, but I use as little clay as may be
necessary. Too little clay, however, would render the resulting charcoal
too friable, as much therefore must be used as will yield after charring
a compact charcoal, but rarely more than the above proportion of clay
will be required. The clay I prefer for this purpose is pipe clay free
from sand or foreign matters, but where economy is a main object I use
any common ferruginous or other clay, selecting that which contains
the least sand or other inert matter. I prefer to mix both the clay and
the carbonaceous refuse in a moist condition by a pug or mortar mill or
by any suitable machinery (that will accomplish a thoroughly homo-
geneous admixture), such as brick-making machinery, to such a
consistency that it can be delivered from such machines in the form
3 of small bricks, capable of being readily dried and charred; I then
reduce the charred mixture to a granular state of about the size of large
blasting powder or very coarse sand, a size very suitable for large
filtering operations, and which facilitates the action of all kinds of

page_text: revivifying processes, but when using this my improved charcoal as a
precipitant of suspended and soluble impurities in sewage and other foul
liquids, I reduce the charred mixture to a state of fine powder, its
increased specific gravity causing it to settle down in thick sewage
much quicker than the prussiate of potash alone will do when so used.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to any particular method of
intimately mixing the afore-mentioned material, nor to any particular
kind of clay, but what I do claim is, the manufacture of an improved
charcoal, as and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Office,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
JA. ROBEY.
(L.S.)