Improvements in the Construction of Tanks for the Subsidence of the Precipitate or Sludge Resulting from the Chemical Treatment of Sewage or other Foul Waters.
Year: 1893

page_text: The decision of the Comptroller-General, of the 19th day of December 1894, allowed,
under Section 18 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883, an Amendment of this
Specification.
Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 11th July, 1894-Accepted, 11th Aug., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Tanks for the Subsidence of
the Precipitate or Sludge Resulting from the Chemical Treatment
of Sewage or other Foul Waters.
I HAMOR LOCKWOOD of 7 Chapel Walks Manchester in the County of
Lancaster. Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
In the Specification of Letters Patent No. 10308 granted to me and dated
May 30th 1892 I describe a tank which I use (though not a part of that invention)
and my present invention refers to improvements in the construction of the inlet
to the cylindrical tank with conical bottom such as is therein described and also to
improvements in the means for the removal of the sludge.
The tank may be of any convenient dimensions as to diameter and depth
(provided the cone has an angle of not less than forty five degrees) having regard
to the quantity of sewage or other foul water to be treated, and a suitable size for
a large works would be 100 feet in diameter by forty feet in depth (and for a small
one 20 feet in diameter by 20 feet in depth) and may be constructed either in
concrete, hard brick, or iron, but I allow the chemically treated sewage or other
foul water to enter the tank by an inlet placed in the side of the tank at a
considerable distance below the surface of the water, a convenient distance being
half the depth.
I remove the sludge either continuously or intermittently from the bottom of
the cone by means of a pipe of suitable dimensions, either directly from the bottom
of the tank when the nature of the site will admit of it or by a syphon pipe fixed
to the side of the tank in any suitable manner, having its exit through the side of
the tank at a point below the surface of such tank.
The pressure of the supernatant liquor forces the sludge through the pipe to the
outlet, thus avoiding the necessity of pumping the sludge which can be run by
means of pipes or channels, to the filters or presses as, and when required, the
pipes when not in use being closed by suitable valves or taps.
Dated this 10th day of October 1893.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant..

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improvements in the Construction of Tanks for the Subsidence of
the Precipitate or Sludge Resulting from the Chemical Treatment.
of Sewage or other Foul Waters.
I HAMOR LOCKWOOD of 7 Chapel Walks Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the Specification of Letters Patent No. 10308 granted to me and dated
May 30th 1892, I describe a tank which I use (though not a part of that invention)
and my present invention refers to improvements in the construction of the inlet
to the cylindrical tank with conical bottom such as is therein described, and also
improvements in the means for the removal of the sludge.
The nature of my said invention and the manner in which the same is to be
performed or carried into practical effect will be readily understood on reference
to the sheet of drawings hereunto annexed and the following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 on the annexed drawing is a plan view and Fig. 2 a vertical section of a
settling tank constructed according to my improvements, and as at present at work.
The tank a may be made of any convenient dimensions as to diameter and depth
(provided that the conical bottom a¹ has an angle of not less than forty five
degrees) having regard to the quantity of sewage or other foul water to be treated
and a suitable size for a large works would be, say, one hundred feet in diameter
by fifty five to sixty feet in depth at the cylindrical part, and for a small one, say,
twenty feet in diameter by twenty feet in depth, the capacity to be determined by
the quantity and nature of the sewage or other foul water to be treated and the
exact dimensions being regulated according to the position and nature of the
ground, and the tank may be constructed either in concrete, hard brickwork set in
cement, or of iron, or of a combination of such materials.
The chemically treated sewage or other foul water is allowed to enter the tank a
by means of an inlet placed at the side of the tank and opening thereinto at a
considerable distance below the surface of the water, so as not to disturb the water
more than is necessary and thus hinder the subsidence of the precipitated sludge
to the bottom of the cone a¹.
I remove the sludge either continuously or intermittently by means of a sludge
pipe c of suitable dimensions, either directly from the bottom of the tank (as shown
at Fig. 2) when the nature of the site will admit of it, or it may be removed by
means of a syphon pipe fixed to the side of the tank in any suitable manner having
its exit through at a point below the surface of such tank.
The downward pressure of the supernatant liquor forces the sludge through the
pipe c to the outlet thus avoiding the necessity for pumping the sludge which can
be run off by means of pipes or channels, to the filters, or presses as and when
required by pipe c when not in use being closed by suitable valves or taps d.
The clear supernatant liquor overflows from the inner top level into a shallow
-circular gutter e and passes therefrom by a duct or outlet f see Fig. 1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
1 claim is
The combination in a cylindrical settling tank made with a conical bottom, of
the inlet opening admitting the sewage or other foul water at a point considerably
below the surface so as not to disturb the subsidence of the sludge, with a sludge
pipe opening at or near the bottom of the conical part of the tank in such a way

page_text: that the downward pressure of the supernatant liquor will force the sludge through
the outlet so as to dispense with the necessity for pumping the same substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings annexed.
Dated this 10th day of July 1894.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.