IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PURIFYING WATER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fordred, of Stoke Newington, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
AND PURIFYING WATER."
Sealed the 4th May 1858, and dated the 7th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fordred at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th November 1857.
I, JOHN FORDRED, of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex, Gen-
tleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING AND PURIFYING WATER," to be as follows (that is to say):-
It has long been a desideratum to purify, sweeten, decolorize, and otherwise
operate on water intended for domestic, dietetic, and manufacturing purposes,
which either from its mode of collection, procuration, or its source, is ill-
flavored, contaminated with organic matter, or otherwise unsuitable for the
purposes intended.
Now, the applicant has discovered several modes of effecting these results
in an economic manner by the use of carbonate of lime, sulphate of lime (both
natural and artificial), coke, burnt clay, wood charcoal, and pumicestone..
The coke and wood charcoal may each be used alone in the form in which
they leave the kilns or ovens; being of a porous nature, they may be used for
the formation of a filtering bed without breaking up, and then, when their
power is exhausted, they can be removed, washed, dried, and sold for nearly
their original cost; the coke, if required, may be reburnt and used again.

page_text: In operating on a tinged or colored water for use in manufactories and for
the supply of towns, the applicant has found that coke, and by preference, rail-
way coke, either whole or broken up, possesses sufficient virtue in itself for
this purpose, its porosity and decolorizing powers both being brought into play;
in order, however, to economise it as far as possible, he prefers using it as
above stated on account of renewal and replacement. It may be laid on the
usual bed of pebbles, &c., if thought advisable; these, however, do not affect
its action, but merely assist the mechanical operation of the filter. With some
waters and in certain situations it is a good plan to allow the water to flow per
ascensum through the bed of coke, and then per descensum through a layer of
sand or other suitable material.
The carbonates and sulphates of lime may be ground and mixed with the
water, and then be allowed to subside, or they may be broken up small and
used as filtering media, singly or combined, alone or in addition to other
substances capable of being employed for that purpose.
For preparing water for the use of breweries and in certain other manu-
factures, it may be passed through a stratum of granular sulphate of lime
with some carbonate of lime; this will give it the requisite hardness.
For improving the flavor of distilled sea water for use on board ships, it
may be allowed after leaving the condenser to pass through a filter constructed
of animal, wood, or peat charcoal in combination with a stratum of carbonate
of lime and a little sulphate of lime; this of much importance, as it occa-
sionally happens that some free acid distils over with the water, and this is
immediately neutralized in passing this filter.
The natural limestones, gypsum, chalk, marble, &c. all answer well for the
foregoing purposes, and these, as well as the artificial compounds of lime
referred to above, he employs in these operations, not limiting himself to
absolutely pure carbonates and sulphates of lime.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fordred in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FORDRED, of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did; for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
or such others as I, the said John Fordred, 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 TREATING AND PURIFYING WATER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Fordred, 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
to 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 John Fordred, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement, that is to say:
It has long been a desideratum to purify, sweeten, decolorize, and otherwise
operate on water intended for domestic, dietetic, and manufacturing purposes,
which, either from its mode of collection, procuration, or its source, is ill-
flavored, contaminated with organic matter, or otherwise unsuitable for the
purposes.intended.
Now, I have discovered several modes of effecting these results in an
economic manner by the use of carbonate of lime and sulphate of lime (both
natural and artificial), coke, burnt clay, wood charcoal, and pumicestone.
In the adoption of any one or more of the filtering or decolorizing materials
named in this Spécification, regard must necessarily be had to their prime
cost in the situation where the operations are to be carried on on the large
scale; this will in a great measure influence the selection made. I shall there-
fore describe in general terms the mode of using each of those named, leaving-
the selection of any one or more to be determined in each particular case by
the facility of their procuration in the immediate neighbourhood, or their relative
prime cost on the spot.
The coke and wood charcoal I use alone in the form in which they leave
the kilns or ovens being of a porous nature, I use them for the formation of
.a filtering bed in the ordinary way without breaking them up, so that when
their power is exhausted they can be removed, washed, dried, and sold for
nearly their original cost. If desired, the coke may be reburnt and used
again.

page_text: In operating on a tinged or colored water for use in manufactories and for
the supply of towns, I have found that coke, and by preference railway coke
(chosen as free from sulphur as possible), either whole or broken up, possesses
sufficient virtue in itself for this purpose, its porosity and decolorizing powers
both being brought into play; in order, however, to economise it as much as
possible, I prefer using it in large pieces, on account of renewal and replace-
ment. If preferred, it may be laid on the usual bed of pebbles, &c.; these,
however, do not affect its action on the water, but merely assist the mechanical
opération of the filter. With some waters and in certain situations, it is a
good plan to allow the water to flow per ascensum through the bed of coke,
and then per descensum through a layer of sand or other suitable material.
)
Burnt clay in some localities can be obtained very cheaply, being exten-
sively used for road making. This I find makes a good filtering medium, and
can be used in lumps or coarsely granulated to form the filter bed.
Pumicestone again is available for this purpose, and is applied and used in
the same manner.
The carbonate of lime or chalk is ground and mixed with the water in the
proportion of about two ounces to the gallon, and is then allowed to subside;
as soon as the water is clear it is run off, and a fresh portion is mixed with the
precipitate and again allowed to settle. This operation can be repeated
many times (fifteen to twenty), depending on the depth of color in the normal
water; when, however, the bleaching power of the carbonate of lime is
exhausted, it must be replaced by a fresh portion.
Finely ground limestone (as free as possible from magnesia) I find answers
well for this purpose, as it subsides more rapidly than the chalk.
The carbonate of lime (as marble or limestone) I use broken up small or
granulated as a filtering medium, either alone or combined with other sub-
stances capable of being employed for that purpose. In granulating the
marble or limestone for this purpose it is necessary to reduce it to powder by
grinding under edgestones, or running it through rolls, and then to sift out the
dust, leaving the grains about the size of grains of sand. I use this granular
carbonate of lime for the top layer of the filter beds, and it replaces with
advantage the sand ordinarily employed for that
purpose. It possesses in a
remarkable degree an attraction for the coloring matter contained in natural
waters, which, in passing through a bed of it, leave their coloring matters on
the surface. When the filter chokes, the surface is removed, washed, and
replaced in the same manner as the sand usually employed for filters on the
large scale.
If it be desired to harden the water so as to prevent its action on lead, I

page_text: introduce into the filter bed a layer of granular sulphate of lime or gypsum;
the thickness of this layer depends on the degree of hardness required to be
given to the water, a good proportion, however, I find to be one inch of gypsum
to twenty inches of limestone.
TREATING WATER FOR BREWING AND DYEING PURPOSES.
For many years it was thought that a soft water was the best adapted for
the use of the brewer. Later experience, however, has shown that on the
contrary a very hard water, caeteris paribus, makes the best beer; such a water
is found in the wells at Burton-on-Trent. Now, to produce such a water arti-
ficially for the brewer, I take a cylinder of galvanized iron or other suitable
material, made with a perforated false bottom, and fill it with a layer of granular
gypsum and a layer of granular limestone, in the proportion of three inches of
gypsum to one inch of limestone, and I allow the water intended for brewing
purposes to pass slowly through the mass, regulating the flow by means of a
cock inserted below the false bottom. The speed will depend on the total
depth of the filtering medium employed, which may be varied at pleasure,
bearing in mind, however, that the deeper the filter the more rapidly may the
water be permitted to flow through it. It is impossible to give exact instruc-
tions on this head, but as a guide, it may be mentioned that when an imperial
gallon of the filtered water leaves on evaporation to dryness a residuum of
eighty grains, a good working result has been obtained. Granulated marble
answers equally well as limestone in this case.
The same formation of filter is available for the use of dyers and others
in those operations which require a very hard water.
In situations where it would be impossible to apply a filter in the foregoing
form, it suffices to place the granulated gypsum and marble in the water
cistern itself, allowing the water to remain sufficiently long in contact to
become impregnated with the lime salts. I prefer, however, the filter, as its
action is more certain and uniform.
RENDERING DISTILLED SEA WATER POTABLE.
Many contrivances have been proposed to effect this purpose, but as an
illustration of what little confidence is placed in them, not one ship in a
hundred has at present adopted any of them.
Sea water freshly distilled is flat, nauseous, and unpalatable; it is impreg-
nated also with a disagreeable taste and smell. To render it wholesome and
drinkable I treat it as follows:-
I take a cylinder of calvanised iron or other suitables maturiat

page_text: deep and eighteen inches in diameter, and having placed in it a false per-
ferated bottom, I introduce a layer of granular limestone or marble, and a thin
stratum of granular gypsum, and fill up to the top with animal, wood, or peat
charcoal; the proportions being about twelve of charcoal, one of gypsum,
and twenty-two of limestone or marble.
Into this filter the stream of water from the condensing apparatus is con-
ducted, and its outflow is regulated by a cock inserted below the false bottom.
By this means the volatile matters driven over by the heat are arrested by the
charcoal; and the water in its further descent through the filter dissolves a
portion of the lime salts, thus assimilating itself both in taste and composition
to the natural waters man is accustomed to procure from springs and wells.
It occasionally happens that some free acid distils over, this is instantly
neutralized by the marble or limestone, and thus rendered innocuous.
The natural limestones, gypsum, chalk, marble, &c. all answer well for the
foregoing purposes, and these I employ as well as the artificial compounds of
lime referred to above, not limiting myself to absolutely pure carbonates and
sulphates of lime, or to the exact proportions and dimensions set down in the
foregoing paragraphs.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fordred, have hereunto set mý
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
JOHN (L.S.) FORDRED.