Electrolytic Action and for Disposing of the Deposits thereof.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 8th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 9th Nov., 1888
Electrolytic Action and for Disposing of the Deposits thereof.
I, WILLIAM WEBSTER Junr. of 50 Lee Park, Blackheath in the County of Kent,
Electrician and Chemist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In the Specification to my application for Letters Patent dated 27th January 1887
No. 1333 I described a method of and apparatus for treating sewage by electrolytic
action wherein the sewage was subjected to electrodes having very extended surfaces
through which an electric current was passed, the negative electrodes being made of
iron, while the positive electrodes were either of iron or carbon. According to my
present invention I employ for the positive electrodes, plates of aluminium, either
with or without iron plates at intervals, or I use cast iron plates in which pieces of
graphite are imbedded by throwing them in just before cooling.
I also in some cases run the effluent from sewage after the electro chemical
treatment as before described through a series of chambers containing carbon
electrodes, similar to the apparatus used by me for the purification of water, for
further purification of such effluent by means of the nascent oxygen and chlorine
generated by such electrical treatment.
also construct the walls and partitions of the electrolytic tanks and the sewers
conveying the sewage thereto of iron stone or of red or brown Hematite, and I also
form the bed of the channel or tank into which the effluent is run after the electrolytic
action of iron ore.
I also in some cases add alum to the sewage either before or after the electrolytic
treatment.
The sludge deposited from the sewage I run through a pug mill or other suitable
incorporating apparatus in which it is incorporated with chalk or lime refuse from
lime kilns in proportions varying with the quality of the sewage in a manner similar
to that in which slurry for cement is prepared.

page_text: The resulting mixture may then be conveyed in wooden troughs or conduits or
otherwise on to any convenient foreshore, marsh, or waste land. In some cases I put
a layer of chalk or lime refuse in a "back" similar to those used for the deposition of
slurry, the walls of which may consist of mounds of earth, and upon the said layer 1
then run in the sewage deposit so as to form a layer of few inches in thickness, upon
which I then spread another layer of chalk, and so on alternately, thus producing
made land, this process being used when the sewage sludge is not suitable for
manure.
Dated this 24th day of Innena1000

page_text: Improvements in the Means or Appliances for Treating Sewage by
Electrolytic Action and for Disposing of the Deposits thereof.
I, WILLIAM WEBSTER Junr. of 50 Lee Park, Blackheath in the County of Kent,
Electrician and Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be perforined to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
In the Specification to my application for Letters Patent dated 27th January 1887
No. 1333 I described a method of and apparatus for treating sewage by electrolytic
action wherein the sewage was subjected to electrodes of iron having very extended
surfaces through which an electric current was passed.
According to my present invention I employ for the positive electrodes plates of
aluminium either with or without iron plates at intervals, or I use cast iron plates in
which pieces of graphite or other carbon are imbedded by throwing them in just
before cooling. I also in some cases run the effluent from sewage, after the electro-
chemical treatment as before described, through a series of chambers containing
carbon electrodes made of coke in the form of filters similar to the apparatus used by
me for the purification of water, for further purification of such effluent by means of
the nascent oxygen and chlorine generated by such electrical treatment.
I also construct the walls and partitions of the electrolytic tanks and the sewers
conveying the sewage thereto of iron-stone or of red or brown Hematite and I also
form the bed of the channel or tank into which the effluent is run after the electrolytic
action of iron ore.
I also in some cases add alum to the sewage either before or after the electrolytic
treatment.
The sludge deposited from the sewage I run through a pug mill or other suitable
incorporating apparatus in which it is incorporated with chalk or lime refuse from
lime kilns, in proportions varying with the quality of the sewage in a manner similar
to that in which slurry for cement is prepared.
The resulting mixture may then be conveyed in wooden troughs or conduits or
otherwise on to any convenient foreshore, marsh or waste land.
In some cases I put a layer of chalk or lime refuse in a "back" similar to those used
for the deposition of slurry, the walls of which may consist of mounds of earth, and
upon the said layer I then run in the sewage deposit so as to form a layer of few
inches in thickness, upon which I then spread another layer of chalk, and so on
alternately, thus producing made land, this process being used when the sewage sludge
is not suitable for manure.
The accompanying drawing shews an arrangement of the before described electro-
lytic filtering chamber or tank in combination with an arrangement of electrolytic
tanks for chemically purifying the sewage, similar to that described in the specification
to my application No. 472 of /88.

page_text: The effluent from the tanks A A passes through the sluices B or B¹ into a channel C
common to all, whence it is either discharged through a sluice D into a settling
reservoir E or through a sluice F into the electrolytic filtering chamber G. This is
divided by perforated partitions H into a number of compartments II which are filled
with coke and which are alternately connected by suitable leads J J' to the positive
and negative poles of a dynamo electric machine K, so that the purified sewage in
entering the space L and then filtering successively through the consecutive com-
partments, is at the same time subject to further electrolytic action, and consequently,
issues into the space L whence it is discharged into the reservoir E' through a
sluice M. As explained in the specification to my application No. 47288 the suspended
solid matter contained in the sewage when subjected to the electrolytic action in the
tanks, in the first instance rises to the top in consequence of the bubble of gas which
become disseminated through the same leaving only clear liquid beneath, so that this
can be run off into the filtering chamber through the sluices at bottom as described.
When the comparitively clear liquid has been drawn off in this manner, the
sluice F is closed; and the sludge is then run off from the tanks direct into the
reservoir E.
In some cases the sewage may be retained in the tanks A until the solid matter has
subsided after having risen to the top, in which cases there may be provided a second
sluice B¹ in each tank, at such a height as to be above the precipitated solid matter,
so that the supernatent clear liquid can first be drawn off through the sluices B' and
passed through the electrolytic filter G and into tank E' as described, and the sludge
is then run off through the sluices B into the tank E.
In either of the above arrangements the supernatent liquid obtained after settlement
in the tank E, may be passed through a second electrolytic filter similar to G in
flowing off either to another tank or into a sewer.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is,
1. In electrolytic apparatus for the purification of sewage such as is herein referred
to, the use of positive electrodes formed of either aluminium plates or of cast iron
plates in which carbon is imbedded, substantially as herein described.
2. The use in combination with electrolytic apparatus for the purification of sewage,
such as is described in the Specification to patent No. 1333 of 1887, of chambers
containing carbon electrodes acting as filters, through which the effluent is made to
pass from the said electrolytic apparatus arranged and operating substantially as
herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
3. Constructing the walls and partitions of the tanks and conduits for the electro-
lytic treatment of sewage, as also the floor of the tanks for receiving the effluent, of
ironstone or Hematite, substantially as herein described.
4. Combining the sludge resulting from the electrolytic treatment of sewage with
chalk or lime by forming alternate layers of the sludge and the chalk or lime sub-
stantially as and for the purpose herein described.
Dated this 8th day of October 1888
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.