Apparatus for the Sterilization or the Disinfection of Waters of all Kinds, Treatment of Sweetened Syrups, and other Analogous Applications, by means of Ozone, Air, or other Gases.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Mar., 1898-Accepted, 2nd July, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LA SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME POUR LES APPLICATIONS
INDUSTRIELLES DE L'OZONE, of No. 22, Boulevard Poissoniere, Paris, in
the Republic of France.]
Apparatus for the Sterilization or the Disinfection of Waters of all
Kinds, Treatment of Sweetened Syrups, and other Analogous
Applications, by means of Ozone, Air, or other Gases.
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., Fel. Ch. Inst. P.A.,
F. I. Inst., practising as Phillips and Leigh, of No. 22, Southampton Build-
ings, Chancery Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineer and
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
The problem of sterilizing liquids by means of ozone, air, or other gases, is
accompanied by certain difficulties, one of which is the difficulty of bringing the
molecules of the water or liquid in contact with the gas selected. It has been
my aim to construct an apparatus with continuous action in which the water
is brought in contact with, let me say, the ozone, for example, in such a way
as to obtain:
1. The sterilization of the water.
2. A convenient exhaustion of the ozone.
The apparatus which has enabled me to realize these two conditions consists
of a cylindrical column constructed of any non-attackable materials, or which
have been rendered practically non-corrosive on exposure to ozone.
This column-see Figure 1-is filled up to a certain height, h, with pieces
of any inert matter, such as stone, bricks, pumice-stone, earthenware, and the
like.
Whatsoever be the material employed for filling the cylinder, the inert mass
is placed in the cylinder either piled up methodically, by selecting pieces of
suitable shape, or else the material is broken up and thrown in pell mell. In
this latter case pieces of a fairly large size are selected to prevent the column
being choked up; still they must be sufficiently small to enable the filtering
action of the column to be utilised to the best advantage, and also to prevent
the liquid running through direct and escaping in the form of streams or jets
without having been acted upon by the ozone.
In certain cases I graduate the sizes of the fragments by placing the largest
in the lower portions of the column and the smallest in the upper parts, or
vice versa.
I introduce the water in the form of fine thread-like streams or jets by means
of a perforated feed-pipe A, placed above the column. The water thence flows
in fine streams continuously on to the mass, and percolates through it, finally
escaping at D in the lower part of the column. Perforated partitions L L are
placed at different heights in order to prevent the water from running off directly
down the walls.

page_text: The ozonized air or other suitable gas is introduced at B, and traverses the
column from bottom to top, finally escaping at C.
In certain cases I use several columns mounted up or connected together like
a battery. Figures 2 and 3 show several columns so coupled, in which the
ozone travels successively from one to the other.
The apparatus shown in Figures 4 and 5 is a modification in the construction
of the apparatus. In this instance the column is placed horizontally in a hori-
zontal receptacle completely filled with the inert matter. Pipes A, A feed
the contaminated water into the upper part of the receptacle, the sterilized
water being drawn off by the pipe 1). The ozonized air enters at B and escapes
at C after having traversed the mass of filtering medium, and after having
been checked in its passage by means of the baffle-plates P, P.
I graduate the time the water remains in the different parts of the apparatus
either by checking the flow through the pipes A, A, by means of the cocks R, R,
or by distributing the water by means of a series of separate pipes.
It is quite clear that this apparatus can, as well as the vertical column, be
used either alone or in the form of batteries.
I reserve the right to vary as I think fit the arrangement of the various
details of my columns, and to construct them either of metal rendered imper-
vious to the action of ozone, or of masonry. In this latter case, the batteries
of columns can be made very simply, either in the shape of buildings above
the level of the ground, or else in the form of caves or under-ground rooms
built in the most suitable way according to the requirements of each particular
case, due observance being paid to the necessary arrangement and inherent
conditions required for the installation.
I shall be able to adapt this self-same system to the disinfection of water
from drains, or waste waters from industrial establishments, by means of ozone,
air, or any other gas suitable to the nature of the case.
In the same way I shall also be able to use my apparatus for treating the
syrups of sugar factories either by carbon dioxide, or any other suitable gas.
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
I claim is:
1. An apparatus for the sterilisation or disinfection of waters of all kinds, or
the similar treatment of syrups and other liquids by means of ozone, air, or any
other suitable gas; composed of a closed gas-tight receptacle, or several such
closed receptacles coupled together, the interior of which is occupied entirely or
partially by pieces of some inert materials such as flint, bricks, and the like,
and into which the liquid enters at the top and flows downwards, through the
mass, whilst the gas enters at the bottom and escapes at the top, the object of
the whole arrangement being to present a large surface of liquid to the gas
and to exhaust or absorb the gas entirely, substantially as herein described.
2. An apparatus for the sterilisation or disinfection of waters of all kinds
or the similar treatment of syrups or other liquids by means of ozone, air or
any other suitable gas, constructed as described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2
and 3 of the annexed drawings.
3. An apparatus for the sterilisation or disinfection of waters of all kinds
or the similar treatment of syrups or other liquids by means of ozone, air or
other suitable gas, constructed as described and illustrated in Figures 4 and 5
of the annexed drawings.