IMPROVEMENTS IN CISTERNS SUITABLE DOD CONTAINING WAMED BAD HAROLD ПTo FOR
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Rae, of Alpha Road, New Cross, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CISTERNS SUITABLE
DOD CONTAINING WAMED BAD HAROLD ПTo"
PAR
ממת.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Rae at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th November
1858.
I, JAMES RAE, of Alpha Road, New Cross, in the County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CISTERNS
SUITABLE FOR CONTAINING WATER FOR HOUSEHOLD USES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cisterns suitable for con-
taining water for household uses. For this purpose I employ a four-sided,
cylindrical, or other suitable form of vessel, having, in place of a flat bottom
on which mud is very liable to accumulate, a bottom which inclines in every
direction towards a central point, and at this point an opening is formed from
which a pipe leads to the closets of the house, and by this pipe any sediment
there may be from the water is carried away as rapidly as it falls, so that no
accumulation of impure matter can be formed. Within the cistern I arrange a
filter, consisting of a vessel having an opening in the top, which is filled by a
sponge to prevent the solid impurities of the water from entering. In the
interior of the vessel is a perforated plate on which beds of filtering material

page_text: rest; those which I employ being first a bed of sand, then one of charcoal, and
afterwards another bed of sand. From the lower part of the filter, under the
perforated plate, a pipe passes to the exterior of the cistern, and terminates in
a tap through which filtered water may be drawn. The bottom of the filter
vessel is made to incline in every direction towards a central point in the
same manner as the bottom of the cistern, and from this point another pipe
leads, and also terminates in a tap outside the cistern, by means of which any
sediment arising from the escape of a portion of the substance forming the
filtering beds may be drawn off from time to time. The cistern is also fur-
nished with a tap for drawing unfiltered water for domestic purposes. The
pipe with which this tap is in connection opens into a small vessel within the
cistern; this vessel has an opening, into which a sponge is placed, so that the
water in passing to the tap has to pass through the sponge, which prevents any
of the solid impurities of the water being drawn off with it.
In order to prevent the possibility of any impure matter adhering to the
inclined bottom of the cistern, I cause the supply pipe to pass down towards
the bottom of the cistern in such a direction as to produce a circular motion
within the cistern while the water is coming in.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Rae in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
10th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RAE, of Alpha Road, New Cross, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Rae, Her special licence that I, the said James Rae, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Rae, my
executors, administrators, or 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 CISTERNS SUITABLE
FOR CONTAINING WATER FOR HOUSEHOLD USES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Rae, James Rae, my executors or administrators,

page_text: by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 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 James Rae, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cisterns suitable for con-
taining water for household uses. For this purpose I employ a four-sided,
cylindrical, or other suitable form of vessel, having, in place of a flat bottoin,
on which mud is very liable to accumulate, a bottom which inclines in every
direction towards a central point, and at this point an opening is formed from
which à pipe leads to the closets of the house, and by this pipe any sediment
there may be from the water is carried away as rapidly as its falls, so that
no accumulation of impure matter can be formed. Within the cistern I
arrange a filter, consisting of a vessel having an opening in the top, which is
filled by a sponge to prevent the solid impurities of the water from entering.
In the interior of the vessel is a perforated plate on which beds of filtering
material rest; those which I employ being first a bed of sand, then one of
charcoal, and afterwards another bed of sand. From the lower part of the
filter, under the perforated plate, a pipe passes to the exterior of the cistern,
and terminates in a tap through which filtered water may be drawn. The
bottom of the filter vessel is made to incline in every direction towards a
central point in the same manner as the bottom of the cistern, and from this
point another pipe leads, and also terminates in a tap outside the cistern, by
means of which any sediment arising from the escape of a portion of the sub-
stance forming the filtering beds may be drawn off from time to time. The
cistern is also fúrnished with a tap for drawing unfiltered water for domestic
purposes. The pipe with which this tap is in connection opens into a small
vessel within the cistern; this vessel has an opening, into which a sponge is
placed so that the water in passing to the tap has to pass through the sponge,
which prevents any of the solid impurities of the water being drawn off
with it.
In order to prevent the possibility of any impure matter adhering to the
inclined bottom of the cistern, I cause the supply pipe to pass down, towards-
the bottom of the cistern in such a direction as to produce a circular motion.
within the cistern while the water is coming in.

page_text: annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan in section of a filter constructed according to my Invention ;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, taken at the line A, B, Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a cistern having a curved bottom;
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the cistern shown at Figures 1 and 3, and
taken at the line C, D, Figure 1; Figure 5 is a transverse section of the
cistern shown at Figures 1 and 2, and also taken at the line C, D, Figure 1 ;
Figure 6 is a transverse section of a cistern having a bottom inclined from
back to front; Figure 7 is a plan, and Figure 8 is a vertical section of a
cylindrical cistern constructed according to my Invention; Figure 9 is a
vertical section, on a larger scale, of a filter such as I employ in the interior
of the cistern; Figure 10 is a vertical section of a filter of a somewhat modified
form, and which may be substituted for that shown in Figure 9, and also on a
smaller scale in several other Figures of the Drawing; Figures 11 and 12
show, on a larger scale, the trays employed for containing the filtering mate-
rials. L is the supply pipe of the filter, the end of which is conducted down
to near the bottom of the cistern, and is turned round as is shown, so as to
cause a circular motion in the cistern when the water enters by the pipe
which brings down the sediment to the bottom of the cistern; K is a pipe,
connected to the closets of the house, by which the sediment passes out of the
cistern; E is the filter; H is a pipe furnished with a tap by which filtered
water may be drawn off; G is the air pipe of the filter; M is a pipe furnished
with a tap, by which unfiltered water may be drawn off, the end of this pipe
may be protected as before explained. The filter shown at Figure 9 is con-
structed in the following manner :-It consists of a vessel of sheet metal or other
suitable material a, having a perforated bottom; this vessel is closed at the top
with the exception of a hole into which the sponge 6 is placed; the vessel con-
tains trays c, c, such as are shown at Figures 11 and 12. The top and bottom
trays both contain sand, and the middle tray contains charcoal, or for these
other filtering materials may be substituted. The trays are caused to fit
tightly within the vessel a by rings of vulcanized india-rubber N. d is an
under vessel into which the filtered water passes; it is furnished (in addition
to the pipe already mentioned), with a pipe O passing to the exterior of the
cistern, and furnished with a stop-cock, by which from time to time any sedi-
ment arising from the escape of the filtering materials may be drawn off.
In

page_text: the filter shown at Figure 10, the vessel d is put on the top of the vessel a,
and the water filters upwards into it.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Rae, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JAS. RAE. (L.S.)