IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SEWAGE MATTERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bird, of Number 1, Berkeley Street, Chelten
ham, in the County of Gloucester, Physician and Surgeon of the Royal
Colleges of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
SEWAGE MATTERS."
Sealed the 2nd May 1865, and dated the 20th December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bird at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th December
1864.
I, HENRY BIRD, of Number 1, Berkeley Street, Cheltenham, in the County
of Gloucester, Physician and Surgeon of the Royal Colleges of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING SEWAGE MATTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating sewage matters.
For these purposes clay is combined with sulphuric acid and then mixed with
fluid sewage matters by which the organic matters, in the sewage are deodorized
and precipitated.
This process may be conducted in any suitable closets, cesspools, vessels,.
drains, sewers, or reservoirs into which the sewage matters are received.
It may, however, be stated that it is found desirable that the sulphated clay.
should be applied as early as circumstances will allow to the sewage matters,
in order to prevent their decomposition, and the sulphated clay may be used
in the dry state or combined with water.

page_text: The proportions in the combination of the sulphuric acid and clay may be
varied, depending on the quantity of organic matters in the sewage, but I find
that with ordinary sewage of towns, that from four to nine parts by weight of
clay to one part or more by weight of sulphuric acid, specific gravity 1.840,
and used with the sewage in the proportions of twenty grains to a pint, are
generally sufficient.
The precipitated organic matters and clay obtained are then further
treated with sulphuric acid in about the following proportions:-One of the
acid to nineteen of the precipitated matters, and dried, when the product alone
or in combination with other manuring substances may be used as manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bird in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY BIRD,
of No. 1, Berkeley Street, Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester,
Physician and Surgeon of the Royal Colleges of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Bird, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Bird, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Bird, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING SEWAGE MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Bird, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bird, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in combining a compound hereafter called sulphated
clay with sewage waters or matters, by which the organic matters therein are
deodorized, the ammonia fixed, and when permitted, the organic matters are
precipitated with the clay, leaving the water pure, or comparatively pure.
And the Invention further consists in combining sulphuric acid or sulphated
clay with the precipitated matters in order to render them more suitable for
manure.
The preparation of the sulphated clay may be somewhat varied in respect
to the proportions of the sulphuric acid and clay employed, but it is preferred
to prepare and apply sulphated clay as hereafter described.
The mechanical arrangements for mixing and regulating the supply of
sulphated clay in proper proportions in respect to the quantities and qualities
of the sewage which are being acted on may also be varied, and will in some
degree depend on the circumstances under which my Invention is to be
applied.
Clays in general are capable of being used according to my Invention, but
I prefer to employ those descriptions of clay which can be obtained at the
lowest cost in the place or district where my Invention is to be applied. The
clay when dry is to bo sifted through a coarse sieve, and the sifted clay is to be
mixed and combined with sulphuric acid of 1.840 specific gravity, and to each
nine tons of clay I usually apply one ton of sulphuric acid, and I mix these
matters intimately together, and allow them to stand in a heap, and when
quite cool and dry the sulphated clay thus produced is fit for use. The sul-
phated clay if stirred into sewage waters and intimately mixed therewith, will.
deodorize the same and fix the ammonia, and if the mixture be allowed to
stand or become comparatively quiescent, the organic matters together with the
clay will precipitate and leave the water pure or comparatively pure. It is
however preferred to employ the sulphated clay dissolved in rain water before
combining or mixing the sulphated clay with the sewage waters or matters. In
thus dissolving the sulphated clay, I usually dissolve at the rate of 100 lbs. of
the sulphated clay in 250 gallons of rain water. In this dissolved state the
sulphated clay may be more readily mixed with sewage than when used in the
dry state, and such dissolved sulphated clay is stirred or mixed in proper pro-
portions with the sewage waters or matters when in suitable vessels, or tanks,
or drains, or reservoirs, or other receptacles. When applying my Invention
on a more or less extensive scale, such as in treating the sewage waters or
matters coming from a large establishment or from a town or part of a town,

page_text: then I prefer to apply the dissolved sulphated clay and to mix it intimately
with the sewage waters or matters, and then to allow the clay and organic
matters to settle or precipitate by reason of the sewage waters or matters
being retained in a quiescent or in a comparatively quiescent state for a time in
any suitable vessels, or tanks, or cisterns, or reservoirs, but I prefer to allow
the sewage water or matters after the sulphated clay has been mixed therewith
to flow slowly through any such vessels, or tanks, or cisterns, or reservoirs, so
as to allow of the precipitation or deposit of the clay and organic matters
taking place.
I would here remark that other precipitating agents, such as lime, burned
chalk, and others, have before been applied and mixed with sewage waters,
and the sewage waters have been allowed to flow slowly through tanks ar
reservoirs, so as to admit of the precipitation or settlement of the precipitating
agents together with organic matters taking place, and I would state that any
such arrangements of apparatus may be employed when using sulphated clay
as the agent to deodorize the organic matters in sewage waters or waters to
fix the ammonia and to precipitate such matters.
In treating ordinary sewage waters or matters of towns, I employ at the
rate of about one ounce of sulphated clay to each five cubic feet of sewage
waters. If the sewage waters or matters have more organic matters in them
than ordinary town sewage, a greater proportion of sulphated clay should be
used, and if the ammonia is not sufficiently fixed, then it is desirable to
employ a greater proportion of acid in preparing the sulphated clay.
It is preferred when treating large quantities of sewage to employ long
settling reservoirs having at intervals transverse partitions so as to divide each
reservoir into several compartments, and that in each partition there should
be a passage or opening of dimensions suitable for the flow of the requisite
quantity of sewage waters at the speed required, in order on the one hand that
ample time may be allowed for precipitation, and on the other hand that
the requisite quantity of sewage may pass from end to end of a reservoir
within the time allowed; and in order that the matters which rise to the
surface and float may not pass away through the openings or passages in the
partitions, such openings should be below the level at which the sewage
constantly stands in a reservoir, and such works should be arranged in such
manner that the precipitated matters may be continuously removed from the
reservoirs, which arrangement is preferable to having two or more sets of
settling vessels, or tanks, or reservoirs, from which the precipitated matters
are required to be dug out or removed after running off the waters therefrom,
but such arrangements may be used if preferred. The precipitated matters

page_text: when separated for the most part from the waters with which they were
previously combined are allowed to drain, and it is desirable that they should
become as dry as possible by being spread out in suitable and well-ventilated
sheds or otherwise, after which a quantity of sulphuric acid, by preference
of about the strength above mentioned, is mixed therewith in the proportions
of about 224 lbs. of sulphuric acid to each ton of the dry or nearly dry pre-
cipitated matters. Or the sulphuric acid may be first combined with clay as
above described, and the sulphated clay combined with the precipitated matters,
which are then to be piled into a heap and allowed to stand till they are cooled
and dry, when they will be fit to be used as manure, either alone or mixed
with other manuring substances.
In consequence of the composition of sewage varying so greatly in different
places and at different times at the same place, no precise rule can be given
as to the quantity which should be used in each case, but a little experienco
will enable a manager of such works to judge of the effect produced by the
sulphated clay, and he will readily ascertain when he is applying such clay with
advantage by observing whether the precipitation is sufficiently ample by
examining the state in which the sewage water is coming away from the
reservoirs at the outlet. The scum or floating matters are to be removed by
skimming from time to time as required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bird, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY BIRD. (L.S.)