CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON FILTERING. VESSELS, AND IN THE FILTERING, MEDIUM THEREOF
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BENNETT, of. Manchester, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Shopkeeper,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters. Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
land Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of August, in the
fifty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said John Bennett,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I; the said John Bennett, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed; my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON FILTERING. VESSELS,
AND IN THE FILTERING, MEDIUM THEREOF;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso for making the same void, if I, the said John Bennett,
'shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of: Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date. of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had, máy more fully and at large appear....
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Bennett, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which it is to be performed, are ascertained and described in
manner following (that is to say) :-
My improvements are to be applied to that description of filtering vessels in
which perforated plates are used; a Drawing of the vessel with my improve-
ments is annexed. The upper part of the vessel or cistern N, which contains
the water to be filtered, is supposed to be fifteen inches in height, and ten
inches in breadth; the middle part O, which contains the filtered water, six
inches in height, and twelve inches in breadth; the lower part P, which con-
tains the filtering medium, fifteen inches in height, and twelve inches in
breadth; and the bottom q, which contains the filth and mud from the water,
one and an half inch in height, and twelve inches in breadth.
One of my improvements consists of four square notches, one and an half
inch deep, and one and an half inch square, to be placed on the bottom part
of the filtering vessel at a, a, a, a, (two notches not appearing in the Drawing,)
on which a perforated earthenware plate is fixed.
Another of my improvements consists of six notches in the upper part of the
lower vessel projecting inwards about two inches, for the purpose of holding a
leaden ring, herein-after mentioned, and for the upper part of the vessel to rest
upon; these notches are marked by the letters b, b, b, b, b, b, (two notches only
appearing in the Drawing.)
Another of my improvements consists of a rim C in the inside of the bottom
of the said upper part or body of the vessel, and is placed round an aperture D,
about two inches and a half in height, and about three inches in diameter, and
forms the outside of a boss D, (another of my said improvements,) at the head
of the main or descending pipe G, G.
Another of my said improvements consists of a squarè brass boss fixed into
a square hole about one and an half inch square, at the bottom of the side
of the lower part of the filtering vessel at E; this boss; which has a flange or
collar thereon, is screwed in the inside, and made fast and water-tight with
Roman cement, and into this boss on the outside is screwed a brass cock F,
(another of my said improvements,) for the purpose of drawing off all the mud
and filth which is left in the lower chamber q, and also for drawing all the
water out of the cistern N.
Another of my said improvements consists in placing the main or descending
pipe G, G, at the side of the perforated plate, close to the bottom of the inside
of the said filtering vessel, and reaching up into the aperture of the upper
part of the filtering vessel, instead of placing that pipe in the center of the
vessel, as is commonly done, and by which improvement the bottom part of
the vessel is much more effectually cleansed.

page_text: Another of my said improvements consists of another and similar brass boss
H being fixed in a square hole, about one and an half inch square, in the side of
the lower part of the filtering vessel, just level with the upper. perforated plate,
as per letter R, and into this boss, at the outside, is screwed à brass cock J,
(another of my said improvements,) for the purpose of drawing off all the
clean or filtered water.
Another of my improvements consists in placing the air pipes k, k, k, k, k,
on the side of the said filtering vessel, instead of placing these pipes in the
centre of the vessel in the common way, by which improvement the said air
pipes are not at all liable to be stopt up, or in any other way injured, as if in
the centre.
Another of my said improvements consists in placing a lead ring L, L, about
twelve inches in diameter, one inch in width, and one-eighth of an inch thick,
on the before-mentioned six notches.
Another of my said improvements consists in dividing the head of the main
or descending pipe into four parts, as at M, M, and for securing the same with
Roman cement in the rim and boss at C, D, as before mentioned.
Another of my said improvements consists in placing a sponge under a per-
forated lead or iron weight, and immediately over the head of the main pipe G,
and in the inside of boss D, which weight is another of my improvements.
The above are my improvements on filtering vessels.
My improvements in the filtering medium consists in using a layer of
purified charcoal of bones grossly pounded or in small pieces or lumps about
one inch thick, next after the common layer of gravel, about an inch thick;
then, after adding a common layer of sand three inches thick, then a layer of
very fine ground purified charcoal of bones about half an inch thick, and then
a layer of very fine ground charcoal of Prussian blue, made by potash, about
half an inch thick; after these, a common layer of sand about six inches thick,
and then a common layer of gravel about one inch thick, are added. But I
wish to be understood, that my improvements consist in using such layers
of charcoal as aforesaid in the manner herein-before mentioned, and not in
using the layers of gravel and sand.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bennett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
JN° (L.s.) BENNETT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid John Bennett came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the.
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and nineteen.