Improvements in Apparatus for the Sterilisation and Purification of Water.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 29th May, 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Sterilisation and Purification
of Water.
We, NICOLAAS VAN DER SLEEN of Haarlem, Holland, Chemist, and AUGUST
SCHNELLER of Alfen, Holland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
--
This invention relates to an apparatus to be used for the purpose of sterilising
and purifying water by means of ozone, and has for its object to provide an
apparatus which will produce the desired result in an economical manner and which
can be applied commercially.
In carrying out our invention electricity is employed for the purpose of producing
ozone. The current is passed through high tension transformers which raise it to
a very high voltage, more than 10,000 volts. The induction coils are air spaced
and in series, each following ring giving 2,000 to 5,000 volts higher tension. The
coils may also be insulated by other means instead of by the air spacing if found
desirable.
The apparatus consists of discharge boxes through which the current is led after
passing through high resistances, which prevent the formation of sparks and thus
allow of silent discharges only, which are necessary for the formation of ozone.
The high tension current from the transformers goes to the ozoniser in such a
way that one pole is connected to the earth, and the other to the ozoniser
proper.
A series of discharge boxes is employed, and the circuit is connected up in
parallel, the resistances being placed before the boxes. In order to obtain the
greatest intensity of discharge field, it is necessary that the polar distance be
smaller than that at which sparks would be produced, so that the high resistances
are necessary. The best polar distance is from 20 to 30 mm. At that distance
the tension necessary to give the most intense field is over 40,000 volts, and the
resistance required to prevent sparking above 10 megohms. Owing however to
the very small current employed the electrical efficiency is great in spite of the
high resistance. The current required would be about 0006 ampères.
Under such circumstances a resistance of 10 megohms would only give rise to a
loss of 6000 volts.
All discharge fields and their resistances are arranged in parallel, not only
electrically but in the mechanical sense of the word.
For the conversion of ordinary oxygen into ozone by silent discharge, it is of the
greatest importance that the oxygen or air be as pure as possible. Dry and free
from dust and foreign gases. The drying and purifying of the air or oxygen is
effected in a series of apparatus placed before the ozonisers. A small part only of
the electric energy is spent in making the ozone, the larger part being wasted in
heat which is absorbed by the apparatus and by the gases from which the ozone
is formed. This heat prevents a high percentage of ozone, and special means are
required for absorbing it. Between the discharging chambers cooling chambers
are placed for this purpose, through which chambers the gases pass in tubes.
cooling material may also be passed through tubes in the cooling chambers and
the gases passed over them.
The
In purifying water by this means, a difficulty in oxidising dissolved material

page_text: may arise, owing to the fact that water absorbs very little of the ozone.
A special apparatus therefore is required for the sterilisation of water after the
ozone has been procured in the manner above mentioned.
This sterilising apparatus according to one arrangement consists of a cylinder or
tower divided by a series of horizontal partitions formed from wire gauze or
perforated material. This cylinder is supplied with a column of water, and the
ozone is passed through from the bottom to the top, being separated into small
bubbles at each step by the gauze or perforated plate. At the same time the water
may if found desirable flow in in an opposite direction to the gases, the inlet being
placed at the top, and the outlet at the bottom. A thorough mixture of the ozone
with the water is thus ensured, and the operation is quite continuous. The gas
after passing through the water may be collected, and prepared for further
ozonising, a certain percentage of ozone being of course present in the gas after
the sterilising process.
According to another arrangement a chamber of any suitable form is employed,
which is supplied with a continuous stream of ozonised air, preferably from the
bottom of the chamber and at the middle, passing out through a pipe at the upper
end. A series of atomizers or spray producers is employed at the lower part of
the chamber, which discharge the water. The water is thrown up in spray form
in the chamber, and is thus thoroughly mixed with the ozone, the water after
being so purified falling to the bottom of the vessel, and passing away through a
suitable outlet. The percentage of oxygen in the ozonised air after use is kept
constant by the addition of the required quantity of oxygen before passing to
the ozoniser. A continuous working apparatus is thus provided, the air or
oxygen passing from the ozonising apparatus to the water, and thence back to the
ozoniser.
Dated this 28th day of August 1895.
GEO. H. RAYNER,
37, Chancery Lane, London, Agent for the Applicants.
COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Sterilisation and Purification
of Water.
We, NICOLAAS VAN DER SLEEN, of Haarlem, Holland, Chemist and AUGUST
SCHNELLER, of Alfen, Holland, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an apparatus to be used for the purpose of sterilising
and purifying water by means of ozone, and has for its object to provide an apparatus
which will produce the desired result in an economical manner, and which can be
applied commercially.
In carrying our invention into effect we prefer to make use, as far as concerns the
generation of the ozone, of the apparatus described in the British Patent
No. 23297, in which the air or oxygen to be ozonised is caused to pass through
a number of ozonising chambers, one after the other, and is cooled before passing
into the second, third etc. chamber. In this apparatus each of said ozonising
chambers contains a number of electrodes, and each of the latter is connected to a
specific resistance that is formed by liquor. The purpose of this arrangement is
to prevent the formation of sparks, and to allow of silent discharges only, as has
all been fully described in the Specification of the British Patent cited.
Our present invention refers in general to the means for bringing the ozone in
intimate contact with the water to be sterilised and purified, and relates in

page_text: particular to some special constructions, examples of which are represented in the
accompanying drawing, which shows moreover (in order to avoid taking reference
to the British Patent aforementioned) a longitudinal vertical section through the
apparatus for producing the ozone. The apparatus for bringing the latter in
intimate contact with the water are also shown in vertical section.
In the form of construction shown in Fig. 1 A is an upright vessel that is
provided with a number of perforated disks or plates a arranged one above the
other, a short distance being left between every two of them. Said vessel A is
filled with the water to be sterilized and purified. Said water flows into the
vessel A through the pipe b and leaves the vessel through the pipe c. The water
is thus caused to pass through all the perforated plates a, which latter cause not
only a fine division and distribution of the water, but of the ozone, too. The
ozone flows into the vessel A through the pipe d, and the remainder of the ozone
leaves said vessel through the pipe e. The water and the ozone are thus caused to
flow in opposite directions, and both substances are brought in very intimate
contact during that time, as will now be clear without a still more detailed
description.
Instead of letting a column of water be acted on by the ozone we may cause the
water to be atomized into or within a stream of ozone. We have shown as an
example the apparatus represented in Figure 2, in which A' is the vessel into which
both substances are led, and within which the sterilisation and purification of the
water by the ozone is effected. The ozone is led into the vessel A through the
pipe d', and the remainder of the ozone leaves said vessel through the pipe el.
The water is led into the said vessel through a number of small tubes or nozzles
or sprays 6, and we prefer to arrange said parts 6' in such a manner with regard
to each other as well as to the ozone pipe d¹, that said nozzles 6' converge towards
each other, as well as towards the ozone pipe d¹. The sprays issuing from the
nozzles are therefore caused to cross each other, or to pass one into the other,
and the ozone is caused to pass into the ascending water as well as into the
descending one. There is thus also in this case a very intimate contact attained.
The sterilised and purified water flows off through the pipe c¹.
The apparatus for ozonising the air, or for turning oxygen into ozone respectively,
consists in the form of construction shown of four ozonising chambers B B B2 B3
and of three cooling chambers C C C 2, that are arranged so as to alternate with
said chambers B-B 3. These chambers B-B 3 are connected by pipes i that
form passages for the gas on its way from one ozonising chamber to the next
following one, and are cooled by water that is caused to pass through the
chambers C-C 2. The cooling water is led to said chambers through the pipe f,
and away from the same through the pipe 9 (shown in dotted lines only). The air
or oxygen is led into the first ozonising chamber through the pipe h, k, from
which it is caused to pass either into the pipe d, Figure 1, or into the pipe d¹,
Figure 2.
The electrodes contained within the chamber B-B 3 are all of the same polarity,
and are each connected with a specific resistance that is formed by liquor, as has
already been mentioned in the preamble. Said liquor is contained within the glass
tubes 1, and the conductive connections between the liquor within these tubes with
the electrodes as well as with the secondary coil of the transformer D is made by
wires, as will be clear to everyone versed in the art in question. The other end of
the secondary coil of the transformer is connected to the electrodes of the other
polarity which electrodes are formed by the partition walls between the
chambers B B B2 B3 and C C¹ C 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In an apparatus for sterilising and purifying water by means of ozone, the
combination with an ozone generator, of means for finely dividing the ozone

page_text: whilst bringing it in contact with the water to be sterilised and purified, sub-
stantially as described.
2. As a means for bringing water in intimate contact with ozone, the combination
with a vessel having inlets and outlets for the ozone and the water, of parts
having fine openings for letting the ozone pass into the water, substantially as
described.
3. In an apparatus for sterilising and purifying water by means of ozone, the
combination with a vessel having inlets and outlets for the ozone and the water, of
a number of perforated plates arranged within said vessel one above the other,
substantially as described.
4. In an apparatus for sterilising and purifying water by means of ozone, the
combination with a vessel, having at its bottom an inlet for the ozone and an
outlet for the water, and at its top an inlet for the water and an outlet for the
ozone, of perforated horizontal plates arranged within said vessel one above
the other, and distributed over the space from the bottom to the top, substantially
as described.
5. In an apparatus for sterilising and purifying water by means of ozone, the
combination with a vessel ha ving inlets and outlets for the ozone, of one or more
sprays arranged within or extending into said vessel, and adapted to atomize the
water to be sterilised and purified, substantially as described.
6. In an apparatus for sterilising and purifying water by means of ozone, the
combination with a vessel having in its bottom an inlet for the ozone, of two or
more nozzles or sprays adapted to atomize the water to be sterilised or purified,
said nozzles or sprays being arranged so as to converge towards each other as well
as towards the inlet for the ozone, substantially as described.
Dated this 20th day of May 1896.
NICOLAAS VAN DER SLEEN,
AUGUST SCHNELLER,
By Geo. H. Rayner,
Agent for the Applicants.
NICOLAAS VAN DER SLEEN,
AUGUST SCHNELLER,
By Geo. H. Rayner,
Agent for the Applicants.