IMPROVE- MENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR DEALING WITH AND UTILISING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Knox Stuart, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR DEALING WITH AND UTILISING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Knox Stuart
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1868.
I, WILLIAM KNOX STUART, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR DEALING WITH
AND UTILISING SEWAGE," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to a system of dealing with and utilising
sewage in a convenient, economical, and profitable manner; and in:
carrying out this system in practice it is proposed to separate. the solid.
and other matters in the sewage to obtain these in. a valuable and
marketable condition, and moreover to deliver the water in an unpolluted
and pure or nearly pure condition either into a river or for any use for.
which it may be found suitable.
The system comprises the employing of a single main intercepting.
sewer or channel to convey the contents of a group of city sewers to a
suburban establishment, whereat the separating and utilising processes.

page_text: are to be conducted. At such establishment the main channel supplies
the sewage to large reservoirs and numerous depositing tanks, the
arrangement and construction of which mainly constitute the present
Invention. The sewage first enters and spreads over a large shallow
reservoir which is formed with a deepened channel or race along the
side opposite to the inlet. A grating or set of rails is fitted along both
sides of this race to keep back floating and bulky articles. In the race
there is an agitator somewhat in the form of a shuttle which is made to.
reciprocate from end to end of the race by means of cords passing over
pulleys and actuated by means of a water wheel which may be driven by
the sewage current itself. The action of the shuttle agitator is to drive
out some solid matters over the inclined ends of the race, and to assist
lighter solids in floating over the front edge of the reservoir into a series.
of depositing tanks arranged adjacently to the reservoir. At about the
surface of the water in each tank there is arranged a layer of straw or
other open absorbent material, which is held between a couple of
gratings; this layer serves to absorb gaseous and floating matters and
is changed periodically. The heavier solids find their way beneath the
absorbent layer into the lower parts of the tanks, each of which is
formed with a central well down to which the bottom generally inclines.
Conical or pyramidal covers are applied to. the wells, and being mostly
below the water level are made hollow so as to be partially floated and
consequently easily raised or lowered. After a well has been emptied in
the manner herein-after explained its cover is slightly raised and the
solid matters in the sewage find their way under it into the well. A
tunnel is formed under the tanks, and the bottom of each well is fitted
with a sluice or door; and when a well is full of solid matter the hollow
cover is screwed down and the bottom sluice is opened to allow the
matter to fall out into a waggon placed below to receive it. In order
that the matter may fall out freely a tap or valve is opened in the
top of the hollow cover to allow air to enter above. The solid matter
separated in this way may be conveyed by waggons and by rail to farms.
to be used as manure. The liquid flows from the depositing tanks.
onwards to filters or absorbing beds of various materials to be dealt
with according to known chemical processes for absorbing and removing
gaseous and other matters from the water which is finally delivered or
discharged in a pure or nearly, pure condition.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Knox Stuart in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KNOX STUART, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Knox Stuart, Her special
licence that I, the said William Knox Stuart, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as the said William Knox
Stuart, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR DEALING WITH
AND UTILISING SEWAGE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Knox Stuart, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Knox Stuart, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Diagrams, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a system of dealing with and utilising
sewage in a convenient, economical, and profitable manner; and in
carrying out this system in practice I separate the solid and other
matters in the sewage in order to obtain these in a valuable and
marketable condition, and I deliver the water in an unpolluted and pure.

page_text: or nearly pure condition either into a river or for any use for which it
may be found suitable.
My system comprises the employing of a single main intercepting
sewer or channel to convey the contents of a group of city sewers to a
suburban establishment, whereat the separating and utilising processes
are to be conducted.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Diagrams to be herein-after referred to, and indicating
the main features of my improved arrangements and apparatus.
Figures 1 and 2 are Diagrams corresponding to sections taken at right
angles to each other of a portion of the works at such a suburban
establishment as has been herein-before referred to.
"The main channel or intercepting sewer 1 supplies the sewage to one
or more large reservoirs 2, and through such reservoir to numerous
depositing tanks 3; the arrangement and construction of which mainly
constitute my present Invention. The sewage first enters the large
reservoir 1, which is formed with a deepened channel or race 4 along the
side opposite to the inlet gratings; or sets of vertical rails 5, 6, are fitted
along the sides of this race 4 to keep back 'floating and bulky articles.
In the race 4 there is an agitator, shown separately in plan in Figure 3,
and in side elevation in Figure 4, and which is made somewhat in the
form of a shuttle. This agitator shuttle is made to reciprocate from
end to end of the race 4 by means of cords passing over pulleys, or by
means of a simple connecting rod 7 actuated by means of a water
wheel 8 driven by the sewage current itself as it falls into the
reservoir 2 from the main sewer 1, ducts 9 being adapted to the end
of the sewer to direct the current upon the water wheel. The shaft of
the water wheel 8 is arranged to drive a pair of inclined shafts 10, 11,
by bevil wheels, and an eccentric on one of these inclined shafts actuates
a lever 12 to which the shuttle connecting rod 7 is jointed.
The ends of
the race 4 are to be inclined upwards (although this is not shown in the
Diagrams); this inclination being for the purpose of carrying them
above the level of the water, so that matters intercepted by the shuttle
may be thrown out of the reservoir. The shuttle is in the form of a
The
double-ended scoop with bottom and sides shaped to fit the race.
two ends are hinged to a vertical partition piece in the middle, to which
the connecting rod 7 is jointed. When the shuttle comes to either end

page_text: of the race the end of it hinges downwards and allows the matters
intercepted in its traverse thither to fall out of it down a duct into a
revolving riddle or screen 13, 14. The two riddles 13, 14, are turned by
the revolving shafts 10, 11, and being made with graduated openings or
gratings in their sides they in revolving sort the matters received into
them according to their sizes. The shuttle removes the heavier matters
that pass through the grating 5, and by its agitation assists the lighter
solids through openings 15 into the depositing tanks 3. Each tank 3 is
covered in, and there are various absorbent media in the upper part of it,
namely, between the top of the tank and a grating there is a quantity of
charcoal, below this there is a layer of wood shavings, and lower still a
layer of sawdust. The two lower layers are kept up simply by their
buoyancy in the water. The top of the tank being below the level of
the water in the reservoir 2 there is an upward pressure which causes
the water to pass up through the sawdust, shavings, and charcoal to a
branch outlet provided for it close to the top and communicating with a
main pipe 16 which conveys the water away to be further dealt with if
required. The absorbent media are changed at intervals as they become
saturated; and as some of the sawdust may be withdrawn below when
discharging the solids, as herein-after explained, each tank is fitted with
a funnel pipe 17 reaching up above the water level and which is kept
filled with sawdust to supply what is withdrawn below. The solids
settle in the lower parts of the tanks 3, each of which is formed with a
central well 18, down to which the bottom generally inclines. A conical
or pyramidal cover 19 is applied to each well, and being below the water
is made hollow so as to be partially floated and consequently easily
raised or lowered. The cover 19 is held by a pipe 20, which passes up
through a stuffing box in the top of the tank 3; and after a well has
been emptied in the manner herein-after explained the cover is slightly
raised by means of the pipe 20 (as shown at a, Figure 2), and the
deposited solids find their way under it into the well 18. Space is
arranged under the tanks 3 and wells 18, and the bottom of cach well
is fitted with a sluice or door 21, and when a well is full of solid matter
the hollow cover 19 is screwed or otherwise fixed firmly down, and the
bottom door 21 is opened to allow the matter to fall out into a
waggon 22 placed below to receive it. In order that the matters may
fall out freely a tap or valve is opened in the cover pipe 20 to allow the
air to enter above. The bottom door 21 is closed by means of a chain
and rod which passes up the cover pipe 20 and through a stuffing box in

page_text: the top of that pipe. The solid matter separated in this way may be
conveyed by waggons and by rail to farms to be used as manure. The
liquid flows from the depositing tanks 3 by the pipes 16 onwards to
filters or absorbing beds of various materials to be dealt with according
to known chemical processes for absorbing and removing gaseous and
other matters from the water which is finally delivered or discharged in
a pure or nearly pure condition.
In Diagram Figure 2 a tank or reservoir 23 is shown as constructed
below the end of the sewer 1; this is for receiving separately the portion
of urine, which with modern city arrangements can be easily kept
separate from the general sewage, namely, that from public urinals or
from the urinals of large works. This urine may be conveniently
conveyed to the establishment by means of a pipe 24 carried along the
top of the sewer 1 and leading into the tank 23.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described; but that
what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the dealing with and utilising sewage by means of improved arrange-
ments and apparatus, substantially such as are herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Knox Stuart, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W. K. STUART. (L.S.)