IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE AND OTHER POLLUTED LIQUIDS, AND THE PRODUCTS THEREOF
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander Manning, of the Inner
Temple, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE AND OTHER
POLLUTED LIQUIDS, AND THE PRODUCTS THEREOF."
Scaled the 4th April 1854, and dated the 29th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alexander
Manning at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 29th November 1853.
1, JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, in the County
of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE AND OTHER POL-
LUTED LIQUIDS, AND THE PRODUCTS THEREOF " to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the purification of the sewerage and
drainage waters of cities and other localities in such manner as to pre-
cipitate the solid matters held in suspension therein, the deposit so
produced being subsequently treated and applied as a manure, whilst
the fluid matter itself is purified for general use. The preferable mode
of proceeding, according to this Invention, is first to run or collect the

page_text: sewerage matter into tanks or receivers, and when so collected, animal
charcoal, alum, and carbonate of soda and gypsum are added to the
collected mass, in proportions varying with the nature of the sewerage,
the whole being well agitated for a short time by mechanical means.
This treatment very quickly precipitates all the solid matter held in
suspension; leaving the super-natant liquid beautifully pure, clear, and
tasteless and odourless. The bottom of the tank or receiver is formed
with a considerable inclination, the descent or slope being towards a
bottom side-door. With this arrangement the solid deposit is easily
removeable by opening this discharge door, when the mass may be
drawn out into a pug mill or mixing apparatus. Waste charcoal or
carbonaceous matter of various kinds, kelp, factory waste, common salt,
and gypsum, and horn dust riddlings are then mingled with the solid
mass in varying proportions, and the matter is thus converted into a
powerfully fertilising manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Alexander Manning in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and, fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me; the said James Alexander Manning, Her
special license that I, the said James Alexander Manning, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Alex-
ander Manning, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all tinies
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 Inven-

page_text: tion for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN THE TREATMENT OF SEWERAGE AND OTHER
POLLUTED LIQUIDS, AND THE PRODUCTS THEREOF," upon. the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Alexander Manning, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and séal, 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 Alexander Manning, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to bé particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the purification of the sewerage and
drainage waters of cities and other localities in such manner as to
precipitate the solid matters held in suspension therein, the 'deposit so.
produced being subsequently treated and applied as a manure, whilst
the fluid matter itself is purified.
The preferable mode of proceeding according to this Invention, is'
first to run or collect the sewerage matter into tanks or receivers, and
when so collected, animal charcoal, alum, and carbonate of soda and
gypsum are added to the collected mass, in proportions varying with
the nature of the sewerage, the whole being well agitated for a short
time by mechanical means. This treatment very quickly precipitates.
all the solid matter held in suspensión, leaving the super-natant liquid:
beautifully pure, clear, tasteless, and odourless. The bottom of the
tank or receiver is formed. with a considerable inclination, the descent
or slope being towards. a bottom door or discharge port. With this
arrangement, the solid deposit is easily removeable by opening this
discharge door, when the mass may be drawn out into a pug mill or
mixing apparatus. Waste charcoal or carbonaceous matter of various
kinds, kelp, factory waste, common salt; or the refuse brinė derived
from the curing. of provisions; and gypsum, or phosphate of lime, and
horn dust riddlings, are. then mingled with the solid mass, in varying

page_text: proportions, and the matter is thus converted with a powerful fertilising
manure. What I mention under the head of "factory waste," 1 wish
to be understood as the refuse from certain manufactures or pro-
cesses, such, for example, as the refuse salt or brine arising from the
curing of provisions, such refuse salt or brine, in addition to its value
ás a fertilising agent, contains a certain amount of animal matter,
which I prefer to use instead of ordinary saline matter.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I
shall now proceed to describe the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto attached. Figure 1, on my Sheet of Drawings, is a transverse
vertical section of one form of tank or receiver with the agitator and
other details which I propose to adopt in, my system of treating
sewerage matters or other polluted liquids; Figure 2, on the same
Sheet, is a plan of the tank and its collateral apparatus with, the greater
portion of the cover or lid removed, to slow the agitator clearly, whilst
the tank wall at this part, together with the ducts or fluid passages,
are in horizontal section.
The tank or receiver A is, in this instance, a large brick structure,
formed by a circular wall B, and a foundation mass of brickwork or
masonry C. A series of such tanks may be conveniently ranged or
disposed together at the required locality and level of the town whence
the sewerage is to be taken. The main arterial sewer is put in com-
munication at one end with the influx pipe, D, of cast iron; the other
end is connected, as delineated in my Drawings, with a junction or
elbow valve chest E, from which separate branch, supply pipes F, G
pass to the respective tanks. The branch is represented in the present
instance as supplying the crude sewerage to the tank, this pipe having
a full opening to the main duet D, whilst the oscillating valve disc H
shuts off the connection with the other branch F. The valve H is
set upon a vertical spindle, which passes out at the top and bottom of
the valve chest, and has keyed upon cach projecting extremity a
toothed segmental lever I These segments are respectively in gear
with the toothed pinions J, fast upon the vertical spindle K, which is
supported in suitable bearing brackets, and has upon its upper end a
double hand lever for working it. By this means an attendant can, at

page_text: any time, regulate the fluid supply to the tanks. The tank is roofed
over with planking carried upon horizontal metal girders to form a
platform for the attendants. In the centre of this platform is a vertical
frame L, of cast iron, carrying on its top two bearings for a horizontal
driving spindle, on which are two winch handles M, for the working of
the agitator by two attendants. The winch shaft has fast upon it two
bevil pinions N, which gear on opposite sides, with the bevil wheel O fast
on the top of the agitator spindle P. This spindle, supported at its upper
end in a collar bearing in the framing L, and at the bottom in a foot
step Q at the bottom of the tank, has upon it an upper and a lower
agitator vane wheel R, S. Each of these vane wheels is composed of
four inclined and eccentrically disposed vanes bolted to suitable collar
pieces on the shaft. The upper smaller vane wheel serves to agitate
the upper strata of the liquid in the tank, whilst the bottom larger
vane performs a similar operation at the very bottom of the tank. The
precipitating and purifying ingredients are deposited in the tank by the
agency of the pillar valve boxes T, U. The pillar box T is a plain
hollow cylinder covering a supplying hole in the platform, and having
in its bottom a clack valve V, to which a bent handle W is hinged,
being passed upwards through a hole in the top cover X. The other
pillar chest U is a rectangular box fitted with a hinged lid, in a similar,
and having a horizontal slide disc at its bottom for the discharge of
the contents of the box into the tank. With these arrangements the
operators can quickly deposit the necessary ingredients in these valve
boxes, and then close up the matters by the top lids, whilst by drawing
the handle W, or the slide Y, the several deposited matters are at once
let fall into the fluid mass in the tank.
The discharge duct for conducting away the pure water after the pre-
cipitation of the matters held in suspension in the sewerage is at Z. It
is represented in this instance as a plain brick conduit, with a cast iron
valve piece a, set in the tank wall. This mouth piece is carried up to
form a guide and working face for the vertical sluice gate b, worked by
a winch handle c, above; this handle is fast, on the horizontal spindle d,
set in bearings in the tops of the bracket pillar e and 'f, and carrying at
its opposite end a toothed pinion in gear with a rack passing down the

page_text: go
hollow of the pillar f, to the valve b, to which it is attached. The bot-
tom of the tank is conical or has a slope to the centre from the circum
ference, for the better conducting away of the precipitated mass as it
collects in the tank. At the apex of this reversed cone is a cast iron
valve chest mouth-piece h, surrounding the central discharge aperture,
and set directly over the open end of the elbow discharge pipe i, in direct
communication with the straight sloping pipe j. The mouth h, is
verned by the horizontal slide k, to the back, of which is screwed one end
of a long spindle 1, passing through a side prolongation of the piece h,
and out by a stuffing box m. The other end of this spindle is screwed
and is entered into a fixed nut n, set outside the tank's base; and out-
side of this nut is a double lever o, for turning the spindle and setting
the valve. Higher up in the tank's base is a small pipe p, opening at
its inner end into the tank, and terminating externally in a stop cock q.
From the external projecting portion of this pipe p, a glass tube r passes
upwards to the level of the platform, and is graduated to shew the depth
of the liquid in the tank.
In operating according to this general process of treating sewerage
and other polluted liquids, the attendant first of all permits the required
amount of the sewerage to flow into the tank by the pipe G, until, I
shall suppose, the tank is full, as represented in my Drawings. The
supply of sewerage matter is then cut off and the necessary ingredients,
as herein-before specified, are then added to the collection of sewerage
by means of the boxes T, U. Immediately thereafter the agitators
R, S, are caused to revolve, by means of the winch handles M, for a
space of two minutes, more or less. This process commingles the
sewerage and the added ingredients in a most effectual manner, and
permits the cleansing ingredients to have their full chemical effect upon
the polluted mass. After being thus agitated the motion is suspended,
and precipitation commences. In a short time, half an hour, more or
less, the solid impurities of the sewerage are precipitated to the bottom.
of the tank in a dense layer, leaving bright water above. This super-
natant liquid is then run out of the tank through the sluice valve band.
the duct z, being allowed to flow away to any suitable lower level. The
discharge slide K, at the bottom of the tank is then withdrawn; and the:

page_text: thick deposit is allowed to flow off through the pipe i, j, for subsequent
treatment as a manure.
In applying such solid or partially solid matter for the general pur
poses of manure, the mass may be at once discharged into a pug mill or
mixing apparatus; the several matters or one or more of them herein-
before described as applicable at this stage of the treatment, being now.
mixed and well commingled with the mass for the production, of a
highly fertilising dry manure.
:
The proportions of the herein-before described substances which I
prefer to employ in the treatment and purification of sewerage and
other polluted liquids are these; for every one hundred thousand
gallons of sewerage water I use from fifty to sixty pounds, more or
less, of powdered or reduced alum; a similar quantity of waste animal
charcoal; about fifteen pounds, more or less, of gypsum or phosphate
of lime. The carbonate of soda is only used when the crude inatter
to be treated is strongly impregnated, as is often the case in manu-
facturing towns. If solutions of the alum or of carbonate of soda be
employed, then I allow either solutions of those containing in sus-
pension the animal charcoal and gypsum or phosphate of lime to enter,
either by two separate inlet pipes or otherwise, and effect deccom-
position by agitation, or I allow a solution of either the alúm or car-
bonate of soda to enter and become mixed with the sewage, and then
add either the solution of carbonate of soda or alum, as the case may
be, together with the animal charcoal and gypsum; and by means of
the agitating apparatus, herein-before described, I cause the solution to
mix, and thus effect decomposition in the solution. By so doing I find
a smaller amount of the alum and carbonate of soda to be necessary
owing to the precipitation of hydrate of alumina being more generally
diffused, and thus more completely entangling and causing to separate
the suspended and other matters contained in the sewerage. The animal
charcoal and the gypsum may be added separately, either before or during
any part of the defecating operation, without being in a state of suspen-
sion, as herein-before described. When the presence of acid requires a
corrective, I add from ten to fifteen pounds, more or less, of carbonate of
soda to every one hundred thousand gallons of polluted liquid, as before

page_text: referred to, taking care that the proportions of the carbonate of soda
and alum bear a constant relation to each other. In the preparation of
the precipitated matter for use as a manure I prefer to add about four
hundred weight, more or less, of each of the herein-before described
ingredients to each ton of the crude matters as deposited by the previous
treatment. If the herein-before described defecating substances be
employed in the form of powder, the several constituents are ground
and mixed together prior to adding them to the sewerage water.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine
or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have
had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made
therefrom without deviating from the principles or main features of my
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and thereforo
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, appa-
ratus, and the form of precipitating vessel, or modifications thereof, as
well as the arrangement of inclined bottoms to the tanks, consisting
either of one or more inclines.
Second, the employment and means of application of the several
chemical agents, herein-before described, for defecating and separating
certain matters from sewerage.
Third, the production of valuable manuring or fertilizing agents by
the employment of the matters thus separated from sewerage, in con-
junction with the before-mentioned adjuncts.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander Manning, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
JAMES ALEX. MANNING. (L.S.)