IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER IMPURE WATERS, AND IN SEPARATING THEREFROM MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR USE AS MANURE, AND ALSO THE PRE- PARATION OF A SUBSTANCE TO BE EMPLOYED FOR SUCH PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dales, of 11 and 12 Gresham House, Old
Broad Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER IMPURE WATERS, AND IN SEPARATING
THEREFROM MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR USE AS MANURE, AND ALSO THE PRE-
PARATION OF A SUBSTANCE TO BE EMPLOYED FOR SUCH PURPOSES."
Sealed the 25th November 1859, and dated the 22nd September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dales at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
September 1859.
I, JOHN DALES, of 11 and 12 Gresham House, Old Broad Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PURIFYING SEWAGE AND OTHER IMPURE WATERS, AND IN SEPARATING
THEREFROM MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR USE AS MANURE, AND ALSO THE PREPARATION
OF A SUBSTANCE TO BE EMPLOYED FOR SUCH PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in purifying sewage and
other impure waters, and in separating therefrom materials suitable for use as
manure, and also the preparation of a substance to be employed for such
purposes. In order to purify sewage and other impure waters I add thereto
a substance which I call magneto-chloride of iron, and which is prepared by

page_text: submitting magnetic oxide of iron to the action of muriatic acid; the substance
thus prepared, when added to the sewage or other impure waters, produces the
precipitation of the organic matters they may contain, and this precipitate,
when separated and dried, may be used as a manure.
In some cases I treat sewage and other impure waters by adding thereto
the perchloride of manganese, either alone or mixed with the perchloride of
iron, and in this manner I purify the sewage or other impure waters, and
obtain a precipitate which may also be employed as a manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Dales in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DALES, of 11 and 12 Gresham House, Old Broad Street, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Dales, Her special licence that I, the said John Dales, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Dales, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING
SEWAGE AND OTHER IMPURE WATERS, AND IN SEPARATING THEREFROM MATERIALS
SUITABLE FOR USE AS MANUBE, AND ALSO THE PREPARATION OF A SUBSTANCE TO BE
EMPLOYED FOR SUCK PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Dales, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
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 John Dales, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has for its object improvements in purifying sewage and
other impure waters, and in separating therefrom materials suitable for use as
manure, and also the preparation of a substance to be employed for such
purposes. By the term purifying I mean not only the destruction or separation
of those chemical compounds generated during putrefaction, which are offensive
to the sense of smell, and those which emanate during putrefaction, and either
engender disease or confer a fatal character upon that already existing, but
also the precipitation of the phosphoric acid and of certain organic compounds,
which, if removed, will re-establish the putrefactive process, and reproduce the
previous condition alike offensive and dangerous to health. Thus by my
Invention I not only disinfect and deodorize for the present, but produce a
permanency of effect hitherto unattained.
For the purpose of carrying out my Invention I employ, first, a material to
which I have applied the name of magneto-chloride of iron, and which I
prepare by dissolving in muriatic acid by any of the ordinary processes of
solution familiar to chemists, magnetic oxide of iron or any of those ferruginous
products from various metallurgical processes and manufactures, which are
magnetic or will furnish when dissolved in muriatic acid a solution, which,
when diluted and mixed with solutions of ferrocyanide and ferrideyanide of
potassium, will produce in each case a blue precipitate.
It is advisable to use the muriatic acid in the concentrated form in which it
is usually found in commerce, as the solution of the oxide is more readily
effected under that condition; and I nearly saturate the acid, so that there is
but little free acid, not more than from one to two ounces in the gallon. If
when the acid is saturated the fluid has, when cooled to 60° Fahrenheit, a
specific gravity of 1·450, or thereabouts, it will contain about one pound of
iron in the gallon, and is then in the condition that I prefer for carrying out
the objects of my Invention. If, however, the density is less than 1.450, then
the solution must be concentrated until that density is attained.
By careful evaporation the magneto-chloride may be obtained in the solid
form, and then it can be dissolved in water until a solution of the above
density or thereabouts is obtained. It must be distinctly understood that I do
not confine myself to the employment of a solution of the magneto-chloride of
iron of the specific gravity 1-450; but that I prefer it.
Second, I employ the compound which I call chloride of manganese, which
I prepare by dissolving in muriatic acid any of the commercial oxides of
manganese, which all contain more or less iron until the acid is nearly

page_text: saturated. The process of solution is similar to that ordinarily adopted by
manufacturers for the production of chlorine. I concentrate the solution of
manganese so obtained until the fluid has a density of 1.450, or thereabouts.
For the purposes of my Invention I employ this either alone, or by preference
mixed with an equal volume of a solution of perchloride of iron of like
density.
For the purification of sewage and other impure waters, I proceed as
follows; but it must be distinctly understood that the quantities of my disin-
fectants necessarily vary with the degree of decomposition and foulness of the
water operated upon.
In order to disinfect and deodorize sewage, and stay
the putrefactive process, I add to every million gallons from thirty to seventy
gallons of either of my disinfecting fluids, and of the specific gravity stated;
this variation in quantity being as mentioned dependant upon the greater or
less degree of offensiveness in the water and the season of the year.
purpose
The fluid should be thoroughly mixed with the sewage, and for the
I prefer the agitating machine of Mr. Wicksteed, which has been adopted.at
the Leicester Sewage Works; immediately all offensive odour is destroyed,
and a curdling in the sewage or other foul water will be observed. This
curdling is occasioned by the precipitation of the suspended matter together
with a large amount of organic matter, and the phosphoric acid in combination
principally with oxide of iron; the precipitate contains the components of
valuable manures, being rich in nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and when it is
desired to collect and dry this manure I prefer the adoption of the methods
already in use at Leicester.
For the purification of offensive stagnant waters I employ either of my
disinfectants in the proportions mentioned, that is, from thirty to seventy
gallons to each million gallons of foul water; and where the space admits, as
in docks, I produce the intimate admixture which is necessary for the
economical employment of my fluids, by means of the agitation produced by
the paddles of a steam tug or other paddle steamer; but where the space is
insufficient for such an operation I produce the mixing by means of wood
stirrers.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim any
particular apparatus for manufacturing the metallic compounds I employ, nor
do I claim any form of machinery or mechanical contrivance for mixing my
disinfectants with sewage and other foul waters; but I do claim,-
First, the employment of that compound of iron to which I have given the
name "magneto-chloride of iron," and which is possessed of the properties I

page_text: have described for the purposes of purifying sewage and other impure waters,
and separating therefrom materials suitable for use as manure.
Second, the employment of the compound of manganese described for the
same purposes.
Third, the production of a deodorant by compounding, as above described,
the chloride of manganese, and the perchloride of iron, and the employment
of this deodorant for the same purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dales, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN DALES. (L.S.)