Specification of Edwin Hills and Benjamin Biggs : treating sewage.

  • Hills, Edwin.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Edwin Hills and Benjamin Biggs : treating sewage. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hills Biggs' Improvements in Treating Sewage. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Biggs, on behalf of myself and the said Edwin Hills, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to he performed, to he particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state¬ ment thereof, that is to say:— 5 Our Invention consists in treating sewage, night soil, and other excrementitious matters in the ways herein-after described so as to deodorize and purify such sewage, night soil, or other matters, and to obtain manure, ammonia, and sulphur, or some of them as residual products. 10 According to one of the processes constituting our Invention we proceed as follows :—We construct air-tight tanks or vessels which communicate with one another by means of pipes passing from the upper part of one tank to the lower part of the next tank. Into the first of these tanks we pass the sewage or other matters to be treated, 15 with which we mix a sufficient quantity of lime to set free the ammonia. We then force atmospheric air through the said sewage or matters, which air precipitates or promotes the precipitation of the solid parts of such sewage or matters, and then passes over to the second tank or vessel, carrying with it sulphuretted hydrogen and ammoniacal gases. 20 In the second tank we put sulphurous acid (in vapour or in solution), through or into which the aforesaid gases are caused to pass, which acid will fix the ammonia and decompose the sulphuretted hydrogen, and we thus obtain sulphite of ammonia and sulphur, or instead of decomposing the sulphuretted hydrogen and ammoniacal gases, as above described, we put 25 in the said second tank sulphuric or muriatic or other acid suitable for fixing the ammonia, through or into which acid we pass the aforesaid gases; and we pass the sulphuretted hydrogen and other uncondensed gases from this tank through or into sulphurous acid in vapour or in solution, or over or through hydrated oxide of iron contained in a third 30 tank, and thus decompose the said sulphuretted hydrogen and obtain sulphur, or where oxide of iron is used sulphuret of iron from which sulphuric acid may be obtained. We prefer to arrange two or more sewage tanks in connection with the acid tank or tanks described, and to work the said sewage tanks 35 alternately so that while the sewage contained in one tank is being treated the other tank is being charged with sewage. These tanks are