Specification of James Burrow : treating sewage, &c.

  • Burrow, James.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of James Burrow : treating sewage, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Burrow's Improvements in Treating Sewage, fyc. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Burrow, 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 thereof, that is to say :— 5 This Invention relates to the deodorization and defecation of sewage and other matters and waters contaminated with putrescent or nitro¬ genous matter in pools, drains, rivers, and other places, and consists in the employment for such purposes of a ferruginous salt, sulphate of iron, for instance, to the sewage or other foul water, and then neutralised and 10 precipitated by lime, caustic soda, or other alkaline reagent. It is well known that nitrogenous matter contained in sewage or foul water passes rapidly into a state of decomposition and gives rise to those offensive compounds of ammonia, sulphuretted and phospliuretted hydrogen, which cause the nauseous effluvium. When the ferruginous 15 salt is added, the noxious compounds are quickly condensed, the ammonia by acid and the gases by the oxide, and the sewage or foul water becomes deodorised; whilst the putrid matter held in solution is rendered insoluble in consequence of oxidation and is precipitated *, by this means the sewage or foul water becomes defecated. In the 20 application of this salt to the purification of sewage I propose to construct a long trough or passage and divide a portion of it longi¬ tudinally, in such a way that one portion has a capacity about two- thirds greater than that of the other from a vessel placed above the larger division. I allow a sufficient quantity of the salt to flow as will 25 acidulate the running stream of sewage and from another vessel placed above the smaller division I allow a sufficient quantity of milk of lime or other reagent to flow as will render alkaline the smallest stream of sewage. When these two parallel streams have run sufficiently long to become impregnated, the one with the salt and the other with the 30 alkali, I allow the liquid compound to flow together in a continua¬ tion of the same trough or passage until the mixture has become complete and the confluent stream is ready to fall into the precipitating tank ; the proportions of the salt and alkali in their respective streams will vary with the nature of the sewage; but in treating the ordinary 35 London sewage I find that one ton of the former to five cwt. of the latter to every 1,000,000 (one million) gallons of sewage very effective. To this proportion however I do not confine myself, but am guided by