Untitled record

Application filed July 18,1881. (Model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Horace F. Atwood, and John Siddons, of Rochester, in theconnty of Monroe and State of New York, have in5 vented certain Improvements in Filters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to that class of filters which are intended for domestic use, to be applied to faucets or other io water-conductors; and the object of the invention is to produce a device which shall be at once simple and efficient, and the filtering medium of which may be removed and renewed quickly at a trifling expense.

To this end the invention consists in a separable body or case containing a diaphragm of canton-flannel or equivalent material, a wiregauze diaphragm to sustain the same, and a removable frame which serves the twofold pur20 pose of straining and holding the flannel and of distributing the water evenly over the diaphragm.

The invention consists, also, in the peculiar formation of the various parts and their com25 bination with each other, as hereinafter described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a central cross-section of the improved filter; Figs. 2,3, and 4, views of 30 the component parts.

The body of the filter consists of a hollow casing, A B, provided with peripheral flanges a 1), threaded and screwed together in the manner represented in the drawings, to permit the 35 ready separation of the parts. The two parts of the body are provided, as shown, with central necks or mouths, c, for the admission and delivery of the water. The body-section A is provided on its inner face with an annular 40 flange, d, located at a short distance from the outer flange. In the section A, closely within the flange d, there is mounted a diaphragm of wire-gauze or perforated metal, 0, having its edge flanged or turned downward for the pur45 pose of sustaining it in the required position.

Above and across the diaphragm 0 there is a tightly-stretched diaphragm, D, which constitutes the main filterin g medium,this diaphragm being composed of one or more sheets of can50 ton - flannel or similar material, the cantonflannel being, however, considered preferable to any other material known, for the reason that the body of loose fibers lying upon its surface serves to catch and retain the fine impurities and foreign masters which will pass 55 through other woven fabrics.

We find in practice that by the use of a single thickness of canton-flannel we are enabled to secure much better results than by the use of the large bodies of charcoal, gravel, felt, 6c and like substances ordinarily employed, the flannel beiug peculiarly adapted for this use, as before described, because of the existence of the body of loose fibers upon its surface. The flannel diaphragm is strained and secured 65 in position by means of an encircling band or ring, E, the flannel being applied by firstlaying it across the flange d, with its edge extending beyond the same, and then forcing the ring F down snugly around the outside of the 70 same, thereby bending and drawing the edges of the flannel down tightly around the'outside of the flange d. The ring E is retained firmly in position by means of the upper section, B, of the body, which bears upon the ring, as rep- 7 5 resented in the drawings.

For the purpose of distributing the water within the casing, that-it may flow with practically equal force through all portions of the diaphragm, the ring F is provided with aceu- 80 tral cross-bar, e, having a conical or rounded enlargement,/, at the center. The water, on entering the body, impinges against the diffusing or spreading comb, and is thus distributed uniformly throughout the interior of the body. 85

In order to prevent the water from flowing through the filter past or around the edges of the filtering material, rubber or other suitable packing-rings, Λ, are inserted within the body, as represented in the drawings, in such posi- 90 tion that in screwing the two parts of the body together the flange of the part B will bear firmly upon and compress the packing, this compression serving the twofold purpose of preventing leakage between the two parts of 95 the body, and also of preventing leakage between the ring F and flanged.

In practice it is found that the canton-flannel retains nearly all the impurities contained in the water which may be passed through the 100 filter. When the surface of the flannel becomes heavily laden with the foreign matters

250,331 it is only necessary to separate the two parts of the body and remove the ring F, whereupon the flannel may be removed and a new sheet substituted.

We are aware that filters have been constructed in a great variety of forms, with separable or divisible bodies with filtering-diaphragms and substances of various kinds confined therein. We are also aware that felt, io cloth, and other like fabrics have been employed; but we are not aware that any . one has hitherto discovered or made available the facts that the existence of a body of loose unwoven fibers upon the receiving-surface of the 15 filtering-sheet would catch and retain the finer impurities contained in the water.