Abstract: Flowable material is pumped between upstream and downstream passages in a body through an aperture portion formed in a slide member that communicates between the passages. An annular seal member engages the slide member under the urging of a Belleville spring. The slide member, formed as a filter, has a region of uniform porosity that is moved progressively through the path of flow of the material for changing the filter.

Abstract: Within a chamber having an inlet for admitting a sludgy substance for dewatering and an outlet for discharging the dewatered cake of the sludgy substance, there are disposed two laterally opposed filtration trains each consisting of a plurality of rotary filter elements which are each formed of a multiplicity of circular plates arranged face to face in the axial direction at fixed intervals and which are so disposed that they intermesh so as to permit the circular plates of each rotary filter element to partially enter the corresponding spaces between the circular plates of the adjacent rotary filter elements.

Abstract: A filtration system is provided that directs a fluid to be filtered through a disposable tubular filtration element, supports the filtration element, and accommodates for "wet growth" of the filtration element. The system operates with an inside-to-outside forced fluid flow through the filtration element and includes a generally cylindrical housing with a fluid inlet and outlet. A perforated outer support screen is mounted within the housing and surrounds the walls of the tubular filtration element with slight clearance. Under the influence of the fluid pressure and the wet growth, the walls of the filtration element bear against the screen. A sealing and support assembly having upstream and downstream fluid guides, each carrying, in a preferred form, a pair of resilient sealing members, is positioned inside the filtration element. A rigid inner member bridges the opposing faces of the resilient member pairs.

Abstract: The gasket-engaging sealing rim of the solids collection vessel of a filtration apparatus is provided with means for cooling its gasket-engaging surface to a stream condensing temperature, and means is provided to direct a flow of steam or other source of water vapor over the gasket-engaging surface while the surface is disengaged from the gasket during discharge of filtered solids, thereby wetting the surface while it is exposed to the atmosphere. This wetting of the surface prevents the accumulation of solids on the surface by the evaporative drying thereon of filtrate solutions, which may come in contact with the surface during the filtration operation.

Abstract: An apparatus for filtering fluids to remove solid discard particles therefrom, in which the apparatus includes a housing having a filter chamber, an inlet-side sealing chamber, and a discharge-side sealing chamber, a movable fluid inlet member which is movable into and out of the housing and which includes inlet-side and discharge-side bearing surfaces, and flexible sealing members which cooperate with the bearing surfaces in the sealing chambers to seal the filter chamber, a movable length of filter medium, and means for displacing the bearing surfaces and the movable length of filter medium, and which is operated by displacing the discharge-side movable bearing surface so that the movable length of filter medium may pass clear thereof, and displacing the movable length of filter medium clear of the discharge-side movable bearing surface to provide synchronized removal of the used length of filter medium from the filter chamber with discard particles associated therewith which are embedded therein and collec