Abstract: An apparatus for the recovery of liquid from a liquid medium containing solids includes a rotatable outer drum having a liquid-permeable drum wall and containing liquid-absorbing material, a rotatable inner wall having a liquid impervious drum wall and being mounted for rotation within and eccentrically relative to the outer drum, the drums being rotatable in the same direction into the liquid medium so as to transport the material through a compression zone in which the material is compressed so as to remove absorbed liquid therefrom and subsequently through a pressure-relief zone in which the liquid-absorbing material is allowed to expand and to absorb liquid from the liquid medium, a device or devices contacting the exterior surface of the outer drum to remove solids deposited thereon, such devices being located between the zones, and a device for collecting liquid removed from the liquid-absorbing material in the compression zone.

Abstract: A filtration system having an intermittently moving belt on which is deposited a suspension to form a filter cake. A press is provided above the belt comprising one or more pressure cushions, and suction chambers are disposed below the belt. A control system coupled to the cushions and the chambers controls application of pressure to the former and suction to the latter to press the cushions down on the filter cake formed on the belt and to draw off moisture from the compressed cake, the action of applying pressure and suction halting movement of the belt. After filtering the cake the pressure and suction are removed allowing the belt to move forward and another filtration cycle to start on the next section of the filter cake formed on the belt.

Abstract: The specification discloses an improvement in rotary screening apparatus for the filtration of liquids and especially water. Such apparatus comprises (a) a stationary structure including a delivery channel for the feed water and a screened water holding tank wherein a lower elevation of screened water is maintained and (b) a screen drum disposed to receive feed water from the channel and to rotate within the tank on a horizontal axis with the uppermost section of its cylindrical surface above the feed for cleaning purposes. The improvement resides in a seal between the holding tank and the drum which provides improved protection against leakage and utilizes a flow of screened water which drives the feed water away from the seal if and wherever there may be a leak.

Abstract: An apparatus for improving the dewatering capability of a rotary drum vacuum filter or washer is described in which a suction box, independently supported above the filter drum, having an apertured outermost surface, and a vacuum means operating upon the box, is combined with a foraminous belt, tensioned to contact the suction box apertured surface and that portion of the drum surface not adjacent the box such that rotation of the drum causes the belt to rotate with the drum, sliding over the suction box. In operation, a cake or fibrous web that is formed upon the belt while it is in contact with the filter drum surface, partially submerged in a slurry of the material to be recovered, is subsequently subjected to the suction box vacuum means as the belt-supported web passes over the apertured surface. A discharge box at the trailing edge of the suction box is supplied with pressurized air to blow the cake or fibrous web from the foraminous belt surface at the product discharge point.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for dehydrating suspensions by means of a vacuum filter and consisting of applying the suspension to the surface of the vacuum filter, directing steam along the path parallel to the surface and thereafter passing the steam into contact with the filter cake on the surface.

Abstract: A structure for dewatering solids utilizing a rotating cylindrical screen wherein the solids and water are directed to a portion of the rotating screen with the water passing into the interior of the screen and the solids adhering to the external surface of the screen. Doctor means remove substantially all of the solids from the external surface of the screen, after which the screen is washed by the water which has entered into the screen, the water being directed by a baffle into a flowing stream which strikes the screen and passes therethrough in a concentrated mass. The baffle is fixedly carried by a fixed shaft on which the screen is mounted for rotation.

Abstract: A thickener apparatus includes a shaftless cylinder mold having a perforated cylindrical shell supported by two end members one of which is an open frame structure having radially extending support beams interconnecting a short rotational shaft aligned with the axial center of rotation of the cylinder, and a peripheral ring member which supports the shell of the cylinder mold. The shell is sufficiently rigid to be self supporting and has a backing cloth overly covering the perforated portion of the cylinder, and a face cloth covering the backing cloth, both of which act as a screen to permit the white water to collect in the central hollow portion of the cylinder mold to be subsequently discharged therefrom.

Abstract: A continuous rotary vacuum drum filter with improved suspension means for an oscillatable agitator frame structure operating in the filter vat to keep pulp solids in suspension, featuring a non-rigid stress compensating suspension connection between the agitator frame structure and the supporting torsion bearings comprising a hinge linkage connection between a torsion bearing housing and the respective end of the agitator structure arranged whereby the hinge axis extends at right angles to the oscillatory axis of the agitator structure. A removable hinge pin is provided to permit disconnection of the torsion bearings from the agitator structure and actuating means are pivotally connected to the hinge linkage for oscillating the agitator structure.

Abstract: An installation for the mechanical-biological purification of waste water or sewage incorporating at least one biological stage and one post-clarification stage, the post-clarification stage incorporating a filter. The filter is a drum filter having a filter surface wherein at the inflow or deposit side thereof there engages a suction nozzle which extends transversely with respect to the direction of relative movement between the filter surface and the suction nozzle.

Abstract: A rotary vacuum filter apparatus has a filter drum with a rotating hollow through axle carrying radial pans arranged to scoop up filtrate in the bottom of the drum and raise the filtrate to a level for draining into the axle through holes so arranged as to prevent drainage of filtrate back into the drum. A pump draws air from the drum through the axle at high velocity providing an air lift sweeping the filtrate out of the axle for discharge from the filter unit. Two diametrically opposed pans spanning substantially the entire length of the drum can radiate from opposite sides of the axle or a plurality of diametrically opposed pairs of pans can be mounted along the length of the axle and radiate therefrom in circumferentially offset positions to provide a more continuous scooping action in the bottom of the drum and the axle can be drained from one or both ends.

Abstract: A device for separating in a continuous process particles such as heavy ml particles consisting of fuel and/or breeder materials for core reactors, from a first liquid and introducing the separated particles into a second liquid. The device comprises a screen in the form of a movable endless belt or drum over which ends a feeding line conveying the first liquid containing the particles to be separated onto the endless screen. While the particles are retained on the surface of the moving screen journalled in a housing, the first liquid passes through the screen into a catching funnel and from there to a discharge, the catching funnel being arranged in the housing. In the lower portion of the housing and in contact with the outer screen surfaces is a second liquid which takes off from the outside of the screen the particles deposited onto the screen.

Abstract: Filtration apparatus comprising in a housing an annular filtration chamber which is supplied with a suspension under pressure. The chamber is bounded between an external and an internal surface both of them in a form of a body of revolution, at least one of them being formed as a filtering surface and in the case connected to a filtrate discharge collector. At least one of the surfaces is capable of rotating. The chamber is connected at one end to a suspension inlet and on its other end to a product outlet. The surfaces bounding the filtration chamber are arranged eccentrically relatively to one another whereby a sufficient passage for the product is left free between the surfaces even in the narrowest figure of the eccentrical profil of the filtering chamber.

Abstract: An improved rotary filter is cylindrical in shape, and operates by vacuum suction or otherwise to withdraw fluids from a substance exposed to the outer area of the device, drawing said fluids into the filter to be pumped out to a suitable reservoir. It includes an inner cylindrical surface having attached thereon a plurality of selectively spaced support structures which extend longitudinally along the inner cylinder. Said support structures are covered with a plastic covering adapted to receive a filtering medium which forms the outer circumference of the rotary filter. In one embodiment the plastic covers are grooved to receive a spirally wound wire to further support said filtering medium.

Abstract: The present pulp catcher is provided with a rotating brush roller for cleaning the sieve or straining drum in a container. The shaft ends of the rotating brush roller are movably supported in bearings which are pressed by biasing means radially inwardly relative to the rotational axis of the straining drum. The shaft ends of the rotation brush roller are sealed by stuffing box means which are connected to the container by means of compensating corrugated tubings. The movable support of the shaft ends makes it possible to maintain the rotating brush roller at a most efficient spacing relative to the straining drum even when the bristles of the brush roller become shorter due to wear and tear.

Abstract: Filter drums of desired diameters and axial lengths are built up from cylindrical modules supported in end-to-end relation on a through axle. Each module has a cylindrical frame composed of end rings connected by and supporting a ring of circumferentially spaced longitudinal bars. A grid formed in the flat by welding spaced parallel transverse ribs to underlying spaced parallel longitudinal rods is rolled into a cylindrical shape and wrapped around bars of the module with the rods of the grid forming hoops which are welded to the bars. The through axle has end heads and intermediate spiders mounted thereon. The outboard rings of the modules forming the end sections of the drum are secured to the heads and the inboard rings of these end modules are secured to the end rings of the intermediate modules with spider legs on the axle secured to one ring of an adjacent pair of rings.

Abstract: A strainer drum has a series of axially juxtapositioned, apertured carrier discs which define axially spaced, alternating, circumferentially extending crests and roots. The carrier discs support a prefolded one-piece filter fabric of the weft-and-warp type which is wrapped substantially 360.degree. around the discs and which conforms to the crests and roots defined by the carrier discs. The wefts and warps of the filter fabric are oriented obliquely with respect to the drum axis.

Abstract: The following invention discloses improvements in thickening devices used in the art of separating solid particles from liquids in a slurry of such particles and liquid having the method steps of causing an imperfectly filtered filtrate to flow by gravity to one outlet and a more perfectly filtered filtrate to flow by gravity toward another outlet.

Abstract: A tracking device for a travelling band filter. The band or belt tends to drift laterally as it travels along its path. This is corrected by fitting one of a number of rollers carrying the belt with opposite-handed helical formations to pull the belt in opposite directions. The helices work on tension bands in the edges of the belt there being a pair of helices, with a dead band between, for each tension band.

Abstract: A precision system for moving a tool with very small increments with respect to a frame including at least two micrometer drive mechanisms each comprising a screw spindle and a cooperating nut and each provided with an intermittently driven worm and worm wheel. The tool is borne solely by the micrometer drive mechanisms that are supported in the frame. In a preferred embodiment is of each micrometer drive mechanism the worm wheel mounted on a spindle, one of said worm wheel and spindle being connected to the screw spindle and the other to the nut.

Abstract: In rotary drum filters wherein the filter drum has a wirewound deck providing support for the surrounding filter media, a novel method and system of tension winding and securing the deck wire with the aid of improved anchoring means for non-slidably yet detachably securing the wire at predetermined points along the length of the drum, whereby creeping and loosening of the wire windings is obviated. This also permits simplifying and speeding up the winding operation, as well as the replacement of individual wire sections between anchoring points.

Abstract: The cylindrical filter surface of a drum filter is increased in effective area by providing radial inward and outward undulations in the general cylindrical shape instead of the cylindrical surface of the prior art.