Abstract: The invention provides a method and apparatus for treating liquids containing additional materials in which surface liquid is caused to flow from the main body of a liquid and is reintroduced under pressure either beneath the surface of the main body or beneath or onto the surface of a further liquid body. The method has application in sinking paint particles in the air-washing water of paint spray booths for example, and also in mixing materials of which one is contained in or forms a body of liquid.

Abstract: Apparatus for achieving liquid flow at constant discharge rate from a liquid reservoir wherein the surface of liquid therein fluctuates in elevation.

Abstract: A method for flushing pigments in the form of water-containing cakes by replacing the water with an organic vehicle using an apparatus comprising a horizontal mixing cylinder having a coaxial mixing shaft, and inlet opening and a lower outlet opening. The shaft has mixing tools thereon. The pigment cake and vehicle are added to the container and the shaft is driven at a rate such that the formed pigment-vehicle paste forms on and is wound up on the shaft, leaving the water in the lower part of the container for easy removal through the lower opening.

Abstract: An apparatus for separating solids, such as metal cuttings, from liquids, such as machine coolant, the apparatus having an upwardly inclined elongated housing which in cross-section is U-shaped with a semi-circular bottom and parallel sides, the housing being opened at the top and covered throughout its length by a removable lid, a helix rotated in the housing and extending from the lower end to the upper end, the housing having a solids discharge chute near the upper end, a gear motor mounted on the upper end of the housing for rotation of the helix and having at the lower end an upwardly extending fluid inlet chamber, the open top serving as an inlet by which solids containing liquids is conducted into the apparatus and having an upwardly extending overflow chamber connected with the lower portion of the housing, the walls of the overflow chamber being of less height than the inlet chamber, the inlet chamber, the overflow chamber and the lower portion of the housing together forming a quiescent zone in whic

Abstract: This invention relates to cylindrical liquid conditioning and settling tank having rotating conditioning arms. On the wall of the tank are narrow, inwardly directed parallel vanes that are inclined to the vertical and that serve to separate the tank into a lower water conditioning zone in which the water is turbulent and an upper water-solid separation zone in which the water is quiescent. At least one nozzle is provided to supply water into the tank below the vanes in a direction tangential to the tank wall.

Abstract: An improved scraper to scrape the sludge from the bottom of a clarifying tank in a biological waste treatment plant. The scraper is Y-shaped, having two angularly spaced blades which move under the sludge at such an angle as to lift the sludge onto the blade such that the sludge urges the scraper in wiping relation with the bottom of the tank. The scraper is suspended by flexible cables from support arms which extend outwardly from an oscillating bridge moveable over the top of the clarifier in the clarifier tank drawing the flexible cables over support rollers as the bridge approaches the partition to lift the scraper upwardly as the scraper approaches the partition to prevent sludge from being trapped against the partition.

Abstract: Apparatus for readily separating a low viscosity liquid from an immiscible high viscosity paste or semi-solid comprising a conduit projecting proximate to an upwardly inclined surface provided with means for gravity drainage of the low viscosity liquid. The apparatus is particularly adapted for separating water from a coagulated aqueous latex of polymerized elastomer.

Abstract: Gelatinous and other sludge agglomerations resulting from the clarifications of raw water or waste water is removed from the bottom of settling receptacles, such as basins, ponds, lagoons and clarifiers where velocity is reduced to facilitate separation. The settled gelatinous sludge and other solids are removed from the receptacle by introducing streams of liquid into contact with the sludge so as to produce laminar flow toward a withdrawal point or points without disturbing the supernatant water or other fluid.

Abstract: A method is provided for continuously filtering liquids containing microorganisms, macromolecules and/or fine particles of solid matter as substances to be filtered out and collecting the substances that are filtered out. The liquid to be filtered is introduced from the top into an upright sieve basket where the filtrate is separated from the substances to be filtered out. A pressure is exerted on the liquid in the sieve basket by pressing means so that the filtrate leaves the sieve basket and the entire surface of the cake formed from the filtered-out substances always has approximately the same height in the sieve basket. The liquid in the sieve basket is pressed under an increasable counterpressure into the space underneath the pressing means in the sieve basket. When the backpressure of the liquid is higher than the pressure of the pressing means on the liquid, the pressing means is lifted a small distance above the cake in the sieve basket.

Abstract: My invention permits very small pore filtration of blood by means of a high capacity "two-dimensional" filter of round pores of twelve to fifteen microns in diameter. The viscous blood and its cells and platelets are forced through these minute orifices by means of a pressure applied to the flexible bag of donor blood, a rigid connecting passageway, and to a flexible pleated solid sheath which covers the filter but which is sealed to the outer portion of the connecting passageway and to the periphery of the filter. These flexible portions are first emptied of air by means of a vacuum applied from below through the filter and then the blood is evenly maintained above this large filter by means of producing a slowly rotating swirling wave of blood. The blood is collected by gravity funnel drainage into a receiving bottle. Any frothed blood which enters this receiving bottle is removed from its top by vacuum aspiration.

Abstract: A scum removal system for sewage settling tanks and the like employs a floating skimmer system which is lowered onto the surface of the liquid at one end of the tank and then moved toward the opposite end where floating materials collected by the skimmer are passed into a scum trough. At the trough end of the tank, the skimmer is raised from the surface of the liquid and returned to the first end while being held above the liquid surface. Continuous flow into the scum trough is prevented by a floating beach hinged to the scum trough. The beach is submerged as the skimmer approaches so that flow over the submerged beach carries the collected materials into the scum trough. Flow over the submerged beach is controlled by the depth as well as the length of time that the beach is held beneath the surface.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for skimming liquids such as solder are provided for removing the surface layer to produce a clean fresh surface by breaking the surface at two parallel spaced confining boundaries and moving the confined surface unidirectionally.

Abstract: Flocculated slime to be cleaned is introduced into the top of a vertically disposed, conical precipitator having at its bottom a discharge orifice. The introduced slime flows downwardly through an apertured plate mounted substantially horizontally in the precipitator. The plate is mechanically vibrated at a frequency in the range 20-100 Hz and an amplitude in the range 0.5-1.5 mm as the slime flows therethrough to liberate impurities mechanically trapped in the slime.

Abstract: A sewage settling tank is provided with two or more banks of tube settlers to improve the settling rate. The tube settlers are spaced above the bottom of the settling tank and upstanding from about the periphery of each bank is a baffle member which defines a clear water zone directly above each bank. The baffle is provided with an opening which extends below the water level to permit the carriage of a floating siphon system to pass into the clear water zone, the inlet of the siphon extending down to the bottom of the settling tank in order to remove the sludge immediately beneath each bank of tube settlers. The opening in the baffle is provided with an air gate to permit the passage of the floating carriage through the opening while preventing the untreated water from flowing through the opening into the clear water zone.

Abstract: An apparatus for the separation of the components of an aqueous concrete grout obtained from washing operations of automotive concrete mixers in a washing station comprising two tanks connected in series, into the first of which are mounted means to separate in sequence and to discharge gravel and crushed stones and then sand, while into the second tank means are provided to perform the separation of the cement from the water by decantation and means to collect and discharge said cement out of said tank, said means consisting of a longitudinal endless conveyor carrying transverse scraping bars sliding along the bottom of said tank, a pump to suck the purified water from said second tank and to convey it until the washing station to be distributed into the drums of the mixers from which is discharged into the inside of a first unit of the first tank provided to separate the gravel and crushed stones means being also arranged at the end of the first tank to collect continuously the water from said tank and to c

Abstract: Apparatus for separating mercury from mercury containing material is disclosed. Apparatus comprises a closed horizontal generally barrelshaped vessel having ports for charging the vessel and for discharging the mercury and the treated residue, and agitating means. The vessel has opposed conical sections and a central cylindrical section. The agitating means comprises a rotatable spindle coaxially extending within the vessel and provided with a plurality of spokes varying in length to conform with the shape of the vessel. Preferably the spokes are provided with knife-like tips and they may be arranged in rows, the spokes in each row being off-set from the spokes in the next row except for those in the central cylindrical section.