US554877A - Apparatus for treating garbage - Google Patents

Description

l(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

B. P. HQWLAND. APPARATUS' FOB. I MRBATING GARBAGE.

Patented Feb. 18

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miem/Lua No Model.) 4 sheets-sne`et2- B. F. HOWLAND.

APPARATUS POR TREATING GARBAGE.

No. 554,877. Patented Peb. 18, 1896.

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B. F. HOWLAND.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING GARBAGE.

=N0. 554,877. Patented Peb. '18, 1896.

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B. P. HOWLAND.

APPARATUS POR TRBATING GARBAGE. No. 554,877. Patented Peb. 18, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN E. I-IOWILAND, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS' FOIR TRE-ATING GARBAG E'.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,877, dated February 18, 1896. Application filed January 19,1895. Serial No. 535,512. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. HowLAND,

-a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for the Reduction of Waste Matter, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide for treating garbage for the manufacture of fertilizers and recovering grease in an expeditious and economical manner and all contained oils and fatty substances separated and removed during such treatment.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a view in diagram of one embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a view in cross-section taken on the line o@ of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in plan of the digesters. Fig. 4 is a view in elevation, partly in section, showing the retort 8 at the side of the boiler-arch 9. i

In the drawings, 1 represents a receivingpit which is normally closed by a removable cover and may be partially sunk into the ground or supported above the ground, as may be found desirable. All waste matter to be treated is thrown into this pit and taken therefrom by a conveyer 2 and discharged into one or more digesters 3, which are each provided with an inner coil 4, perforated to permit the escape of the steam or water, the pressure under which such steam or water is discharged being sufficient to insure a thorl ough moistening of the contained matter.

The fumes and gases given off by these substances, when being treated in the digesters,

escape by way of a safety-valve 5a and pipe 5 through an interposed grease-extractor 6, of usual construction, to a vacuum tank 7, thence to a retort 8 adjacent to or forming part of a boiler-arch 9. The escape of these gases is facilitated by means of an ordinary vacuum-pump 10, or, if desired, a condenser and exhaust-fan maybe employed.

The vacuum-tank is provided with requisite outlets in the form of pipes 7 l 7b for the condensed liquid, by which it is preferably discharged into a stream or sewer, also for the lighter gases and vapors into the retort. Upon reaching the retort these gases are roasted and finally discharged -beneath the grate of the furnace and are thus destroyed. After the contained substance of the digesters has been sufficiently cooked it is discharged through gate-valves 11 at the smaller end of the conical bottom of the digester upon screens or gratings arranged above a storage-tank 12. The liquids and smaller particles of the solids pass readily through the grating, and the larger particles-such as cans, stones, fragments of china, and the like-are caught thereon and removed by conveyers 13, which travel at each side of the grating or screen. The storage -.tank is normally closed and partly filled with water or other liquid which may be brought to any temperature by a steam-j et, and serves, when the discharge enters the tank, to separate the free liquid which rises to the surface from the solids, the latter settling at the bottom of the tank, which is inclined at about twelve degrees and approximately V-shaped in cross-section.

Extending the full length of the tank and beyond it to a series of driers is a screw conveyer 14, which works in a trough 15, the latter being a continuation of the tank. This conveyer takes up the solids in the tank and, owing to the inclination at which it is rotatably supported, forces such solids upward, and in thus bringing them under pressure the water is forced out and drips through perforations in a false bottom 15 of the trough and re-enters the tank. After a certain amount of the liquid has accumulated in the tank it is drawn off through a pipe 16, which leads to a mixing-tank 17, from whence it is carried to a filter-press 1S by an interposed pump 19. From this press it is discharged into a grease and Water tank 20, provided with outlets 21, through which the grease, fats, and oils are drawn off into other tanks or barrels, and the water run back into the storage-tank, thus avoiding loss of any grease contained in the water thus drawn oif. The solids, which are carried upward by the screw conveyer from the storage-tank, enter a drier, which, after being filled, is closed gas-tight. The drier is steam-jacketed in any well-known Way, and after the contained substance has been suffi- IOO From the foregoing description it will be' apparent that the entire treatment of Waste matter is effected Without handling, the reduction thereof being accomplished at a comparatively low cost and free of all offensive odors.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim isl. The combination of the digesters and lneans for elevating the garbage thereinto, the storage-tank receiving the contents of the digesters and having the screen or grating in its up'per portion, the conveyers at the sides of said storage-tank, communieatin g with the chamber of said tank, above said screen or grating, said tank also having an upwardlyinclined conveyer arranged along and upon its correspondingly-inclined bottom, and an upwardly-inclined trough extending from said bottom and in alignment therewith and provided with a perforated false bottom, said eonveyer also extending in to said trough and along its false bottom, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the conveyer reaching down into the garbage-containing tank, the digesters adapted to receive the elevated garbage from the said conveyers, the storagetank having a screen or grating in its upper portion and a conveyer along its inclined bottom, extending beyond said tank through an inclined trough having a perforated false bottom, the mixing-tank having pipe connections with said .storage-tank and a like connection with a pump, a lter-press having pipe connections with said pump and also connected with a grease and Water tank having its outlet-pipe dipping into said storage-tank, a drier adapted to receive the garbage from said trough, a vacuum-tank having pipe connections With a retort, and a pipe connection between said digesters and said vacuum-tank for the escape therethrough of the fumes and gases from said digesters, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. IIOWLAND.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. TURNER, XV. II. PUMPHREY.

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